Trapping on Tuesday Night

I met up with Auntie L on Tuesday evening to trap the few unsterilised cats we have lingering around our blocks. The two unneutered toms are a nuisance, prefering to choose 4a.m. for their face-offs on most nights.

We were dismayed to find a group of adults having a game of soccer at the void deck two nights ago. Yes, the words "adults", "soccer", "HDB void deck", "at night" did appear in the same sentence. But there were few that a formidable looking cat trap and a couple of crazy cat ladies could not dispel. The group paused for half-time when they realised there was a show to watch. To think that we were way more effective than the "No Soccer" sign displayed prominently on the wall was pretty amusing.

Anyhow, we were swarmed by hungry cats the moment we started to bait the trap. It was afterall feeding time and the sterilised busybodies tried numerous attempts to sneak into the trap to get the fish. Auntie L lured those away and I retreated to the far end of the car park where the pretty silver female was seen pacing. Hunger and the smell of freshly steamed fish proved too much to resist, the nervous girl was caught swiftly. She trashed about wildly in the trap, attracting the attention of the other cats and unfortunately putting the two toms on guard. Returning to the scene after rushing back to Auntie L's place to transfer the girl into a carrier, we baited the trap again for the two males but they had figured out what was going on.

To cut the long story short, we did not manage to get the two toms as planned. They did approach the traps a few times but only to sniff. We did, however, trap another black female cat that appeared out of nowhere. I spotted her at the refuse collection center, chewing through a plastic bag to get to the nasi lemak inside. The fish in the trap once again proved too much to resist. It also helped that she was not there to see when we got silver girl earlier on.

2 hours and 4 cats later, we decided to call it a night. Unfortunately, the two quarrelsome toms are still out gallivanting and painting the town red even as I post. But the consolation is that there may not be any receptive females out there tonight.

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I am surprised that there are still so many cats that are not done around here. I thought there were only 3. I guess one will never know the actual situation unless one is out feeding every night. I'm so glad that I have Auntie L as my guide and she is appreciative that I can help her to trap cats.

Like what one of the caregiver said at the workshop, "Taking care of cats is in fact a community bonding activity, we won't probably get to know each other if not for the cats, ya?"

How aptly surmised.