Caught the Little Stinker

We finally caught the second (and last) kitty and transported him from the motor home to the house.

After we removed Dolly, I was able to tranquilize "Medium" enough to "dim" his wits enough so that we could catch him.

I mixed up one whole tranquilizer in some fishy flavored cat food.  I had only been giving him a small amount of food so that he was hungry.  The tranquilizer dosage is 1/4 pill per five pounds.  I don't know exactly how much he weighs, but guessed he was close to 20 pounds.  He's a big boy.

I waited a while for him to eat the food, then went back to the Motorhome, with the hope he wouldn't be passed out under the bed.  He was : (

The problem then, was go get him out from under the bed.  Remember, he was not under the part that you could see when you lift the mattress, but under that platform where the slide mechanism is.  I could not get to him by removing that platform because I couldn't get the slide out for fear of injuring him.

I then decided to turn on the generator, hoping the sound would frighten him out from under the bed.  The generator is right below where he was hiding.  I started it up and then went and sat on a recliner in the front. Sure enough, in a minute or two he came out.  He had a terrible time getting his fat body out from under the bed frame.  I think partly because of his weight and partly because he was so doped up!  He walked right past me (yes, the drugs were working) and got under the captains chairs.  Al had gone into town for mower gas, so I had to wait for him to come back home.  I called him and told him I needed his assistance.

I sneaked back to open the bedroom slide, so that he couldn't get under the bed again.  There is no way for anyone to get into this area if the slide is extended, so that was my first step.

Al came up and we formulated a "plan."  After all, he was out from his hiding spot, and drugged up, but he is still a very large wild cat.  In his mind, we were trying to kill him.  Remember, all his "brothers and sisters" had already disappeared and I'm sure he must have thought we had already killed them.  So in his mind,  he is fighting for his life.  I finally used a broom and fly swatter to herd him back into an open cage where  Al was waiting.  He very quickly slammed the door shut  before he knew what hit him.   Safe and Sound!!!  We put the cage on the golf cart and transported him down to the house to let him out.   He walked right out, seemed to recognize his surroundings, and saw the other cats and calmed right down.  The little STINKER!    Later in the evening, he got on the bed and went to sleep.  He even let me pet him!  The joys of feral cat rescue.

Here's the story on "Medium" and how he got his unusual name.   We were camping in October of 2001, right after 9-11-01.  It was kind of a spooky trip because the campground was deserted.  If you remember that time, not only had we had the attacks on September 11, but there were letters with Anthrax powder being mailed all over, and the country was very nervous thinking another attack was imminent.

We went to High Falls State Park in Georgia.  We had a beautiful campsite and like I said the CG was almost deserted.  There were feral cats running all over the park and LOTS of small kittens.  It broke my heart seeing all those tiny babies with no home with winter approaching.  Al and I cannot ignore an animal that needs help, so we managed to catch 3 kittens.  There were a lot more, but we weren't able to catch anymore.  We got a small furry black/gray and white one.  A Medium sized  tortoise shell one, and a Large yellow one.

We brought them home and they became "Small, Medium, and Large."  I put an add in the newspaper and was able to find a home for "Small" right away.  He was very cute and less wild than the other two.

The others grew and "Medium" grew to be the biggest, and "Large" was a small cat.  About a year or so, "Large" passed away.  He had become pretty tame and was very lovable.

So that's the story of Medium! 

The next time we go on a camping trip, it may be a little more difficult catching him again!!