Poor Curly Cat

[Veronica]

Curly is one of the ferals that hangs around my house. He was still unneutered, along with a male kitten that looks just like him, so we have had the trap out. Poor Curly was in it when I got home from the gym yesterday so he got his trip to the vet for Christmas. The vet agreed that he is really friendly for a feral and probably began life with a home. She said he needed extra sedation drugs. Poor guy. He was still pretty out of it when we brought him home last night, so he got to spend the night in the garage.

I hope he continues to hang around. We haven't had very good luck in keeping the neutered males. The vet is closed through the weekend so the kitten will not be getting the same Christmas present.

Veronica

[Tuckervill]

How noble of you to take responsibility for that. Poor guy. He'll be up and about in no time, I'm sure.

Karen

[ClockworkOrange]

Hi Veronica

Well, Curly sure is a lucky cat to have you to care for him.

Maybe if he appears again soon, try and get a quick photo of him, then he will have international feral fame if you post it here.

Nice story.

Have a good Christmas yourself.

Clock

[Veronica]

We have 5 feral girl kitties who hang around our house. They have all been spayed. I started feeding the first one in 2003. We didn't think about spaying her until after she had three kittens in our backyard. We got a trap and the deal is, if you eat our food you get neutered. Since then we've probably neutered 15 cats or so. All of the regulars will let me touch them now - except Curly Kitten. Some of them actually seem to enjoy petting and will rub up against me before going to eat.

Oh... and they all have really inventive names. There's Mama Kitty, the first cat. She had Gray Kitty, Black Kitty (who disappeared) and MC (Mama Colored.) Gray Kitty was tough to trap and she had Black Kitten and Goggles (who died in our backyard.) I actually ended up picking up Gray Kitty and stuffing her into the trap to get her to the vet. Pretty Eyes kind of looks like Mama and MC, but I don't know if she is related. Curly Cat has a curly tail and Curly Kitten looks like a miniature Curly Cat. We also have Evil Boy. He's been neutered and comes around once a week or so. He torments the girls, except Pretty Eyes, hence the name.

We've had Big Paws, White Tip, Grumpy, Noisy and probably some others that I'm forgetting.

Veronica

[Aggie_Ama]

V- You earned cookies and whatever holiday treats you enjoy! We had an organization at A&M that trapped and sterilized feral cats but it is awesome y'all do it on your own. Does your vet give you a discount?

[Brandi]

good for you! We have a really handsome silver tabby boy on our street who needs to be snipped as well.

[Veronica]

I go to a different vet for the ferals than for my indoor kitties. It's $25 to neuter boys and $40 for the girls. The feral vet advertises that she is low cost. Our indoor kitties, Cassie and Tucker were neutered when we got them, so I don't know if that is cheap or not. Cassie and Tucker are rescues from HALO. It seems to me I paid $80 or so to spay Tilda back in 1990. But what I really like is that I can bring them in with no appointment. You never know when they'll decide the food in the trap looks good. We can afford it and I do enjoy watching the outdoor kitties. Mama Cat has been in a goofy mood lately... racing up the trees in the back yard for no apparent reason. While I know their lives aren't great, they are better. Our yard is safe. We're at the end of a street so there is not much traffic. They get food and fresh water every day. Hopefully they are not too much of a nuisance to the neighbors. And we keep them from reproducing willy nilly.

Veronica

[PamNY]

Best Christmas wishes to Curly Cat -- and you, too. I really admire people who help ferals.

Pam

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Good for you Veronica. I wish there were more people like you around, helping kitties who can't help themselves, even when you cannot give them all homes yourself. Good work.

[Aggie_Ama]

That seems low cost, we have a similar clinic here. I think I paid $89 in 2001 to spay my Heidi (dog). We did do some supplemental blood work but I think the spay itself was $60 of it. I enjoy the cats in our neighborhood so hopefully your neighbors don't mind!

[andtckrtoo]

Veronica - I love that you do that!! You are earning great karma!!

That's dirt cheap. I paid over $150 to neuter my dog. But I trusted the vet and this is my buddy.

[Biciclista]

Veronica! congrats on catching Curly, i hope you catch his son soon too.
The only feral i ever caught here was Enza's mother. we had her spayed, caught all 4 of her kittens, and we let her go. She stuck around for about 6 weeks, then disappeared. I am not sure she survived after that. However, all her daughters were socialized by my family and Enza of course, rules the house.
:-)

[bmccasland]

I'm still working on making friends with Midnight - a mostly black (with some grey) kitty I've been feeding on my front porch. Some mornings she's out there even begging for food. I think one of my neighbors also feeds her, so I need to ask her if Midnight has ever seen a vet. As tomorrow's Christmas, she'll get something special in her bowl. Actually she's been getting pretty special vittles - the rejects of the brands that my picky anorexic Bonnie cat.

[Veronica]

Curly came by tonight and got some dinner. He's forgiven me taking him to the vet - lots of rubbing and purring.

Veronica

[bmccasland]

Curly came by tonight and got some dinner. He's forgiven me taking him to the vet - lots of rubbing and purring.

Veronica

Yaaayyy!

I got a leg rub for the first time from Midnight this morning. It was mild enough outside that I sat on the front stoop after taking out her breakfast. She even let me pet her a bit. I noticed that one of her ear tips was docked, which leads me to believe that my neighbor round-the-corner who also feeds strays took her in to be spayed. I know she's tried to catch and de-sex all the neighborhood cats that come to her porch. I think Midnight is on the lower end of the pecking order which is why she comes over to my house.

Maybe we can't take care of ALL the unloved and unwanted 4-foots out there, but we can at least spread a little love.