SO EXCITED! Well, mostly tired, but so excited to catch Boris. He’s so skinny. There has to be a turning point for forgotten animals. A place they come to where fortunes change and they have a chance.

I was up late checking traps with no luck, and decided to leave the traps open all night. A risk because my own colony cats were dumb enough to get trapped from time to time, and the thought of old Henri in a trap all night is unbearable. But at almost 1AM I rationalized that waking at 6AM to check on the traps would be only a short time in a trap.

I was totally exhausted at 6AM when I checked the traps. I had to look ten times at the kitty in the crate under the trap cover. There are so many brown/grey tabbies in the neighborhood, it could have been any number of cats. My first concern is always the left ear. No nip on the ear means an automatic trip to the Catnip clinic. And this little guy was completely ear-intact.

I sleep-drunkenly brushed teeth and got dressed, and came out to check again. Still no ear nipping, and this guy was somewhat familiar. I figured I would drive him to the clinic and see what happened. (I live in fear of turning up at an Operation Catnip clinic with a cat that’s clearly already been nipped, because they’ll all think I’m losing my marbles.)

After dropping him off, I stumbled home for another two hours sleep before heading back over to volunteer for the afternoon clinic shift. I checked on him and he was already awake in the discharge queue. He is one of the sad kitties with a sad, long meow. And he meowed a lot. He also spent the afternoon trying to get out of his crate, so he banged up his nose and forehead, and rubbed most of the fur off the front of his face. I kept covering up his crate but that didn’t help him this time.

By the time I released him the next morning, he had a patchy face and a bloody nose. This happens from time to time because they’re doped up and unaware of their surroundings. His long, skinny frame went loping down my front yard and into the early morning mist. One last glance back, sad eyes and shaved balls, and he was gone.