Maybe you will remember this little girl, Smudge? She is one of the cats in the Bentley Street cat colony, the first feral cat colony I worked on back in April.
This is a small colony, and we trapped, neutered and returned a dozen or 14 of the cats in a 4 day spree of trapping. I kept my cat Bobby from that colony, as he has a handicap and could not be released.
Well, Smudge and one black female have been elusive and wary of the traps and have led us on a merry chase for the past many months.
UNTIL LAST EVENING. One of the caretakers caught Smudge, and brought her over. I took her in for her spay today. Smudge will be 2 years old in mid- to late December. She has had 3 litters, that we know of. She weighed 8.2 pounds today at the vet's. She is now staying with me for her 5 days of post op, while she recovers.
THE PROBLEM. One of the three caretakers has been making "friends" with Smudge, and getting this little lady to jump in her lap and such. That is how she caught the cat last evening. No trap! She just held the cat and then placed her in a carrier. So now I have this sweet girl who does not appear very feral AT ALL, who is letting me pet her, and I am supposed to put her back outside next week?
Each of the 3 caretakers has added a cat from the colony during the summer, so they have 4 cats each now. (OK, not very many by PT standards! )
I think I am in trouble here! I had the vet test her for FIV and FeLV (both were negative); I had to pay for that myself as the TNR group doesn't do that testing on cats to be released. And I have started calling this little girl "Sara." Oh my.
What do I do?????
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