Big congrats and thanks go out to my friend Laurie for applying for the low-cost spay/neuter grant from PetSmart Charities. I wrote the grant last time and was awarded $5,000. This time Laurie volunteered and went for more and got it! So we will be able to double our efforts in the next year - $10,000 worth of sterile animals is the best Christmas present I could ever hope for. Laurie - you rock!
Dogs: Hobbes: lab/bassett puppy, Calvin: lab/bassett puppy
Cats: Bandit: torbie kitten, Cici: black kitten, Heather: buff kitten, Mahalia: black and white adult
Adoptions were slow - there was another group there from a kill shelter telling everyone that their animals would be put down if brought back to the shelter. I understand their desire to keep them alive, but in all honesty all of the pets looking for homes yesterday would've been dead if rescue hadn't stepped in. We will not play the sympathy card because we are in this for the long haul. We want homes that have thought this out and are ready to take on a new family member for the next decade or longer, not just until their moment of guilt wears off and they figure out that owning a new pet is a real responsibility. These poor pets might end up homeless again and could end up with a much worse fate than just being humanely euthanized.
I got a comment on my last post asking if I think it is really a crime to let cats be outside and my answer is a resounding "YES".
The short version is people are stupid and kittens are adorably little petrie dishes just trying to grow as many germs as possible. Keep reading for the long version.
Statistically cats that live strictly indoors live much longer than their indoor/outdoor counterparts and certainly much longer than outdoor only cats.
So many dangers are lurking out there for our pets. I wouldn't let my kids play alone in the front yard until they understood traffic and how to cross the road safely. As you can see from the last post, no one taught the orange cat that it was a really stupid idea to lay in the middle of the road, especially as night was falling.
Ask Kenya, the cat with the leg amputated from being hit by a car if she would've rather stayed indoors. Or Bob or Sparky - both of them had their tails blown off by kids tying firecrackers to them. Did you see the post I did about the serial cat killer in Florida? I've heard about other cases like that, but they don't often make headline news. Do your neighbors love your cat? I bet they don't and more often than you think, some annoyed neighbors will poison a pet they see as a nuisance. I know outdoor cats that have been kicked, burned, stabbed and tortured. One subdivision in my county learned to keep cats indoors when someone was killing them, dismembering them and leaving the parts in various yards.
And if your kitty didn't come home, would you assume that he'll come home when he's ready? Very few cats are ever claimed at animal control. Is your pet microchipped? Would you be able to identify your black cat among the 10 black cats at the shelter? Does he wear a collar because those can come off and leave your pet unidentifiable.
Now that we've covered human stupidity, there are a lot of natural forces at work too. Got lillies in your yard? They are toxic to cats. Not worried because you live in the country? Coyotes and hawks see cats as prey. How are you protecting your cat from a roaming dog? I saw a cat at the vet last week that had huge abcesses from where two labs had used it as a chew toy - the cat was being walked on a harness outdoors when the labs came out of nowhere and took off with the cat. Now this sweet and gorgeous Maine Coon is in a lot of pain and is fearful of people because of all the care he needed while he was hurting. Fleas and ticks can make your cat miserable and introduce disease starting with skin irritations from flea allergies to flea anemia and blood borne diseases like hemobartonella. Hemobart has been common around here in the last couple of years and takes 3-6 weeks with nasty tasting medicine to treat.
Hope your cat is vaccinated and that the titers are high enough to offer protection. Outdoor cats are exposed to other cats, most likely not vaccinated exposing your precious pet to herpes, feline leukemia, FIV, panleukopenia, and corona virus which can lead to deadly FIP. That's the short list.
They're also more likely to get things that can be transferred to their human families if allowed outside. Ringworm is big on the list, it lives in soil and for a long time in your house once it's infected. Ringworm itches like heck and leave big ugly sores on your skin. Lice is always nice and comes from catching mice. Fleas bring their own disease and besides infesting your house they give your cats tape worms. Round worms are also common and can be transferred to people. In human hosts, the roundworms like to find their way to the optic nerves and cause blindness. Then there's the things that come from drinking out of puddles, like coccidia and giardia. Both cause very smelly loose stool and can kill a weak cat. Giardia can be passed to humans - it's one of the reasons why you don't drink the water in Mexico.
Sadly all of the examples are ones that I have first hand knowledge of, and just the ones that came to the top of my head. I'm sure there's more. So yes, I love my cats enough to keep them indoors. And I love your cat enough to take the time to explain why I think it's wrong to let them outdoors.
Today has been a swing of ups and downs, much of it related to rescue. So when I checked my email and found this picture, I had to laugh! I so needed it and looking at it still makes me laugh! We have given out these DVD's, which makes it even funnier to me. It's been forwarded a couple of times, so I can't give credit to the photographer, but whoever did it, thanks!
Today started with a private dog training lesson for Jimmy, our newest addition. Good thing he's cute because he sure wasn't in the mood to learn today. The trainer said he has doggy-ADD and we'll have to do some very specific things to get his attention. Don't tell her that I haven't had the energy to put his toys away yet!
Then I picked up a kitty from the vet who is very sick. Poor Delta Dawn had some super-enlarged lymph nodes in her stomach, so those got sent off for biopsy. Her appetite has improved slightly, she had been throwing up bile and spent several days at the vet being observed and getting fluids. Then when I went to check on kitties during my mid-day check, I heard a chorus of sneezing, so tonight I had to drive a town over to pick up some more antibiotics. I'm hoping it doesn't spread farther, but I'm not holding out hope of having cats at adoptions this weekend.
Then on the good side I did find time to take my dogs for a walk tonight - the first time in a long time. I had been sick and then Jimmy dislocated his hip (it popped back in) but he was on rest for a bit so we were good to go. My son and I went into a different neighborhood and found a cat! At first I thought he'd been hit by a car because kitty was just laying in the middle of the street! A gorgeous orange tabby with such a fluffy tail. I had my son hold the dogs and held my breath as I slowly approached. He turned over and meowed at me so I picked him up. His light weight and muscle tone told me that he was a grown kitten, maybe a year old. He purred right away and was so happy to be held. I saw someone outside a house away so I asked if he knew the cat. Indeed it belonged to the neighbor and they let the cat out all the time. I walked up to the front door and a very well dressed woman appeared and I could see that her house was immaculate and well decorated. If she walked into PetSmart and gave her address and with her appearance, we would proably assume that it was a good home, but as I've said, people will always tell you that they're stupid. I asked her if it was her cat, she said it was. I told her he was laying in the road and was almost hit by a car. She told me that he was a country cat and could take care of himself, then haughtily took the cat and closed the door. That beautiful boy deserved better! Just goes to show that you can buy an expensive house but you can't buy brains.
Because if you could buy brains, there wouldn't be any homeless pets at all. There wouldn't be a lot of bad things. I can think of a lot of people that I'd donate money toward getting them a brain upgrade!
I'll go chew up another training video and calm myself down. I sure wish I could do something about the cat.
Here are more of the Rockin' Kitties - one still needs a picture, but she's spending the night at the vet after having a really upset tummy this week. If there's no change by morning, they might do an exploratory surgery to see if she swallowed something that she wasn't supposed to. Foreign bodies can be deadly, so we're hoping that we can figure out why her tummy is feeling crummy.
First up is Johnny B. Goode, the only boy in the bunch! He's super sweet and I can't believe I didn't get a picture of his front right paw, really interesting markings.
Next up we have our twins, who I can easily tell apart now - let's see if you can!
Twin #1 is Proud Mary, she was happy to lay still and get petted and pose for the camera, as long as she could see her brother.
And here is her sister Wild Thing
The difference is on their tummies - an emergency case came in at the vet today and so Wild Thing didn't get spayed, so she was very happy to play and chase the feather toy and get into all sorts of fun! But in the mean time, I can learn their markings and double check who is who by looking to see which one has the shaved belly!
Here is our last set of twins, I was so excited when they just naturally sat like this! A couple of bookends! The one on the left is C.C. Rider. The owner said she was a boy and I realized that I never looked - oops! The kitty on the right is Mustang Sally. She's a little bigger and a lot fluffier, although they all have super-soft fur. I have a thing for classic tabbies, so I think these guys are the prettiest in the bunch and that's saying something because they're all gorgeous.
Mustang Sally
C.C. Rider
The kids are around 5-months-old and would love to find a home with another kitty friend! Super sweet, most would do well with children and have a wonderful soft yet short-haired coat.
Now presenting Dreamsicle, the kitty who got returned last week and I took in kittens from the woman too.
At her first house she was neglected and underfed. She arrived with a litter of kittens who all had upper respiratory infections. In fact their eyes were glued shut from the infection. Criminal charges were filed against the owners. Lack of food wasn't a problem in her new home! In fact exactly the opposite. After being hungry for the first part of her life, she ate more than her share.
As you can see, she's packed on the pounds, but still looks beautiful! Hopefully her next owner will work with her to get the weight off.
Dreamsicle was known as Gabby Rose in her last home. She's always lived in a multi-cat environment and enjoys the company of other kitties. Hopefully that will make her easier to adopt. She's around 5-years-old and is so very sweet. We spent 20 minutes "furminating" (brushing her with the Furminator brush) and got rid of a lot of old coat while she just purred and ate up the attention. It broke her owner's heart to have to give up her cats, but she is another victim of the economy. She lost her job and has to move out of her current place. Her new job will provide room and board, but doesn't allow pets. She never thought she's have to make a decision about getting rid of her pets, but in times like this you do what you have to.
This is one of the older kittens that I brought home with me. They're getting spayed today. I'm not sure which one this is, she's one of the twins - two gorgeous dilute torbies. She wasn't in the mood for a photo shoot, so I didn't press it. Pictures of this litter will be coming up soon! They're all so soft! I could pet them all day long. And their old owner did a great job of socializing them - all sweethearts.
Dogs: Mika: female cattle dog, Owen: male yellow lab mix, Hope: female german shepard mix, Thadeous: male maltese puppy,
Cats: Tansy: kitten black female, Bunsen: kitten black tuxedo female, Norma Jean: black adult female, Dudley: male adult gray and white, Rori: torbie kitten female, Khan: male siamese mix kitten, Caboose: female black and white kitten, Chessie: female torbie kitten, Marco & Polo: male long-haired special need adults, Jango: male adult white
Norma Jean and Dudley were returns that have gotten new homes!
Tansy was the last of her group, part of a rescue of many kittens that were saved the day before being euthanized. The reason that she lasted so long wasn't because of her personality - it's because the black cats get adopted slower. Someone got a great kitten!
Bunsen was one of the kittens rescued by firefighters. Mama ran out of a burning building and they ran in to save her babies! Bunsen was adopted by a highway patrol officer - nice story!
This post will honor the life of one of our former fosters and celebrate the future of two other special white cats.
Snow the White was known as Cinderella when she was in foster care at my house. Hers was an amazing story with an unusually happy ending!
An elderly man living in the city had lost his wife and was lonely. He rescued a couple of feral cats from his neighborhood and suddenly had a population explosion in his house! He got them all spayed/neutered and let them stay, adding a newcomer once in awhile - including the pregant white cat. They lived happily like this for a few years, but his health started to fail and he ended up in the hospital with the worst news he could've heard. He couldn't go home again. Luckily the man had a loving daughter who welcomed him into her home, but because of her allergies, she hadn't set foot in his home in years and there was no way that any of the cats could come with him. It broke the man's heart!
The family tried finding somewhere for the cats to go, but most of them were still ferals that only the man could approach. But there was the group of white cats that had been born at the house and when I heard the story, I had to do something to try to help. I always hope that in "paying it forward" someone will be there to help my animals when the time comes. I was a bit nervous about going into the city and being in an empty house with the son-in-law whom I'd never met in person, so I dragged a friend along for the adventure. He warned us that the house was dirty, so we wore old clothes and had cat carriers and traps along. As I saw the homeless person pass by our car, I wondered if I should really get out - I know, I'm a wuss. I grew up in the country and live in the suburbs; I don't belong in the city! But there were cats who needed me, so we went in.
The house was nearly empty, most of the furniture had been taken out already. We walked around and there was evidence of cats all over - lots of litterboxes and food bowls that had been used, but we didn't see any cats anywhere. We walked the whole house, looked in the basement, in the rafters. We set our traps and when we came upstairs again, we had caught 2 white cats. I went over to the sofa, which was the only thing in the family room and tipped it up. Cats streamed out of it as if it were a clown car! They went into the bedroom which was the only other place with furniture. I eventually coaxed 4 more into crates and we left with six white cats that day. It was hard letting animal control come in to trap the rest of them, but we were out of room and there wasn't much that could've been done with adult ferals. I didn't have the network of contacts back then either; I don't know if that would've made a difference. The family was thrilled that so many of the cats made it to safety. Two of the cats came to live here. Cinderella came out of her shell fairly quickly and was soon adopted by a wonderful family in St. Charles.
They also fell in love with a long-haired gray cat named Argentina (for those of you who've been around for awhile that's Chile's brother - and I still hear Chile stories too, both boys found great homes). Argentina is now Gris. She had always wanted a long-haired black kitten, so when I had a litter she adopted Rigatoni, now known as Noir. All three have been pampered pets, but Snow ruled the roost (good girl!) She let those boys know who was boss and got the prime snuggle time with her new mama.
Unfortunately the vet found a heart murmur and they tried giving her medication, but she ended up throwing a clot. They had one final night together and in the morning she was gone. She truly had a Cinderella story and ended up living in her own dream castle with the love of her life. Snow, you were lucky enough to be saved a couple of times in your life, first by the old man, second by me and third by your adoptive family.
The lesson that I'd like everyone to take from this is the lesson of the old man - make sure that you have your pets' future lined up, because there may come a time when you need to put a plan in motion. Don't trust that your family will love your pets because you did. We have seen so many pets in shelters because their owners died. Have those discussions now, set up "Godparents" for your cat! Don't leave it to the chance that someone in rescue will be able to come forward to help - we are usually full!
And now the good news about two other white cats:
Marco & Polo got adopted!
We all had goosebumps on Saturday as the most wonderful lady fell in love with Marco and Polo! They had a couple of strikes against them, some people are turned off by the long hair, they were six-years-old, one of them was deaf and we wanted them to stay together. But they are wonderful cats who now have a forever home of their own! Congrats boys!
I had a good run without returns, got to go on my vacations with fewer cats in the house so that's a good thing. I haven't taken in many cats this year and they haven't been getting adopted very quickly - I still have kittens that were born here in March that haven't found homes yet.
Today I got 3 calls about former fosters! One is at the Humane Society of Missouri and I have to go get her by Sunday or she'll be put down. (I'm going tomorrow!) Another woman lost her job and after a year of struggling had to give up her cats. She adopted one from me, but had an unaltered female, who had 2 litters of kittens - so now they're in my house too.
I was ready to pull my hair out when I got a 3rd message today. I called the woman and had a very different call. It was sad, but a good reality check for me. Cinderella (aka Snow in her new home) had passed away. She came from a home of an elderly man who fell and couldn't take care of himself anymore. His daughter took him in, but she was allergic to cats and he had around a dozen. They were afraid of people, we had to use traps to get them. Heartland took in 7 pure white cats from his house. One of which went on to have a very happy life and completely spoiled and pampered! Her new mom adopted 2 other cats from me and gave me regular updates. She's going to email me pictures of Snow and I'll be posting more about her later. So while I'm sad that she has passed on, I'm happy to hear that one of my fosters was loved for the rest of her life and got a happily ever after - that's all I could've asked for my little Cinderella!
