The end of the Hank saga

Well dear friends I'm afraid this saga doesn't have a happy ending.  Today we set up the feeding station/trap and amazingly Hank went right in.  We rushed him to the vet where our worst fears were confirmed, he had a tumour in his jaw, so Hank has crossed the Rainbow Bridge to be with his friends.  At least he won't be in pain anymore or have to endure another winter.

Hank in better days

I've been feeding Hank for seven years, he lived to a ripe old age for a feral cat, thanks to having shelter and regular food, but it breaks my heart every time we lose one, I love them all.  Now we are nine.  Poor MC will come back to find her buddy gone....

The Hank saga continues

Thankfully MC is recovering well and is eating, but Hank still looks horrible, and I continue to try to catch him to no avail.  We've been sneaking up with a carrier hoping to catch him in a shelter but no such luck.  A lovely man named Bill has loaned us this feeding station, the other side is plexiglass and you can rig the door to pull it shut with a string.  He managed to get a cat this way that he was unable to trap.  At this point I am willing to try anything, so that Hank doesn't continue to suffer, we were considering netting but Hank never sits in the open long enough for that, I swear he knows what is going on.

Of course though within 30 seconds of setting this up Pseudo went right inside.  Cats, sigh. 

Here's a picture of Puma, one of the kittens we rescued from off Yonge Street, who Joanne has kindly agreed to foster.  He's ready for adoption, but she is still working on his shy sisters.  Don't you love his stripey undercoat!

And when Lesley and I were trapping Friday morning, she had forgotten her coat, here she is modelling a trap cover as poncho!  Trappers are resourceful people!

Oh my sore teeth

It feels like all cats need dental work these days!  I've still been unable to catch Hank but I've noticed that MC is thin and seemed to be having trouble eating.  Sandi and I were doing a cleanup today and I was able to get close enough to MC to quickly pick her up and get her into a carrier, so off to the vet she went.  She of course has a mouthful of terrible teeth, seems every middle aged feral does. Hopefully all will go well and this will give her years of a pain free life.

One of my own cats, Oliver, only two years old, has stomatitis, he had major dental yesterday.  My baby boy isn't as tough as Betty, who had the same thing and had her teeth removed, and Oliver had to stay at the vet overnight but still refused to eat.  This evening I went to get him and he was sooo happy to see me, he was terrified at the vet.  We got him home and he ate!

Twig is recovering, but we discovered that it wasn't just a URI she has pancreatitis, I will need to monitor her, it seems I have a houseful of lemons.

My Saturday update

Let's start with the good news!  Kahlua, the lost foster cat, was spotted yesterday thanks to the flyers that had been distributed.  James and Lesley rushed over last night and managed to easily trap her! She is safe and now back at Michelle's!

I took advantage of a sale at Petsmart and stocked up on Friskies for my ferals, winter is coming, and they need to get good and fat.  It was cold and blustery today and already I'm worried about them.

 I'm also worried about my little Twig, she is ill, she was just sleeping for a couple of days (but still eating) so I took her to Dr Vlad and she had a fever and a bit of a URI, so now she is on antibiotics. Her pancreas levels are increased too which is a bit odd.  Hopefully she will bounce back quickly, I hate it when my babies are sick.

The kittens have arrived!

Betsy's pregnant cat had her kittens yesterday, it's the first time Betsy has dealt with this, thankfully in most cases mom does all the work.  She quickly had two kittens, then after a delay another, and then a few hours later she delivered the last one, sadly it was stillborn.  The other three seem healthy though, so thankful she had her babies inside.  I posted her as found but no one has come looking for her.

I spent the entire day at Michelle's yesterday waiting for kittens to poo.  She is away and they finished their giardia meds so need to be tested.  Well I thought kittens pooed all the time.  I kept feeding them and feeding them, but after 7 hours only three had gone!  That was the best I could do.  They are so cute, but are four months old, now, they have had persistent URIs and then giardia.  Let's hope they are healthy now and can find homes!

In troubling news, one of Michelle's former fosters, who just moved a week or so ago, pushed open a window screen yesterday and is missing.  I hope she is found quickly!

Surprise!

A rescuer acquaintance, JJ, called me last week about a friendly cat that had showed up in an alley where she feeds a couple of ferals.  THS was at capacity and couldn't take the cat right now, so thankfully Betsy agreed to foster her.  Surprise, this cat is clearly very pregnant, but luckily very friendly.  I've posted her as found in case someone is looking for her, but now she has a safe warm place to have her babies.

Meet Elaine, she is going to have cute kittens!

I've had a nasty cold the last few days, so have been spending lots of time in bed, and I have lots of company, the cats love it when we go to bed during the day!

Unflattering selfie of me with Blinky

 I tried yet again to get Hank to no avail, just all the black cats clustered around, sigh.

Seven years of blogging

I've been blogging about feral cats and cat rescue and trapping for seven years now!  I started on Thanksgiving in 2009, we were trying to catch Tibb's kittens who were on a boat.  We did catch them, she got spayed and is still part of the colony.  So much has changed in that time, cats have come and gone, many have died, I trap and rescue and feed at other colonies but Cherry Street is still closest to my heart and it saddens me to realize that one day, probably within the next five years, there won't be any more cats there.  I am convinced that Hank has a tumour in his mouth but I have been unable to trap him, it's absolutely heartbreaking.  On the positive side, he's lived many many more years than he would have had we not come along to take care of him.

Pseudo enjoying the trailer

Sadie and Misty, two of our new feral friends

 And on another happy note, cutie pie Kevin got adopted and went off to his new home this week.

Will I still be blogging about cats in seven years?  It's hard to know....Happy thanksgiving to all, as usual I give thanks for all the cats in my life and the friends I have met along this journey.

R&R and back to reality

Steve and I took off to Newfoundland for a few days, my east coast soul needed an ocean hit, but guess what we found some cats to visit with!

 It's back to reality now, visited Michelle's cuties yesterday.  She is in Jamaica with a hurricane approaching, so maybe I can steal her kittens while she's gone LOL.

Unfortunately I returned to find that our Hanky has some issues with his mouth, he is having trouble eating and is drooling and his mouth looks swollen.  He is an old cat for sure, and five years ago he had major dental work, taking out all his teeth except his canines. My task tomorrow is to try to trap him to get him to the vet.  Oh how I hate when they get old and ill!