Read the Introduction, to get the general picture of my interaction with the alley cats, and the Summary, to put the stories on a timeline.
I was telling you that last week I had a bad cold/ flu, and I fell behind with everything. This week I had no choice but put most of my effort into running errands, cooking and cleaning. There wasn't much time for the cats. But, wait... I had to make time. My husband caught the flu too, and he was feeling as badly as I was feeling last week. So badly, that he considered not going to feed the alley cats the third day in a row...
So, last Sunday I offered to go with him. We left home at 4 pm and we went firstly north side at one of the newest found colony, where we know there is a kitten in a garage, plus few adults (these are mostly black cats, very unusual). These, he was feeding usually every day, as he goes that way anyway.
Then we went south. This is still a bad neighborhood. At the first stop came four cats, then another two. My husband seemed happy with the head count, the regulars were there. He gave each of them a can of wet food and left dry food behind too. We didn't put water this time, there were puddles all around. A man stopped by, he knows my husband feeds the cats, they've talked before, and now he was curious about me... He said he feeds them sometimes, gives them his fries, and puts them water. Water definitely helps, fries not that much. But he cannot afford more.
On the next stop, my husband said that there used to come 10 cats, and now comes nobody. He saw once a new cat that was aggressive towards the regulars. He might have displaced them... We waited, we shook the dry food, we call that the bell call to dinner. Nobody came. We left two cans of wet food and dry food, just in case.
It started to get dark. We made three more stops and again my husband was happy with whom he saw. On the last spot there were many coming. As my husband was busy feeding to the left I saw small shadows to the right, grown kittens, and I went and put them food myself. My husband said that they are part of another colony, at the other end of the ally (just 100 yards), but they must have been very hungry to come to this colony. We went and put food for the colony at the end of the alley too. We came back to the first end of the alley so I could see the kitten, it is small, around 3 months old. He/ she wouldn't stay to be touched, it was in and out a garage. Luckily now the weather is mild, if the kitten has enough food, it has a good chance to make it. My husband will try to go there every day
We got home just before 8 and we fed our home colony, they are spoiled, we feed them twice a day... And because they don't have to go search for food, or search for partners to mate with because they are all spayed/neutered, they are a stable and happy colony for few years, no disappearances. After we got home, my husband said that he was feeling much better!
So we went to all the colonies except two, one that my husband fed in the morning and one we know somebody feeds quite enough, especially in the weekend. All in all we saw around 40 cats so more then half of what we know are around. It took 4 hours and around $30, well plus the food that he left in the morning, plus the feeding of our indoor cats, and the litter... And he feeds the outdoor ones at least every second day, more if he knows there are kittens around. The first time I realized to how much time and money we spend per month with the alley cats I was shocked. And the following month we had to use a veterinarian too, so it was really painful for our wallet. And spaying/ neutering that we do to all the cats we bring in the house costs too. TNR will cost too. I realized that we've cut a lot from the entertaining and vacations, so that works out in balancing the money, but... not our lives. On the other hand, if the cats have a heaven, I'm absolutely sure both me and my husband will have a good spot in it, and that's priceless, right?
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