Great news. One of my friends, Chris from Racine has caught a very friendly (and very thin) stray cat. Since they have three other cats, they didn’t think another would be a good idea, but another friend of ours, Peter stepped up and has given this fuzzy little kitteh a new home

Congratulations!

Excellent, professionally made TNR video from the Humane Society of the United States.

Pt. 1

Pt. 2

My friend Chris caught this horrible story of a cat that was actually super glued to a Minnesota interstate highway.

Welcome to Custer Cats, the posts that you read after this one will be older postings that I have made over the past few years on my primary blog, but I wanted a place to focus on our work with Milwaukee’s Feral Cat population and with the Wisconsin Humane Society and their Trap, Neuter & Return program.

I plan to include a lot of pictures and even some video of the cats we have worked with over the past several years. I also want to share with you our experience working with these cats.

My neighbor Elem and myself have set us quite an elaborate system here, and we are always willing to help, and to learn from others.

As with people in cities everywhere, we have feral cats around my home in the McGovern Park area. I have one group of about 6 or 8 that has claimed my neighborhood as their territory. Since I have a secluded fenced in back yard and a thick row of hedges that surround my house as well as several neighbors, these cats are pretty well off. A few weeks ago, when a litter of kittens was starting to get around, I thought about catching one for a pet (after a trip to the vet of course), but I had second thoughts. Now these kittens are a little oder and the male and female of the group actually called a colony) have instilled a good dose of fear of humans in them, they would probably no longer make good pets, but a few of them do watch me and I can almost entice them to play with a long string, they want to, but they don’t want to get to close to me.

I have been thinking about doing something about the situation, so I went to the homepage of the Milwaukee Humane Society to see if they had suggestions on the control of these feral cats. They did and I spent the next several hours reading and doing more research. There is a ton of information on their site and by following links, you can learn a lot about the program they support, it is called the Wisconsin Humane Society’s Community Cat Caregiver Program.

What this program does is takes volunteers from the community and has them participate in a program called Trap-Neuter-Return. What they do is supply you with a live trap, the volunteer traps the feral cats and brings them to the Humane Society, where the cat is given an examination, vaccinations, is spayed or neutered, earmarked and microchipped and is then evaluated. If the cat is tame and can be socialized and adopted out, they will keep it, if not, it is then returned to the territory where it was trapped.

By returning the cat to the wild, it holds a stable population in the area, keeping new cats from moving in. These cats are all health checked, vaccinated and “fixed” so they can have no more kittens. The males are also less aggressive and will not “spray and the females will not go into heat, causing the loud “yowling” to attract males.

The volunteers are tasked with the trapping and transport for treatment, as well as monitoring the size and status of the cat colony in your area and providing food and basic care.

In areas that have tried to trap and remove the cats (either by removing or euthanizing), they have not seen the population go down, it simply forms a vacuum that draws other cats into the newly abandoned territory. And these new cats are of course not treated medically, so there is a greater risk of them bringing disease as well as new kittens to the area. By keeping the stable population of healthy cats, they will protect their territory, keeping out the outsiders.

I have been so interested in this program since I started learning about it, that I am going to be getting more information, and quite possibly getting involved myself. I stopped in at the Humane Society this morning and have the number of the person running the program, and I will be getting more details this week, then I will be here to bore you all with the details

If you would like to learn more, start here, Wisconsin Humane Society: Help Wild Cats. There are many links off of that page, just start clicking. They have a 39 page document with just tons of information. i sat here and read the entire thing last night while I ignored a bunch of friends in a chatroom, I was that taken in by this program.

By the way, my puppy Pal loves watching the cats in the backyard, he wants to play with them so bad!

Tried to do a little yard work, and this furry distraction got in my way. As I got the mower close to a corner of the fence, this rascal bolted across the yard into another corner. Well, due to my work with the Wisconsin Humane Society’s Feral Cat Program, I have a live trap, so I set it up in the corner where this woodchuck wedged himself into (after dragging the dog away of course). I then poked a stick into the blind corner he had wedged himself, and he had no choice but to run into the trap.

Most of you know that I have been working with the Wisconsin Humane Society’s Feral Cat Program. I have spent the last three weeks caring for three feral kittens, they were finally large enough to take in for adoption this past Wednesday. These kittens never really calmed down, if i would have been able to bring them into the house and treat them like house pets, they probably would have, but I didn’t want to risk spreading anything to Kitt & Pal, so they lived in the garage and I spent time with them daily, but it wasn’t enough to really get them socialized.

I just got a call, none of them will be adoption candidates. No one there can even handle them (but I can) so Monday morning they will be spayed & neutered and I will pick them up Monday night. I will hold them two days before I can release them. The mother of these three kittens is still living in my yard, and while I was caring for them, she was here almost all of the time, I’m sure she will be glad when they come home, and I can release them to her. I think they will be comfortable enough with me that as they grow, they will still see my yard and garage as home… especially if I keep feeding them the good stuff

Long time readers will remember that over the summer I had some feral cats in my yard, and I contacted the Humane Society and they hooked me up with the program they run where we capture the cats, they neuter or spay the cats and release them back into the same area they came from. Well, I haven’t gotten to the capture part yet, but I have been taking care of one female that has taken up residence in my garage. The problem is, she was a kitten this spring, and as young as she is, she had a litter of kittens a few months ago (not really sure when) but there is only one left now. This winter will be very hard on her, even with me an another neighbor feeding them every day. So today when I was out in the garage, the kitten was sitting in the big food bowl I was using, it started to run away, but I was able to call it back and caught it. I don’t think it could survive this winter, so I brought it inside, and she (I am almost positive it is a SHE) has adopted us. Right now she is sitting between my monitors watching all of the birds at the feeder!

I went to the store to buy some kitten food, litter box etc., and when i put the food down, she dove in face first, she was that hungry! She is very fuzzy, so it is hard to tell by looking at her, but when you feel her, she is very thin, her ribs and spine are sharp, so she was not doing well, and in this cold, she needed all the energy she could muster so she didn’t freeze.

Here are a few pic’s.

She is more black than the pictures show, when the flash went off, the silver highlights really stand out. She also needs a bath… anyone want to help?

I put a small box between my monitors (I run dual monitors) and she moved right in.

Kitt is not impressed by Pal… as long as pal stays out of the kitty’s box

Kitt is concerned about Brett Favre too! You knew I couldn’t have a cat that isn’t a Packer fan!

As some of you know, my neighbor and I have been working with the Wisconsin Humane Society’s Feral Cat Program, also known as the Trap/Nuter/Return (TNR) program. The goal is to get a stable, healthy population of feral cats. The fact is, just killing cats doesn’t solve the problem, it just moves new cats into the area vacated by the killed animal(s). The TNR program has a network of trained volunteers that will trap the feral cats and bring them to the Humane Society for medical treatment. Any cat that is tame enough to be able to be adopted, will be held by the HS, but most adult feral cats don’t make good adoption candidates, so they are sterilized, receive medical treatment, including shots and a microchip. Each cat also has an ear tip cropped for easier identification in case it is trapped again. These cats are then released back to us later the same day, we have to care for them in a cage for 24 hours for males and 48 hours for females, after the surgery. We also pledge to continue to provide food, water and shelter for the feral population to keep them healthy.

more…

It’s unanimous, Kitt has been declared absolutely adorable by the entire staff of our Vet’s office. one of the tech’s took her on a tour to see all of the people in the back rooms, and the receptionist that has 6 cats, didn’t want to give Kitt back to me, she was ready for #7 with his cute little ears and round face

And even better news is, she is totally healthy, no worms, no fleas, no ear mites and no feline leukemia. She is a whopping 2.25lbs and is about 7 or 8 weeks old. Oh yes, and she is officially a SHE

I was glad to hear she didn’t have worms, because Pal thinks her poops are doggie tootsie rolls… Yuck! But since she is clean, we don’t have to de-worm them both. She got her first shot and had blood drawn, so she is really pooped now, I suspect she will sleep the rest of the day.

I did learn something about cat markings, Kitt is a Classic Tabby, she has a bull’s eye pattern on her side and distinctive two-tone colors. This is something that some cat people breed for!

By the way, Pal is being much calmer around her, he is slipping into the big brother roll nicely. It will still be some time before I leave them alone, but progress is being made on that front.

I guess I’ll have to keep her…

Last Saturday morning (Nov. 1, 2008), I spotted a new cat in my yard and that evening, I was able to trap it. She is still young, maybe 7-8 months old, and her personality was so calm and gentile that I knew she would make a good pet. I took her in for the medical treatment and really expected them to keep her for adoption, but shockingly, they didn’t deem her adoptable. After these procedures, we have to keep them caged for 48 hours to give them time to recover from the surgery. This little gal was so well behaved that I, thought about finding someone to adopt her myself. I brought her into the house and held her, she curled up on my lap and started purring about as loud as a lawnmower… I should have realized then that I had been adopted.

My other cat, Kitt isn’t real pleased with the new intruder, it will take time for her to get use to the idea. Pal is of course glad to have a new playmate, this big ‘ol dog just loves cats, even the ones outside. He sometimes scares them because he wants to play, but Kitt is the only one that will really play “with” him. it is hilarious to watch the cat chase the dog through the house or watch the cat attack the dogs wagging tail or tug-o-war rope.

Well, since it seems that I have officially been adopted, we needed a name. I have found that animals usually name themselves given the chance, and this was no different. As part of the Humane Society treatment, they crop the tip of one ear for easy identification of the animals, so as I was looking at her thinking of a name, it came to me, Tippi, in honor of both her ear being “tipped” and the actress Tippi Hedren. Hedren runs the Roar Foundation and the Shambala Preserve, which works to rescue cats… well, big cat, like lions and tigers that have been retired from circuses and former pets, etc. So it is fitting that a rescued cat share her name.

So now the real work begins, getting Kitt to really accept Tippi. It often takes weeks, sometimes months to introduce a new cat into an existing cats home, but with a steady patient approach, I think it will work out.

A guest post from my friend Bruce.

After four back-to-back weekends out of town, I’ll tell you honestly that “general housekeeping” around the primary homestead has taken a bit of a “back seat” around my place in recent days. On my way out the door this morning, hustling to get my daughter to school on time after the celebration of a late-afternoon (well, into the evening) Packer victory yesterday, my fogginess caused me to strike my hand on the doorknob, throwing a splash of coffee from my mug and on to the mudroom floor.

As I knelt down to wipe it up, my focus turned to one of our cat’s litter boxes, which hides beneath a bench, under a coat rack.

Yikes. How did we let that happen? That’s never looked quite like that before. Probably time for a trip to the pet store. After school, I picked up my daughter, and we embarked upon our adventure in search of clay that clumps.

As we approached the door to the store, my daughter asked, “Can we look at the kitties?”

“Sure,” I replied. I had a couple cat boxes waiting to be scrubbed, bleached, and refilled at home. Prolonging that by a few extra minutes would be just fine with me.

We entered the store and rushed to the cat adoption area, as we have so many times before, since the days when my daughter was just a tiny toddler. And that’s when I saw it: The wall of cats, every one waiting patiently for adoption. Cats of all ages, from tiny kittens to 10-year-old adults.

They weren’t playing. They weren’t eating. Most of them didn’t look particularly alert. They were just sitting there, some lying in their litter boxes. In an adoption room that, in our 5+ years of visiting, had never housed more than perhaps 4 or 5 cats, usually kittens, we found 25 or 30 cats, stacked 4 or 5 to a cage. New cages had been added since our last visit, housing balls of fur with names like “Mr. Collins,” “Mimi,” and “Graham.”

The usually immaculate room, with its antiseptic, almost medicinal smell, today reeked of uncleaned boxes. One cage housed a kitten, looking for water, but her water bowl (shared by 3 other older cats) was bone dry.

I don’t fault the store, as I recognize that lessened profits have undoubtedly led to decreased staffing levels, and presumably a tighter watch on the supplies. I recognize that the store, working with a pet rescue agency, is doing good work, and (like most retailers these days) doing the best they can under the circumstances.

But that doesn’t help one feel better when you consider the reality that these animals aren’t doing what they’d much rather be doing: Chasing a catnip toy around the family room, watching a robin in the tree from a window ledge, keeping a little girl’s feet warm at night. For many, if not most, of these loyal companions-in-wait, I know that new home will probably never be found. It’s just so sad.

“What will happen to them if no one takes them home, daddy?” asked my daughter. I simply shook my head. “I’m not sure, Kate,” I responded. I didn’t feel like dishing out that much reality to a 6-year-old on a Monday night.

There’s been a lot written about the growing national trend of animals surrendered to shelters, or simply abandoned, due to the nation’s continuing economic woes. But for the first time, tonight, I witnessed the epidemic first-hand, at a pet store in the historically recession-proof utopia of Madison, WI. I can only imagine the scope of the problem in other communities around the state with unemployment far more severe than Madison.

If you, or someone you know, would consider being part of an animal rescue, let this post just be my personal reminder that now would be an excellent time to take the plunge. Or, should you have a family member, an aging parent, someone who could use the companionship that a pet might bring to their lives, urge them to consider it, sooner rather than later.

Let’s help as many of these furry friends find new homes as we can.

I know, this is a little off topic from what I usually talk about here, but it’s something that I enjoy and of course, it is my blog

In a cold Wisconsin winter, the local wildlife can always use a little help, especially in the city where the natural forage is not as plentiful. Personally I really enjoy watching the birds right out the window next to my PC monitors. I have many types of birds here year around. They are more colorful in the spring and summer, especially the finches, but they actually need me more in the winter

Here are a few tips for the amateur bird watcher.

Get the better quality seeds, if you get the cheep stuff, most of it will end up on the ground. The real cheep foods have a lot of Milo (Grain Sorghum), the big round brown seeds that few birds like. Unless you want pigeons or doves, this seed usually goes to waste. It is usually added to the cheep foods as filler.

The least wasteful way to feed would be to fill each feed station with it’s own type of seed, but unless you have the room to add several feeders, this will limit the types of birds you get. I suggest a good “waste free” food, it will be a bit more expensive, but it lasts longer because the birds don’t push most of it out onto the ground to find the good stuff. This type food will usually have a lot of millet (red, white & gray) shelled and chopped sunflower seeds, chopped peanuts and grains. This is a food combination that will keep most back yard bird flocks happy.

I also like a good quality finch food. Finch like the millets and thistle and canary seeds and a decent quality finch food will have these with no ‘filler”. Many birds will eat this mix, but there are several “finch” feeders with small openings and perches too small for large birds available and they will cut down on the sparrow and less desirable birds from getting the seed.

Thistle seed is also great for finches, I enjoy the sock or mesh bag type feeder for thistle seeds, the finch will hang on the sides and pick the seeds through the mesh. it is not uncommon to see several house and golden finch hanging on that feeder at once.

There are several birds that like sunflower seeds, most prefer the black oil seeds. These will attract chickadee, nut hatches, cardinals & blue jays.

Suit is another food that really is important in the winter time. The high fat content helps them through the lean times. My woodpeckers and nut hatches and chickadee’s really like this stuff. The prepared “blocks” can be found where you buy your seeds, they will have mixtures of seeds, nuts and berries. You can also find suit at the grocery store and if you are adventurous you can mix up some great bird treats. Melted and mixed with peanut butter, corn meal, seeds, oatmeal even chopped fruit make great feed for your backyard flock.

Mix peanut butter, birdseed & suet. Spread mixture on a pine cone or small grapevine wreath. Hang it from a tree outside and watch them flock all over it!

In the spring I have a great group of Oriels here, they are beautiful birds to have around, even more colorful than the gold finches and cardinals, all they ask is half of an orange stuck on the feeder and a little nectar. The nectar feeder looks like a large hummingbird feeder (usually orange).

In the summer I also have hummingbird feeders, these tiny birds are amazing to watch, my parents have the good fortune to have dozens of hummingbirds around their home in the country, I just get a few here in the big city, but they sure are fun.

Water is something that many people don’t think about in the winter, but birds can become dehydrated. Adding a pan of water on warn days is really a great help to the birds, and if you can swing a heated water source, that’s even better! Moving water really attracts birds, so some people use a small fish tank air pump and a bubble stone to keep the water moving for the birds. A bird bath should not be deep and if possible, should not have steep sides or maybe a rock in the middle to allow the birds to get to the water while staying dry.