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Wildlife Wednesday – Still Not Slowing Down

Last week you met the two little squirrels who came in to Wild Angels.  They were not littermates, but they were close to the same age – both still with eyes closed.  We had fingers crossed that both would survive so that each one could have a little buddy to sleep with and grow up with.  Well, both are doing well at this point.  And one’s eyes have opened since I last wrote.

 

 

On Sunday, Older received a call about two more baby squirrels.  The people said they saw the mom squirrel get killed.  Not sure how the babies ended up with them.  Anyway, these two came to Wild Angels with eyes already open.

 

 

 

 

Also in the last week, Older Daughter received an adult raccoon who had been hit by a car.  The man who got this raccoon to Wild Angels said he hoped that the reason he could just go right up to this animal and pick her up was because she knew he was there to help.  Unfortunately, it appears that head trauma was involved.  Older was initially afraid that she might not even be able to get this gal to eat.  But she has been treated with medication and given a comfortable place to recover.  She didn’t eat the first night, but she is now eating.  That’s a good sign.  We’re hoping for a full recovery.

 

Would only sit and stare at first

 

 

Now interested in eating

 

 

As Older Daughter's mother, I'm hoping things begin to slow down a bit at Wild Angels.  But I'm always thrilled when another precious creature is saved.

 

Wildlife Wednesday – No Slowdown Yet

Last week I showed you how painfully cute the baby opossums are as they ride around on their mom.  Well I have some more pictures to share with you of this little family.  Still just as cute!

But first, here is an update on the little bitty opossum that came in weak and dehydrated a couple of weeks ago.  At the time, Older Daughter wasn’t sure if he would survive.  But she has managed to keep him alive.  So far, so good.

 

 

Recently, a person found a baby opossum in their yard all alone.  They got him to Wild Angels thinking he was too small to survive on his own.  He was actually at the questionable stage – maybe old enough to survive, maybe not quite old enough.  Older was glad they called and she took the little guy.  But he had definitely gotten old enough to be quite unhappy in the presence of humans.  He won’t let Older Daughter touch him.  He can eat on his own so she doesn’t have to syringe feed him.  When he gets a little older and stronger he can be released.

 

This little guy does not appreciate having his picture taken.

 

 

I still have the pictures of the opossum family to show you, but lest you think this entire post is going to be about opossums – here’s a different baby who came in to Wild Angels about a week ago.   This story is amazing.  A trucker was at a rest stop and he was hooking onto a trailer when he found this tiny creature ON the trailer.   Thank goodness he didn’t just set it off in the grass and move on.  He took it in to the rest area desk and gave it to the young woman working there.  She didn’t know what to do with it so she called the local humane society.  Lo and behold, that’s where Older Daughter works!   So the squirrel made its way to Older Daughter and into the care of Wild Angels Rehab.  Older says it was less than a week old at the time.  So . . .  Older is back to getting up every few hours all night long feeding the new baby.

 

 

 

THEN – on Monday of this week, Older received a message about a baby squirrel that someone had been trying to feed but it seemed to be going downhill.  The friend of this person had been mowing and accidentally killed the siblings.    This new baby would be the perfect companion for the first little baby squirrel.  Unfortunately, this newest one is very thin.  And Older is afraid he might be in the early stage of pneumonia.  We are hoping that this little baby can pull through.  It’s really difficult when they are this young.

 

 

 

Here they are together.  Perfect for each other.  Fingers crossed.

 

Here they are in their traveling box

 

 

I’ve blogged about this before – There is a Spring baby season AND a Fall baby season for squirrels.  This Fall season seems to be starting a little early . . .

 

Now let me close with some of the cutest pictures anywhere.  This is the momma opossum found in the middle of the road in a pool of her own blood.  She had babies in her pouch.   Someone wonderful rescued her and got her to Wild Angels and somehow Older kept her and her babies alive.  She has improved tremendously and the little family has moved to an outdoor enclosure.  The babies ride around on mom quite a bit AND they recently started eating on their own!  All good news and SO cute!

 

 

 

 

These pictures are just very nearly too cute to look at!

 

Winnie’s Wish

I don’t blog a great deal about Winnie’s Wish anymore.  As I’ve said so many times, I no longer adopt out and I no longer take in.  Well, you see that the “taking in” part of that hasn’t become a hard and fast rule yet.  Neo came along.  You know his story.  Recently, I updated you on Neo – how he is not extremely liked by the other Wishers.  He’s young and they are all mostly older.  I moved Neo into a “kitty condo” of his own and I just kept feeling sad that he might be lonely.  Then two weeks ago I wrote about bringing home a friend for Neo.  There was a young semi-feral male at the shelter where my daughters are the co-managers.  I told you the story of adjusting Neo and Lyndon to each other and eventually moving them in together.  This situation has been marvelous.  Neo and Lyndon are living quite peacefully together.  I have yet to see them actually play, but they certainly do seem to be company for each other.  It appears that they are both very content.  This makes me super happy.  There is also a small development that I want to share.  It’s only been a couple of weeks, so this might not be permanent (we’ll see).   But Neo has COMPLETELY stopped biting me.  I wrote about how Neo constantly bit me.  These were NOT aggressive bites.  They were definitely attention-getting, please-notice-me bites.  Since Lyndon moved in with him, Neo has not bitten me one single time!  That alone tells me that he WAS, in fact, lonely and that he now feels he has his own companion.  He no longer needs to “love bite” me to try to keep me in his company. 

I can’t get a good picture of these two.  When they are out of their kitty condo roaming around, they never stop moving (ah youth!).   This is definitely not a good picture but the best I could do.

 

 

As I said, I don’t do lots of blogging about Winnie’s Wish anymore because things here just stay quite settled.  But occasionally, a good picture presents itself and I snap it.  Here are a couple of pics of some of the Wishers in room number 3 of the cathouse.   Then a picture of Blue, Kizzie, and Binks all trying to eat out of the same food dish even though there are other dishes available to them.  And a picture of Softy Kitty and Cole watching “bird TV.”

 

 

 

 

 

I still have the six little foster kittens.  They are healthy and happy at this point.  Fingers crossed.  The first picture is of all six of them in a crate I put them in when I’m cleaning their large, two-shelf cage.   There is no cleaning around them.  They are fast and feisty, so they have to move to a containment facility (smile) twice a day when I clean their cage.

 

 

 

 

See you tomorrow for a CUTE Wildlife Wednesday!

 

Wildlife Wednesday – Taking a Ride

There isn’t a lot to update you about from Wild Angels.  But there is a situation so cute that I couldn’t stand not to share it.  Do you remember the poor momma opossum found in a pool of blood in the middle of a road?  She came to Wild Angels with multiple facial issues.  AND she had babies in her pouch.  Older Daughter force-fed (at first) Momma O and treated what she could of her wounds.  The babies were thin and very pale upon arrival.  But Momma O slowly recovered.  As her nutrition got better and better, she looked better and better     . . .  and so did those babies.  Older Daughter at first thought there were six babies.  Then she counted seven.  Now she knows that there are nine!

Well, I actually laughed out loud when I got this first picture. 

 

Older sent it a few days ago when she caught Momma O carrying a couple of her babies on her back.  You see, this is how baby opossums “ride” along with the mom once they get too big for all of them to fit in the pouch at the same time.  Unfortunately, in the wild, this is when babies can drop off mom’s back or get thrown off.  Luckily for these babies, if they drop off of mom they will still be in a safe environment.

 

The babies are now out of the pouch the biggest part of the time.  And they were readily exploring their cage.  The “cage” world they’d been living in suddenly became too small for this growing family.  So Momma O and her NINE babies have now moved to an outdoor enclosure.  And they are truly enjoying themselves!

 

 

SO CUTE!

 

It’s Been a While

It has certainly been a while since I’ve had kittens in my presence.  Here’s the story.

 

My daughters work at a humane society.  As you all know, it’s still Kitten Season.  My girls have been trying to save as many kittens as possible this year (as they always do).  As I’ve said so many times before, a shelter can only take in as many as there is room for.   But the situation I’m writing about was dire.  These kittens couldn’t be left on this property.  There were 16 kittens and 7 adult cats and 2 older kittens (almost adults).  They were all basically starving.  When my daughters first discovered them, they took food to the person who’d been trying to feed them.  Of course, the real need was for all of the felines on that property to be brought into the shelter for care.  Some were sick.  All were extremely thin.  Three kittens on the property had already died, and two more kittens are in such bad shape that they aren’t expected to live.  Older Daughter took those two home to care for them around the clock.  And I have six.  I also have one of the adult cats who is suffering from mastitis (her kittens were too sick to nurse from her and this brought on the condition).  Luckily, this seems to be her only issue.   Some of the other adults have even worse conditions and have been moved into quarantine at the shelter.   My girls are still working to get ALL of the cats from the property.

 

Except for the mastitis, this momma cat is one of the healthiest from the property.

 

It’s a good feeling to know that this entire group of cats and kittens have been/are being rescued.  For the ones in our care now, I feel good about their comfort  – soft beds, clean water, plenty of nutritious food, and medical care for those who need it.  But I’m sad for the ones from this group who are really struggling.  We’re all hoping that the sickest of this group will begin to recover.  It doesn’t look good for some of them.

My group of kittens was covered in fleas.  They are extremely thin.  Some also have crusty eyes.  I am treating them here as none of them has life-threatening issues at this point.  However, we all know that a kitten can make a fast turn and go right downhill.  Fingers crossed.

 

 

See you tomorrow for a Wildlife Wednesday.

 

 

 

Wildlife Wednesday – OLD Opossum

Today’s story has a sad ending.  Let me get that right out there.  And yet, I say it’s sad but I’m also grateful.

On Friday evening, Husband and I were in Younger Daughter’s backyard with her and her husband.  We were standing kind of in a circle discussing something.  I just happened to be the one facing south and so I saw it first.  An opossum walked right out of the woods and across Younger’s yard.  I alerted my family members – Oh my gosh. Look!   Everybody turned and there she went – right across the lawn like she didn’t even know we were there.

Younger Daughter went running over to her and very quickly we learned why this opossum hadn’t tried to stay away from us.  She was mostly blind and appeared to be deaf.  Younger ran for a towel and scooped her up as she called her sister.  Older Daughter and her husband arrived a few minutes later to take this old gal home.

 

 

Later, Older Daughter texted me the condition of the opossum.  Older said she was pretty much blind and didn’t appear to hear much.  She was extremely thin and very dehydrated.  She was covered in ticks.  Her teeth were packed with tartar and worn way down.  She was clearly very, very old.  The part that made us all sad was that she was so very thin.  She had been trying to survive, in her condition, for who knows how long.  Older got the ticks off, gave a first round of fluids, and fed her.  She was extremely eager to eat.  That gave Older some hope.  However, this old opossum died sometime during the night.  We talked about it the next day and we were all disappointed.  And yet I’m grateful that at least she died free of ticks, hydrated, fed, and curled up on a cozy blanket.  Her last few hours were the best they’d been in a long while.  Sometimes all you can do is provide comfort.  But providing comfort is giving love.  And isn’t that what it’s all about anyway?

 

Since putting this post together, I learned that Older Daughter took in a baby opossum.  The woman who called said the little thing had been in their yard for “a long time” and they left it alone to see if the mom would come back for it.  At one point their dog picked it up and so they got it and brought it inside.  Most people don’t know that momma opossums don’t come back for their young.  In almost all cases (various wild animals and birds), babies should be left alone in case mom is nearby.  Not so with opossums.  If you find baby opossums, you can go ahead and get them to a rehabber.  However, if they are a pretty good size and fully furred and moving around quite easily, they have reached an age to be able to survive on their own.

This little guy was cold and very dehydrated when Older Daughter took him in.  She said she really doesn’t know if he will make it.  We sure are hoping he survives  . . .   and thrives.

 

the little guy arrives at Wild Angels

 

 

Fingers crossed for this tiny baby.

 

P.S.  The two opossums at Wild Angels that were living in an outdoor enclosure have been successfully released.   Goal met!

 

Two Problems Solved

Do you happen to remember Neo?  Neo was the second “elusive one” to travel through these parts where I live.  When I started writing about Neo, I first reminded you of Theo.  Theo was a cat who was straying in my area in 2017.  It took me six months to finally trap him.   His name derives from his elusiveness – The Elusive One (Theo).   Then a second “elusive one” showed up here in my countryside.  This New Elusive One took the same kind of name – Neo.  I had nearly lost my mind trying to get Theo for those long six months.  Then Neo challenged me in an even greater fashion – his capture took nearly a year.  He was first seen in February of 2021.  I finally got him in December.

Neo was absolutely terrified at first.  He STAYED in a covered litter box with a towel in the bottom and he did not come out except to devour all of the food and water in his cage overnight.  As the weeks ticked by, things did not improve.  Here is an excerpt from a post earlier this year:

When I got Neo in December I was overjoyed.  He went into a cage and I started trying to learn about him.  Unfortunately, I quickly realized that he was not going to come around easily.  He was terrified.  After about three weeks, I knew I was up against an entirely feral cat.  This guy had obviously never had any experience with humans.  At first, he would cower in the back of the covered litter box that I’d made into a hidey-hole for him.  I would watch through a window as he would cautiously ease out and eat his food when he thought I was gone.  He went from hiding from me to trying to scare me away by throwing a paw & claw out at my arm when I would reach in to scoop his box or put in food and water.  When he’d been here for over a month, still nothing was changing.  It was disappointing.  Oh, how I have longed to love on this guy.  But mostly, it was heart-wrenching because I knew how terribly afraid he must be.  I told him that we have all the time in the world.  And I explained to him that by getting him at the beginning of December, he had already missed two snows and three bouts of wind chill temperatures in the single digits.  He was, however, apparently not impressed as he continued to cower and to lash out.

Well, Mr. Neo has made a complete about-face.   I think I wrote a couple of times about how he was beginning to come around.  He eventually decided that I was his friend and he started wanting attention.  I have been able to pet him, even pick him up, for a while now.  He does have a quite annoying habit of biting.  Now just so you know, these are love bites.  There is zero aggression in these bites.  In fact, he seems quite pleased with himself when he manages to get one in.  He slips up and bites the underneath side of my arm when I’m scooping his box or filling his dishes.  He walks right beside me when I carry his bowl to the sink to fill it with water.  He tries to rub on my legs as I walk (makes things quite interesting).  But as soon as I stop walking (upon arrival at the sink), he bites me on the back of the leg.  Every time he bites me he then looks right into my eyes with a proud and loving look on his face.  I can tell that he thinks these bites must certainly be making me very happy.

Now to the first of two problems.  Neo is very young.  He is quite playful.  And ALL of the Winnie’s Wish cats HATE him.  Oh, the trials we’ve had here!  The little stinker will NOT leave the other cats alone.  You can’t blame him.  He’s young and thinks that these other cats must surely want to play.  And play rough he does!  I’ve tried him with several cats and groups of cats here and they all end up sitting high on shelves and cat trees, watching him and trying to stay away from him.  The Winnie’s Wishers are not young cats for the most part.  They are quite content living their middle-aged to old-aged lives.  The couple of younger ones here are happily living with older cats which makes introducing Neo into their group quite impossible.  You know that I have converted dog runs into kitty condos.  I finally recently moved Neo into his own condo and he quite liked it.  He loved his large outdoor living space and I would find him out there very often.

 

 

 But he started begging me to stay in the condo with him when I would be in there cleaning and giving him attention.  And when I simply had to move on to other work, I would hear his toys being swatted around.  My throat would close up as I realized he was just there in his kitty condo playing by himself.   It was heartbreaking.  I knew he needed more.

Now to the second of the two problems.  You know my daughters are the co-managers of the local humane society.  This is “kitten season” so they have been dealing with the onslaught of cats and kittens that come into the shelter this time of year.  Now think about the number of animals that a no-kill shelter can take in - ONLY as many as they can adopt out.  End of story.  There is only so much room in a shelter.  Tons of shelters and animal control facilities across this nation euthanize animals as they fill up so that they can continue to take in.  But in a no-kill shelter there is only so much room and when the place fills up, that’s it – no more can come in.  So no-kill shelters can’t take in “unadoptable” animals.  They have to be able to eventually adopt out every animal that they take in.  Occasionally, however, an unadoptable animal slips in because the staff can’t identify the problem until after the animal has been accepted.  This is the case for semi-feral cats.

Back to Neo.  On the morning that I was walking around with a lump in my throat listening to Neo play with his toys by himself,  I suddenly thought of a possible solution.  I texted Older Daughter – Good morning.  Hey listen.  You wouldn’t happen to have a young, semi-feral cat at the shelter who is never going to get adopted and that you need a place for, do you?    Within a few moments, I got back an answer – YES!

So we texted back and forth.  I explained about Neo and how I knew he was lonely and how none of the Wishers wanted anything to do with him.  Older told me about Lyndon – a young male who had come in and then proceeded to be neither tame nor terribly nice to the other young cats in the room with him.  Older Daughter and I wondered together if maybe Lyndon could move into Neo’s kitty condo with him.  We decided it was worth a try.

I moved Lyndon into a two-shelf cage and set it up right across from the front of Neo’s enclosure. 

 

 

After a couple of days, I started rolling the cage right up against the front of Neo’s condo.  I was SUPER pleased when neither boy went into any hissing fits.   I was also pleased that when I cleaned Lyndon’s cage he did not try to attack me.  He definitely didn’t want me to reach towards him, but he did not act aggressively towards me.  The day finally came when I was ready to try them together.  I opened Neo’s area and rolled Lyndon’s cage into the opening.  Then I opened Lyndon’s cage and he cautiously crept out.  The boys ignored each other for the most part, but that was fine with me.  They weren’t hissing or fighting or chasing.  I told my daughters that the experiment had begun.  We all kept our fingers crossed.

Well, I’m writing today to announce that we have Two Problems Solved.  Neo now has a companion.  He always wanted the other cats to interact with him and they were all VERY much annoyed by this.   And Lyndon, who wasn’t going to be adopted from the shelter, now has a place to live out his life in comfort AND with a companion.  The two have not scuffled a single time that I know of.  They eat right next to each other.  And when I come in first thing in the mornings, they are sitting side-by-side at the front of their kitty condo waiting to be fed. 

 

 

Don’t you love it when things just work out?

 

Wildlife Wednesday – Oh Opossums!

There isn’t a lot to update you on in terms of the wildlife at Wild Angels.  Almost all of the spring and summer babies have either been successfully released or are in outdoor enclosures preparing for their releases.  Here is an updated picture of the two opossums that Older took in at the beginning of her baby wildlife season.  They are doing well, and will be releasable age very soon.

 

 

There is one update that is really nice to be able to share.  Remember the mom opossum who was found in a puddle of blood in the middle of a road?  Older Daughter received this opossum and upon examination discovered that her injuries were to her face, especially her mouth.  Her tongue was cut in several places, and Older eventually discovered that part of the tongue is completely gone.  There was minor trauma to one eye and the sinus cavity on that side of her head.  Older knew that these injuries could heal, but there was one really troubling sign.  The opossum didn’t seem to be able to close her mouth all the way.  This could be inflammation or it could be a broken jaw.

For days, Older had to force-feed this gal.  An adult opossum is not fond of being force-fed.  But the momma needed food to begin her recovery, AND she had babies in her pouch.  The babies were pale and puny.  They definitely needed better nutrition to survive.  When I first wrote about this mom opossum, I was overjoyed to report that it wasn’t long until Older didn’t have to “force” feed.  Momma O started looking forward to feedings and would even reach up to help with the feedings when the syringe contained yogurt. 

 

 

The next stage made Older Daughter very happy.  She knew this opossum had to be able to eat on her own.  The jaw was getting closer to closing all the way.  And then one day, Older held a spoon of food out to Momma O and she licked it off the spoon.  Even with only a partial tongue, Momma O was succeeding in drawing food into her mouth on her own.  The spoon feeding went on for several days and just a couple of days ago Momma O started eating from a dish.  Older still has to make sure the consistency is right, but Momma O is definitely making progress.

 

 

The babies (Older now thinks seven) are looking great!  It’s really a story of success.

 

 

Look at those baby opossum faces!

 

 

And here is a “smile” update.  By now you all know Ms Wobbly Raccoon.  Older feeds her at the edge of her property every day.  About a week ago, as Older got ready to step outside to feed, she opened the main door and had a little surprise waiting on the other side of the storm door.

 

 

Lol I guess Ms Wobbly was a little impatient that day.  SO glad she has a stomping ground so close to Older Daughter’s home.

 

Kitty Litter

Not too long ago when I was writing an email to Andrea (Celestial Kitties; BIG time supporter of Winnie’s Wish),  I shared with her a problem I’ve been having all summer long.  Kitty Litter.    So here’s what has been going on.  I use A LOT of kitty litter!!  A LOT!!  I try to find the most economical way to go but if you’ve ever tried various litters you know that they are NOT all created equal.    One of the kitty litters I’d always used and liked very much was Dr. Elsey’s.   But the price has gone up and up and up.  It finally reached $20 for a 40-lb bag and I just couldn’t afford it anymore.   So I tried another litter.  This one cost only $9 for a 40-lb bag.  I did this last fall or early winter (I can’t remember for sure), and this litter was quite good.  I was ecstatic.  This litter was less than half the price of Dr. Elsey’s.   And it was really holding up.   And then summer hit.  Wow!  I do not know if we are having an outrageously different summer in terms of humidity or if this particular litter just cannot prevail under high humidity conditions. 

In southern Illinois, our summers are hot.  But anybody here in the Midwest will tell you it’s the humidity that makes our summers rough.  However, my kennel cat areas and my cathouse are air conditioned.  Air conditioning reduces humidity.  So I couldn’t believe what a soggy mess my litter boxes were staying.  It simply had to be the humidity.  The only other explanation was that somewhere around late spring, this company changed their litter.  It had done well for me all winter long, but now it was just terrible.  All summer long I’ve had to completely dump the litter boxes every couple of days and fill with fresh litter.  I finally had to admit to myself that I probably wasn’t saving much money using the much less expensive litter if I had to completely replace it every two or three days. 

So this was a conversation I was having with Andrea.    Separate issue - Andrea’s birthday was July 27.  After Andrea received my email complaining about my summer/kitty litter issue, she wrote back to let me know that she had talked to Greg about her birthday gift from him this year.  She said she told him that what she wanted for her birthday was a donation of goods to Winnie’s Wish.  She promised she’d made that decision before she got my soggy kitty litter email.

 

Here’s what you need to know about Andrea.   She’s stubborn!  (Yes, I know you’re reading this, Andrea lol.)  I immediately told her Absolutely not!   I told her to have Greg get her something FOR HER.  She completely ignored me.  And she asked me if kitty litter (the good kind) was what I would want for Winnie’s Wish.  I pleaded again for her to think about getting something she really wanted.  Some of you know Andrea, and some of you reading here might know this about her.  Once she sets her mind to something, you do not change it.  Believe me I’ve known her long enough to know I was fighting a losing battle.  She (lovingly) told me that I could either tell her what Winnie’s Wish needed most, or she would figure it out on her own. 

So . . .      I told her that kitty litter would be amazing.  Trying to keep up with the rising costs and now this chink in my plan to use the less expensive litter was taking a toll.    She asked what else I needed and I told her I was a little low on canned cat food but it wasn’t a big deal. 

Andrea sent SEVEN bags of the Dr. Elsey’s cat litter.  And she sent a case of canned cat food, but then added a case of the special food I have to have to feed Angel AND a case of special skin& stomach canned food that a couple of the cats here are on.  She said – These cats with special dietary needs have to eat, too!  Oh Andrea!  You always have been and continue to be – WONDERFUL to Winnie’s Wish!

 

The note that came with the gift said - "Happy birthday to me! Happy cats make me happy!! From Andrea"

Andrea – THANK YOU.

 

I’ll be back tomorrow with a Wildlife Wednesday update.  See you then.