Adventures with Cats

I've had quite a few adventures with cats since Stripy Emperor took over.  This one was more exhausting than usual.

At a smaller vegetable shop near our house there was a stray pregnant cat.  Since we'd just gotten another stray adopted out, my lovely wife thought grabbing this one would be a good idea.

It was all going so well.  The correct cat got caught in the live catch trap.  My wife brought her back in the cage.  The next step was to convince her to move to the cat purse and take her for a luxury stay at the vet office until she was ready for sterilization and release once the kittens were old enough for adoption.

As I was about to get dressed (all I had on was a bathrobe), she somehow forced her way out of the cage and headed down the stairwell.  We had to find a way to corner her.  My wife and I kept using the elevator for one of us to get ahead of her as she led us up and down the stairwell.  Thankfully, no one else in the building came out to see why I was dashing about in a bathrobe, but one food deliver guy was a bit startled.

After much chasing up and down, she found an emergency exit via climbing out out an unsecured stairwell window, moving down the security bars a short distance, then twisting and leaping out into space, followed by a fairly graceful landing on the roof next door (the house I used to live in).  From there, she got to the next roof.  Thankfully, she seemed uninjured.  My wife and I nearly had heart attacks when she dropped.

At that point, I decided more clothing was probably a good idea.  My wife got the cage re-baited and we placed on the roof next door.  It was easy for the cat to go over to the other roof, but was a bit too precarious for my taste.  Now we're waiting for the person who rents the top level apartment there to get home and give us access.

My own cats were quite amused by all the shouting during the great stairway hunt.  I think I need a nap.

As mentioned previously, my family is relocating to Canada. I know, not a good time, but better late than never. Part of our family is handsome little Maodan, and he's going too. We were supposed to be there already, but ran into a snag at the airport in Guangzhou and had to stay in GZ for a few days. My wife has run off to unsnag the snaggle, leaving me with the cat to await her return. And while I'm waiting, the cat's health examination has expired, so it needs another examination before we can take it on a plane. She was first told she couldn't do it in GZ because we are from up north (Dalian), we should take our animal back there for a new exam. She made a few phone calls, then a few more, and then some friends started making calls... and now she can get it done here in GZ. <phew> Just when you thought Murphy was an optimist.
BTW, Maodan usually snubs me in favour of my wife or youngest, but the last two days he's decided he likes me. He's even sleeping next to me (a first).
Anyone have any ideas for something fun for a family to do in GZ for a day before we head out? Anyone in the area interested in dinner?

Other than some famous family's (Chen???) MASSIVE courtyard house, I've never really done the tourist thing in GZ.

If you want to head one city south, I'm in beautiful Dongguan.

I'm glad you got things fixed so you can take Maodan with you.


Some good news.  After a long disappearance, our targetted cat finally showed up at the vegetable market, but looks a bit slimmer.  Now we need to figure out if that's lack of food or not.  If not, we can't grab her until we locate the kittens.

Still no sign of the kittens, but mommy cat is eating from a food dish inside a disarmed cat trap.

But something else came up.

Pear had a bite wound on his neck that got infected.  He had to spend a couple of weeks at the vet.  Not too long before, I'd seen a new cat wandering around, but it didn't look hostile.

About a week after Pear got back, my lovely wife told me there was a cat trying to bite Mango on his neck, but seemed very friendly to her.  I went down to check.  Both Pear and Mango were hiding in their cat house and didn't want to come out.  I went over one block and encountered 2 other known local cats and saw that new one again - and he was trying to bite one of the other cats on his neck.

I ran back upstairs to get my wife and a cat purse.  We decided the best option was to capture the cat, get him fixed, let the neighborhood know that if anyone claimed the cat, he could be returned, but otherwise, he'd be put up for adoption.

Happily, the cat was still busy with the other 2 cats, but didn't object to being captured.

He's a big cat, darkish orange, and has very nice looking gold eyes.  The vets complain that we take forever to give names to strays, so I stole a James Bond movie title and called him Golden Eye.

So far, no one has contacted us about him and there are no "missing cat" signs, so unless something changes, he'll be going on the adoption list as soon as his cone of shame comes off.

It took a couple of days, but my fluffy rat murderers have returned to their usual neighborhood rat patrols.

Let me think.  How many have we given away so far?

1.  Baogeto - Daughter bought a cage to catch him.  She brought him home, but he kept attacking Stripy Emperor and Bronze Cat.  He went on the vet's adoption list, but then turned into their office cat for awhile before someone adopted him.

2.  Drama Kitty - As a kitten, he tried to become the official shop cat at a convenience store.  The owner had some silly idea that cats are bad luck and kept dropping him off farther and farther away.  Finally my wife grabbed him.  He ended up in a very nice home and was renamed Rabbit.

3.  Oreo - A very nice little cow-patterned black and white kitten.  He also got a very nice home.

4.  Dorito - 4 out of 5 orange cats are male.  Dorito is one of the unusual orange females.  She got adopted, was sent back, then got adopted again.

5.  Golden Eye - Soon to be adopted unless he has an owner who shows up to claim him.

Golden Eye is still waiting for adoption.

Mommy Cat finally returned to the vegetable shop.  A new, larger and sturdier trap was acquired and set up totally disarmed to let her become familiar with it (and with eating out of it).

She no longer looked pregnant, so we held back longer to see if she would bring the kittens to the shop with her.  Sadly, no arrived.  The working theory is that the leap out the window, followed by an even greater leap off the roof of a 3 story building may have resulted in a miscarriage.

Somehow, she got suspicious and extended herself far enough to have her rear block the trap from catching her the first time it snapped.  Then she was seen eating while being VERY careful to avoid touching the trigger.  I was seriously considering getting a longer trap.

Then the call came.  She got over-confident and stepped on the trigger about 30-40 minutes ago.

She's sercurely in the trap.  The trap is set (somewhat diagonally) in a bin to keep her from making a mess in the summoned car.  It's also covered with a blanket to make her feel a little less stressed.  My lovely wife is now taking her to the vet for sterilization and an ear trim.

Walking back from the vegetable shop. I noticed Pear was following me.  Mango was waiting outsite the front door.  They are both such good guard cats. ❤❤

Mommy Cat started showing up for food at the vegetable shop again.  I'm sure she'll tell horror stories about being kidnapped and operated on to the other cats in the neighborhood.

Golden Eye is still a big furry pile of love looking for a human owner to enslave.  One of my daughter's friends went to look at him.  Sadly, her friend was not deeply familiar with cats and did a bad job trying to pick Golden Eye up.  The friend got a couple of small scratches and decided not to adopt Golden Eye or any of the other available cats.

Just when Mommy Cat was getting settled into her routine of being fed at the vegetable shop, she made the mistake of going into the main road in front of the village.  RIP Mommy Cat.
 

Golden Eye had another potential adopter show interest and then bail. 

My Fluffy Rat Murderers keep leaving a trail of dead rats.

  Mommy Cat 







Fluffy Rat Murderers 

I love my fluffy rat murderers.  There was a orange stray who volunteered to guard 3 front doors on the block.  Bronzy and Stripy agreed to make it an official appointment and we were about to take him to the vet to be fixed and get shots.  Then we found him and a mostly white cat in the box he slept in and neither could get up.  We loaded them both up and rushed them to the vet.

It was Feline Parvo 

They had to stay at the vets for a looong time, but both survived.  Somehow, the orange one got called Mango and the other one was just called White.  Mango seemed like a good name and (after consulting with Stripy Emperor, of course) I officially named the other one Pear.

Together and individually, they keep clearing out all the rats.  Sometimes we don't see a corpse for a few weeks, but then a new wave of rats move into what they think is unclaimed territory and the bloodbath begins all over again.

Golden Eye was getting along better with other cats and decided to sieze control of the vet office.  I was hoping that in his new capacity as the office manager, he could get me some better discounts.  Then, someone showed up and adopted him.

I'm happy he has a new home, but am sad that I can't pet him while visiting the office with my other cats.