Athena Rayne Anderson

This is Bingo, watching me trying to creep up and take a decent photo of him. He’s one of three “vet project” cats in a colony I help manage near my apartment. He and his friends, Moustachia and Freddy, need/ed a veterinarian’s care.

A colony caregiver is responsible for their cats’ health, food, and water for the duration of their lives. One must be on the lookout for all kinds of issues, like respiratory infections, abscesses, broken teeth, wounds, and broken bones.

Caring for a feral cat colony can be difficult for so many reasons, including the time and energy it requires, and the financial expenses of food and vet care. It’s usually an emotional rollercoaster as well, including love, loss, anger, guilt, and hope. Few types of work can be so heart-rending and satisfying.

Bingo

Bingo had a respiratory infection for a long time. We were recently able to get him a vet visit, thanks to the help of other cat lovers and donations to a GoFundMe campaign I started for that purpose.

We were relieved to catch Bingo first, because his breathing had become loud and raspy. After some sinus drops, a long-lasting antibiotic injection, and multiple sauna sessions, he was ready to go back home (outside).

Releasing a feral cat that feels better for my care is so rewarding. I couldn’t resist creating this video compilation of Bingo’s release to share with our donors as a thank-you for making his improved health possible. Thanks to Vira and Shannon for allowing me the use of their footage! He still needs a dental check-up, but we wanted him to have time to overcome his infection before anesthesia. We’ll re-trap him in a couple of weeks for that.

Freddy

Freddy’s mouth pain started a few months ago, but we were able to trap him and get him taken care of early this week. He had three very loose teeth removed and was very loud about telling me that he wanted to go back home after 24 hours’ recovery time.

His release time happened to be in the afternoon, so we were able to get more footage of him enjoying himself. He bounded off towards the woods, then realized his caregiver, Vira, was calling him, and trotted back over. He got right to work making himself smell good by rolling in the dirt, rubbing on buddies (Bingo), and getting pets from Vira. It’s adorable, as you can see below. His mouth is still a little tender, but he’s on the mend!

Moustachia

I bet you can’t guess where her name came from. This photo is courtesy of Vira, the colony caregiver.

This little girl’s mouth started hurting last year. I tried to catch her multiple ways, but she was too nervous for any of them to work.

Your best bet is to use some exposure therapy for very skittish ferals like her. We set up a drop trap, rigged it to stay open, and Vira gradually moved their food under the trap. We’ve been feeding our girl and her friends under this getup for almost 2 months. She’s eating under it now, and we have an appointment for her early next month! I’ve included a photo of the drop-trap setup below. Since this is in an apartment complex, I taped a note above the trap to inform residents of our goals, and included my phone number to answer any questions.

Many thanks to Maryann for use of the drop-trap and to Tamar for use of a regular trap and helping us get vet appointments with rescue discounts!