Vienna Sausage To The Rescue!

The title may be a tad misleading, I have visions of you imagining a Vienna sausage with a bejewelled cape and a mask, ready to swoop down and save humanity!

Well, it isn't that dramatic, but in a small way, the heroic act of one sausage, saved our feral female cat Bella from a lifetime of pregnancy, unwanted litters of kittens, and more and more problems as each litter grew to maturity and starting breeding!

Read on;

As you may (or may not know), there is a little feral cat family living just over the wall in the farmland behind our neighbour Emma's garden. For several years we have been feeding Blackjack, who recently disappeared from our lives, and the really sad thing is that we don't know what has happened to him. We have searched, called, asked around and searched again, to no avail. We only hope that he moved on and is safely eating someone else's food.

Then last year a fat tortie (tortoiseshell) female arrived in Emma's garden. We tried to trap her but she managed to avoid being caught for a week or so, and then I had to return the trap so we planned to try again in the new year.

Which we did..... try that is, but each time she just would not go into the trap. We tried tuna, salmon, biltong, special pouches of kitten food.... but nothing worked. I even borrowed a second trap because Blackjack kept nudging Bella away from the original trap!

BUT... we were suddenly aware of a gorgeous black and white fellow who arrived one morning with Blackjack and Bella. Young enough to be her kitten! But a teenager, not a tiny. But Blackjack was not to blame because he had been neutered several months before Bella's arrival. So the newcomer was named Peanut, and as he was quite happy to head into the trap, we carted him off to the vet and he came home a little sore, very bewildered, but safely 'fixed'!

And Bella simply chuckled at us all.
And carried on eating and getting fat!

Daily Emma and I looked at her and I said 'We must get her fixed' and Emma said 'She looks pregnant!'....... and life happened and the weeks passed.

Until one day a few weeks ago, Emma called me to say 'Bella's got three kittens!' I went next door, peered over the back wall into the farmland.... and there, sure enough, were three kittens. Two gingers and one darker. But not teeny ones! They had open eyes, they were playing and leaping on each other, chasing leaves and stretching in the sun.

And Bella watched them proudly and looked at us!

So, I knew it was now desperately important to trap her. Goodness knows where she had hidden them until they were big enough to be seen, but there they were. And she would be pregnant again in no time (if she wasn't already).

Emma started giving her extra food for the kittens, and every day Bella came closer and closer to Emma to get her ration of Vienna sausages, one at a time, that she took back over the wall to the waiting babies.
On Monday Michelle dropped the trap off.

Yesterday I used one of Emma's Viennas as bait and set the trap.

I hid round the corner to watch. Both Bella and Peanut arrived, but Peanut isn't very keen on Viennas, so he had a sniff and moved on to the pellets!

Bella walked round the trap which was covered with a towel. She sniffed and sniffed and finally moved to the open door. She stuck her head in and I held my breath. But the smell of the sausage was all she needed.

She went in completely.... and I waited for what seemed hours but was maybe 10 seconds until.....clunk. The trap sprung, the door closed and we had her!

That is one of the best sounds in the world! A door closing on a trapped cat, especially if the cat inside is the one that needed catching.

Off to the vet we went and we picked her up yesterday afternoon. She spent last night in a large dog-size travelling crate, with food and water and room to move and this morning Rob and I carried the box over to Emma's back garden and opened the door expecting her to shoot out like a bullet from a gun.
She walked out quietly, looked at us all gathered there and went off over the wall to her family.
Emma went to peep and they were all together.

Next month?

Three kittens....

I hope that Emma keeps a good supply of Viennas!

Spring and Things!

So, here we are, in theory winter is over, spring is officially here, and we can look forward to a long, hot, dry slide into Christmas and 2018!!

Scary isn't it?

Anyway, before we all get maudlin, let me bring you up to date on The Week That Was.
I think I mentioned that I wanted to make a house for the cats? For Juniper (fixed), Jasmine (read on), and Jennifer (to be fixed). I started looking round for suitable containers and eyeing the wheelie bins that had been left on the road after bin collection, working out which one I could 'borrow' for a very good cause.

Then, suddenly, problem was sorted. Emma and Coert (our wonderful neighbours), had a small kennel that was not being used and they were happy to give it to me. So, round it came in a wheelbarrow and I cleaned it out, lined it with a couple of large empty birdfood bags, a piece of carpet (brand new) and a fluffy blanket (ditto). Rob and I drove round the corner and placed it in the corner of the garden where the cats seem to hang out.

It's beautiful, waterproof and warm.

And I think that they are using it because l have seen Juniper sitting just outside the doorway very often at food delivery times.

Cat-Trap Update!

I thought that I would follow-up on my last rambling writings as I left you kind of in the lurch. I had the trap, my daughter was due to arrive and hopefully I could report some positive news!

Read on!
As Tuesday 8 August was the International Day of the Cat, this report back about cats seemed to tie in very nicely. The International Day of the Cat was started in 2002, and August 8 is the Day! In this house, every day is the day of the cat, so Tuesday slid by without being noticed!! At that stage we were making sure that the abscess on Morris' head was clean and that we were managing to shove the antibiotic down him morning and evening. (I bless the pill-popper every time I use it!)

Anyway....digression time there as usual!
Catherine has trapped many cats in her time in Dubai, so she took charge. We decided to trap in the early morning so that we could get the patient to the vet early and have her awake by the time we picked her up later in the day. Also, we didn't want an awake and agitated feral spending more time in the trap than was necessary. So, 6.30 on Thursday morning last week (gulp, still dark), we grabbed torch, dish with tuna, trap, blanket and a cable tie to close the 'front' door once we had placed the dish with tuna inside and crept past the still sleeping houses and into the garden where I always put the food. Catherine set the trap while I stood watching and holding the torch for her, she covered it with a blanket, and home we came for coffee and breakfast (thanks to Rob!)

After breakfast Catherine went back to see if we had caught anything.... yes! There was a tabby in the trap, quietly crouching and warily watching!

We loaded the trap into the car and set off to the vet! I was elated that it had been so easy, Catherine popped my bubble by calling it 'beginners luck'!

The vet was in darkness!!! No power.....no operation. They didn't know what the problem was, but until it was fixed they couldn't help us..... come back tomorrow!
We left and trekked off in thick mist to find the other vet!

They were open, had power and yes they could (and did) help, so we dropped our little terrified tabby and headed for the Hospice Shop as Thursday is my volunteering morning! When we returned to the vet later in the afternoon, (after a delicious lunch of fish and chips and salad at the nursery in St Helena Bay), our little soul was still very drowsy, so we decided to leave her in the trap overnight in the garage, covered with a blanket with food and water available.

By now I was ready to catch another one!

So, Friday at 6.30 (eish) we carried our still occupied trap, plus the torch, food, etc back to the feeding station and let her out! Off she went, none the worse for wear and we re-set the trap and went home!
When we returned an hour later...success! There was another catch!

Except this time, instead of a feral that we wanted, we had caught the cat who lives next door! And he was furious! I have never seen such an angry cat. He spat and growled, his tail was puffed like a bottlebrush, and if looks could kill both Catherine and I would have dropped on the spot!
He shot off home to tell everyone about his adventures!

So we went home empty-trapped.

Catherine went home later on Friday, and I have tried this week alone. With no luck. I was going to try again yesterday but there was rain in the forecast (yay yay yay) so I am leaving it till next week.
Juniper (the patient) is fine, I have seen her a few times when I feed, so hopefully I shall catch Jasmine and Jennifer next week. Why all the J names? After Jacobsbaai of course! (My sister said I should have called them January, June and July. Guess Jan, June and Julia would have worked!)

Fortunately Michelle does not need the trap at the moment, so hopefully I have time to catch before they are 'in trouble'.

Now I am planning to make a little house for them from a wheelie bin. I shall cut a hole in the lid, lie the bin on its side with the lid closed and have blankets inside. I think it will make a super house.

Next step..... steal a bin!!

Cat-Trap Boogie!

I know that I have mentioned before (several times I bet), the fact that we have several pre-owned cats living loose and fancy free in the village. I know for a fact that many of them were simply left behind when the owners moved, and others have been especially brought into the village and dumped.
Disgusting behaviour? Yes. But sadly that is what I expect these days from the so called humans who live here.

And of course, these cats roam around until they find somewhere to settle, usually in someone's garden...... we have Blackjack who has lived here for a couple of years and who comes regularly every evening for his plate of Friskies! He is neutered and therefore cannot chase the ladies and leave offspring scattered around! And our three ex-pre-loved cats have accepted him, although he has still not accepted Rob and me. He still hisses and scuttles backwards out of our reach when we put his food down! One day maybe......

Blackjack having supper!