Tuesday, October 6, 11:37pm
Poppy has been a bit better, though still not moving around much. She’s been able to at least stand up and walk to her litter box, and can reposition herself in her bed–2 things she couldn’t do a couple of days ago. I got up through the nights on Saturday and Sunday, to check that she hadn’t gotten herself into a bad position. No idea if it’s the medicine that’s causing the improvement or what, and she still seems to have some bad times, but am very relieved to see her mostly resting comfortably.
Went out Sunday to check out local TNR projects, and to take pictures of the kittens or cats still in need of re-homing. There were several friendly adults and kittens at the first location, all living inside a small building. All looked in good health, have been spayed/neutered (if of age), and have a safe place to live while we look for homes, so no worries there. We added the kittens to the nursery page, and will add the adults to the available page soon.
Next place was one that I’ve been to several times, and is one woman working to spay/neuter many stray cats in various neighborhoods. She’s currently got several kittens, which we determined to be too feral for re-homing–one, after it gave me a particularly fierce bite! I’ve been bitten before, and you would think I’d see it coming, but as she was holding the kitten, I assumed I’d be able to stroke it’s head. I ended up with several deep punctures to my palm, which I cleaned immediately. Luckily, there’s been minimal swelling, and I’m back to using my hand without any problem. I was disappointed that we weren’t able to help this woman to re-home any of the kittens that she’s rescued, and I worry that she’s going to have difficulty finding a place for them. She had one very sick young cat that she was medicating after taking it to the vet, and I think she’s a bit overwhelmed with all she’s doing…aren’t we all, but it must be hard doing it all by herself. At least we brought a large amount of cat food for her, and are loaning a big cage. I think she’d be a good care taker to have on staff, if we ever have that capability!
Next on the list was a family that has spayed and neutered some cats living behind a pharmacy. There are many strays in this location, and we’ve wanted to take it on ourselves, ever since we got a report about it last year. We haven’t been able to raise the funding necessary, and weren’t able to turn up local support for the project. But, when I was shopping recently, this woman noticed me buying a lot of kitten food and asked if I was rescuing kittens. I gave her our information, and when one of the volunteers contacted her in Japanese, we found out that she is living near the pharmacy. She had spayed a female from the area, shortly after it had already given birth, and needed help re-homing the kittens. The mother is somewhat skittish, and the 4 kittens are a bit shy, with 2 being friendlier than the others. They’re all cuties though, and the family is keeping them indoors for safety. They’ve already had 2 spayed/neutered, so are handling the situation responsibly. It will be great to now have a contact in the area–perhaps we can take on the problem with more force together.
Last stop was a new request for help out at a construction company site. The feeders are a couple which are connected to the property in some way, but perhaps no longer own it. There were dozens of cats living in a shed and another building, with at least 3 litters of kittens. 2 litters were too old for socializing now, though we found one older kitten that was inexplicably very friendly. I immediately noticed a litter of 3-4 week old kittens scrambling for cover, and we were able to catch 5. The couple hadn’t been aware that they’d been born, but had found a black one from that litter with bad eyes and had been treating it. We decided to take the friendly 4 month old back to the shelter, along with the 5 younger kittens, for re-homing. None of the other cats or kittens seemed friendly enough for that, and will have to be trapped. We counted one pregnant cat and another 7 females, for sure (calicoes or tortoiseshells). However, I couldn’t really count the cats and kittens living in the shed, as they all hid whenever I approached. I could see kittens there, too (3 or 4 month olds), so I assume there is at least one unseen female. I think there must have been more than 30 cats and kittens living on the site, and the capacity for reproduction even yet in this season, is staggering. The cats at least appeared mostly healthy–some sneezing and minor upper respiratory problems. Though we didn’t discuss in detail, they did mention that the property would eventually be sold, leaving the cats living situation in definite jeopardy. I fear there’s foreclosure involved. The man is an experienced builder and has offered to build an enclosure for the cats if we can find land for it…I just don’t know how we could do that at this point. We weren’t able to get the model house property, which went for a very low price. It’s hard to imagine finding anything we could afford. Though it’s easy to blame the couple for letting the cats reproduce uncontrollably, all but the kittens we removed are feral, and they had no idea how to catch them for spay/neuter. They were recently referred to our group by a local veterinarian, and really seem to want to help these cats. I have to hope that we can find a way to help them get all of the cats spayed/neutered and to meet the future needs of the cats remaining at the site.
Yesterday I rode out with one of the volunteers to a new foster home with the 5 youngest new kittens. Located a couple of hours from us, it’s a bit of a distance, but we’re so very glad for the help! She had planned to take the kittens now waiting for foster care at the vet’s clinic, but this new case was urgent, so we adjusted the plan. While we were there one of the kittens had some very thin diarrhea, so we decided to leave only 3 (too lonely to take away just one). We checked in with her tonight, and things are good so far–all eating and pooping well. The little tortoise shell is very feisty…she’s now bitten all of us, though she doesn’t even really have teeth! They can’t see very well yet, and hopefully we’re in time to turn them all. The others are off to a better start, and the 2 we have here have completely warmed up to us in the last 24 hours. The friendly 4 month old ginger tabby that we rescued (Skippy) is a little dream boat! He purrs and purrs, rolling around in his bed. We have to wonder if he was actually abandoned at the site, given his anomalous behavior! Several new recent requests for adoption, so hopefully he’ll find his place soon. Check out the new pictures of Tango’s new home…a heartwarming and encouraging note to close on.