The calico that has eluded me for so long is finally trapped. I changed tactics, setting up a cage behind the coop, with a camera monitoring, and taking out treats once a day. Then on trapping day I set out the good tuna in the cage and … nada. No interest in tuna. So I retrieved the tuna, as she stared at me an meowed, and gave her what she wanted: Meow Mix. Really? Ok. It worked. She went into the cage as I watched the camera footage on my phone, I pulled the string holding the stick, and … snap. The line broke. The stick didn’t move. She didn’t even notice. What a charmed cat.

I thought I had missed my window. I went around the coop, she saw me and ran off, and I retied the line to the stick holding up the cage door. Dejected, I went back to my hiding place, but not a minute later, she was in the cage again snacking on Meow Mix (this must be kitty crack for calicos, my inside cat loves it too, but I only use it as a treat, not the main meal.) This time the line held, the stick moved, and the door fell. She was not happy to be trapped, but I don’t blame her. Now she gets a trip to be spayed, then returned to her hunting ground. She probably won’t speak to me again, but I’ll still try to give her treats of Meow Mix.

Welcome to April 1st. Can you spot the cat in this picture?

That white spot in the sea of Spring green is Mr Tom, my neighbor’s cat. He is the least camouflaged cat of all time. This is him sleeping in the edge of the wood. Sometimes he sleeps a bit farther in, but he is still easy to spot. When the trees are Winter bare, there aren’t many places in the woods where he doesn’t stand out like a feline beacon.

I managed to get five brush strokes across the back of Mr Tom’s Shadow! He still isn’t impressed, but he moves away less each time. Mr Tom loves his brushes, more than treats even, and comes up to me to demand the burrs be removed and his chin be brushed. Shadow comes up to Mr Tom to give him head bumps as I am brushing. That is when I run the brush along his back toward his tail. He moves away, but then comes back to rub against Mr Tom, and subsequently gets another brush. Here is my proof of contact; the picture below shows both white and black hair from the brush.

The cage in the second picture is for the female who hangs around with Mr Tom and his Shadow. She will only come up after I am out of reach and not looking. She still needs to be fixed.

When Mr Tom and Shadow showed up for treats (OK, Shadow comes for treats, Mr Tom comes to get brushed and de-burred), Momma cat was right behind them! She has a pink arrow in the picture pointing her out behind Shadow.

She was too skittish to eat a treat while I was there. I have the camera up, but the SD card is glitchy, so I only get a live feed, no scrolling backward through time. Still, the food I’ve put in the back of the cage has been consumed, so I hope all this will help to catch her so she can be fixed.