Buster - and Blinky the kitty contortionist

Last week we trapped the mom at the construction site, Friday night we got the dad and Saturday night the kitten.  One two three all done.  The adult male and female seem tame so Reed, the feeder, has agreed to foster mom and her kitten, and I talked Andrea into taking the dad, thankfully she has a soft spot for the rough guys, and rough looking he certainly is.  Who knows how long he has been on the streets but clearly wasn't born there.  Maybe he was adopted as a kitten and then abandoned when it was deemed he wasn't cute enough.

Buster, rescued and needing a bit of TLC

No chance of that with our Blinky!  Even though he's occasionally an inappropriate peer, he's ours for life.  Here he is showing off his yoga moves.

Blinky the kitty contortionist

Clara is doing well after spending three days at the vet on fluids.  She is at Raven's now, getting fattened up.  She should be able to go back out in a week but the question is whether to release her and risk her disappearance or take her to a sanctuary.  I don't want her to have gone through all this to go back and starve to death.

A 28 hour day

I'm just writing this while having a beer and some potato chips at 1045 p.m., after a very busy Wed afternoon and evening and another equally nutty day today.

Andrea and I took on a little outreach project in her hood, a guy with multiple cats, all unfixed, all going outside.  One of the females is missing but we managed to corral the other one yesterday afternoon and take her kicking and screaming to be spayed.  His apartment was totally filthy but he clearly loves his cats, he's a bit of a cantankerous guy,  and will need some convincing to let us take the males to be neutered, they are all flea ridden, he has a cat door that they go in and out of.  We were concerned about 3 Spot going home and running outside so Andrea kindly took her home but that did no go well so today she went back home.

Three spot in a rare calm moment

I stayed for the evening to help at the spay neuter clinic, 51 cats were brought in, that's a lot of cats to be fixed in 5 or 6 hours.

This afternoon I picked up a cat that Carol had trapped, dropped off a trap to John for his feral with dental issues, delivered the cat for recovery, met a new cat sitting client, came home and quickly ate, then met up with Lesley and Reed at the construction site to try to get the mom and her kitten.

Mom showed up and was quickly trapped but no sign of her kitten.  Lesley is my new hero, and let me tell you why.  I was using a new trap and clearly didn't latch it properly because the cat got loose in Lesley's car, but somehow she managed to scruff her and get her into another trap.  What an adventure!

Clara is staying at the vet for a day or two to get IV fluids, and then we will have to see how she does after that.  Pancreatitis is not an easy condition to manage, especially in feral cats.  One day at a time, but it's hard not to remember that's what I said about Teddy.   Complicated medical issues and ferals do not go well together.

But for tonight, I will remind myself that we got two more females spayed this week (well one to be done tomorrow), and one male neutered, and every cat fixed is a small triumph in and of itself.

Clara is sick

Our yard sale was a huge success!  Many thanks to all who donated and huge thanks to Sandi, her husband Robbin, Michelle and Susan for working the crowd.  We were lucky enough to be supported by great local businesses, Contemporary Computers, Goods and Provisions, Yankee Lady Cruises, Timeless Nails and Joseph's Barber and Hairstyling, who donated for our raffle.

Sadly I'm already using the money to pay for vetting for Clara.  Clara is one of our relocated cats, she disappeared a couple of months ago when things got busy.  I found her two weeks ago and started leaving food, but then when I saw her on the weekend I realized how thin she was almost emaciated so last night I trapped her and took her to the vet.

Once chubby Clara now only weighs four pounds!  She is dehydrated and her pancreatic enzymes are high and the vet also suspects IBD or worse could even be lymphoma but it's hard to know without doing more tests and after all the bloodwork, sedation, and a night of fluids the bill is already up there.  And the problem with ferals is you can't medicate them and you certainly can't manage conditions long term.  I don't even know if she would stay at the yard if I took her back.  I don't know what to do...I feel responsible for her, as I do all of them.

Clara in the winter in healthier times

One day at at time, I'm off now to try to help a low income guy get his cat spayed, but he's not making it easy, and of course he doesn't think we need to get the males done, even though they all go outside.

Ah the cat rescue rollercoaster.

Tales of yard sales and kittens

Last night Steve reminded me it's been a while since I've posted.  What have I been doing?  Feeding feral cats, catsitting, moving kittens around, normal stuff.  THS had to bump my kitten appointments by a month due to overcrowding so there's been a bit of scrambling.  These two still need homes, fingers crossed my neighbours may adopt one as a companion to Lola, who they adopted from me last year.

Now which kitten would you choose?  Pepper, the playful male?

 Or Cinnamon, the outgoing female?  Both lovely kittens, how will they ever choose?

One of Carol's litter, who is currently with Sandi, got sick this weekend, and since that bunch are THS fosters, thankfully I was able to take him there but they kept him, and I've been so worried, but he's doing better and will be able to rejoin his siblings tomorrow.

Stubby is getting friendlier and friendlier, I can pat him all over and brush him, and even pulled out a couple of mats and lifted him off the ground.  I think he needs a home.

Last week I was very happy to see Morris and this week I saw my pal Penny.  I hadn't seen her for a month, she seemed a bit thin and skittish but ok, I guess it's just been too busy there for her.

This Saturday we are having our annual sale, so please come down to see us at 1101 Queen Street East from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Sandi's husband, Robbin, the uber salesman, will be there so we are sure to raise lots of money to help the cats.

This year has been odd for TNR, last year I managed to do a few big colonies quickly and easily, but this year I'm involved with a few situations, all with cats that are hard to trap or don't come to eat regularly.  Still we've TNRed 15 cats, rescued 39 kittens, rescued 6 adults, helped a couple of low income people and dealt with the Bowmanville situation (all 44 cats there!!) so it's not like I'm sitting around, although after the Buddy and Teddy month, I'm trying to maintain enough of a balance to stay sane.

Hope to see you on Saturday if you're around the east end of Toronto!

Golf course mama has a home!

When I dropped off the golf course momma cat last week at the TNR clinic, I wasn't sure how tame she was.  Thankfully while she was recovering it became clear that she was friendly, so Andrea very kindly offered to foster her short term.

I took her over on Saturday and she settled in pretty quickly.  Although she growled a bit, she explored and was happy to be patted and fussed over.  Later that evening I got a call from Shiona, who was the one feeding her and her babies, and Shiona had decided that she wanted to adopt her.  What fantastic news!

It turns out her kittens are all females!  What a lot of kittens that would have been had they not been rescued.  Even though they are only six or seven weeks and their momma is friendly, they are remarkably very feral, Joanne is working hard and I know she will be able to turn them around.

I was at THS the other day and gratified to see kittens we had rescued up for adoption, and know that they won't be there long, all the kittens were being adopted very quickly.  It's good to have that reminder of why we do all this...

Yesterday I saw the nursing calico who I trapped and released with her kitten for the first time.  I'm worried the kitten might be old, I hope not, add another project to my list.

Golf course kitten rescue

The week started off with a bang, Monday evening after work off I went to a golf course to get what I thought were two kittens and hopefully to trap the mamma as well.  Although the golf course was beautiful and verdant, the kittens were living in a crawl space under the clubhouse, clearly the safest spot she could find.

Into the crawl space I went and immediately saw four kittens.  The mom was there being protective but I quickly distracted her with food and managed to grab two of the kittens.  Into a carrier they went.  The other two caught on and hid under some wood in an inaccessible space so I crawled out to regroup and rethink.

I decided to set up a trap but use the string and stick and hope that both kittens would go in for the food.  Mamma went right into the trap, but I wasn't prepared to trap her unless I had rescued all her kittens first.  So I waited as she ate in the trap and then one kitten ventured in then the other, but one's tail was still sticking out.  What to do?  I waited a bit more and the kitten went just the farthest bit more into the trap so I pulled the string and got three for the price of one!

Then of course the problem was to get the kittens out without releasing mom.  With a trap divider and Connie's help we managed.  All this was captured by a filmmaker who did a ride along who is making a documentary about cat adoptions.  Thank god I was successful and it wasn't just footage of me standing by an empty trap for an hour.

The kittens came to my place, here they are, very scared, the silent hisses are so funny in such a tiny creature, but they are young enough that they will tame up in a few weeks.

Mamma went to be spayed and it looks as though she's tame so she probably won't have to go back which is great news, a golf course is deserted and desolate in the winter.

My construction site rescue didn't materialize, it seems the kittens are all gone, presumably adopted by the workers, and we are going to try to get the female there trapped at some point.

On the home front, I have to say that I am still riding on the Buddy being home high, every time I see him I feel happy.

A busy week

It's shaping up to be a busy week, a couple of catsitting gigs and two rescues have materialized.

I'm off to a golf course tonight to get a momma cat and her two kittens and I have also found out about a momma and babies at a construction site.

I've just been scrambling to find steel toed boots, they won't let me on site without them, they aren't normally part of my trapping kit.

Stay tuned for updates...

I found Clara and a tribute to Teddy

Yesterday after I fed I had an odd hunch for some reason I drove down towards the water to look for Clara.  I haven't seen her since the beginning of May when things got busy at the yard.  I went to the spot where I started feeding feral cats many many years ago, not that far as a cat might walk but in another industrial area and would involve crossing a very wide open street.

I drove slowly looking around and my heart sank when I saw a tortishell cat lying in a parking spot not moving.  I first thought it's Clara and she's dead.  Then she started to move, thank god, and when I approached her with the familiar clicker sound she stopped.  I fed her under a car and she seemed hungry but clearly has survived somehow.  I am so happy she's alive.

I'm tempted to trap her and take her back now that things have settled down, I want to make sure she gets food on a regular basis.  Penny has also not been seen for a bit, but I hope she has stuck around, is just lying low.

Yesterday I got a card in the mail from the Scarborough VEC where Teddy was treated.  I was touched to see how many staff took the time to write a note and sign the card.

It felt like a fitting tribute to such a magnificent cat, and a tribute to all homeless and feral cats and to those who love and care for them.  They are not invisible.

I picked up Teddy's ashes and a paw print last week, I think we will have a little service to honour him and the many we have lost.

TNR without the N

Last weekend we were at one of our weekend feeding spots, the one where Mystery occasionally eats.  We hadn't seen her for quite a while but there she was with two new friends.  I hate seeing new cats, I always wonder where they come from.  I think they are Mystery's kittens from before we had her spayed.   The next couple of days I saw one of them so I decided I had better trap her.

Tuesday evening this one was there with Mystery so I set up the trap and no sooner did I walk away then she went in, and clearly was starving as she kept eating oblivious that the door had closed behind her.

As soon as I got close though it was obvious she was lactating so I felt I had to release her, I don't know how old the kittens are or where they are located.  Hopefully I will be able to trap her and her sister at a later date and get the kittens....

Welcome to kittenville

I wasn't meant to end up with a room full of kittens, I had it all worked out, I agreed to help a fellow rescuer out with kittens who is in Niagara Falls taking on the feral problem there.  Two litters, two fosters, just an overnight stay at my place, a vet appointment and then kittens to be dispersed.  Ah, the best laid plans.

Michelle was going to take the three five week olds, but we agreed that with Pip sick with a URI and with her still fostering Ria and Rain we should wait a week, I thought no problem I can handle three little ones.

Then I took the four older to their new foster home but that didn't work out, so back home they came with me.  Seven kittens is a lot of kittens in one room!  And they eat a lot, and poop a lot.  And cost money at the vet, every kitten I rescue has to be vetted, but it's all worth it, these guys would have grown up outside and now they will have homes.  Let's just hope I can survive their stay.  Kittens anyone?

The three five week olds

Cayenne 

Clove, or is that Basil?

Pepper

Cinnamon

Pepper and Cinnamon