Before and after

A couple of weeks ago Biff was looking like this.

This weekend, after her visit to the vet, Biffy (adding a Y to reflect her amended gender) looked like this.  So much better, I hope it continues, and that the antibiotic has some long lasting effects for our old girl.  Thankfully things have settled down at Harry's too, I was able to pat Teddy again, first time in weeks.

 Over at Hank's the heat was causing some friction between Pseudo and Jet.

 Let's hope this after bite doesn't turn into an abcess, silly cats to be fighting.

Sam reappeared on the weekend, hooray, don't know where he had been, and he returned friendlier, I was able to give him a quick pat.

We had a big yard sale on the weekend, it was a lot of work, but a success.  All our vet bills are paid off and we have some put aside for the next one.

At the west end colony Maria managed to just trap one male, the females still elude us.  That after effect  will be more kittens although thankfully there has been a lull there in kittens.

This week's update

Here are a couple of pictures of the cute kittens I rescued about 10 days ago and that Lynn is fostering.

Chester, the black male, is funny, he is very growly, but they are all becoming tamer, it just takes a lot of handling and a lot of attention.

Ruby and Emma

Growly Chester

I released Miss Boots at the Portlands Tuesday but Jackie called yesterday to say she has discovered kittens down there, oh no, off to take a look.  More trapping at the west end and the kittens above's mom this weekend.

Yesterday we managed to trap Biff and took him to the vet this morning.  Well, first of all, Biff is female, already spayed (which we knew).  Biff or Biffalina is older, maybe 12, and amazingly, doesn't need all her teeth out, just some tartar, but I was mostly worried about Biff's congestion so we are just doing a shot of Convenia, which hopefully will help, and Revolution and Profender.  I will overnight Biffy at the vet's, she can enjoy the AC and go home tomorrow.  After Tina, I was so nervous taking Biff in, I was almost in tears with worry, I just couldn't stand to lose another, so I feel very relieved.   As it is, Sam, a black male, has not been seen for more than two weeks so I am very concerned about him.

Bright Eyes (yes, I can tell all the black cats apart)

Hank enjoying the mat Sandi put down

No sugarcoating

This may be a controversial post but when it comes to my moral compass for cat rescue I am sure of its direction and know that although the decision I made was heartbreaking it was the right one.

Jackie has been feeding a couple of cats in the Portlands and I went down to check out the situation.  One of the cats looked pregnant to me so we thought let's try to trap her.  And trap her we did, very easily.  Once I got her in the trap I could tell her nipples were prominent so then I was worrying she was nursing.  Only one thing to do, take her to the vet and find out.

It turned out she was very pregnant, and the vet did a spay abort.  Wait, I can hear the voices of dissent but here's the thing, she is very feral, if she had the kittens, we would have to hope that first of all, we could trap her again and spay her and secondly that we could trap the kittens at the magical socialization age or at least trap them and TNR, all of those things very problematic.  Every day in shelters kittens and adult cats are euthanized due to lack of homes.  It's a harsh reality and making those harsh decisions is part of dealing with feral cats.  

Miss Boots in the trap

Back at the colony, Biff has been having URI symptoms again.  He has had this chronic problem for a while, hopefully some warm dry weather will clear things up.

After such a grim post, here's a bit of comic relief.  This is what I woke up to the other morning.  Remember, this is Buddy, when we adopted him last year the vet said he was five years old, yeah right, what five year old cat shreds toilet paper, we adopted a kitten with really bad teeth.

More kittens!

I opened up my email Friday and there was one with the subject "Urgent situation with stray cat and kittens".  I thought oh no, but read it anyway.  Someone had discovered a cat in an overgrown backyard with a litter of kittens and needed help.

Thankfully Lynn offered to foster them so I decided that I would catch them.  Funnily enough, I left a cat rescue fundraiser (at Lynn's) Saturday night to go get the kittens.  Dusk is best, and there they were, hungry.  I grabbed one kitten, then another, trying to stay out of mom's way, she took a swipe at me.  The last shy one I got with a kitten trap, and back to Lynn's I went with six week old kittens.

It was too quick to take pictures, there's a grey one, a black one, and a black and white one.  Now I have to go back, trap the mom and get her spayed before she wanders off and gets pregnant again.

Nothing feels better than saving kittens from living a life on the streets!

Why I don't foster

We've resisted fostering kittens and after having one for a night I'm reminded of why - we get too attached.  This little guy was caught by Maria and needed to stay with us until he could be moved to a foster home.  I've been holding little Baby Bob since he is scared and already I can't imagine finding a home good enough for him.  I'm glad he's moving on tonight.  I so admire people who foster.

Baby Bob - just six weeks old

Things are topsy turvy at Harry's section of the yard, there are guys working on a boat where the cats normally eat, poor Teddy has been eating at a different spot, and it's sad there with only four cats, no Jackson or Tina.

 We've been feeding under the boat for now where it's a bit quieter, and at least dry.

 Things at the dumpster are unchanged thankfully, a full house here, as many as eight cats.

 And over at Hank's all is ducky, the cats like all the boat cradles that are piled up.

A typical Saturday night at our house, no wonder nobody wants to come for dinner.  Perhaps cats as centerpieces will catch on.