daily dose of dogs (aka cats with your coffee)

Wildlife Wednesday – Overload

Last week I told you that Older Daughter had taken in even more babies to her Wild Angels Rehab.  The week turned out to be quite overwhelming, partially for reasons that had nothing to do with wildlife.  Here’s how Older’s week went.

The local animal control officer called Wild Angels after a report of a dead mom opossum who had SEVEN babies still in the pouch.  Now keep this in mind as I go through the events of the rest of the week – the opossums had to be fed every 3 hours and it took 45 minutes every feeding.  This was nearly impossible since she was also feeding two baby birds every half an hour.  Then she ended up with another baby raccoon.  The person who called said her cat brought this little raccoon into her yard.  He was healthy and uninjured.  And he was exactly the same size as the two smaller raccoons already at Wild Angels.  So he went in with those two and the three are like siblings – eating together, playing together, and sleeping together.  Then Older Daughter ended up with another baby raccoon.  This one was very sick.  His siblings were killed by dogs and this one was saved, but he was not in good shape.  I’m really happy to report, now, that this little guy is starting to improve.

Three coons, an opossum, and two birds – that’s where Wild Angels was initially.  Now add 7 VERY young opossums and two more raccoons.  But Older Daughter could have handled it if that’s where it had ended.   

You might remember that Older Daughter and Younger Daughter are the co-managers at an animal shelter.  Well, Older Daughter is usually the one who fosters very ill or injured cats and kittens that come in.  Younger Daughter fosters dogs when needed.  In a matter of a couple of days, Older Daughter ended up with a 5-month old kitten suffering from a hypoxic brain injury and a 6-week old kitten with an Upper Respiratory condition so bad that his eyes were sealed shut.  His eyes were full of infection and he was severely underweight.   The brain-damaged kitten had to be force-fed and constantly watched.

Well . . .  it was too much.  Something had to give.  Luckily, another wildlife rescuer that Older has been in contact with over the years said she and her husband only had one fawn so far and that she would be more than willing to take Older Daughter’s most time-consuming wildlife – the seven tiny opossums.  What a relief!

 

 

This is the little raccoon who came in healthy.

 

 

He fits right in with siblings who were already at Wild Angels.

 

 

Here is the little sick one, now improving.

 

 

Look at the starling babies! They’re perching! 

 

ALL SO CUTE!!

 

Aging

My birthday was at the end of May.  You might recall that I made a decision to transition Winnie’s Wish from a rescue/shelter to a sanctuary a while back.  There were a couple of reasons for this.  One, I have a full house.  But also, I’m aging.  I certainly don’t want to continue to take in young cats and kittens who might still be here 20 years from now.  I have to know that I can care for the 30+ cats who will live out their lives here at Winnie’s Wish.  My own continuing march into the future got me thinking about the ages of the various Wishers.  So I decided to look at every file to see just where my Wisher kitties are in the courses of their own lifespans.  I was surprised to discover just how old many of them are.  Raven and Cole are the two youngest; the siblings are about 3 years old.  But aside from these two youngsters, there’s not a cat in the house who is younger than 6 years old.  Many are 10 years old or older.  A large number of the Wishers came here as adults so there is no way to accurately pinpoint their ages.  Many of them could be 10 years old; they could be 12 years old; they could be 14 years old.   I’m pretty sure the oldest Wisher is Angel.  And she’s definitely showing her age.  But so are Quinn and Isis – the patriarch and matriarch of Winnie’s Wish.  Halo's been here a long time, too.

Here are just a handful of the Wishers. Oh how I love each and every one!

 

Cole and Raven

 

Angel

 

Quinn and Isis

 

 

Halo

 

 

Binks and Blue

 

Pippin, Winter, and Gandalf

 

 

Toast, Peeta, and Slate

 

 

Back to my own birthday for just a minute.  Andrea put a post up on her blog asking folks to send ME birthday gifts of Winnie’s Wish Wish List items.  (Does it surprise anyone that Andrea did this? –smile- )  And here are the gifts that arrived here for my birthday to benefit the cats of Winnie’s Wish.

 

Maria - THANK YOU.

 

June - THANK YOU.

 

Karen - THANK YOU.

 

Virginia - THANK YOU.

 

By wishing me a happy birthday with these gifts, you've sent support for the cats of Winnie's Wish.  Just go back and look at those sweet sweet Wishers again.  Aren't they just wonderful!

See you tomorrow for a Wildlife Wednesday.

 

Wildlife Wednesday – All is Well

I have quite a story for you today.  I’ll also do a quick update on the animals I introduced you to last week.  In fact, let me start with that.

Older Daughter has recently taken two raccoons, then a third raccoon, an opossum, and two baby starlings.  At this writing, all are still doing well!

 

 

learning to eat from a bowl

 

Here are a couple of pictures of the raccoon that came in as a single - the one who'd been kept as a pet.

 

hands in the food dish

 

 

playing in her favorite box

 

 

 

 

growing some feathers

 

 

sleepy

 

 

It's nice when everybody at Wild Angels is doing well!

 

Now to my story.  Do you happen to remember that Older Daughter had a baby dove last year?  In August of 2020, Younger Daughter and I discovered an abandoned baby dove and Older took over its care.  Even though birds are hard to keep alive, this dove did survive and thrive.  At some point the dove was released, and Older saw it around a few times after that.  Then a couple of weeks ago . . .

 

A dove started showing up in Older Daughter’s yard here and there.  It didn’t seem afraid of Older Daughter at all so Older wondered if this could be her released dove.  She put some seeds out in a bowl.

 

 

But that’s not as good as it gets.  One evening while Older was working outside, the dove flew down beside her.  AND THEN ONTO HER SHOULDER.    Older was thrilled.  The two chatted for a while and then the dove flew away.  Of course, Older couldn’t get a picture of this.  BUT . . .

One evening last week, Husband and I were at our daughter and son-in-law’s house.  And this happened.

 

 

The dove first flew right onto Husband’s hat.  (That’s his work hat so we weren’t terribly worried about potential “bird droppings.”)  Then it flew right onto my head.  What a treat!  We all laughed (as quietly as we could) while Older’s dove made the rounds.  Then the dove flew off and we had a real (much louder) laugh!

Older is thrilled to know that her dove is around and has come to let her know that all is well.

 

That’s it for today, but Older took in quite a few more babies just yesterday.  I’ll be back next week to introduce them to you.  See you then.

 

Wildlife Wednesday – Influx

There has been a flurry of wildlife activity at Wild Angels.  Let’s see . . .  where to start.

There are three baby raccoons at Wild Angels.  Two little babies were in someone’s yard.  The person put them in a box at the base of a tree.  He left them there overnight with the hope that the mom raccoon would come for them.  They were still there the next morning.  When Older Daughter received them, they were very cold and dehydrated.  They had probably been orphaned for a while.  Their eyes were already open; nonetheless, they were receptive to being handled by Older Daughter.  She warmed them and got them rehydrated and was then able to start feeding them formula. The little girl struggled with a weepy eye for a few days but is doing better now.  Here they are:  eating, playing, and sleeping in a ball.

 

 

 

Just yesterday, they started learning about water.

 

 

This little boy and little girl are on their way to good health.

 

Then Older got a call from someone who’d had a baby raccoon in their home for three weeks before contacting Wild Angels.  It appears that they were hoping to make a pet of her.  Then, of course, they discovered that she was very destructive and didn’t make a good pet at all.  They had been feeding her “anything she wanted,” but fortunately she was not in bad shape.  However, if there is any message we’d love to get out to people it’s that wild animals shouldn’t be taken as pets.

 

The little raccoon had been in someone’s home for three weeks with the intention of having it become a “pet.”  This next addition to Older’s group of spring babies had been in its home for a month.  But this time the circumstances were very different.  A young man contacted Wild Angels about a baby opossum.  He had taken it in when he hit the mother while driving.   He actually went back to see if he’d killed her.  He discovered that mom and all but two of the babies were dead.  He took those two home and one died shortly thereafter.   He was actually trying to do everything right.  He researched online for an appropriate homemade formula and for a while the little opossum was doing alright.  But then she stopped eating and he started trying to find help.  He found Wild Angels and contacted Older Daughter.  The little opossum was severely underweight when Older received her.  The man was truly concerned and had tried to do the right thing.  Bringing the opossum to a wildlife rehabber was the perfect “right thing” to do.

 

 

The problem, of course, is that both the raccoon and the opossum were allowed to develop relationships with humans that are not in those animals’ best interests.  Older will have to work hard to make sure these two little animals revert back to their “wilder” selves.

 

The final two little animals that I’ll introduce you to are tiny and mostly bald (with a little bit of fuzz), and can only hold their heads up for a few seconds at a time.   These two little creatures were found by Older herself.  She was at a state park with some friends and just happened to be in the right place at the right time.  She discovered two tiny birds lying on the end of a slide.  Of course, she tried to find a nest.  But there was simply no nest to be found.  She was really worried about one of the two anyway because it didn’t even have the strength to hold itself upright.

 

 

She and her friends rushed back to fix food and an appropriate container for the baby birds.  She warmed them and then started feeding them.  I’ve probably mentioned here before that baby birds must be fed every 20 minutes initially.  [This is from sun-up to sun-down.]  Over days, that eventually goes to every 30 minutes and then 45 minutes and so on.  It is nearly impossible for anyone to keep this schedule.  Luckily each feeding only takes about one minute.  Older found it promising that in only a very short time, the two little birds showed signs of gaining strength.  They have been with Older now for four days and they are doing really well.  Unfortunately, birds can show no signs of distress and just die without warning.  Older knows this is a possibility.  But she will give it her best shot.  (She is pretty confident that these are starling babies.)

 

 

 

So all day long with birds and mammals; then up in the middle of the night for mammal baby feedings.  I don’t know how she does it.  But I’m glad she does.

 

One final note.  Older wishes that more and more people would learn to get abandoned wildlife babies to wildlife rehabbers.  They really should never be thought of as pets.  And she also wishes that more people would stop and check dead opossums for possible (still living) babies in the pouch.

 

Wildlife Comin' Up

I'll be here tomorrow with a Wildlife Wednesday post.

Wildlife Wednesday - Injured Rabbit

As I said yesterday, it has been a while since I blogged.  During this time, Older Daughter took in a new animal to Wild Angels Wildlife Rehab.  Most of the time Older gets calls about baby wild animals.  It’s unusual but it does happen that she will get a call about an injured adult.  These animals often don’t make it, but Older always gives it her best shot.  This call was about an injured adult rabbit found on a road.  The person was able to just walk over and pick it up.  When she had the rabbit and could look it over, she could see damage to one of its eyes.

Once Older got the rabbit in her care, she realized it must have been hit by a car.  There were cuts on his back, scrapes around one eye and that eye was bloody.  And there was head trauma.  The rabbit couldn’t stand or sit up.

With medications and force-feeding, the rabbit started being able to hold itself upright.  Force-feeding continued.  The rabbit got stronger.  The cuts and scrapes started to heal.  And the eye started looking better, too.  Older had initially been worried that this guy might lose that eye.  But everything continued to improve.  When he started being able to move around a little, he walked in circles.  Older worried that his head trauma might keep him from a full recovery.  But a day came when Mr. Rabbit could scoot in a straight line.  And after that, he accomplished some small hops.  He also started nibbling some on his own. 

And now . . .   he is eating completely on his own!  He is upright and stable and has put on weight.  There is still some question about his sight so he continues to be monitored.   But Older Daughter says it won’t be long before she will move him to an outdoor enclosure.

 

 

 

 

Fingers crossed.

 

Lovely May

I was taking a little break from blogging, but I just had to post after some wonderful gifts arrived here for the Wishers!  My blogging break was mostly because all winter long I seemed to have so many scary and sad things (illnesses and losses) to write about.   But recently Winnie’s Wish has received some gifts and the reasons for those gifts have been so uplifting that I wanted to write about them.

You know that Winnie’s Wish is now a sanctuary for the 31 cats who call this place home.  But for years and years, Winnie’s Wish was a rescue and shelter.  I adopted out dozens of kitties during those years.  Altogether I believe the Winnie’s Wish total for adoptions was 60 kitties.  Before Winnie’s Wish came into being as a licensed operation, I managed to home another 20.  There were some mistakes along the way – Wishers placed in homes where they were not cared for properly.  But the vast majority of Wisher homes were absolutely WONDERFUL.  As I wrote many times over the years, getting kitties into loving homes was truly how I kept going.  The work was hard and sometimes heartbreaking.  But cats becoming family members and moving from homeless to The Good Life was deeply gratifying. 

And that is still true today.  I often think of the Wishers who are long gone from here.  Occasionally, I am blessed with an update from some wonderful family out there who has a Wisher (or two, or three) living with them.  It’s always just wonderful to hear about the love those kitties are receiving.  And when the person sends pictures, too . . .  well, it just doesn’t get any better than that.

First I heard from mr and her husband.  They adopted Hershey and Felicity (Wisher name was Frosting) EIGHT YEARS AGO.  I agreed with mr when she said it seems impossible that it’s been that long.  In honor of Hershey and Felicity’s Eighth Gotcha Day, Winnie’s Wish received this gift.

 

Felicity

 

 

Hershey

 

Hershey, Felicity, mr and husband – THANK YOU.

 

Then only a few days later I heard from Tori.  She and Trevor adopted Zen.  Zen had been adopted once before and unfortunately it was not a good situation.  Thankfully, I got Zen back.  And then Tori and Trevor adopted her.  They completely adore her and she is certainly living The Good Life.  For her Third Gotcha Day, Winnie’s Wish received this gift.

 

 

Zen

 

Tori, Trevor, and Zen - THANK YOU.

 

My birthday is in May and I share this birth month with Maria – a reader of this blog and supporter of Winnie’s Wish.  For several years now, Maria has requested of her children to use her birthday and Mother’s Day to make a contribution to Winnie’s Wish.  Wow!  So Maria’s daughter Lindsay and son Brad each honor their mother by sending a paypal gift to Winnie’s Wish. 

Maria, Lindsay, and Brad – THANK YOU.

 

Winnie’s Wish received this gift.

 

Allyson – THANK YOU.  (I’d love to thank you directly but I don’t have an email address.  If you’d like to email me, I will return with a proper thank you.)

 

And June – THANK YOU.

 

Everyone mentioned in my post today has brought a smile to my face.  Hope you’ve gotten a little smile, too – knowing that about 80 kitties are living lives of love because of their wonderful families, and that the 31 Wishers who are still here are benefiting from the kindnesses of people like I’ve written about today.

 

There will be a short Wildlife Wednesday post tomorrow.  See you then.

 

Little Break

Taking a short break from blogging.  Hope all is well in your world!

Surprise!

Last week I did a special Thursday post about Andrea’s beautiful kitty sofa bed and her commissioned work – all to benefit Winnie’s Wish!  The announcement had been made as to who won the raffle.

 

 

The next morning I saw a comment that Andrea left on that post.  Here’s what it said:   I'm thrilled with how well the raffle for that bed went! There is more to that story, too, but it won’t be revealed until next week! Oh boy is even Chrystal gonna be surprised!   So I really didn’t know what any of that meant.  But I was having a very busy couple of days and I figured I would write to Andrea soon and ask what she was talking about.  Then on Friday when I got home from being at my parents’ house, there was a package waiting for me.  I opened it   . . .

 

I think I nearly had a stroke.  I was totally shocked.  Even after reading Andrea’s comment, I did not one single time think of something like this.  That beautiful Fancy Crocheted Velvet Sofa was somehow in my house.  Also inside the package were two of Andrea’s round crocheted kitty beds. 

 

And there was a letter.  Here (in part) is what the letter said:

Dear Chrystal, As you know, June C won the Fancy Crocheted Velvet Sofa in the raffle.  When I informed her that she won, she said – Yay! Send it to Chrystal!   

Then Andrea went on to say that the sofa was for MY own personal cats.  The money from the raffle went to the Wishers, but the prize was to go to MY cats so that both groups got something.  Andrea said that she thought this was a great idea and that she was going to add TWO of her round crocheted beds for the Wishers!  She said that way everybody got something.   Andrea even copied & pasted from what June had written:

Chrystal deserves all the happiness that her heart can hold! I thought giving her the sofa for her personal cats was important so people clearly understand there are two cat groups close to her heart and one actually lives in her home.

HOW SWEET!!

I wrote to both June and Andrea and told them that I had secretly coveted the Fancy Crocheted Velvet Sofa.  I knew I'd never have one but I thought it was absolutely beautiful.  Then Andrea did the drawing and paypal'd the raffle money to me.  Getting that money for the Wishers was such a gift!  I told June - Without your explicit directions, this sofa bed would have gone to the Wishers.  Anything that is donated goes automatically to the Wishers.  Anything my own personal cats get is purchased by me with my own money.  I never mix the two.  My Winnie's Wish cathouse is a big roomy three-room house for the Wishers.  I get the occasional paypal gift or Wish List donation, and there are the big things like Andrea's auctions.  Obviously, with over 30 kitties to care for, tons of my own money goes to caring for the Wishers.  Every bit of help I get is so needed and so appreciated.    Then we also have several of our own cats.  These are cats who, for one reason or another, have ended up living in our home with us.  I consider these cats just like anybody else would.  They are mine so I am responsible to pay for everything they need out of my own money.  So when I receive donations - funds or items - for the Wishers, it goes for the Wishers only.  That's why getting this sofa bed with your explicit instructions that it be for MY OWN cats is so exciting.  It's so much fun to have such a beautiful bed in my home for my own kitties.  I then thanked June for her long-time support and for the very special gift of the sofa!

Now this beautiful (secretly coveted) sofa bed is in my family room.  Several cats have tried it out, but most haven't stayed when I've gotten up to snap a picture.  Evers, on the other hand, had no problem with me getting his picture (several times actually).  And Trudi was so sound asleep that she never knew I took the pic.

 

 

 

 

June – THANK YOU.

Andrea – THANK YOU.

And again to everyone who helps Winnie’s Wish by bidding at Andrea’s auctions, having her do commissioned work, and by buying raffle tickets for this sofa – THANK YOU.

 

Andrea’s Help & Talent

This is the first chance I’ve had to mention Andrea’s Raffle to benefit Winnie’s Wish.  Andrea made a beautiful fancy cat bed and sold tickets to make money for the Wishers.   Here is a picture of that bed.

 

Amazing!  I have said many times on this blog that I am in awe of Andrea’s talent.  This luscious bed is gorgeous and Andrea did SUCH a wonderful thing by selling tickets to win this bed and gifting that money to the kitties of Winnie’s Wish.  Of course, just as I always say with Andrea’s auctions – without the participation of all of you fantastic folks these things wouldn’t be successful.  Ticket sales were GREAT and Andrea raised $470 for Winnie’s Wish (and then she and Greg rounded up).  THANK YOU Andrea and thank you to all who participated!

And that’s not all.  Andrea always puts many of her handcrafted items in her auctions.  But what you might not know is that she also does commissioned work.  Just recently, she did some work for a person who asked specifically for some things Andrea makes.  With the money, she sent supplies to Winnie’s Wish.  Andrea and husband Greg “round up” and always kick in some of their own money.  It was wonderful to have supplies delivered here from Andrea and Greg.   I want to advertise some of the items that Andrea makes for people who ask for them during times when there is not an auction to shop at.

 

puffy bed

 

 

crocheted bed

 

 

fish taco

 

 

sardines

 

 

toy set

 

 

Andrea has had the title of Number One Fundraiser for Winnie’s Wish.  Looks like she’s gonna keep it!

Andrea – THANK YOU.