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outsdr Thursday, May 31st, 2007
I got ready for work and left the house, making sure my cat stayed in the house. He wasn't used to being kept inside this long, and was starting to get grouchy, as well as sneaky. Ike and I had played in the yard earlier- it's a morning ritual of ours. But I made sure to keep him on the side of the house opposite where the cages were. I didn't want him barking at the cages where the cats were. I realized that last night was the first time I could remember seeing the gray kitten since it had bitten me Saturday night. I put on some heavy gloves and went back to the cages.
During the night, the mother cat had managed to pull the entire fleece blanket that I had covering the two traps into the cage with her. She glared at me from the top of it. I could get no sense that she had ever been anyone's pet. The black kitten in the other cage panicked when I came near. I picked up it's cage and carried it to car. I wore the gloves not because I was worried about further exposure to rabies, but because I didn't like the idea of getting bit or clawed again.
Both the vet and her assistant were in the office when I got there. She mentioned that she hadn't heard from the lab yet, but she'd call them and then call me at work. I told her I'd be there as soon as I ran home and reset the trap. I said that I was hoping to catch the gray kitten soon, because I didn't want to keep the mother cat cooped up in the trap any longer than necessary. I didn't think it was fair to the cat.
I got home and reset the trap with another can of tuna. By now, my car smelled like rancid tuna. I filled a bottle with water, and while wearing gloves, eased open the door to the trap holding the mother cat, but only high enough to be able to flip the bowl back over. I closed the door, and filled the bowl with water from the bottle. She glared at me the entire time like I was a monster.
And to be honest, I felt like one.
My arms and back were sore. My thighs were sore and stiff, and hurt to move, like muscles feel after exercising heavily for the first time. I got to work and settled in. It was only a little after 8 a.m. I figured I'd go home and check on the trap at 10, but I had an idea later on. I'm on instant messenger whenever I'm on a computer, as is my roommate.
outsdr, 9:23 AM: Hey I need you to do something for me when you get a chance. If you look out the bathroom window, you can see the cat traps. At some point, look out and see if the silver trap has caught anything. If you can't see into the actual trap, you should be able to tell if the gate has dropped at least. This way, I don't have to keep running back and fourth today. The mother cat has been in the trap for over 24 hours now, and it's not right to keep her in there any longer than necessary.
Roommate, 9:40 AM: no still open
outsdr, 9:40 AM: K thanks. I didn't see either of the other two kittens out there this morning.
I concentrated on work for awhile. Around 10, my vet called. She said that the lab had gotten the package, had tested the two kittens, and neither of them were rabid, which was good. She also said that they didn't want her to ship any of the others to them, except for the one that actually bit me when, and if, we finally caught it. She was surprised by that, because she thought they might want the others for statistical purposes or something.
At about 10:30, I went home. The trap had been triggered, but nothing was inside it. The mother cat was lying curled up in the water bowl. I reset the trap, ducked inside for a few minutes to tell my roommate about it, then went back to work.
Roommate, 12:30 PM: trap triggered again, don't think anythings in it though, cause I see 1 black 1 white kitten outside of it, unless there's another cat, going to go check
Roommate, 12:39 PM: nothing. it's reset.
outsdr, 12:39 PM: K, thks. If you didn't where gloves, wash your hands throughly. Was the momma cat still laying in the water bowl?
Roommate, 12:41 PM: no
outsdr, 12:41 PM: I don't want to take any chances that would require YOU to get shots too. A, because THEY SUCK. B, because you don't have insurance.
Roommate, 1:14 PM: Good news. Caught another kitty. Bad news. The one you've been trying to catch wasn't it Only one left now is the white one lol
outsdr, 1:14 PM: God! Ok. I need about 10 more minutes to finish up this ad, then I can run home and get that one.
I finished up the ad I was designing, and drove home and got the trap. The mother cat had burrowed into the blanket, and only one baleful eye stared out at me. The black kitten, however, was crying loudly. "Sorry, kitty," I said. I put the trap in the car, and drove to the vet's office. The kitten cried the entire way.
My vet was alone when I got there; her assistant must have been at lunch or something. Jewel asked me how I was doing. "A little sore from the injections, but that's bearable," I said. "Emotionally, I'm getting tired of bringing kittens to you to be put down." She assured me that as tough as this was, I was doing the right thing, which I already new. I didn't like what I was doing, but the weren't any other options. I didn't have any place to quarantine or cage the cats until I caught the right one, and I needed an empty trap to do that. My vet also told me that not only didn't the city take stray cats, none of the private non-profit groups in the area did either, because there were just too many of them, and no one she knew personally was looking for a cat either. She said that a few weeks ago someone had captured a group of feral kittens and brought them to her to be euthanized; they had held them for awhile and had put up signs in the pet store, but no one had been interested. I told her I thought that even if none of them had rabies, it was best the rest be put down, including the mother. She agreed, because she said otherwise they would just go on and have more kittens, and they weren't ever going to move on from my house, either, in all probability, which would be a problem.
The kitten was still crying in the cage. Without her assistant there, she had no one to help her gas the kitten. She got one of her carrying cages, and we tried to gently dump the kitten out of the trap into that cage, but it was holding on tightly and wouldn't cooperate. I still had my gloves on, so I reached in and grabbed it as firmly as I could by the back of the neck, and trying not to hurt it, I pulled it out of the cage.
It was the first time I've ever heard a kitten scream in terror. "I'm sorry kitty," I said, feeling bad, "but I have to do this." I placed it gently in the bottom of the travel carrier, pulled my arm quickly out, and the vet shut the door fast. I got ready to go. I told her that if I hadn't caught the gray kitten by that afternoon, I was going to bring her the mother cat to be put down. "It probably sounds funny," I said, "considering it's going to be put to sleep anyway, but I don't want to be cruel to it by keeping it in the cage for another night."
I went home to set the trap again. I could still hear that kitten's scream in my head, and it made me feel sad. And angry at the people who let their pet's run around un-neutered, contributing to the stray problem in the first place. And I was angry at anyone who'd ever decided they didn't want to take care of their pets anymore, and had abandoned them, or just dumped them. And I was angry at the city, for not having a proper pound set up to take in stray cats.
And mostly, for not having a better solution, I was angry at myself.
More soon. I'm trying to finish up writing all this, and I'm posting it as I get decent-sized chunks finished.
I got ready for work and left the house, making sure my cat stayed in the house. He wasn't used to being kept inside this long, and was starting to get grouchy, as well as sneaky. Ike and I had played in the yard earlier- it's a morning ritual of ours. But I made sure to keep him on the side of the house opposite where the cages were. I didn't want him barking at the cages where the cats were. I realized that last night was the first time I could remember seeing the gray kitten since it had bitten me Saturday night. I put on some heavy gloves and went back to the cages.
During the night, the mother cat had managed to pull the entire fleece blanket that I had covering the two traps into the cage with her. She glared at me from the top of it. I could get no sense that she had ever been anyone's pet. The black kitten in the other cage panicked when I came near. I picked up it's cage and carried it to car. I wore the gloves not because I was worried about further exposure to rabies, but because I didn't like the idea of getting bit or clawed again.
Both the vet and her assistant were in the office when I got there. She mentioned that she hadn't heard from the lab yet, but she'd call them and then call me at work. I told her I'd be there as soon as I ran home and reset the trap. I said that I was hoping to catch the gray kitten soon, because I didn't want to keep the mother cat cooped up in the trap any longer than necessary. I didn't think it was fair to the cat.
I got home and reset the trap with another can of tuna. By now, my car smelled like rancid tuna. I filled a bottle with water, and while wearing gloves, eased open the door to the trap holding the mother cat, but only high enough to be able to flip the bowl back over. I closed the door, and filled the bowl with water from the bottle. She glared at me the entire time like I was a monster.
And to be honest, I felt like one.
My arms and back were sore. My thighs were sore and stiff, and hurt to move, like muscles feel after exercising heavily for the first time. I got to work and settled in. It was only a little after 8 a.m. I figured I'd go home and check on the trap at 10, but I had an idea later on. I'm on instant messenger whenever I'm on a computer, as is my roommate.
outsdr, 9:23 AM: Hey I need you to do something for me when you get a chance. If you look out the bathroom window, you can see the cat traps. At some point, look out and see if the silver trap has caught anything. If you can't see into the actual trap, you should be able to tell if the gate has dropped at least. This way, I don't have to keep running back and fourth today. The mother cat has been in the trap for over 24 hours now, and it's not right to keep her in there any longer than necessary.
Roommate, 9:40 AM: no still open
outsdr, 9:40 AM: K thanks. I didn't see either of the other two kittens out there this morning.
I concentrated on work for awhile. Around 10, my vet called. She said that the lab had gotten the package, had tested the two kittens, and neither of them were rabid, which was good. She also said that they didn't want her to ship any of the others to them, except for the one that actually bit me when, and if, we finally caught it. She was surprised by that, because she thought they might want the others for statistical purposes or something.
At about 10:30, I went home. The trap had been triggered, but nothing was inside it. The mother cat was lying curled up in the water bowl. I reset the trap, ducked inside for a few minutes to tell my roommate about it, then went back to work.
Roommate, 12:30 PM: trap triggered again, don't think anythings in it though, cause I see 1 black 1 white kitten outside of it, unless there's another cat, going to go check
Roommate, 12:39 PM: nothing. it's reset.
outsdr, 12:39 PM: K, thks. If you didn't where gloves, wash your hands throughly. Was the momma cat still laying in the water bowl?
Roommate, 12:41 PM: no
outsdr, 12:41 PM: I don't want to take any chances that would require YOU to get shots too. A, because THEY SUCK. B, because you don't have insurance.
Roommate, 1:14 PM: Good news. Caught another kitty. Bad news. The one you've been trying to catch wasn't it Only one left now is the white one lol
outsdr, 1:14 PM: God! Ok. I need about 10 more minutes to finish up this ad, then I can run home and get that one.
I finished up the ad I was designing, and drove home and got the trap. The mother cat had burrowed into the blanket, and only one baleful eye stared out at me. The black kitten, however, was crying loudly. "Sorry, kitty," I said. I put the trap in the car, and drove to the vet's office. The kitten cried the entire way.
My vet was alone when I got there; her assistant must have been at lunch or something. Jewel asked me how I was doing. "A little sore from the injections, but that's bearable," I said. "Emotionally, I'm getting tired of bringing kittens to you to be put down." She assured me that as tough as this was, I was doing the right thing, which I already new. I didn't like what I was doing, but the weren't any other options. I didn't have any place to quarantine or cage the cats until I caught the right one, and I needed an empty trap to do that. My vet also told me that not only didn't the city take stray cats, none of the private non-profit groups in the area did either, because there were just too many of them, and no one she knew personally was looking for a cat either. She said that a few weeks ago someone had captured a group of feral kittens and brought them to her to be euthanized; they had held them for awhile and had put up signs in the pet store, but no one had been interested. I told her I thought that even if none of them had rabies, it was best the rest be put down, including the mother. She agreed, because she said otherwise they would just go on and have more kittens, and they weren't ever going to move on from my house, either, in all probability, which would be a problem.
The kitten was still crying in the cage. Without her assistant there, she had no one to help her gas the kitten. She got one of her carrying cages, and we tried to gently dump the kitten out of the trap into that cage, but it was holding on tightly and wouldn't cooperate. I still had my gloves on, so I reached in and grabbed it as firmly as I could by the back of the neck, and trying not to hurt it, I pulled it out of the cage.
It was the first time I've ever heard a kitten scream in terror. "I'm sorry kitty," I said, feeling bad, "but I have to do this." I placed it gently in the bottom of the travel carrier, pulled my arm quickly out, and the vet shut the door fast. I got ready to go. I told her that if I hadn't caught the gray kitten by that afternoon, I was going to bring her the mother cat to be put down. "It probably sounds funny," I said, "considering it's going to be put to sleep anyway, but I don't want to be cruel to it by keeping it in the cage for another night."
I went home to set the trap again. I could still hear that kitten's scream in my head, and it made me feel sad. And angry at the people who let their pet's run around un-neutered, contributing to the stray problem in the first place. And I was angry at anyone who'd ever decided they didn't want to take care of their pets anymore, and had abandoned them, or just dumped them. And I was angry at the city, for not having a proper pound set up to take in stray cats.
And mostly, for not having a better solution, I was angry at myself.
More soon. I'm trying to finish up writing all this, and I'm posting it as I get decent-sized chunks finished.
