T(iberius) N(eptune) R(ex)

TNR is short for "trap, neuter, release" which is a program for dealing with feral cats.  The concept is that a cat will defend its territory and keep other cats from moving in, and a neutered cat won't create more cats.

I'd like to think that this really works.  But several of my cats (Nazgul, Apache, and Wilhelm) spend most of their days outside, and the yard is their territory, but that didn't prevent Hamish from moving in last year.  So now I have Nazgul, Apache, Wilhelm, and Hamish patrolling *their* territory, and that ought to be enough.

In theory.

Shortly after The Storm, Wilhelm (the tuxedo cat) started acting a little freaked out.  He'd be out in the yard, see me, and dash for cover under a bush.  I figured he'd settle down after a bit.  After all, The Storm had been pretty horrendous, and now all of the yard looked different, and there were three strange cats in the house.  One day I saw him run under the deck, and got down on my hands and knees to peer under it with a "hey, little guy.  What's the problem?"   Picture me kneeling there, head sideways, right eye peeking under the porch.  The left eye can see on top of the porch, where I see Wilhelm sitting with that "Whatcha doin'" look on his face.

Hmmmm.  I switch back to my right eye.  There's still a tuxedo cat under the deck.

No. Way.  No. Freakin' Way.   There is no way I'm adopting another cat.

Of course the first step to adopting is to stick a name on a critter, so we didn't.  But we did tag him with his destination:  TNR: Trap.  Neuter.  Release.

The trap part was easy.  Sit down and wait for him to jump into my lap.  Neuter, equally easy.  Take him to the vet in the morning, bring him home,. slightly altered, in the afternoon.  It's the release part we're having trouble with.  He didn't get the concept of "be free, little cat."   He just moved onto the front porch.

And yes, we could take him to the shelter.  But they're pretty full right now because The Storm left a lot of animals homeless, and they're taking them in from Bay county as well.  An adult male is rarely a top choice for adoption, even a healthy friendly one.  So he has living space here.

It's caused a bit of a problem trying to let my cats in and out because they don't want to go past him.  So in the evening he gets moved to the back screened in deck (with heated kitty cave) and back out the next morning after our guys go out. Yeah, nothing complicated there.  For times in between,  Wilhelm has come up with the "Kitty Uber."  If he wants in, he makes a fuss until I go outside with his carrier, whereupon he jumps in it and talks smack as he's carried past Tiberius.

Uh, yeah.  Tiberius.  Really couldn't have a cat with just initials.  We threw out a few names (including Trevor Nigel Rothchild) but ended up with Tiberius Neptune Rex.

Sigh.  At least (so far) we haven't let him into the house.  Have to stop somewhere.