Craig Street Cats

This week Craig Street Cats moved to a new webserver, and the journey has been a tad traumatic.  I think everything is in its proper place now, but if you find any whoopsies, please be sure to let me know.

It’s a very good thing that this move was completely virtual.  The poor cats have been trying to figure out why things are topsy turvey around here — schedules all out of whack, mom up all night working on the computer, less cuddle time (oh horrors).

We have some new additions around here.  While I’ve been working away on this site, some very caring people have been finding cats and kittens that needed rescuing.  Kathy brought in the 2 kittens that needed vet care, as well as a big, black tom cat that we’re calling Kettle.  The youngest kitten has been adopted already (Kathy couldn’t resist ).  Kettle and the other kitten have appointments for neutering coming up soon.

June called just before Christmas about some kittens she had been feeding for quite awhile.  She was concerned about how they would survive the winter, so we went out and rescued them on Boxing Day.  June was obviously doing a very good job of feeding the babies, because they are incredibly sturdy — tending toward pudgy.  They have appointments with the vet, as well.

Things are starting to get back to normal around here, so I should have some photos of the new arrivals by the end of the week.  I hope.

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.