Cat Sense

I love books about cat behavior and recently came across an excellent one called "Cat Sense" by John Bradshaw. What I liked about this book is his take on the evolution of domestic cats. It is essentially the archaeology of domestic cats. His premise is that humans are gradually eliminating tame behavior, the very behavior humans cultivated, from the domestic cat population. Great read, especially if you are interested in cat genetics.

March 2014

"Hello is this Pam? I need to talk to you about the cats I am feeding. I need your help. There are about 30 cats and the neighbors are complaining. Cats are pooping in their yard. You need to do something". This is a typical call I receive on a daily basis. Yes, everyone seems to have too many cats! Why? Because they did not fix the cat that showed up on their doorstep before one cat became 30 cats...No one seems to realize the time, money, and effort required to fix 30 cats as opposed to one cat. And, these calls become even more urgent when it is kitten season - then, of course, it costs even more $$$ to fix pregnant cats. Why did they not call in December?

OK I have to complain once in a while but spaying and neutering cats is not always advised, especially when veterinarians tell clients to wait until the female cat is six months old before spaying her. Cats can go in to heat as early as six months of age...Or, the caregiver had heard it was good to let "mama have one litter" before spaying or, my favorite, the kittens need to be weaned before spaying mom. I have direct evidence of a cat having gotten pregnant the day after she gave birth! My motto is "spay the cat when you can". This is because the worst thing that can happen to a cat is not being fixed.

Now for the good news! I TNR'd 222 cats in February 2014. Was a very busy month as February's always are! Had a couple of big colonies including two with 27 cats each and a 34 cat colony for the Dr. Kit's mobile on 2/20. Below are some highlights of these adventures. Thank you Dr. Kit for these wonderful free clinics so we can help caregivers in need.

The following photos are some highlights of these successful trappings. 

Why are there so many Tortie's out there?

Too many cats!

Waiting to be trapped!

Let's see who can get in that trap first!

All of the cats shown above are now fixed...

If you are feeding cats in the Phoenix area and need assistance 

getting them fixed - please call or email me: C 602-717-2287; 

pekalish@gmail.com

The last two photos were from cats in the 85051 zip code. 

Funding is available from the AHS to help cats in 85051 as 

well as other zip codes in that area of Phoenix and Glendale.

Week of 10 February 2014

Caregivers have have been feeding cats at this defunct poultry processing facility since 1954 according to owner's relative. There have not been chickens there for at least 15 years, but the cats remained, breeding out of control...And NONE of them had been fixed. They are now - or at least 43 of them are! 

Cats go in, out and under this house

The photo at the right is of the
original main house on the property.

The cats go in and out and several cats were trapped near where the trap is set in the photo. Suzie and I trapped 29 cats the first night and 14 cats the second night for a total of 43 cats. 

This place has been there a long time. The caregivers indicated that the property was originally occupied around the turn of the century. The outbuildings suggested that there was a lot of history here...The following photos show some of the place where more than 43 free-roaming cats reside. 

I returned to the location yesterday and saw at least four more cats that were not ear tipped. I do this by taking photos with my digital camera then blowing them up on the screen. Works superbly for seeing those smaller eartips. A drop-trap is in order - will be a real challenge with so many fixed cats. But we do not give up finishing colonies. Here is a photo of two - one not eartipped.

You need fixing!

The photo below is the truck used to bring chickens to the processing facility.

 Old poultry truck

Cats are fed under this truck and at other places on the property. We also
trapped at two houses of the same vintage across the street where cats are also fed by the resident caregiver/caretaker. I cannot wait to bet back and snag the stragglers. This is when "the going gets tough, the tough get going"!

Stay tuned for week of 10 February - Part II!

February 2014 - Drop-Trapping Adventure

The following is from my Facebook page from last week:

"Finally snagged this little breeding slut yesterday morning! Caregiver was after her for two years. She managed to bypass the drop-trap and get tasty chicken scraps out of the closed dumpster several times before going for the Friskies under the dropper. She is headed to the vet this AM...Photo shows her diving out of the dumpster before heading under the dropper...took two days and a lot of patience to trap her..."

Drop-Trapping the last cat!

This was one of the longest trapping jobs I have attempted in years. After trapping 43 cats with Suzie at a defunct chicken processing facility earlier in the week more on that in another blog, this job started on Wednesday night and continue until the last release on Wednesday of the following week. Four were trapped from this location in a mobile home park (MHP) and another nine were trapped at another location in the park for a total of 13 cats TNR'd in this MHP. I cannot remember how many traps were made to this place but I trapped morning and evening including all that weekend. However getting this last female (pregnant, of course) was the highlight of this endeavor. 

Note that this is an older drop-trap and my first one! It was built by my boyfriend (thank you Bill) and refurbished multiple times over the years. Bill build and refurbishes drop-traps. They do wear out over time because of the weight put on them while trying to transfer cats from the dropper into the trap. However, drop-traps are an invaluable resources when in the field trying to catch those difficult to trap cats. 

Thank you everyone who as read by new blog and for you supportive comments. If you need assistance with TNR in the Phoenix metro area please call me at: 602-717-2287

Pam's TNR Blog - January 2014 Part II

Off to a great start in 2014 with 184 cats TNR'd this month. Finished several audio books while running and driving and driving and driving....from one end of the valley to the other. Sometimes I feel like I am in a "holding pattern" on the 51 freeway!

These photos are of a trapping job I did this week in zip code 85051. Only 14 cats but I got them all...well, all that she knew of. There could be many free-roaming Tom's out there causing a lot of damage. More on this later...This photo below shows them ALL trying to get in the first trap set.

Darn it! He got in first...

This next photo was taken before the trap was set. These guys were hungry. The caregiver followed my instructions and did not feed the cats - the key to successful trapping. 

I trapped out West at a place I had been at least twice previously. The last time the mom cat I was after escaped out of the top of the drop-trap that had split open where the mesh attaches to the frame. What a nightmare! I got bitten and scratches and was bleeding and no bandaids - just paper towels to stop the bleeding. This time I got the little slut - and in a regular trap. While I was there I visited another place around the corner where Suzie and I had trapped about 25 cats. I found out they had more cats - and had not called me of course. Got one there and six at the other spot. I went back last night and caught five more with the drop-trap and one in a regular trap at the first location. I was able to get all six cats in to the Arizona S/N Clinic today - thank you Treva. There are still about seven more to catch there but I will have to go back later...so many places to go and not enough time...

We're hungry!

If you have questions about the TNR process or you live in the Phoenix area and need TNR assistance, please call me @: 602-717-2287. You can also email me @: pekalish@gmail.com.

Pam's TNR Blog - January 2014

It's kitten season! Yes, cats are already pregnant and soon kittens will be everywhere. Indeed, kittens are really cute - but darn it, there are just too many of them. Where to begin? I am trying to prioritize my trapping but everyday there are more calls from desperate caregivers, many who did nothing before they saw mama cat "getting bigger". This photo taken in 2010 illustrates without words what I mean. It is January 24th and I have already 

Cute but too many of us!

TNR'd 152 cats in 2014. I am off to a good start. Have a job for seven cats this coming Sunday night and a 15 cat job on Monday night to round off the month. The latter may turn in to 20+ cats. Often caregivers underestimate the number of cats they are feeding. A 24 cat job I did earlier in the month turned in to 45 cats. 

We had a lot of free clinics in January and all stacked on top of each other. There were two free mobiles and the AHS clinic. The AHS clinic was the day after the second 

Mobile resulting in 201 cats being fixed over a two day period. Mobiles are a lot of work requiring Suzie and I to be there all day. We had 25 cats too many (oops!) and ended up at the N. Phoenix Spay Neuter Clinic with those 25 cats. Dr. Kit did 98 cats at the mobile the previous week making it 299 cats fixed for free. The following photo is of the mobile. Thank you Dr. Kit and staff for the wonderful work you do to help caregivers and cats in need. The Arizona 

Dr. Kit's Mobile

Humane Society has been free monthly clinics for 100 cats for several years now. This is always a big worry for me as I fear either too many or not enough cats. I usually lay awake all night worrying... however, we usually come in with too many so at least all 100 spaces are filled. There were 91 cats fixed there on 9 January...The following photo shows the cats I saw when I arrived at the business about 5:00 PM. 

This cats are ALL fixed now!

This place was trapping nirvana! I worked with the owner and a friend to catch 36 cats in less than an hour and a half. My friend went for more traps and we ended up with 39 cats but there were still more to trap...Three more were trapped for the AHS clinic the following day and three more the next week. Some small kittens went to rescue but all got fixed first. 

Today is 25 January and I drop-trapped the last cat at a place I trapped on 14/15 January. What a great feeling. Perseverance and patience are what is required to finish these big colonies. That makes 29 cats fixed thee in 2014. Twelve were fixed there previously but new ones surfaced or were born because not ALL the cats were fixed. Also, I found the neighbor was also feeding and had been fixing some of the cats but not all - bad idea! So I finished fixing her colony too.

Most of these cats were fixed thanks to the Priscilla Fund (PF) - a fund set up with the Foundation for Homeless Cats (FFHC). The PF helps cats and caregivers in need who are unable to afford to fix the cats they are feeding. For more information visit the: www.thefoundationforhomelesscats.org 

If you are feeding free-roaming cats and need information on colony management, the FFHC and Phoenix Feral Friends (PFF) are good sources. The most important thing is to get those cats spayed and neutered before the colony gets as big as the ones I am charged with fixing. It costs a lot more to fix and to feed these large colonies...and many more kittens are born that will not survive.

Stay tuned for my next blog on "Cat Sense", a new book by John Bradshaw I am currently reading. His research supports many of my ideas about cat behavior and reproduction...

f you live in the Phoenix metropolitan area and need help with free-roaming cat spay and neuter call the Spay Neuter Hotline @: 602-265-SPAY

Pam's TNR Blog - 2013 In Review

These cats are now fixed!

Welcome to Pam's new TNR blog! I am off to a great start in 2014 trying to get ahead of kitten season. Cats are already in-heat and we are seeing a few pregnant ones in the clinics...The photo to the right is of a caregiver we helped this week with 20 cats. She is elderly and feeds at about six locations in her apartment complex. The cats follow her around and even climb in her shopping cart she pushes around with the food and water for the cats.

2013 In Review

The Hotline statistics show just over 15,000 cats TNR'd in 2013. I personally TNR'd close to 1,700 cats last year. This was down from my record of over 2,200 cats in 2012. Priscilla Fund, my Charitable Foundation, helped fix 1,502 cats in 2013. Since 1999, when AzCATs began doing TNR in the Phoenix area, almost 115,000 free-roaming cats have been sterilized. I started compiling my yearly trapping statistics in 2008 and since then I have TNR'd 11,887 cats! These numbers, of course, do not include the kittens that were never born thanks to the efforts of all those involved in making TNR so successful over the years. There have been a lot of changes since 1999, some improvements and some setbacks, but despite the challenges we have managed to keep fixing more cats ever year. My hope is one day all cats will have homes, there will be no need for rescue groups to exist, and I can spend more time hiking and doing volunteer archeology...and of course reading more history and science books. Maybe even do some traveling - perhaps to Caye Caulker Island in Belize where they desperately need TNR.

The following are some highlights of 2013:

May 2013

Photo of Suzie drop-trapping next to the junk at Don's "compound" in South Phoenix We fixed close to 100 ferals there in May 2013 and we also helped fix several tame cats and close to 10 dogs for those who lived on Don's property. These people desperately needed our help. Many cats were done on Dr. Kit's mobile (thank you Dr. Kit!) and at the free AHS clinic in Sunnyslope.

This cat at Don's was reluctant to go under the drop-trap. Drop-trapping takes a lot of patience. Waiting for cats to cooperate is a good time to listen to audio books of talk on the phone.t at Don's was reluctant to go under the drop-trap. Drop-trapping takes a lot of patience. Waiting for cats to cooperate is a good time to listen to audio books of talk on the phone.

Waiting and waiting and waiting....

There are still more cats there to TNR. Don called last week and there are about six more needing to be fixed. It is important to follow up on new cats which can be difficult when one is feeding close to 100 cats!

June 2013

Newborn kittens in June 2013. These were too young to fix and when we called about fixing them 6-weeks later they had not survived. Kitten survival rate is very low...which is why cats
breed fast to make up for the low survival rate of their offspring.

What to do with kittens too small to fix?

Still not fixed!

September 2013

...and more kittens! This stunning calico mom and her kittens were found lying outside an apartment entrance in a complex I have been working in for years - yes, trying to fix all the residents free-roaming cats and their tame pets cats. The feeder would not cooperate and now the mom and kittens are still out there and have not been caught. 

I encourage caregivers to fix pregnant and lactating mother cats when they can as they may not get the opportunity. Now it is too late. 
The amount of time, energy and
money that goes in to trying to get the cats and kittens later is reason enough to fix them when one can. These kittens could also been used as bait. And, I even had a foster lined up!

December 2013

There were so many memorable   caregivers, clinics, situations and 

I am fixed!

photo in Cocoa Beach at the local beach hangout.
I was so excited when I saw he was ear-tipped. He seemed like the quintessential male cat just enjoying a day by the beach. There were so many memorable situations and challenges in 2013 - too many to include in this blog. 

If you need help with TNR of free-roaming cats in the Phoenix area, please call Pam @: 602-717-2287. 
You can also reach me by email @: pekalish@gmail.com.

Stay tuned for more TNR adventures in 2014! Please spread the word...TNR is the most humane and effective method of stabilizing free-roaming cat populations. For more information on colony manage to the Foundation for Homeless Cats website @: www.thefoundationforhomelesscats.org

Thank you for your support.