Do what only you can do

Why do I keep forgetting my camera?!

Today I went out on what I thought was a simple call.  Another trapper asked me to talk to a woman she had been trapping for but they were at loggerheads and the woman was refusing continued help so the trapper thought perhaps a new face would help.

I took Joanne as backup but when we knocked on the door the woman yelled out I can't come to the door and when I asked what was a better time the only response was go away, followed by random screaming.  Then we saw three tiny kittens by the porch so what do you think we did, oh yes, we scooped them up and off we ran.

Only about four weeks old, and I hemmed and hawed and even took them to my vet but ending up taking them to the THS because one had a wound on its belly and to be honest I have so much going one with trapping and my ferals that adding three tiny kittens to my mix might send me over the edge.  As it is every day is a race.

THS will vet them and find them a foster home, they are friendly and eating on their own, no problem there.  I read a wise saying recently "do what only you can do".  I can't do it all so I need to focus on the things that only I can do.  Lots of people want to foster friendly little kittens, not many want to trap or feed ferals or clean out their shelters.

On that note, I trapped a female from the rooming house Thursday night and Carol trapped a female, woo-hoo.  And how many other people want to be standing in line at the THS at 630 a.m. with a feral cat in a trap.   Besides, I want to keep every cat I foster!

Mid-week musings

I've been trying to figure out what I've been doing the last week, I just know it's been busy.

Ernie tells me I should be paying more attention to him.  I often worry that I spend so much time helping other cats that my own furry family gets a bit neglected.

I've been feeding the ferals and looking for new feeders, and thinking about how best to keep them warm this winter.  I discovered Penny has moved into an abandoned car.  I figured she had a new hiding spot but didn't know where it was until I followed her the other day.

The three older kittens trapped last week have all turned out to be able to be socialized.  Thank you Joanne for fostering, and thanks to Raven for her great evaluation.  Raven gets her cats to sit on command before dinner!

I've also gotten involved in a rooming house situation, funnily enough right by where I park my car for work.  We've gotten a couple of cats out (thank you Andrea) and hopefully can get a few more fixed very soon.  There's really only a good month or so left of trapping time before the winter and my list is not all checked off.  From November to March it's just buckle down and try to keep the ferals alive.

An 18 hour day

Wednesday was one of those marathon days that I haven't experienced since I worked in the film industry and I was a lot younger then.  It started with picking up a very reluctant Ian at 7 a.m. and off we went to Bayview and Sheppard to trap.  It was the first time I had been at the site and I felt a bit dismayed when we arrived and the cats were all kittens in fact but kittens just a few months too old to be rescued, sigh.

Not too young to be fixed though, so we set up a trap and I went around the corner.  I came back to check just five minutes later and bang we got a trifecta, 3 cats in one trap, first time ever.  And that was the end of that trapping.  Five minutes of trapping, two hours of driving.

The youngest kitten

I went to work (you know my actual job that has nothing to do with cats but pays me money to take care of cats) for a few hours and then over to a rooming house situation that I had just gotten involved with to help a sick cat.

After that I volunteered at the feral cat spay neuter clinic for the evening.  Another 50+ cats spayed and neutered including the three I brought in.  By the time I got to bed it was midnight and I was beyond beat.

Update: Two of the kittens are about six months and one is three to four months.  It looks as though the youngest one can be socialized.  Good news for the kitten, bad news for me, another foster home is needed.  I truly lucked out with Farrah, a wonderful woman saw her picture and is fostering her, Farrah is shy but a real cuddler.   Let's hope this little girl is as friendly.

Tortie time

I guess it's tortishell week.  Thursday night Maria from the west end trapped a cat that she thought was an older kitten born this spring.  Off she went to the clinic on Friday but lo and behold she is not feral.  The meowing should have been a tip off.  Raven can pat her with no problem.  Now I need to find somewhere for her to go.

And Susan has a tortie visitor too.  Her neighbour came home after being out for a short time to find this cat in a carrier on her porch.  Of course she called Susan, who took her in.  Can you believe it, just left a cat in a carrier on a porch?  I suppose I can believe it now.  This beauty is in heat, perhaps someone got her as a kitten and once they discovered how much it cost to spay her, abandoned her, but there is no explanation as to why there, on a quiet side street.

How much is a footless kitten worth?

Occasionally I make the mistake of going on kijiji's website, it's a cesspool of sadness in the cats and kittens for sale section.  Some listings are rescues but others are people giving away or selling their cats or kittens for so many reasons, moving, allergies, any number of reasons.  Some ads say first come first served, as if they were selling property, instead of entrusting the life of a cat to a stranger.

One ad caught my eye and I couldn't turn away.  They had seven kittens for sale!  The worst of it was the sliding scale of prices, $75 for the fluffy grey one, $50 for a short haired grey, $25 for a black kitten, and $15 for a black kitten born without a foot.    I thought oh crap, who is going to take that kitten, what if it needs medical attention, and how sad that the kitten supposedly was less valuable.

So I took the cute little black kitten missing a hind foot and he cried so much that I went back and they threw in his sister free of charge.  I tried to broach the subject of spaying but it fell pretty flat and they wouldn't even let me in the apartment.  I'm trying to console myself with the fact that these kittens will have a better life.  Even though they've been living inside they are shy, I shudder to think how many cats may be in there.

My little dirty but not anymore kittens are leaving tonight for another foster home.  I dearly love them and if there was any way I could keep them I would but at a certain point you have to preserve the quality of life of the cats you have, and we have plenty.  I want to be a rescuer not a hoarder.  I'm writing all this down so I ingrain it in my head because I know I'm going to bawl when they leave but now they will have the opportunity to be someone's beloved cats.

Pigpen seems like a fitting name for this kitten

Sometimes the best laid plans in cat rescue go awry....these two little kittens were living at an autobody shop, I'm not sure what happened to their mother, but they are the dirtiest kittens I've ever seen.  Thankfully they are very friendly and sweet.  I had a foster home all lined up for them but they had a sudden death in the family and I'm left with nowhere for them to go other than my place right now and unfortunately Blinky pees outside the litter box when kittens come to stay.  Still, how could I resist those faces!

Linus

Pigpen

I think that might be white fur under all that dirt

What a face!

At one of the other colonies I feed at, we've been feeding on private property for more than a year without any issues, but suddenly we've been kicked out due to complaints about the cats.  It's sheer ignorance but there was no arguing.  We are scrambling trying to find them another place to eat, it's so frustrating and heartbreaking, we just want to make sure these three cats have a safe place to eat.