Answered prayers

In my last post I told you about the mission cats that we rescued and my own mission to find them homes and raise money for Miracle's surgery. Well, with the help of so many people, I can happily report that all my prayers have been answered. All four kittens went to wonderful homes. This is Francis, who went home with one of my co-workers, Greg.

We had a book sale to raise money for Miracle's surgery, and even with the rain, we made over $200. With other donations, we raised enough money to fix her leg so it won't be infected anymore and she will find it easier to get around. Miracle and Miso will be picked up from the vet today after a successful amputation for Miracle and spaying for Miso. The best news of all is that they are going straight to a home. My crazy cat friend Joanne is taking them. She already has a blind cat so why not a three legged cat. Thank you to everyone who helped, who donated money, who adopted, who cared. God bless you all.

Even with all that going on, our ferals still need food and water every day.

Lily and Biff hang out, just being cats.

I haven't seen this orange guy for a long time, he looks like a real feral, skinny and limping, poor thing.

That's enough adoptions for a while. Extremely satisfying, but also tough emotionally. I got very attached to them all after caring for them for the two weeks they were at my office. I'd be a very bad foster parent!

Not feral but still in need of help

A few weeks ago Sandi parked at a mission for sailors that is near our colony and discovered a litter of four kittens with the mother and another cat who was missing a foot. Well of course Cherry Street Cats sprung into action. We discovered these cats were very friendly and being cared for by the priests at the mission. We offered to help and the priests finally agreeed that their location in an isolated industrial location was no place for cats. These cats were destined to be hit by a truck or killed by coyotes or foxes.

Now these cats are safely at my office temporarily and in need of wonderful homes. They are not the slightest bit feral. There are three orange and white kittens and one gray and white. We don't usually get involved in adoptions (that's one upside of ferals, they don't need homes) but we are determined to find these guys home.

This is Miracle, who apparently lost her foot at birth when the umbilical cord got wrapped around it. When we recently had her spayed the vet advised us that her stump was infected and should be amputated so it can heal properly. That was more money than we had so we are having a book sale next week to raise money for her surgery. She also needs a home - she is probably only about six months old and is so sweet. I had a three legged cat for 12 years and he had no problem. Cats don't feel sorry for themselves.

This is Miracle with Miso, the mother of the kittens. We also think Miso may be Miracle's mother. They seem very bonded so we are hoping we can adopt them together. Miso is a lovely cat, very friendly and such a good mother.

This is my mission right now - find good homes for the kittens, for Miracle and Miso, and raise enough money for Miracle's surgery. I'm not usually religious, but I may ask God for a bit of help on this one.

The feral life

It's so frustrating when you hear of people dumping cats, thinking they can care for themselves. The life of a feral cat is hard, scrabbling for food, trying to find shelter, avoiding predators. It's very gratifying to be able to help these cats a bit, at least ensuring they have food, water and shelter and hopefully preventing more from being born and having the cycle continue.

Queenie has learned to forage in dumpsters for food, hence her perpetual dirty state.

I think these guys have learned the sound of the car.

This is one of the black cats that still needs to be trapped and fixed. Aaffien and I did a trapping yesterday but only caught a very annoyed Queenie. Queenie was spayed last year so we just let her out but boy, did she glare at us.

I can't thank Global Pet Foods on the Danforth enough for their generous donations over the last couple of months.

Summer in Cat City

Summer has come early this year, and with it, the flies. The flies are the worst part of feeding ferals in the summer. No sooner do you put down the canned food than the flies are swarming in the bowls. Another month or so and it will be wasps. On the upside, their water doesn't freeze and we don't have to worry about the cats as much. I hate to even say it for fear of jinxing us, but we haven't had any kittens at the colony yet this year. There are still a few more to trap, though, so I will be trying again next week and also getting a lovely little cat at a nearby seamen's mission taken care of.

Here's Teddy, the big boy of the colony, both in size and dominance.

Teddy and Tina heading to the food.

A couple of our unnamed pontoon cats eating. It's sad that they don't have names but I can't tell the black cats or the tortis apart!