To the ones who come out at night:

This week at the campground I had hoped to “see” the fruits of my labor. In the past 2 years I have “fixed” over 35 adult cats and adopted almost that many kittens that came from here.

But most of the cats I see this year are new ones. The grey and white one who I see in the evening, when she heads for my feeding station. Where did you come from? I see you hours before the others come out, and you looked into my eyes last night. Were you once a house pet? You look like you want to come to me, but are afraid. Have no fear because I will be catching you in a trap before you know it. I’ll have you checked out by the vet and then set up in a cage. You WILL get another chance to be someone’s pet! To have a home, to have food whenever you are hungry.

And you with the striped tail. You are so beautiful! I bet you’re a boy. I’ll know soon enough, because I’ll trap you too. I don’t think you’re tame-able, so you’ll quickly be released once I get you “fixed”. Since JH provides food year-round to the 60-some cats in the park, you’ll almost always have food available. But I can’t keep you from having fleas and worms, you’ll still be cold in the winter, and I’ll never know it if you need vet care. And for that I am very sad, because even though I can’t pet you and you’ll hate me once I’ve trapped you, I’d do anything for you.

Who else is out there? There are so many of you! I only wish I could do more…..

Kittens are EVERYWHERE and WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU FIND THEM!!

Boy are they cute! But my stomach churns when I realize that there's just way too many of them. Most of them will have short lives no matter what I do. The best thing I can do is PREVENT their birth!!!

Yesterday I met a wonderful lady named Sarah. Someone found a litter of tiny kittens in her pool house and took them home. These kittens were not old enough to eat on their own, so this well-meaning person fed them human milk, which is not good for them, and then sugar water, which has no nutrients, only short-term energy. PUT THEM BACK, was what I told them. They've made it so far in life, so there is a mother who is caring for them. Their chance of survival is much better if she is nursing them 7 times a day, rather then them having to depend on a human to be available to feed them every 3 hours (few of us can or are willing to do that).

My advice wasn't really appreciated :). Few people want to put little kittens in an area where they aren't sure a mother is. But thankfully she did it anyhow, and I paid a visit there and saw the mother. Well, I saw her tail as she climbed up the rafters. Mommy is not tame, but this is the last litter of kittens she'll ever have. We'll find homes for these little pumpkins in a month when they are older, and we'll "fix" all of them.

For those of you who find kittens who can not eat on their own: Unless you are POSITIVE the mother won't be coming back (she's dead on the road) or they are in a dangerous area (your dog pen or the lawnmower path), leave the kittens where they are!! Provide food and water for the mother right by them--nursing and caring for babies is hard work! If the mother is wild, disturb them as little as possible! You don't want the mother to move them where we won't be able to find them.

And when they are old enough, get everybody fixed so this doesn't happen again!!

Earl's herd

This has been a very busy week. Trying to put a hoarder out of business and taking kitten and rescue phone calls is time consuming. Sleeping is hardly a break, because I can't control the kitten nightmares.

Earl is the biggest project right now. There must be 40 cats on his property. He takes care of them as best he can (these were dumped cats, not ones he chose), and gets them fixed at C-SNIP when he has the money for it. Unfortunately, by the time a mother cat gives birth, it is no longer saving money for HER surgery fee, but now her 5 kittens as well. And THOSE kittens will start giving birth only 6 months later. And that's how a situation gets out of control.......




The tame cats are living in his metal shop, breathing terrible air and wearing layers of soot, which gets into their bodies every day as they groom themselves. They have breathing problems and skin irritation. Earl keeps them there because the unfixed wild cats fight with them, so he needs to protect them.



Last night, without even moving from where I stood, I counted 16 outdoor cats. He has 3 litters of kittens that he is aware of. Every year he takes litters of kittens to the humane society--and we all know what happens then!! So what are we going to do about this? For starters, we will be trapping and fixing all of his outdoor cats IMMEDIATELY. Hopefully before the end of next week they will all be done. We are going to move the shop cats into a trailer currently being used for storage, and get them used to the "great outdoors". We're giving him medicine to heal the upper respiratory infections and skin problems the cats have. And we'll find a home for the kittens, who we have affectionately dubbed "the soot babies". Today is bath day for them......................and the other shop cats don't know it, but their turn will come. Aunt Amy and Aunt Tiffany will be giving them their first baths, and will likely make enemies in the process!





All in all, this is easily an $800 project, and this is just for 1 man's cats!!!! But it makes a difference for the lives of 30+ cats, so that's a great feeling.

Unbelieveable!!

I thought I was more or less “done” with rescue cats for the day. I went out to a campground to clean up the winter shelters and feeding stations (Jandy’s Home provides food & shelter for over 60 feral cats year-round). Then one of the park rangers told me someone trapped a cat. I was immediately annoyed when they told me it was feral. It was Saturday afternoon and I couldn’t keep a cat in a trap until Monday but I was worried that the cat would never walk into a trap again if I let it go.

So I go to get the cat, because if I didn’t animal control would be called—and we all know what that means. The cat was meowing when I got there, meaning it was tame. I asked who trapped the cat, and went to talk to that person. It turns out it was someone right across from my lot at the campground, and the father of someone who was once a good friend of mine. I asked him why he trapped the cat. He told me it was acting “strange”.

Now, I spend my days and nights dealing with cats, and am not really sure what “strange” means. So I asked him what that meant. He said it was pawing at their porch screen and meowing, and that they were “worried for the sake of their visiting grandchildren”. Worried about what? I wondered. Who has ever heard of a stray cat seeking out and viciously attacking children? All the sweet kitty wanted was some food and attention. Is it really that complicated? What do cats really want in life? Food, a nice place to nap, and the tame ones want attention. And it blows my mind that instead of giving that to her, a PASTOR had her trapped!! This is a highly educated man, someone who should know that humans are CARETAKERS of animals. I don’t expect much from uneducated people who grew up in a “sheltered” environment, but the fact that a pastor was this ignorant disturbed me greatly. After all, shouldn’t we expect more from them??

This sweet, SWEET kitty has been named Danka, which is Thank You in German. Thank you for getting me out of that trap. Thank you for feeding me. Thank you for scratching my ears and rubbing my back. Thank you for getting me “fixed” because I don’t want to have babies. I’m just a baby myself, under 8 months old.

And Danka schoen (thank you very much) to Dr. Langlois, who is the busiest person I know, yet always finds time for these unexpected cats.

Thanks for the laugh!

Well, THAT was the funniest conversation I've EVER had with a doctor's office! The message from the allergist regarding my weekend allergy attack was to increase medicine A, begin taking medicine b, and "remove the cats from the home". I spit up laughing!! Like THAT'S ever going to happen!! They could tell me my life expectancy would double if I got rid of my babies, and all I would tell them is that a life without my cats is not a life worth living. So, thanks for the laughs and the medicine, but I'm going to pass on the advice :). In fact, I expect to be adding to my family shortly...............