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ProfessorTomoe

Trail Camera and Other Nature Images

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1 hour ago, The Old Hack said:

I must be so tired still. I was staring at that ASPCA and for some reason I got 'Animal Society of Creative Anachronisms' from it -- I have no idea where the P went in my befogged mind. And now I am wondering what the ASCA is and what it does. Maybe it is the place where T. rexes, velociraptors, sabre-toothed tigers, mammoths and similar extinct animals go hold support meetings, between participating in movies where they trample, squish and eat very stupid humans.

One of my more morbid creations to Duke Nukem 3D had to do with a misspelling of ASPCA. (NOTE: Don't click if you're an animal lover. You'll be offended.)

There was a level called "Duke Burger" where a hamburger restaurant was connected via an underground tunnel to an animal shelter. (Yes, gross, but it's Duke Nukem.) The shelter had an ASPCA sign on it. My contribution was to have the artists replace the second A with an H so that it read ASPCH: Alien Society for Production of Canine Hamburgers. Yep, my sick brain at work.)

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1 hour ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

The spay/neuter process will do it. Once the hormones are gone, the competition reflex will stop and they'll stop fighting. However, I still believe it's safer to keep the kitten inside, especially with fall here and winter approaching.

Actually, while fixing them will help, it won't magically make all conflict vanish.  It can still be difficult to introduce a new cat to a spayed female cat, even if she has been spayed for years and used to share the household with two other cats.  (Ask me how I know....)

The benefits to the kitten of being an indoor cat far outweigh being exposed to an older female cat who doesn't seem to want to have much to do with her in the first place.  In the wild, once the kitten is weaned, she has to leave to make way for the next litter, so trying to keep momma and baby together is unnatural and can be quite stressful, maybe even dangerous.

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It's been a while, but Mrs. Prof's been working on this. It's a replacement for the old fabric greenhouse she put up for the cats. This one's mostly polycarbonate except for the door, I think, and it's got an automatic opening/closing vent on the top. She's cut a smaller door into it for the cats to get in/out. It's got warmed pads and other niceties for them. She also built the tiled floor.

large.Greenhouse20171027_01a.jpg

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5 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

It's a replacement for the old fabric greenhouse she put up for the cats.

Is this for your feral cats or the inside cats?

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5 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

Prof, I think it's just possible that those cats might be spoiled.

I keep telling Mrs. Prof that. She agrees. :D

 

11 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Is this for your feral cats or the inside cats?

It's for the ferals. Baker and Loudmouth are too spoiled already.

BTW, she's been casting about for surplus Styrofoam fish cartons (and finding them) for use as feral cat houses. She's got a hot wire cutter that she uses to cut a cat-head-shaped hole out of the side and puts hay in them. She then sells them at a profit for the benefit of the Trap-Neuter-Return program and the Garland Pet Adoption Center. The things have selling out as fast as she can make them.

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4 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

It's for the ferals. Baker and Loudmouth are too spoiled already.

*eyes wife's cat* I wonder precisely when 'spoiled' becomes 'too spoiled'. If that mendacious and manipulative little beast is to be believed, we haven't hit the mark yet. :demonicduck:

A funny moment on Messenger earlier: my wife was talking about the feral cats outside. Autocorrect turned 'ferals' into 'freaks.' For a moment I was wondering why my wife was talking about setting out a bowl of water and food for the freaks. :icon_eek:

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3 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

A funny moment on Messenger earlier: my wife was talking about the feral cats outside. Autocorrect turned 'ferals' into 'freaks.' For a moment I was wondering why my wife was talking about setting out a bowl of water and food for the freaks. :icon_eek:

They can be freaks, once you get out among them and get to know their individual behaviors.

The Styrofoam feral houses, though, actually serve a purpose. Despite this being Texas, we can have (and have had) short stretches where the temperature does not exceed freezing. (Witness our "cobblestone ice" episode from a few years ago.) Houses like what Mrs. Prof builds are the only chance the ferals have against the cold in such situations. They're more than comfy cat houses. They're life rafts.

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3 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

They can be freaks, once you get out among them and get to know their individual behaviors.

The Styrofoam feral houses, though, actually serve a purpose. Despite this being Texas, we can have (and have had) short stretches where the temperature does not exceed freezing. (Witness our "cobblestone ice" episode from a few years ago.) Houses like what Mrs. Prof builds are the only chance the ferals have against the cold in such situations. They're more than comfy cat houses. They're life rafts.

Nonetheless, I am sure the kitties are still grateful for them during more ordinary bad weather such as rainstorms or the like.

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13 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Nonetheless, I am sure the kitties are still grateful for them during more ordinary bad weather such as rainstorms or the like.

I'm sure they are. Incidentally, she just finished up a new batch of houses today. This is the first batch that she's painted (due to the less-that-pristine nature of the batch she got):

large.CatHouses_20171029_01.jpg

She went with a camo theme so that they wouldn't be so obnoxious to neighbors. @CritterKeeper, I'm sure you can understand the reason for that. They're selling for $10.

She also assembled the $30 wooden feral cat homes from kits.

She could make a lot more money on them, but she wants to get the houses out to the cats. She's not selling at a loss, but she's not making a major profit. Basically, she says, "Every house sold buys a pain shot for T-N-R surgery.""

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Shipping from the US to Denmark would cost way more than the box itself. The plastic ones are just cheap foam boxes (coolers) with cute holes cut in them. The cats probably don't care how cute the holes are.

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7 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

Shipping from the US to Denmark would cost way more than the box itself. The plastic ones are just cheap foam boxes (coolers) with cute holes cut in them. The cats probably don't care how cute the holes are.

Nothing to keep us from making our own.

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1 hour ago, The Old Hack said:

Nothing to keep us from making our own.

Easy enough. Take a hotwire Styrofoam cutter and cut the hole, either in the bottom of a large fish container or with the bottom and top put together. Don't seal the top to the bottom. If they're clean, that's all the prep you need. Otherwise, use Styrofoam-friendly paint that won't leave a smell that will upset the cats. Paint the container with the lids on. Once the prep (if any) is done, use straw for bedding inside and put some rocks or some bricks on top (not too many) to keep them from blowing away. Easy peasy. Make sure you put in clean straw every now and then.

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18 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

However, he does look overweight. How much does Mrs. P feed these guys? (Also see previous comment regarding the greenhouse.)

She feeds enough at night to compensate for raccoons, possums, and other scavengers who claim their share. Actually, B is starting to put on some weight. He was overly thin for the longest time.

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Mrs. Prof has had to whip out the Trail Camera on this feral cat:

large.BigCat_20171114a.jpg

Obviously, this isn't a trail camera picture, but this monster has been hiding in the rafters of a car repair shop for days. The shop has a time elapsed camera, but it's pointing the wrong direction to catch what he's doing. Therefore, out comes the trail camera.

This thing has got to be at least 20 pounds and part Maine coon cat.

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Definitely looks like Maine Coon.

Some Maine Coons have no guard-hairs. As a result their fur is incredibly soft - and they have a huge amount of it. Once I brushed one and made 18 inches of yarn from the brushings. (Also, using cat-brushes as carding brushes is awkward. They are designed for pulling, but instead you have to push. And if you push too far, you rake those bristles across your knuckles.)

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The monster cat has finally been captured:

large.BigCat_20171116a.jpg

Again, it would appear he is a Maine Coon, or at least partially one. It's off to the T-N-R program with him, where he'll have a healthier and (most likely) longer life, just without the ability to create new kittens.

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10 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

I often have the same look in my eyes.

I have no idea how I got here.
This is not how I should be treated.
What are these "Humans" doing?

It's temporary. He'll be returned to the spot where he was trapped, minus a couple of gonads. (I hope you don't feel that way re: gonads about what "Humans" are doing to you.) Anyway, he'll be handled with as much care as he'll let Mrs. Prof's group treat him with, since he is an extremely grumpy guy. Mrs. Prof was afraid to touch him due to the possibility of losing a finger. Or two.

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4 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

It's temporary. He'll be returned to the spot where he was trapped, minus a couple of gonads. (I hope you don't feel that way re: gonads about what "Humans" are doing to you.) Anyway, he'll be handled with as much care as he'll let Mrs. Prof's group treat him with, since he is an extremely grumpy guy. Mrs. Prof was afraid to touch him due to the possibility of losing a finger. Or two.

One nice thing about the trend of Fear Free Handling is that we are starting to learn more ways to help fractious cats calm down, both in how we handle them and in drugs that make them less afraid instead of just moving around less.  Of course, with a pet cat, I'd have the chance to try different meds and doses, whereas with a feral they probably only have one chance.  Still, giving a little gabapentin in a bait, or a shot that includes midazolam, or.....this is the sort of thing I'd have to research, 'cos it's still just getting started so us regular vets don't know it all right off the bat yet.  But within a few more years the standard practice will probably be much more pleasant for the ferals!

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