Simply Art-Rageous!

I’ve taken a lot of pictures of “my” feral cats since I started this crazy mission in December 2016.  Between images I’ve gotten from my classroom window with a telephoto lens, and images captured by the trail cam that my friend, Tonya, has generously allowed me to borrow, I’ve not only been able to learn the cats’ routines (such as they are), but I’ve also been able to better identify who’s who by their markings from a variety of angles.

A lot has been going on since I last posted about the ferals towards the end of February.  For starters, I became aware of a new cat–most likely a male, given its size–when he (?) showed up on the trail cam on the night of February 28th.

I’m not sure if it’s white or a very light orange, but it appears to be a solid color with no noticeable pattern in its coat.  (My co-worker spotted him in a tree one night when she was picking up the food bowl, and she said he was huge.  Her first thought was “white jaguar.” 😉 )

On March 2nd, White-Calico #2 showed up for breakfast.  She’s one of the “regulars” at the feeding station, and some mornings I’ve seen her waiting for me at a distance when I drive up to bring the food.

In addition to the cats, however, other critters show up, too.  Even if the food bowl has been picked up (which we try to do each evening, but can’t always do due to schedule conflicts), they can usually find something in one of the dumpsters.

On March 4th, a Saturday, I got another look at the large male with the injury behind his left ear.  I was very glad to see him eating, and I knew I would have to figure out a way to trap him as soon as possible….

Things were then completely quiet until later in the day when White-Calico #1 came for food.  I consider her another “regular,” and I’ve seen her at all times during the day.

The long-haired kitty with the poofy tail that I’d seen on the trail cam previously showed up a little after 6 pm on March 4th. I’ve never seen her in “real” time, but I guess her tail is just made this way!

Late that evening, the light-colored male (pretty darned sure it’s a male now) came to the feeding station.  I hadn’t seen him for several days, but of course I know that these cats have other food sources.  No idea where they are when I don’t see them…

With our school on Spring Break–and after the trash service emptied the dumpsters on Monday, March 6th–I knew that the cats who rely on the food from our dining hall would be getting hungry.  I set out the traps during the afternoon of March 8th–and I waited….

I was delighted to see the white and orange male, but he showed absolutely no interest in the food in the traps.  At one point, he had the audacity to lie down and bathe near the traps, and all I could do was watch in frustration!

But finally, finally around 6:15, he walked towards a trap and followed the trail of food to the trip plate.  TRAPPED!

Because it was so late in the day–and the SPCA was closed–I had to keep him confined over night.  He was SO scared and SO bewildered, but I shut him in a secure area, covered up the trap and wished him all the best….

The next morning, March 9th, I got him to the SPCA when they opened.  I told the intake crew that I was pretty sure he was Sienna’s father, and based on his markings, they said that was likely.

Remember Sienna, the cute little fuzzball I trapped in January?

She’s a proper young lady now, socialized, spayed, and recently adopted!  In other good news, I learned that all four kittens from the first trapping in December have been adopted, too.  This makes my heart happy. 🙂

After leaving the SPCA, I went back to school and set up the traps again, hoping to catch one of the other “new” kitties.  Sadly, I caught no one, and the only cat I saw the whole afternoon was the orange and white girl.  I was sure she was going to get herself trapped for a third time (sigh), but fortunately that didn’t happen. (I also came close to trapping a young ‘possum, but she ran up a tree when I drove around to pick up the traps after dark.)

Meanwhile, the male at the SPCA was neutered, his wounds were treated, and he was given an injectable antibiotic in addition to a rabies vaccination.  He weighed in at 12 pounds–quite a big boy, especially for a feral!  I didn’t pick him up until mid-morning on Friday, March 10th (due to having traps set up until dark the day before), and I talked to him during the whole drive back.  I recorded this short video when I released him:

After he bolted out of the trap, I watched him slowly make his way down the hill towards the woods.  He stopped to sniff several times (no doubt checking to see what had been going on since he’d been so rudely abducted…) and then he reached what must be his favorite fallen long, sharpened his claws, and streeettttccched.  As I’ve felt with each release, it’s not a safe world, but it’s their world; you do the best you can….

When I put food out for the cats on Saturday, March 11th, I set up the trail cam again, hoping to catch a glimpse of the big TNR boy, just to make sure he was doing okay.  While I didn’t see him, there were other surprises in store for me when I downloaded the pictures off the card on Sunday morning.

White-Calico #1 had visited.  No surprise there.

The orange and white girl had visited, too.  No surprise there, either, but my goodness this cat is so beautiful…..

Saturday night, the long-haired black kitty–trapped in mid January–stopped by.  So nice to see her!

Floofy-Tail also made an appearance just before 8 pm on Saturday evening.  I’m assuming this is a female, but I won’t know until I trap her.  (Or him….)

And then, early on Sunday morning, March 12th, THIS picture showed up on the camera!  Oh, wow–happy tears!  It’s the original “Mama-Cat” that I trapped back in December and hadn’t seen since releasing her!!  With her distinctive face markings, I knew it was Mama, and I confirmed it by comparing it with my other pictures of her.

At that point I made the connection… Remember the cat surrounded by raccoons in the feeding station?  It wasn’t a new cat–it was this cat!

As a final non-surprise, but something nice thing to see, White-Calico #2 was the last picture on the trail cam before I picked it up on Sunday morning.

What made this special was that all FIVE of my TNR girls were captured on the trail cam in one 24-hour period. 🙂

Obviously, there are still “known” cats to trap–these:

Due to too many things going on during this last week of my spring break (impending snow, vets at the SPCA out for a conference, dentist appointment, etc.) I’m not sure when I’ll have the opportunity to try to trap again.  For now, though, I am thankful to know that all of the kittens I’ve trapped have been adopted, and that all of the adult females I’ve trapped are still alive and well.  I am so very appreciative of and thankful for the use of this trail cam.  Thanks again, Tonya! <3

Things were quiet (TOO quiet) for a couple of weeks when we had the unseasonably warm, Spring-like temperatures.  I hadn’t seen the white & calico girl at the feeding station for over a week, and the most regular participant–the orange and white girl–hadn’t show up for several days.  My co-worker, who picks up the food bowls most evenings, said that some nights there was food left in the bowls.   That information–combined with reports from members of the maintenance staff who said they’d seen coyotes moving closer and closer to the main campus–left me feeling quite concerned.

To try to find out if the cats were still visiting at all, I set up the trail cam on Friday, February 24th and let it run through Monday morning, February 27th.  When I had a chance to review the pictures on the card, there were some big surprises!

First up was the orange and white kitty.  She apparently noticed the trail cam when she came to the feeding area a little before 5:00 pm on Friday.  I love these pictures of her, and I was so happy to see her!

Shortly before dark on Friday, the girls (who are helping with the ferals on the weekends) picked up the food bowl.  A little later, at almost 7:30 pm, an unfamiliar cat showed up on the trail cam.  I’m not sure what’s up with the bottle-brush tail, but I guess something (the flash of the camera?) startled it.  I wish more of its face was in range of the camera, but the mark of white on the back right foot may help to identify it in other pictures.

I was absolutely DELIGHTED to see pictures of the white & calico girl in pictures from next evening, Saturday, February 25th.   She, like the orange and white kitty, intently checked out the trail cam, and this made for some nice “selfies.”

As I went through more pictures, however, I realized that THIS white and calico was the first one I trapped, and not the one (white & calico #2) who regularly comes to the feeding station!  Well, whatever–I was very happy to see #1, too!

The food bowls were picked up again before dark on Saturday evening (thanks, girls!), and shortly before 2:00 am on Sunday morning,  there were some totally crazy happenings at the feeding station.  Yikes!!

I don’t know who this kitty is….  I thought it was the gray cat I first saw in late January, but the markings don’t seem to match, especially with the dark patch under the throat in the pictures above.  Edited to add that I HAVE seen this cat before–saw it on the trail cam on February 1st:

At any rate, the cat apparently escaped safely, because the next image just showed the raccoons!

About a half hour later, at 2:16 am on Sunday morning, the raccoons were gone, and the camera captured a cat investigating the feeding station.  Is this the same cat as the one with the bottle-brush tail in an earlier picture? Notice the white mark on the back right leg….   I don’t know!!  (BTW, if you click on the picture, you’ll get a much larger view.  Just be sure to click back instead of x-ing out of the picture.)

A little before 9:00 am on Sunday morning, the orange and white girl was back….

The next surprise–HUGE surprise!–was an image on the trail cam Sunday afternoon.  I think I know this kitty!  Several weeks ago, my co-worker and I saw this cat and a gray cat down over the hill, some distance from the feeding station and the dumpsters.  My co-worker had said they were being “noisy,” and at the time I wondered if it was possibly two males getting ready to fight.  Well, this is pretty obviously a male, given the big, fat face with the injuries on the left side, and it’s the first time I’ve seen it near the feeding station.

On Monday, February 27th, shortly before I got to school, the other white and calico girl (my regular visitor) had her picture taken, too.

While I was so relieved to see 3 of the 5 TNR girls over one weekend (the orange and white girl and both white & calicoes) I’m again made aware of the number of cats on campus.  Just because I haven’t been seeing anyone during the school day, they’re still out there, but following a different routine for some reason.

I’m going to set the trail cam out for another day or two to try to get a better idea of who’s visiting and when they’re most often visiting.  I may have to try trapping during the late afternoon over Spring Break, but obviously it will have to be before dark to avoid trapping raccoons….

I didn’t trap anyone last week (sigh…), and I just haven’t had the time this week to set the traps out.  However, I HAVE set up the trail cam a few times.  Sometimes there’s been nothing on the camera, but on the evening of February 1st, I got a couple of good pictures:

I’m pretty sure that the cat in the foreground is the long-ish haired black kitty.  If you look closely, it appears that the top of the left ear has been tipped.

But take a look at the cat behind her with its perfectly pointy ear….  I’m wondering if this could be the orange kitten that I couldn’t trap last month (even though I trapped its sister). Could it have grown that much between the last time I saw it and now?  I’m not sure….

And this picture was also on the camera:

At first I thought it was the gray cat with white socks that I saw last week:

But nope–the gray kitty doesn’t have as much white on the side of its face.  (!)

Weather and time permitting, I’ll try to set out the traps again a few days next week.  Based on my pictures and others I’ve seen, I guess there are at least 4 untrapped cats coming to the feeding station.  (And yes, I’m probably naive by saying “4”…)

In the meantime, I’m trying to find some other boarding students who will be willing to help out with feeding on the weekend.  The girls who’ve been doing this for the last few weeks have been great, but they’re teenagers who’d really love to have a weekend “off” to sleep until noon!  As a thank you for their help, I made each of them a cat-themed coin purse. 🙂

Last week one of my co-workers told me that his children had seen a couple of half-grown kittens on another part of our large campus.    After the kids showed me where they’d seen them (in and around a large pile of cut trees where a new road is going in), I set up the trail cam to see if anyone showed up.

The camera didn’t record any kitties, and there have been no new sightings…. 🙁

On Monday, January 16th, the only cat I personally saw was our regular–the orange and white girl.  She visits the feeding station just about every day.

On Tuesday, January 24th, I saw a really fat kitty approaching the feeder.  I got my camera, zoomed in, and was surprised to see that this was the second TNR white & calico girl that I hadn’t seen since I released her on January 13th!  Clearly, these cats are eating well somewhere, but I’m not sure if they’re just eating leftover food from the dining hall that they find in the dumpsters, or if they’re finding food somewhere else.  No clue…

The orange and white girl also showed up again on Tuesday. No surprise, there. 🙂

People on campus have told me they’ve seen the long-haired TNR black kitty since she was released on the afternoon of January 13th, so I know she’s doing well, too, and one of my co-workers said she saw her at the feeding station.

Early Wednesday morning (January 25th), I got a text from my co-worker about two cats “acting strange” down in the woods–cats she hadn’t seen before (oh geez….).  One was gray with white feet, and the other was white with some orange on it.  She said they were making a lot of noise.  Hmmm… Territorial dispute OR a girl and boy kitty in the early stages of “courtship”?

I wasn’t sure what to do since we weren’t aware of these cats coming to the feeding station, and I wasn’t totally prepared.  But since I still HAD traps, I set out a total of four in a couple of different locations.  I had some not-too-smelly canned food to use as bait (surprised I had it in my car–ha–imagine that….) AND I put some food in the feeding station to try to draw them closer.  Soon, one of the “new” cats–the gray one–made its way to the feeding station.  I didn’t see the other new one, though I’ll admit that I’m not ALWAYS looking out the windows of the art room! 😉

This one cautiously ate, then disappeared down into the woods.  It bypassed all the traps, but I guess I’ll set them out again tomorrow using better “bait.”

While I might “RE-catch” some, I’d sure love to trap the two we spotted today in order to add them to the Clipped Ear Club!