Managed TNR Colonies Work - 12yrs and Counting

OMG, My eyes are swollen because I beautifully ridiculously cried my eyes out this morning. Every Saturday, I ride my bike to go do colony feedings and to check up on the cats. There is one particular colony that I have been taking care of since 2007. In fact, one of my own cats, Atreyu, was born from a feral that I named Momma in this colony. She was one of the very first cats that I did TNR on over there. She is solid Grey with Amber eyes, strikingly beautiful. My Atreyu is solid chocolate with Amber eyes. He gets that from his mom. She had her kittens in the yard next to mine and I use to climb over the 6ft fence with a ladder to feed her twice a day. I actually had to climb over this actual fence to also do the trapping of her and her kids. I was successful thankfully.

I continued to care for her as I lived at that location for 9years. However, almost 3 years ago, I moved away and had someone take over the feedings, I continue to go over there every Saturday to feed myself. This colony is truly my heart and soul.Today, I went over there a little later than my typical time and I'm so glad I did. As I put food in the tin in the feeding station, I looked and much to my surprise there was Momma staring at me waiting to eat. She was hungry. As soon as I saw her I blurted out in tears. I couldn't stop crying, not gonna lie, I'm crying again just thinking about it. I can't believe I saw her. My momma is still there. I called out to her and she definitely recognized me. She just stared at me with those beautiful amber eyes of hers. You can see how much she has aged, but she still looks good, just old. She is now around 12yrs old. My goodness the universe gave me such a wonderful gift today.

As you can see, TNR is such a beautiful thing if you have a good caretaker and continue to feed daily. Feedings and upkeep of a colony is so important. This girl has lasted all these years. When it gets warm out, I will try to trap her to make sure her health is good. But for now, I am so flipn grateful that I was given the opportunity to see my momma again.