thrashing around and crying. We put a blanket over the cage during transport and presented the babies to Queen. As we left the room, we heard loud purring emanating from our homemade “cat cave” in the spare room. Success! We did it! A celebration was planned for that evening, and I was really feeling proud about taking a positive step toward helping feral cats. It was almost Christmas and I was feeling good because animal stories like this rarely have happy endings! Find- ing homes for the adorable kittens during the holidays shouldn’t be too difficult. But later that night, an uneasy feeling compelled me to revisit
The poor little creatures! Panicked, they immediately started K
the scene; something just didn’t feel right. Suddenly I heard a faint rustling near the shed. I turned around just in time to see the cutest, most worried kitten face that I had ever seen retreating into the dark- ness. Were there FIVE?! My heart sunk. Now this scared kitten was all alone, on the coldest night of the year! Little did I know that our kitten saving adventure had only just begun….. READ THE FULL STORY ON THE PULSE MAGAZINE BLOG -
www.PulseMagazineNaples.com
forward in our efforts to save the scrawny feral kittens from the soon- to-be freezing weather. A burrow beneath a rusty, dilapidated shed was the only home they’d ever known. We had previously befriended and taken the mother cat (unknowingly a “mother cat” at the time) to the comfort of my friend’s home. A trip to the vet had enlightened us to the likeliness of a new litter of kittens somewhere in the vicinity of the Hess Station. My friend and I were committed to bringing the fe- line family together again. As of now, we had the mom who we named “Queen” (which we learned in our research is a term for a pregnant cat) and had captured two out of the four kittens that we had discov- ered only days before under the shed. But the last two kittens weren’t cooperating. They didn't trust the strange “beings” that had already snatched their mother and siblings. With a “Have a Heart” trap on loan from the Humane Society of
itten catching progress was slow-going, but we had to move
Naples baited with smelly tuna and strategically placed near the shed, we waited. Within five minutes, a silver kitten came scooting out from behind some old boards and into the trap. We were so excited, but the hinged door didn’t shut! In retrospect, that was a good thing because during our moment of hesitation, a second silver and white, striped kitten pranced into the trap. Except…. the trap door remained open. Frustration! I crept slowly and quietly towards the trap, relying on the wind blowing the leaves to disguise my footsteps. With the kittens distracted by food, I was able to manually slam the door shut!
--------- EDITOR’S NOTE ---------
Queen’s story is an exception to the rule. According to
www.animalcompassionproject.org, “Unspayed feral female cats spend most of their lives pregnant and hungry, as will the female kittens that survive… It is estimated that there is a 75% mortality rate among feral kittens.”
There are several helpful resources online that are a good starting point for learning more about feral cats and local low cost spay and neuter pro- grams:
www.collierferalcatcoalition.org,
www.collierhumanesoc.org,
www.animalcompassionproject.org and
www.collierspayneuter.org.
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