A mirthful May to you, team TNR.

There’s something about this time of year, warm and sun-spangled, that gets even the grouchiest of creatures going all giddy. Flowers are bursting into bloom, humans are hugging, cats are kittening…

…er, cats “should” be kittening. By any estimation, we ought to be surfing the first wave of Kitten Season. It’s usually a tsunami of sorts by now, with dozens of smidgens squirreled away into Tabby’s Place’s fabulous foster network while we spay and neuter their moms and dads.

So please pardon us for being downright dumbfounded at our continued kittenless state.

Then again, it’s a testament to the effectiveness of TNR that none of our colonies have churned out kittens (yet…) this spring. The beauty of “targeted TNR” is that, once you’ve truly completed an area, there should be no further fertile frolicking, and no more homeless kittens being hatched. Once all the mas and pas have been altered, it just becomes a matter of maintaining their health and well-being.

And so, that’s been our primary focus this merry month of May. It may be a bit less thrilling than trapping and kitten-corralling, but we’ve been focused on the unglamorous continued care of our established colonies. That’s included boostering “our” outdoor cats’ vaccines as needed, evaluating newcomers (and altering them as needed), and giving long-haired lazy groomers their summertime shave-downs.

You might think that a feral cat would know — or care — enough to keep himself from becoming a mangled mess of mats and knots. Getting tangled up can be torturous, pulling on a cat’s skin and making it more difficult to maneuver outdoors. Still, some of these guys and gals skimp on their personal hygiene, so it falls to us to “clean them up.” A quick sedation, a gentle shave-down, and our mat-prone cats are free to roam with more streamlined, safe, and stinkin’ adorable haircuts.

As of this writing, eight of our community cats (including the cuties pictured here) are hanging out at Tabby’s Place in our feral room, adjacent to the in-house Hospital. Freshly boostered and/or shaved, the great eight will be returning to their colony in the next couple of days. In the meantime, our brave staff does the delicate dance of cleaning their world and delivering their meals.

It’s not always glamorous. It’s not always exciting. But it’s always, always, always a labor of love…and it’s always worth it. Dear sponsors, thank you for being there for our feral friends through all their needs, from hair-raising rescues to haircuts. Have a magnificent May!