Who we are

Cherry Street Cats is me (Robin), my husband Steve, Sandi, Michelle, Verena, Vinyse, Derek, Kent, and Connie, a group of dedicated cat lovers who care for a colony of feral cats in the east end of Toronto. I also have a great rescue team of Lesley, Joanne, and Susan. Together we do our best to make the lives better for feral and homeless cats and kittens. 900+ cats helped in nine years!



Monday, March 25, 2013

Where to start

Where do I start?  Another crazy weekend of all cats all the time.

On Friday it was all aboard the tom cat train.  I loaded up the car with four un-neutered males and 12 hours and several hundred dollars later my missions for the day were done.  Emmett, the 22 pound daddy of god knows how many kittens is at the end of his fathering career, one kitten mill shut down.
Emmett's last children 
Emmett, all 22 pounds of him
Liam showed up a few weeks ago in someone's yard, he clearly had a home (who hadn't bothered to neuter him and wasn't looking for him).  Handsome Liam went to a foster home Friday evening and waltzed right out of the carrier, chatting and friendly, doesn't he look comfortable.
Liam in his foster home
I also took in Bella, another male fathering numerous kittens, and ended up with Jersey as well, who I thought was feral but not so.  Jersey however couldn't walk on his back leg so he's at Joanne's recovering and seems adoptable so good news for him.  He was out on the streets for a quite a while.

I thought the rest of the weekend would be quiet but then Anne's email arrived about dumped cats in Regent Park so Lesley and I met her there on Sunday morning.  We found three very frightened cats who we couldn't get near but were incredibly easy to trap.  Lesley took them home, they aren't feral, but unfortunately she can't get near them as of yet.
Regent Park cat
Regent Park cat
Regent Park cat
And now I'm short on recovery space for this week, the Regent Park cats are taking up three spots and Jersey is taking up one, I have lots of appointments but nowhere to recover them.  It's frustrating, I know there will be kittens born because of this, but how do you determine the priorities, they all need help right away.

That's why I loved getting this photo from my neighbour Ella with Checkers now Maya and her other cat now getting along.  Checkers/Maya was found at our colony in December and how she has a wonderful home.   I have to constantly remind myself of the amount of cats I've helped, because the ones needing help is endless and I can only do what I can do.
Masamichi and Maya
I already feel broke and burnt out and it's not even April.

3 comments:

  1. I hate to see that you are already frustrated. We have lots going on around here, too. Listen to this...a lady died in her home last week. She had 5 cats and she was very reclusive. She had been dead about 3 days when the landlord discovered her. When he entered the house, 2 cats ran out. He called police and animal control. They were there within the hour. The three cats were taken to the shelter and that was that. Meanwhile, 2 cats are on the street, confused and hungry. So, the neighbour sees them going back to the house and puts food out for them. She calls animal control and after a long conversation she is told that they are done with what has to be done and if she wants these 2 cats trapped or if she traps them herself she can take them to the shelter and pay $70 per cat to surrender them.WHAT??!! So, these cats are still outside being fed by a neighbour and no one knows what to do because no one wants to pay the give-up fee.
    That is our Animal Control..bless their heart. Aren't they somethin"? These cats will be trapped soon but by someone who will most likely just take them in and try and find homes for them. Just one town away from us they don't pick up cats at all. They are considered vermin.

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  2. I'm just frustrated i can't help more cats and find the people who don't care about cats maddening. That situation sounds terrible, poor cats.

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  3. An update Robin...the 2 cats were trapped and are now up at our shelter. They did not charge the nice neighbour afterall for bringing them up. The shelter staff is good; it's just our animal control people are ridiculous.

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