Got the Jimmy Legs
June 19, 2013 – 11:51 am

A star is born

I wasn't sure if this was actually going to air but it looks like our ferals will occupy some key footage in an upcoming episode of USA Network's "Character with a Cause." This show documents individuals who are making a difference with some sort of charitable work. The episode in question is all about Bryan Kortis, one of the founders of Neighborhood Cats, he's currently working for PetSmart Charities (who give tons of grants to animal rescue and TNR groups).

While of course entire feature films could be made about our back yard colony, in this case they're background players, "b-roll" footage to illustrate different kinds of managed colonies. As you might expect, in New York many colonies are in parking lots, boardwalks or in vacant plots, so they wanted to get some shots of cats who live in a backyard. Thanks to the recommendation of a friend, we were asked to use our yard and our cats!

The filming was a lot of fun, all we had to do is not feed the cats for one meal and they turned out in force when the cameras rolled. I'm not sure how much you'll see our gang in the finished product but in any case it was great to help out.

A few more photos here: Filming the ferals.

Update: Here's a low-quality capture of the promo for the show, sorry I didn't get the audio but I am working on it. You cna see our cats at 9 and 18 seconds in!

By Jimmy Legs | Posted in Cats | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)
April 16, 2013 – 4:00 pm

Moe Problems

moe

Moe, from the gene pool that brought you "Jake" and "Marbles"

Meet Moe. Because we're TNR-certified, we get email alerts when an eartipped cat comes into Animal Care & Control. Normally this happens when a person traps a feral cat and brings the cat to the pound. When they see the eartip, they know the cat is fixed and may belong to a managed colony. Shelter workers then send word to Neighborhood Cats (the main TNR resource in NYC and beyond) who tries to determine who the cat belongs to. If they can find the original TNR person, they can reunite them with the cat. If they can't find anyone willing to claim the cat, it will be put down almost immediately since it is feral. In these cases the cat's eartip is the only thing that gives it a stay of execution at all; the shelter can barely handle all the tame animals it houses, you can imagine its attitude towards unowned, unsocialized cats with zero adoptability. Read More »

By Jimmy Legs | Posted in Cats, Feral | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)
March 20, 2013 – 12:04 pm

It's a long way down

mabel tree

Mabel at the top of the tree

Mabel's energy levels continue to be through the roof! She climbed to the top of this weird cat tree we have, she's only the second cat ever to reach the summit. She is making up for all that lost time when she was sick by constantly scampering around, chasing all the other cats, and trying to eat everybody's food (she keeps trying to eat our guacamole, what's up with that?)

By Jimmy Legs | Posted in Cats, Mabel's Recovery | Tagged , | Comments (1)
March 13, 2013 – 11:01 am

Mabel's quiet party

Mabel nap

Just Mabel, quietly napping. It's still a wonder to see her lying there, not making the loud snoring sounds she used make all the time.

By Jimmy Legs | Posted in Cats, Mabel's Recovery | Comments (0)
March 7, 2013 – 10:53 am

Gold star for robot boy

Stymie

Stymie, in treatment

Stymie has been separated from the other cats for 5 months. After living in the house for several years, we decided we finally had to make a serious attempt at taming him. He's always been an odd duck, we suspect he's a little slow (even for a cat), so he has trouble figuring things out that other cats master in seconds. He's doesn't understand people, and is frankly not so hot with cats, either. He clearly wants to be friends with them but he doesn't know how to do it. He's only had a few who understood him through the years, the rest of the time he's off by himself.

kitten stymie

Stymie as a kitten

We have been using the patented Elmer Method, isolating him so his only social interaction is with humans (okay occasionally we let other cats in to visit him). He's only fed when we're with him and for a few months now I have been slowly trying to pet him while he eats. This is a cat who has never been touched by humans before (save for his neutering). It's been slow going, it took a long time for him to just eat with my hand near the plate, let alone trying to touch him! Read More »

By Jimmy Legs | Posted in Cats | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)