For those of you new to the blog for the A-Z Challenge, I’ve been rescuing a small contingent of feral cats in my neighborhood.  For the adult cats, I’ve trapped them, taken them to the vet for shots, examination, and spaying or neutering, then I’ve released them.  There were three adult cats.  Last November I trapped and released two of them.  One has eluded capture, and I call her Sneaky, for what I hope are obvious reasons — she’s too smart to be taken in my trap. There were also four kittens, about three months old back in November, and I trapped all four of them.  They needed to wait a few months before they were old enough to be spayed and neutered, so we worked on socializing the kittens during that time.  They are seven and a half months old now and are still with us.  There are three females and a male.  They’ve been spayed and neutered.  All four adapted to the litter box immediately and have been impeccable house cats from that perspective. The male, a large well-proportioned orange tabby, is a socialization success.  He’s a charmer.  I call him Pretty Boy Floyd. The two middle socialization successes are Bengal striped females.  Both of them can be handled and are doing well.  They are Delta and Ruby Mae.  Ruby Mae is a scrappy little girl whom I suspect is the runt of the litter.  The fourth, a long, lean gray tabby is called Rossie.  She, while being a good house cat, is not willing to be handled and is not interested in much interaction with us.  They are all beautiful, well-dispositioned cats.  While they are technically up for adoption, I’m not anxious to have any of them leave.

Sneaky, I suspect, is pregnant.  We haven’t quite been able to stop the cycle. Peaches and Little Orange, the other adult cats, have not been seen for several weeks in the case of Peaches and not since January for Little Orange (the mother of the four kittens).  Are they roaming to another space or has something happened to them?  I don’t know. That’s the way things are with a feral colony. Those two won’t be making any more kittens, and they have their shots. That’s the best I can do for them.  Sneaky?  I’m still trying to make sure she gets taken care of.