Congratulations to Mindy Norris who won a free outdoor shelter for their colony cats and a bottle of Feral Flower Essence from FixNation board member Jackson Galaxy’s Spirit Essences line through FixNation’s National Feral Cat Day story competition!
My neighbor and I trap and release the community cats in the ELMM (Ed, Laura, Mindy, Melissa) colony located in northeast Pasadena, California.
Our very first attempt resulted in trapping Bobbie, the “queen mom” as we call her. She was quickly lured with tuna and we got her! However, we realized she was pregnant and, not being very experienced trappers at the time, we let her out because we weren’t sure we could still bring her in. Well, since that day a couple of years have gone by, Bobbie remains elusive, but her babies did not.
CeCe and Abbey were two of the kittens she gave birth to after we let her go, and both have become comical, sweet, and clever members of our “community.” At night we often hear them playing above our bedroom as if they know we are just laying down to sleep.
I feed them and many of their siblings each morning by 6:00 am. I tap on the can of food to let them know it’s ready. All of a sudden, you hear them emerging from the rooftop, along a fence, under gates, and from our fruit trees. It’s a sight to see as they greet me in the morning. Cece (with the white patch on his chest) walks up to me and spins in circles as I put food in the bowl.
Sweet Abbey spends a lot of time in our garden and on the roof of our house! She likes to nap on a particular cushion in our yard. We make sure to keep it nice and clean for her and she naps there every morning after breakfast.
Bobbie continues to elude our traps (often staring at us from across the street), but we have been lucky enough to trap most of her kittens. We’ve learned it takes patience and a lot of love to ensure our community family is happy and healthy.
