This week's offerings

Take a look at this week's cuties.  Aren't these kittens absolutely adorable?  These ones certainly won't have problems finding homes.

This is Indy, she was eating in caring woman's backyard in Scarborough and she reached out for help.  Although she was a bit shy at first she has really come along thanks to Joanne.

I got a call from Connie yesterday, she went to feed her colony and found this guy huddled beside the feeding station.  He walked right into a carrier and so off he went to the vet and hopefully his next step will be a foster home.  A pre-Halloween dump perhaps?

Tabby love

I went to visit Michelle's foster kittens the other night.  She has six! tabby kittens, and somehow she can tell them apart, I didn't have much luck.  Even though they are almost ten weeks old they are still tiny things but doing very well, Michelle is a great foster mom.  

I met a cat someone has been feeding for a while to assess and see if I could help.  He is a sweet cat, shy but clearly was somebody's pet at one point but has been out for quite some time.  Unfortunately I don't have an immediate solution but I hope somebody can help him out.

I totally forgot to note that it's been four year since I've been blogging.  Four years of feeding ferals, four years of trapping and rescuing.  That made me tired just writing it, must be the time of year.  My trapping is almost wrapped up for the year, I think I've TNRed almost 70 cats in seven months.  Time to put away the traps and get the shovels and handwarmers out.

Cleaning up

I just realized it's been a while since I posted.  It's the clean up time of the year, finally less kittens being born, the days getting colder, the darkness coming on faster, and time to get everyone settled before winter sets in.

Toulouse and Poppy I can happily report have found a home with a lovely family and best of all they get to stay together.  Storm and Blue, two other rescues have found homes.  Still 10 more kittens looking for homes, Michelle has six and Susan has two.  Just working on getting them totally healthy.

My trapping is winding down for the season, almost all of Gloria's colony is done, and I've taken her shelters so the cats will have someplace warm.  We've been cleaning up down at the yard and sprucing up the shelters with fresh straw.  I hate the winter for the cats sake (and mine for feeding in it).

So it's been a lot of miscellany, I just took in a lovely cat who seemed to be abandoned, but his person has popped up so he has to be returned even though it's not the best of homes.  Those situations are always hard.

It's always heartbreaking at this time of the year seeing cats abandoned or living outside, I got an email today about an orange guy down by the Don River, clearly not where he is meant to be.

The only upside to this time of the year is getting to turn on my gas fireplace.  Maggie, who three years ago was living in the colony, now curls up in front of the fireplace every time it is on.  Lucky cat!

Maggie in her  previous life, now safe and warm

Sorry for the snow photo, I know it's way too soon to even think of it, but I did get a Christmas flyer on the weekend.

Toulouse and Poppy need a home!

These two cuties are available for adoption.  They were living in a window well a month ago with their mom caring for them.  Thankfully I was able to rescue the little family and Nadia and James have been fostering them.

Toulouse

Poppy and Toulouse

Poppy

It's hard to have compassion fatigue when there are still kittens and cats out there needing help.  My vet called me today, one of their clients came in with a pregnant cat they found and of course he called me. I've been sending out emails trying to find her a place to go....

And tomorrow I'm going to check on a new situation.  Maybe I just need to drink more caffeine.

Compassion fatigue

I was reading about something the other day called Compassion Fatigue, it happens when caregivers get overwhelmed, I think I'm suffering from it, from the exhaustion of feeding, trapping and rescuing cats.  I'm just plain worn out after TNRing 61 cats and rescuing 127 adoptable ones this year, almost double what I did last year.  I need a break, I guess luckily kitten season is almost over.  I trapped two more females at Gloria's Thursday night.  Just when I thought all the kittens were out of there and only one more female to do, I received a call from a neighbour yesterday saying there was a kitten in their yard.  One more to go!

It's time to get the ferals ready for the winter, and get their shelters restuffed with straw.  I've noticed they are eating a lot more right now, fattening up for the winter.  I love this time of the year but I'm not looking forward to winter, for both my sake and for the cats.  I guess the only upside is a break from kittens.  Maybe it's time for me to retire and just take care of my colonies, we'll see how long that will last.

 

One saved and one lost

I caught yet another tabby kitten last night, she was a feisty one.  I really hope that is the last of the kittens, and hopefully my last kitten rescue for the year.  I've got kittens everywhere and vetting them isn't cheap but it's hard not to feel happy that another life has been saved.

Unfortunately my friend Connie lost one of her beloved ferals yesterday.  I saw a Facebook post about a cat hit by a car and killed and based on the location I instantly knew it was one of Connie's.  I had to call and tell her the news, that was one phone call I did not want to make.  She has been feeding Tess for over 10 years.    Those of us with colonies know, the cats we feed are like our own, but we can't be there to protect them.

These four cuties will not meet that fate, Maria rescued them from her laneway, they belong to the last female of her colony who has proven to be extremely hard to trap.  These lucky kittens will end up in homes, where hopefully they will live out their days loved and safe.

I can't even do the math

Will the parade of grey tabbies never end?  Michelle is currently fostering seven of them!  Five are from one litter, we brought the feral mom and kittens in when they were just days old.  Mom didn't turn out to be the best mother, in fact, the kittens are doing better now that they are separated from her, they were underdeveloped for their age.  Who knows how many would have survived if they had stayed outside?

Little Pip

The other two are from the same spot but just recently rescued, it's ironic that they look so much better.

In the last few days we have grabbed three more tabby kittens from that colony, and still there are one or two more.  I'm close to getting the colony under control, two females away from no more kittens.

In the last four months I have TNRed 17 cats from that colony and rescued 23 kittens.  Can you imagine how many cats there would have been by next year had I not got involved?

Back at it

It's been full steam ahead this week (and it's only Wednesday), I trapped two cats Monday night, discovered more kittens, moved a litter of kittens yesterday, fed ferals, the usual kind of thing.  On Sunday I was feeding for Jackie and saw this lovely young cat, not feral.  I felt terrible, all I had was a carrier and couldn't get her and she hasn't been seen since.  I hope I can rescue her!  It's hard to save them all, my real job gets in the way.

Salty

 I was happy to be back with my cats, I always miss them when I'm away.

Blinky helps with emails

Ernie is the king of the cat castle

Since we were unable to find any cats last week when we were on vacation, we had to find animals of some kind.  We were fortunate that someone told us about a beach where a number of seals hang out.  There were hundreds of them on a sand bar, adults, babies, all bellowing away.  It was an awe inspiring sight.  I could have sat there all day and watched them.

I have some really good news to report.  Howie has found a home!  A great home with loving people and other cats to hang out with, guess where, with Connie, his foster mom.  I can't say I was surprised when she emailed me with the news today.  Howie could not have found a better home!  That's three cats now that she has adopted because I called and asked her to foster.  No wonder she doesn't return my calls anymore LOL.  Adopting is definitely one of the hazards of rescuing and fostering.

Cinder and Howie in his forever home

While I was away...

Steve and I were away this week on a long ago booked trip.  It was great to get away but relaxing isn't really one of my strong suits, and I found myself on my email frequently dealing with cat stuff.  I got back last night and did a meet and greet and the other adult from my recent rescue got adopted, so that's fantastic.

Joanne (thank you Joanne and Det for taking up the slack) caught these two cuties at Gloria's while I was away, still one more out there eluding our grasp and today was certainly not a good kitten catching day, way too rainy.

Storm and Blue

Cat rescue is funny, it's kind of addictive, and it's not really possible to walk away if you have ongoing situations and fosters but based on the meltdown I had before leaving I needed a break.  I was exhausted from rescuing, petsitting, the yard sale and then the Biffy news to top it all off.  Thankfully I went to a place where they don't have a cat crisis, in fact they had to bring i kittens, but the kittens brought ringworm with them, so we didn't even visit the shelter they have which is really just a house.  I don't even want to go near cats with ringworm, dealing with giardia in the past in my houseful of cats was enough.

Today I was back at it, feeding the ferals in the rain, and thankful that they all survived my absence.

Time for some good news

Although my grief about Biffy's tragic senseless death is not gone, I have to keep moving forward.  There are cats who need to be fed and kittens to be rescued.  Three five or six week old kittens have showed up at Gloria's, I'm hoping once I get them that they will be the last born there.

I can report some happy cats news, three adoptions since the weekend.  Pippin and Violet went to my vet Leslieville Animal Hospital to go up for adoption, wonderfully they were adopted together in just two days.  One of the adults I rescued just a week ago found a home thanks to Lorena.

So that is good news, great news in fact.  I help the ones I can, and will honour Biffy by continuing my work.