When is a stray cat not a stray cat?

Got a call to TNR a black male cat - Jet Black they call him - in Harehills this week, which turned up skinny and hungry and has been sleeping in a woman's outhouse for the last few months. I got the details and dropped by yesterday to pick him up. I had to make a couple of further trips during the day as he was no-where to be seen, then when I did see him had to fend of a feisty B&W kitten who wanted to get the trap with him. He was real tame and I ended up having to hold and stroke him for 10 minutes whilst Jet decided he whether he was going to get in the trap or not! He finally went in (as you can see), albeit a bit wet as it was raining, but safe and sound I dropped him off at the vets for an over night stay before TNR, chipping and fleaing the next day...

Anyway, the vet rings back a couple of hours later to say the cat is neutered and chipped! He apparently belongs to a woman who lives 10 doors down on the other side of the road!

The woman who has been feeding him, apparently his real name is Monster Truck (I kid u not!), was obviously abit confused why someone else cat is sleeping in her outhouse and always hungry. I dropped the big guy back this morning to his REAL owner, a really nice young woman, who explained they had got a new cat in the house and Monster liked to stay out alot because of it, but still came home for morning and evening meals! He seemed pleased to be home after his night out and big adventure, and all is well that ens well.

Just goes to show a stray cat, if not always what it appears to be!

Footnote... the kitten who was trying to get in the trap as well, is another 'stray'... Rocket.

Why are we bothering to neuter male cats when they can't have kittens...

Loving my new trap...

Gotta say a big thanks to Leeds Feline Friends for my newest piece of trapping equipment... A BRAND NEW TRAP!

I shouldn't get so excited but they asked if I wanted any equipment, for the help I've given them with trapping and transporting. Well, I said I would love to have a trap where the trap 'door' opens outwards, and is outside the trap. Most traps have a door which opens INTO the trap and this can cause problems if you have a big cat or the cat has a long neck and doesn't go all the way into the trap before hitting the release panel. When this happens the door can come down on the cats back and if they are quick enough (which they often are), they can turn round and scoot right out the trap before the door closes.

This is obviously makes it more tricky to trap the cat again as they are more wary of entering the trap after they have seen it go off. I used this other trap when I was in Greece a couple of years ago and it is better for bigger cats or ones that won;t always go all the way and trigger the door release. With this one, they don't need to be fully inside and away from the entrance and is better for manually setting off as well. This one the door comes TOWARDS the trap as it closes, so there is less chance oif the cat escaping, plus zero chance of it catching on their back and letting them slip out.

Check out the pics...

How NOT to treat a cat on National Black Cat day....

Not the best example of being kind to someone who is celebrating their national day - shoving them in a metal cage, driving them miles from home, sticking them with needles, man-handling them, knocking them unconscious and then chopping their balls off!

It's okay, it's all in a good cause!

Leeds Feline Friends had a call from a lady who is feeding a big black cat at a farm, and has a poorly eye. She asked if they could help. So, yesterday i went down to trap the big fella... and he is BIG... but as soft as a sausage. He turned up at the farm a while back and they think he might have come from a gypsy encampment which is nearby and possibly been used for dog baiting as he HATES dogs. Anyway, they tried to get him in a carrier and whilst partially successful, because he is so big, he stressed when they tried to shut him in. I took a trap across, we put some food in and he literally walked in, bless his soul.

They looked at his eye and it could just be an ingrowing eyelid with the hairs rubbing on his eyeball, so they are going to trim is eye lid and hopefully he should be alright after a couple of days rest.

Trapping request for abandoned cat....

A woman rang one of the Leeds charities asking if we could help a cat which had either been kicked out of some flats in Leeds, or got lost as it was friendly and she was feeding it. She aaid one of her relatives would be happy to give it a home if we could trap it and get it to the vets.

No problem. It took a couple of days as she wasn't always around, but a slow patient approach saw her safely trapped and off to the vets:

Here she is her new home, with her new name, Pickles. A happy ending for the little girl... I love it when a plan comes together!

Garden Center cats

The two young cats whom Clive at the garden center kindly befriended and were placed with Yorkshire Cat rescue are fine. I began the task of trapping some of the other cats. A couple of the guys were really tame and you could stroke them, so much so we just picked them up and put them in a carrier! Both were TNR'd and one of the guys got re-homed pretty shortly afterwards.

In the mean time , some kind person dumped ANOTHER cat over their fence, this time another youngster. Again, tame and obviously been a household pet as was used to people. We worreid it could be a female, but as it tunred out it was a male. he's gone back and is settling in nicely... here he is, total cutie:

One of the other ginger cats I had planned on trapping was sadly run over on the main road a couple of days before, but we still had a big black fella to sort out. This was the one that would always run into the trap and steal all the food when were were trying to get the young girl back in June, so I assumed he wouldn't be a problem. As it turned out, he wasn;t, some tasty sardines in the trap and in he went:

MIA...

Sorry, life has been getting in the way of posting lately..

Yes, I have been working, but in between everything else haven't updated the blog as often as I should have. Got about 4-5 jobs and things to post, which I'll do today and tomorrow hopefully.

Thanks for caring!

This is my driving force.....

Happiness is...

Two of the lucky ones...

Whilst getting a call to help out with trapping 5 cats at a garden center in Leeds, the caller also told us that 2 young cats has suddenly turned up, dumped over the fence one night, and there in the morning, fending off the 5 cats who's territory it was. Luckily the guy managed to coral the 2 new cats into a conservatory on site where he gave them food and water. They appeared to be about 10 months old, both very friendly and tame, and obviously 'unwanted', Why on earth someone would dump them over the fence we can only guess that they knew about the other cats there and assumed these guys would fit in.

The cats had clearly been pets and well looked after, so what drove someone to abandon them we'll never know. The manager of the site said the cats couldn't stay in the building they were in and if not removed from the site fairly soon, they would just pick them up and dump them somewhere else!

This is the guys in the Conversatory:

These guys couldn't get a break. I rang round everywhere to try and find a home for them,. but as with most charities at the moment, the Leeds ones are full the bursting with Mums and kittens, some weven being kept in people's bathroom until a better space comes a long. I really wanted these cats to be saved and not moved on again. I contacted Yorkshire Cat Rescue, in Howarth, where I regularly volunteer, as a last resort. I was delighted when the manager said they fell into an 'emergency' category and they would find space for them!!!

Last Tuesday I took them across and put them in their temporary pen, where they are now safe, well fed, and waiting for theur furever home.

Thank you YCR, you saved these cats lives and have given them a second chance. It turns out they are brother and sister... a quick trip to the vets is in order, we think :+}

Here they are in the temp pen, one one side and the other the litter area, on the right. The round 'hole' at the back/middle of the picture/pen is where they move between the two different sections.

Ginger Tom and proud... not anymore!

This guys has been 2 months in the catching, in Methley. His feeder rang and asked us to catch him as he was getting into all sorts of scraps and coming home battered and bruised. I organised to drop a trap off and we would set it up in the garage to try and catch him on a morning and then get him to the vets. As usual, his routine of turning up for feeding was erratic and when he did, he was shy of the trap.

He then started coming round on an evening and it was agreed we'd try then... no joy. Finally the week before last I got a frantic call around 9am to say he'd been trapped. As luck would have it the vets couldn't take him that day as they were full, so I arranged to collect him and keep him in the trap in my cellar till next morning when the vets could take him in. This was unusual, but there was no way we were going to be able to let him go and then re-trap him. I had a spare trap which I managed to attach to the one he was in, so he at least had the run of two trap lengths, plus food and a litter tray for his stay.

Anyway, next morning he was none the worse for being in stir for 24 hours, if a bit grumpy. He was snipped and back at his 'home' a day later, looking like he hadn't a care in the world, eating ham from his feeder's hand!

New YCR pens all finished and ready for cats!

This was a few weeks ago, but the new pen block at YORKSHIRE CAT RESCUE is now completed, and all ready for it's new occupants.

There are around 7-8 new pens, all but one with an indoor and outdoor section and when I visited last week all the pens were already filled either with single cats or mums and kits. It's alot more cleaning for the volunteers with almost double the usual pens, but it does mean they are able to have a lot more cats back on site now they are finished, plus they look great for people coming to view the cats for possible adoption and will be warm and dry for the cats in the winter.

The below pics are the day before the pens were filled, just as we finished off cleaning them out and getting them ready for their new occupants.

We got Mum... just in the nick of time!

After trying to get Mum for the last 5-6 days, I finally got her on Tuesday night after she went into the shelter where she sleeps in the garden and I managed to butt then trap up again the opening of the box she sleeps in. She shot out of the box and into the trap. Boom. Caught. earlier in the evening she had been in the trap twice to eat, but not far enough in for me to release the door and be assured of catching her.

I dropped her off at White Cross Vets on Tuesday night for the operation on Wednesday, but come the morning, one cat had turned into 3 and by the middle of the day she'd had 6 kittens. sadly one passed away> The good enws she is really friendly and we will not be putting her back, but re-homing both her and kittens at some point. It's a really good feeling to know we literally caught her in the nick of time, one more night outdoors and even fewer of those kittens could be around to grow up into happy healthy cats.

Here's a couple of pics of Mum, sorry they're not a bit clearer!

Kittens to go....

Got called to a TNR job in Harehills this week to trap a MU, Dad, 2 older siblings and a young kitten. First day there today I manage to get the kitten (top pic) and the two older siblings. They're hang around a garden in Harehills and a kind lady is feeding them and has agreed to have them back. Cat Action Trust is hanging on to the kitten in the hopes to tame and re-home it.

I'll drop the siblings back over the next couple of days after their operation and then go back next week for Mum, who already looks to be pregnant again, and hopefully the Dad.

New pens... nearly there.

This is the state of the new block today, everything building-wise is in place save the mesh/iron-work which need to go on the exposed side (facing the camera). This is being made at the moment, so should be in place pretty soon. Then it just finalizing the plumbing and electrics and we shud be good to go!

A week is a long time in building..

Well, last Friday the new pens were really starting to take shape as the frame work was put up during the course of the day.

Looks very much skeletal, and it's nice to see the framework of what the finished pens will be like. So the open side of the pens will be facing the gate, and the entrance/walkway will be at the back (see final photo). Will be interesting to see what progress has been made on my visit this week.

Is neutering cruel and against nature?

Interesting comment on the Celia Hammond Trust Facebook page, interesting that she has even had to say this at all. Comments wholly justified, and when you've worked for a cat charity and seen the effects of unwanted kittens first-hand, and the suffering and death of many a litter, you can't help but agree.

A frequent concern expressed to us is "but isn't neutering interfering with nature?"
And our response....
By domesticating cats and dogs, humans have already interfered. By breeding cats and dogs and caring for them, we have helped ensure their breeding success and longer life.
Cats are prolific breeders: If a female cat was to mate every time she came into season, and all her kittens were to survive and breed, then there could be up to 21,000 extra cats in just 7 years!
With the cat population able to increase at such a fast rate there could never be enough homes to go around.
The dog and cat population can either be humanely controlled by neutering, left to nature or the surplus can be killed or 'culled'.
Nature is cruel and since there are no natural predators of cats and dogs in the U.K the population would be controlled by starvation and disease. The most likely scenario however would be a situation seen by many holidaymakers in some countries - starving colonies of sick animals which are killed by the authorities to contain numbers - a situation we think most people in this country would find intolerable.
Surplus cats and kittens are already euthanased in the U.K because the cat population continues to grow and there are not enough homes.
Stray cats and kittens already struggle to survive on our streets in growing numbers as animal charities struggle to help them all. Cats and kittens become sick whilst living stray and and many do die.

https://www.facebook.com/celiahammondanimaltrust/posts/948189308525262

Foundations going down....

Well the cement foundations for the new pens went down today at Yorkshire Cat Rescue, and mighty fine it looked to.

A cement truck came on site and poured the cement mid-morning and the guys spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon smoothing it out and leveling. Here's some pics of the action...

This is how the site looked at the end of day....

A stray's story, a stray's one wish....

More snow....

This was the scene today. The foundations have been covered up, but there is still snow and ice around and it's COLD!

You can see how crisp and cold it is by the sun in the trees, and that's ice on the ground... very slippy.

Kind of excited to see the block take shape, although I suspect a few more weeks before it really takes off.

Slow going, snow going....

A week last Friday, this was what the building site of the new pens within Yorkshire Cat Rescue looked like. The snow was down and no work was going on. To be fair the foundations are now in and, whilst I am no builder, I think they need to settle before anymore work is done.

Anyway, it was COLD out there...

This is what the finished pens will look like...

Maybe not exactly like these, but not far off. These are the current modern indoors pens.

Here you can see inside the indoor part of the pen, with a heated tiled floor, a cat genie (replacing the need for a litter tray in many instances), to the right of the picture is a plastic table and 'fort' where the cats have their bedding, below this is there food and water. At the back, to the right is another small bed they can use, and a couple of toys on the floor. To the top left is the door to the outside section of the pens, accessible for the cats through a cat flap 24/7.

Here is a better view of the back of the pen with exit door to the outside area. You can see some more furniture and a better view of the furniture which is the same as the items inside the pen...

This is the pens from the outside, where you can see the run of outdoor areas, side-by-side. The mesh at the back of the pens is completely open and exposed to the elements. Obviously the cats rarely go out there in bad weather, but it does mean they can get fresh air and 'see' the outside world when they want too rather than having to wait to be 'let out'.

You have admit the pens are really nice, the cats have a safe, warm, indoor area and then an airy outdoor area if they want it.

Progress on new cat pens

A couple of weeks in and the foundations are starting to go down for the new pens.

Big respect to the builders, it was bitterly cold there today, AND sleeting, as you can see from the pictures, but slow, steady progress is being made on the new shelters.

We can rebuild it....better than it was before. better, stronger, well, perhaps not faster

Work began on Friday the 2nd of January on replacing the 2nd batch of wooden shelter pens at Yorkshire Cat Rescue. At huge expense, and thanks to a grant, these old wooden pens, whilst warm and cosy for the cats with an indoor and an outdoor area in each pen, are getting stripped down to be replaced by brand, spanking new, glass and plastic pens, with underfloor heating and a better indoor viewing section for potential adopters. They are allow alot more light in for the cats and are really nice.

These old pens allow the cats to see each other, and this isn't always a good thing as it can stress some of the cats out. the new pens are fully screened and segregated which allows for more privacy. There is already a new pen area erected and I'll get some photo's so you can see what the finished building will look like. Work will take around 3 months for all the electrics and plumbing to be finished. This will see most of the site converted to the newer pens with just 2 blocks of 2 pens left, which they are hoping to complete later in the year, funds willing.

I was really impressed with the guys taking these pens down. I thought there would be alot of noise and disruption for the cats, however the pens are all screwed together which made taking them down fairly easy and not too noisy at all.

The down-side to the work, at least short-term, is the site has had to reduce the number of cats it can hold as these pens are dismantled, and have had to juggle existing cats with fosterers, as well as look at restricting in-coming numbers. However they will almost NEVER refuse an emergency case, and on the day I was there, 5 grown cats arrived the night before from an elderly gentleman who had a fire at his home. he is in hospital and the center has taken the cats in, in the meantime.

That's the way they roll!