I stayed up crazy late last night trying to drop trap the new black cat. Here's how it went.
9:32pm - Returned from store after procuring necessary trapping supplies.
9:48pm - Played "chase the red dot" with Oliver all around the backyard, so he would be tired and more amenable to coming inside for night.
9:58pm - Oliver is carried into his room so he doesn't fight and chase the target cat away.
10:00pm - Drop trap vigil starts, trap is set. And so it begins.
10:15pm - MK checks out the bait, not interested. I hope this is not a bad sign, bought the big can of cheap cat food. Usually go with Friskies. I hope I don't regret pinching pennies.
10:25pm - Pierre just came by and ate a little and then left. Now, I'm just waiting and watching.
10:50pm - Just noticed a large dirty white cat in the yard behind me. Would love to trap him too if I can somehow lure him into the trap. Haven't seen him for months.
10:52pm - Nora just popped around the corner of the garage. She's so small and adorable! She's spooked so easily, just seeing the trap scared her and she took off. Too bad she remains so feral. White cat seems to have left the yard in the other direction.
10:58pm - Waiting and watching reminds me of summer camp where we did a "sit and watch" - parked in the forest and sat quietly watching for wildlife. I'm thankful it's a warm, dry evening.
11:00pm - I'm a little nervous at how little attention this wet food is getting. Not what I expected.
11:17pm - Black cat at trap, rubbing against it. Not sure if it's Pierre or my target cat. Argh! I think it's Pierre again. Whoever it is, he never got under the trap.
11:26pm - Nora just popped her head around the side of the garage again, didn't like what she saw and disappeared again.
11:44pm - tried to stifle a sneeze, failed. so much for trying to be quiet and not make noise.
11:49pm - Not much going on. Quietly listening to AM radio, Coast to Coast with George Noory - always interesting listening about the supernatural! Ha!
11:55pm - MK is back, walking around. He's easier to identify with his short tail.
12:19am - Cat just showed up, this could be him.
12:21am - He's sniffing the food, but I can't tell if it's Pierre or not. Argh!!
12:22am - I think it was him. But he was only in the trap long enough to sniff the food, now he's gone! I only had about a second to make the choice and I delayed, thinking it might be Pierre once again. What kind of feral cat sniffs wet food and walks away?! Argh!
12:25am - Cat in feeder.
12:25am - Cat in feeder was MK. You can tell by the short tail.
12:35am - I'm really unhappy with this store brand of food. Friskies all the way.
12:39am - Big black cat is back, going into feeder. Ack, just noticed the notched right ear, it's Pierre. He's came by for a snack from the feral feeder. It's so hard to distinguish black cats apart in the dark.
12:56am - Big black cat just came back, this could be my target cat. Yep, I think it's him. He's going to the feeder for a snack.
12:59am - He left the feeder and left, never went near the drop trap. Argh!
1:15am - After a few hours sitting here in the dark, every dark shadow is starting to look like a black cat. Or maybe I'm just getting more paranoid listening to George Noory!
1:22am - Bagging it for the night. Frustrating. Never skimp on cheap bait, never!
1:30am - Secured trap for the night. Placed bait food out with camera watching so can see who ends up eating it. Now, I go to sleep.
Here is what the camera revealed from after I went to bed:
2:12am - This is one of the new neighbor's cats. Notice the collar.
2:52am - This is the cat! No ear-tip! Now he eats the bait... argh!
2:56am - Cat in front is the target cat, not sure who the other cat is, Pierre maybe?
I learned a few things from this experience.
- Never go with the cheap bait! I went with the large can because I figured MK and Pierre would come by and pig out. I wanted there to be enough bait that they could eat all they wanted and some would remain. Next time I just buy a few cans of Friskies and maybe some tuna and go with that.
- There are more cats coming around than I first thought. The large white cat, the collared cat and possibly another cat in that last photo. Might need to be doing trapping more often. I will start leaving the camera out at night and see what it reveals.
- Stonehenge and other great monuments of the world were created by people who had a will to make it so. This bit of insight came from Coast to Coast, a late night radio show that must be experienced.
