Friday, July 11, 2008

Cowboy, Patsy & Elvis

I don't know how it is in your neighborhood but in my neighborhood there has been a stray cat problem developing over the past few years. Every year one stray cat in particular has a litter or two of kittens. For two years my family caught as many as they could and took them to the local shelter hoping they would find homes (it is a no-kill shelter). My mom went to visit that shelter last fall and noticed that they are over-run with cats needing homes. The batch of kittens born last summer were getting big and we hadn't been able to catch them, so my mom and Leah started spending as much time as they could with them every day, feeding them and talking to them. Gradually, over several months, they got to the point where they could pet them. Mom contacted ARF of the Hamptons and got approval to have the 3 kittens fixed along with the mother and one kitten from the previous year that escaped capture back then. One by one with the help of her sister, my mom took the kittens (now nearly full grown) to our local vet to be spayed or neutered. Here is a picture of Cowboy. You can see in the picture that his left ear has been clipped. That is how you can tell a stray cat has been fixed. This way, if someone else catches him they will know he has already been neutered. Cowboy's sister, Patsy, was spayed and she has her ear clipped too. The 3rd kitten, Elvis, (I don't have a picture of him) was also neutered. Unfortunately, mom was never able to catch the mother and the son from the previous year. The mother had two more kittens this summer and now my mom is trying to befriend them. The mother is so smart that the have-a-heart trap won't work and she is very wild. My mom has been trying for FOUR years to make friends with her but no luck. Don't worry though, my mom NEVER gives up when it comes to helping animals!

18 comments:

Jemma Chihuahua said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jemma Chihuahua said...

Pedro,

Does your area have a TNR cat program? (Trap-Neuter-Release). We do here and Mom's been feeding a stray cat she named Mickey who's apparently been living in this area for FOUR years now. One of the rescues are lending us a cat trap and we're going to try and trap him this weekend.. to be neutered, vaccinated, tattooed, etc. Then, he'll be released back into the neighborhood after his evaluation IF he's more "feral" than tame. Bringing him to the SPCA would be giving him a death sentence because no one would want to adopt an older untamed cat.

Mom doesn't bring them to the shelter because most of them are full and the ones who aren't, are kill shelters. :(

So this is the solution here anyway.

I'll make a post about Mickey soon - just wanted to let you know that maybe there are TNR programs near you, too. :)

Love,
Jemma

Pedro said...

Jemma,

That is exactly what ARF does. They will fix the cats for free if you agree to bring them back after. Cowboy, Patsy and Elvis were brought back to our neighborhood. They come to our house alot and my mom will feed them but they are wild and, most likely, un-adoptable. My mom has scars from scratches on her arm when she caught them to get them fixed. It was worth it though to help end the problem. Especially because on of the kittens was female. One of the new kittens this year is female too so it's sooo important to catch her. Thank you for your comment today. I hope you mom is able to catch Mickey. Please let us know!

Pedro

Rambo said...

That's a nice story Pedro. To take care of homeless animals your Mom has to be a good Mom. You should hold on to her and never let her go.

Pedro said...

Thanks Ram. I won't!

Pedro

Goofy said...

Hi Pedro..

Your mom is a great angel helping those homeless animals! We doesn't have those Trap-Neuter-Release programme here over in M'sia.

Thanks for dropping by at my blog! Could I link yours to mine?

Love
Goofy

Pedro said...

Thanks Goof! I added you to my Doggone Good Blogs and would love to be on your blog!

Pedro

Gus, Louie and Callie said...

Thanks for the wonderful comments on us. Your Mom may not think we are so handsome if she knew how HYPER we are... Mom says she needs a farm to wear us out..
Our MeMaw takes in all the strays in Wisconsin. She lives on a farm and just feeds what/who ever shows up..

Big Sloppy Kisses
Gus, Louie and Callie

Lorenza said...

Hi, Pedro!
Your mom is a hero! Those programs you have there are great. We don't have them here.
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

CoCo said...

Pedro, your Mama deserves a good samaritan award. That is so nice of her to help out the community in the population control of the kitties. Your Mama is very patient! Those kitties are lucky to have a nice person looking out for them!

Hugs,
CoCo

JB's Big and Small Worlds said...

Pedro, your mom is so awesome to help the stray cats! That is interesting that they get their ears clipped. I have never heard of that....I wonder if they do that here in TX too. I am glad the kitties go to a no-kill shelter. My mom donates money to the local no-kill shelter here. We have some good moms, don't we?
--JB

Gus, Louie and Callie said...

Yes we will all miss Baby Love but we are hoping that our visit with her Mom tomorrow will cheer her up a bit. She said she just wants to hold Callie and love on her since she thinks she looks so much like Baby Love..
Have a great weekend...

Big Sloppy Kisses
Gus, Louie and Callie

Anonymous said...

It's good that your mom mis helping out with overpopulation. It is so sad to see animals suffer when a routine surgery would help immensely. Keep up the good work Pedro Family!

Jemma Chihuahua said...

Pedro,

Today is the 3rd day we set the trap out. The first two days, Mickey was wary of it. Today, he managed to trigger it, but when Mom ran outside to see if he was caught, he was running AWAY from the trap! He set it off somehow and got away.

Mom's going to feed him for a few days without the trap around to gain his trust back, but he didn't come back after that for his food. :(

Is he going to come back.. ever?

Love,
Jemma

Girl Girl Hamster said...

Your mom sure is nice to help these cats. I hope they get a good furever home

~ Girl girl

Pedro said...

Jemma,

Don't give up on Mickey. If there is a steady source of food he will come back. Hopefully he isn't as smart as the mother cat in my neighborhood. I think she laughs at the trap and calls my mom a silly stupid human!

Pedro

Tatum Tot said...

Those kitties look fun to chase! Of course I wouldn't want any of them to be hurt, though. :)

Pedro said...

Tatum Tot,
Thank you for visiting my blog! Do you have a blog??
Pedro

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