Animal Posse A Glimpse Into the Lives of the Abandoned Mall Cats - Animal Posse

Episode 31

A Glimpse Into the Lives of the Abandoned Mall Cats

Published on: 29th August, 2025

In this week's episode, we sit down with Erin and Cori Caimi and they talk about the cats that have made a sprawling, abandoned shopping mall their home. We explore the complex world of caring for a large colony of feral cats—a task that is as challenging as it is rewarding.

From implementing a rigorous "Trap-Neuter-Return" (TNR) program to ensure the colony's health and prevent overpopulation, to providing daily food, fresh water, and vet care, they talk about the dedication it takes to manage a cat community in such an unusual environment. Learn about the these felines and the critical role their human caretakers play in their survival. It’s a story of compassion, resilience, and the unexpected bond between humans and the animals they've chosen to protect.

#FeralCats #TNR #StrayCats #CatColony

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Animal Posse is your go-to place for everything animal rescue! Join us as we share heartwarming stories, crucial insights, and ways to make a difference for animals in need. We're proud to be powered by our 501(c)(3) non-profit, Unwanted Feline Organization, working together to bring animal lovers together and save lives.

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Transcript
Dixie:

Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the

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people and rescues making a

difference in the lives of animals.

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Okay, so joining me today is Erin

and Cori, and they are feral cat

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colony caretakers, and TNR advocates.

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So hi ladies, how are you?

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We're good.

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How are you?

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I'm good.

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I know y'all just got done feeding cats?

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Erin: Yes.

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Dixie: How long does it take

you to go feed all the cats?

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Before we get into discussing

what exactly y'all do?

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Erin: I guess between an hour and

15 minutes to an hour and a half.

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Dixie: How did y'all get into

feeding cats and doing TNR?

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Cori: They actually put out a call for

help because they were losing their.

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Colony caretaker.

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Yeah,

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Erin: but start before that.

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At the hotel.

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At the hotel.

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Oh yeah.

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Both times.

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Both places.

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The same exact thing has happened.

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Cori: We started at a hotel

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first , and they called for help.

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So we said we'd do it, except

they didn't tell us how many cats

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so we started feeding and trapping.

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We have been doing it since 2011 and

we are down to three cats at the hotel.

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Over that period of time.

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Some have got adopted, we lost some,

and then others have just wandered

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off and found another colony.

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Dixie: Where was the call put

out that y'all first saw it to

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go apply to help these cats?

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Cori: Facebook.

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Dixie: Before that, were you ever

involved in taking care of cat colonies?

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Cori: Nope.

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Erin: No, not really.

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We just feeding at our house

'cause we live in a subdivision

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that borders an apartment complex.

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And we have a lot of

abandoned cats from there.

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And they just migrate into our yard.

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So we feed 'em and trap 'em.

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And we've been doing that

since we moved there in:

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Dixie: I know apartments

can be a big problem.

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I deal with that near my home too.

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Erin: Yeah.

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And the apartments that we live by,

they're not cat friendly , so we're

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not allowed to go in there and trap.

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So the apartment complex

has a huge cat problem.

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Dixie: I'm sure y'all are

putting a dent in it though.

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Cori: We try.

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We try.

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Yeah.

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We try.

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We set traps in our yard.

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Then we have a couple of

neighbors that do it too.

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So they trap as well.

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And then when we see them,

like other places outside the

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gate where we do feed outside the gate of

the apartment complex, we trap 'em there.

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So we'll sit and do a, mainly a drop.

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Dixie: Do you find the apartment is

a problem in general, just like you

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can never catch up almost with the

apartments because of people moving in

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and just abandoning animals when they

move out and not spaying and neutering?

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Erin: Yes.

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, Our biggest area we feed is an

abandoned mall and there are restaurants

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along the road into the mall.

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We caught all the cats at this restaurant.

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They had three mamas with all kind of

babies, caught them all, got 'em fixed

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and into a rescue, and now we have

two more mamas there with five babies

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that we're basically starting over

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Cori: and it's right next

to the apartment complex.

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Dixie: I don't find a lot of people

bring up apartment complexes.

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I find personally that the

apartment complexes seem to

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be like the biggest problem.

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Erin: They are.

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And part of the huge problem

is these management companies

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do not want you trapping.

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They don't want you feeding,

they don't want you trapping.

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But the residents of the apartment

complex, they wanna feed the cats.

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Because they have all of

these cats in their area and.

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They just feel bad for them.

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Dixie: I wish that there was some kind

of way to get them on board, because I

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wanna have a place for people to move in.

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That's, of course, pet friendly

so they can go move in pets to an

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apartment, but at the same time,

they just get out of control so fast

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at these apartments, like you said,

because of the management companies.

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And them allowing pets, but not

enforcing, spay, neutering of

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the pets that the people have.

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Erin: And some of these apartments

are short term apartments and

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when they leave their cats.

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And we have that huge problem.

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We've noticed that problem

since we moved in, in:

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Most of our cats that we do see in our

street all come from the apartment.

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Yeah.

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And I wanna say 99% of them are not fixed.

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Dixie: Yeah.

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See that's the same thing by me.

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Like I try to catch up.

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If I see 'em, I go out, I

start trapping right away.

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But, it's never ending.

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You can never catch up.

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'cause as soon as somebody

else moves in, that's it.

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Then you see kittens again.

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Erin: And then they come

from the apartments.

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They either come to my house,

'cause my house is between

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the apartments and the mall.

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So the apartment's right in the

middle of us, so if they don't come

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to my house, they come to the mall.

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And

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Cori: we started with

two cats at the mall.

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We are now over 50.

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Dixie: Wow.

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Erin: And the majority of 'em are

fixed, but it's just never ending

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because we always have more cats.

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We have a brand new, what,

five, six month old baby.

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We saw yesterday.

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No clue where this baby came from.

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And

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Cori: all the cats in

that one area are fixed.

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Every

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single one

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of 'em.

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Don't know where this baby came from.

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Erin: He's probably a dump.

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Majority of our cats are dumps.

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We have one, his name is Julius.

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Beautiful Young Orange Tabby.

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We grabbed him to get him fixed and

have his mouth looked at 'cause he

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was having a problem dropping food.

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So we brought him to the vet.

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The vet got him ready to fix

and he was already fixed, but

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he did not have an ear tip.

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And the vet said he was such a sweet,

friendly cat that he belonged to someone,

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but they just dumped him at the mall.

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Dixie: I know y'all were trying

to get him checked for a chip.

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Were y'all able to check?

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Erin: He is not chipped.

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No.

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And.

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It's just, he's a wonderful,

beautiful little cat,

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but , they're always showing up.

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Cori: We had one man stopped her in

the middle of feeding one day and

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asked if he could bring his three cats.

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The next day we had three new cats, caught

'em all beautiful orange, fluffy cat.

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Leo is just beautiful.

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He's got that medium long hair.

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Big, fluffy tail.

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He talks up his arm to you.

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He was one of the ones.

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Him.

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Mr.

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Gray.

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And Gail.

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And Gail.

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Now Gail is a very odd looking cat.

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I don't know why these people

wanna get rid of these cats 'cause

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they're absolutely gorgeous.

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Gail looks like a Russian blue with

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silver eyes.

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He is

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beautiful.

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Erin: I have never seen a

cat that looks like Gail.

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Ever.

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He's just so odd looking you when

he's sitting there looking at you,

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you cannot see his eyes because they

are the exact same color as him.

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Cori: He's beautiful.

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Got 'em all trapped and fixed and

brought 'em right back to the mall.

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Dixie: Okay, so let's

get to the mall then.

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So y'all started at a hotel?

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How is it that you got

hooked up with the mall?

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Erin: Same story.

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They put a call out on Facebook to

feed these two cats at the mall.

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'Cause their caretaker was moving to

Atlanta to take care of her mother.

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So we were like, yeah, we can take

care of these two that's right

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around the corner from my house.

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And that was Beauty and Tiger.

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Who we just recently found out Tiger was a

little girl 'cause they were already both

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fixed by the time we were feeding them.

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And that was in 2016 maybe.

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And then we had a third one show up.

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She just showed up.

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We don't know where she came from.

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We called her Smelly.

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Smelly was a pain.

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No matter what we did to try and trap

her, she would get on top of the trap

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and just lay there the entire time.

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We'd trap her every single time.

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She'd get on top of the

trap and just lay there.

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Cori: Didn't matter if it was

a regular trap or a drop trap.

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Erin: Smelly was on top.

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We called her smelly

because she couldn't smell.

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We'd put her food down and have to

literally show her where her food was

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'cause she couldn't find it by smelling.

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It was the funniest thing.

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Biggest talker in the world and.

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We tried for years

catching her, never did.

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And she had a litter of three and

then a, another litter of four.

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And we trapped all them.

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They're all fixed now.

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We call 'em the juvie.

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And people just then started seeing the

cats there, and then they started dumping.

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Dixie: Was the mall open and

operational when y'all first started?

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Erin: Oh yes.

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The mall didn't close until

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One time we have a little

one there named Crooky.

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She has a crooked tail,

so her name's Crooky.

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She got into the mall while it

was still open and one, and thank

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goodness she comes when we call her.

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Because we just opened the doors

one night when the mall had closed,

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the manager had let us in and we

just called her and here she came.

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So we got her out pretty quick

'cause she was ready to eat.

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Cori: When the fire marshal would

come check the building, crooky

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would go with the manager in the

fire marshal and walk around the

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building for him to check all the fire

extinguishers or the sprinkler systems.

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She'd go for a walk with him.

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Dixie: She was his assistant.

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Sometimes you need

those feline assistance.

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Erin: That's

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right.

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Right now the police department, when

people break into the mall, they call 'em

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the guard cats because most of the time

when somebody breaks in, the cats get

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in and by the cameras in the mall that

we watch we can tell where the door is.

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The door that's open because

of the cat that's in the mall.

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We know where that cat's from

'cause we know all of our cats.

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Dixie: That's what I was gonna ask.

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So you have over 50 now?

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Yes.

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Okay.

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And they all have names?

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Erin: Pretty much.

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Cori: The majority do,

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yes.

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Dixie: And as far as getting involved,

when you first got involved, even

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with the hotel, like who taught

you how to trap, was that something

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that You'all learned on your own?

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Erin: YouTube.

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Cori: Yeah, we taught ourselves.

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'cause there was really nobody

to show us how to trap back then.

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'cause TNR was not popular

when we started at the mall.

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Uhhuh or at the, actually at the hotel.

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TNR wasn't popular then back then.

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Now that it's gotten to be known now.

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Quite a few people

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do it but when we first started in 2011.

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There wasn't a lot of people

trapping at that point.

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Erin: And today we do have more

trappers, but they're so overwhelmed.

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It's unbelievable how many trappers

are, I'm on this Facebook group the

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community cat page, and every day they

are trapping cats and they're talking 30

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cats a day, 40 cats a day, and they're

just bringing them in to get fixed.

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Thank goodness we have the.

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TNR program, where in our area it's free.

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It's just, the trappers are so

overwhelmed and there's not enough of us.

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Dixie: And then it seems too, like we

said earlier, no matter how much you

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trap, it's hard to even see a dent in it.

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Erin: We actually had one entire, now the

mall we feed at is 700,000 square feet.

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Just the mall, not the outbuildings.

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The outbuilding stores that are

still open, that's not included in

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the 700,000 square feet, but the

mall itself is 700,000 square feet.

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We had one entire side totally fixed.

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Everybody had been TNR and

we can't say that anymore.

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Because that's the side

the apartments are on.

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And every summer we see these certain

cats that are coming to the mall and then

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they go right back to the apartments.

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I'll tell her, I'll tell Cori.

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I'll be like, Hey, look, there's

a little tribal orange one.

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And we know where he's from.

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He's from the apartments.

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and 'cause we'll see him over there.

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And then every now and then we'll

see him over by us and then all of

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a sudden we have Siamese kitten.

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We don't have a Siamese cat at the mall

at all, but we have Siamese kittens now.

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, Thank goodness we were

able to catch all of them.

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And they went to rescue

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the Siamese went to one rescue,

the black one got adopted from us.

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'cause we work with our vet.

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When we get kittens, they actually

go into the cages at the vet and

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they get adopted through the vet.

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They work very well with us.

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It's VCA.

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And they also work with us when we need

a vet emergency, all I have to do is call

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and say I'm coming and they're waiting for

me, which they work really well with us.

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But we got, I have two of

cookies, babies at my house.

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Because no matter what we did the two

grays, we could not get them adopted.

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Nobody wanted gray tabby's.

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So now I have Humphrey and Dexter

who turned three last month.

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Yeah.

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Last month they turned three.

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So no four.

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They turned four.

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'cause they were born in 2021

right before Hurricane Ida.

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But yeah,

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Cori: it's just everybody

wants exotic looking cats now.

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Yes.

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They don't want regular

gray tabbies anymore.

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An orange or a

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tuxedo or a calico or a torty.

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Yeah.

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They don't want regular gray tabbies.

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Dixie: Yeah, no, it's absolutely true.

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And it's sad too because your

plain average looking cats

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are usually your best cats.

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Erin: They are, Dexter and Humphrey are a

blast and a half, and Dexter is probably

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one of the sweetest cats I have ever seen.

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I call him, I have a, an older

gentleman at my house named

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Tips, who's an orange and white.

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And then I have my little

gentleman who is Dexter.

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Dexter is just, he'll come up, he'll

cuddle, he wants to lay on you.

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You go to the window and he's coming to

climb up you to, for you to hold him.

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'cause he wants you to hold him by

the window so he can look for lizards.

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They are the best cats.

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And Dexter has the prettiest

teal eyes I have ever seen.

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He has his mama's eyes.

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Cookie is still at the mall,

but but they're beautiful

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and they're the best cats.

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Dixie: Yeah.

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It's a shame.

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And I've been on a run

of simes mixes lately.

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I don't understand what's going on.

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It just seems every time I get

a kitten, it's a Siamese mix and

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Erin: we actually have a

new Siamese at the mall.

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We named him Sammy.

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We have no idea where he came from.

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Dixie: Yeah and usually those

are the easiest ones to get

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adopted, , but you also get a lot of

people that want 'em just because,

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oh, I'm looking for a Siamese.

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They don't think about the temperament,

they don't think about any of that.

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All they think about are the looks,

and I've had people inquire on

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mine and they're like, oh, what

does the mom and dad look like?

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And I'm like, I have no idea.

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I'm like, the mom might have been

a tabby, she was t and r, but I'm

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like, I have no idea who the dad was.

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I'm like, this isn't a breeder.

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Erin: It's so funny 'cause.

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The, when we first caught cookies,

baby, she had two Siamese and we

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called a friend of ours who runs a

kitten rescue and the first thing

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she says is, bring me to Siamese.

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I have a waiting list.

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Yep.

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And they got adopted super fast,

but the other three, not so much.

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Dixie: Feeding all these cats at the mall,

what are some of the challenges, aside

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from people dumping animals that you face?

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Erin: The cost,

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it comes out of our

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own

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pockets.

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Dixie: So you're not a 5 0 1 C3?

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Erin: No.

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Everything that we feed them,

comes out of our paychecks.

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They have to go to the vet,

comes out of our paychecks.

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And we are very big on if

there is a cat hurt or a cat

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sick, they're going to the vet.

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When we first noticed Julius dropping

his food, the little orange one at

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the mall, two days, we grabbed him.

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And got him to the vet.

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Now we thought he still had

to be fixed, but he had only

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been there a couple of weeks.

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So we were like, okay, Julius has

to be fixed and he's dropping food.

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He can't eat, he's in pain.

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We had Julius, what, five minutes We put

the drop trap there and five minutes we

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had him come to find out he is fixed.

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But they gave him an antibiotic shot.

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We had his teeth cleaned and.

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That day and a pain shot

and brought him back.

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But all of that comes

out of our own pocket.

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Dixie: And how much

food do you go through?

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Cori: About five 30 pound bags a week.

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And about 120 cans of cat food.

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Wet food.

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Dixie: Wow.

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So how much money on food alone?

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Monthly.

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Erin: Monthly.

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Oh, I gotta think about that.

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You're talking a 30

pound bag is usually $27,

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a 60 can box of canned food is $43.

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$43.

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So we're talking 150 in cat food a

week and almost $90 in wet food a week.

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Cori: Wow.

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That's not including

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Erin: vet bills.

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Dixie: Yeah, I can imagine With

the vet bills added on top of that.

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Erin: Yeah.

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Julius was 300,

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Cori: $261.

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Yeah.

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Dixie: What other kind of veterinary

emergencies have y'all had with these?

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Cori: We had one, we actually just

had to recently put down she was

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the original mall cat.

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Her name was Beauty.

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She was my super senior.

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We

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went on a Tuesday and fed her.

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She was still eating, still

getting around, but I noticed

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flies and she was longhaired.

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So I'm like, okay, maybe she got something

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in her

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hair,

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went back on Wednesday, couldn't find her,

and then I saw Leo my longhaired fluffy

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orange cat looking down at something.

401

:

So I pulled over by Leo and I'm

like, what are you looking at?

402

:

And there was beauty.

403

:

I'm like, oh, I found beauty.

404

:

And I said, I'm gonna

go down and feed her.

405

:

Erin goes, please tell me she's alive.

406

:

I said, yeah, she's alive.

407

:

She's looking at me.

408

:

So I went down to feed her and I

noticed more flies and I fed her and

409

:

she just turned her nose up at it.

410

:

So we grabbed her.

411

:

I called the vet right then and there,

and my vet's bring her, just bring her.

412

:

Put her in a trap.

413

:

I'd never been able to touch beauty ever.

414

:

I just picked her up and put her

in the trap, got her to the vet the

415

:

doctor's okay, let's just take a look.

416

:

We may not have to put her down.

417

:

Maybe she just has a wound

somewhere that's infected.

418

:

When we turned her over, she had

holes in her stomach full of maggots.

419

:

Erin: She had cancer.

420

:

Cori: The tumors burst.

421

:

Erin: So you're talking,

wait, that was 230.

422

:

That was $200.

423

:

And then another one big boy

had a cat bite on his foot.

424

:

So we had to trap him, get him

fixed, and have his foot cleaned.

425

:

Antibiotics.

426

:

Romeo was probably our biggest,

Romeo, was at the hotel.

427

:

Beautiful.

428

:

Flame Point, Siamese blind as a bat.

429

:

Romeo couldn't see nothing, but he

was the alpha cat over at the hotel.

430

:

He ruled everybody.

431

:

We took care of Romeo from the

very beginning, at the hotel:

432

:

And two years ago we went to feed

him and he was wobbly and Romeo

433

:

was prone to ear infections.

434

:

So we're like, okay, maybe

it's an ear infection.

435

:

We did everything for a month

and a half to get him better.

436

:

Even hospitalizing him at the

vet for what, four or five days.

437

:

And no matter what Dr.

438

:

G did, he wasn't getting better.

439

:

He cost us probably couple of thousand.

440

:

Couple of thousand dollars.

441

:

Cori: We wound up having to put him down.

442

:

Erin: Yeah.

443

:

Dr.

444

:

G thinks he had brain cancer.

445

:

Most of our hotel cats.

446

:

That's what they die of.

447

:

Cancer.

448

:

Yes.

449

:

Majority of them died of cancer and

450

:

Dixie: nobody can figure out why.

451

:

That's crazy.

452

:

See, I just lost one of my

boys and they are speculating.

453

:

He had a heart tumor.

454

:

Yeah.

455

:

So it was like super

fast, super unexpected.

456

:

Erin: And that's how the

cats at the hotel were.

457

:

You're talking super fast.

458

:

We wouldn't even know they were sick.

459

:

One day we went over and we called her

mama Cat, and then we had a grandma.

460

:

We had grandma cat, and

we had red mama cat.

461

:

We saw blood on her.

462

:

We grabbed her, threw her in

the car, took her to the vet.

463

:

It was cancer.

464

:

Her tumor had burst.

465

:

Dixie: Wow.

466

:

That is crazy.

467

:

Erin: Grandma had cancer on her spine.

468

:

Cori: Now this is all one family.

469

:

Uhhuh, this is grandma, mama, son,

470

:

Erin: red.

471

:

They took his leg off because

he had cancer in his leg and

472

:

he didn't survive recovery.

473

:

Cori: And they all lived in.

474

:

One area of the hotel,

475

:

Dixie: is this like an

industrial area that it was in?

476

:

Erin: No.

477

:

It's right next to the interstate between

a canal and, a major highway, but it's

478

:

restaurants, hotels, there's nothing.

479

:

Dixie: Oh, that's

480

:

crazy because usually you don't see that

too as much in like an outdoor cat, yeah.

481

:

It's usually other things, like

respiratory, those types of things.

482

:

That's just insane.

483

:

Erin: Out of our 50 cats, we only had to

put one down that had respiratory issues.

484

:

Her lungs filled with fluid.

485

:

We think she had FIP.

486

:

She was the only one.

487

:

The only one out of all the 50 cats, but

the majority of them that did die on us.

488

:

The majority were cancer.

489

:

Of course, you know the

vet bills added up there.

490

:

Oh yeah, definitely.

491

:

One cat at the hotel he was

abandoned in his carrier.

492

:

His name is Polar.

493

:

He was a he's

494

:

Cori: a Himalayan.

495

:

That looks like a siamese

496

:

Erin: He's a him.

497

:

Yeah.

498

:

Manx.

499

:

No tail.

500

:

He's beautiful.

501

:

He was abandoned in his

kennel at the hotel.

502

:

We grabbed him, took him to the vet.

503

:

He had the worst UTI Dr.

504

:

G had ever seen.

505

:

He was matted, he was

in horrible condition.

506

:

Polar was over a thousand dollars.

507

:

So yeah, the cats take a huge

chunk out of our paychecks.

508

:

Dixie: So have you ever

thought about doing a 5 0 1 C3?

509

:

Erin: We have.

510

:

We just don't know.

511

:

Much about it.

512

:

When we have talked to other

rescues that are 5 0 1 c threes,

513

:

they tell us it's not worth it.

514

:

'Cause we are not a rescue.

515

:

We're just feeders and trappers

of our own little colony.

516

:

A lot of them are like, it's not worth it.

517

:

To spend all the money to get a 5 0 1 C3.

518

:

And, so we never really pursued it.

519

:

So we just take care

of our cats every day.

520

:

We are out there every single

day feeding our cats, checking

521

:

our cats, and thank goodness the

owners of the mall are wonderful.

522

:

They, they let us do

whatever we need to do.

523

:

We have a key to the mall, so

if there is a cat in there.

524

:

We can go in and get it.

525

:

Cori: We have two cats

in there at the moment.

526

:

Two cats a possum, two cats a an

adult possum and a baby possum.

527

:

'cause we can see them on the cameras.

528

:

Dixie: Do y'all ever have to go

in the mall to go rescue the cats

529

:

or do any kind of rescue missions

for cats that are in the mall?

530

:

Erin: Oh yes.

531

:

We've had two on the roof taking

care of these cats since:

532

:

We never, ever had a problem.

533

:

Then in January of this year, we

had our first cat get on the roof.

534

:

No clue how she got up there.

535

:

Cori: There's no tree, there's

536

:

Erin: nothing by her to get her

on this three story building roof.

537

:

But up she went.

538

:

She found her way down and.

539

:

Hurt herself in the

process, but she's fine now.

540

:

Took her to the vet.

541

:

Had her checked.

542

:

When we got her fixed, 'cause she was

a baby, she was still only about five,

543

:

six months when she got up there.

544

:

And then a couple of months

545

:

ago, another cat on the roof.

546

:

We go feed and we hear screaming.

547

:

We look up and they're

leaning over, screaming at us.

548

:

Great.

549

:

Up on the roof, we go setting

traps, putting cameras and him,

550

:

we caught within a week, right?

551

:

Yeah.

552

:

Cori: The other little, when she showed

up down probably what, four or five

553

:

days later from getting up on the roof.

554

:

But we think she either fell or she

555

:

jumped.

556

:

Because she messed up her legs pretty bad.

557

:

Now she still walks funny,

and still runs funny.

558

:

But the vet that said,

she's perfectly fine.

559

:

And then the new, the other one

who got on the roof a couple

560

:

times, I call him roofie.

561

:

We call him roofie.

562

:

He's perfectly fine.

563

:

He had a busted up nose from hitting

the trap constantly, but now he just

564

:

comes and screams at me to feed him.

565

:

Dixie: So now I did hear

about an elevator incident.

566

:

Cori: Yes.

567

:

Oh, we've had more than that.

568

:

We had a kitten in the drain.

569

:

The fire department came out and

helped us get that little one out,

570

:

and a fireman actually adopted her.

571

:

Dixie: Oh, awesome.

572

:

Cori: Her name is now Espy.

573

:

And then we had another baby fall

into an elevator shaft, an outside

574

:

elevator shaft, and the elevator

company came out and helped us get.

575

:

Her out.

576

:

Erin: Yeah.

577

:

The mall has no electricity.

578

:

So they literally had to come and hook

up riggings and manually pull this

579

:

elevator up so that someone could get

in the shaft to get this baby out.

580

:

Wow.

581

:

His name is Max.

582

:

Dixie: Is he still a mall cat?

583

:

Erin: Yes, he is.

584

:

He is.

585

:

We always are fussing at him

and telling him to quit being a

586

:

bully 'cause he can be a bully.

587

:

He lives with Leo.

588

:

Leo is his best friend, Leo and Baldy.

589

:

We have Leo, Baldy, and Max who are

the bachelors, our bachelors and

590

:

they all live in one little area.

591

:

Max is the bully.

592

:

Baldy is the, I guess you could say

the introvert and Leo is the talker.

593

:

Dixie: When y'all are feeding, do

you ever get harassed by people?

594

:

Erin: Yes.

595

:

Oh yes.

596

:

Oh yeah.

597

:

More though.

598

:

People stop and ask questions.

599

:

We've had a couple that, tell

us we shouldn't be doing this.

600

:

We have to explain.

601

:

We do have permission.

602

:

The owners allow us to do this 'cause

, they allow us to take care of the cats.

603

:

We watch them all for them.

604

:

We watch the cameras.

605

:

We know when there's people in there.

606

:

We know when there's break-ins.

607

:

We know when there's something

wrong or broken or something.

608

:

Just because we've been there

so long, we can spot something

609

:

out of place immediately.

610

:

We know every single square inch

of that mall inside and out.

611

:

So we take care of the cats and

we take care of the mall for them.

612

:

But we have had some people stop and

scream at us and yell at us for doing it.

613

:

And a lot of times we just ignore 'em.

614

:

But the majority of the

people are very friendly.

615

:

Stop and ask questions.

616

:

They love the cat.

617

:

They'll bring us food every

now and then they'll give us

618

:

some money for the cat food.

619

:

Not much, and it doesn't happen

often, but the majority of the people

620

:

that do stop are very friendly.

621

:

Dixie: The ones that stop and will

tell you something, are those just

622

:

like animal haters, cat haters?

623

:

Erin: I don't know.

624

:

, There are some probably

that are cat haters.

625

:

They don't tell us why they're

mad at us feeding the cat.

626

:

Just that they don't want us doing it.

627

:

Okay.

628

:

And most of them stay in

their car and just, pull off,

629

:

once we totally ignore them.

630

:

Dixie: When you feed, do you have problems

with other people trying to say, oh,

631

:

I'm gonna go feed the cats at the mall?

632

:

Cori: We do have a problem with that,

especially when we're trying to trap them.

633

:

One of our trapper friends

was actually trapping for us.

634

:

He was trapping the juvie force

and he got into an argument with a

635

:

woman because he was trying to

trap them to get them fixed.

636

:

And she was determined to feed.

637

:

Erin: Yeah, she was gonna feed

him whether he liked it or not.

638

:

And he got into an argument with her, but.

639

:

Cori: I don't mind if they feed.

640

:

What gets me is they

leave their trash behind.

641

:

We try

642

:

and leave

643

:

no trash.

644

:

So they all have feeding

stations, they all have water

645

:

bowls, they have food bowls.

646

:

They have cat houses

that the food goes in.

647

:

We try and make their footprint as small

as possible, where when other people

648

:

feed, they leave their plates, they

leave their cat food bags all over the

649

:

place and we wind up picking it up.

650

:

That drives me nuts.

651

:

We try and keep it as clean as possible

652

:

Erin: because a lot of people in our area,

they do complain about the mall, the grass

653

:

being high or the trash around the mall.

654

:

It's not nice looking.

655

:

You can tell it's abandoned

'cause of all this stuff, and.

656

:

Of course it, , in the same parking

lot is a movie theater where when

657

:

people come out, they just throw their

trash on the mo grounds and we have

658

:

cups and popcorn things all over.

659

:

So when we feed, we feed in actual food

bowls, they're hard bowls in their little

660

:

houses, you cannot see them really.

661

:

And they're behind things.

662

:

You're not gonna see them out in the open.

663

:

We don't want the cats eating

and feeding out in the open.

664

:

We don't want people

complaining about them.

665

:

Cori: There's only one area, mainly

that is out in the open, and that's

666

:

because we don't have any other choice.

667

:

That's where we have to feed them.

668

:

But the other ones is either

behind trees or behind a wall.

669

:

So that you cannot see them.

670

:

Erin: But people will pass and

will see like these huge piles

671

:

of food in dirt, different areas.

672

:

Which, we're fine with feed the cats.

673

:

It helps us out a bit.

674

:

But just, don't make a mess.

675

:

And that's our biggest problem

is people just make a mess.

676

:

Dixie: And how many feeding

stations do you have?

677

:

Cori: I gotta count.

678

:

12.

679

:

12.

680

:

12?

681

:

Yeah.

682

:

12 areas around the mall.

683

:

Dixie: That's a lot.

684

:

Erin: Yeah.

685

:

They're all spread out.

686

:

They are literally around the entire mall.

687

:

They're on the sides.

688

:

They're in the front.

689

:

They're basically everywhere.

690

:

They are totally spread out over

the 700,000 square foot place.

691

:

We have to have that

many feeding stations.

692

:

And then the juvie are probably

our largest colony at the mall.

693

:

Last time I counted there was 18 there.

694

:

Cori: Now we did have

695

:

kittens this year.

696

:

We only had one set of kittens this year.

697

:

That's a good thing.

698

:

And all those kittens one went

to rescue two got adopted.

699

:

Dixie: That's awesome.

700

:

Cori: Haven't had any kittens since,

701

:

fingers crossed we're finished here.

702

:

Erin: We have had some mamas that

had kittens that didn't make it.

703

:

We do have a cat right

704

:

now that we cannot get fixed.

705

:

The vet does not think she would make it.

706

:

Cori: She is a mama.

707

:

She does have one baby,

little orange fluffy baby.

708

:

I did talk to my vet about getting her

fixed, and he's I would wait because

709

:

he doesn't think she's healthy enough.

710

:

Dixie: What's going on with her?

711

:

Cori: When

712

:

she

713

:

breathes, you can

714

:

literally see her trying

to take a breath in.

715

:

Dixie: Oh, like abdominal breathing?

716

:

Erin: Yes.

717

:

She has been on

antibiotics multiple times.

718

:

The antibiotics work for a

while and then she's back to.

719

:

The heavy breathing, she is very thin.

720

:

No matter what we do, we deworm

her, we give her high calorie

721

:

supplements, she will not gain weight.

722

:

And he basically said she

would not make the surgery.

723

:

So there's not much we

can really do with her.

724

:

Except feed and take care of her.

725

:

Her babies do not

usually survive actually.

726

:

I've only ever seen one survive.

727

:

Cori: And that's this one.

728

:

That's this one little orange

729

:

fluff ball.

730

:

She did have kittens last season.

731

:

None of them survived.

732

:

She had two

733

:

Dixie: and that's crazy.

734

:

Cori: Yeah.

735

:

Dixie: Does she take care of 'em?

736

:

Cori: Yes.

737

:

Oh

738

:

yeah.

739

:

Yes.

740

:

She takes care of his little

orange one, this little one.

741

:

She's always by him.

742

:

She nurses him.

743

:

She's taken

744

:

really good care of him.

745

:

Erin: It's just, I don't

think they're healthy enough.

746

:

Because she's not healthy enough.

747

:

Dixie: Yeah, exactly.

748

:

Erin: She's a beautiful little calico.

749

:

Sweet little thing.

750

:

You can tell that she would not do well

inside, we can't get her adopted, but

751

:

she, yeah, she's just not healthy enough.

752

:

But she , gets around.

753

:

Really well.

754

:

Today she was actually not

where I usually find her.

755

:

But yeah, she's the only

one we know that we.

756

:

Literally cannot get fixed.

757

:

But we're not really worried about her.

758

:

'cause the babies just don't do well.

759

:

And then we had another Calico

dumped recently, very recently,

760

:

probably a month ago, she had kittens

and we don't think they survived.

761

:

Cori: We are not really sure yet, and

the reason we think that is every time

762

:

we go feed, she is never with the babies.

763

:

She's always away from them.

764

:

And we know where the babies are, or were.

765

:

But every time we see her,

766

:

Erin: she's not with the

babies or even in the area.

767

:

And I know, taking care of cats

so long, mamas don't do that.

768

:

Dixie: Yeah.

769

:

Usually the babies have to come with

them to learn how to eat and stuff too.

770

:

Erin: Would be only two weeks old

about, 'cause she was dumped pregnant.

771

:

And, but we heard 'em one time and

that's the only time we ever heard them.

772

:

And in the beginning she was staying in

this one area and she was very protective.

773

:

Cori: She'd go after any

cat that got into the area.

774

:

She's

775

:

Erin: not like that anymore.

776

:

Yeah.

777

:

And she's never in the area anymore.

778

:

She'll come over there to eat, but

as soon as she's done, she goes

779

:

away again, not where the babies

were and where we are seeing her,

780

:

there's no place to hide babies.

781

:

' Cause she's out in this big field open.

782

:

So we think that, the only real

baby we have now is the six month

783

:

old that we think was dumped.

784

:

That we saw two days ago.

785

:

No, yesterday.

786

:

We saw yesterday.

787

:

Yesterday was the first time we saw it.

788

:

And he was there again today.

789

:

So now we got him, get him

trapped and fixed because,

790

:

Cori: like I said, and where

he is, everybody's fixed.

791

:

I have no unfixed cats in that area.

792

:

Erin: We think he's him and the little

orange fluff ball they're the only two

793

:

and they're pretty, they're old enough to

eat on their own and do things like that.

794

:

But yeah, that's it.

795

:

Everybody else is good.

796

:

Dixie: I think it's impressive the

way that you take care of the cats,

797

:

especially being able to look at 50

plus cats and know when you have one

798

:

that is sick and needs to go to the vet.

799

:

'cause there's people that might own

two cats and they can't even tell that

800

:

Erin: We know our cats so well.

801

:

We know when something's wrong.

802

:

' Cause we pay attention to

every single one of them.

803

:

I have my brave ones.

804

:

I have my chickens, I have

my sort of friendly ones.

805

:

Screamers.

806

:

I have my screamers.

807

:

I have one.

808

:

He's my new super senior.

809

:

His name is Jack.

810

:

And when he sees you coming, you can

be across the parking lot and he's

811

:

going to walk to you screaming the

entire way at you to come feed him.

812

:

He's gonna probably be my next one

that we're gonna have to really

813

:

spend money on and pay attention

to because he is our super senior

814

:

and his legs don't work very well.

815

:

We probably pass there two and three

times a day just to check on Jack.

816

:

To make sure he is okay.

817

:

Not overheated 'cause of 110 degrees heat.

818

:

He just can't take it.

819

:

We bought him cooling pet pads.

820

:

Put 'em under the bushes for him.

821

:

He does use them, thank goodness.

822

:

But we also make sure

he eats in the shade.

823

:

He's a tuxedo.

824

:

Long-haired tuxedo.

825

:

He's gonna be probably our

next big I don't wanna say

826

:

problem child, but he vet Bill.

827

:

Taking care of Jack in his senior years.

828

:

Cori: And we don't even

know where Jack came from.

829

:

I don't even remember when Jack showed up.

830

:

He just showed up one day.

831

:

Erin: Yeah we know all of our cats.

832

:

Every single one of them.

833

:

Part of the problem is it's just

her and I, we're the only ones

834

:

that trap, we're the only ones that

feed it's getting appointments.

835

:

We

836

:

work full time.

837

:

We do not trap there after dark.

838

:

I know a lot of trappers do.

839

:

That's when the cats come out.

840

:

We don't, because there

are no lights there.

841

:

It is an abandoned area.

842

:

It's just not safe.

843

:

Which doesn't give us a lot of time.

844

:

We do have our tricks.

845

:

We have been very fortunate.

846

:

It doesn't usually take

us long because , the

847

:

cats know us so well.

848

:

That they come when we just call them.

849

:

Cori: Yeah.

850

:

I think last time we trapped, I got

three females in under 30 seconds.

851

:

Dixie: Oh wow.

852

:

That's pretty good

853

:

Cori: on drop trap.

854

:

Yeah.

855

:

Erin: And they all got fixed the

mama and two and her two babies.

856

:

We got Julius in under three

minutes because of the catnip.

857

:

The mama and the two little girls they're

very food motivated, so it was just easy

858

:

to put the food down and we got 'em.

859

:

Cori: One night, eight were

caught over by the juvie.

860

:

In a week we

861

:

had 14.

862

:

Dixie: And that's a shame too, that

there's that many being dumped constantly.

863

:

Erin: Constantly.

864

:

It's just never ending.

865

:

People see cats and they're

like, oh, let me bring them here

866

:

because they're taken care of.

867

:

Dixie: Yep.

868

:

And it's a shame.

869

:

It's hard to stop something like that too,

870

:

Erin: we'll never

871

:

stop that.

872

:

Yeah.

873

:

We'll never stop it.

874

:

Dixie: So all you can do is just trap

'em and get 'em spayed and neutered

875

:

so that at least they don't reproduce.

876

:

Erin: The hotel was easier, the

hotel, it did take a long time

877

:

to get them fixed, but we weren't

having new cats dropped off.

878

:

We weren't having new cats dump.

879

:

But the mall, it's going to

be never ending because of the

880

:

dumps, because of the apartments.

881

:

Dixie: And people know about it, so

they think it's like an easy way out

882

:

when they wanna get rid of an animal.

883

:

Cori: Yeah.

884

:

We had a man stop a couple of weeks

ago asking if we ever had dogs

885

:

dumped, which sort of made me worried.

886

:

I'm like, I don't need

any dogs dumped here.

887

:

'cause I don't do fool with dogs.

888

:

But thank goodness, no, we

have not had dogs dumped.

889

:

We do have dogs that show up

because they're lost and they have

890

:

pretty much left the cats alone.

891

:

Erin: And I told her the other day, I

told Cori yesterday, I said, the good

892

:

thing about our mall cats, they're very

accepting when a new cat is dumped.

893

:

They immediately accepted into the colony.

894

:

Cori: We never have any problems.

895

:

They're just, really

accepting easygoing cats.

896

:

Dixie: Thank you both for joining

me today and talking about the great

897

:

work you do with the mall cats.

898

:

Erin: Thank you.

899

:

Dixie: That's all the time that

we have for today's episode.

900

:

If you are enjoying our show, please

consider leaving us a donation.

901

:

A hundred percent goes to our animals.

902

:

Suno: Paws in

903

:

the night Claws in the

fight Whiskers twitch and

904

:

tails

905

:

take flight

906

:

They’re calling in Stories to spin

From the wild to the heart within

907

:

Broken wings and hopeful springs

We’re the voices for these things

908

:

animal posse hear the call.

909

:

We stand together.

910

:

Big and small Rescue tales We’ve

got it all Animal posse Saving

911

:

them

912

:

all

913

:

The vet’s got tips The rescuer’s

grit The foster homes where love

914

:

won’t quit From a pup in the rain to

a bird in pain , Every soul’s worth

915

:

the

916

:

strain

917

:

Animal posse

918

:

Hear the call

919

:

We stand together Big

920

:

and small Rescue tales We’ve got

it all Animal posse Saving them all

921

:

Every caller tells a tale, every

howl a whispered wail, we rise up.

922

:

We never

923

:

fail.

924

:

This

925

:

is

926

:

the

927

:

bond

928

:

The holy grail

929

:

Animal posse Hear the call We stand

together Big and small Rescue tales We’ve

930

:

got it all Animal posse Saving them all

931

:

Every caller tells a tale Every howl

a whispered wail We rise up We never

932

:

fail This is the bond The holy grail.

933

:

Song by Suno.ai

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About the Podcast

Animal Posse
A look inside the world of animal rescue
Dive deep into the world of animal rescue with heartwarming stories, expert interviews, and behind-the-scenes insights. From heartwarming adoptions to daring rescues, we'll explore the incredible bond between humans and animals.
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