Spring Hope TNR Project Update and another TNR project

Marie P and I went to Spring Hope yesterday to trap for our spay day today.  We were lucky enough to have Elizabeth Ruffing accompany us so we could take photos (she's the one who took the photos for our TNR photo documentary).  We warned her - you really haven't seen this many cats in one place at one time. 

We've TNR'd so many cats in such a short amount of time that it's getting harder to catch the cats.  After being there for over four hours, we only trapped two cats and the other cats we saw that were not ear cropped proved to be very wily and knew what the traps were for.  We left a couple of traps and showed the caregiver how to set them and how to release the cats if he caught an ear cropped one, but to call us if he caught one that's not ear cropped.

So we only caught two cats yesterday but we did find three kittens.  One was under the front porch and two (appear to be the same age) and then Elizabeth found two more back near the goats.  They were wedged in quite tightly and she braved the tall grass and possible snakes and got them out. The babies appear to be about 5 weeks old and have upper respiratory - one not so bad, one more with breathing (wheezes), and one who is really bad off.  Not only is he congested and his eyes goopy, one of the eyes is already opaque and may or may not be able to be saved.  He had to be fed by hand because he doesn't seem to be able to see or smell the food.  They are currently at the vet (came to the office with me this morning until someone could pick them up and get them to vet aroudn 10:30).  Thankfully, no one was here at the new job - Monday must be work from home today.  So here are some pictures of the little meeps.  The itty bitty hissy kitty is the really sick one.  He had to be picked up with gloves at first because he'd do all he could to rip you to pieces, but he was just scared.  He did well last night when I was picking him up and holding him.

(I love this pictures, he's so fierce!!)

And then a "funny thing happened on the way home from Spring Hope"....  We stopped at fast food row near the highway and lo and behold, to what do our wondering eyes did appear?  Cats.  Feral cats.  Of course!  Trapped three yesterday for spaying/neutering today.  Talked to one of the restaurants and found out there are about 20+ cats there.  This colony will be a priority because the area cannot sustain any more growth.  We do have some pictures to post and will update this post a little later with those pix - Elizabeth had to take a break from uploading/posting/etc. and get some real work done.  :-)