Our Feline Adventure

Our months-long feline adventure seems to have finally come to a close. You may remember that our family began monitoring a family of feral cats in June (http://musingsthoughtsandponderings.blogspot.com/2009/06/cat-wrangler.html).

After inadvertently trapping a opossum, (http://musingsthoughtsandponderings.blogspot.com/2009/06/cat-wrangler-part-2.html),

a neighbor's cat who didn't seem to care less that he was in a trap on our front porch,

and a stinky, not-so-nice raccoon
(http://musingsthoughtsandponderings.blogspot.com/2009/08/one-time-when-i-caught-raccoon-on-my.html),

we finally caught the feral mother cat which we had been after since June.

Since we have been feeding the female stray for months, we feel obligated to continue caring for her as much as she will let us. Thanks to our local Humane Society's feral spay/ neuter program, we had Smoky spayed and vaccinated for rabies for $35. She has now been released into our yard where we hope she will continue to reside. You may notice that Smoky's right ear has been tipped which allows animal control officers to know that she has been spayed and is being cared for as a feral cat.

Smoky's son, Snowball, which we adopted as a house cat is also doing fabulously well. He weighed a mere 2.5 pounds when we took him in at the end of July.


After much pampering, Snowball now weighs 5 pounds and has evolved into such a loving cat. He constantly follows us around the house and loves being held and cuddled. He was also neutered at the Humane Society this week and, better yet, tested negative for feline leukemia and HIV. A negative test result is such a relief since Snowball's previously risky life in a feral colony concerned us.

We are so thrilled that we didn't listen to the naysayers who told us not to even bother with feral cats. Snowball has turned out to be a great first cat for our family, which previously pledged all of our allegiance to dogs.

I also cannot heap enough praise on the Humane Society. From providing humane traps for us to use, initially handling and reassuring us about Snowball's ability to become a house pet, and for offering affordable ways to spay/ neuter and vaccinate feral animals and pets. Please support your local Humane Society (http://www.hsus.org/), as well as other organizations which work to protect animals and prevent abuse.