The Big Fish Now

Ever since she weaned her kittens, which was months ago, we have been trying to catch Baby.  We have failed.

Now Baby is pregnant.

Baby has been on our Big Fish List for a long time.

Baby is the cleverest of the Big Fish.

When we first starting trapping cats for sterilisation, we got this sound advice:  Get the females first.  This is easier said than done, especially with the older females. 

Oh sure, it's easy when you first start trapping cats, because you are happy to trap any one of them.  But when you start zeroing in on a particular Big Fish to catch, it becomes much more difficult.

Why?

• Because there are other cats around that couldn't be happier to go in and out of the trap over and over and meanwhile your big fish takes off. 

• Because you may have caught them before for illness (and they were too ill to alter) and now they are wise to you and your trap. 

• Because sometimes your traps are in use when they do show up.

• Because sometimes they are pregnant or nursing, and that takes them out of the game for long periods.

• Because some fish never take the bait.

• Because the females are generally cleverer and more suspicious than the males.

• Because sometimes you don't see them for months. 

They sure do show up when they are pregnant though. And then they eat you out of house and home. 

The other females in Baby's league who we have not been able to catch are Wanda, Sunset, and Coral.

Wanda has started showing up again, but she is pregnant:

Wanda, Busted!

And Sunset has started coming back around, and she is humongously pregnant:

Sunset, Busted!

That leaves Coral.  However, I rarely see her, and our window of opportunity now is small.

Coral, Wanted! Before she gets pregnant again!

We have two males on our Most Wanted List, also:

Smirkles, a delightful cat and a real troublemaker.  He seems to have inherited his cleverness from his Mom, Baby.  We haven't been able to catch him:



Smirkles, Wanted!

And this brand new Tomcat, Newt.  He won't come near me.  He certainly has been busy though:

Newt, Wanted!

Meanwhile we catch who we can catch.

But, yes, if you were wondering, when I see three pregnant cats, it sort of takes the wind out of me.