Paw Syndicate Mama Cat

The main lady of the Paw Syndicate crew is Mama cat. Mama came by the property in December of 2016 when she was still a kitten. She came by with her mom and two brothers. One brother was as fluffy as she was, the other was a ginger, and their mom was gray domestic short hair tabby. This is when we were uncertain if the cats belonged to someone, since they were all clean and gorgeous.

The cats would frequently come over with their mom, play, eat the food we gave them and then leave. This is also when I started to call around asking if any of the local vet places offered TNR. (TNR stands for Trap, Neuter, Release, but in some places they also vaccinate the cats.) None of them did but they all offered other numbers and places where I could keep inquiring.

As the months passed by, we stopped seeing Mama’s mother and fluffy brother. Mama and her ginger brother would come by, nap on the deck, eat, chase birds and chipmunks, and disappear. We decided to make a shelter for them in case they wanted to stick around.

The first shelter was a quick makeshift plastic container, lined with thick insulation and fluffed with straw. This was used for another cat, Bobby, that came before the syndicate crew. More on that story later! Cat Dad decided to go all out and built the cats a shelter from scrap wood we had, insulated it with insulation and lined with straw again. This time the house was also covered in roofing underlayment. Needless to say, the cats loved it and sticked around to use it. When the raccoon would come, they would scatter out of the shelter and run into the woods.

Paw Syndicate Mama Cat History

When Mama Cat was about a year old, she had her first kitten. Again, I panicked and tried to get her to come inside. I would leave the downstairs door open and wait for her to step inside but she never would. She might have put her head through the door a few times but never inched further inside. I called the local SPCA and they also said they don’t do TNR and were not accepting any cats. The other places I called either had a waiting list or asked if she was friendly. As cute as she was, Mama cat is spicy.

A year later Mama cat had another litter. This time she had four kittens and I started to panic. It was easy when you have two to 3 cats to feed but another four kittens! At this point I started calling people again and emailing vets who would help me or offer low cost spays and neuters. Well, they didn’t. Fast forward to months later at the Bagel Festival and we found two ladies that were willing to help. They were located in Roscoe but offered to help me trap the cats and bring them back. And they did it for $35 for each cat! Thanks to them I learned that our town offers low cost Spay and Neuter with TARA in Middletown. Residents get two vouchers which include the fixing and rabbis shot. WOW! It only took me three years to learn this.

As Paw Syndicate Mama Cat family grew, so did their house. We added another addition to their outdoor house and built them an additional place on the deck. They love to look into the house at our cats and it made sure that their adorable faces were out of the wind.

Cat Syndicate House

Below are some of the images of the cat house that housed many cats. Some of them our TNR group, other random cats that we trapped and fixed, and some that did were too far gone and didn’t make it. The house has been a shelter for cats, raccoons, and possums. I may have even seen a skunk try to go in there a few times.

Above image is of Mama cat with her first kitten.

While the image is hard to see, this is Mama cat with her two brothers. Nope, that is not Robin.

Mama cat in the house, while her fluffy brother is outside with another male cat. Yes, the male cat looks just like Baby. He could be her daddy…

Mama cat with her brother and two of her daughters. This was after the top addition was added. The top addition offered them a side spot so they could easily enter and leave if they sense danger, while still staying out of the wind.

This is mama’s brother (AKA baby daddy), and kitten Robin, before they were trapped and fixed. Few months after they were fixed, Brother and his two daughters, Meany and Tiny, disappeared. I’d like to think that they knew feeding 8 cats would be a challenge and they went to join a different colony.