Some totally unbelievable luck fell upon me this morning!
Would you believe it? I caught BOTH Creamy and NottyG. Yes, militant NottyG too!
It started with seeing NottyG mating with Samantha. Yes, again. It was NottyG who impregnated Samantha the last time and I witnessed it, chased him away but it was too late. Samantha just gave birth at the end of November and it’s about two weeks after. I could not send Samantha for spaying even if I could catch her because she must still be feeding her kittens somewhere.
And now, I think NottyG has impregnated her again.
Sigh…such is the life of street cats. And it wasn’t even a “rape” in human terms. It was absolutely “consensual”, if you know what I mean. Both wanted it. It is instinctive. It’s Nature’s way of ensuring the survival of the species.
So I was determined to catch NottyG. I have not attempted to catch NottyG because he only occasionally comes into our porch. And he looks very fierce too. Yes, he scares me.
So I went out with a bowl of food and the carrier.
NottyG was quite hungry, so he came to eat, but I think the kibble did not attract him, so I went back and brought a bowl of Back2Nature’s tuna with sardines. Which Asian cat wouldn’t like fish, right?
NottyG ate the bowl of food happily. I slowly pulled the bowl closer to the carrier and finally put it into the carrier, but NottyG was smart. He didn’t even approach anywhere near the carrier. But actually NottyG was close enough to me to attempt to catch. But I was afraid I’d be bitten. NottyG has killer looks. I wasn’t wearing gloves.
I knew this would not happen immediately. It might take days. He has already mated with Samantha, anyway. Sigh. I did chase him away as he was humping onto her. Samantha was also following him closely, so that’s why I said it’s consensual.
NottyG and Sam went away.
Creamy came.
So I offered the bowl of food to Creamy and Creamy ate. Creamy also wouldn’t go into the carrier.
No cat would, I know.
Then, while Creamy was eating, I patted him. He allowed it.
Then, I caught him.
That’s it. I carried him and placed him into the carrier with minor difficulties and carried it home.
I transferred Creamy into Ginger’s sick bay and tried to settle him down. Poor Creamy was so scared and the Monsters were no help either. They weren’t intimidating him, though. They were just curious. I covered the cage with towels and placed a food and water bowl inside for Creamy.
Next, I went back out to check on NottyG’s whereabouts.
He was sitting with Samantha (yes, the two are a couple) in front of a neighbour’s gate. I approached them and tempted them with food. NottyG approached but the neighbour opened her gate so that interrupted the operation. Each time I approached, the neighbour opened her gate. Okay, I know.
NottyG and Sam went under another neighbour’s car. I waited patiently across the road with the carrier and the bowl of food.
After sometime, I went across the road the attempted both with the bowl of food. It was kibble.
Who wants kibble?
Not interested. So I went back and brought another bowl of canned fish out.
They were still under the car. Samantha came out to eat. I should have brought out two bowls, actually. NottyG was interested too, so I put some pieces of fish on the road for him and he came out to eat. This time I had gloves on, but not thick ones, though.
NottyG came out to eat, I let him smell my gloves. Then I patted him.
I had to try my luck, so I carried him and believe it or not, he did not struggle. I took him across the road and too bad I had placed the carrier horizontally on the road. Putting him into a horizontally-placed carried was difficult. He struggled, I struggled and while I succeeded in placing him inside, when I tried to close the door, the door went all the way in!!
Oh no…
NottyG rushed out.
I failed.
Bummer!!
He went under another car. I knew I had failed and I won’t be able to catch him for perhaps another 2-3 days or weeks.
It would take so much patience to regain his trust. Or he might never ever trust me again.
So I waited again. I’m under a lot of constraints, though. Jayden had already arrived but luckily by some luck, husband’s session at work was cancelled today so he could look after Jayden while I made my crazily-unplanned attempts to catching NottyG.
Well, Creamy was a bonus. Totally.
What’s there to lose if only to spend a bit more time to befriend NottyG.
So I waited.
Samantha came out to eat again, from the bowl. By now there was only very little fish left.
Very slowly, NottyG crept out to eat too. I guess he saw that Samantha could eat safely so it ought to be safe.
While NottyG was eating, I patted him again and then, the magic happened. I caught him. Carried him into the vertically-placed carrier and with some struggle, I managed to put him inside. He flipped up and down. Poor, poor NottyG. I’m so, so sorry. I let him settle first while pressing the door with my hand. I knew with his strength, he would be able to push open the door, for sure.
After he settled a bit, with me there, I carried the carrier, pressing the door against my chest and took him back into the house.
Phew!
I still don’t believe I was THIS lucky today.
I’m going to bring both to the vet’s for boarding first, and once the vet ascertains that they are fit for neutering, it will be done.
Here are some photos I managed to take. This was a single-handed operation, so I did not take many photos.
Creamy in the “sick bay”.
NottyG inside the carrier. I haven’t quite figured out how to transport both (without escape) to the vet’s yet. NottyG is very strong.
I will figure it out.
First attempt, successful. Caught both! Unbelievable!