Out of the cold

You may remember these first two photos.  It was six weeks ago that I found that gaggle of kittens clearly abandoned or dumped, hungry and huddled under bushes.  We rescued them all and most have found homes, with just a few left in foster homes.  I still can't figure out why they were dumped, they are all lovely cats, but I'm so glad they were rescued and aren't outside on a day like this.

Scooter before

Dory (the middle one) before

Scooter, Dory and their new best friend after

Safe, warm, dry - and loved

I'm off to feed my ferals after work, I'm sure they stayed in somewhere last night, but I always feel for them in this kind of weather, and it will only get worse before it gets better.

Cat cafe in Tokyo

I thought after all the sadness it was time for a happier post.  My husband Steve just got back from a trip to Japan and of course had to check out a cat cafe there.  For 1000 yen an hour (about $12) you can go and get tea and sweets and hang out with the cats.  This cafe had about 20 rescued cats all living there.  They are very well cared for and there are rules about not bugging the cats who are sleeping or don't want to be bothered.  Good thing I didn't go with him, I would have been there every day.  Wish we had something like that here!

Gingerbum has crossed the Rainbow Bridge

Today has been a sad day.  Connie let me know that this morning she took poor little Gingerbum in to be euthanized, he was getting worse and it was the right thing to do. http://boomerandteikas.blogspot.ca/

Connie did everything she could for that little guy and I feel so badly for her to have to go through this and so sad that Gingerbum had such a short life.  Not really the way I wanted to end off our rescue season but the lives saved far outweighs those we have lost, doesn't make it any easier though.

Prayers for Gingerbum

Gingerbum, the tiny orange kitten that Connie has been caring for day and night for the last week, is ill.  He's having some problems with his back legs and the vet doesn't know what it is, possibly a spinal infection, but they are so fragile at that age, and so small, it's hard to know what exactly is going on.  He's on antibiotics but at this point it's a waiting game.

Needless to say, Connie is very worried and upset, she has been going without sleep to keep these little guys alive and now this.  We have been lucky up to now that we haven't had any major health problems with our rescues but it can happen anytime, especially with really young kittens.

So if you can send some prayers little Gingerbum's way it would be appreciated.  We want him to grow up to be somebody's beloved kitty.

Tying up loose ends

Well, it feels like I'm shuttering the rescue shop for the winter and just tying up the loose ends so I can focus on taking care of my ferals.  Even though it was cold and damp yesterday I fed 17 mouths, and need to get them through the winter.

Great news about Chloe, who was living in the woodlot.  She has found a forever home, what a turn for the better her life has taken.  

Lovely Cheddar however is still waiting for his forever home.  I don't know why this gorgeous boy hasn't been adopted.  Joanne who didn't want to foster has been so patient and loving with him, I wish the right person would come along for him (and soon).

Michelle is still fostering the two females from the big dumped group and Gatsby and Timbit are up for adoption through Annex Cat Rescue.  Lynn has two kittens ready for adoption from Maria's and of course Connie has her tiny babies, and that's it.

At Maria's, my big TNR project for the year, after 8 months of trapping, we have TNRed 18 adults and rescued 19 kittens.  Only one female remains to trap.  I would really love to get her before the winter but trapping gets more challenging at this time of the year.  It gets dark so early and soon it will just be too cold.

I'm kind of glad to be closing up shop for the season, and I think (or so I say now) that I will have to seriously scale things back rescue wise next year.  I never wanted to deal with tame rescues in the first place, the reason I got involved with feeding ferals is that they don't need homes, I find that very stressful, and emotionally and financially draining so I hope to return to my roots with an occasional detour.

So far so good

Can I nominate Connie for cat sainthood?  She went yesterday at a moment's notice and scooped up the kittens and took them home.  They seem to only be about two weeks old so Connie has been bottle feeding them every couple of hours, getting up in the middle of the night, stimulating them to go to the bathroom, it's an incredible amount of work keeping kittens that age alive.  I went to see them today and they are so small, squawking away.

Tiny rescued kittens

You can keep up with their adventures on Connie's blog
http://boomerandteikas.blogspot.ca/

I feel privileged to know Connie and Joanne (who is currently taking great care of two recovering females), with theirs and others help my stats are almost 100 cats helped this year, between kittens being rescued, ferals TNRed and tame cats spayed and neutered and homed.

Life and death in Rosedale

Just when I thought I had everything under control....

It started well enough.  I went to Rosedale yesterday morning, returned Roxy and trapped the other female Gibsey, in short order.  Off to the vet she went to be spayed.  They thought she had had kittens but not too recently as her milk was pretty dried up.  

Gayle trapped another kitten last night.  Gayle is a perfect example of how it should work.  When she found a feral cat and kittens she reached out for help, but knew how TNR worked and was willing to participate.  Gayle has been great, doing her own trapping and transport, I just get them fixed and recover and look, her problem is now managed, all in short order.

Firefly, Gayle's latest trapping success

This morning, though, I got the call you never want.  Wendy in Rosedale's neighbour found two little kittens last night, crying, in a shed.  She took them in but didn't know what to do.  Wendy called me and we tried to figure it out.  Not having seen the kittens, I didn't know how old.  If they are too young to eat on their own, they have to be bottle fed and their survival rate is very low, but it's not so simple as just putting mom (if she is the mom) and kittens back together.  If it's outside, can you catch the kittens in a few weeks before they become too feral, and would she even have milk to nurse them.  All the while, I'm trying to get my cats fed and get out the door for work while calling anyone I can think of for help.

I don't want to be inadvertently responsible for kittens dying, that can happen if they are really young and not eating.  God bless Connie, she has come to the rescue and is going over to take the kittens home until next week when Lesley will take over.  It seems that they might be older than originally thought.  I really hope they are closer to four weeks and can survive without their mother.  Time will tell.

Garfield, Gatsby and Timbit

These cuties are part of the bunch of that big rescue I did.  Sandi has been fostering them.  Garfield (the orange one) got adopted just this weekend and I took Gatsby and little Timbit to an adoptathon Saturday but no luck.  The day started out badly when shy Timbit got loose in the pet store and hid in a back room.  Thankfully we were able to catch him again.  It was a pretty slow day and I was disappointed.  The real problem is that Sandi is going away in a week and I had nowhere else for the grey boys to go.  The cat rescue gods shined on me though and ACR found a foster home for them, hooray.  I'm sure they will get adopted very soon.  Their names are courtesy of the woman who found them, I quite like the names.

Garfield and Timbit

Timbit and Gatsby at the adoptathon

Garfield and Gatsby

And more good news, Theo and Max (more of the same rescue) have been adopted by their foster family.  They fell in love with those lovely boys and couldn't bear to give them up.

On Friday I went to check out a new situation in Rosedale of all places.  Ferals can be found anywhere.  We didn't manage to trap the one we wanted but got another female so all good.

Theo and Max in their forever home

Another productive weekend!

The new reality

It's been a tough week at the yard.  We can't feed at the tree anymore and there is construction everywhere, boats coming in, dumpsters moving around, chaos all around so it's hard to find a spot for the cats to eat, especially the dumpster group.

I've taken to going down on my way home from work to check on them even though they have already been fed, it's quieter after 5 but soon it will be dark then so don't know what I will do.

The poor cats have to eat here

Hank's is actually a great spot

A whole building was here a week ago, no wonder the cats aren't happy.

Pseudo has been beating up on Stubby so he hasn't been around.  I snuck around back last night and found him meowing away poor guy.  Food is disappearing at Harry's, it's just heartbreaking right now.  I'm just trying to take care of these poor cats, but so much is out of my control.  As any cat owner knows, cat don't like change.  I'll just keep trying to do the best I can.

On my rescue front, things have quieted down.  Neither Maria or Gayle had any luck trapping this week, I have a few rescues in foster care, an adopathon to take kittens to on Saturday, a new situation to check out, my own bunch at home, it's not like I'm bored.

Thanksgiving thoughts and a 3 year anniversary

It's been three years since I've started this blog.  A lot has gone on at the colony since then, we've lost cats, added cats, done our best to keep these cats alive and cared for.  I've become more involved in rescue, this year perhaps a little too involved.  My stats from March until now are 46 adults spayed and neutered (24 females), some feral, some tame and 41 kittens rescued.  No wonder I am feeling burned out.  I am trying to wind things down so I can just concentrate on the colony for the winter.

On Friday we got together and did a clean up and restuffed all the shelters with fresh straw.  Of course, the landscape there constantly changes so now we have to move the poor dumpster cats' feeding area.

Michelle, Anne, Tory and Sandi clean up around Harry's

Lexi/Suki, one of the recently rescued adults, and very friendly, got adopted yesterday so that's great news.

I am thankful for many things cat related and otherwise.  I am fortunate to have such great supporters, I could not care for the ferals or do all this rescue on my own.  I am grateful that with everyone's assistance I have been able to help so many cats.  And I'm happy that it's a long weekend and I got to sleep in today LOL.  Time to share some turkey with my bunch.

The rescue ride

Oh my, rescue can be a rollercoaster ride, up and down.

First of all, I have to thank Liz and Susan for their generous donations towards the vet bills.  I am very grateful and appreciative.

Tuesday night I went to Natalia's to trap what I thought was the last cat.  Well, there was yet one more adult so I trapped her too.  Both young females, unspayed.

Once in recovery it appears they are tame so I am just figuring out what to do with them.

The kittens at Sandi's (Garfield, Gatsby and Timbit) stopped eating and have been vomiting so off to the vet they went, oi.  Very friendly Lexi is heading to an adoptathon Saturday, let's hope she finds a home.

Jo is gone

It's been an entire month now since anyone has seen Jo, the tortie who lived at Harry's so I guess I have to declare her gone.  It's unlikely that she left of her own will.  I expect she got hit by a truck.  Poor Jo Jo, she was only a few years old.  Last year at this time seemed like the glory days, we had over 20 cats, the Star came out and interviewed me, we had six at Harry's including Tina and Jackson, it was so nice to have friendly cats.  Now at Harry's it's just three cats and two of them are pretty old.  It seems we lose about three cats a year, we are at 17 now.

I thought I would show you the desolate environment that Chloe and Petal were living in.  Petal was one thing as a feral, but to take your house cat to live here, despicable.  There is still Cookie left, his favourite cat, who he says he will take home, I really hope so.

Hank has that look that says he knows winter is coming and he's not looking forward to it.  We have a few older cats now and the winter will be hard on them.

 Bright Eyes always has it hard, runs over to eat, then runs away again.

 And look how barren it seems at Harry's now.

Minky, Socks and Lionel are managing even with all the dumpsters moving around.  These three have all had dental work, they had better live a long time, with that kind of investment.

Seeing how our ferals live is a constant reminder of how every cat TNRed or every kitten or tame cat rescued from a life on the street is a triumph.

Gorgeous grey brothers

Anna sent me these photos of her handsome grey brothers, Theo and Max, who were rescued just 10 days ago, part of the dumped group.  Aren't they gorgeous?  She says they have settled right in, and love to purr and play.  They are about 4 months old, neutered and ready to go to a great home.

All of the kittens have now been rescued amazingly.  Another pretty young female is hanging around and I hope to trap her tomorrow night, I expect she will turn out to be tame like all the others.  Let's hope that takes care of that problem but who knows.  I'm just glad all these guys are safe.  Not bad after only two weeks, and what a two weeks that was, I'm still recovering.  My cold is almost gone but my visa bill will linger on.