Just a Saturday update...

Here are a couple of pics from a colony I've started feeding recently near where I park my car to go to work.  A couple of the cats live in the rooming house and some more live outside it.  That's three colonies of cats that I now feed on a regular basis. 

I have some great adoption news to report.  Both Larry and Lake have been adopted!

50 years and 500 + cats

Today I am 50 years old, I can hardly believe it.  I have no words of wisdom to offer, life is vastly different than I expected it to be but I am grateful for so many things today; my health, my supportive husband, my friends, my cats and the cat community that I became part of five years ago when I chose to start feeding feral cats.  Thanks to that one decision, I have met many wonderful people and have been able to help more than 500 cats.

Life can change in the blink of an eye that much I know, recently one of my friends and neighbours, a wonderful woman taking care of her three boys and fostering guide dog puppies was killed by a car.

It reminded that you never know how much time you will have...this seems to be a time for me of seemingly irrational decisions but I'm following my heart now.

I quit my job, seem to have adopted a kitten, and tonight am singing a six song set at my birthday party/cat fundraiser.  I'm excited for my new life.  I'm going to expand my catsitting business and of course continue to care for my ferals and keep trapping and rescuing.  Beyond that, who knows.

Of course the cats don't care that it's my birthday, I started my day the usual way, snuggling with cats, and then getting up to clean the litter boxes and feed my crew.  I'll end the day the same - no complaints.

The white cat trio: Ernie, Oliver and Bunny

Ernie and Oliver

Baxter, Buddy and Apollo (box lids are the best beds!)

Homes needed and homes found

I realized I've fallen a bit behind in my rescue updates.  Loveable Larry has settled in to Mary Helen's, I had secretly hoped she would keep him but I guess it's not a love match so once we get his diarrhea under control he will be needing a forever home.

We have a few other kittens also needing homes.  This is Tink and Tonks, who were feral kittens at Maria's, now socialized and almost five months old.

Tink and Tonks

 Then there's Maddie and her two siblings, also rescued from a feral colony.

Maddie

 And of course beautiful Lake, seven months old, still a bit shy but so sweet.

Lake

I really hope we can get them into homes soon.  It feels like winter has come on too soon too fast I'm not ready and it breaks my heart every day seeing my ferals out in the weather, I'm so grateful these ones are in.

And here's some photos of ones that have found homes, I love getting the photos adopters send in, it keeps me going when I'm tired or discouraged.

Milo the tabby underneath was adopted by my neighbour last year, and this year when I sent out a photo of Winston, she couldn't resist, and their family grew.  Clearly they are great friends.

Pepper and Cinnamon, now Bullet and Lucy, were feral kittens from Niagara Falls that I took in, they were adopted by Cory and got to stay together, how great is that.

I just hope the ones waiting get such wonderful homes!

From the valley to safety

I have a lovely neighbour, Ella, who adopted a cat from me a year or so ago that showed up at the colony.  Yesterday I got an email from her, she had been for a walk in the Don Valley and a cat ran up to her meowing frantically.  She went home to get a carrier and when she got back the cat came out of the brush and happily went into the carrier to eat.  

She stashed him in her spare room and I went to see him, an absolute sweetheart but skinny clearly out for a while.  I emailed one of my catsitting clients whose cat sadly died a month or so ago who had recently mentioned fostering and she said she would take him!

An exam at my vet this morning revealed that Larry is about one year old, seems healthy, but isn't neutered or microchipped.  I've posted on line but I don't hold out much hope of finding his home, when they aren't spayed or neutered my warning bells go off.

Larry will get neutered tomorrow and then off to Mary Helen's to get loved and fattened up.  I'm so glad he's out of the cold!

Sunday at my house

At my house anytime you put down a box chances are a cat will find it and claim it as their own.  Why spend money on fancy cat beds?

Blinky in a box

Oliver was sleeping in a large cat bed in front of the fire when Scooter decided hey, there's room for another cat there.  The cats love the gas fireplace as do I.

Scooter and Oliver

Last trapping of the season

On Saturday I loaded up the car for my last TNR mission until spring.  I find it too hard in the winter, the traps are cold, the garage where I hold the cats before the clinic is cold, it's dark and I worry about putting back females with shaved bellies.  So for the winter I focus on feeding, that's a hard enough thing when the real winter sets in.  Ian and I set off for North York, stopping at Jet Fuel and then Petsmart on the way.   I loaded up on litter and Friskies on sale.  Laden down, we continued on our way.

Sadly our mission was not successful.  The two older kittens that were our quarry were there when we arrived but then disappeared not to return.  I've had a lot of drama at work lately and it's distracting me, I often like to say I'm a gladiator, and I really need to stay focused.  Less than three weeks to my big event, lots to get done.

I almost forgot to report that the fantastic trapping team managed to get all four cats out of that demolition site just in time!  

Car loaded up after shopping

The rest of the car filled with traps

Our newest guest Oliver

Our Bud Bud, on his three year anniversary with us 

I found this bench, put in the yard, and Charlie fell in love

From cats to squirrels

Crazy me has taken on more dependents!  Months ago the wonderful Toronto Wildlife Centre was looking for people to take on squirrels who needed a place to relocate so I signed up then forgot about it.  Last week we got a message saying they had three young squirrels for us!  For some reason, I was inordinately excited about this.

They showed up and installed a wooden nest box in our sugar maple and lo and behold we had three new friends in our yard.  They appear to be adolescents.  The wildlife centre left us with what was supposed to be a month's worth of seed which we went through in a week, all the other squirrels came too and then the birds.

I really want to find out why it's so easy to relocate squirrels but so much harder with cats.  I forgot to ask about other things, do they need water, are they spayed and neutered.  Of course now I worry about them, the other night we came home and a raccoon was trying to get in their nest and they were upset.

They are very cute, and are learning that when I come out it means food.  Just what we needed, more mouths to feed.  At least we haven't named them yet.

Last night I went back to try to find a cat with a broken leg but no luck however I did manage to trap two kittens from another location, two more to go.

The power of the cat community

Last week I posted about the plight of some abandoned cats living in a demolition site.  I can happily announce that three of the four cats have been trapped thanks to the dedication of Lesley, Vanessa and Richard.  Just one extremely skittish one to go...

On Thursday evening I trapped a cat from Denise's colony who was suspected pregnant.  Turns out she wasn't but was female and unspayed.  Her tameness at this point is in question.  I also trapped one of my rooming house cats, who I thought was a Lucy but boy was I wrong there.  Let's call him Lucky, but not lucky enough to be tame enough to find a home so back he went.  I still have a few to do there but thankfully they all appear to be male.

Blue, the dental patient, went back to his colony but I've been unsuccessful so far in catching Mabel, who also appears to be in need of vet attention.  I desperately need to finish restuffing the shelters but every day just flies by.

Tonight I'm dropping off some kitten traps so that we can catch more kittens for Susan to foster and then trying to find an injured cat.

I have to make sure to spend enough time with my guys, we are still dealing with Blinky peeing outside the box on a daily basis.  Every day I still give thanks that Buddy is back with us, he's a delight.  I bought these cubes from Petsmart, I'm a sucker for cat stuff.

I want to give a shout out to the Toronto Humane Society.  A while ago, I rescued a footless kitten and his sister from a hoarding situation.  THS kindly took them in and amputated what remained of his leg and neutered him, and spayed his sister.  Someone who met them while they were being fostered fell in love and went in and adopted them both.    That vetting would have cost thousands in a private setting but thanks to THS those cats now are taken care of and have a forever home.  I also took in two friendly cats from that rooming house who have health problems and are out on foster.  So much more than I could have dealt with and I thank THS for taking in the tough cases.  I know some people are still wary of THS but all my dealings with them have been great and I know them to be advocates of the animals.

I have some exciting news, for those of you who aren't my Facebook friends, I'm turning 50 very soon and Lynn and I are hosting a fabulous party/concert/fundraising event in honour of my time on this planet and the 500 + cats I've been able to help.  If you want details be sure to email me, it would be great to see you there.

Only a day to save them

Last week I was copied on an email about some cats living behind another building about to be demolished.  I went out Friday night with Richard and Vanessa and we saw four cats, the problem was that the entire area was fenced in and no way to get access.

We slipped food under the fence over the weekend and then yesterday at lunchtime I went to the site and spoke Carlos who is in charge of the demolition.  He said we only had until possibly Wednesday before they established a drop zone.

A flurry of emails and phone calls followed and a group of us met there last night with hard hats in hand.  Nothing like trapping in the dark in the rain.   We set four traps in various locations and waited.  We did see a black and white cat wandering around but she didn't go in the trap.  Just as we were out to pack it in after a few hours we heard the clang of a trap shutting but it was a raccoon.

Lesley from the Trapping Task Force has gone out today again in a desperate attempt to get these cats before it's too late.  We presume they were abandoned when people had to move out, yet another sad story.  It was heartbreaking to see them sleeping huddled in the leaves beside the building they used to call home.

Good news, as of noon today, I just received a text saying they caught one!

Every day is Feral Cat Day

Apparently today is National Feral Cat Day but for me I take care of feral cats every day!

Today I'm heading out after work to trap a possibly pregnant cat and perhaps one of my rooming house cats that I now feed every day on my way to work.

The Regent Park cat that was trapped is so far not turning out to be at all friendly.  It's a real problem when you have a cat that isn't adoptable but can't be returned, I truly don't know what the solution for this cat is yet.  And I got an email about two more in a similar circumstance, possibly abandoned and the building slated for demolition....I hope I can figure out a way to help.  That is in between cleaning up cat urine, one of our cats Blinky, has become a peer, there's another frustrating situation to deal with.

The highlight of my week has been watching the documentary that the very talented EK Park made, there is a whole series she did, and this one features me rescuing a mom and kittens and then feeding at the colony.  I'm only one of so many doing the same thing but I'm proud to be part of it all.
http://www.animalequity.org/cat-colony-caretakers-episode-3/