Wild Cat Safari

We trapped five of the feral cats this morning--the three kittens, their mother, and a cat I think is the mother's sister. Indy Feral seems like a great organization. They spay and neuter 50-80 feral cats per week and release them with instructions for the colony caretakers (that's me) to care for them.A volunteer came by with the traps, and it did not take long to catch the kittens (maybe about five months old). Shasta was first, one of the two white cats with blue eyes and grey tails and ears. They have apparently got some Birman or some fancy cat blood in them, and it sure didn't come from the mother. The second was the cat formerly known as Shasta, because the two look so much alike. It is a bit bigger. Stephan decided to call this cat Shankar so it has its own name. He's right--if we're going to name them they should each have their own name. Peaches, a little peaches-and-cream tabby and the most curious of the bunch was third. Peaches didn't panic, just explored the cage. I've tried to get Peaches to come closer to me when I've been outside, but about the closest he/she will come is about three feet. However, Peaches likes to sit a few feet away and watch us when we're on the patio, and watch Stephan water the yard.The momma cat, a grey, tan, and white tortoiseshell, was next, followed shortly by her sister. Momma cat has a swollen face on one side, so hopefully they can do something about that. Once each cat was trapped, the volunteer put a sheet over the trap and they calmed down. He loaded them up and took them off to be neutered or spayed and given their shots and so forth, and they will be released back here on Friday assuming all goes well.Peaches and Shasta are so curious and potentially tameable that I almost hope someone will decide to adopt them, though I would miss them. I feel bad that we weren't able to do this ourselves. I know we could have if we had taken them into the house way back when they had stopped nursing. Neither Stephan or I wanted to subject our two much beloved and elderly cats to dealing with a half-wild kitten. As Stephan says, they've earned their retirement.Varda went 10 days without her fluid treatment and declined noticeably. E. was away and couldn't get over here to do it. She peps back up after she gets one, and now Stephan and I are able to do this ourselves because she has calmed down a lot about having it done. I put the needle in and hold her while Stephan monitors the fluid and starts and stops the flow. Hopefully this will keep her feeling good for a little while yet. It's great to see her perk up and jump on the counter and then to the top of the refrigerator, her usual haunt.There's at least another two feral cats that sometimes roam by, and the volunteer left one trap out to see if we get another. I've got to go to my writers' group shortly, but will check when I get back. It feels good to do something to take care of the cats and make sure we keep the population down. I was glad to see the whole trapping process from inside the back door and how easy on them it seemed to be.