Back in April, I was reading the rec.pets.cats.rescue newsgroup when I came across a desperate-sounding post titled "Cats Having Babies." The post was written by a young college student living away whose family at home in Dallas had a mother feral cat and her generations of descendants living in their backyard. Holly, the young woman, wanted to know how she could help these cats and keep them from having more litters of kittens when she couldn't even catch them. Her situation sounded familiar, and as she would soon be in Dallas, we were practically neighbors, so I wrote her back.

Holly was relieved to hear from someone else who'd had a feral cat problem and could give her some specific ideas about what she might do. She solicited more information by posting questions to the rec.pets.cats.rescue newsgroup, and became committed to helping the ferals. She was eager to carry out a Trap, Alter, and Release of her own when she went home for the summer. By the time she got home, the problem had escalated further because the mom cat had a third litter of kittens in Holly's family's backyard.

In Holly's earliest attempts to locate humane societies that would loan out a trap or take in a feral kitten, she hit dead ends. I got on the Internet to try and help her, and managed to track down the name of a group in the Dallas area that worked with feral cats, Feral Friends. Susan Gregory Kilgore of Feral Friends stepped in to help by loaning Holly four traps, obtaining some free spays and neuters for her ferals, and coaching her in carrying out her plan.

The night of the first trapping attempt, Holly and her boyfriend called me. They had set the four traps, but none of the cats were going in them. While we were on the phone, Holly's boyfriend let out a cry. "We got one!" One of the older kittens had gone into the trap and been caught. "The cage is shaking!" Holly's boyfriend said. The next morning I got an e-mail from Holly. They had managed to trap three of the older cats or kittens and one young kitten. One of the older kittens was missing an eye, probably from an infection as a kitten.

People on the rec.pets.cats.rescue newsgroup and myself urged Holly to keep the kitten indoors and tame it. Because the kitten seemed so scared, shaking a lot and not eating, Holly decided to set the traps again and try to capture the other two youngest kittens. She was successful, and soon had three feral kittens living in her room with her, gradually allowing her to pet them and hold them. Without her intervention, within a few months they would have had feral behavior so deeply ingrained that they would never be completely tame.

Meanwhile, the older cats that had been trapped had gone in for their surgeries and rabies shots, and been rereleased in the yard. One of the mom cat's older kittens had been pregnant, so it was fortunate that Holly got to her before she had a litter of kittens of her own. While no one likes to abort a litter of kittens, it can be difficult when undertaking TTVAR to catch female cats who aren't pregnant.

BAD DAY - One day I logged on to the newsgroup and was very upset to see a post from Holly. One of the young cats had been found dead in the yard. The next day she posted again. An older kitten had been found dead in the yard. Readers of the newsgroup concluded that they must have gotten into something poisonous, such as antifreeze, or eaten something like a rodent who had been poisoned. It was very sad news when all had been going so well, and Holly was feeling such a sense of accomplishment. But with feral cats living outside, death is always a nearby danger.

ANOTHER BAD DAY - This time when I logged on to the newsgroup, I was met by a post of Holly's saying the kittens had tested positive for Feline Leukemia. She was understandably distraught at the idea of having to put them to sleep. She had been taming them in her bedroom, and one of them had liked to sit on the clock radio, she wrote with sadness.

Again Susan Gregory Kilgore stepped in to help. She got Holly an appointment with another vet, and when the kittens received a second test for FelV, they tested negative. I shared Holly's joy and relief at the news. Unfortunately there is always a risk when helping stray or feral cats that they will turn out to be positive for a communicable disease, and tough choices will be in order. It is so difficult to find a home for an FIV or FelV positive cat (they should only live as single cats or with others who are positive for the same disease) that most humane organizations and feral cat groups put them to sleep.

Once the kittens reached eight weeks of age, Susan Kilgore arranged for Holly to bring them to PetSmart for adoption day. The little grey kitten ("the psycho one", according to Holly) was the first to be adopted, by a young couple. The other two kittens were adopted by a woman who had been following Holly's story on the rec.pets.cats.rescue newsgroup. The adult ferals which were caught were released back into Holly's families yard.