Conclusion

Lynne asked my to evaluate Project Purr as my final blog post. I’ll do my best.

Obviously they’re not perfect. Project Purr needs a big technology upgrade. First of all, Lynne needs a cell phone. The main Project Purr line needs an upgrade as well. They could convert a lot of their paper (like newsletters, surveys, and any other snail mail) to emails. The Facebook page is excellent, and Lynne does a great job keeping it going.
Lynne and Margaret both need to eat. They don’t seem to understand that food is what keeps them healthy, and without them, Project Purr wouldn’t exist. They need to take a scheduled break every day to eat lunch. If the Animal Shelter can take an hour off, Lynne and Margaret can take at least a half hour. Toast with peanut butter and bananas does not count as a full meal.

Speaking of breaks, sometimes the work can be really hard and very depressing. Putting a block on it can help, but hurts more when the block goes down. Talk about it, and stop for a little while for a break. Use the break to take a rest, pet a cat, or think about something that is not related at all to cats!

Lynne is afraid to tell the public about where the cat colonies in the county are. She’s afraid that those places will become dumping grounds. She needs to get over that fear. Dumpers are going to dump, and it’s better that the cat ends up in a colony that is well taken care of. And the positive publicity will bring the people in!

Lynne doesn’t want to give up control of anything, because she feels like other people won’t do things right (at least that’s how I’ve been interpreting her). She needs to realize that it’s okay if people don’t do things exactly right. After all, they don’t have the experience she has. She needs to accept it, and know that people will learn. And she needs to take advantage of the amazing people around her! Project Purr has so many great, willing volunteers who just want to help! Let them in! There’s no shame in asking for help!

I'm very lucky to have been allowed into Project Purr. By being an intern and spending a summer living and breathing cats, I've learned all the highs and lows of cat rescue. Running a non-profit is even more difficult than I thought, but is also an incredibly rewarding experience. It's not just about the cats either, it's also about the people. Meeting and interacting with like-minded people brings me hope for the world. If there are so many great people out there, then we must be going in the right direction.

Project Purr is an unsung hero of Santa Cruz County. It is made of people who have literally devoted the rest of their lives completely to cats. They live and breathe cats and never get tired of it. And the cats they work with are incredibly afraid of them. These are cats that, when given the chance, will bite and scratch out of fear, they are not cute and cuddly kittens. And yet, Project Purr loves these cats that everyone else overlooks. Are they crazy? Yes, but crazy in a good way. They are changing the way Santa Cruz views cats, and decreasing the amount of cats that go into the shelter. They are saving lives and preventing suffering. They are heroes!

Finding a New Intern

I had the honor of being Project Purr’s first intern. In the spring, I knew I needed to do an internship in the summer, and started brainstorming where I could go. I had trapped with Project Purr before (I did the trapping, Lynne did the rest) and I knew that I wanted to do TNR in the future as part of my career as a veterinarian. I emailed Lynne, very unsure that she would even consider an intern because I knew how busy she was, but luckily she was happy to have me and somehow made room in her schedule.

I guess I was a good slave, because now she wants another intern now. She asked me to find out how to get UCSC or Cabrillo interns, and I’ve been busy at work getting all of that set up. I’ve written out job descriptions, and filled out all of the paperwork. Hopefully a great person will answer the call! If you know anyone who would be willing to do an internship with Project Purr, tell them to call Lynne at (831) 423-MEOW or email at info@projectpurr.org.

Last Day of Trapping

Just because the mom cat is spayed doesn’t mean the Lighthouse Field colony is done. Those three kittens are still out there, and the unknown number of unaltered black cats are also still around. On Thursday I went out trapping again, for the last time. I wanted to see if I could get any of the black cats. I did my usual routine, but even after waiting a little while I still didn’t get any cats. I ended up leaving, because I had to go feed some goats, and then came back before it was dark. I had trapped a cat, but it was an older black and white one who already had an ear tip.

There are still cats at Lighthouse Field that need to be trapped. I had to go back to college, and Vermont is a little far away to trap from. I wish I could say that someone will continue trapping the colony, but right now no one has stepped up. Lynne and Margaret say they can trap after the next rummage sale, but they’re so busy I can’t realistically think that they’ll be able to devote the time necessary. After all, it’s much more important for them to keep Project Purr running than to work on one colony. I can only hope that someone else will be inspired to trap, or that Project Purr will get a new intern that wants to trap there. And who knows? When I’m back for Christmas, maybe I’ll start trapping there again.

Drop Trap at Lighthouse Field

After all of that trapping, I still had not gotten close to catching the mom cat. She was trap-savvy- there was no way she would ever go into a trap, no matter what I did. Lynne decided it was time to use the drop trap.

The drop trap is just like one of those traps you would set up as a kid. It’s essentially a box propped up by a stick. The stick has a string attached and when the cat goes into the trap, you pull the string, and the cat is trapped. Very basic concept, right? The actual drop trap is a little more complicated- the “box” has a wooden frame and is covered in mesh. There’s a door that fits the usual Have-A-Heart trap exactly, and piece of wood that counter-balances the trap. The stick has a bevel in it so it fits the wood of the trap perfectly, and the string is strong twine that is 80 ft long. The drop trap has the advantages of not looking or sounding like a regular trap, so the cat doesn’t suspect a thing, and gives the trapper the ability to choose which cat to trap. The disadvantages are you have to be there to pull the string, the drop trap has to be placed on a very flat surface so the cat can’t get underneath it, and if you don’t do it perfectly, then you’ve lost your cat and the cat will never go back in.

The Lighthouse Field cats are usually fed between 9 and 9:30am, so Lynne and I decided to get there a little before 8:30 so we could set up before mom cat got there. We set up on Giselle’s porch, a flat cement area where the mom cat is usually fed. We saw mom cat (a distinctive grey and white beauty) and her three kittens (a black one, a tabby, and a grey and white) as we were setting up, and it didn’t take long for mom cat to figure out that we had put delicious breakfast out early. As she was investigating the trap, another cat showed up. It was the skinny old black cat, and he was hungry. He went straight into the drop trap, and started eating. Lynne had put three large cans of cat food on a plate as bait inside the drop trap in anticipation of other cats eating first, but this old guy ate almost all of it! When he was finally done, Lynne had to refill with some tasty tuna. She made a lot of noise with the food dishes around, as if she was feeding, and called, and sure enough, mom cat went in!
That wasn’t the end of it though. Mom cat knew something was up, and she stood up as she ate her food. We were waiting for her to crouch (so she wouldn’t be able to turn around and escape) but she wasn’t going for it. Finally, Lynne gave the string a very hard yank, and mom cat was caught!

We ran over, secured the drop trap, and transferred mom cat into a regular trap. It was hard to get her into the trap, because she was slamming herself into the mesh trying to escape. Lynne called it “popcorning.” After years of experience and trial and error, Lynne knew to bring a metal rod to prod the cat into the trap. It was hard, but it was so good to finally get the mom cat.

Mom cat went immediately to surgery, and was released the next day. (Don’t worry- her kittens were already weaned, so they were fine.) When Ariel saw mom cat with her ear tip, she called me and told me it had almost brought her to tears with joy. This mom cat had been popping out two or three litters a year for a long time, and was the one no one could get. Having her spayed will hugely decrease the amount of cats born in Lighthouse Field, and she will finally have a life that doesn’t surround kittens.

The Case of the Missing Trap

When Lynne went to release the longhair kitten, she saw the mom cat. It was early in the morning, and she saw cats I hadn’t seen before. Specifically, she saw the mom cat with three tiny kittens. In a perfect world, everyone would be happy to see these new additions, but that’s just not true right now. After this summer, even hearing the phrase “feral kitten” gives me this awful sinking feeling. I know that these kittens are not probably going to find homes, and if someone doesn’t trap them, then they’ll end up having kittens of their own. The kittens that Lynne saw were about eight weeks old, which is too old to socialize, and too young to fix.

When I went out to trap the other day, I knew it wasn’t just the second black kitten and the random black cat I needed to catch. There were three kittens and who knows how many more cats. This problem was bigger than I thought.

Well I went about my business as usual, but didn’t catch any cats immediately. I wondered if the second black kitten had seen its siblings being trapped and was now trap-savvy. So I left the trap open just in case and went home to have dinner.

Around 7pm I biked back to check the trap. Except when I got there, it was gone!

Was it stolen? Sometimes that happens. Did someone see the cat in the trap, think the trap was inhumane, release the cat, and then take the trap with them? I had no idea, but I was freaked.
The first thing I did was call Lynne. She didn’t pick up, but she usually doesn’t, so while I was waiting for her to call back, I went and knocked on Giselle’s door to see if she knew anything. She didn’t know, but we both noticed two traps that had been left on her porch. I decided to call the number on the trap and see if that person knew anything.

The person who picked up was named "Melody" and was the daughter of the lady (Ariel) who feeds the cats. She had heard that Lynne and I were planning on going after the mom cat the next morning, and had thought we would need her two traps. She had noticed a cat in my trap, and had taken it home with her because she thought it would be left there overnight. They lived nearby, so I went to their house and picked up the second black kitten!
I had a long talk with Melody about the cats in the field. I tried to convince her and her mother to use one or two large terra-cotta pot plates as bowls for the cats, instead of a lot of shiny pie tins. I tried to convince them to stop feeding on Giselle’s porch (because she hates it), but both of those were mostly unsuccessful. I feel like the only way to possibly get them to change is to physically put the terra-cotta pot bottoms in the not-abandoned house’s yard and take away the pie tins. I also tried to find out how many cats in total and how many unaltered cats there were, but neither of them knew. I also explained my trapping tips, and encouraged them to trap. (They have trapped in the past, but were both too busy now.)

Anyway, I took the second black kitten back home with me and it spent the night in my shed before going to surgery the next morning.

Hauling Books

At the most recent rummage sale, a man had approached Lynne asking if she wanted a lot of books. Apparently he owned a storage unit company, and a used book dealer had left two entire storage units full of books. There were so many books, that Project Purr could only take half of them for that rummage sale and agreed to take the rest for the next sale. Over the course of the summer, Lynne and Margaret had taken trips to the storage unit to take loads of books to Project Purr’s storage area. On Thursday, Lynne and I took the last two loads.

It was exhausting work, putting heavy boxes of books into the truck, and then taking them off the truck. Luckily at the storage unit, the owner and his friend helped us quite a bit. They both seemed like pretty shady people, but they ended being really nice. It was funny though, because the friend thought I was married, and the owner thought I wasn’t in high school yet! I guess I look younger and older than my age at the same time! The owner had a purebred Rotweiller, who was a little less than a year old, and the sweetest thing ever. He needed some serious training (he didn’t know his own strength) but all he wanted was to play. I played with him for a little bit, and tried to do a little training too. I have to admit, though, he needed to be neutered!

Anyway, I don’t know if there’s much to be said about hauling books, except that you have to raise money if you want to do cat rescue, and it may involve manual labor.

Longhair Kitten Caught!

On Friday I went out to trap the second black kitten, the last in the litter. When I arrived I saw the kitten sitting there in his usual spot in the bushes. I did all of my usual things- picked up the food, called for the kitties, and set the trap in the regular spot. As I was picking up the food, I saw a black feral without an ear tip (which means he had not been trapped yet). This concerned me, because I had thought that the only cats I needed to trap still were the second black kitten and the mom. Then as I was setting the trap, I saw another kitten of the same size as the others. This one was a longhair tabby. I was shocked- how could I have not seen this one this whole time, and how could that mom cat raise a litter of five?! Well I ended up trapping that longhair kitten, and it did not take long at all. (I don’t have a picture, sorry, I forgot!)

Farmer’s Market: Compare and Contrast

At the beginning of the summer, Lynne gave me an assignment: find a way to reach out to young people. Somehow Project Purr is full of crazy cat ladies, but is missing the link to the younger generation. Project Purr on Facebook has helped, and this blog is also supposed to help, but really what needs to happen is a strong connection to kids and young adults. After a lot of thought, I came up with getting the high school environmental and community service clubs involved. However, I discovered that contacting them was more difficult than originally thought, and that even the environmentally and community-oriented kids don’t want to think about school during the summer.
One day I went to the Farmer’s Market downtown and realized this was where a large portion of the environmentally and community-oriented young people of Santa Cruz congregated! I got the idea that Project Purr could have a booth there, and then after two more people suggested the same thing, I was convinced. Lynne was very hesitant, but I insisted this would be a great way to reach out to the community.

We ended up going to the downtown Farmer’s Market twice- on August 17^th and 24^th. Instead of telling about each time individually, I’m going to compare and contrast the two.

Both times it was hot. A wind picked up both times at the end to cool us off a bit, but we were baking in the sun. The first time, Lynne had been concerned that we would be in the sun, but I had incorrectly remembered the area as being shady. The second time we brought an umbrella, and it helped a lot. Our setup included two small tables, three chairs, two tablecloths, a donation jar, lots of handouts, two of my kitty stuffed animals, the garden cat testimonial poster, and the poster with all of the feral cat pictures and the phrase, “we’re not all the same / some of us are less social than others.” On the first time, we also had a trap (with one of the stuffed animals inside) but the second time Lynne forgot it (but it was okay, because we were fine without it).

The first time was very slow, and barely anyone came to talk to us. It was probably because we didn’t have the umbrella, so people didn’t want to stand in the hot sun. The second time was much busier, although still not as busy as I had wanted. Both times Lynne and I both saw a lot of people we knew, including Margaret, Ella and Paddington, and Belle, who all stayed and chatted helped us run the booth for a little bit. I had been thinking that we were going to be able to find a lot of garden cat homes, because garden cats are so environmentally friendly. We ended up only finding one (which admittedly is better than none). A young couple came up and said, “we need some feral cats” and I responded, “you’ve come to the right place!”

I made a quick, simple “Volunteers Needed” sign, and it did actually bring in a couple potential good volunteers. Most of the people signed up for volunteering or donating for the next rummage sale, but some people wanted to trap too! One UCSC student was very interested in getting involved, and I let her know that she could intern.

Some of the conversations with people were very interesting. I had one long conversation with a lady who loved tortoiseshell cats more than anything. (Admittedly, I’m partial to them as well.) I explained what I knew about why only females can be torties and why they come out with completely unique coloring. I talked to a guy who was fantasizing about trapping raccoons, letting them live in an enclosure, and then raising their babies as pets until the babies were old enough to live in the wild (I know it doesn’t make sense, but that’s Santa Cruz for you). One person thought the stuffed kitty in the trap was a live puppy stuck in a cage in the hot sun with no water! That was funny! And of course there were the usual, “my cat just had kittens, what do I do?” and “there’s a litter of feral kittens in the backyard, can you take them?” questions that Project Purr gets every day, all the time during kitten season. One story was particularly interesting- a girl had adopted a cat, and had taken it to the vet to be spayed or neutered, but the vet said that the cat was male and had already been neutered. Then the cat had kittens. Oops!

From both of the Farmer’s Markets, we learned several things: 1) bring an umbrella, 2) remember to check the list of needed things (like the trap), 3) bring pictures of the Project Purr kittens and cats up for adoption (like Princessa), 4) check the handouts when setting up, because sometimes they get buried in the pile, and 5) the more you come to the Farmer’s Market, the more people will know you are there.

I think the Farmer’s Market is a good place for Project Purr to be. There were so many people who came to the booth who had never even heard of Project Purr, so in the end it was great for just getting the word out. We advertised a lot for the rummage sale and let people know about the August and September’s free spay/neuter program. I feel like Project Purr may not need to be there every week- every other week, or once a month may be enough. I also don’t think Lynne or Margaret should be working the Farmer’s Market. There’s so much they could be doing that no one else can do, and there are a lot of willing volunteers that would be thrilled to do this. I hope the Farmer’s Market continues as a way of reaching out to the public!

Releasing Tabby Kitten at Lighthouse Field

Black Kitten Caught!

On Thursday last week I went out trapping as usual. When I first arrived at the not-actually-abandoned house, I noticed the little black kitten sleeping in the bushes. I started picking up the food from all of the feeding stations, and noticed an old black cat nearby. At first he was shy, but then he came up to me and let me pet him. He was very skinny because of his age, and I was a little concerned. I wasn't sure if he was a friendly feral, or a domestic who'd figured out where the food was. I checked his rear end to see if he was neutered, and as far as I could tell he was (although I haven't had much experience checking, and he was black which made it difficult to see). Then I checked him for fleas, and he didn't have any. I concluded that he was a domestic.

As soon as I'd picked up the food, I set the trap in the usual spot. I called for the kitties, and made a lot of noise with the food dishes as if I was feeding them instead of taking their food away. Then I turned, walked to my bike, glanced back at the trap, and watched as the black kitten walked right in! (Luckily I grabbed my camera and took a video of the whole thing!) (Please ignore the girl talking on the phone in the background.)

Princessa

One of the cats in Lynne's backyard is a sweet girl named Princessa. She is a gorgeous cat, and she knows it. She was on the kill list at the shelter, and Lynne rescued her thinking she was a feral. She soon showed her true colors- friendly, sweet, and lazy. She was supposed to go out as a garden cat, but she hates other cats and will "resource guard." She's been at Lynne's house in a hutch waiting for the right home now for a few months. She needs to be the only cat in the home, with someone who understands cats and will be her servant. Princessa is very happy in her hutch, and loves to lie around all day watching the world go by. She is affectionate, but only when she wants to be. Sometimes she'll turn around and whack your hand if you are displeasing her. Princessa needs to be served and her servants must know their place!

If you know anyone who could take Princessa, she would make a great indoor-outdoor or indoor only pet. She would most likely be fine with dogs and respectful older kids, but no other cats. It's likely that she would not be a hunter, because is lazy and prefers her food hand delivered.

Long Day Part 4: Little Monsters and the Animal Shelter

This post is for whatever didn't fit into the last three posts.

After trapping and before going to East Lake Animal Hospital, Lynne and I came back to Lynne's house and fed all of the foster ferals in the hutches. Right now she has two feral kittens she rescued from the shelter that have ringworm, so she dealt with those two, and two more that needed antibiotics while I did most of the rest. Everyone at that point was doing fine.

Then we both went upstairs to feed "the little monsters." Lynne is fostering three male black kittens that are too small to be neutered. The kittens were born under a shed, and their mom was injured and starving when she was found. She still hasn't been trapped, but someone is working on it. Lynne says it's likely that these kittens have been malnourished, because they fight over the food and are very small. When food is presented to them, they eat as if they are starving. They're covered in flea dirt, mud, and probably have worms, but are too small to treat, and too scared and aggressive to bathe. For now, Lynne has them in a quiet room upstairs. Three times a day, she feeds them canned food, using a chopstick to "hand" feed (these kittens bite hard!). She uses another chopstick to pet them a little while they're eating, so they get used to human contact. (I also got to feed and pet once too.) These kittens are unusually fearful and desperate for their age, and Lynne isn't sure if they'll ever be friendly enough to be adopted out. If they don't "go over the hump" and start trusting people, then they'll go back to the person who found them, where they will be fed and live happily as ferals.

After the kittens were taken care of, we went out to East Lake Animal Hospital. We dropped off the three ferals we had trapped that morning and the kitten I had trapped the night before. Surgeries weren't starting for a few hours, so we decided to explore around Watsonville while we waited. First we went to a store that had a back area where a mom cat and kittens had been abandoned. The owner of the store was not very friendly, but had loved the cat and kittens. A neighbor had been feeding the cats and had contacted Project Purr, and Lynne had been trying to convince the owner to let her relocate all the cats, but he was very reluctant. When we went to the store, the cats were gone and the owner said the neighbor had taken all the cats. She hasn't returned phone calls, but hopefully everyone will be spayed or neutered and found good homes.

After that, we went to the Watsonville Animal Shelter. I had never been there before, and Lynne wanted to get some fliers to put up around town. When we arrived, the shelter employees quickly explained what had happened the day before. Apparently, 23 cats had been brought in, 16 of which were nursing kittens. Thankfully, Animal Friends Rescue Project (AFRP) had taken the 16, but the shelter was strapped. They simply do not have the space for all of those cats. Unfortunately, the shelter had to make space by putting down some of the cats. Of course, the ferals were on the list first. There were four ferals, and Lynne had to decide whether or not to save them. They all had white noses (which means they could get skin cancer), but there was one of the four I liked. It was a big bruiser tom, a fighter with lots of scars on his face. Despite being mostly white, he was one who obviously could make it in the world- a survivor. Lynne spoke for him, which means after the mandatory hold period, he'll be neutered and then sent to Lynne to be a garden cat.

The other three were not as lucky. No one wants feral cats, and no one is going to rescue them. When the day comes, they'll be put down. It was hard looking at those cats knowing they had no hope. What was worse was another cat, a three year old tabby female, who had been sent to the shelter because her family wasn't allowed to have cats in their apartment. Looking at her, it was obvious that she was depressed. She was half hiding under her bed, and wouldn't let anyone touch her. She couldn't understand why she had been put in the cage away from her family. Apparently at home she had been a friendly, loving, domestic cat. The family probably figured she would have no problem finding a new home, but her depression was going to be the end of her. She was on the kill list too. The shelter was hoping that Project Purr would take her, but it was obvious that she was no garden cat. She was a chubby indoor pet, she wouldn't last two seconds outside. She needed love and attention, and a home where she would be spoiled. Instead, she was going to be put down.

As Lynne says, "this is the part of cat rescue that I hate."

Long Day Part 3: Sick Kitten

As soon as Lynne and I got back from East Lake Animal Hospital, we were onto the next job: moving in two cats whose owners was going away. (Lynne doesn't usually petsit, but she was doing a favor for a personal friend.) The cats were going in a hutch, so Lynne and her friend worked to get it all ready. Meanwhile, Margaret and I started checking the Project Purr messages. All of a sudden, Lynne rushed in saying that one of the kittens was really sick. Margaret and I rushed out to find one of the feral kittens lying on his side, dehydrated and barely conscious. Margaret and I immediately rushed him to the emergency vet.

The vet gave him fluids and tried to get him warm. His temperature was too low, and blood tests showed his liver was working too hard. The best guess the vet had was that he had been stung by a bee, and was too small to work through it on his own. The overnight vet eventually guessed that he may have eaten a bee, and the stinger had been caught somewhere in the digestive system, and that it was continuously pumping venom into the kitten. Whatever it was, it was the vets were not able to save the little guy, and he died during the night.

The kitten was feral, one of a litter of three tabby males. They had all been trapped and sent to the shelter, put on the kill list, but Lynne had rescued them. They had been joined by another male kitten of the same age, and were living in a hutch in Lynne's backyard while waiting for a home. Tomorrow the remaining kittens are supposed to go to their new home as garden cats, where they will be named and loved.

I fed all of those kittens that morning, and there was nothing wrong. It's not like there was anything that could have been done to stop that bee, but it hurts just the same. Loosing such a young cat with so much potential is hard. But it's something that happens with cat rescue. Not all of them make it, and sometimes there's nothing you can do.

Long Day Part 2: Watching Surgeries

No pictures for this one, folks! I don't want to make anyone faint!

At the beginning of summer, Lynne asked one of the vets at East Lake Animal Hospital in Watsonville if I could observe surgeries for a day. She was hoping that I could follow one of my own cats that I trapped through, so I could get a whole-picture view of the process. This day the timing worked out, so I was very excited. I love surgeries!

When Lynne dropped me off at the clinic, I could tell already that it was busy. It turned out that there were two emergencies- a young cat had been attacked by a dog, and a cocker spaniel had pneumonia. Both of those took up a lot of time, so the vet was very behind. I did get to see some neat stuff for the cocker spaniel, though, like the x-rays. The techs were all very concerned for the cocker spaniel, probably because it was so cute and sweet. When you spend most of your time working with feral cats and chihuahuas, a friendly and compliant animal is a refreshing break. (Nothing against chihuahuas, they're just notoriously difficult to work with at a vet.)

After the emergencies were done, everyone got started on the cat neuters. There were altogether eleven cats in for surgeries that day- four domestics, four Project Purr ferals (the three Lynne and I had trapped that morning, and my Lighthouse Field kitten from the night before), and the rest were ferals that had been trapped by members of the public. They started out with the two domestic cat neuters, because neuters are faster than spays, and domestics are easier to work with than ferals. With neuters, the prep done by the techs actually takes longer than the work done by the vet. The actual surgery takes less than five minutes (I could explain it in detail, but I know some people would not appreciate it.) The two female domestic spays were next, and took about fifteen minutes each. The vet was obviously well practiced, and I was very impressed with his skills. The last surgery I started to watch was the female feral we had caught that morning with the notch on her ear. I told the vet that we were not sure if she had already been spayed, and he looked for a spay scar and didn't find one. I had to leave right as he was opening her up, so I didn't get to see a full feral surgery.

There were some disappointing elements to my visit- I had seen one spay and one neuter a few years ago, so it wasn't as if this was all new to me. I had wanted to see a complete feral spay and feral neuter, complete with ear tip. I wanted to see how the techs were able to sedate the ferals, but they had already done that before I came. I also was not able to see the ferals getting vaccinations or flea meds, but that's not very new to me.

For the most part, though, it was a great visit. I learned a lot, and was able to spend a long time talking to the vet (while he was spaying cats) about becoming a vet, working at spay/neuter clinics, new technology, dissolvable stitches, and other things. I got to see a puppy being microchipped, and got to hold that same squirmy puppy as a tech attempted to vaccinate it. I got to see two two day-old Yorkie puppies with their mom.

I was very impressed with the efficiency of the clinic. There were a lot of techs (at least five, and two up front), and they knew what they were doing. They were fast and smart. I felt in the way sometimes because they would go whizzing by me all the time. They had the freedom not given to every tech to decide what to do on their own without asking the vet or manager. The vet was also very efficient, and surprisingly talkative and friendly (many vets don't want to talk during surgery). And boy was he fast at surgeries! I was also impressed with the technology. There was a flat screen TV in the main room with Pandora radio playing, so the mood was very calm and relaxed. The x-ray technology was amazing, allowing the vet to view the images on the computer, zoom in or out, change the contrast, and more. I felt like a country bumpkin in the midst of all this amazing technology!

Video 2 of Long Day Part 1: Mass Trapping

Trapping one of the mom cats (the one without the ear notch.) She walked right in after Lynne set the trap, so we were lucky enough to see her get trapped!

Video 1 of Long Day Part 1: Mass Trapping

Releasing the three that had been caught the day before.

Long Day Part 1: Mass Trapping

Tuesday was a long day of Project Purr hard work. Because it was so long and varied I'm going to do four posts- the first for the mass trapping, the second for watching surgeries, the third for dealing with a sick kitten, and the fourth for all of the rest.

I arrived at Lynne's house at 7am. We left immediately to go trapping. The place we were trapping is going to stay unnamed, but let's just say this place is up to it's ears in cats. On Monday morning, Lynne had trapped three kittens, and so this morning we were releasing them and hoping to trap three or four more. Unfortunately, Project Purr does not have access to a veterinarian who is equipped to do true mass spay/neuter, so doing three or four at a time is as big as it gets. Some feral cat groups can do twenty or thirty cats in one day for large colonies!

As soon as we got to the location, we released the three kittens (see video). Then we set the traps and caught three more, a male kitten and two adult females. (See video of one adult being trapped.) It was exciting to trap two females that were known moms, because mom cats are usually hard to trap, and when a colony is starting to be trapped, normally all you get is kittens.

One of the mom cats we trapped had a notch in her ear and was less feral than the others. Lynne and I thought that maybe someone had tamed her, then brought her over the hill to be spayed (because no one on this side of the hill does ear notches). We almost let her go, but decided to let her go through the program anyway, even if she was spayed. That way, she would get a clear ear tip, plus a deworming, flea, tick, and ear mite medicine, and vaccinations. As it turns out, she wasn't spayed. That ear notch must have been from an accident in the past. Good thing we decided not to release her!

Project Purr at the downtown Farmer's Market TODAY!!!

I have a lot to blog about, but I just want to announce that Lynne, "Ella," Patty (the service dog) and I will be at a booth at the Santa Cruz downtown Farmer's Market today from 1:30 to 6:30, so come say hi and support Project Purr!

Another Kitten Caught!!!!

I had quite a successful day today!

I started out by setting the trap in the same place as last time. I did exactly the same thing as before, taking all the food away from all of the feeding stations and dumping it. I made lots of noise with the food, and called the kitties as if I was actually feeding them instead of setting a trap. Then I left to go dump the food in a trash can, and when I came back I biked slowly by the trap, and noticed a cat about to go in. It was the black and white cat hiding in the bushes in the picture below. I decided to bike around a bit and come back so that if I did catch that cat, I could let it out. (It's already been trapped. You can't tell in the picture, but it has an ear tip.) As I was biking away, I saw another cat, one I'd seen before. He was out hunting. It's hard to see it in the picture below, but the white ear has an ear tip.

When I came back to the trap, the black and white cat was still there but had apparently remembered its previous experience with the trap, and was sitting nearby. (That's when I took the picture.) I also noticed two tabby kittens. I had thought that there was only one tabby kitten, but obviously there were two. (Lynne had noticed another tabby kitten when she released the first, but I had thought it was the mother.) I took a picture (see above) and then saw the second tabby kitten as it ran away from me. I'm guessing this was the one that I just trapped, but it was going too fast for me to see for an ear tip. So since there were kittens around, I decided to again bike around the field for a bit.

This time I had a kitten! The second tabby kitten was in the trap, and had not yet realized that it was trapped, poor thing. After it had calmed down, I strapped the trap onto my bike and we went back to my house. Lynne picked it up later that evening, and tomorrow morning I will hopefully get to watch the spay or neuter in person!

Moving Garden Kitties To Their New Home

Today I spent the day helping Lynne do a relocation and various other Project Purr daily tasks.

The first thing Lynne and I did this morning was head straight out to the animal shelter to meet up with "Ella" and Paddington (the Great Pyrenees service dog), because their two foster kittens were going through the spay/neuter clinic. It was good to see them again! (I also ran into my middle school Spanish teacher, who was coming in to pet the shelter cats!)

After talking with them for a while, we went into the shelter and picked up two 5 month old orange tabby sisters named Pumpkin and Nutmeg. These two had been put on the rescue list, because when they had come into the shelter, they were acting a little feral, but when we got them we could pick them up and they never stopped purring. Project Purr rarely takes domestic cats, and works almost exclusively with ferals, but the shelter was just so full that these two made the exception. When we went to get them, all of the cat cages were full. The feral room only had one true feral in it, and the rest of the cages were filled to the brim with domestics. It's such a sad thing to see, especially since it's something that could have been prevented if people had taken the time to spay or neuter their animals. It hurts to know that these two adorable, healthy, purring kittens could have been put down just because there wasn't enough space for them.

Luckily for Pumpkin and Nutmeg, there was someone in the world who really wanted them. After we took them from the shelter, we went back to Lynne's house to prepare these two for their new home. While Lynne took care of her fosters, I loaded the car with everything two kittens could need for a new home. The entire package for garden cats had all of this:

• a hutch
• sawhorses to keep the hutch off the ground
• blankets to cover the wire on the bottom of the hutch
• a quilt to cover the hutch for shade and warmth
• a towel for underneath the litterbox
• a litterbox
• a 50 lb bag of litter
• a scooper
• a clamp to keep the litterbox from flipping over
• a doorless cat carrier for the cats to hide in
• a blanket for the cat carrier to make it comfy
• a water bowl
• a food bowl
• a big bag of food
• a claw sharpener
• toys
• cats

And all of this is completely free! What a deal!

After all the chores were done, we took Pumpkin and Nutmeg (and above list of things) to their new home. Unlike most garden cats, these two went pretty much straight from the shelter to their relocation. Most garden cats spend a few days or weeks in Lynne's backyard in hutches before they can find a home. Pumpkin and Nutmeg were very lucky, especially for garden cats. The home they were going to had a lot of space, and even some indoor places for them to live in. There was an older cat and a dog who lived there and could show the kittens how to live away from predators, and the kittens would camouflage very well with the yellow grass. This was the perfect fit for them, because the guy who wanted them was very happy to have friendly cats. He was cooing over them and was already inviting his family over to meet them.

When the relocation was done, Lynne and I headed back to the shelter to load up the car with donations. The shelter lets Project Purr have a big garbage can in the lobby for people to donate cat and dog food and related items. The donated items go to Project Purr, and Project Purr in turn takes them to the food shelf so homeless people can feed their animals. Today the can was overflowing with cat kibble, dog kibble, a litter box, litter, canned food, even some organic baby food. It was nice to know that people think to donate what they can't use instead of throwing it out.

Then we had some lunch and went back to Lynne's house. We discussed how we were going to use the rest of my time here before I head back to Vermont, and decided on lots of fun stuff. One of the things we discussed is tabling at the Farmer's Market downtown on Wednesday, so if anyone read this long, first of all- thanks! and second, we will be tabling at the Farmer's Market this Wednesday and next Wednesday from 1:30 to 6:30, so stop by and say hello!

Kitten Caught!

Yesterday I went out trapping at my usual time, and set the trap up at the feeding station in front of the abandoned house. I noticed the litter of kittens in the yard, and two of them (the tabby and one black) ran off immediately, but the third (the other black) stayed and watched me set the trap up. I tried something different than before- this time I took all of the food from all of the feeding stations, and put it into one container. The sound of the food in the bowls got the kittens interested, and it also sparked the interest in the person who lived at the "abandoned" house. As it turns out, the guy who lives there is very nice, and uses the house as a summer home. He said he couldn't afford to keep up the house as well as he would have liked, but that it definitely was not abandoned. He said he had no problem with me trapping, or having the feeding stations in his front yard. He just wanted to come out and say hello.

After I finished setting the trap, I took all the extra food and rode it over to a trash can a little ways away. I also ran into a couple people I knew, so it was about 15 minutes before I started riding home. I decided to check the trap as I biked home, and low and behold! There was the tabby kitten in the trap!

I was thrilled, but also a little concerned. My phone had broken a few days before, so I didn't have any way of calling Lynne. (My grand plan had been to set the trap, then come back later in the evening to close it, this time bringing my mom's phone with me.) Eventually I decided that the kitten was small enough for me to turn the trap up and have it sit on the door. This way it would fit onto the back of my bike, and I could bike it home. The kitten wasn't very happy, but I covered the trap up with a towel so it couldn't see outside and felt safe. I biked slowly home, avoiding bumps and talking to the kitten about how much better life would be after that day. When I pulled up into my driveway the kitten gave me a present for all of my help by peeing all over my bike!

Anyway, later that day Lynne came to pick up the kitten and today hopefully the kitten went through surgery. Now I just have to catch the two little black kittens and the mom!

Video Part 2

A Little Video On How To Trap A Cat

Just something my brother and I decided to make one day. It's not very good, but it gets the point across.

Kitty Pictures!

The little black kitten!

The kitty John Smith and I trapped. I see her almost every time I'm in the field. We watch each other from a distance. I'm thinking about calling her "Stella" after a first cousin once removed who was just born. :)

One of Lighthouse Field's many kitties. Note the eartip on the left ear.

Free Spay/Neuter All August!

On Saturday I went over to Lynne’s house, or more specifically, the headquarters of Project Purr (a.k.a. her kitchen table). Lynne and Margaret had decided to send out notices to about 80 people about the free spay/neuter for August, and combine it with a survey. The people we were sending the notices to had used Project Purr’s spay/neuter program in the past year, and lived in Watsonville or Freedom. We were hoping that the people would be inspired by the free spay/neuter to trap more, and that they could give us some feedback about the process. Also, it gave them a chance to ask for help from Project Purr if they needed it. Lynne and Margaret very cleverly found a way to save paper and money- the paper was folded into thirds and taped, so it became it’s own envelope. I ended up taking 2/3 of the fliers home, to finish stamping and addressing.

When I was at Lynne’s house, we picked up four kitties from the animal shelter. There was a fairly calm, tuxedo male, and a family of a mom with two kittens. The mom was a very freaky tortie, one of the kittens was an orange and white male, and the other kitten was an adorable calico, who actually let me pet her through the cage. We transferred the kitties into hutches, and now they are awaiting new homes as garden cats.

Three More Days of Trapping and Still No Luck :(

The title pretty much says it all. Trapping cats is tough. Nevertheless, here are the highlights of my failed past three trapping days.

Wednesday: I saw a new cat I hadn't seen before, and I took a picture of him (all of the pictures will be up soon, after I figure out how to use the new camera). I put the trap in the bushes, in a very good spot, but it was only when I was closing it that I realized I had put it near an ant hill. Oops! No wonder no kitties touched the tuna! I also made a new friend- there's a grey longhair domestic cat that lives down the street from the field. He's very friendly, but he has an odd habit of darting across the street right in front of cars. He darts because he's afraid of the cars, but I don't understand why he won't stay on the field side of the street until the car is past him. I'm sort of afraid for his life.

Thursday: When I was setting the trap (at a feeding station away from any ant hills) I noticed two eartipped black shorthair cats hanging out near by. One of them was limping significantly, which caused him to walk slowly, but just fast enough to still be able to run away from me. Later, when I came back to check the trap, it had been set off, but no cat was inside. I reset it and came back 45 minutes later, and low and behold there was a black cat! It was eartipped, but I wondered if this was the limping one. I remembered Lynne telling me that sometimes cats who are very sick and need vet care will back into traps. So I called her, but then I saw the the limping cat (outside of the trap) so I let the cat in the trap go.

On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Lynne went out of town, so I didn't trap.

Monday: I saw the black kitten, and this time it was with what looked like a mom and sibling. Both were brown tabbies, and pretty well camouflaged. I wonder if the kitten had been separated from it's family for a while and had been reunited. In any case, the trap was still empty.

I won't be trapping again until the 11th, because I'm going on vacation. Hopefully when I get back the black kitten and family will change their minds about my trap!

Thank Goodness for Ear Tips

Yesterday I went out to Lighthouse Field again to start trapping cats again. While biking over to one of the feeding stations (yes I do strap a cat trap to the back of my bike) I noticed a little black kitten on the side of the field. So I slowed down and got off my bike. It looked at me and took off. I tried to catch it, but it was too fast.

I set the trap nearby, hoping to catch it, then continued up the field to check out more cat territory. A little ways away I noticed the female tortoiseshell John Smith and I had caught, and she seemed surprisingly less afraid of me. She just looked at me from a safe distance. She looks healthy and happy, and since she's so young I wonder if she'll eventually warm up to people. I actually saw her a couple more times yesterday and today, so I think I want to give her a name. (Plus I have a soft spot for torties.) The problem is, I'm a terrible namer.

Anyway, after cruising around the field for about ten minutes, I went back and glanced at the trap. There was a tabby cat going into it, so I quietly turned around and biked around for a little longer. Then I checked the trap again and sure enough, there was a brown tabby in the trap. He was a young male, with one mangled ear. I couldn't tell if the ear was tipped or not, because it seemed like a clean cut but the rest of the ear was also ripped. So first I called Lynne, but she wasn't home. Then I asked John Smith for help, and he said it was definitely ear tipped, although he had not personally caught the cat. So we released the cat.

On the way over to the trap with John Smith, I spotted the black kitten again in a different place. After releasing the cat I still had time, so I moved the trap to where I'd seen the kitten, and reset it. Then I went over to a house nearby where I've been hired to pet the (domestic) cat while the owner is out of town. (The husband is allergic, so he can feed, but I do the TLC.) I spent about an hour with the kitty and then when I noticed a tailless raccoon outside I decided it was time to go close the trap.

The trap this time had caught a black cat, but not the one I was after. This was another adolescent male with an ear tip! (I swear, adolescent males think they're invincible and they're suckers for tuna.) This cat took me a little longer to release, because he kept trying to attack me through the trap. I swear he wanted to kill me.

Today I went out trapping again. This time I took my brother with me, because he was interested and I figured the more he knows about feral cats, the more he can tell his friends. We biked over and set the trap at a feeding station. The only cat we saw was the tortie who needs a name, so we hoped that a kitty would come to get dinner and decide tuna in a trap was more delicious. After that we went over to the house nearby to pet the kitty for about an hour.

When we had finished petting the kitty, we went back and checked the trap. Nothing. As we were packing up, a lady walking by pointed out the black kitten, who was drinking water from a gutter. We went over and the kitten moved into a front yard of a house, so we set up the trap in the field across the street. Then I grabbed the towel and tried to capture the kitten by hand, but only succeeded in chasing it back into the field and into a bush. I moved the trap to right outside of the bush and then my brother and I biked around for about ten minutes before closing the trap and going home, as it was getting too dark to bike safely.

I really want to trap that little kitten. It looks about six weeks old, and obviously is taking care of itself. I haven't seen any sign of a mom or any littermates. If it sits in one place for a while, it starts crying as if it's lost. I just hope I can trap the poor thing so that its life can improve.

Macavity: The Mystery Cat

Macavity's not there!

Here's some quick background: The reason I got involved with Project Purr a few years ago was to trap a feral colony in my neighborhood. I trapped all of the cats except one. The one who got away was an aggressive black tom I named Macavity, after the antagonist cat from the musical Cats. (Best musical ever, by the way.)

It turns out that for once my naming skills were actually good, because he sure lived up to his name. The song (and poem by T.S. Elliot) goes,

"Macavity's the mystery cat, he's called the Hidden Paw.

For he's the master criminal who can defy the law.

He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair;

for when they reach the scene of crime- Macavity's not there!"

The cat I named Macavity is a scruffy, muscular tom with only one functioning eye. It's easy to see that he's a fighter, but he's also the father of most of the cats in the colony. In fact, he's the father of four of my cats. After I trapped all of the other cats in the colony, he took off. After all, with no more females in heat around, why stay? This summer I noticed him around the neighborhood again. I guessed the free food brought him back.

Yesterday I went to talk to my neighbor, Edgar, who owns the property the colony is lives in. He lives in a little house with a big front yard and a huge backyard full of blackberry brambles. He feeds the cats throughout the day, and always leaves fresh water out for them. The cats are his one true love, and he watches them closely, taking very good care of them.

I asked Edgar about Macavity, whether or not he was coming to eat, how often he was seen, how his health was, etc. It turns out "Macavity's not there!" Edgar sees Macavity very rarely, and only ever on the roof. Sometimes he hears Macavity fighting with other cats on the roof. Macavity never comes for food, and seems to wander around the neighborhood grabbing food from other cats' bowls. Meanwhile, Macavity has evicted all but one of his sons from the colony, even though his sons are all neutered and pose no threat. (One of his evicted sons, Zuko, actually moved over to my house.)

In order to trap a cat, the trap must be placed at the cat's regular feeding station. Since Macavity apparently has no regular place, trapping him would be very difficult. Furthermore, he's at least seven years old and apparently not going anywhere. While I hate to leave an unaltered cat, I think the effort is not worth it on this one. I'm going to leave him as he is. However, if he does start feeding regularly, I'll go after him again.

In other news, the colony has gone down to about 8 cats. All of the cats are healthy, and there have been no litters for three years now. :)

Meow Luau Pictures and Stats

1. Manning Project Purr's booth.

2. Some little girls meeting Tristan, the adorable deaf kitten.

3. Two girls meet Tristan's littermate, a little tuxedo female.

4. Paddington got his face painted!

Lynne emailed me with these stats:

"Total of 33 cats + 6 dogs at the shelter, equals 39, which is a new

shelter adoption record for one day! It broke the old adoption record
of 28 that was from when the shelter was in Scotts Valley.

Plus ASR did 5 (I think) and AFRP did 8 for a GRAND TOTAL of 52 adoptions at the Meow Luau!!! WOW!!!"

:D

I'm Back with the Meow Luau!

I had a great vacation, and now I'm back and ready to work... that is, play with kittens.

Yesterday Project Purr had a booth at the Meow Luau, an event put on by the Santa Cruz Animal Shelter. Lynne, my friend from the rummage sale, and I all ran the booth. The event brought several local non-profit animal rescue groups together to try to adopt out as many cats and kittens as possible. Adoption fees were half-off- kittens for $75 and adults for $50. The event attracted a lot of people, especially families with little kids, may looking to adopt. The theme was Hawaiian, so all the volunteers had leis and the whole shelter was decorated. (It was funny because in a cats-only event the decorations were all colorful bird pictures. Also, none of the birds were from Hawaii.)

The event was set up with the food and silent auction in front, one non-profit with cats and kittens outside, all of the cat rooms in the shelter open, and then way back in a small room another non-profit with kittens, sharing the space with Project Purr. Since we were so far back and hidden, very few people even found the room. The event itself was very well attended and quite crowded, so it was disappointing to miss out on educating or finding potential homes with all of those people. The event was not a waste of time though, because we got to educate several shelter volunteers who were not sure of what Project Purr does.

Most of the time my friend and I spent helping the other rescue group in the room with us. The group, Animal Friends Rescue Project (AFRP), had 13 kittens up for adoption. There was a 10-week old litter of 5, and the rest were all about 8-weeks old from various litters. We played with the kittens, and held them for people who were interested in adopting them. Although there were only a few people who made it into our little room, almost all of them adopted kittens. All of the litter of 5 (plus their mom, who was in another room) were adopted, and 4 of the remaining kittens were adopted! It was a huge success for AFRP!

There was one kitten who I especially was hoping to find a home for. His name was Tristan, and he was an all white, deaf, adorable, friendly, energetic little guy. I spent quite a while holding him, and having people (especially kids) pet him, but sadly his forever-home was never found. Luckily, directly from the event he went to Petsmart. I hope by now he's been adopted.

This was the first Meow Luau put on, and I hope next year will be better. This year, the rescue group that was outside only adopted out 4 or 6, even though they had many more cats and kittens than AFRP. Their cats were obviously not as happy as the AFRP kittens, and since they were outside, it was not very smart to take them out for people to hold them (because mistakes happen, cats spook, etc.). Next year, the two rescue groups with live animals should be in the small room, with better access for the public. Project Purr should be outside, where people who aren't just looking for kittens will be able to stop by easily.

Happy 4th of July!! A Post About Violet

Tomorrow I'm leaving to go to visit my grandmother on Cape Cod, MA!! While I'm gone, I'll still be doing Project Purr work, but only the computer stuff (it's kind of hard to trap cats from the other side of the country). Anyway, I was thinking about how much I'm going to miss my kitty Violet, and how in about a year, she'll be flying to the east coast with me, so I decided to write a little about her.

When I was 10, my family only had two cats. One was a completely unapproachable feral, and the other was a big, beautiful black boy named Davenport. My parents got Davenport before I was born, and when I was 10, he was about 14. In the early summer, Dav was diagnosed with kidney failure. We knew he didn't have a lot of time left.

I read articles and did some research, and discovered that when you have an older cat (or dog), it's a very good idea to get a kitten (or puppy) of the opposite gender. The younger animal will invigorate the older animal, and even if they don't end up getting along, the older one will still muster up some energy to boss the younger one around. In other words, it can prolong the older animal's life.

I talked to Dav's veterinarian about what I had discovered, and he agreed completely. He told my mom that we should get a female kitten immediately. Of course, I was thrilled!

I didn't want just any kitten though. I had all of these specifications, so I took about two weeks to "kitten shop." I used Petfinder.com, and the Santa Cruz SPCA website to search for the kitten of my dreams. I think I must have checked those websites at least twice a day.

Eventually, I found I found a little orange and white girl who fit all of my qualifications, and that very day went out to the SPCA to look at her. But when I arrived, I found out that she had already been adopted! Since I was there, I decided to take a look at the kitties already there. I discovered two kittens who hadn't been put on the website yet. They were siblings, a boy named Biglet, and a girl named Face. My mom wanted to take both of them, but we couldn't, because Biglet had a medical condition that wouldn't allow him to go outside. Face, however was perfect.

I remember I didn't want to adopt her right away. I wanted to wait a night to make sure everything was set for her to come to the house.

The next day my whole family went to the SPCA to adopt her. I renamed her Violet, after the flower (not the color, despite my pattern of naming cats after colors). Also, at the time she was a "shy violet." I spent the next two weeks exclusively with her. She was my kitten, no one else's. After two weeks with her, my family tried to take me out to dinner, but I cried, because I didn't want to leave her.

She has been my best friend and constant companion ever since. Of all of my cats, she is the one who is actually mine, not the family's. She only really likes me, although recently she's been allowing my sister and mom to pet her a little. I love college, and I love Vermont, but being away from her is hard. And for her, being away from me is hard too. Cats can't live in the dorms, but Junior and Senior year I'll be hopefully in a cat friendly apartment, and then she'll come out to Vermont to live with me.

At nine years old, she's a very smart cat. In the past couple months, she has figured out how to get her collar off. I thought at first that her usual purple collar was broken, so I got her a new collar (the one in the picture), but she's already taken it off three times. I'm going to have to do some brainstorming if she won't just leave it on.

Even though Violet's not a Project Purr kitty, or even an ex-feral, I wanted to share her story because of what I told my parents when I was 10. I said, "I know there are a lot of cats out there that need homes, and that kittens find homes easily. I know that any kitten at the SPCA will find a home no problem, but older cats might be put down. But I'm a kid, and I want the experience of raising kitten and keeping her for her whole life. I want to be able to grow up with a kitten. However, I promise that this will be the only kitten I will ever adopt from the SPCA or any animal shelter. The next cat I get will be one I rescue myself or will be a special needs, elderly, or feral cat from a shelter. I promise to save all of the other cats I ever own."

Over $27,000 from the Rummage Sale

So here's a picture from the first day of the rummage sale! A horse and a greyhound (my favorite breed of dog) stopped by to drop off donations!

A Lovely Garden Faire

On Saturday Lynne and I went to the Scotts Valley Garden Faire. Our goal was to find homes for the cats that Project Purr rescues from the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter. These cats are trapped or surrendered to the shelter, and could be feral or just very unfriendly to people, and are deemed "unadoptable" by the shelter staff and euthanized. If Project Purr has space and someone to foster, then they take as many healthy cats as they can and re-home them as "garden cats." The challenge is finding homes. After all, who wants an unsocial feral animal that will not even come in the house?

This is where the Garden Faire comes in. People who come are hardcore gardeners who hate gophers, and but who on the most part want to avoid poisons and other environmentally unfriendly ways to get rid of pests. Garden cats are the perfect solution for many gardeners, so Project Purr sets up booth at the Garden Faire to try to find those gardeners. Also, setting up a booth gets the word out to the community about what Project Purr does, and allows members of the community to learn and ask questions about feral cats.

On Saturday I arrived at Lynne's house on my bike at 7:30am, and then together we drove to Scotts Valley. The Faire took place on a field next to a nice dog park (sometime I would like to take the two dogs I walk to this park). There were small white tents (the booths) set up surrounding a large purple tent. People were already setting up when we got there, and there was a large group of 4-H kids of all ages helping out with the set up. By 9am everyone was pretty much set up. We were ready long before that, because we did not have a lot to set out.

The Project Purr booth was very nice, and well thought out. There were two tables with nice tablecloths, set up in an L shape. At the corner were some potted plants and a fish bowl turned donation container. Along one table there was literature to give out to people about garden cats and feral cats. There were two great posters we propped up- one had testimonies from happy garden cat owners, and the other had lots of pictures of feral cats and the words "We're not all the same- some of us are less social than others." The second poster really brought people into the booth, especially kids who wanted to show us which of the cats on the poster looked like their cats at home. The booth was strategically set up next to the gopher trap guy, so people could look at two ways of getting rid of garden pests.

The faire started out pretty chilly and foggy (although not cold compared to Vermont) but eventually ended up sunny. It was very relaxed and nice, with good food and nice people. There were beautiful plants for sale and adorable dogs walking around with their owners. (Whenever a dog walked by the booth, I always asked to pet him or her, so I made lots of new doggie friends!) Some of the booths were especially interesting to me. For example, one was "the bat lady"- a woman in Santa Cruz who fosters injured bats and releases them back into the wild. (When I was in kindergarden, she brought some of her fosters to my classroom to teach us not to fear bats.) Her goal was to educate and answer questions. Another great one was the 4-H booth. They had a bunny, some pullets (teenage chickens), and goats! The goats were all Nigerian dwarves, and there were six in all. There was a mom goat with two kids, and then two more kid siblings, and another tiny kid on a leash. The tiny kid was only 2 1/2 months old, and was wearing a little jacket. He apparently lived in the house and rang a doorbell when he needed to go outside to go to the bathroom!

It turned out that I knew a lot of people at the faire. I saw my former neighbors, my high school English teacher and his son, and my elementary Life Lab (garden) teacher with her husband and dog! It was really nice to see them all! I also met some new people- a longtime Project Purr volunteer "Belle" helped us run the booth. She and her husband moved to the U.S. from France years ago and now she has a lot of cats, including some fosters. We met another Project Purr foster parent,"Ella" who not only fosters kittens but also trains service dogs. Her own service dog was a big beautiful Great Pyrenees, who apparently mothers the kittens himself.

We found a lot of great potential homes for garden cats, about ten homes in all. And since three cats go to each home, we found homes for about thirty cats! Even better, a large commercial organic farm approached us, asking for cats, and they have so much space, they need more than three! Another great outcome were the donations. Let's just say that instead of putting 1's and 5's in, people were giving us 10's and 20's.

What a successful day, and isn't great that we got to help so many cats!!

Let's Get Spayed!

Today my sister reminded me of two amusing and appropriate videos she found a while ago. They're commercials by some animal shelter, entitled "Let's Get Spayed" and "Let's Get Neutered." Not only are they effective, they are also hilarious and very catchy. (Copy these links into your browser.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0v52gY0FHU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfiG7AOufvU

Tuna > Trap

I was contacted recently by a local ranch about trapping a cat. The cat had been abandoned at the ranch in December, and no one knew if he or she had been fixed yet. Since the cat looked like a cat the ranch used to have named Barney, the cat was named Barney Jr. (although the gender is still not known). Since December, Barney Jr. has lived under the barn, coming out only when people are not around to eat the food that is left out for the Blossom and Buttercup, the two barn cats. The ranch animal manager asked that I trap Barney Jr. so that he/she could be spayed or neutered. Although the ranch does not usually keep cats that are abandoned there, Barney Jr. has gotten along very well with Blossom and Buttercup, so after surgery, he/she will be released back.

This morning I set the trap at the usual feeding spot at 8am. I was greeted the moment I walked into the barn by Buttercup. She decided that she absolutely had to have some of the delicious tuna that I was using as bait, so as soon as I set the trap, she went in. I figured this was good, she would learn her lesson and stay out. After all, cats are never trapped twice. Shortly after, Buttercup's sister Blossom showed up and also wanted some of the tempting tuna. She also immediately got trapped, but she didn't even mind when the trap closed on her. She just kept eating, and in the interest of the tuna, I had to pull her out. I reset the trap, and continued getting it ready. Of course, Blossom quickly went back and got trapped again! This time she acted a little scared, so I thought she had learned her lesson. Then I went home and continued with my day.

In the afternoon, I got a call from the ranch's animal manager. Apparently, Blossom and Buttercup had both been trapped several more times throughout the day, and had eaten all of the tuna! We decided to try trapping again on Wednesday, but this time we are going to use regular canned food. Hopefully, it will be less tempting than the tuna. If not, Blossom and Buttercup are going to spend the day hunting mice in the chicken shed.

I took some pictures of the trap, just so I could explain how to trap a cat well. Traps have a metal rectangle that stands up when the trap is set, and acts like a trigger. When the cat steps on it to get to the food behind it, then the door snaps shut. Many cats see the trigger and step around it, so they get the food but the trapper does not get them. In order to hide the trigger, a piece of newspaper or a towel is put inside the trap, covering the trigger. The food is placed at the very end of the trap, past the trigger, so the cat has to go all the way inside the trap to get food. A trail of food is sometimes placed in the front of the trap, to lure the cat inside. A towel is placed over the trap, to make it look like a safe place to be, and to calm the cat once he or she is trapped. Those are the basics for cat trapping.

Screening a Home

Yesterday Lynne invited me to observe the screening of a potential home for feral cats. Before I talk about the trip, I have to clarify some thing just so that the story is understandable.

Project Purr does not have colonies of cats around the county, and they do not add feral cats to existing colonies. Project Purr also does not trap cats from colonies and find new homes for them (except in extreme conditions where the cats can absolutely not be returned to where they were trapped). Sometimes cats are brought into the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter, and are deemed unadoptable because they are feral or just too scared in the shelter to show affection towards people. Those cats are euthanized. Whenever possible, Project Purr rescues these cats and finds new homes for them as "garden cats." Members of the community will contact Project Purr asking for these cats for various reasons, the most common being that having a predator on the property to kill gophers, rats, and mice is a more natural and environmentally friendly way of controlling a rodents population than, say, poison. These members of the community will receive three rescue cats. The cats live in a hutch for three weeks on the property, and then are let out and live the rest of their lives outside. The community members provide food, water, and shelter, and the cats keep the rodents away. Most of the time these cats remain afraid of people, but every once in a while one will warm up, and then the community members are lucky enough to have a gardening companion.

Ok, now back to yesterday!

Recently Lynne received an email from a couple, Alfons and Alida, hoping to obtain some garden cats. Apparently Alfons and Alida, who live up in redwood country, had quite a rat problem. It had started out with Alida, who loves animals, feeding birds. The spilled bird food had attracted unwanted visitors, and then the rats moved into their heating system. After over $12,000 worth of damage and still more rats, a neighbor had recommended Project Purr. (The neighbor had also just received his own hutch of three cats, and was very enthusiastic about the program.) Alfons and Alida thought that using cats to fix the rat problem would be a much more effective and environmentally friendly solution than anything else. (After all, you can spend so much time and effort to kill all the rats in the house, but then a few months later, they come back. Cats will continually keep a population down.) Before giving cats to anyone, Lynne and Margaret like to screen the house, just to make sure the cats are going to a safe home, where they will have places to hide from predators, no aggressive dogs, etc. Lynne invited me to come along, so I could see how the process goes.

Alfons and Alida live in a beautiful home in the middle of the redwood forest. They also have two small dogs- a Basenji mix and a purebred miniature poodle, so I was obviously happy. Alfons and Alida gave us a tour of their backyard, which was actually a fenced in large deck. The dogs were obviously well-loved (and in good shape too), and had even had a little doggie door with a ramp! The bird feeders were set up in the best way, so that they were not accessible to any predator, and there was a tarp underneath so that the rats could no longer eat the seeds that fell. Alfons and Alida then showed us where they thought the cats could live. Instead of on the deck where the dogs lived, the cats would be able to go underneath it. Most of the deck was fenced in, except for several cat-sized holes. It would be a good place to get away from the elements and safe from predators. Alfons and Alida then showed us where they wanted to put the hutch, but Lynne had to make a slight adjustment so that the hutch could be on flatter ground. All in all, Alfons and Alida impressed us with their obvious love of animals and commitment to the environment. We all agreed that their future three cats will love living at their house as much as we enjoyed visiting.

When we got back to Lynne's house (after several detours, including a local home turned plant sale) Lynne introduced me to her newest shelter rescues. We talked about a hutch that contained two new torbies (tortoiseshell tabbies) and the younger black male I had helped Lynne pick up from the shelter a while back. Although the torbies had only been rescued the day before, they were obviously settling in very well, and got along wonderfully with the little black cat. Since the two torbies both had pink noses (which means more prone to skin cancer), Lynne thought Alfons and Alida might have the perfect home for them. After all, the cats would mostly be under the deck, which is away from the sun. Also, all three of the cats' colorings would be able to camouflage well in the surroundings.

Hopefully everything works out and I'll be able to help Lynne and Margaret take the cats in their hutch out to their new home. But as for tomorrow, well let's just say I have some trapping adventures very early in the morning.