Feral Cat Adventures Part 2

September 12, 2016 by JoAnna 14 Comments

“Patch”

A couple of months ago, I wrote about our old feral church cat, Moses, who turned out to be Miss Moses, since we found out she was a girl. Miss Moses had cancer eating away at her mouth, and though she continued to eat plenty of canned cat food, she became more emaciated. She was sleeping a lot, and still feral, would not accept care for her skin and ears. We decided that it was time to say goodbye to Miss Moses on Sunday. Her body is now buried in a semi-secret spot, but her spirit has crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

Leaving food out for Miss Moses attracted another feral cat who started hanging around our church about a year ago. The new cat, a very feral black and white, later showed up with kittens, so I started calling her Mama Cat. When her two surviving kittens looked about 5 months old, I realized we needed to take action to keep our feral cat colony from exploding.

Getting used to the carrier with food inside. Hungry Mama makes a rare entrance, while Patch looks to see if there’s room for her.

After a few weeks of getting the kittens used to me and used to eating in the carriers, and two nights in captivity, our  big kittens were spayed and got rabies and distemper shots. They each got the tip of one ear clipped and blue tattoo lines under their incisions to show they’ve been spayed.

The black and white kitten, who we’ve named “Patch,” has a bad eye which will likely need to be removed. Patch has become quite friendly and allows me to pet her, even without the enticement of food. But she she will not allow me to pick her up yet without squirming like crazy. Her bad eye is better and no longer leaking, but will probably still need to be removed at some point. Her less social sister, Gray is coming along slowly.

Patch and Gray

As I was preparing to get the kittens ready for their trip to the spay/neuter clinic, I didn’t see Mama cat much. When I did see her, she looked bigger in the belly making me wonder. When I was in the midst of getting the big kittens spayed, it became obvious their mama was pregnant again.

The lesson learned: Don’t procrastinate! Neuter and Spay!

(Feral Cat Adventures, Part 3 will be coming soon!)

UPDATE 12/10/16:  Patch got her eye surgery and was adopted by the vet-tech who fell in love with her. Mama Cat and daughter Gray are fat and furry and doing well at the church. I can pet them while they eat, but that’s as far as we go which is okay.