January, The Longest Month

It is hard to visit social media channels without seeing one meme or another bemoaning the month of January and how it feels like it is a full year packed into just 31 days. These memes speak so much truth. January has been rough, but there have been moments of joy and hope to keep pushing forward caring for our established feral cat colonies and the cats that find their way to campus for unknown reasons,

Feeding the cats early morning allows me to witness the sunrise over campus. I may be a little bias from working at USI for over 30 years, but we have a beautiful campus and the perfect location to watch the sunrise and sunset. Highly recommend everyone coming to campus to see for yourself.

Finally Tabby Gets Trapped
Back in early October a tabby started showing up in the mornings at Nox and Loki’s feeding station. He wasn’t consistent at first, but eventually was there every morning. Another volunteer, Laurie, and I take turns with morning feedings. Around the time this cat started showing up, Laurie had to take a step back from feeding and I took over. Over the weeks I started calling the cat Tabby and through our daily breakfast meetings he managed to wrap me around his paws…he convinced me he needed TWO cans of wet food with his dry food each morning. We even developed a system on how he let me know when he was ready for the second can. I am a sucker for tabby cats.

Not sure when, but I got a good look and realized Tabby was an unneutered male. It made sense because he had completely disrupted the dynamic at the station for Loki and Nox. On more than one occasion I arrived and would hear some not so happy cat growling and high pitch cat sounds in the woods. With Tabby and Loki both males they clearly were not going to be friends. Loki’s presence at the feeding station was no longer consistent and his sister, Nox, stopped showing up all together. Eventually Loki started coming back to eat in the mornings and towards the start of the new year Nox would show up occasionally.

Then on January 6, Laurie was able to trap Tabby early that morning. It was easy. That boy is obsessed with wet food. She immediately took him to VHS to their community cat clinic. He was neutered, tested, and vaccinated that day. He went home with Laurie the next morning with the plan of returning him to campus that evening. Right before she was going to load him up, there was a breakthrough. An interaction that was enough to give Laurie pause and reason to keep him to determine if he might be able to become an inside cat. (Oh, and I forgot we had to name him when taking him to VHS. I have always wanted to name a cat, Gus - like the mouse from Cinderella so I can call it Gus Gus.)

Since that day it has been clear that Gus was never a feral cat. He very likely belonged to someone (wasn’t microchipped). Not sure if he was purposely dumped or became lost. I have watched all the lost pet social media pages and there has never been a lost cat that matches with Gus. Anyway, this boy is sweet and all he wants is to be loved.

The generosity of donors who gave to our GoFundMe account made it financially possible for us to take Gus to VHS and then to a vet visit a week later to get his ears checked, test for parasites, and a few other tests. VHS estimated him to be four to five years old. However, Laurie doubted that after looking at his teeth and suspected he was much younger. When Gus saw a vet for his ears, his age was updated to be 18 months to no more than two years old. By the way, Gus was parasite-free and is quite healthy!

Elphie
I briefly wrote previously about another tabby that has been an off and on presence at our largest feeding station. We nicknamed the cat Elphie because it is so vocal. This cat has an ear tipped indicating it was fixed and considered a feral. Elphie was becoming somewhat friendly and would headbutt my hands as I put food into the feeders or rub up against my legs. Unfortunately, Elphie has not been seen since January 13. He/she was never there every day. I believe Elphie’s first appearance was in early October but then not again until November or December. We had planned to trap Elphie before Gus, but it just didn’t happen that way. Not sure if something happened to Elphie or if he/she has other places they hang out besides this feeding station.

Snowstorm
The weather here in southern Indiana the last part of the month has made it challenging to care for the cats due to a snowstorm and frigid temperatures that will not let go. Campus was even closed for two days because of the snow and cold temperatures which hampered clearing the snow and ice. As a result of the conditions, I paused volunteer feedings in the afternoon due to feeding stations not being easily accessible. The cats’ wellbeing is my priority, but keeping volunteers safe is equally important.

The snow started in the afternoon on Saturday. Laurie and I were able to take care of the morning and afternoon feedings. Sunday though we did not make it to campus because of road conditions. Monday and Tuesday we were able to get to campus to feed once each day. Campus reopened Wednesday and I fed at lunch. Thursday and Friday I increased feedings as the cats were starting to slowly reappear. As of late this afternoon when Laurie stopped by campus, Nala, is the only cat we have not seen. Nox and Loki finally showed up to eat today! For more detailed updates on caring for the cats through the snowstorm and ridiculously cold temps, I encourage you to visit us on Instagram or Facebook. Links at the top of this page.

As I write this, there are snow flurries outside and Evie (a kitten I rescued from campus in September) is jumping at the living room window trying to catch the snowflakes. February will be here tomorrow and I am hoping for calmer weather.

Stay warm.
Be kind to animals.
Spay and neuter your pets.

Melissa
USI Campus Cats Coordinator