We got one!

[Alice Abbott]

Stray cat that is.

I knew I wasn't going to be able to contribute financially so I actually caught the little b****r. However it turns out the village has a spare fund amongst the ex-pats and a couple of locals here who organised a plant swap last Spring. Swapping plants wasn't high on our agenda at that point (still isn't!) but apparently they had people turning up to buy as well as swap and they have several hundred euros put aside to "do something" for the village. So this is it!

So, I caught him (a sort of gloved and overalled flying tackle - I knew I should have tried out for the 49ers) when I found him in next door's barn on Sunday evening, another neighbour shoved him in a cage, they took him off to the vets in the morning and he returned later yesterday, was given a tuna supper and set free. It's a small start but we are reasonable content with our project at the moment and still have enough money for another five, although I imagine the word is out to keep out of that particular barn. AND the vet allowed a discount when he realised what this is all about and also wormed and de-fleaed him for free.

[MuddyWitch]

Go Girl!

MW

[Thomzo]

Well done.

Zoe

[thesunflowergal]

Well done you, its a postive step!!

[Millymollymandy]

What exactly was the point of the visit to the vet - just to deworm and deflea the stray cat(s) in the neighbourhood? Or to spay/neuter them?

[Alice Abbott]

Oh sorry, I mentioned it on another thread and didn't mention it again here.

We have a LOT of stray cats in the village and we decided that the best way of controlling the population was to catch as many as we can and have them spayed/neutered. The local hunters aren't averse to taking potshots at them on a Sunday afternoon, one of the old locals puts out snares for rabbits and we know he's done away with domestic cats he's found in his snares so almost certainly manages to catch some of these too, some of them look pretty pitiful and need some sort of veterinary attention and there are just too many kittens in the Spring. It started from a conversation about how many of them have managed to inveigle their way into homes for a free meal and how a band of the same ones turn up at several different homes a day.

The worming and defleaing was just an added extra from the vet. We will have to give each one a name for the vets' records. The first one is Nobu and he looks fine, I saw him on the way over here this morning (where it's pouring with rain!)

[Gulumpah]

That's fantastic, well done

[Millymollymandy]

Oh right, well done all of you (yes I know the French don't care in quite the same way as the good old Anglo Saxon, nor do they care about paying for spaying and neutering.... the French (English speaking I mean) forums are just full of people trying to give away kittens that have often been dumped in the gardens of 'les Anglais'!

I'm just a bit concerned about freeing a cat who has just had a general anaesthetic - and if it is a female you will have to care for it for a week or more until the stitches come out and they have healed (and they have to wear a collar to stop them scratching their stitches).

When my cat last had a GA to have his teeth cleaned he was extremely groggy and really odd and wild all that evening and wasn't back to normal until the next morning, and the ones that I've had neutered have quite often been quite poorly for about 24 hours after.

[Alice Abbott]

I must admit it was something we were a little concerned about. But we have contingency plans!

Nobu went to the vet first thing in the morning and was not released until about 7pm. He was not a happy bunny and ready to go. He did hang around long enough to demolish a dish of tinned tuna first, although if the waving tail and general hissing was anything to go by we were wise to keep out of his way. He seems more amiable now, he spent a large part of last night sitting on the forecourt outside our kitchen.

If we manage to catch any of the females (they are even more shy) we will keep them in our chicken pen (the chickens and ducks have decided the hay stall rails in a secure part of the barn are much more to their liking) for a few days. It's made from rigid mesh and very strong so probably a good place. They are far too uncivilized to have in a house for long.

I understand the vets in France do a far less invasive form of spaying, something on the lines of tube tying rather than a hysterectomy, and do it from a very short cut up the centre of the stomach rather than in the side?

[Alice Abbott]

And Gulumpah your cat is a dead ringer for Nobu but he only has one black bit by the ear. He is the largest cat I think I have ever seen, almost all white with a thick and bushy black tail and a little black "cap" on the back of his head.

[Millymollymandy]

I must admit it was something we were a little concerned about. But we have contingency plans!

Nobu went to the vet first thing in the morning and was not released until about 7pm. He was not a happy bunny and ready to go. He did hang around long enough to demolish a dish of tinned tuna first, although if the waving tail and general hissing was anything to go by we were wise to keep out of his way. He seems more amiable now, he spent a large part of last night sitting on the forecourt outside our kitchen.

If we manage to catch any of the females (they are even more shy) we will keep them in our chicken pen (the chickens and ducks have decided the hay stall rails in a secure part of the barn are much more to their liking) for a few days. It's made from rigid mesh and very strong so probably a good place. They are far too uncivilized to have in a house for long.

I understand the vets in France do a far less invasive form of spaying, something on the lines of tube tying rather than a hysterectomy, and do it from a very short cut up the centre of the stomach rather than in the side?

Fair enough, I should have known you would watch out for the cat before releasing it.

I've only had female cats spayed in the Netherlands and they had huge long cuts up the centre of their bellies, but the little tinkers were apparently already pregnant at the time yet only just babies themselves (about 6 months). They did have a problem feeding with those collars on though and they were so pitiful looking we couldn't help laughing at them!