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!