Adventures with Oscar

As I mentioned in my last post I was quite shocked when we actually managed to trap our stray cat Oscar. I never thought he would go in the trap for food but he did. Oscar proceeded to go berserk for awhile in the trap, frantic to find a way out. We covered the trap with towels and that calmed him down a lot. 

The next morning I asked Jason to call the small animal clinic we work with to make an appointment for Oscar while I was holding a couple of horses for the horse vet. When he told me the appointment time I asked him "did you tell them this was a feral cat?" His response was he told them we were bringing an "unnamed barn cat" and shouldn't they know that means he is feral? 

Of course Jason found other things to be busy with when it was time to take Oscar to the clinic so I had to walk in and explain that our "unnamed barn cat" was named Oscar and tell them he was absolutely feral. However I'm pretty sure the fact that I was standing there holding a live trap covered with towels probably gave away the fact that I had a feral cat. But I could be wrong about that. 

We quickly learned that the vet wasn't going to be able to stealthily sedate Oscar via injection through the trap. Oscar had to be gassed in the trap in order to safely remove him so the vet and I came up with a game plan for him. First they would gas him, then they would test him for feline leukemia. If that was negative they would move on to examining and hopefully treating his leg. If that went well they would then run his bloodwork to make sure all was well before neutering him. Last but not least he was to be vaccinated. 

Oscar is in fact a he so he does not need a name change. He weighed in at 13 pounds (5kg). He was negative for feline leukemia. His leg had some deep puncture wounds, probably from fighting with another cat. His bloodwork was all normal. He is now neutered and vaccinated. He was given antibiotics and steroids for his leg. He was then returned to the live trap before he woke up.

A few hours later I picked him up at the clinic and brought him home. We set some food out for him before we opened the trap. Jason had the honors of releasing Oscar who immediately shot off into the woods at warp speed. He did come back a couple of hours later to eat his food. We have not seen him since. He did not come tonight for his evening meal and it remains untouched on our porch. We probably spent a few hundred dollars on our feral stray so we could never see him again. Oh well, at least his leg will hopefully heal and he can no longer father more homeless cats. 

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Oscar waiting for the vet at the clinic

Jason's description of this picture was "trying to find a way to open the trap without looking like he had been playing with razor blades"

George on alert, watching and waiting for breakfast

Lotus and Cocomo playing with Gus watching

Duesy and Merlin playing (Walden in the background)

Homer, Trigger, Ritchie and Levendi coming for breakfast

Rubrico and River

Johnny

Maisie

Yesterday morning was a pretty combination of frost on the ground and fog in the air. In the front are Africa and Johnny, with Dutch, Renny, Taco, Alex, Sam and Sebastian in the back.

a closer look at Alex, Sam and Sebastian

a closer look at Dutch, Renny and Taco

Lightning, Walden and Slinky

Sparky hanging out with one of the pet cows