Altering Agamemnon - No Need for a Trap

Agememnon at the Park

It wasn't necessary to trap Agamemnon, one of the cats we feed at the top of the park, because we have made friends with him of late, and he has allowed me to get close to him and pet him.  Sometimes he joins Strike and me for her special meal (yes, :) we still do that) before I leave the park in the mornings, so I have gotten to know him that way.  So the easiest and least traumatic thing to do was to pop him in a carrier, which I did yesterday morning.  It took just a little shove.  He gave a small protest.

If Agamemnon looks familiar, it might be because he looks a lot like Bugsy:

Bugsy resembles Agamemnon - the same tall ears and soft shape

They both come from the same area of the park - so it is very possible there is some relation.  We think Aggie is older, so maybe he is Bugsy's Dad.

Agamemnon used to come to the park from across the street with his girlfriend, Angela ("Angie"), but we haven't seen Angie for a couple of weeks at least, and he has been coming alone.  Here is Agamemnon with his girl.

Agamemnon and Angela - an established couple

Funnily enough, the above picture was taken the same day Alma and Tony, also an established couple, got married, and exists in the same folder as this one from their wedding.  :) 

Tony and Alma pose similarly at their wedding

There is a similarity, yes? Alma and Tony would like that being the cat lovers they are, with more cats than even we have.  And 6 dogs.  And a horse.  And a donkey.  None of which we have.  Well, we have one dog,  our sweet Muji.  We love you, Muji. 

Angie recently had kittens, and though we did see her after that, she suddenly stopped coming. We hope she and her kittens are OK. Maybe the people across the street are feeding her.  Once she delivered her kittens, she revealed herself to be a tiny little female, and she is very young.  

Angie when she was pregnant - she's at least half the size now

So Nik drove Agamemnon up to Nicosia on his way to work yesterday morning to drop him off with George and Christina, our super vets (thank you, guys!), for altering.  Nik picked him up last night, and I released him in the middle of the night while Nik slept, when there would be the least amount of traffic and hopefully no one at the park.  We are concerned about Aggie because he crosses the street a lot, at the same corner where Tweeny was hit.  So in case he bolted, I wanted to be very careful there weren't a lot of cars.

Agamemnon at the vets

Our Super Vet, Christina, taking good care of Agamemnon after his alteration.  Thanks, Christina!

Aggie loves to eat.  If he were a person, he would be the portly chef at a five star restaurant or perhaps a New York Times food critic, I am sure, because he is a gourmet connossieur.  So we weren't surprised when George and Christina told us he weighed in at 4.6 kilos - about as much as Moonpie (5 kilo), and pretty large for a Cyprus cat.  And I wasn't at all surprised when he indulged in the mackerel treats I gave him before his release, even though he was still confined to the carrier - not a lot of cats will eat in a stressful situation like this.  But the gifted Chef Aggie did.

Sweet, but none too happy, Aggie, at our house, before he got his mackerel treats

I am glad I went in the middle of the night, because I was hoping to see Romper, and I did.  We haven't seen Romper in ages. Romper is a night owl and never sticks around for the sunrise, so you have to be a very early worm to catch this guy romping in the park.  (He is still so adorable - he was very affectionate, and, hello out there, cat lovers! we still very much are looking to find him a home!) 

Romper

 Sweet Greyboy was there, too:

Hello, Greyboy!

And Strike came over to check out who was in the car this time, and discovered it was the one she had to sometimes share her gourmet with:

"Oh, it's you again."

 Here she is in case you can't see her too well:

STRIKE - "Fancy some of my gourmet?"  AGGIE - "How many stars?"

I couldn't get a shot of Agamemnon exiting the carrier, because it was too dark.  But I can tell you at first he started to dart, and then he suddenly stopped, understanding where he was and seeing the other cats.  He hung out with us for a second or too, then swiftly went to a sandpile to relieve himself.   Then he crossed the street.  Sigh.  I wish he wouldn't do that.

We have just put Agamemnon up on the adoption page.  Please consider taking this wonderful and very handsome, gentle, and humorous cat into your home. He will make a lovely pet and addition to your family, and you will be saving a life, because he is not safe out here on the streets.  And if you cannot do this, please consider making a donation toward our dreamed of private animal sanctuary, because if we had the space and facilities, we would bring him home with us right now, along with Petey, Moonpie, Strike, Greyboy, Blabby and the rest of these loving creatures to live out their lives in sanctuary with us.

Agamemnon, Godspeed.  We pray a long, safe, happy life for you and the home you deserve. We love you, Aggie, :) thank you. 

Thank you, George, Christina, and Nik. 

There's a New Kid in Town

Last week a new kitten showed up at the park.  We have never seen it before; it came with no siblings, and no mother. 

A  new kitten at the park

That is usually an alert to us that the kitten has been orphaned, because when their mother is alive and well, the kittens stay with them for a long time, and they continue to nurse for a long time, too, as we still see Baby's kittens do, and they are many weeks older than this new kitten.

Baby still very close to her kittens after 14 weeks

At times like these we will still see the kittens nurse

This new kitten is feral.  We don't know yet if it is a male or female.  It is skinny, timid,  and shivering.  It keeps trying to nuzzle up to the older cats who began by hissing at it and walking away from it, a heartwrenching sight to behold, but by this weekend they were getting more tolerant. 

Moonpie, here, on the left, has become more tolerent of the kitten as of this weekend

And it took us until this weekend to get it to come close to the food plates with the other cats.  The least movement and it goes running off.

That's the kitten, over on the far left, and to the right of Moonpie - it's been a challenge to get it to come this close

He has played with Mustafa a little, which is nice.  Mustafa isn't a kitten anymore, but he is still a very young cat having been a winter kitten, and he does love to play.  Here, after eating, the new kitten climbed a tree after a low key game of chase from Mustafa:

The kitten climbs a tree

Mustafa

Could this kitten be related to the kitten we found here?  It's very possible.

The lone kitten we found at the park 1 month ago - are they related?

 We don't know.

This morning, the new kitten crept up very slowly and submissively in between Moonpie and Petey, not so much wanting to eat, but to be close to another cat.

The submissive and shivering lone kitten inches up slowly here in between strangers, Moonpie, left, and Petey, right

 It is difficult to see things like this.

The Cats Enjoying Their New Balcony Pet Enclosure

I am glad to report, the new balcony pet enclosure was a huge success when the doors were finally opened, and the cats are all thoroughly enjoying it!

The first one out was no surprise; it was Theo:

Brave dude, and our little Thiriou, Theo

Then came Bashers.  Now that was a surprise, considering how Bashful he used to be - he's come a long way!

Bashers, newly discerning inside from outside, mesa from exo

Then third came Fantasia:

Fantasia, a Turkish Van, is at heart an explorer and a climber

The first one to climb, however, was Bashers:

Bashers, full of surprises!

Secret was up for a new adventure; Krystallos, behind her, was a little more tentative:

Center is Miss Secret, and on her left, Krystallos

But Krystallos finally ventured out, too...

"Hmmmm....I don't know..."

And she soon made herself right at home :) :

"A-Okay, mom ;)."

As did Solo, who's been out there just about ever since!

We hardly see Solo anymore!  Solo, come back!!

It was a sweet sight when later that evening, I found Swatchee out there fast asleep:

Having sweet and safe dreams, our dear Swatchee

Our last holdouts were to be expected:

Bette:

After 4 years on the streets, Bette Davis has had about enough of the outside

Flissy:

Flissy, our Mr. Jitters

Rufus:

 "I'll wait until no one else is out there."

 Muji:

Oh wait, he's not invited...because he gets to go outside anyway! and he might tear the whole thing down!

And Charity:

Charity took his time, "Don't worry, I'll get there, mom."

The cats totally love it and completely take it for granted now:

From bottom left clockwise: Swatchee, Krystallos, Miss Marbles, Solo, and, in the window, Cindy Lou Who

It's worked out great.  It's given us more space, so the cats can spread out, and Nik and I feel good about it.  A big thank you to Nik and Ron who worked so very hard on this because of their love for cats and animals.  Thank you guys so much for making this possible for them, and sweating out there in the hot Cyprus sun to make it happen. 

Our next project - actually we are already working on it - is to pet friendly the house, so we won't have to spend so much time cleaning, and we can spend more time with the cats.  We are selling whatever furniture we don't truly need to make more space, and replacing a few items with more suitable ones.  We have discovered plastic, wood, and tile are our best friends as far as cats go.  They are the easiest to clean and don't seem to collect pet hair.  Glass, not so good. 

It's nice to see progress. And it is nice to make the cats happy.  That's what it is all about, isn't it?  And making room for more!  :)  Wait, what!?

The cat enclosure at night

PS  You can find Part 1 - Building a Balcony Pet Enclosure here. 

Releasing Big Van

Big Van was neutered on Moday, and Nik picked him up from our super vets, George and Christina (thank you guys!), on Monday evening.

That's our Super Vet George with our Super Tom Cat Big Van on Monday night before my Super Husband Nik drove him home for release

We thought Big Van had lost a lot of weight since the winter, and so we weren't very surprised (however we are concerned!), that he weighed in at only 3.6 kilos.  We need to fatten this guy up, pronto!   

Big Van is too skinny, but hopefully he will be more interested in food now that he won't be so interested in female cats

We feel Big Van's lack of interest in food is one of the reasons he was so hard to trap. 

We released Big Van that Monday night in the back garden, where we have noticed he does a lot of his coming and going.  In this place he flattens himself like a cartoon cat and squeezes under the fence to our neighbor's garden.  He then squeezes back to ours when he wants some kibble, or, well,  to terrorize the other cats who come to our garden (hmmm...), so we figured near that fence would be a good place to let him go.

This is where Big Van likes to squeeze through

Here we are pulling the towel back that keeps the cats calm, to give him an idea of where he was before his release, and talking sweetly to him:

Pulling the towel back so he could orient himself and talking sweetly to him before his release

Sliding up the plexiglass door

He didn't immdiately exit, which sometimes happens, so we waited for him, but once we pulled the towel back completely, he took off so fast that we missed the picture!  Which also sometimes happens!  Drats!

But, that's OK,  I can still give you some idea of what it looked like ;)

That's right :)

May God bless you and keep you safe, Big Van.  We pray you live a long, safe, happy life, and that you make some good friends.  We know you miss Tweets.  We do, too.  If we ever have our sanctuary, we want you to be there with us.

Thank you, Nik!  Thank you, George and Christina!  Thank you, Big Van!  Phew!  He was a toughie!

What a Relief - Trapping Big Van

Big Van

Right after we lost Tweets, we started seeing Big Van everywhere.  Nik saw him at the Maisonettes in the morning.  During the day, I saw him at Sammy's, at the house across the street from Sammy's, at the house next door to Sammy's, in the fields, at the house next door to us, and finally, in our garden where he was starting to come more and more often.  Later in the day he would come again to our house to terrorize Jazzy, Amber, and Sylvia, starting at dusk and on through to the middle of the night.  Their screams would wake me, and I would go running downstairs and outside to urge him away and protect the others.  I was so afraid one of them would go running in the street from fear, and Jazzy is particularly vulnerable because he only has one eye.

Jazzy

Jazzy is vulnerable with only one eye

Amber

Sylvia

We tried trapping Big Van on these days and nights, but, as before, it was to no avail.  The minute we had the trap out, he was either gone, or he'd immediately turn his nose up at our bait.  We began the lament that  Big Van was the cat we would never catch.

Will we ever catch you, smarty pants???

We know that Big Van was Tweets' mate.  But maybe what we didn't know was exactly how much time they spent together.  Because I would've sworn he missed her by his behavior.  Tweets never moved into our garden.  She stayed true to Sammy's, likely waiting for his daughter to come back who used to feed her, and not wanting to give up the territory.  The only time she would come to our garden was when the bowls at Sammy's were empty, and then only to cry and make a fuss as if to hustle me over there to fill them.   And I would, and, as far as she was concerned, everything was OK then.

Big Van chasing after Tweets when she was still alive;  Big Van and Tweets were mates

I am in the fields every day, and though I do see cats back there, I never saw Big Van back there until after Tweets was killed.  One day he was way far back there. But then I'll be a monkey's uncle if our elusive wanderer didn't find his way back to our house that very night to cause havoc.

I saw Big Van way back here one day while walking our dog, Muji

You could argue that he was looking for a new mate.  I am sure he was.  But I would still describe his behavior as mooning around.  It was almost as if he was asking us to trap him.  I can't prove this, but I think it is true.  I think Big Van missed Tweets.  I think he was all alone.  And I think he was tired of the game.  This once handsome cat had surely lost a lot of weight and he looked rough.

We all miss Tweets

Big Van, was he tired of the game?

So, Sunday night, Nik and I settled out in the garden to eat our dinner.  Nik was having souvlaki, I was having a veggie burger.  (Try eating souvlaki indoors with 23 cats in your house.)  From where I sat at the garden table, I saw Big Van come through our gate.  I motioned silently to Nik.  I asked what to get for bait.  Nik decided to try the souvlaki since everything else had failed. He set some aside and got the trap out of my car.  I went to prepare a place to overnight him should we catch him.  Big Van smelled the souvlaki.  He was as interested as we had ever seen him.  But as soon as Nik put the trap down, Big Van turned his nose up at him, and cockily went back over to our outdoor kibble bowl to feed.  Nik stepped in and firmly took the kibble bowl away.  Big Van thought about it very briefly, and went over to the trap and walked right in.  Nik calmly said, "We got him."

"We got him."

 The day we thought would never come.

You would have thought we would have turned cartwheels and said a cheer, it's taken us so long to get here.  But I think we are always so tired by Sunday night, and we have been trying to trap him for such a ridiculously long time, that we just took a calm moment, sighed, and silently high fived each other, and then went back about the business of putting him away for the night.  Nik felt sure Big Van would finish the souvlaki in the trap, and sure enough, when we'd checked on him in the morning, he had eaten it.  It was that good.  Now does that sound like a cat that was upset to be trapped?  That's what I'm saying. 

Big Van in his glory days

Big Van, thank you, thank you, thank you for finally letting us catch you.  And believe it or not, we love you, you big cocky lug.