The life of a feral animal is harsh. You’re born inside a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee sitting in a parking lot, baking in the 105 degree California sun. You’re occasionally fed by good samaritans, but it’s irregular. You’ve got fleas covering you all the time. You’re struggling with upper respiratory infections from all the the filth you live in. Eventually you hop out of that Jeep — possibly to escape an invading opossum — to live in a colony of cats, some of them injured, some of them friendly, some of them grumpy, but all of them hungry. Your mom helps you get your bearings, but life is just tough; cars are a constant threat, the parking lot is filled with hazardous heavy machinery that you have to navigate daily, and you know that if you hurt yourself you can forget about medical care. A rotting opossum carcass under a broken bus is a reminder of this reality. So when you see a steel cage with food inside, you ignore that strange plate hooked to some kind of linkage and run right in.
It took me a while to come to the conclusion that trapping a kitten, and thereby taking it away from its mother and ridding it of its freedom to live outside, is a humane thing to do. After all, I’d feel horrible if someone had taken me from my mother and locked me in a house for the rest of my life.
But then, cats and humans aren’t the same. Felines normally ditch their parents early-on in life, and their primary focus is their next meal (and also finding a nice place to take a nap) — something feral cats can’t count on on any given day. What’s more, after the recent tropical storm Hillary, the harsh nature of feral life as a cat became as clear as day, with my friend receiving multiple emails about kitten-drownings. Here’s one:
Here’s another:
Furthermore, upon catching this latest kitten — the fourth and final of the litter that was born in my “Holy Grail” manual transmission Jeep Grand Cherokee, and one that I’ve named “Rusty” — it became clearer than ever that adopting a feral kitten is a good thing for everyone involved.
Seriously, look at this poor animal:
It’s truly remarkable how these four kittens’ condition and behavior corresponds to how long they were out in the wild. Jaws, the kitten that never left the Jeep and who we therefore were able to capture early and rather easily, was actually in good shape when we snagged him. Sure, he bit my friend when she first picked him but, but his behavior quickly went from “scared” to “playful,” and now he requires almost no care from us other than the basic feeding/litter box changing you’d expect. He’s healthy, beautiful, and fun — a dream cat.
Mango came next. She walked right into my cat-trap, and has been a sweetheart from day one. She’s never hissed at anyone since the first day we met her; veterinarians compliment her poise; and overall she appeared in decent shape. In reality, though, she actually has a fractured femur, as we found out in an X-ray after noticing a limp that hadn’t gone away for days. (There will be more on Mango in an update next week). She’s never had an issue with potty training [Edit: While writing this I was notified taht she peed in her cat-bed], and has a heart of gold.
Here she is when we first captured her; she looked great!
View this post on Instagram
Here she is resting in her bed, playing while laying down so as to allow her broken leg to heal:
Next up was Nutmeg (originally named Jay), who was a little spicy on day one and definitely a little filthier than one might like:
View this post on Instagram
It didn’t help that Jaws welcomed her with a nasty hiss!:
The vet suspected that Nutmeg had a bit of an upper respiratory infection, but she seems better now (see below). What’s more, despite all of her early meowing, she’s now quite well socialized, though I did have to pick her up from the scruff the other day while she was actively spewing diarrhea onto my friend’s white carpet and wood floor. I rushed her to the littler box, painting a nasty brown arc along the floor.
Anyway, it does seem like the later we captured a kitten, the worse shape they were in; the last kitten, whom I’ve named Rusty, is struggling. We snagged him under the cover of darkness on Monday night. First, we fed who we think is the litter’s father:
We then fed “big fluffy” whom you can see in the background of the image below. Then we set out a trap and watched Rusty literally run to the food, and walk right into the cage. It was clear that he was starving:
Rusty looked really bad when we brought him home, and not just because he was frightened. Something seemed off. Still, we gave him a wash:
And we fed him:
And we cleaned out his eyes, which were full of gunk:
We then took him to the vet and — after picking him up against his wishes (he was hissing quite a bit) — the vet said she suspected some kind of upper respiratory issue.
She gave us meds, which we’ve been administering. The wash, the food, and the meds (which include something for his eyes and for the upper respiratory issue) have transformed Rusty. Here he was before:
And here are more recent photos:
Look at you, Rusty! You look amazing!
Sadly, things are still a bit rough for the fourth and final Jeep-Cat, as you’ll see in the video below:
Rusty is having a hard time socializing. He’s cowering in the bathroom trashcan, and hissing at us whenever we walk into the room. He will purr when we pick him up, and he will eat, too. Plus, he’s using the litterbox. But he’s still clearly uncomfortable, and he does seem to still be sick. We just got a call from the vet, who notified us that he tested positive for a disease called feline hemotrophic mycoplasmosis. Here’s what that is, per VCA Hospitals:
Feline hemotropic mycoplasmosis (FHM) is the name of a relatively uncommon infection of cats. In the past, this disease was called feline infectious anemia or hemobartonellosis. With this disease, the cat’s red blood cells are infected by a microscopic bacterial parasite. The subsequent destruction of the infected red blood cells results in anemia, which refers to a reduction in the number of red blood cells or in the quantity of the hemoglobin, which carries oxygen.
What causes FHM?
FHM is caused by a microscopic bacterial parasite that attaches itself to the surface of the cat’s red blood cells. This parasite was reclassified and named Mycoplasma haemofelis (it was previously called Hemobartonella felis). The infected blood cells may break down, or they may be treated as “foreign” by the cat’s immune system and be destroyed. Anemia occurs if enough red blood cells are infected and destroyed.
Between the fleas, the respiratory infections, malnutrition, poor hygiene, Mango’s broken leg, and Rusty’s literal bacterial parasites (!), my four Jeep-Cats have shown me just how hard life is for a cat on the streets. And after reading the post-tropical-storm emails my friend got, after I volunteered the other day and saw how many animals are in the shelter waiting on adoption, and after seeing how expensive a vet bill can be, it’s become clear: This is a flat-out crisis. And I don’t use that term lightly.
To everyone who has supported my friend and me in our quest to help these four Jeep Kittens and the others in this colony: Thank you. Please continue giving to local organizations such as Kitten Rescue. And if you have a lot of acreage and could use some (spayed and neutered) animals to keep the mice out of your barn, let me know: I know some cats living in a parking lot who could get the job done.
I must have missed it in previous articles. Are the kittens going to be up for adoption and if so, when and where are you located
OMG
DT you’re a saint.
When my kids wanted a third cat, I told them they could have it if I could get a Triumph Spitfire. They became a lobbying force that is unmatched to this day and we ended up with the third cat and a car I loving call “Project Kittenfire”.
Genius!
While it’s heart warming to see the cats socializing, I’d like to take a minute to emphasize how David Tracy (aka Homo Rustius Jeepum) hasn’t posted about being covered in car fluid for a while.
Instead, he keeps sending updates about kittens and a reccuring human friend. It’s good to see this barely social animal acclimate to LA where he’s stopped getting trench foot related injuries and hopefully getting proper meals (ie. not in a shower).
If you can spare it, please consider subscribing to the Autopian to help this magestic species thrive in its new environment. Every dollars helps.
I can’t even have dirt under my fingernails these days!
Some may say you’ve gone Hollywood. I’ll say you seem healthier. I remember the comments on Jalopnik urging you to stop your shenanigans and take care of yourself. Go for it dude, enjoy yourself.
My wife has always insisted that Opposite-lock.com was secretly a cat blog disguised as a car blog. Now that The Autopian has met the same fate, I’m all about it!
It’s time to add a Jeep Cat News link in the header links, at least temporarily.
This whole tale has been heartwarming and sweet. I hope the Jeep-Kitties get new, loving homes.
Not all heroes wear capes…
Good luck getting them forever homes. As the current pet parent to 4 cats, 1 dog, and 3 snakes, (2 of our cats were feral kittens) it’s great to see you taking the time and effort to get them taken care of David. Most people would simply walk by and give not another thought. Or they would drop them off (hopefully) at a shelter. Going this extra mile to help them get healthy is amazing.
Rusty has officially melted my heart….and that’s hard to do. As MY feral is curled up on my lap while I work. Ahsoka is 5 now…and only does this with me. She makes a big deal of walking over my wife to get to me to cuddle. She is the last one to do that.
I also have a cat named Ahsoka! She’s 4 years old and similarly has decided that I am the superior lap. She’s not quite as rude about it though, she’ll hop up, walk across my lap to headbutt my wife in greeting and then come back to curl up on my lap.
<3 Aww. What a little sweetheart.
I support the Jeep kittens and DMed you about adoption (though o the wrong coast). While I cannot let them run free, I would provide a good home and my other 2 cats can help socialize.
I had to post this, when kittens find out David bought a another Jeep.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lN2MAvsOEnw
I don’t know what your love life is like David, but if you don’t have suitors hurling themselves at you as you labor over these kittens like you labored over the J10’s transmission then LA must be the most jaded place on the planet.
Bathing cats is never a fun job. I had to lead then push and finally drag my dog into the shower yesterday after she went digging under the deck, but at least she never tried to scratch or bite me.
I’m fairly certain the “friend” he keeps mentioning is actually his girlfriend. I’m not sure why he refuses to refer to her as anything more than friend in his articles.
Relationships are a weird thing, and sometimes it can be a challenge to define what you are to each other at the beginning and what direction you intend on going from there.
I mean, I definitely know the feeling myself, it took a minute to be emotionally ready to call my boyfriend my boyfriend – and thank the stars that he had the patience of a saint to stick with me until I got to that point.
It could also be the case that she just IS a friend, and we all want David to be happy so we are hoping that he is heading towards a pleasant partnership.
She may also not want that fact publicized on this site, where we all are (admittedly) a bit off…
I’ll bet it’s because she comes from a Bronco family, and they’ll never understand her love for a man who drives Jeeps.
Sure, but if that’s the case it’s not working because he mentions her often enough that it’s pretty clear what is going on.
Well, David might be pulling a DaFino…. it’s his “special lady friend” and not just “lady friend”. Good for you David Rusticus Tracy.
I’m just helping her concieve man!
– I hope people get the quote, or this will sound really awkward.
Fair enough. Relationships are complicated and I’m certainly not someone who should be giving advice about them. 🙂
Maybe because he runs the articles past his friend before posting them. It seems like a reasonable and courteous thing to do. And maybe they are not thinking of themselves as a couple. And maybe it’s not really any of our business.
This is the right answer.
None of our business.
Yeah Beau already called her that on the podcast. Unless DT has another “friend” not pictured.
What Citrus said. And also it’s kind of none of our business.
Rusty is definitely struggling with socialization because of his health, more than his time in the parking lot. Cats when sick or in pain, prefer to hide and be left alone. Purring also can be an unreliable indicator, because cats do in fact purr when in pain as well. So Rusty is definitely feeling it.
The best solution here is to provide him with a safe, soft hiding place that is somewhere near humans but NOT directly in the flow of traffic, and probably a decent bit away from where the other cats hang out. He’ll want to be enclosed on all sides with an easy exit, so… yeah. Cats and cardboard boxes is 100% a truism. Just find a soft fleece blanket, a cardboard box a bit bigger than him, open half of one side, and he’ll probably take up permanent residence. You’ll definitely want to keep him from playing or fighting with the other cats until he’s completed the antibiotics though.
The eye thing I have seen, and he may also be experiencing light sensitivity. Cats do NOT close their eyes when threatened – they want to keep eyes on the threat. So he’s probably also looking for dark. Hopefully that should clear up once he completes treatment there though.
I cut a little hole in a shoebox and placed a microfiber towel in it. He basically lived in that for the first week.
Now he’s coming around! Still a little scared of my initial touch, but once I pet him he’s happy!
Trust me, microfiber’s mid at best. You wanna find the most unwashable, fluffiest, softest fleece you possibly can. Not the silly shaved pattern stuff, and not too big either. And uh, well, you need one per cat unless they regularly snuggle up together.
Something like this is about perfect, just a bit big. Better still, try Joann Fabrics. Fleece is in, so they’ll likely have lots of options. You don’t want anti-pill, you want faux fur. You want enough that they can knead and ball it up and nest. Absolute most favorite thing of all cats. (Hence: buy them their own. Or they will destroy all which you own.) Oh, and remember that a yard isn’t what you think it is when shopping at Joann – a yard is 36″ x 58″.
Sounds like he’s starting to settle in though, which is good! Soon, you will have a self-cleaning alarm clock. 😉
Thank you. To Joann I go!
Uhoh, I’ve created another monster! (Make sure to pick up a good pair of SHEARS, not scissors!)
Second this. Teddy bear fur is what my cats love the best, even more than your link (which they also love). It’s like sleeping on mommy.
As a very experienced cat person, I gotta say that all of RootWyrm’s advice has been spot on.
Hopefully Rusty does socialize with the other cats when he feels better. Elsewise he may always be a bit defensive around other cats and therefore a better candidate for a single cat/pet living situation.
Seconded with “find the most unwashable fabric you can,” because let’s face it, you might as well get ahead of things!
Correct, cats will still purr even when they feel bad. My parents’ cat was purring and affectionate right up until they had him to put down with a big GI tumor. I last saw him a couple of hours before they took him to the vet. The poor little guy was too weak to stand, but he still reached his head up for scratches while purring away. He was an amazing cat and we all still miss him. He coincidentally also came to them as a feral and severely ill kitten. It took many vet visits and a month of bottle feeding to get him over the hump, and then he lived for another 11 years.
My beloved cat Pacha got FELV when he was young and we had to put him down a few months ago. He was basically too weak to move but he still purred when we pet him. I found him while feeding my sheep one day. He was about a year old when he passed. I still miss him.
David, I’m very proud of you as a hu-man-being! You have taken on a thankless task, spent much personal wealth, all in the interest of doing what’s right. You are a true mensch! Sadly, my home is already full of cats (and 1 miserable dog) so I can’t take you up on any adoptions, although I will say that your last find is tempting simply because he deserve’s so much needful.
Cat = Jeep. Got it.
Both purr like a kitten when maintained properly.
Both are 4 wheel drive.
Both are super fun to play with.
Both scream when not handled correctly.
Both, sometimes, need to be rescued.
Both, once rescued, will provide a long time of joy and excitement.
Both with leave carcasses on the front lawn (as evidenced from David’s Michigan home) for you to eventually clean up.
Neither like to be ignored for long periods of time without their being consequences.
Sometimes leak. Require lots of kitty litter.
I see an early COTD contender here. ♥
Cats are 40/60 split AWD in my experience. Dogs are almost always 100% RWD bias, especially the big goofy ones.
so much lol!!!
Fair warning: Cats will insist that you keep bringing home more cars for them. They are insatiable.
https://live.staticflickr.com/4602/25005385657_3d043eb953_c.jpg
COTD
David, you are a stellar human being. Thank you for taking care of these kitties and being so compassionate.
Welcome to our newest Cat Overlord! The feline dictators of Catopian will tolerate us until they learn to use the can opener.
Are you going to show the cats off at the next Cats and Coffee?
Counterpoint: This is not a crisis, this is how the animal kingdom works.
Mom cat is a proven productive breeder, which could put her in line for 7 or 8 litters if she stays in that shape. To maintain the local population, roughly 1.5 (it’s always less than 1 additional since toms get around) of those 30ish offspring needs to make it to breeding age. 5%.
The best thing that can be done is spaying and neutering. Bob Barker was a wise man, may he rest in peace.
I totally understand that the animal kingdom is brutal, but I consider 28 kittens dying in the streets to be a crisis. Especially since, if we’re honest, humans played God a bit in putting these animals in this situation.
But yes, getting these cats fixed is key to minimizing suffering.
That’s basically how I look at it: we (humans) domesticated cats, so it’s our obligation to maintain the arrangement.
Not only did we “domesticate” them, to varying levels of success, but people also get sick of their cats and throw them out on the street in alarming numbers, and then they breed and all the things get worse. If they were at least spayed/neutered that would reduce the issue by a lot!
Main thing I would disagree with in your reply is “a bit.”
A giant paved lot does not naturally provide food for the prey feral cats rely on. In this article and others, feeding colony members has been mentioned repeatedly. This whole colony likely exists because of people playing God and doing it irresponsibly.
You didn’t cause that initial situation and are being an excellent example of care with the kittens, but removing one litter doesn’t change the overall trajectory here.
Has Galpin reached out to any feral cat management organizations for help trapping and fixing? Might be a good thing to bring up if they’d be receptive.
Here, I am not so proud to offer, is maybe the silliest question ever asked on Autopian: Are there any places in greater LA that have some grass and bushes and perhaps some sources of water and small animals or birds for the cats to munch on. (I know I’m going to catch heck for this, but there seems no shortage of birds, despite how much cats love them.) LA seems so concrete-ee to an easterner.
What I’m getting at, is there some place you can establish a (TNR trap, neuter, release) feral colony where the cats can take a respite from concrete and rust of the dealership parking lot and your Jeeps.
Admittedly the cats in my industrial park relax on the parking lot, because they own it, and in the water pipe yard next door. And the nearby boat that never sails too. It’s not that they don’t enjoy concrete and rust.
But they also seem to enjoy the nearby grassy, wooded areas and I believe that gives them a place to hide and occasionally scheme to kill larger wildlife. (Cats are not innocent creatures. They’re just cute.)
Also, they seem to thrive.
Just a thought. Maybe you could practice some geo engineering and build a grassy spot with a bush near the car lot. That would actually be kind of interesting to read about.
I’d love to a TNR/feral cat sanctuary somewhere! Just a big plot of grassy land for spayed and neutered cats to hang out.
There’s a TNR feral cat colony in a Huntington park in Newport News VA, the park rangers put food and water out for them. Was walking through there a couple weeks ago and saw several of them. I can’t find any info about it online, but there were several signs saying just leave them alone, they’re good pretty much. It’s a pretty cool deal.
In Lima, Peru there’s an unofficial cat park, right in the middle of the city. When I was there, you were never more than 10 feet from a cat. Food and water bowls everywhere, people coming and going and giving the cats lots of attention. Never been anywhere like it. Apparently they even trap and temporarily move the cats when there’s a parade or other loud event in the area, and put them back when it’s over. Pretty cool.
Meanwhile, Peruvian cops will randomly shoot at homeless children, or try and hit them with their cars. Street children have it rougher than the cats in Peru.
In defense of the birds…
“ there are 60 million to 100 million free-ranging, unowned cats. These are non-native predators that, even using conservative estimates, kill 1.3–4 billion birds and 6.3–22.3 billion mammals each year in the U.S. alone”
There are 30% fewer birds in the United States than there were in 1970, due to humans taking habitat, climate change, pesticides, etc. Letting cute cats roam free is just a recipe for slaughtering cute birds that have very few humans looking out for them as compared to domestic cats. ????
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/faq-outdoor-cats-and-their-effects-on-birds/
https://www.wired.com/story/bird-population-decline/
Cats belong indoors *only* as humans have demonstrated their complete inability to be good stewards of their cats and the environment in which we live.
From the public relations department of Big Bird Incorporated!
You probably are right about the poor birds.
But I just take care of the TNR cats (with the help of Big TNR) in the industrial park and hope they consume more cat food and rodents than birds. (I hope there isn’t a Big Rodent Inc. that supports…well you know. Then I’ve made a new enemy!)
Anyway, I’d happily have more of the TNR cats adopted out – as some have been… And in defense of TNR, the cat population has stabilized in our area. I wasn’t a big fan of the cat population boom that seemed to come from nowhere a few years ago. (Perhaps from discarded house cats.) But now it seems to be under control.
We have a couple adopted ferals at home. That’s my limit.
Love the outdoor human chiding the outdoor cat as “destructive”.
We take our two cats outdoors daily, as long as it isn’t raining, on leashes. The stimulation they get is good for them and they’re never getting close enough to kill a bird. So maybe slow your roll on cats *only* indoors.
You and your Friend are good people! I congratulate you both
Glad you caught all of your little Jeeper Creepers. It is a very kind thing you’re doing. My creature pal is a small macaw I rescued, literally, from the jaws of a feral cat. He circled the drain for three weeks in an exotic bird hospital before rallying, endured three surgeries and another month of twice-a-day antibiotic injections from yours truly and pulled through. I can sympathize with your vet bill woes. I was told he’d never fly, but he flies like a champ. He’s been my best buddy for a dozen years, now, so it was all worth it. Hope your kittens bring you as much joy.
People underestimate the resiliency of animals, they survived fine in the wild without humans feeding them, doctors, etc.
With the potential of rusty broken down projects of yours around the world. Really shouldn’t get suckered into money pit pets. Don’t want to hear you are leaving The Autopian for The Petpian Rescue site.
Cats are tough, no doubt, but when left feral they really only live about 20% as long as they do in a loving home. 20 Percent!
Autopian’s new spinoff site: ‘Bring a Cat Carrier’
Cats and Bids
FelineTrader.com
pspspspspsspspssspsspspspsupercat enthusiast . com
100% here for Catopian. Keep it coming!