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. :)
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