Bergen Babies

Mr. Chin R.I.P.

Coming home from Taqueria de los Muertos tonight I found a dead cat placed on the sidewalk of Washington between St. Marks and Bergen. The tuxedo tom was laying under a sheet someone had put over him, along with some flowers. To whoever did this, thank you.

This poor cat is Mr. Chin, a feral I've been feeding since December 2007. This past year he had moved from his original location, Bergen and Vanderbilt, where I had trapped and neutered him in 2007, and somehow found me three blocks away. I guess he knew I was good people, so he moved into my yard and began a life of constant feedings and shelter.

Because of lack of teeth, he could only eat wet food. The leader of the other ferals who share the space with Mr. Chin would watch over the bowl of wet food I put out daily for Mr. Chin and not let anyone else near it until Mr. Chin got his share. It's like they knew the patriarch was an elder and needed to be cared for.

In recent weeks Mr. Chin had shacked up with a younger lady, a black cat with a white patch on her chest, who would sun next to him in my neighbor's yard. Every day, if I saw one, I saw the other. Mr. Chin's other recent quirk was to walk from yard to yard yowling. I don't know if this was because if he was in some kind of pain or was calling out to his colony mates or GF.

I have a sneaking suspicion that my cat Gizmo, a trap from Bergen and Vandy, is somehow related to Mr. Chin. When the old man was outside, Gizmo would sit by the screen window or screen door and meow in this sad song type of melody, almost as if he was singing to Mr. Chin. It would make your heart break.

As soon as I found Mr. Chin, I got the car, picked up his still warm body and drove him to VERG on Warren Street where he could be properly cremated. VERG is possibly the best ER in New York. They treat sickness and death with respect and dignity, whether they're treating the family pet or a stray off the streets.

Mr. Chin, I will miss you so. Every day, you made me so happy when you'd mosey on over as soon as the Friskies can opened. I hope you're in a better place in the catnip forest in the sky.

TNR on CBS!

Local New York network CBS recently did a story on trap-neuter-return in Manhattan. Check out the video here.

The Stragglers

There's always one... or more. Ugh. While feeding my Bergen Street colony a few months back I noticed a straggler amongst the group. A brown tabby, who looked just like Gnocchi (aka Mr. Eye), kept showing up during my feeding hours.  I assumed he was Gnocchi's brother and put him on my list of felines to trap in the future, but unfortunately didn't do it immediately.

A few weeks ago I noticed the newbie had gotten quite chubby and quickly realized that he was a she, and she was preggers. Damnit! I wrangled help from Maria, a fellow Slope Street Cats volunteer, to help me trap the preggo eggo on a cold and rainy Wednesday night.

We set up two steel box traps, along with a drop trap. A drop trap is this MacGuyver-like contraption that lets you trap specific, hard-to-get kitties. It consists of a large, lightweight wood frame covered in netting on all sides but the bottom. It's propped up on one side by a stick, and food (stinky sardines and tuna work best) is placed under it and towards the back. The trapper stands at a distance, holding a string attached to the stick. When your targeted cat starts eating from under the trap you pull the string which yanks the stick out and drops (hence the name) the trap. The cat is trapped within.

The drop trap has a small wooden door that can be slid open. By placing a box trap door-to-door with the drop trap the cat will enter the portable box trap thinking it's an exit. Bam! You've got your cat in a carrier ready to be taken to the ASPCA mobile clinic.

Sitting in our parked car, with the string from the propped piece of wood coming in through the sunroof, Maria and I gossiped as we waited for our victim to go under the drop trap. Over the course of two hours we saw Mr. Big, along with Gray Girl, plus a totally NEW cat. Argh! Another cat who needs to trapped. Unfortunately this big gray boy was too skiddish to go under the trap and had no interest in the box traps rigged around the lot.

By 10 o'clock we decided to wrap things up. When I went to pick up the box trap I had set up in our previous sweet spot, who was trapped inside but our special girl. I started laughing thinking of Maria and me staring at the drop trap when all along this lady was already done munching on her sardines and looking for an exit strategy.

The Friendlies

So when we trapped at the Bergen lot back in December we trapped two friendly cats -- Cathy and Mr. Eye -- as well as three kittens. We didn't want to put them back out on the streets since they had so much potential to become awesome companion animals for some lucky people so we housed them in foster homes and looked for their perfect mates.

Cathy, who was later renamed Mango, went to a great foster home in Crown Heights. Anna and John slowly pulled Mango out of her shell with feathered toys and tons of love. Within a month she was taken to her forever home in Park Slope where within hours she was napping with her new owner.

Here she is, newly christened as Lolita, in her new pad.

Violet and Eve, the two women who so generously gave us access to their basement to house the cats before and after their spay/neuter dates, got stuck with Mr. Eye as I looked for either a foster or forever home. I took the little dumpling, whose new name is Gnocchi, to an amazing eye specialist Dr. Hunziker. He concluded that Gnocchi had suffered an eye infection when he was a wee baby that went untreated. The inflamed eye stop growing after a certain amount of time and would forever be smaller than his other eye. He was given three different meds that he needed to be on for a month. Violet and Eve patiently gave him his doses every day (three times a day!) Through it all he was a brave little boy who was quickly becoming more and more playful.

Check out the video Violet made of the little rascal.

After weeks and weeks of searching we finally found Gnocchi the perfect mate. He's been with his new dad for a few weeks now and while it was a hard adjustment for Gnocchi at first, day by day he's getting more and more comfortable -- especially with his new sister Kiley.

Now for the kittens, who have been quite a handful. At first all three kittens were in my bathroom, but it was incredibly hard to socialize them since Damien (you can guess why he's been named that) was influencing their behavior. Damien is incredibly scared of people, and would constantly growl and hiss at me, which would then freak out his brothers, Tony and Sinatra, even if they were having a splendid time on my lap. I decided to split them up, with Tony going up to the Bronx to stay with a wonderful woman and her kitty Capone (she now has two gangsters in her house!). He's been getting socialized up there, but has a ways to go as he's still scared of everyone but his foster mom.

Here's Tony with his big brother Capone. Crazy how they're almost the same size!

Sinatra went home with an awesome couple a few blocks away from me. After a few tough weeks, Sinatra (who's new name is Godzilla, or Zilla for short, for all the hand tearing he's been doing) is coming along. Madly purring whenever he's pet and his foster parents have decided to adopt him. YAY!

Damien is still with me. I'm working on him to become a normal kitty. He's starting to like petting but only when his gay BF, Gizmo, is nearby.

They like to gaze into each other's eyes.

And cuddle....

My main problem, other than having three cats and a dog in a studio apartment,  is that Lulu, my dog, doesn't like Damien. She must sense his ultimate evilness. She's gotten more and more used to him since he's been spending the majority of his time out of his kitty condo, but she still occasionally barks at him if he's running around like a crackhead. I've built her a little privacy screen, so that she can relax without the constant harassment from the kitties.

Awesome Video on Spay and Neutering

Mr. Chin Returns!

Sorry for the delay. Mr. Chin was returned to his colony on December 22nd. Below is a video of the release, along with a cameo by Gray Girl.

Since returning Mr. Chin, the final release of this TNR project, I've been feeding the colony every other day. It's incredibly satisfying to go into the lot and have these guys come out of hiding with anticipation for yummy kibble and canned food. It's also great to see them healthy and not preggers! Lost Boy and Wonton are once again running around the 'hood together (for a few days I was scared they broke up because of the lack of pheromones!).

Can you see Wonton?

Gray Girl is constantly waiting at the feeding station for me to replenish food and Mr. Chin has been seen quite a few times noshing on food and walking around like he's the king of the lot.

I've placed two winter shelters in the lot as well, and they seem to be in high use. I caught Lost Boy in one, which was pretty darn cute.

Next update will be on the friendlies...stay tuned.

No Mo' Baby's Mama Drama

The babies' mamas have returned, sans baby abilities. Below is a video of their return to their old stomping grounds.

It's always sad when one of them doesn't want to go back, as was the case with Gray Girl. Hopefully she didn't realize the trap door was open... but there's a part of me that thinks the lady who originally scared the heck out of me (and who I originally thought was a boy) got a little soft for all of us taking care of her. To the left is a photo of her post escape, checking us out as we stand around checking her out (seen at the end of the video above). You can click the photo to make it bigger.

All we have left are Mr. Chin, who's going out Saturday after a full week of antibiotics, and our adoptables Mr. Eye, Chatty Cathy, and the three babies. If  anyone is interested in fostering or adopting any of the adoptables please email bergenbabies [at] gmail [dot] com.

Music in the video is from Carrie.

The Boys Are Back in Town

Maria and I brought three male cats back to their territory this morning. Mr. Chin is staying at the holding space until Saturday, when he'll be done with his antibiotics. Mr. Eye is going to get socialized and then (hopefully) adopted out.

It was a bittersweet return, but I think the cats are happier being somewhere they've grown accustomed to. I filmed the event for you all to see.

The Welcome Home Committee Finds a Victim

The incredibly kind owners of the lot where we did most of our trapping were kind enough to let me set up a winter shelter for the ferals before their return. Because the winters get so cold here in New York, ferals need places to go to keep warm during brisk nights, bad winter storms, and heavy rain.

Unfortunately, in the process of setting up the winter shelter, I found a cat skeleton. Sadly, this type of fate is not uncommon for ferals who are prone to getting sick, not finding enough food, or freezing to death. Trap-Neuter-Return is one way to limit these casualties. As is getting your community together to make sure ferals have adequate shelter and food.

Another way to avoid these types of tragedies is not to dump unwanted cats in the street. If you can't keep your cat for any reason, please consider contacting your local shelter or posting for a home on craigslist. There is no excuse for abandoning your pet on the streets. None.

It was a sad way to start the return process, and it definitely made me much more hesitant to bring these guys back to the street. The only thing I could keep reminding myself is that through the generosity and help of so many people we're able to return these cats healthier than they were and to a location that now will have shelter and regular food. R.I.P. Kitty Doe.

Almost Done!

Sometimes the ASPCA mobile clinic is incredibly efficient. You bring your cage, you fill out paperwork, and you're out of there. That was so not the case yesterday morning.

Maria and I started our day at 7AM, and picked up the last seven kitties from our holding space and brought them to the clinic in South Slope. It was pouring when we packed the kitties into the car and it was still raining when we got to the van. I had taken some extra forms from the van the day before and filled them out prior to getting to the van in the hopes that this would speed up the process even more -- nope!

We stood outside in the pouring ran as the van slowly checked each person and their cats in. There were five to six people ahead of us, and while normally it would take 10 minutes to get their cats on board and ready to go, it took almost two hours! By the time it was my turn I was soaked through my puffy winter coat, my sweatshirt, and my long sleeve shirt underneath. Luckily, we had left the cats in the car during this whole wait-and-nothing session.

My other stroke of luck was that I met a wonderful woman in line who told me she had three extra slots on the van, that she couldn't fill. Well, I actually had two extra cats with me that I wasn't sure the van was going to be able to accommodate, so suddenly all the stress I had about these two kitties was lifted. So, anyway two hours later the kitties got on board and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Despite all the delays at the van, I have to praise the ASPCA for having this clinic. It's so important to spay/neuter your animals and the fact that the ASPCA offers low-cost surgeries makes it so much easier.

Now all our kitties are fixed and recuperating. Mr. Eye's eye is still looking weird, but the vets on the van couldn't tell me what it was. They don't have the equipment to see if the eye is scratched, so they gave him some antibiotics to see if it's just an infection. We're also going to add some L-Lysine to his food in case he has a herpes simplex in his eye. That should help get rid of it. Cross your fingers that this works!

We'll be releasing the males later this week, along with the females a day or two later. I'm hoping to get video of the happy return to post here.