Craig Street Cats

This is Felicity. She was born under my next door neighbour’s front porch last summer, and is directly related to all of the “Lucky Craig Street Cats” referred to in the right hand column of the front page of this website. She is sister to Tia, and mother to Boots, Misty, and Mitten. She is also the mother of the 5 kittens currently living in my bathroom. Fortunately, Felicity will not be having any more kittens. She was spayed on May 16/08, and is residing on my front porch while she heals.

This photo really does not do justice to Felicity. She is a beautiful, long haired lady. Her coat is black and white, and very smooth. Green eyes, long, silky tail, and fashionable tatoo (#UA2135) all add to her allure.

Say hello to Ed, the first adult male in the trap. He’s a very dirty fellow, but I’m sure you can make out that he’s black with white feet. His coat is medium long and smooth. Ed has green eyes, and a long, black tail. He now sports tatoo #UA2125 in his ear.

Week 1 of the drive to manage the Craig St. feral cat colony has been a great success. Four females were trapped and spayed. They will be released this weekend, to live out their natural lives. Although this may seem to be a small step, the simple act of sterilizing 4 female cats will prevent the births of almost 100 unwanted kittens this year, and thousands over the next 5 years.

Just so no one can pooh-pooh the statements in the previous paragraph, let’s do the math. Female cats can have several litters each year. Let’s assume that our females would each have had 2 litters of 5 this year. That’s 40 kittens, half of which would be female. After the birth of the first litters we would have 14 females. The new girls become fertile at about 4 months of age. So, now we have 14 females giving birth to an average of 5 kittens each. That yields 70 kittens for the second litter of the year. Total unwanted kittens in year 1: 90.

After the second litter we have 49 females.

Litter 1, year 2: 245

Now we have 171 females.

Litter 2, year 2: 855

If you’ve been keeping track, you should have a total of 1,190 unwanted kittens after just 2 years. All from 4 females.

Week 1 has been a resounding success. The process will be repeated in May. Appointments have been made for 2 cats on each of the 14th, 15th, and 16th. With luck, we’ll manage to use all of those slots.

This morning the first 2 Craig Street cats were taken to the Humane Society for sterilization. This marks the beginning of our push to manage the colony. Photos and information about these cats will be available later this week.