Feb 21. 2008

I put the first camera higher in the tree and got better pictures of the cat. I guess looking down is a better perspective. I still am only getting the same few cats so I might need to move the camera. It is supposed to snow tonight/tomorrow so I will wait to move the cameras until that is done.

I am still waiting for Steve to email me back on what else I can do.

Feb 20. 2008

Still no cat with a white stripe. I did get one that has to be a parent to the kittens - it looks exactly like them! I also got a raccoon so I put some apples and marshmallows on the next tree to try to draw it away. I also put a trail of Jack Mackerel to the tree line. If I can recover one of my other cameras I am going to ask to put it on one of the houses in the backyard where Roy was seen.

At the second camera I decided to give some of the mackerel to Callie. As soon as she smelled it she gave an angry meow and came running. I thought she was going to attack me but she just really wanted the fish! She keep rubbing up against me and then I got the tupperware open. She immediately began slurping it up and I ended up leaving the container with her. I wasn't planning on, but she seemed to enjoy it so much I could help it.

The third camera is an issue - I can't seem to get a good picture there - either there is too much flash or it is too far away. I need to figure out what to do with this.

Leo is in the house. I heard a meowing and thought it was Theo but couldn't find him. So I opened up the garage and he was on the car. He didn't run so I coaxed him over to me. He did come over but I couldn't get him to walk in the house so I reached down, picked him up, and put him inside. He is going to the vet on Friday. He seems slightly upset - keeps meowing. But when I go down to him (he is in the basement - no barrier he just won't climb the stairs) he is quiet and climbs in my lap. I guess it is being in a new house with new cats.

Feb 19, 2008

Since the camera is by a tree I am getting a lot of pictures of leaves. I have 200 of them from the day. But I got a new cat - so that makes 4 so far. This one looks like it might be a parent of my kittens. It has the same fluffy fur as Blazen and a nice white spot on the chest - just like all of the kittens. In one pictures I could see the eyes and it looked a bit like Willis.

I am thinking of having Steve come back up with his dogs and exploring this area. I know there has to be a black cat with a white stripe on its face here - while black/white cats looks similar from a distance to get close enough to pet and say it looks like Roy the cat has to have a stripe. And I have not gotten one of those in this area yet. It is .3 miles from driveway to driveway so well within normal range. And three people convinced it is Roy makes me wonder.

The other camara has nothing so far - but when I went to check on it I scared away a black/white cat that is definately not Roy. I will see what happens tomorrow but I am thinking of retiring it. I am also going to ask the owners of the house if the calico is theirs. As soon as she saw me she began meowing and trying to get attention. She tried to rub against the food bag and followed me to my car. If she doesn't belong there then I will take her, get her cleaned up and then take her to the SPCA. I am full and can't take another cat, but she is so attention hungry I think she will make a great pet once she is cleaned. Her hair is very matted so she might need to be shaved.

Feb 18, 2008

Today it was raining very hard so I was not surprised that I didn't get many pictures. The friskies were soaked and I don't blame anything for not wanting to eat them. I put out new food and new film. I did get some pictures from the camera - looks like I have at least three cats. One I didn't get enough of a view to tell if it was Roy or not. One was obviously not him. And the third is hard to tell - he never looked at the camera. The camera will obviously stay up until I get a good head shot and am satisfied I got a pic of every cat in that area. I did see kitty tracks in the snow - the only think snow is good for! So I know that cats are in that area.

Feb 17, 2008

I went to do the disk exchange and the people at the house I have the second camera (the one with 2 sightings) said they saw a cat that looked like Roy in the backyard of the house behind them. So I went there and that was the lady who called to say she saw Roy crossing the road! I got a better idea of where the crossing was and this puts 3 sightings all in a line so whatever cat they are seeing it has to be the same one. I did get one pictures and that was a cat that didn't look like Roy - huge white area over the face. The lady of the second sighting said that cat has been there for a while and was NOT the one she saw crossing the road. So I am keeping the camera out longer to try to attract more animals. I will be doing the sardine trail there too. I am afraid of having the camera in the wrong place and also that Roy will have moved on. The interesting thing is this is now about .5 miles in the opposite direction from the Oct sighting. So does that mean it is less likely to be true? The Oct sighting might have been false? Could he have travelled like that and missed the house in the middle of his trail?

Feb 16, 2008

I got another call from the same area - so that is three separate sighting. The last caller said okay to a camera - which made me feel better since otherwise I would have had to call the first person back and that makes me nervous. The funky thing is that this home's backyard merges into the first caller's backyard. So I am confidant that the cat I will attract is the one that the first person saw. Whether it is the one the second person saw is unknown. But the travel time to the second house is half a mile so the area of the sightings is about .4 miles so there is a good chance it is the same animal. I hope. The second caller seemed so confidant.

I also got a call from someone one street over from the last sighting in Nov. She didn't see the head so has no idea if it is Roy but let me put up a camera.

My third camera showed me 5 different cats - including the same one I got the picture of three weeks ago! This camera is on the same road as the first one so I did mapquest for distance - 0.54 miles. I did not realize the territory could be THAT big.

Feb 15, 2008

Today I received a call from a lady who saw a cat crossing the street that looked like Roy. She said she got a good luck at the face and said it looked like the cat on the posters. She also said he had a pure black body but wasn't sure about the feet. I am not too worried about it as she probably wasn't paying that much attention and I don't think his feet are that white anymore. She was calling from the same area of a previous call so tomorrow I will be knocking on doors and hopefully someone will let me put up a camera. The weather is supposed to get bad later this weekend so I am really hoping I can get it set up tomorrow.

I put up a camera today - I don't really think it is Roy but I have to try. As I walked up to the door there was this weird statue of a calico - the hair was all matted - like it was dread locked. When I got to the door the head turned and meowed at me - it had been so still until that point I thought it wasn't alive. After I got permission to put up the camera I petted the cat. She followed me to my car! I think if the cat doesn't belong to the house I might take her. Cats shouldn't have dreads. I would put her in a no-kill but she was so friendly and she really wanted into a house that I figure a shelter would be better no matter what. I would get her cleaned up first - she might need to be shaved if the dreads are too much to wash out.