September stats - subtitle too busy to blog

September feels like it went by in a blur, and when I recount all the cat stuff that happened I realize why. Just this week I helped some neighbours TNR four cats from the same litter, around six months old. The people on the street feed them and provide shelter, now thankfully there won't be any more kittens (they got the mom spayed previously). The one below has a cloudy eye but she's fine. Reggie (a girl) has two sisters and a brother. Think of all the kittens that combo could have produced!

I helped another neighbour get a momma cat spayed and found her kitten, Annie Sparkles, a fabulous home with Connie. Connie was fostering her and fell in love. Don't worry, she's only allowed out supervised. I think I might be getting a reputation out there as a cat rescuer.
And then there was Hank, who was not looking well, trapped and discovered he had a mouthful of rotten teeth. After two weeks of recovery and a very large vet bill Hank has returned to his clan, much healthier.
There is just the usual daily feeding too, it takes 15 minutes to get there, an hour to feed at all the locations, 15 minutes to get home, and another 15 minutes to wash all the dishes.
Whew, maybe it's better not to list it all out. October means it's time to get the colony ready for winter, cleaning up and replacing all the straw in the shelters. At least today I made time to go to yoga (after I fed the colony and returned some traps). I have to remember to take care of myself too.

While I was sleeping...

Last week I was away on what was a much needed vacation (I didn't realize how badly I needed a break until I had it). Thankfully we have a great team to take care of the cats because it turned out to be a busy week. A TV show shot for 2 days at Harry's right where the cats hang out. We were unable to feed them during that time and I'm sure they were all hiding anyway.

Although of course I worried, things got moved out and back, the cats came back, and best of all, the area was powerwashed.

After two weeks inside, Hank was released back to the colony last week. I'm sure he was grateful to be out of that little space but his surgery and recovery time served him well, Hank looks great, and is eating. Bizarrely, even though he has no teeth, he goes straight for the hard food.
Hopefully all that will buy Hank a few more years with us - he must feel so much better without all those rotten teeth.
Sally seemed very happy to see her buddy come home.
Benji, a new orange and white guy, is being sighted occasionally so hopefully he too will become one of the colony.

Adorable feral cats

Even feral cats can be adorable. Here is MC and a UBC rubbing heads.

Who is who? I don't know, that's why we call them UBCs.
Socks is very happy now that he doesn't have sore teeth.
OK, this isn't a cute photo but I'm pleased to report that I saw Stubby (the one who had his injured tail amputated, hence the name) on the weekend. He waits for us to leave to come and eat.
This will be my next poster shot. How pathetic is that. This really is the reality of these cats' lives but luckily cats don't feel sorry for themselves.

Whew!

I'm sick with a cold so just a short post to report on some good news.

The porch kitten from the previous post has found a home! She tamed very quickly and is going to a wonderful forever home on the weekend.

And Bruno, my neighbourhood stray, has a foster home. At least he is safe and warm and off the streets for now.

Hank, our orange feral, who went in to the vet's last week, had to have all teeth pulled. We were very worried because he didn't eat for the first 3 nights after his surgery. We moved him into a recovery home, and Joanne prepared him very tasty meals and now he is eating. What a relief. Thank you, Joanne, for taking such good care of our Hankie.

So some stress relief for me and lots of good news for cats. Back to bed. Cute feral pictures to follow in the next day or two.

So much for not much happening

Well I went from not much happening to full on craziness.

This cute kitten was living outside on a neighbour's porch with the mother until last weekend. When I found out what was going on I offered to find a home for the kitten and get the mom spayed.
Annie Sparkles is at Connie's right now, getting lots of love. She is about 11 weeks old and needs a home. Next week I will take the mother in to the vet and the neighbour has said she will continue to feed her.

At our colony Hank has not been looking good, barely eating and something strange going on around his mouth. With the help of a drop trap (I forgot to take pictures, too much going on) we managed to trap him and take him in to the vet.

Poor Hank's mouth was full of rotten teeth so we decided to go ahead and have almost all of them pulled out. I can't believe how much the bill is going to be but we all love Hank and if we recovers well then he could live happily for a few more years. It's so hard to know what the right decision is in these circumstances, I don't have the space here to describe how agonizing the decision making process can be.

I've also gotten myself involved in a mini mass trapping, more on that later, and next week I may have some good Bruno news to report. That is of course if I don't collapse from exhaustion first.

Wednesday miscellanea

It's been kind of a funny week, not too much happening but a couple of good things to report.

Pat and Linda, the lovely people who adopted our Henry, have joined our group and will be feeding once a week. I'm grateful for more support. These guys are waiting every day, rain or shine, and we can't let them down.

Carol, a friend of Sandi's, generously made a donation towards Stubby and Socks vet bills. Thank you Carol! We haven't been seeing poor Stubby, I can only hope he is coming later to eat.

This is Morris, one of the newcomers, who is being seen more frequently.
The gang at Hank's get along so well, I love when they rub against each other.
Hank knows the importance of proper hygiene.
I've taken Bruno, my neighbourhood guy, in to be neutered, although I am heartbroken that I have to return him to the streets. When I awake at 5 a.m. thinking have I done all I can for him, I must repeat, I cannot save them all - he is better off than he was but I know it will be small consolation to me when I have to open that carrier on Friday and let him back outside.

Socks and Stubby go home

After 10 long days of recovery at the vet's we picked up Stubby and Socks to take them back to the yard. Stubby is the new orange guy with the injured tail who had to have it amputated.

Poor thing was so scared that he was shaking in the carrier.

Even after we opened the carrier it took him about 5 minutes before he would venture out, then he ran for it. He's such a cute guy.
Socks showed no hesitation in flying out of his carrier. He was neutered and had 5 rotted teeth removed. I did see them both the next day so hopefully they will stick around, available food is usually a pretty good motivator.
The gang at Hank's thankfully seem to be accepting of the two new orange cats. Usually ferals will not allow new cats to join their group.
I find these two pictures kind of heartbreaking, MC and Hank resting on whatever is available, sadly not a nice soft cat bed like my spoiled guys at home have.

Keep on trucking

I have to admit that I was feeling pretty depressed last night. I found a foster home to take Bruno, the cute grey and white tabby neighbourhood stray and I had his neuter all booked, but at the last minute the foster home changed their mind and I had to go tell Bruno that he had to hang on a little longer until I found him somewhere to go.

Then this lovely photo of Reggie arrived in my inbox. Reggie was a kitten who was rescued last year from our colony, now very much loved.

I had to remind myself that in the last year I've had a hand in rescuing and finding homes for more than 20 cats. I felt better after that. I will continue to try to find a spot for Bruno. I so want to take him home but we really have too many and it would be too much stress for the residents.

There are lots of homeless cats, sometimes it feels endless, but I can only do what I can do. My co-worker decided to take in an abandoned cat so today I spent more than four hours in the car driving him back and forth to the vet but well worth it for another cat to be off the street.

I'm happy to get back to feeding the colony today, it's been a week since I've seen them and I miss them. Socks will be going back tomorrow and possibly Stubby too. No time to feel down!

Whew - what a week

What a crazy few days. Last week we saw a new orange cat, then realized its poor tail was just a bloody stump. Who knows how Stubby got hurt. We tried for a few days before we were lucky enough to trap him. I don't have any pictures but he was bleeding all over the car.

He had to have his tail amputated but he should be OK in about 10 days, although he is FIV positive. Good thing Stubby found us. I think he got injured in the recycling plant, it's such a dangerous spot where our cats are.

As we were trying to get Stubby, I also managed to grab MC. She had the worst mats I have ever seen. Those are actually mats on her back end, they were like wings.

She spent the night at the vet's and got all her nasty mats shaved off. Here is her after shot.
We also trapped a black and white cat, Socks, who was neutered and had 5 rotting teeth removed. He will also have an extended stay at the vet until his mouth heals up. I thought there was only one black and white cat but I saw one today so guess we will call him Semi-Socks.
This is my poor car, filled to the brim with cats in carriers and traps.
I've been at the yard nine days straight, feeding and trapping, driving back and forth to the vet, putting up posters for my stray guy Bruno so tonight I am beat. We're going away this weekend for the first time this summer. It will seem odd not to be at the yard, amongst the flies and garbage, hope I can adjust.

My mini-colony

I seem to have acquired a new mini-colony in my neighbourhood.

A few months ago I was out for a walk and spotted a litter of kittens living in a sorely neglected yard. I knocked on the door and the elderly lady said "would you like them", the mother cats and kittens were living in the yard and she was planning to sell the house. Aaffien and I trapped them, the kittens went off to foster homes, the mom got spayed and returned. The next door neighbour thankfully agreed to help feed. I've been going up most days to feed Suzie the black cat and then Bruno, who I'm sure was the father, appeared too.
The house has been sold and is now under construction so every night I sneak in the yard and feed these two. Suzie (the black one on the right) is pretty feral but Bruno has turned out to be a sweetie.
He's very chatty and friendly and I desperately want to find him a home. No, not my home, I'm past cat capacity but he needs somewhere to live before the winter and before the new owners move in. He is so nice!
Know anyone who would give him a foster or forever home? I would get him neutered, vaccinated, dewormed, all fixed up and provide food and litter. How can you resist that cute face? Tonight he tried to follow me home:(