Pretty Boy Floyd is the latest kitty in the feral kitty saga.  I captured him the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 20th.

I got him transferred to a carrier the next morning, and I took him in to get examined and initial shots.  I already know he’s too young to neuter, so I’m going to keep him fostered and see if I can socialize him before he’s old enough to neuter.  His sister is on ten-day quarantine at the vet for biting a vet tech.  I’ll be able to get her on Monday morning.

Some of you may recall me lamenting losing Pretty Boy Floyd in the garage while I attempted to transfer him to the big crate.  After one night on the loose and being completely unsuccessful at finding a little kitten in a big garage, I set the trap again the next night.  Thankfully, Floyd was hungry, so hubby found him in the trap and not very happy the next morning.  Hubby transferred him to the crate.

Yesterday, Floyd was very cooperative by taking refuge in the carrier located in the crate, so I could close the door and clean the cage, scoop the litter (Floyd is a very good litter box user!), refresh water, and provide food.  He wouldn’t come out while I was there (I’ve since learned it’s about a two-week process or longer to build the trust with older feral kitties before they will eat in front of you.)  This morning, I placed the food closer to the crate, and he was hungry enough to come out and eat while I was standing around the corner and talking to him.

Tonight, we got home from being gone all day, and Floyd had pulled the carrier out from the back of the crate and had hidden himself between the carrier and the back of the crate.  No dice, Floyd.  I opened the garage door behind the crate, moved the traps I’d stored between the crate and the door to the third bay, and got down on the ground to talk to Floyd.  He seemed remarkably interested in being talked to.  About that time, hubby brought out some food for Floyd, and we tried putting some on our finger to see if he would take it.  He sniffed but didn’t seem interested.  What he was interested in was being petted.  So Floyd got him some petting and ear rubbing through the mesh of the crate.  He has one loud purr for such a little guy. I had a bear of a time getting him out in front of the crate to get him in there so I could open the door and take care of his crate and get him food, but I tried to make a game of it, and he seemed to enjoy the attention.

After all that, he started running out of the carrier after I put the food in and opened the carrier for him.  Then he remembered he wasn’t supposed to do that and got all shy on me.  But Floyd let his guard drop and showed his hand.  He’s going to be one lover of a kitty.

Here’s a brief update on the other six kitties:

– Peaches has been around and very visible — usually in the evening.

– I don’t think I’ve seen Little Orange since I released her last Saturday morning.  She seemed healthy at the time, but I’m concerned just the same.

– Sneaky has been around regularly.  She is a smart kitty.  I hope I can trap her this week and get her spayed.

– I haven’t seen the other two kittens (the tabby and the tortie) since last Sunday.  I take that back, one of the two walked in and out of the other trap on Tuesday night when I caught Pretty Boy Floyd.  She just wasn’t heavy enough to trigger the trap.  Like Sneaky, she cleaned the trap out but didn’t trigger it.  In fact, I saw both her and Floyd in the traps but hadn’t noticed hers hadn’t tripped yet, so I barged out onto the porch, and she ran (THAT’s when I noticed she hadn’t tripped the trap.  I rebaited the trap, she went in and cleaned it out again. That’s when I realized she wasn’t heavy enough to trip it.

– And, of course, the last one is at the vet’s — I’m looking forward to picking her up and bringing her home on Monday.  She’ll go in with Floyd.  In fact, I think I’ll take Floyd with me to pick her up.  That way they’ll both be in the carrier, making it easier to get them reestablished in the crate.  I’m trying to come up with a name for her.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that Pretty Boy Floyd had a sister, so there goes the easy answer.  She did escape while at the vet (they had a fun time recapturing her), so I looked up female escape artists, but none of their names resonated with me.  Suggestions?

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