Paul Plans, Kitties Laugh.


You will remember last time we left our hero with a dilemma of a burgeoning cat population. He had devised a Plan “A” and a Plan “B” to catch the kitties, have them altered and then to release them back to the wild of his backyard.


Today we find our hero executing his plan(s) and things did not go exactly as he would hope.


PLAN “A”:

Get the cats used to feeding inside a dog crate. Each day add a piece to the crate until it is a functioning trap. Observe the kitties feeding habits and spring the trap to catch as many as possible in one fell swoop.

Execution: After missing one feeding to make the cats hungry the food was placed in the crate. I went to the kitchen window where the trap release was. Marmalade, Unsub, 3 kittens and to my surprise one of Marmalade’s kittens went right in. Meanwhile the little black kitten was playing with a piece of cellophane on the patio and didn’t seem interested in food. So I waited. I had to watch Marmalade because she is always the first to stop eating and leave. She then sits right in front of the crate and this prevents any other kitties from entering. Finally the black kitty tires of the cellophane and jumps in the crate. With my heart pounding I spring the trap and I have 7 cats in the trap. My one fell swoop has worked!


I have rigged up a cage that fits up against the crate to transfer the kitties into. When I step outside and slide the cage up the kitties realize they are trapped and start trying to get out. Before I can open the door to the cage I see a seal point blur run beside me and then a black and a white. The kittens are squeezing out of the crate and escaping. I open the cage and get the 2 adults, 1 white kitten and marmalades kitten safely locked up.

This is what they squeezed through!

Now I have 3 kittens and Marmalade’s other kitten still loose.


PLAN “B”:

Reset the trap, put narrow wire mesh in cage. Hope the kitties return.
This didn’t have a high probability of success so I developed-


PLAN “C”

Make the entire Patio a trap. Once I was sure all 3 kittens were hiding on the patio I used old pieces of paneling and other wood to completely seal up any escape route the kitties might have. It had to be tight since I found that they can squeeze through a very narrow opening. I would then either herd them into traps or net them.


Execution: I set up obstacles to funnel the kitties into the open cat carriers I set up at the end. Then I went to scare the kitties from their hiding place. Of course, they went the opposite way so it was chasing and catching by hand. I caught the white one when she jumped in a bucket. I saw the black one hide himself inside the feeder. I found the seal point wedged deeply into a little space by the fence and caught it. It was a good thing I had on thick work gloves ‘cause those suckers were biting! When I flushed out the black one I didn’t get a good grip on him and he got away. He ran into a corner of the fence and when I got there he was nowhere to be found.


I stopped looking after a while and put the 2 kitties I did catch with the other cats. Then I came back and searched every nook and cranny and still didn’t find that black kitten. I was fairly certain that it couldn’t escape but I sure couldn’t find it. Finally I found it squeezed in between two pieces of paneling. He was so still I wasn’t sure it was him. A little black kitten can be mistaken for a shadow quite easily. I pried him out and he is now with the others.

Plan “D”

Leave the trap set and watch for Marmalade’s other kitten. There is a slim chance I can get him.
Tomorrow morning I take the older cats on their great adventure. I have to wait a month to do the kittens.