Ollie my littlest feral



Beautiful Ollie

When I arrived to feed yesterday morning all the kitties came running out to meet me.  I put down the prepared bowls of food in each cat's fave eating spot.  Ollie sniffed at her food and turned away.  I put out a couple other bowls with different food and got the same reaction.  Then I saw her chin.  It was so swollen and when I looked into her eyes I could see she was in pain.

Ollie with swollen chin

Back in 2003/4 when I was trapping the kitties in the colony to take in for spaying and neutering Ollie proved to be the most difficult little cat to trap.  In fact she was the very last to go in for a spay and that was after numerous trapping attempts.  Since then I have always felt she would prove to be a challenge to trap again.

Yesterday I went out twice to try trapping her.  I was very concerned about dehydration so the sooner I got her medical attention the better.  Both the a.m. and later afternoon attempts failed.  So out I went this morning knowing Ollie would be good and hungry.

Swelling gone

I arrived to find her sitting on top of the feeding shelter, where she often snoozes.  The swelling was gone.  I strongly suspect she had an abscess because under her chin it is a bit of a wet bloody mess.  Ollie ate well and hidden in the food was a little pill (antibiotic).  I will keep her on the antibiotics for at least a week and thankfully my ferals are very easy to pill - much easier than my kitties at home.

Bobsey Goes Home to His Colony

Today I picked Bobsey up from the vet where he has been recovering from his neuter surgery on Monday.  He looked rather frightened when he came out to the front counter in a carrier.  I put him in the back of my van just behind the passenger seat and checked on him at every red light.  He seemed less frightened once we were under way.

Twenty-five minutes later I pulled into the location of his colony.  Just before releasing him I managed to get this one last picture.  When the carrier door was opened he bolted as if shot out of a canon.  Poor little cat.

Bobsey with his back end shaved

While at the vet he was shaved to remove mats from his fur but it looks like he only got shaved from his middle to the puff on the end of his tail.

Bobsey and His Brother Piccolo



In the van ready to go into the vet's office

This young fella is thought to be Piccolo's brother.  Robin was able to trap him at a colony down the road from my colony. This morning I took him to the vet for his little snip snip and then he will stay at the clinic for a couple days to recover before being returned to his colony.  He is a very good looking fellow, just like his brother.



The empty trap on the left should have contained Piccolo
 

Yesterday and very very early this morning I went out equipped to trap Piccolo but neither time did he show up.  Piccolo was there Saturday for a bite to eat and it was the first time I had seen him in 10 days.  This guy is a wanderer so trapping him is going to be somewhat of a challenge.

Because I showed up so early, the East Side Gang was quite surprised to see me and to get their breakfast.  And after about 20 minutes little Rachel Raccoon showed up.  She is quite unafraid of me and we had a couple of tug o'war episodes with my bags of food and supplies.  To keep her away from the trap I had to give her some kibble.

I really want to get Piccolo so am going to keep trying.