Things seem to be going along okay with Lucy the Pregnant cat so far. I can't tell how far along she is but you can feel the kittens moving around inside, so maybe they're getting antsy to get out?
Cat MeetingWe're trying to decide how involved we want to get with the local cat population, but we found out that there is a
mobile spay unit that will actually come out and fix a population of neighborhood cats (provided you have at least 10), which would nicely curtail feline reproduction on our block. But to get to this point we'd have to get the cats to warm up to us more to have a chance of getting them into the Spay-O-Matic. But of course, doing this means feeding all of these cats (instead of just some of them), pretty much for the rest of their lives unless they can be adopted out (which in the case of cats like Mugsy, is pretty unlikely). But maybe it's not that big a deal; indeed, some might argue I've been heading towards this kind of thing for years, why fight it?
All of this stuff is certainly easier to deal with now that it's summer. Winter is the real test, so at least I have some time to decide. Though I sure would like to get these animals fixed ASAP, to avoid the bittersweet heartbreak of
More Kittens. Which reminds me, if anybody wants a kitten, head over to north Bushwick and check out
Jen's brood. She's got a couple of
gray tabbies left to dole out. If however you prefer a calico, just give us a couple weeks and Lucy will produce something to your specifications. If you can't use any new cats, please spread the word to your less web-savvy pals!
Oh, and last night a raccoon showed up in the yard. Think we should adopt it too? And for the record, Mr Bones was suddenly not so tough when this bad boy strolled by.
Labels: Bushwick, Cats, The Yard
You know, I've actually spoken about this to someone who has worked at both kill and no-kill shelters who says that sometimes a shelter isn't the best place for a cat. A lot of them who are not immediately adoptable end up having physical and psychological problems and live out their lives in worse shape than when they were on the streets. So that's something to think about.
But yeah, if you have enough of them there to get the mobile unit out to spay and neuter them, that would be awesome.
As for feeding them, we spend an extra $5-10 or so on cat food per week to feed Stumpy and Hoople and whomever else comes around. We just buy a big bag of Purina Cat Chow (lately supplementing it with some canned food and Kiten Chow to up the nutrition level for breeding factory Stumperella). It's good quality stuff without being crazy expensive.