Each cat is scanned for a microchip when they are brought into the clinic just in case they already have an owner. So far we haven't found any that have one.
We rate them on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the most friendly in-your-face love me now because I deserve it, 10 being super duper feral, expel anal glands, attack and possibly defecate when handled).
Did you know that every animal going under anesthetic has to have a name? Does anyone know if this is a requirement by the OVMA? I was told that it was, but am not sure of the source ...
Cat number one was all black. Beautiful DSH guy. A whopping 9 lbs. He was rated 8 by the clinic on the 'feral' scale. The clinic named him Knight. He was estimated to be 5 years old. A royal little hell-cat. He had some dental issues as well and since he was in for surgery anyway, we said to go ahead and remove the bad teeth since we don't want them to absess. They also cleaned his good teeth at no charge (since he's a barn cat). Since we did so much work on him and he received an AB shot, we couldn't release him right away, so we ended up with him in our garage for five days in a dog crate with food, water and a litter box. Man oh man did he ever stink!
I would like to say for the record that intact adult male cat smells bad. Even days after their neuter surgery. They still stink.
Knight was re-released into our barn on the fifth day after his surgery. In total, we kept him for a week (including the day before the surgery when we trapped him, plus the day of his surgery). He was so happy to be back in his familiar barn - I haven't ever seen a cat move that quick.
Cat number two is 22 lbs of long haired grey. We think he is a Maine Coon mix since he isn't obese and he has the ear tufts. You can see the picture to the left. That is him. We named him Smokey. He is rated at a 1. He is an in-your-face cat that assumes every time you sit down on a chair that you have invited him to sit on your lap. Smokey was in our barn for 5 months before we caught him. We thought it a shame to put him back out in the barn since he seemed so friendly.
Smokey gets along with other cats, but hates dogs. I mean hates. He looks at them through the window and actually growls at them. He is currently staying with two dogs that he will chase around the house and tackle. It is not a game (unlike a similar one played by the resident cat and said dogs).
The dogs actually fear him and won't walk by him anymore in case he will attack. He is not currently with us, but may come back in the next few weeks (or we will find another home for him). He can not stay where he is - he's causing too much problems with the dogs. Our dogs are more stable and can deal with a cat that attacks (we already have one that ambushes the dogs and one that body checks the dogs when they walk by).
Thus concludes the first edition of TNR Adventures. Stay tuned!
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