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Neutering a cat that isn’t technically yours

Chester picked the right house to run to.

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There’s a big tomcat in my (urban) neighborhood here in Oz who shows up once in a while. I don’t know if he belongs to anyone, but the lackadaisical attitude that Aussies have around neutering makes me want to “help” him, ha. Typically cats around here that have owners will be wearing collars so we know they’re not strays.

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he is 100% smiling and radiating joy!

We drove Randal to his new home today - he is the first kitten to leave the fold! One down, six to go! His new owner is so happy to have him and I know he will love his new life with her.

A very sweet older couple came over to meet Buzz and Woody and adopted them on-site. Its going to be hard to let go of Buzz since he has been my favorite little purr monster, but he loved these people and they are a fantastic home . It is also comforting that this couple wants to adopt 2 kittens together. They completed the adoption contract, and paid their fee, but can’t bring the kittens home until their home renovation project is finished. So I get 2 more weeks with them until they go to their new home together.

I took the others (except Celia - still waiting on her spay surgery) to an adoption event at Petco, we got a few nibbles, but no takers. :frowning: oh well, we will try again next week!

I’m happy that there has been some progress and these babies are ready to fly to coop!

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Great progress @BatCoach! You are my kitty hero. :cat2: :heart::hugs:

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definitely mine too!!!

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Remember this blue eyed orange boy? He is the reason I started to post on this thread since he resembled Chester.

He was one of the first cats we TnR’d, but I stopped seeing him a few days after his ear-tip in early April. By then I was so busy with the mamas and kittens that I didn’t really think much of it. Outdoor life is tough and I just don’t have the time/energy to track the ferals who hang out in our parking lot.

Yesterday I get a call. Orange Boy was in a turned into a vet some 20 miles away from my house. One of the vets we use for TnR does a $10 microchip, so he was chipped when he was snipped (haha). It was undoubtedly him. But how did he get 20 miles away?

The desk staff didn’t know much about how he came to be there, but I was told that the vet’s son found him in the landscaping next to a huge car dealership and brought him in. He looks no better or worse from when I saw him in April - just the same, minus the big tom cheeks.

The vet closed at 6 and made it clear that they wanted him picked up that day. I my office is only 5 miles away from where the vet is, so arrangements are made for a cardboard carrier so I can go to the vet directly from work and pick up the cat. He is boxed up, put in my car and off we go. Of course he urinates in the car :woman_facepalming: so I wasted no time in releasing him back to the colony and leaving some kibble as a ‘welcome back’ gift.

An hour later the rescue calls saying they want me to bring him to her house. :grimacing: I swear this woman has the worst communication skills. I explain I already released him and will have to try to trap him after work tomorrow. She said “I thought you said he was friendly” yeah - most of the ferals in my colony are super friendly (feeding into my theory that most are abandoned pets) but I’m not risking my eyeballs to try to stuff one into a carrier. Hell, one of my grumpy old men cats puts up a super-cat strength fight to get in a carrier, I’m not going to risk my moneymaker by shoving a feral cat that I haven’t seen in 4 months into one.

I’m glad that this means one less cat in the colony, since we are both very hopeful he could turn out to be housecat material, but I would much rather that she focus her time / efforts on former kitten momma Daisy, who I think has the best chances of turning into a housepet. Oh well. She wants Orange Boy so Orange Boy she shall get.

Now the main question - how did he get 20 miles away? My best guess is that he hitch-hiked in the back of a pickup truck unbeknownst to the driver. On the other hand, he is super freindly, so I guess its possible that someone saw him, decided to pluck him up off the street and took him to their house? If only orange boy could talk - I bet I would get one hell of a story!

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I’m pretty sure that’s how Dice would up in my friends’ neighborhood. They put up signs. He’d been neutered. While a barn cat he got into several people’s cars and rode part way home with them. The vets learned to do a cat sweep before they left. He once epically rode part way down the street on top of a farrier’s truck until a neighbor spotted him, waved the guy down, and called our barn owner who sent someone in a golf cart to retrieve him. Some cats do like vehicles and travel.

Our current barn cat ended up a a horse show by hitching a ride in the utility trailer. The groom found him that night after it at been open all day while he unloaded stuff and set up. Kind of a miracle that he didn’t walk out during the day and disappear forever.

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::rofl: what a daredevil Dice is!! Car surfing for kitties! that is hilarious. I guess some cats are just traveling vagabonds.

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Our best barn cat ever came in a load of hay. Rode all the way in an 18 wheeler’s hayload.

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Holy crap!! :astonished: :astonished:I’m glad he is okay! I shudder to think of the things that could have happened to him. I had a cat at my last property that would get into people’s vehicles; he disappeared one day and we all think he hitched a ride in the back of a truck. We never saw him again. Broke my heart. I always hoped that he made it to wherever and found a new home he was so friendly but my common sense says probably not. Great cat - Charlie.

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Some cats hitch rides on airplanes.

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Love Orange Boy! And I also vote for the hitchhiking angle or perhaps someone picked him up. I keep my show horse at the barn my trainer works out of. They have a barn kitty who insists on jumping into my truck bed, walking around and when I haul my horse trailer there she will go into it and also my dressing room. I call it my feline road safety inspection. Curiosity and all that I suppose.

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Yikes! Glad that ended well.

Barn where I keep my show horse has two new adopted kitties. Of course they’re both orange tigers. It’s the year of the Tiger!

!

How are your kitties @BatCoach?

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Question for my cat loving friends. I welcome Chester into my house but he wants to go outside every morning until I come home. The thing is all the neighbor dogs and cats are basically semi feral with no flea treatment. I have two inside dogs who I need to shield from the onslaught of fleas. I put advantage on Chester and weekly give him a Capstar but I’m noticing everyone is itchy. Do I cut him off from living outside? Is that right? I think he either needs to live inside or out. Is it wrong to make him live wholly inside?
Please tell me what to do. He will jump
Up and hang off the handle of the front door when he wants out. What’s best?

Capstar is very effective but stops working quickly between doses and advantage seems to stop working for some flea populations. I would try a longer active feed through like comfortis- you should be able to have an indoor outdoor kitty and itch free dogs.
ETA- are the dogs also on flea prevention?

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Advantage doesn’t work on my cats well - I had to go to Revolution instead. Fleas develop immunity to certain topicals, and for my cats, Advantage is one.

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They are adorable! Sqeeee!

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Unfortunately, as my vet has explained to me several times, no flea preventative keeps the buggers from getting on the animals. They just kill the fleas after they are already aboard. So if Chester goes out and has fleas jump on him, they’re probably going to make it inside the house and onto your dogs before they die.

The preventative just kills them before the fleas have time to lay eggs and establish a colony on the animal.

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@ThreeWishes, you can also treat your yard, which will lower the number of fleas that Chester can interact with as long as he is staying around your place.

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