Happy gotcha day Buddy!

It's been six years since Buddy joined our family.  He was one of my first rescues when I just started trapping other colonies.  Buddy was one of a number of cats at a house at Dufferin and Eglinton, and the last one I got. Joanne offered to take him to the TNR clinic but we soon realized he was friendly, he kneaded and purred at the vet.  Buddy had a terrible upper respiratory infection, bad teeth and an ear infection, they thought he was between 3 - 5 years old but once he got healthy he acted like a kitten.

I was all set to take him to a foster home but found myself unable to, so he came home with us, and he's been a delight, a friend to all the cats who come into our home.  Even though he's super friendly, twice he got out of the house and had to be trapped, the last time three years ago was 32 days of hell.

Since that time, I've trapped and/or rescued somewhere between 750 - 1000 cats I think.  This year it's around 85 and I'm tired.  Compassion fatigue is real and I'm worried about burning out, there's been challenges lately, a prior adoption with a sad ending and my spit cats aren't tame and I need to relocate them (always a last resort).  I'm going to try to have a quiet November, the winter is coming and the outdoor cats are hungry, they know what is coming, and we've been getting them ready for winter.

Cutest kitten ever?

Maybe I'm partial to white cats, but I swear this fluffy kitten is one of the cutest we have rescued!  She was part of a small colony in the west end, for 10-12 weeks old she is surprisingly friendly for a feral kitten, she has siblings who we still have to get...but this baby is safe inside!  

New shelters!

Connie met a lovely woman named Pam who noticed her feeding the cats and she offered to have new feeding and sleeping shelters made.  Our east outpost colonies got new digs before winter, so when the bad weather comes they can eat and stay dry.

Sadie gives it the thumbs up!

Mystery has new accommodations too

But of course she is sleeping on top of an old shelter

Eight years of blogging

It's hard to believe but I started this blog 8 years ago this weekend!  It was my first year feeding and I spent Thanksgiving Day rescuing Tibb's kittens, that was her last litter.  There have been so many changes since then, now we just have eight cats left, but still, who would have thought that feral cats would live to be 10+ years old!  It's a testament to the care they receive from all of us who love them.

This is the first picture I posted, only Lily the tortie is still around.  I miss all of the ones who have passed on, but we have new friends we feed too like Sadie and Misty.  I

I'm grateful for all the wonderful people I have met and the support, I often joke about how getting involved was the best and worst decision in my life.

Oh oh new cats at the colony

Recently there were reports of a cat near one of our existing colonies so of course I went to check it out.  No cats in sight, but I got good intel from the woman who has a hot dog cart there on weekends.  She said oh yes, the last 3 weekends two cats were looking for food, they had just been there!

I went back the next day, put out some food and sure enough two cats emerged from the woods.  They look pretty young under a year and were so hungry.  The problem is they are in a very unsafe area with no shelter, and there are coyotes and a bird sanctuary, not a good place for cats.   First step is to trap them and hope they are friendly.  Born there or dumped?  Hard to know....