Like many interesting stories, mine begins at a bar. Well, that’s not the true beginning of this story, but it’s where The Rescue was born. I saw a need, next thing I knew I was trapping cats.
I was having dinner and drinks at the local tavern (actually drinks after dinner), when I learned that the bar staff had been feeding stray cats outside the restaurant, in back by the dumpster. Evidently this had been going on for quite a while.
My dinner companion and partner in life was the one who actually drew me into the conversation. To this day I think he regrets that choice.
As they say, hindsight is 20/20. He knew my long history of caring for stray cats and threw me solidly under the bus when the bartender shared with him his concerns about the cats.
As often happens when people feed outdoor cats, two tiny kittens had recently appeared. They were described as skittish skinny black kittens with runny eyes and noses. The bartender was worried about them but didn’t know what to do.
What could I do? I had to go outside to take a look at the cats for myself.
There they were, huddled against the foundation: two pathetic little black kittens, runny eyes swollen almost shut. On my approach, they skittered off under the foundation of a neighboring building. “Oh no,” I thought, “The poor things.”
The problem with cats like the tiny black kittens is that you can’t just pick them up. People call them feral, and sometimes they are. Sometimes they’re just terrified.
Cats living outside face a lot of dangerous situations. If a cat was born outside and taught by its mama where to hide, find food, and generally how to fend for itself, that cat stands a good chance at survival. These are the true feral cats.
If the cat was not born outside but rather was a pet who suddenly found itself living outside because it got lost or was abandoned, this cat is not truly feral. Sometimes lost domestic cats remain friendly. Most of the time they don’t if they’ve been outside long enough.
These two particular kittens were, to my mind, definitely feral. Had they been born inside and dumped, they would have been friendlier, and likely healthier. Their skittering off was a clear indication that they were the offspring of a feral mom who had already taught them to be wary of people.
As a feral mama cat weans her kittens from nursing, she will begin to introduce them to whatever food source she frequents. Usually, this food source is one provided by humans who see stray cats around and put out food. The stereotypical crazy cat lady feeding the neighborhood strays comes to mind, but an awful lot of people feed stray cats, regardless of gender or mental stability.
Sometimes stray cats dumpster-dive near restaurants and then restaurant staff notice the cats and begin feeding them food scraps or cat food. Sometimes cats turn up on people’s property, drawn in by human food waste or food put out for pets. Some people see a kitty outside and immediately put out food for it. It seems humans have an innate inner drive to feed cats.
Some stray cats will almost literally knock on a stranger’s door. It’s common for wayward cats to find their way onto the decks or porches of strangers and peer through glass patio doors as if they’re not sure if this is where they belong or not. In this situation, many folks feel bad and give the cat some food.
Regardless of what gets people started feeding cats they see outside, the result is almost always the same if the feeding continues over time: the arrival of kittens.
It’s pretty straightforward: an un-spayed free-roaming female cat meets up with an un-neutered male cat and they do the kitty jitterbug. Two months later, give or take a few days, a litter of kittens is born to the female cat.
A month or two after that, the mama cat introduces her kittens to her food source, and they meet other cats. As the kittens reach sexual maturity, they repeat the cycle.
Over time, subsequent generations of cats have a good likelihood of becoming increasingly feral, subject to the frequency and nature of their interactions with humans. With frequent positive interactions the cats might be somewhat friendly. Negative, fear-inspiring interactions make the cats more likely to hide and avoid contact, meaning they become feral.
The runny-eyed kittens were almost certainly the offspring of a feral mom who had taught them to avoid humans. Their skittering away to hide was a clear indication. When I learned that someone had tried to pick up one of the kittens and gotten severely scratched in so doing, I was more convinced.
Few communities have a policy in place regarding un-owned cats or any mechanism for helping them. This community was no different. It’s left to individuals or rescue organizations to handle situations involving sick or injured free-roaming cats. No one would come to the aid of the sickly kittens, or any other unowned cats in the area.
The people at the bar who had been feeding the cats wanted to help them but had no idea what to do. I did.
My history with TNR stretched back many years. My neighborhood had been home to a large number of free-roaming cats and I had learned all about TNR in reaction to their expanding population. Having gotten that situation under control I had hoped that my cat trapping days were over. But there I was, face to face with the sad little kitties, and my skills were being called upon. I saw a need, next thing I knew I was trapping cats. Again.
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