Pallas and Argosy

This week was a good one for our trapping operation. The pickin’s are growing slimmer, bit by bit. I was able to trap two cats Tuesday evening, one a kitten and one an unneuttered male adult. Firstly, meet Pallas.

Pallas is one of the children of Beulah (‘Children of Beulah’… Does that sound like the name of an alternative rock band?), who is herself the object of my desired trapping. The little one, looking very frightened here, is ten to twelve weeks old (there is some dispute as to her birthdate). I was surprised to catch her, as I didn’t think any of the kittens would enter a trap. Apparently, sardines were a treat she could not ignore. (She ate them while incarcerated.)

Pallas’s immediate fate was different than any adult cat I trapped or would trap. She is yet too young to be spayed, and she already has someone wanting to give her a home. I think I mentioned the staff of the charity operating next door to my work-place. Some of them want to adopt Beulah’s kittens. One was snatched up already; Pallas - whom I named for convenience and who will undoubtedly receive another name - has already gone to join that first sibling in her new home.

She had to stay the night in my apartment; unfortunately, kept in the trap. I transferred her to a carrier the next morning - actually, she transferred herself, simply walking from the trap into the carrier - but thought the trap would give her more room in the night. I didn’t realise how tame she is. Pallas permitted me to touch her through the wire bars and, the next day, she was picked up and petted without showing any reluctance. She has never had a home with humans, and her behaviour did not seem occasioned by fear. I think she simply grew accustomed to people over the past few weeks when she would see and hear the charity’s staff.

And now, meet Argosy.

Argosy was quite a different proposition than Pallas. We figure he has been responsible for a goodly number of kittens, and may be Pallas’s father. Argosy was not in any way tame. Sheltered at a house overnight, still in his trap, like Pallas was in hers, he would not be easily held. He went to the veterinary hospital the next morning for his surgery. That was completed without complication. He was estimated to be from two to five years in age, most likely closer to the younger end of the range than the older. Because of his feral state, he won’t have an adoptive home, but watch will be kept on him, he will be fed and watered, and of course his fathering days are over.

I will be setting the traps again this evening. I will have to reduce the number of days I had planned to set them, as, even if the operation for the day is unsuccessful, it takes up so much time that I have little for anything else. I want still to catch the remaining kittens and fix as many adults as possible, so the operation will continue.