A scoop free week

After much organizing, we took off to Cape Cod this week for a few days.  It's been a wonderful break, no ferals to feed, no litter boxes to scoop, lots of sea air and relaxation, but of course I missed cats so we visited the local shelter here.  It's an amazing place, all the cats are in a house, thankfully they don't have much of a cat problem, but there are always cats needing homes.

We met wonderful volunteers and cats all well taken care of, the place was spotless and even has its own surgery room.  Here are some pictures of the cats and the facility, enjoy.  Somehow I managed to leave without bringing any cats home.

Fall is a comin'

I did go trapping this week but sadly I have no pictures, it was dark, Connie and I went down to the new colony to see if we could get any cats at night, still trying to avoid getting up at 4 a.m. (they are normally fed at 5 a.m.).

We got a little grey cat fairly easily and we also trapped a black and white cat, but I knew she was the one with young kittens so I released her, at two or three weeks old I couldn't leave them without a mama.  So that's three of six done, not too bad.  Michelle is still fostering two of the kittens from there, one is doing well but the other is still hissy.

Ok, for those of you who don't have a cat tree, let this picture serve as an endorsement for getting one.  We have a few and they are so popular, and in a multi-cat household it provides more territory.   Having multiple cats getting along is mostly about resource management, making sure everyone has enough resources, food, attention, space.  Adding vertical space can really help.

I had a very busy few weeks of catsitting, I can't believe it's almost October, time to do a push on trapping projects and get the ferals ready for oh I can't even say it, winter.

There's a new cat in town

When Sandi fed on Friday she discovered a new cat in an area we don't go to.  A dilute tortie was over by the plant on a loading dock and Sandi found out that they had been feeding her for a while as well as a black cat (Floppy?) and an orange cat (Morris?).  Steve and I actually did see this cat a year or so ago but then never again.  I just hope she is already spayed!   Where she is located is pretty dangerous so maybe she will join our crew, many of our cats started out in the plant and then moved out to a safer place and a more reliable food source, like Floppy.

Who knew that squirrels like cat food?  Here's one stealing our Charlie's breakfast.

Who wants kittens?!

No shortage of kittens in my rescue world right now.  I will leave you with these pictures of the family at Avril's, so cute, while I drive around the city taking care of cats.  Apparently this is a popular time of the year to travel, it's 130 p.m. and I've already been to six houses!  Five more to go plus a boatload of ferals.  I put the labour in Labour Day.

Brand new babies

The tragic death of Bobsey just serves as a reminder for me of how important it is to save every cat that we can from a life on the street.  I got an email from a colony feeder that I know, she received a call from a lovely woman who found a very pregnant stray.  She couldn't bring her into her home, but set her up in her shed, where she promptly had six kittens!  It just worked out that Susan had a room available so now Joy and her babies are safe inside.  Four black kittens and two grey ones, forgive the fussy picture, don't worry there will be more adorable kitten pics to come.

Susan had been fostering the seven cats that were put outside when the woman I had been helping the last few years was evicted in June.  I haven't heard from her for over a month so we decided it was time they found homes, as much as Susan loved them she couldn't suddenly adopt seven more.  So when THS had space on Thursday we tearfully packed them up, with the exception of one.  The great news is they have all been adopted!  At least now they will have stable homes, with people who can afford to feed them and vet them.

RIP Bobsey

Last night I took a rare evening off from the world of cats and went to a concert.  For some reason I looked at my phone in the middle of it and there was a text from a colony caretaker I know saying one of the Cherry Street cats was at Beaches vet in bad shape.  My heart racing, I texted Steve to call and find out, I was in the middle of a crowd and no way to get out and make phone calls.

You have to love my husband, he immediately drove to the vet and discovered it was Bobsey, a cat who lives at a nearby site where we feed weekends.  A kind couple had found him and brought him in, he had a head and neck wound with maggots in it, he was blind and clearly suffering from neurological damage.  There was nothing to be done for him but to release him from his pain and cross over the bridge.  I am profoundly grateful to the people who brought him in and to Dr. Dilworth, who treated Bobsey and Steve with kindness and didn't even charge us.

That's three cats from that colony who have died in just over six months, so tragic, I had to let the feeder know, of course he's upset as I am as well.  One of the saddest parts is that Bobsey had a best friend, Cricket, when we would feed they would rub against each other and always hung out together. Now she is alone.  Bobsey showed up at this site just a couple of years ago, he wasn't a very old cat, we just had him neutered last year.  Sometimes this racket sucks!

A very productive week

I was working on two colonies last week and got lots accomplished.  Down at the colony near ours, I went down numerous times, and managed to trap two females and three kittens.  I went back this morning but they seem to be spooked by me so I'll take a break and let them get back to their normal routine.  Isn't this one cute?  And female, unusual for an orangie.

Thursday evening I went to the other colony near me, and with the help of my new remote trigger device trapped two cats.  It's a colony of all black and white cats where the majority are already spayed and neutered so it's tricky to only get the ones you want, but we managed to get two females who hadn't been spayed.  Thank god for ear tips.

So four females spayed and three kittens rescued in one week, not too shabby...

It's still kitten season!

A few months ago I helped a kitten with a broken rib that I discovered on kijij, thanks to THS he got all fixed up and found a home.  Well last week the same person contacted me and said they had a litter of kittens with their eyes crusted shut and they couldn't afford to take them to a vet.

Avril, who had gone to pick up the injured kitten, offered to foster the kittens only if we could take the mom too, she had seen the house and knew it was a bad situation, unfixed cats and dogs, and obviously they were selling them on kijiji but you can't sell sick kittens.

So now Avril has a mom and kittens in her office, the babies are about 4 weeks old, we took them to a vet and nothing serious, they have eye meds and mom just needed better care and more nourishment.  I don't know how Avril gets anything done, I would just be watching kittens all the time.

I've been helping with a colony near mine with a couple of unspayed females who of course now have kittens.  We trapped two more last week, but the last one is still with mom, we call her Batman, and she is smart and wary.  I'll still be working on that this week as well as a new situation.

A friend works for the city and told me about feral cats living at a city yard just around the corner from Mystery's spot.  I went down and yes, a guy has been feeding for years, all the cats are unfixed and there have been litter after litter of kittens, at least I know where Mystery and her friends came from.  I'll be helping him get those cats spayed asap, there are four females!

Bonnie has left the building

In November of 2013 I relocated three feral cats to our colony, they had nowhere else to go, they were from a massive hoarding situation and sadly were not adoptable.  It was my first (and last) try at relocating.  Amazingly they all stuck around, but one was killed the following spring by a dog, the other two didn't join the other cats and went to separate spots.  Unfortunately Bonnie chose her home to be under Rupert's studio, and he has become increasingly unhappy with her being there, mostly because she poos there.  He keeps sealing it up and she keeps getting in.  Clearly she feels safe there.

You may remember that Clara went to live at a sanctuary.  She's doing very well there and Gerri can even pat her briefly when she's eating.  Gerri kindly offered to take Bonnie as well, so I've been trying to trap her to no avail.  Today, though, I got out the drop trap and she went under right away. Bonnie will be vetted and then go off to her new home in the country.  I feel sad seeing her go, but she had no life cowering under a building all the time.

 For the other cats, the yard is their home, they roam around and don't generally seem frightened.

 I wish they could all live in a fenced in sanctuary in the country, but as of yet, I've been unable to convince Steve to sell our home and make that happen.  He says our house is a mini cat sanctuary! He may be right...

I had a day last week that between our cats, ferals and my catsitting clients, I fed 55 cats!

Speaking of....

Speaking of Sprite, here's a picture of her at her new home, and look she has a torti big sister!  My first cat when I left home was a torti that I named Kitty, she had quite the long life with adventures and lived in many different places but spent her last years in luxury with our friends John and Janice, her life is a whole other blog.

Sprite at her new home

 Ian recently contacted me about a situation he was involved in, a guy had become homeless and his cat was living in a shed behind the hardware store where he worked.  Thankfully Sandi agreed to foster her and Patches is at her place now, hoping for a new home of her own.  She cried the first night, she had been with the guy since she was a kitten (now four years old) but now she has settled down and enjoys being patted and looking out the window.

Patches looking for a home

With the long weekend here my catsitting business is busy, busy, busy!  I had eight stops yesterday and seven today.