daily dose of dogs (aka cats with your coffee)

Long Shot

Four of the six cats who had their surgeries last week have been released back onto the property.  I kept the very young gray-and-white, longer-haired female and one of the Russian blue toms.  I know chances are so slim as to be ridiculous, but I’m gonna ask . . .

The little gray-and-white female is young and she is beautiful.  She is feral, but not like so many of the others.  As I said last week, she growled nonstop for the first 24 hours she was here.  Now she lets me pet her.  She will be here for another week and then I have to return her to the property.  This one will be a challenge.  She will growl for the first day or so, and then it will be a process of her becoming your friend.  I do believe this one will tame, but felines with feral starts take LOTS of patience.  I just hate to take her back.  But she will be fed there, and she will not have a life of having litter after litter of kittens. If there is someone reading this who is SURE they would like to give her a home, please contact me.

 

 

 

The Russian blue tom had an open wound behind his ear when I got him.  This is from scratching.  There are scabs in this area from previous scratching.  The best guess for what is wrong is ear mites.  So I started treating him and the last treatment will be on November 19.  This guy is a real sweetheart.  I won’t be able to house him past the 19^th so if there is someone reading this right now who is SURE they could give him a home, please get in touch with me.  He is wonderful and I wish he didn’t have to go back to the property.

 

 

And just an update on the two youngest felines from the property.  I got the male black kitten first.  He was very sick. He is doing really well now.  Then I got the littermate – a little female.  I’m so glad they are back together.  I’ll just be keeping these two until they grow old enough for their surgeries.

 

 

I said last week that I wasn’t going to reserve any more surgery spots for the TNR cats because it adds so much pressure to get a certain number by a deadline.  But I asked in passing about spots here and there, and the clinic stays booked three to four weeks in advance.  So I reserved four spots for the next time they had openings.  That date is November 29.  Surely I can have another four trapped by then.  And if I should get so lucky as to get more than that, I’ll just hang on to them until I can get them scheduled.  Keep your fingers crossed.

And Friends, please keep this in mind.  Because of you, EIGHTEEN cats so far have been spayed or neutered.  Wonderful.

See you next week.

 

Quota Met

Let me start by saying thank you for the advice and confidence that came from some of the readers of last week's post.  Honestly it helps to know that you guys are out there hoping and believing as I continue to chip away at the feral cat colony where I’m doing TNR.

Last week was rough.  What I didn’t say when I posted last Tuesday was that I had come down with the flu on Monday.  I think of myself as a reasonably healthy person so I figured I had a couple of days of feeling lousy and then I’d have that nasty flu behind me.  NOT.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday . . .  fever, sore throat, headache, body aches, chills, runny nose, sinus pressure, and all-night coughing.  It was a lot of fun.  And what made it even more fun was that I couldn’t just stop trapping at the cat property because I had surgery spots to fill.  So I would go out to the property between bouts of fever.  Miserable.

Anyway, the effort was worth it.  I had seven surgery spots held.  And I got six cats! (Actually got seven, but one can’t go for surgery. Will explain in a minute.)  Woo Hoo!!  I’m over the moon happy about this.  I don’t have to put my clinic out by telling them I could only fill a spot or two.  And the most important thing – this is SIX MORE CATS who will never reproduce. 

On one of my trips to the property, the older man who lives there told me he’d caught one of the tiny black kittens.  (There are two.  They are littermates and look exactly alike.)   He’d caught this baby in a net and then managed to get it into one of the carriers I’d left on the property.  I hadn’t planned to take those two little black ones (yet) because they are still way too young to be spayed or neutered.  But when I looked into the carrier and saw the condition of that baby, there was no way I wasn’t bringing him home.  This little guy was sick.  And I didn’t know just how sick until I got him home.

 

  One eye was swollen and inflamed.  He could hardly breathe at all due to a severe upper respiratory infection.  He was also super skinny.  He would not eat a bite of food.  I knew this was at least partially because he couldn’t smell anything.  He did literally nothing but sleep for the first 24 hours he was with me.   Older Daughter talked to her vet and we were able to get an antibiotic injection into him the second day.  I discovered that I could pet him.  He was very much afraid of me, but I spoke softly and kept touching him.  I was eventually able to start holding him.  Just when I was sure that Older Daughter was going to have to take him and start force-feeding, I got him to taste some kitten canned food.  One bite and he started inhaling the food.  He consumed the small amount that I had prepared with Viralys mixed in.  An hour later, I fed him again.  And after that he even started crunching dry food.  He is now doing so much better.  I’ve been trying to get his littermate.  I’ve seen it several times.  It runs and hides, but I’ve seen its face enough to know that it isn’t crusty and infected like the one I have.  I’d like to go ahead and get it so that these two babies can curl up together.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Now here are the six that will be going for their surgeries this week.  Notice the last of the pictures.  ALL Russian blues.  There must have been an entire litter of these at some point and against the odds, several survived.  Also – please note.  The longer-haired gray-and-white one is now letting me touch her.  She is very young.  If you know of anyone who would adopt her, let me know.

 

This one is very tame. I set him out of his cage for this picture. The couple at the property might have a home for this one.

 

This is the little female who MIGHT be adoptable. She growled continuously for the first 24 hours I had her. She is no longer growling and I’ve started touching her. The one beside her is the one I showed last week here on the blog – the only one I had at the time.

 

Russian Blue number One (untouchable)

 

Russian Blue number Two (untouchable)

 

Russian Blue number Three (touchable and with terrible ears. Treating them now.)

 

 

[ADDENDUM:  Guess what has just happened?  The little black kitten littermate to the one I already had has been trapped.  It is safely here with me.  I don’t yet know if it is male or female.  It is NOT sick like its sibling was when I got him.  YIPPEE!!!]

 

I have not reserved any more surgery spots at this time.  The six adults I have now will go at the end of this week.  After that, I need to trap first and then try to schedule from here on out.  Hopefully my clinic will have a spot here and there as I continue this project.

 

Cynthia – THANK YOU.

Ginny - THANK YOU.

 

 

See you all next week.

 

Twelve Plus . . . One

Well, it’s not good news this morning.  It’s almost November and I have surgery spots held for the TNR cats at the property a few miles from my home.  I started trapping again on Sunday afternoon and evening.  Trapped yesterday as well.  And I have ONE cat at this point.

 

I will be trapping again this evening so keep your fingers crossed.   We are expecting loads of rain tomorrow and Thursday.  Then on Saturday I will be doing the yard sale for the shelter where my daughters work (that is an all-day event).  I was really hoping to trap another six from Sunday through Tuesday this week. 

Twelve cats have been spayed or neutered.  I said before that it will be harder now.  The cats going into the trap are the cats who have already had their surgeries.  It would have been amazing if I could have kept all of those cats here at my place while attempting to trap the ones I still need.  But of course I don’t have the setup to make that happen.  I have three cages and those are needed for the cats I’m housing before and after their surgeries.  Also – these cats are not tame (except for those first six).  They don’t house well in cages.  So . . .

I have to just keep at it.  And I have to hope that my veterinary clinic will work with me when I can’t fill spots.  I hate doing it this way – holding spots without knowing for sure that I can fill them.  This is my first ever TNR event.  I’ve watched them on television and I now have a new appreciation for what TNR volunteers do.  The only thing I can say about this is that I am DETERMINED to get every cat on this property altered.  That is the only way I can know for sure that this colony will never grow again.

I hope by next week I am reporting some real success.  Keep your fingers crossed, Friends.

 

The Holidays Approach

We’re about to charge headlong into The Holidays.  I usually try to do some posts in the spirit of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  But starting next week, I’ll be back to trapping at the property where I’m doing TNR.  I have surgery spots scheduled for the first part of November.  As I continue to trap on this property, it is going to become more and more difficult to get the cats who have not yet been spayed and neutered.  The problem will be trapping the ones who’ve already been done.  Trap.  Release.  Reset the trap.  Release.  Reset the trap.  Finally get one that hasn’t been spayed/neutered.  Therefore . . .    I’m trying to hone my patience skills and stay relaxed about this.  I know finishing this colony off will likely take until the end of the year.  So my “holiday” stories will probably be swallowed up by stories of TNR.  But what better way to celebrate The Holidays than to end the breeding of a colony of cats!  I’ll take it!

Virginia (of The Poupounette Gang) is a supporter of Winnie’s Wish.  She hails from across the ocean, but she still has Wish List gifts delivered here from time to time.  There is one product that Virginia advised me about years ago.  And it is not available here in the States.  So it was a real treat to have Virginia send me this product (along with a few treats!) when she was visiting our country. 

 

 Virginia - THANK YOU.

 

Also - my brother-in-law just donated to Winnie's Wish and his niece's Wild Angels.  He said - "you people are doing wonderful things."  Brother-in-Law - THANK YOU.

 

Keep your fingers crossed that this time next week I’ll be showing you the pictures of the next group of TNR cats.  See you then.

 

Harder Than I Thought

I’m excited to continue to report to you about the cat property where I’m doing TNR.  At the end of my Wildlife Wednesday post last week, I noted that I DID get the additional four cats I needed for the six surgery slots I had held for Thursday.  Those six cats were a lot more difficult to gather than were the first six.  The first six were the tamest of the cats there.  The second group of six proved to be quite a challenge.  They had to be trapped, and I was on a schedule.  I knew I had to have six cats to deliver to my clinic on Thursday.  I initially only had two.  But we got the additional four just in time.  I also had eight spots held for Monday (yesterday), but I had to cancel those.  I guess after those first six (the tame ones), I had in my mind that I would just go to the property every time I needed cats and pluck the needed number.  I now know that I will need to plan a little differently.  After canceling Monday’s slots, I wasn’t able to reserve any more until the first week of November.  So I have a little more time to collect the next group.   Patience has never been a big characteristic of mine.  And – I know that with every passing day, we run the risk that there is a pregnancy in the unaltered group.  But I must take a deep breath and realize that this process is going to take longer than I had originally figured.  The goal is to get every cat on the property spayed or neutered, and to keep an eye on the kittens and grab them when they are old enough.

The other thing that hasn’t gone exactly as I’d thought is my emotional state.  You know how excited I was when we hit our fundraising goal.  At that time, I could see only how wonderful it was that this group of cats would be permanently relieved of the constant breeding.  And I am still over the moon about that aspect.  What I hadn’t figured was how I would feel releasing these cats back onto the property.  You see, in all of my years of rescue work, I’ve only had to release a couple of cats – females that I trapped (with their kittens) only to have them slam around inside their cages to the point of injury.  Once spayed and with only a couple of days of recovery time, I had to release them for their own safety.  It bothered me a great deal.  But now I’ve released six cats back to this property and will be releasing another five tonight (one has already been released).  That’s twelve cats that I’ve gotten to know.  The first six all let me pet them.  It was rough releasing them.  The second six are afraid and don’t want me to touch them.  But I still know them.  And I hate releasing them.

One of the six in this second group was the type I described above.  I had to keep a sheet over her cage until surgery day.  She nearly tore us to pieces trying to get her loaded that morning.  (Younger Daughter came to help me; couldn’t have done it without her.)  The day after surgery she started slamming into the sides of her cage.  She was definitely injuring herself.  She also would only sit (belly down) IN the litter box.  I was worried about her incision (in the litter) and I knew she was really going to hurt herself in that cage.  So I released her the day after her surgery.  That nearly made me sick.  I have kept all of the others for several days after surgery just to make sure they are good and strong and on their way to healing before being returned to their outdoor world.  I’m finding it so hard to return these cats to the property and just “hope” they will live reasonably comfortable lives.  There is shelter on the property.  And the senior couple who live in the house at the front of the property will be feeding them.  Certainly this is better than for SO many cats in feral colonies all across this country.  But when you look into the face of an animal, you see an individual.  And I wish better for these sweethearts than what they have.  Still – it’s better than for most, and to know not ONE MORE KITTEN will be born on that property to die or be killed while still a baby, or to grow up and spend life fighting, breeding, nursing . . .       I must look at everything that is positive and steel myself against the pain of not knowing what will happen to these cats over time.  

As hard as it is to release these spayed and neutered cats, I know the endless breeding stops here for this group.  I do wish that was the case for every feral colony on this planet.

I realize this picture is fuzzy.  I snapped it as this guy was running away on one of my first trips to the property.  I’ve looked for him each time I’ve been back but haven’t seen him again.  He has an open wound on his left side.  I hope he is in the next group we trap so that I can start some treatment on that wound.

 

See you next week.

 

Wildlife Wednesday – An Update

There has only been one new addition at Wild Angels Wildlife Rescue.  A young raccoon was brought in because she was limping.  She is doing well now.

 

 

The fawns are still doing great.  Their spots are just beginning to fade.

 

 

You might remember two tiny squirrels coming in.

 

 

At first, they were being syringe-fed.

 

 

Then they started learning to feed themselves.

 

 

The day is fast approaching when they will be ready for an outdoor enclosure.  And speaking of that . . .  

There have been lots of successful raccoon and opossum releases recently.  One night, when Older Daughter and her husband went out to feed some wildlife in one of her enclosures, they heard a noise in the squirrel enclosure.  Older had no squirrels in that area at the time.  Take a look at who decided a squirrel house would be just fine for the night.

 

 

 

The stories from Wild Angels will be fewer and farther between now.  Older’s wildlife season is slowing down.

 

[Yesterday I said I would let you know if I was successful in getting the FOUR MORE cats from the property for their spay/neuter surgeries scheduled for tomorrow.   Yes. I was able to successfully trap the four more cats I need for tomorrow.  This is a great relief.]

 

 

See you next week.

 

The Next Six

Hello Friends!  If you read here last week you know that my fundraising goal was reached for my spay & neuter project.  This is a group of cats on a property only a few miles from where I live.  We discovered the breeding colony when we talked to the property owners about a black lab mix mom dog walking on the road with two tiny puppies.  I got mom dog spayed, and the two puppies have gone to a shelter to be adopted.  During the process of working with the family about the dog and pups, we discovered the large group of cats living in the back of the property.  We still don’t have a total number, but there are adults, young adults, older kittens, and even a couple of young kittens.  The breeding is out of control and THANKS TO YOUR HELP, I now have the money to get EVERY cat (and eventually kitten) on this property spayed or neutered.  The goal is to make this a zero-growth population.

The week before last, Older Daughter and I went to the property and collected three females and three males.  Those cats were spayed/neutered that week and have now been returned to the property.  Last night, Older and I went to get six more – three females and three males.  Their surgeries are scheduled for this Thursday.  (I have six surgery spots held.)  At the property last night, it did NOT go well.

Evidently, the first group of six was the tamest group on the property.  The plan for last night was to get the next six.  We managed to get two.  I left my trap with the people who live in the house at the front of the property.  I showed them how to set it.  And I left them a carrier.  But I don’t feel like they can handle it.  I’m going back tonight.  I need four more cats.  It looks like getting the rest of these cats is not going to be easy.  It will happen.  I’m determined.  But this might take a lot longer than I had previously envisioned.  Please keep your fingers crossed, Friends. 

 

 

Before I close, I want to share that Andrea (Celestial Kitties) and husband Greg sent me a check to sponsor one spay.  This means a spay will be done that does not come out of the GoFundMe campaign money.  They sent enough to sponsor a spay AND EXTRA – to be used for Winnie’s Wish or wherever I needed it.  Well, I am housing these property cats in cages here ahead of their surgeries and for several days after (to assure they fully recover).  That’s a lot of extra cat food and kitty litter.   

Andrea and Greg – THANK YOU.

Tune in tomorrow for a short Wildlife Wednesday.   I'll also do a quick update if I've been able to trap any more cats.  See you then.

 

We Have Arrived!

How about I just go ahead and start this week off by telling you . . .

WE REACHED GOAL!!!!!!!!!

I know the GoFundMe campaign does not show $2000.  But I had two donations come in through my Paypal donate button on my blog and three cash donations.  And that did it, Friends.  We Have Arrived.

Here are the final donors: Cynthia (again), Liz, Ginny & Jim, Beth & Mike, Karen, Barbara, and Sherry – THANK YOU.

Six cats got this spay & neuter marathon started.  You saw their pictures on my blog last Wednesday.  I was unable to get any cats scheduled for this week as neither clinic had any openings.  But I have a boatload going next week on Thursday and the following Monday.  I cannot describe to you the feelings I have about this.  As I said when I introduced you to this One Tiny Spot in the World, I know this doesn’t change my state, our country, or this world.  But EVERYTHING changes in this one tiny spot.  There will be no more breeding, suffering, starving, fighting, and pregnancy for THIS colony of cats.  There will be no future generations to continue the nightmare.  There will be no more kittens born, only to die young or grow up and add to the reproduction problem.  BECAUSE OF YOU – this One Tiny Spot in the World will become a zero-growth population.  They will live in the only place they’ve ever known and they will not multiply uncontrollably.  There is a shed in the back of the property that offers shelter from the elements.  The woman and her husband who live in the house on the property have been feeding this population and will continue to do so.  I am “to the moon” happy about this project.  I hope it makes you that happy, too.

At some point next week, when I collect my next group, I will post pictures.  I love that all of you reading here get to see each of these cats.  As you look into their faces, you can know that life is about to improve for them. 

And Friends - please keep this in mind.  A few of these adult cats are friendly.  I don't yet know the total number of kittens or whether or not they are feral.  But if you fall in love with any cat or kitten from last week or in the weeks to come, email me.  One kitten was lucky enough to go to a home.  If that could happen for any of the others, that would be the BEST thing I could hope for.

 

In the midst of the excitement of the spay & neuter fundraiser, some gifts arrived here for Winnie’s Wish.

Tori and Trevor adopted Wisher Zen and they sent their gift in honor of her.

 

 

Tori and Trevor – THANK YOU.

 

June sent this with a note that said “Happy to provide comfort for a Wisher!”

 

June – THANK YOU.

 

Thank you to everyone who donated to my GoFundMe campaign, and to everyone who shared!  Be sure to get back here next week to see the next group to benefit from your kindness.  See you then!

 

I’m Not One to Give Up

 

I do the yard sales on the parking lot of the shelter where my daughters work.  I have these yard sales on Saturdays when the weather permits.  I wasn’t able to have one last Saturday because of rain.  But the Saturday before, I had a nice hot yard sale.

Setup starts about 9 or 9:30.  So by that time on this particular Saturday morning, there was a lot going on.  My daughters don’t have to be at work until ten on Saturdays, but they go in early and help me set up (on their own time).  Lots of noise and chaos during the setup.  Then they head in to start their workday, and I keep setting up and arranging and pricing until the shoppers start showing up.  Cars are in and out, people are coming and going, talking and shopping.  The picture I’m trying to paint here is one of activity and noise.  Keep that in mind.

The day moved along.  About mid-afternoon, my daughters came out of the shelter to say hi and to see how it had been going.  They had their regular Saturday volunteer with them (a young teenager who loves being at the shelter and is good help).  They started walking towards me and I walked in their direction.  We congregated right at the edge of the shelter building.  Right next to the shelter are the two “yard sale” buildings – the small one that used to be the only one I had, and the new wonderful bigger one that has allowed me to continue doing the yard sales.  The girls were asking if it had been a successful day, and I was telling them about some of the things I’d sold and how many people had been there so far.  Right in the middle of our conversation the four of us all stopped talking.  Silence.  Then an undeniable sound. What was that? Didn’t that sound like a cat? A kitten? Wait. Where is that coming from?   The four of us realized at the same time that somewhere VERY close to us there was a kitten crying.  And within only a few seconds, the cry turned into a scream.  Over and over it screamed. 

There is a deep woods behind the shelter buildings.  To the south of the woods and directly behind the shelter is a “dog yard” – an area for the dogs to run and play in.  The four of us shot into action.  Volunteer and Older Daughter got on each side of the first yard sale building.  I got behind it.  Younger Daughter tore away and raced through the shelter and out the back to corral the dogs who were out.  We did not need a kitten to shoot through the chain link and end up in a yard full of dogs.  Younger hurriedly joined us then, and we managed to be on all four sides of the building.  Finally, Volunteer spotted it - an orange kitten creeping low to the ground under the building - moving in the direction of Older Daughter.  Older was ready to grab it, but it turned and darted the opposite direction.  Volunteer was ready, but it turned again.  It darted back and forth under the building; the four of us each guarded one of the sides.  We were calling quietly and making no sudden movements.  There was no way this little guy was going to escape us. 

And then he did.  He made a diagonal dash, shot out at a corner and straight into the woods.

We raced into the edge of the woods, but he was long gone.  We all just stood there.  As we walked back to the buildings, we started discussing how improbable it was that this kitten never said a word all day long.  There was no doubt about how it got on the shelter property.  This kitten was dumped.  (Unfortunately, this is something many shelters have to occasionally deal with.)  But clearly he had not been dumped at any point during this day.  People were everywhere.  He’d been dumped early that morning or even the night before.  But where had he been all day long?  With all of the commotion and cars and people and noise, was he just hiding out under one of the yard sale buildings?  Why did he start scream-crying at that particular moment?  Was it our four voices, calmly discussing the day, right beside the building he was under?  We don’t know.  It didn’t make sense.  And now he was in the woods.  That was not good.

The volunteer had her dad bring their cat trap.  Shortly after I left for the day, the trap arrived and was set.  By closing time, no kitten.  Younger said she would be coming back to town that evening and she would check then.  That would give some time for everything to go completely quiet on the shelter property. 

I’ll just summarize the rest of this because we went from hopeful to nearly hopeless over the next week.  The kitten never arrived into the trap.  It was set daily for days, left in the evening if anyone was going to be near town.  No kitten.  By the end of the week, everyone had given up.  This kitten was gone. 

But I don’t give up very easily.  (Remember my Wisher Theo? First tried to trap him during the month of June. Finally got him in December.) 

A week later when Saturday had rolled around again, I didn’t go to town for a yard sale because it was pouring rain.  I texted my girls and asked if they were going to set the trap for the kitten.  Well, no, not with it raining so hard.  And besides, Mom, I’m sorry but we don’t think that kitten is around anymore.  I reminded them that I had trapped in every kind of weather.  Do it for your Mother. Just throw a towel over the trap – I said.  They did.  But no catch.  And there was rain predicted for days and days to come.  But I drove my daughters crazy and continued to go on and on about trapping anyway.  They set the trap on Sunday in the pouring rain.  No kitten.  They set the trap on Monday in the pouring rain.  No kitten.

And then . . .

Late on Monday afternoon, my cell phone started ringing.  When I saw that it was Older Daughter, I picked up right away.  (Odd for her to call rather than text.)  And she said – You know what you’re good at? - she asked.  No, what? – I responded.  Trapping! – she said.  We just got that kitten!  I’m gonna be honest, Mom, I did not think that kitten was even still around here.  And never would I have thought anything would go in a trap in the daytime in the pouring rain.  But we’ve got him.  And I couldn’t be happier.  Just like you, I had not stopped worrying about him.  And now it’s all good.

He’s a terrified little thing.  My daughters always ask me to foster the really scared ones and the really young ones.  So I have him here and we’ll work on becoming a little less afraid and a little more friendly.  The main thing is that this baby is not living in a woods all alone trying to fend for himself.  And for that I’m grateful.

Teenage Volunteer did the honors of naming him.  Here’s Brier.

 

in the carrier on his way to my house

 

in my kennel kitten room

 

 

Please keep sharing about the GoFundMe Spay & Neuter Campaign.  We really aren’t that far from GOAL.  See you next week.

 

 

The BEST Kind of News

Before I could launch my GoFundMe campaign to raise money for spays & neuters, I needed an estimate of the number of cats and kittens on the property.  While there, I noticed a young Russian Blue kitten.  I told Older Daughter that I knew a couple who was interested in that very thing – a Russian Blue kitten!  The woman feeding all of these cats had hoped we might be able to take some of the kittens off her hands.  Of course, there’s no place for them to go.  As I’ve explained, Winnie’s Wish is full and the shelter where my daughters work is full.  There are no shelters anywhere in my part of the world that have room for kittens.  But this ONE kitten . . .  Would it be possible that I had a home for him?

I hesitated briefly.  I knew that I needed to go ahead and get him while I was there.  That way I could start de-flea-ing and de-worming him.  But what if I brought him to a cage in my kennel, and then found out that this family had already found their Russian Blue baby.  This little guy would have to go back to the property and I knew it would break my heart.  I couldn’t get home fast enough.  Quickly opened my email and sent one off – Hey N, did you ever find the Russian Blue kitten you were looking for?  I think I just sat in front of the computer screen staring, hoping her answer would pop up.  I ended up sending another email with my cell number and told her to text me.  I got back to work, and it wasn’t long before I had a return text from N.  No they had not yet adopted their Russian Blue.  We began a dialogue and I sent pics.  She discussed this with her husband and said they were interested.  I was soaring at this point.  One little kitten saved from that life and about to enter The Good Life.

N and J are a couple who adopted a Wisher.  Annie (now Luna) went to her Forever Home just before Christmas last year.  At some point, N & J let me know they were looking for another Russian blue – a “sibling” for their Luna.  I already knew what great cat parents they were, so I had no doubt about putting a second cat into their home.  However, it was unlikely that Winnie’s Wish would find itself in possession of just what they were looking for.  Now months had gone by.  Yet here we were – a Russian Blue kitten on the property that I’d just discovered.  And a Wisher household looking for just such a kitten.

N tickled me by asking to get her new little boy as quickly as possible.  We arranged to meet halfway on Tuesday of last week and little Finn went to his Forever Home. 

Now their Luna has been an only cat for these nine months.  I warned N & J that she would probably be quite offended by the intruder.  They would keep the two separated initially and slowly bring them together.  The first reports were pretty bad – Luna was so outraged that she wouldn’t even sleep with N & J the first night.  And there was LOTS of hissing and growling directed at the crack under the door of the room containing Finn.  I assured N that this was all normal.  I also explained that it can take weeks or even months for an established cat to accept a newcomer.  It helps that Finn is male and still a kitten. 

You can’t imagine my joy.  I know it is likely that the rest of the kittens on this property will grow up there.  I will see to it that as the kittens come of age they will be spayed or neutered.  I know this is only ONE kitten.  But for THIS kitten, life has changed forever.

Here he is in his new home.

 

 

Putting ANY cat or kitten into a loving, indoor home is the BEST that can happen!

If you are reading this, and you think you would be interested in adopting a kitten from this property, please let me know.  I know there is a long-haired gray-and-white older kitten there.  And I’ve seen two black kittens.  I will continue to learn more with each trip to the property.

 

The plan was for Older and I to go this past Monday evening to scoop up our first three cats for their scheduled spay surgeries at the end of this week.  But in the meantime, I was able to schedule three neuters as well.  So with the help of the property owners, we loaded up three females and three males.  All will have their surgeries this week.  I will be asking the clinics to look at their schedules for when I can bring more.  Here are the pictures of the first six in our project.

 

This first group was relatively easy to capture. These are some of the cats that go in and out of the house.  Many of those remaining are more feral and will present more of a challenge.  But we will succeed.  I am determined.

 

Before I close, I need to make an announcement about my GoFundMe campaign.  Ready?

WE JUST HIT AND WENT OVER THE HALFWAY MARK!!!!  (I’m massively excited)

 There are five more donors to thank:  Kimberly, Curt, Anonymous, Randy, and Mell – THANK YOU for donating.

 

See you tomorrow for an unrelated story.