Just what we need another cat, but one showed up this morning a young tom looking fairly haggard. He is a long hair tuxedo boy very striking- traps and food laid out- no way was he going to go that route. I see his ears aren’t tipped so he isn’t a runaway from a local feral cat colony around the corner. He bears a striking resemblance to a cat I saw at Karen’s when I went to pick up the original seven. She told me he was very aggressive and he was “No Touch.” I would hate to think she did this- but someone dumped him somewhere. He has already picked three fights with my barn cats and I grabbed my catch pole (which I hate) but I can’t have an aggressive tom roaming. He seemed to sense my intentions and took off in a run toward the creek. I am sure he will be back.
This morning when I went into the deck enclosure, one of the black boys stuck his head out of the house and said hello. I sat down on the straw and talked to him as I dished his food being careful not to look in his eyes. Then Striker, who was also in the house bapped the friendly one on the nose and he withdrew rather quickly. It was as if Striker was telling Malcolm- “Enough already, don’t encourage the human!”
George the handyman is here today, he will be putting in more windows in the deck enclosure, screening in the rest of the cage where Quinn is and putting pet proof screen on the porch enclosure where we ran out. Then I think I am done with this very nice man but he has asked if he can come back with his grand-daughter so she can visit the cats.
I wouldn’t put it past this Karen to do something like that, except she would have had to go to some trouble to capture the feral fellow in order to accomplish this, so it may not be her doing.
Love that he wants to bring the grandkid. Respect for animals seems to be a learned behavior in humans.
Mr. Young Tom. We get 2 or 3 every summer. I never know where they come from but they get TNR’d at my house, no exceptions. I’ve found the best motivator for trapping is Hunger. Which means I have to monitor outdoor food with an eagle eye. A huge pain, all my cats hates it but I get Mr. Tom every time. I release back in my rural yard and surprising, most keep moving, only one has stayed over the years. Good luck with Tuxie.
If George the HandyMan is bring grand-kiddies, there may well a kittie adoption looming somewhere in the future.
Good luck catching the tux boy.
Do you have a drop trap? We’ve heard those sometimes work better, since they don’t ‘look like a trap’ to some kitties. FWIW.