Walter was the only adult male, and his colony included his mama, sister and daughter. Three were his kittens by two mamas. Good Shepherd helped get the kittens their “spa treatments”. They were adopted to inside homes.
We also helped pay for food for the remaining colony. Later, the colony was moved to a better, safer location – a farm belonging to a volunteer. There is plenty of food and warm shelter. Good Shepherd got the seven adults spay/neutered, and vaccinated.
Moving a feral cat colony or just one tame cat requires confining the cats for one to two weeks for their safety so they don’t try to go back to their old territory. Cats are very territorial and will travel many miles to go “home”.
Good Shepherd volunteers did not want to confine the cats in the hot barn in the summer heat so we set up seven cages in the machine shed. For two weeks, we made daily 60-mile round trips to feed and water the cats and clean their cages.
Meanwhile, Hank, the resident Great Pyrenees, became acquainted with them and became their protector.
As often happens with feral cats after neutering, a few months after their release, they are all increasingly tame. Tammy says two of them are complete love bugs.
