March 21 2008

I decided to take the day off today and not do my rounds. I need a bit of a break after the turmoil of yesterday.

Tomorrow I am visiting Leo at his shelter and making sure he is settling in. Apparently he has a fan club going already - I hope that means he will get a home soon. I feel slightly responsible for him since I took him in - I want to make sure he gets a good home.

I was talking to another pet hunter (I will need to check to see if she is okay with me posting her name) and she told me about this stuff called "canine bait". It is supposed to attract dogs but seems to work on many animals. She told me when she used it she attracted cats and raccoons and then dogs from about 4 miles away. SO I ordered a bottle of the stuff and see what happens. I don't feel like I have anything to lose. My one concern is what happens to the animals after - will they go back home? I don't really need a yard full of dogs, cats and raccoons!

March 20, 2008

Today was a bad day. I walk out of the house to my car and see Grey - the feral I have been feeding in the garage - lying there as if he was waiting for me. I talk to him and ask if he is hungry - he walked up to me and started meowing. I reached down and petted his head - he seemed to enjoy it. I figured he wanted some food so I went back to the door and he followed me. I opened the door and he ran right in. He was thin as a rail and seemed to be in pretty bad shape. He went into the kitchen and found the food and water. He nibbled at the food but then started drinking and kept going for a while. I grabbed a carrier and we put him in and drive him to the vet. I knew something was seriously wrong with him and wanted him looked at ASAP. he didn't want to go into the carrier but didn't really struggle. Once there the vet looked him over - he didn't fight or anything. He had about 3 teeth and a very bad mouth infection. Apparently he is about 12 -14 years old - he has been living out there a long time. He was severly dehydrated and weighted next to nothing - I couldn't even tell he was in the carrier.

The vet ran tests on him - he was FeLV positive and suffering from it - his kidneys were shutting down. There was no hope for him so I agreed to put him down - but it wasn't an easy decision to make. Grey had been someone's pet. He loved getting his chin rubbed and was neutered. It hit me hard because I could only imagine Roy being in the same condition - out there making his way and then wasting away from a disease. Grey is now buried in my backyard and I hope that he has some of the peace he was missing in this life.

March 19. 2008

I got a picture today that is a possible! It is from behind so all I see is a longish haired black cat with a white streak on his collar just like Roy has. Now I just need him to turn around so I can get a really good look.

March 18. 2008

The marshmellows worked! The raccoons ate them and left my cat food alone! I have at least 3 cats come to the buffet - but all of them kept their back to the camera so I don't know who they are. I might need to move the camera to a different angle.

I have also been feeding them long enough that I will need to contact a feral group to see how to wean them off the food. At least the weather is getting warmer so they should be able to go back to hunting well.

March 17 2008

Today was the first day that my buffet had no raccoons! The marshmellows didn't seem to be touched either but I am not complaining.

I have a few cats come visiting but the plate got moved so I only got a good look at one of them - not Roy. I will have to move the plate to get better pictures.

March 16, 2008

There is a new cat at my home buffet! So maybe it is possible for Roy to be lured home this way. I do have a possum coming here so I need to find a way to discourage it without chasing away the cats. If Roy came and didn't find food would he come back later or would he not bother?

I put out jack mackeral at the other sites so hopefully I will get some more cats there. I did put out lots of marshmellows so the raccoons will go for them instead of my cat food.

March 15, 2008

Today I went to a birthday party and didn't get home until now. I felt it was a bit late to be running around in other people's yards and decided that one day shouldn't hurt. I hope.

I did buy some marshmellows - I was told they work better then apples. They were on sale so I got 6 bags worth.