It's still winter

What a tease the warmer days are and then back to the cold.  The cats seem to be managing, on Sunday we saw all 18 cats in the colony, those are my favourite days, when we see them all and I know they are all safe and have food in their bellies.  Even though I hate the winter, I do like that it's relatively quiet down there, in the winter we pretty much have the yard all to ourselves.  Some of the cats are making themselves at home on the boats being stored, just have to hope they get out of them before the owners take them away, I always worry about that.

Bright Eyes waiting for us to leave

Arrow looking nice and plump

Morris seems to be part of the dumpster gang now

Steve and I are feeding four days a week right now, it's great to see the cats, but it eats up a lot of time.  The whole process, prepping the food and bowls, loading the car, getting there, feeding, coming home, doing the dishes, it's at least two hours but I cannot imagine not feeding them, they are my babies too.

Brrr

Thankfully the temperatures are moderating a bit this weekend, feeding the last few days has not been fun.  I'm sure the cats just come out and eat and then head back to their spot, wherever that is, we have shelters, and some use boats or other structures I'm sure.

Pebbles and Lionel

MC in the feeding station

Morris finds a sunny spot to dine 

It's been a year since Jackson tragically drowned, that was so devastating.  Every day I see my cats eating and alive I'm grateful.  I wish I could protect them and keep them safe but all I can do is make sure they are fed, have water, shelter and vet care when needed, and most importantly, prevent more from having to live the feral life.

Tabby #3 and the deep freeze

This is Katie, the three month old that Connie has been fostering.  Connie was crying when I picked Katie up this morning.  She's off to be spayed and then she will be up for adoption.  I guarantee she won't last the weekend.

I've been so worried about the ferals in this weather but when I fed today most of the cats were there.  Best of all, Minky has reappeared and Socks was on the ground, back to their usual routine.  And I saw Chester, first time since he was released a week ago.  The floppy eared black cat was also at the dumpster, I only see him once in a blue moon.  Somehow they are surviving.  We have lots of shelters and there are other spots for them to huddle in.  If only I could figure out how to keep the canned food and water from freezing.  Luckily most of the cats come as soon as we arrive.  We all use a clicker to announce our presence, it really helps, especially in this weather.

Tabby #2

This is the second tabby rescued this week.  I'm calling him Jimmy for now, he's a six month old male found outside in Hamilton.  He's a real sweetheart but doesn't seem fond of other cats so I'll be moving him to another foster home.  In our house Buddy is the greeter of new cats, and if you don't get along with Buddy, you won't get along with anybody.  I'm sure Jimmy will find a wonderful home.  I'm thankful he's not outside anymore.

It's going to be a brutally cold week and I'm worried about my ferals of course.  I did discover three of them curled up together in the cabin of a boat so they found shelter.

Then there's an odd thing going on, it seems Socks may be stuck in a boat.  I can see him up there and he meows but won't or can't come down.  It looks jumpable so I don't know what's up.  We climbed up on the boat but I couldn't get to where Socks was.  I keep worrying he's trying to tell us something.  I guess today we will try to build a plank for him.  It's never easy plus some drunk guy was yelling at us about the cats.  I'm just trying to keep these poor cats alive.

Chester was released on Wednesday, no sign of him since, sigh, just hope he's lying low and hasn't run off.

I went to Scarborough to check out Jessica's little colony of momma, 4 older kittens and another cat, they will all need to be TNRed in the spring, and it seems there are more at an apartment building nearby.

Many thanks to Carol and Janice for donating for Buddy's dental (not my Buddy, the other laundry room Buddy).

Tabby madness

I don't know what's going on, but there seems to be a lot of older kittens being found outside.  Post Christmas dumps perhaps?

This is Mini, she was found outside at a shopping plaza recently and taken in by a lovely young man.  He tried everything to find her home to no avail.  He wasn't able to keep her so I took her in, she is very sweet and playful, about five months old.  A lovely couple who just moved in on our street is going to take her.  That will be neighbour #3 who has adopted a cat from me in the last year.

I also have two other tabbies coming to me from different locations, same kind of story.  Odd.  When our cat got out last spring we had posters up within hours of finding him gone.  How can anyone not be looking for such friendly cats?  At least they are safe and warm now.

Spring?

What a crazy weekend!  It feels like spring out there, all the cats think so too.  The ferals were very happy.  They will have a shock when the temperatures drop.  Weather is not the same for me since I started taking care of them, I check it daily to see how it will affect the cats.

Chester is still at the vet with diarrhea, hopefully some meds will help him and we can return him soon.

Bookends

I'm always trying to raise money to care for the cats, some neighbours kindly donated their holiday empties to me.

Molly looks on at the assortment of bottles

I almost rescued some cats this weekend but plans changed, however there may be a cutie or two to be rescued in the next few days...

Present meet my future

I had to share this story about a cat sanctuary, sounds like my dream.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/garden/300-cats-and-counting.html

Meanwhile, I will have to content myself with my brood at home plus all the ferals, just wish all the ferals could be safe in one spot.  It's funny, we go down and feed, see them for a few minutes, and have to hope that they stay safe the other 23 hours in the day.  Unfortunately not all of them have, we have lost 3 or 4 on average every year.

Our newest member, Chester, is still at the vet.  Sadly, he has not seemed to be friendly and I was planning to return him today but he has had very bad diarrhea and I need to figure something out about that before putting him back.

Took a detailing of the car to get the male urine spray out.  Ah, the hidden costs of cat rescue.

I have some new projects percolating as well as working with Jennifer to try to get Princess and Buddy, the laundry room cats, sorted out.  They are safe in a short term foster home but still need a place to live and we need to raise money to get Buddy his full mouth extraction,  poor guy.  One thing at a time.

Gotcha!

We decided to try to trap Chester, the new cat on the block yesterday, but we set up the trap and he was nowhere to be seen.  Just as we were about to leave he appeared and promptly went in, and just like that, the jig was up.  Off he went to the vet this morning, peeing and poo-ing in our brand new car.  Sigh.  We had already spent the weekend cleaning up Baxter at home after his bout with diarrhea.

Chester has now been neutered, no more stinky boy spray.  Guess we will see in the next few days if he is tame, if not, he will have to go back to the colony.

Chester in the trap

Steve took some great pictures of MC and Pseudo, love the tail action.

I'd like to do a big shout out to Sally for her generous food donation and to Kristine M (who I've never met) for doing a monthly donation to the colony.   Your support is so appreciated.  If Chester sticks around he will be number eighteen.

New year, new projects

A new year brings new cat things to deal with.  For the second time this week we saw the new black and white cat at the dumpsters.  We are calling him Chester, he looks a lot like Checkers, but is wary and won't come near.  I'm pretty sure Chester is an unneutered male because for the first time in a long time there was that telltale smell of stinky cat spray.  He will need to be trapped and go from there.

 Today four cats were waiting in a sunny patch.

I am also helping Jennifer with a new project.  Two cats have been living for years in a laundry room in an apartment building and the residents have become increasingly hostile towards them.  We have managed to get the tame one, Buddy, out and into a foster home.  He is a sweetie but was covered with fleas, needs a full mouth extraction and is FIV +.  The other cat, Princess, is totally afraid of people and we weren't able to trap her but are trying again tomorrow.  Then we still have to find someplace for them to live, apparently they are quite bonded.

 This is the spot they have been living in.

 Our own Buddy at home helped us to celebrate New Year's Eve.