Thursday, June 28, 2007

Portland Trail Blazers Choose Cat Woman as Number One Pick!

The Portland Trail Blazers settled months of debate Thursday night when they chose Jody the Cat Woman, over Oden and fellow college freshman Kevin Durant with the No. 1 pick in a highly anticipated NBA draft.

Portland opted for the 5'8"-footer who they believe will dominate a game with cat calls, craftiness, sarcasim and quick hands, attributed to work with cats, over the sensational scoring and relative youth of Oden and Durant.

Franchise cat women are hard to find, and most believe the Blazers got a good one in the obsessive cat trapper, who claims "I always get my cat. Even though I've never actually played basketball I see no reason why that should stop me from always getting my basket. Besides, I can really use the millions of dollars I'll be making!

That was enough to beat out Oden, who led Ohio State to the national championship game despite never playing at full strength after surgery on his right wrist.

Looking flea bitten and battling a slight rabies infection since arriving in New York, Jody the Cat Woman shared a long handshake with commissioner David Stern before heading off in search of homegrown cat weed, which she claimed later is a key component to her future success in basketball. Although expected to fly to Portland later Thursday night, Jody the Cat Woman did not make the flight. Later, someone spotted her in a beach resort surrounded by cat fixers from every state. Her only comment---"Hey, they should be making millions for what they do, which is a more significant "ball game" (drunken chortles break out among the cat women). At least I can give them what they deserve now!"

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Waking Up the Cats Video

It's amazing these days what one can do with a still camera, if it is digital and some rechargable batteries. Amazing. Me and my cats are going to be Youtube stars, one AA battery charge at a time.

Worried About Moby

I am worried about Moby. I haven't heard a thing all day. He's up at the clinic. I did call three times. The last time I called they said the doctor couldn't give him his final X-ray until after 6:00 and to come get him tomorrow. I asked if he'd eaten and the assistant asked what kind of food he usually gets, wet or dry. I said both but that he's not eating and hasn't been. Today is the third day. YOu can't put food out in front of a cat who is not eating. You have to force feed them and perhaps give them fluids. But first, the blockage, if that what is wrong, must be dealt with.

I wish I'd just asked for metaclopamine, or whatever that drug is he's had before, when suffering a blockage. But I told them that has done the job before, so perhaps they just gave him that.

So I'm worried about my beloved Moby, having heard nothing. I am worried toxicity will set in, if the blockage is not dealt with. I'm worried because he's not eaten for so long. Maybe everything has been dealt with by now. I am just worried, that's all. I love him very much.

Miss Daisy Spins Video

Twister, Some Last Photos Before He Leaves for New Home

I've become attached to this big orange guy. He's a sweetheart. Thursday morning, after I drop off cats at Countryside, I'll run him up to his new home in Portland with about the best owner he could ever imagine. Twister is a big sweet lovable bear, with huge soft orange paws. He adores my other cats and has not been aggressive with them. However, I keep them seperate, because I have some bitches, who might go at him, and I don't want them to be bitten and get FIV.

Moby is now over-nighting at the vets. Tomorrow he will be given barium, to see where he is likely partially blocked. The vet believes this is the cause of his diarrhea, as do I. I had given him fluids. But his stomach is full of fluids, the vet says. This is consistent with partial blockage. When he sleeps, he leaks diarrhea past the partial blockage. I am hoping it is hairball caused and not from swallowing a piece of a cat toy. Someone sent me some cat toys. Too late I realized they had felt feelers and dangler narrow strips, that break off easily and could be ingested. I gathered them up quickly, on Saturday, after getting the package containing the cat toys, but I hope it wasn't a piece of that he swallowed, because that could be more complicated to pass or get out than a hairball rope.

I had also given him canned pumpkin mixed in water, catlax, then minced carrots in water in the hours prior to taking him to the vet. He vomited up some of the pumpkin, but not the catlax or minced carrots. So, by morning, maybe his issue will be resolved without a more expensive procedure.

The vet said sometimes barium alone will open up the bowel and relieve a blockage. I had mentioned to him that his lower than normal body temp was consistent also with previous hairball episodes he has had in the past, and that treatment with metacopamide or something like that, solved the issue within hours.

What will happen July 1, when the new vets take over at Countryside? I still don't know. I asked about all the cats there, what will become of them. The assistant, who has been fired by the new vets, said the doctor was taking some with him to their new home in Tennessee but that some would stay. She hopes the new vet will feed them. I can't imagine that they would not, because it would be upsetting to a lot of people if they "disappeared".

But I still don't know if the new vet will raise prices or take Poppa funds. It's all up in the air and making me quite nervous. What would I do if I could not spend my time rounding up unfixed cats? I asked the fired assistant if I will be able to keep the July fixing appointments I've made and she said "keep them" and "you'll know the deal when you bring in the first cats under the new vet". So, whatever happens, happens.


Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Moby is Sick


Comet, from Heatherdale Trailer park, and Moby.

Yesterday my own cat, Moby, became lethargic. Later in the evening, he began leaking diarrhea, wherever he would sleep. And yet, if he attempts to go to the bathroom, he seems unable to. He has also vomited. His temperature is slightly below normal.

This is consistent with a hairball issue. Moby has had these issues repeatedly, especially this time of year. I trimmed off most of his long hair, attempting to keep this less of a problem for him, once shedding season hit. I don't know that this is his problem, but it seems likely.

He has never had the issue of leaking diarrhea, however, while he sleeps, with a hairball issue. He has had bouts of extreme lethargy, failure to eat or drink and low body temp associated with hairballs and then, a couple days on metacopamine does the trick.

So, if you give a cat with diarrhea caused by hairballs something to dry up the diarrhea, one can make a cat worse, if it is indeed caused by hairballs. I gave him fluids an hour ago, 120 cc. He did not absorb them quickly, which was disturbing. Instead they actually sunk, from the bubble of fluids under the skin under his shoulder, where I gave them, to down near his left armpit. So I am about to take him to the vet.

Moby is an old cat, rather ancient in fact. He is my ghandi cat. Most of his teeth were pulled in a dental a bit over a year ago. He showed up in late 1999, as a stray, who would perch despondantly on the fence of the duplex where I lived near Fred Meyer in Corvallis. My own cat, Hopi, the only other cat I had at that time, would go outside and they would interact.

I trapped him in January of 2000 and took him to a Portland FCCO clinic, where it was determined he was already neutered. But, they accidentally mistook him for a girl, and opened him up to discover he was a neutered male.

Anyhow, he was very badly matted, so badly matted his chin hair was matted to his chest hair. he couldn't raise his head.

I shaved much of the mats away. For a time, I fed him outside, but it got very very cold that winter. I then had added Electra and Bangor to my cat horde. I didn't want more. I had placed Found Ads, which went unanswered, then Home Wanted ads, which also went unanswered. I could not leave him outside in the frigid weather, however, and so Hopi, Electra, Bangor and myself invited him in. He never left. He was older already. And that was seven years ago. He is probably close to 15. Maybe older than that. The only health issues Moby has had, were the matting problem, the bad teeth issue, which I took care of promptly, and hairball issues. He's never been really sick before, outside of the hairballs.

I love Moby very much. He's just a wondrous cat, shining with love and goodwill towards all.

I am fortunate in that a Portland couple sent a donation. And, my vet's office told me, a woman who reads my blog donated $50 at the vet clinic, for care of cats. So I have the money to help Moby. And we're leaving for the vet right now.

Monday, June 25, 2007

More Millersburg Country Colony Cats--Five More Fixed Yesterday

Five more Millersburg Country Colony cats were fixed yesterday, at a Eugene FCCO clinic, along with the female from across the street, who tragically died right after surgery, and a female from Philomath who also has kittens.

I won't be returning to the Eugene FCCO clinics. I'm convinced the cat might still be alive had she been fixed elsewhere. I'm not sure on that, but the chain of events after she began experiencing problems, in recovery at the clinic, were severely weighted against her chances. In other words, I currently am not happy with the failure to follow procedure at the Eugene clinic.

In post op or recovery, if a cat is experiencing problems breathing or with bleeding, one is to rush them out to the van. That didn't happen for her.

I have removed the details of what happened from this blog. While it was disturbing that procedure was not followed and that the vet on the van said she could not recall what to do in such an emergency, I am filing a report with the FCCO board about what I witnessed and hope they will make some changes.

Perhaps it was fate that I was there at that instant and that it was a cat I brought and that I saw the way the emergency was handled. I love cats. I don't shy away from unpopular things that need done and there needs to be something done. I saw that this Sunday. If people want to put their heads in the sand and point more fingers at me, fine. Changes still need made. If changes aren't made, a program slides and becomes shoddy. Same thing if training isn't kept up.

The changes that need to occur are: re-training of post op and recovery volunteers and training the newer volunteers. I know they get no official training anymore because I've been involved in the Philomath clinics; and that the vet or tech inside be trained to treat instantly a cat who has crashed.

Anyhow.....

I was exhausted the day of the clinic, after trapping for nearly 16 hours the day before. I had checked the cats into the clinic early, then delivered Frap to his new home. I was expecting the cats to be done by early afternoon as the card I was given, at check-in, had said, then I would head home and be in bed early for a change. But the clinic was chaos to begin with, because the FCCO techs forgot to bring surgery gowns, so the surgeries began late.

At 4:00 p.m., they said it would be two more hours, since two of my cats were in the van still, one, not yet even into surgery. Then, I was told it would be another hour, or another. In fact, my last two cats were among the last done on the van even though I had registered the cats early, and cats registered even an hour later, got done before my last cats. They knew I had a long drive home. All day, after i returned from delivering Frap to his new home, I waited in my car. I was too tired to drive anywhere else.

I'd brought the cage back that Hoffa had been in for a week, too, so my car was too loaded for me to sleep in the back. I was not wanted inside as a volunteer nor did I want to volunteer after what had happened inside with the cat who died.

I didn't get home until after 11:00, because I had to deliver the female from Philomath back, first. When I told that woman why I was so tired, that my cats were done last, how exhausting the day had been, how I had hoped to get home early and be in bed, she said "they left yours til last for punishment." She may be right. I don't know.


That female who died wasn't sickly. Check out her photo two posts below, taken the day before I trapped her, two days before her death. In reality, she'd only gotten skinny after having those kittens. She had worms and she was being fed the cheapest dry food available and not much of that. So she was run down from malnutrition, worms and feeding her kittens, who likely will die. I could only find one of them.

But she wasn't sickly. She was a teen mom. I don't know why she crashed.

Anyhow, horrible long awful day to go through, when I was already exhausted from trying to catch more cats at the Millersburg colony. I caught the five more, plus the one across the road, now deceased, one of her kittens and yet another kitten, of two, out deep in the junk filled barn.

I also had to buy more KMR, for the three bottle babes, being cared for by the colony caretaker's niece, who was kicked out of her house when she graduated from high school and now lives in a camp trailer, a nice one, in front of her grandparents house, which is in front of the colony caretakers trailer.

These folks are struggling hard to survive. All of them. Right next door, the kids who lived there with their dad, now live there alone. Their dad just died of a brain tumor a few weeks ago. They are related somehow, although I forget how, to everyone else, in house and trailer next to where they live. They are age 15 and 17 or 18, and on their own. The old folks in the house in front of the colony caretakers trailer have severe health issues of their own, but they're all trying to make it, to help one another survive.

The colony caretaker herself, who lives in the back trailer, is the only one of the bunch currently with a job, a minimum wage job at that.

Across the road, in the house where the little now dead barn cat lived, lives a kind couple who cared for her. The woman has been fighting cancer for years, and has had a relapse. The property is spotless and well cared for, just like the property is of the struggling intermingled family on the other side of the road, where all the cats are.

Anyhow, I get frustrated, but helping out these folks is really very gratifying. They truly need the help and badly.

They had two more ready for me this a.m.--the orange manx and another black male. The kittens all look good, including the orphaned female torbi kitten of the now dead mother, the little boy tabby tux with the white tipped tail from some unknown mother out back (he's the one I dug out of the junk filled barn) and the three really young kittens of Bad Mom, who is now fixed.

Three more males and two more females from there were fixed yesterday and two more males are being fixed today. The total now stands at 20 adults fixed, although the one died, and 12 kittens removed or contained. 32 cats.

This afternoon, I've had to contend with the monster Mexican kids, shooting a BB or pellet gun again. That is, until one whistled through or over the fence and through a leaf not more than two feet from my head. I was mad. I charged the back fence and yelled at those brats to stop shooting, that it was illegal and they'd almost hit me again. The kid said "Yeah, I didn't know it was illegal" and shot again. I told him I was going inside to call the cops. I didn't, because I couldn't get my phone to work. I'm going to also let him know if he hits me, his parents will get to pay all my medical expenses. Maybe he'll at least have some respect for his parents, who work.

I was sad to say goodbye to my friends of several years, A and M, who left today. They are moving back to Vermont, their original home. I met them when they adopted Serenity and Poco from me about three or four years ago. We've been friends ever since. A year ago, A, a fantastic artist and very kind hearted person, moved to their house back east, and they put their house in Corvallis up for sale while M stayed in Corvallis to finish out his job, as a professor at the university. I loved that house of theirs and tried hard to find someone "worthy" of it, who could buy it. The asking price, however, was hefty.

In the end, it was sold to some people who are going to let their college student daughter live in it. I was pretty much heartbroken to hear that wonderful house and garden out back, lovingly created, was going to be housing college students, who generally respect nothing. I know. There are exceptions. My friend said she could see the front garden soon having cars and big pickups parked across it, since the house driveway parks only two cars.

I was sad to see them go, but A was actually happy to be leaving Corvallis for good. Their place back east she says is by a small town and people are very friendly.

I don't have many friends in this area. Actually, Ann left a year ago. She came back to help pack up the Corvallis house. They gave me their table chairs, four of them, and some old paint I chose from many many cans, most of which were staying with the house. I took the primer sealant cans, two of them, because I can probably use those at some point.

I know most people, including my writer acquaintance, W, think it's very normal for a human being to exist in a vacuum of human contact. I know she tells me this by e-mail because she doesn't want me to bother her or to think we are really friends that might do something together. I need to just leave her be. But I try, you know, because I need human contact. I want human contact.

She told me today, just plant some pretty flowers for a nice space where you can enjoy being alone. Or something. Pile of shit, if you ask me. A crock. What she's really saying is "Leave me alone. We're never going to do anything. You're not my friend." She and her significant other were headed over to eastern Oregon for a two week or more vacation. I get the message. Can't blame me for trying.

My opinion is, a person could live under a bridge or in an outhouse and if surrounded by family or close friends, wouldn't matter. I start looking back at my homeless days with fondness, even longing, because I saw people everyday and although many were drunks, I had friends, people to talk to.

The draw of homelessness for some is the sense of family and belonging that one rarely finds in "civilized" American society. Do gooders want to coral the homeless, and "help them" out of their mental health issues or addiction issues. But to what life? I got "help". The "help" consisted of being forcibly drugged, sometimes on nine different psyche drugs, patronized, abused, and locked away into complete isolation and meaninglessness in a high rise converted low income motel where every day was the same. Who would choose such an unhealthy awful lonely life over say the camaraderie of homelessness? What sane person would do so?

Our society is mentally ill and many of our cherished values are insane or unhealthy or both.

Maybe I should have been born in Mexico to a huge big honking Mexican family. Maybe I can find a Mexican family who will adopt me.

My search for meaningful social contact, on a regular basis, continues. Maybe it isn't possible to find. I don't know.

That area where the Millersburg colony cats live, is lovely, and actually closer to downtown Albany, than where I live now. Yet it's country. Pure country living. I didn't know that area existed prior to when this colony caretaker contacted me. I also found another area, a bit south of where I now live, but only by a couple of miles, that is still pure country, yet very close to Albany and even closer to Corvallis.

Another area I've come to love, through cat trapping around in the area in multiple locations, is the area south of Corvallis and Philomath, off the country roads, paved and gravel. It's beautiful and so peaceful at night. Yet close to both Corvallis and Philomath.

Speaking of Philomath, it's unrecognizable, due to the bypass highway being built. I couldn't find my way around it, the other day, when attempting to access one of my favorite stores there. I finally gave up in a huff. I then drove on, to the colony I was trapping south of there, and mentioned this to the woman, who said, "Isn't it a sin?" Then she started laughing and said she felt sorry for the businesses in Philomath and the residents, now so uprooted by all this nonsense.

These are the areas where I wish I could be live, where the stars can still be seen at night, where one is not, at least not yet, surrounded by miles of concrete and development and the discontent that comes when people are tightly packed together.




Big black male.

The impregnator--the black tux male.Silver tabby male.
Silver tabby female
Brown tabby female.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Projects

Today, I'm taking it easy. I've had two phone calls, both Albany people, one with two unaltered males and one with two unaltered females. So I scheduled them in for next week. Frap is recovering from his surgery yesterday, quietly, in the spare bedroom. The bad tooth had broken off from blunt force at some point, probably some time ago, and become infected. All his other teeth were just fine. So, he's on antibiotics, already feeling better, and going to his home on Sunday. He will be joining his brother Jack.

Twister is doing just fine, free roaming my spare bedroom, except, for one thing. Sweet rescued Twister kept me up half the night howling, so I finally closed off the bedroom door and put him in his rabbit hutch inside the bedroom for the night. I had built a screen door and installed it on the spare bedroom so that new cats could become socialized. He is now socializing through the screen door with Miss Daisy, who already adores him. Miss Daisy adores everyone, however.

Keni, who said she will take on Twister, has not responded to my e-mail asking when she'd like me to bring him up. She's a busy woman. So, I'm hoping it can also be worked in this weekend. If not, then ok.

I had not received my FCCO registration packet yet, for the 8 reservations I made a few weeks ago for Sunday's clinic in Eugene. So I called the caregiver registrar. Unfortunately, they have overbooked the clinic, to the tune of 150 cats. She had also forgotten to write down my 8. She thinks it will be ok, and that I can bring them, but I won't know for sure until this evening. I had planned on finishing the Millersburg colony with Sunday's spots plus getting the stray barn female across the road in, too. While I was down Sunday, I planned on taking Frap over to his new home. He'll go to his home either way, however.

I finally moved this computer desk off the unpainted area, pulled up the little piece of carpet left under it and painted that area of the floor. My desk is still pulled out into the middle of the bedroom while the paint dries and the cats are banished, which is making them mad, since they can't go into the spare bedroom either, with Frap and Twister in there.

I also repaired the wall in the closet. When I painted the floor, I found a soggy falling apart piece of sheetrock, from the cats missing their mark. So I dug it out, patched it with drywall wall patch, but still had not covered it over with some sort of spackle, which I did this morning, and reattached the baseboards at floor, not carpet, level.

Last night, I rearranged the living room a bit. The cats like the furniture moved around. Beneath the love seat, I found all the missing cat toys, about 20 of them. After that, the cats were happy.

Countryside Vet Clinic gave me two fiberglass cages, one a double wide, that had been given to them. They were out back because they'd never fixed them up or used them and now that he's leaving, he has to get anything that was his out of there. So they offered them to me. I brought all the pieces home. Took a bit to clean them up. I had to sand the metal doors and latches and reattach some of the latches. Then I painted the rusty metal. Now they're good to go, but they're in my garage. Eventually I will move them into the spare bedroom. The garage cannot be used to house cats in the spring, summer or fall, due to extreme heat.

It's almost 4:00 p.m. and I haven't even left the house yet today, or eaten. My older brother had given me the gift of basic cable TV for a year. I've become disgusted with TV and see no reason to waste his money on cable, which is a rip off. So it is being disconnected. I am happy about this change. Watching TV is not good for me. In the words of a line riding cat trapper out of Brownsville: "TV makes you fat, stupid and boring." She's right.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Young Mom of two

The young torbi was dumped off near the other colony a few months ago. The barn owners hate cat dumpers and want to do them bodily harm, in fact. Anyhow, this young female, not much more than a kitten herself, has two six week old kittens of her own to care for. I hope to take her in to be fixed Sunday, at the Eugene FCCO clinic.

While her Kittens Scream, Mom is Under Porch, Making it with a Manx

I spotted Bad Mom today, the teen whose five screaming kittens I found throughout a wide area, apparently misplaced when she was moving them, the first time I was out at the colony. I brought them home for the night, fed them well with KMR, then returned them to the colony caretaker who said she had an inside female who would nurse them. Instead, she put the teen mom inside a carrier with her kittens, hoping she would care for them. She didn't. Two died. Then she moved the other three. Everyone thought they had died, too, since she displays very little interest or skill in caring for kittens.

Today, when returning the five fixed cats, I spotted Bad Mom on the porch eating. Marmi, the well endowed still unfixed orange bobtail, was "with her" and I mean really "with her". After they ate together, which was almost pornographic to watch, they took their live act under the porch and I took mine out back of the trailer where, once again, I found her three surviving screaming kittens. This time she ain't getting them back. They're going to a foster home and she is getting spayed. All her bad boy boyfriends are getting their nuts cut off, too.





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The Five Millersburg Country Colony Cats Fixed Yesterday

Five more Millersburg Country Colony cats were fixed yesterday, bringing the total adults fixed there to 12, while seven kittens have been removed. These are the photos of the latest fixes, including four females, one of whom was pregnant.

When I returned the cats this morning, I spotted Bad Mom, the teen mother of the five tiny kittens I found all over the place, screaming, the first time I was out there. I brought them home over night, fed them KMR every few hours, then returned them, because the colony caretaker said she had a lactating inside female who would feed them. But, she turned them out, locking the teen mom inside a carrier with the kittens. This didn't work either. Two died then the other three disappeared. After spotting Bad Mom on the deck, hanging with an unfixed bobtailed orange male, I went out back and quickly found the surviving three kittens. The neice of the colony caretaker pledges to care for them. Two have diarrhea. All were dehydrated and hungry to the point that these ten day olds tried to eat wet food--not normal for that age. So Bad Mom is going to be fixed Sunday and so is her latest love interest.Abbytabby tux female, pregnant at spay, returned to colony today.
Dominant beat up black short hair male, returned today, fixed yesterday.
In heat brown tabby tux female, who was making it with the big bad black tux, just prior to when I trapped her. He's next on my list, too.
Silver Tabby female, sister of the in heat silver tabby female fixed Monday. This is the mom of the two six week old kittens Heartland took in. She was in heat again.
Gray tabby female, fixed yesterday, returned today, and mother of the five seven week old kittens Heartland thankfully took in yesterday. She also was already in heat again.

Left to fix: Black tux short hair male. Orange tabby bobtail male. Brown tabby male (most likely a male), gray tabby male, Bad Mom, Black short hair female. Inside Siamese manx female. There may be more. In addition, the folks across the road, whose housepets are all fixed, have a young torbi female who showed up, now with two kittens. I hope to get her fixed at the FCCO clinic on Sunday. I have 8 spots, but have not yet received the paperwork I expected, so I hope nothing's gone afoul.

My Clover Ridge Boys---Twister and Frap

I'm not putting Twister to death. I'm not. I can't. I won't. He's healthy. Just because he has FIV, because some jerk off idiot decided not to get him fixed, so he fought and eventually fought and was bitten by a male carrying FIV, he's not going to die. Death can take a hike, a hike away from Twister, because he is in my arms now, and he trusts me. He believes I am his savior and I will not betray his trust.

Anyhow, Frap is going in to have that broken tooth pulled tomorrow. And then I'll return the five cats from the Millersburg Country Colony afterwards. They were fixed today. Four females, one of them pregnant and one male.

These cats from Clover Ridge road have suffered a lot. They're not ferals. I have cursed getting sucked into involvement, but I saved their lives. They know that. It's a good feeling.
 

 

 
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Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Twister's Last Night on Earth

Tonight is Twister's last night on Earth. Twister is positive for FIV, feline aids. This disease is epidemic in Albany because so few people fix their male cats, or even their females. He is a big lovable boy and he's afraid to die. I took him and Frap over to Heartland, for testing, because they charged me only $25, compared to the $65 it would have cost at the cheapest private vet around. He got so scared. His euthanasia will cost $65. Frap was negative. Tomorrow he will have his bad tooth removed. I'm going deeper and deeper into debt over these Clover Ridge cats. Plus even the thought of Twister's death is pretty much killing me.

I put my heart and soul into helping these cats out. I have no money, let's face it, no right to be doing this. And yet, I've helped thousands. The most help I deliver is in spay/neuter because that prevents deaths, lots of deaths and lots of suffering. But the burden I bear, helping these unwanted cats out is sometimes unbearable. I have no human support whatsoever. In fact, I take abuse, manipulation, and lies every day, working to help cats, here in Albany, OR. The sadness sometimes overwhelms me. Mostly, I stuff the pain.

I love Twister already. But, there are no options for this sweet guy who some asshole didn't get fixed. Nobody adopts FIV positive cats. Nobody. It'll be extremely hard to even find a home for Frap because he's an adult male.

So tomorrow, Twister's time on Earth will come to an end. And I'll be angry, I know, and I'll drive down Clover Ridge with the windows open screaming curses at that god forsaken neighborhood on his behalf.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Worn Down and Out

I am worn down and out. $21 more bucks for antibiotics for the orange male with the absess, from Clover Ridge Road. No leads on homes for either him or the sweet black and white male--Frap. They've been in my garage in cages. They'll have to move elsewhere due to the extreme heat in the garage. It will be too hot for human or animal now in the garage until fall.

I have given up that I will ever have a cat yard here. My brother's too busy but he doesn't want me trying to make one out of scrounged materials. And the logistics with the garage in the way make it nearly impossible anyhow.

Doesn't matter.

I want to leave. The cats hate it here, without cat runs or a way to enjoy the outside.

I want to live where I can see the stars at night, where I can walk to downtown and have parks to hike in. The concrete and crushing traffic, the noise of Albany, is killing me and not softly. The culture here is completely different than I am used to. I just want a hideaway along a river. I had so many places in Corvallis and around there, that I could run to, to get away. I miss having my window wide open nights, to the night air, cold or hot, and the stars in my eyes as I fell asleep. I miss that so much I just want to cry.

Living here is so far from who I am, what I like, that I can't even recognize my life anymore.

I am convinced the lack of greenery, the concrete and car culture is what makes people turn to drugs, crime and angry outbursts.

I told my brother I want him to sell the house today. In an e-mail. He did not reply. I know, he doesn't have time for that sort of shit. It's his house. I guess he can rent it once I"m gone if he decides not to sell it. I have to stay here a year, to keep HUD. Stay here, here, until next February. The thought kills me.

Some woman called today, was insistent I get her cat fixed immediately, that she's had kittens, and she wants to go join her husband in the mountains. So, I have this feeling, although she says she's going to keep the cat, that she intends to dump the cat on me, because she was just insistent about me picking the cat up to take up to be spayed. I told her she should get a SafeHaven voucher to get the cat fixed. So, I am fairly sure if I took the cat up to be fixed, this woman would not be there when I got back with her--forcing the cat on me. So I won't be getting her cat fixed. I don't trust her. Besides, I did give her a way to get the cat fixed, through a SafeHaven voucher.

Another woman who adopted a kitten from me a year ago, says she got another kitten from a friend and would like to know a free way to get the cat neutered. I haven't returned her call because she calls on a long distance number cell phone and I don't have long distance.

I trapped five more cats, four of them females, two of whom are pregnant, at the Millersburg colony. The third and fourth females are the mothers of the two sets of kittens Heartland now has. And the fifth cat is a black male. Total adults fixed there as of tomorrow--12, with seven kittens removed.

Frap, the black and white male, also had an absess, but it ruptured. I thought he was fine, good to go, UNTIL I had him on my lap in the garage tonight and looked into his mouth. Most of his teeth look just fine. But a front top tooth, the long sharp one, is unbelievably brown and disgusting, looks a quarter inch wide and has the appearance of a chunk of wood. Maybe it is a slice of wood up in there and not a tooth. Just made me want to sob.

Both boys need tested. And if negative, Frap needs whatever that is, pulled out. But I'm broke. And to further complicate matters, my vet officially quits his practise in just a few days. He can't get this cat in, even if I had the money, since his schedule, up to his last day, is full.

I don't know what I'll do for a vet after he quits. He says he has an option when he sold to lease the clinic for use up to a year. But I"ve heard from others he plans immediate retirement and a move to Tennessee. I could hardly blame him if that's true.

I keep asking clinic staff what's going to happen with the new vets, if prices are going to skyrocket, if they'll keep taking Poppa funds, but nobody knows. So my future is also up in the air.

For now, it's these two boys who need tested and treated. I have neither the money nor a vet now where that could be done. The Clover Ridge cats, second time around, have broken me. Just like the first experience a few years ago did, on that same road, only a block away.

For cats, that road is better termed Hell Street and the occupants, who just seem to turn their eyes away from any suffering without a problem, I call "Albany devil's helpers". I got to make up these fun little labels to just be able to keep on going.

At 10:30 tonight, the phone rings, waking me up and it's V, the former Boondoggie, which means only one thing---she wants something of me, probably to take on all her cats because she's decided to leave, or some other huge cat favor. I hung up on her, telling her it was rude to call someone that late. They never call unless they want something of me, right now, this minute, that will cost hundreds of dollars. Maybe that black cat she claimed was fixed, then let loose, and watched get pregnant, but would never even watch a trap to catch her, over a months' time, has had kittens. I don't care. I am not V and M's 911 or open wallet. I am sick of them leeching me dry for a year now.

Doesn't anyone at all ever think that maybe all the work I do for free to help them, maybe they should return the favor or pay back the money, or even make payments to POPPA, say when POPPA pays to get their 15 to 20 house cats fixed? What is wrong with people around here? Why do they think they are entitled to free fixes, paid for by the hard work of volunteers, and that they should do nothing in return?

Awesome Bumper Sticker!

I followed a car yesterday, on the bypass highway, when headed into Corvallis. The bumper sticker made me start laughing so hard I almost had to pull to the side of the road. It read: "Cheney/Satan 08". Now I'm laughing again.

I am taking these five kittens to Heartland in an hour. I still have to return the three cats fixed yesterday to the Millersburg colony. The cats just knocked over my bookcase in the spare bedroom. I have to soak Twister's honking absess again. And Hopi now has two strange little knob bumps on her nose, so she has to go to the vet today. And, there's the side of my forehead. It will suddenly start tightening and pulling hard. Very strange and maybe related to neck nerves and muscles.

From the Millersburg Country Colony---As of today, seven adults have been fixed, four of them females. One of the females was pregnant and one in heat.

Seven kittens from two mothers have been removed now. All were thankfully taken into foster by Heartland volunteers. These kittens will never reproduce. Heartland fixes all kittens prior to adoption. So the tally of cats either fixed or removed, stands at 14 now, only a few days after discovering the need there.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Six Cats Fixed

Six cats were fixed today, courtesy of Poppa Inc. Two were owned females from Corvallis. One of these was referred to me by her son, who lives in the homeless camps, or did, when I was getting the cats out. The other owner I contacted off of craigslist. Her daughter had posted kittens needing homes. I asked if the mom cat needed fixed and she said "Yes" and that it was her mother's cat and had already had four litters. So both those females got fixed.

I also had trapped three more at the Millersburg Country colony---two males and an in heat female. Heartland took in the two kittens I hand grabbed yesterday at the colony, out behind a shed. Heartland does not take in Linn County cats, but when space is available, they take in cats from local rescues. God bless them.

They agreed also to take in the five older kittens. I had described the plight of these cats out there. I have no funds anymore. In other words, I'm broke. The Clover Ridge cats have broken me, financially, and I still have two here. Oh yeah, Heartland also took in Sweet Pea today, the little bad eyed torti from Clover Ridge.

First Frap, the black and white male, had a huge absess blow up one cheek, from a fight. That burst and he's fine now. But now Twister has a massive absess hanging off one cheek, too. He's sick with it, and barely eating.

Tonight I held him, in the garage, and held a warm washcloth soaked in Epson salts to the side of his face. All four of the big males had cat fight wounds, serious ones, and still, all tested negative for FIV, thankfully.

Anyhow, Frap quickly recovered from his absess. I suppose it took a few days. Twister's came on slower, even though part of his face is bitten almost off. I guess he fought off the infection successfully until he went under anesthesia, for neuter, which lowered his immune system. Frap had his from the start.

I'm not sure if it was a cat fight, a coon or a dog who had gotten ahold of him. He seemed ok, until yesterday, when the absess balloon emerged. I began him on clavamox and the Epson salt soaks and hope he doesn't have to get it lanced. He's sure not feeling good, very clingy, and is drinking a lot of water.

I don't have the money to take him in. Man those cats cost me. Man oh man. I am broker than broke.

So anyhow, I am very grateful to Heartland for helping out, since that ten cat rescue just was enough to do me in. I ain't rich and get very few donations to cover all these costs involved, even the little costs, like more cat food and cat litter and dish washing and laundry. Everybody's gone now, of the Clover Ridge gang, except Twister and Frap. Frap is well and ready to go, a very nice boy indeed, too.

So tomorrow, I'm going to let the caretaker's neice trap four or five more out there. We'll be after a pregnant female, the female whose five kittens I just took from her, the female whose two kittens I just took, a female who was just impregnated by a big black tux male, and the black tux male. There are more, but these are the next targets. The black tux male is dominant, well, he and an all black male, about equal at the top. That is until a couple days ago, when the black got the hell beat out of him by the tux, or the big brown tabby male, that comes up the road after sex and fights and food. That'll end, too.

Well anyhow. I know how to create peace among the cats. I get all the balls and ovaries cut off and out. You can't just wish for peace among the cats. You got to create it surgically. And that's I bet how it could be done with us humans, too. Just a thought.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Crawling with Cats

I went to trap a couple more cats at the Millersburg Country colony. Two of the five gray kittens had died. The trailer woman had put them back outside, trying to get a young mother to care for them who is not a good mother. She had said there were only three of the older 8 week old tabby tux kittens. But there are five. That mother also needs fixed. And those five, who are not competing well for the sparce adult dry cat food, the cheapest available, are getting run down.

She wandered out back of the trailer, while I quickly caught two adult males in one trap, then transferred one to another trap, and spotted one of the two silver tabby sisters, with two different kittens. I went and snagged them, tired of the cat and kitten chaos out there. I then thought I had trapped the mother, but I didn't. I trapped the other silver tabby, another female. There are ten or more adults left to trap out there, besides the three I trapped this evening and the four already fixed. And, there are at least 13 kittens that I know of.

I find out tonight the neighbor across the street has ferals appearing in her barn now, too. Remains to be seen if they're the same cats. They're going to be spillovers from this colony, that has reproduced unchecked for years.

The trailer woman's means of keeping the colony from numbering in the hundreds was to give the kittens born to pet stores and feed stores to get rid of them, or most of them, overpopulating the valley with unfixed kittens and cats, as is often the case. So I don't even want the kittens to be given away unfixed from there.

This colony started as a bad idea to breed and sell manxes.

The trailer woman's neice is now living on property in a camp trailer. The moment she graduated high school she was kicked out of the house by her stepmom so had to come live on the property of the trailer woman's parents, who live up front of the trailer in a house. So, I'm going to build yet another cage and she has agreed to contain the kittens, socialize them, keep them well, and when they're two pounds, I'll find a way to get them fixed and post them on my petfinder site.A brown tabby tux male, to be fixed tomorrow.
Pale Orange male, to be fixed tomorrow.
Silver Tabby female, but not the silver tabby female who is the mother of the kittens below, currently in my bathroom, but going back to be fostered by the neice tomorrow.
Silver Tabby Male Kitten.
And his sister, the only two survivors of this litter.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Is My Neighbor a Water Theif?

Could my unfriendly neighbor also be a water theif? When I left, to take the second set of cats to their new home, I glanced to the right and saw the unfriendly next door neighbor out power washing the sidewalk.

When I got back, I had an urge to go around to that side of the house and check the faucet. I have suspected that she might be stealing water, just as an arrogant mean thing to do.

Under the facuet and for a couple feet on each side, next to the side of my house, the dirt is wet. Unbelievable. I mean, I know she's unfriendly. If I say hello to her from even a few feet away, she won't say a word and will just turn away.

But I really thought she was just anti-social. To find out she's also a theif, is really rather scarey. She might be seriously disturbed. For the love of....what is her problem? I briefly thought about calling the cops. But, instead I took this photo of the wet dirt by my faucet. Unebelievable. I then wrapped the faucet head in about 30 feet of duct tape, put a frost sheild atop it and may set an alarm on it, because I think it'd be funny.

Goodbye Hoffa. Goodbye Jack. Goodbye Smolder and Goodbye Jumping Jenny, too.

Today, after building a second relocation cage, out of scraps of hardware cloth from my old shack's cat yard, I took Hoffa, the big Siamese from Clover Ridge, and Jack, the tame black and white from Clover Ridge, down to their new Veneta barn home. The woman who took them in, gave me some chocolate mint plants to bring home, after crushing some of the leaves and telling me "Get a whiff of this". The smell was unbelievably good. I picked and crushed more leaves and snorted the almost intoxicating aroma. She also gave me some sulfamide to use in water to treat coccidia.

After returning, I was able to get M's sister Lisa's help, to haul the large containment cage I made to house Jumping Jen and Smolder, for their Albany barn home relocation. She has a pickup. The cage itself, being just wire, clipped together, was light as a feather, but too big to fit into my car. I also had thrown together a couple of carpeted shelves for this airy large cage. The pair should do great out there.

These are really nice people, too. The woman loaded me up with catnip plants, some homegrown catnip, cat toys and gave a donation---dream adoptors!

This leaves me Twister, Frap, whose absess is now draining, and little Sweet Pea to find homes from from the Clover Ridge fiasco.

The last couple of days have been trying, to say the least. Taking care of all these extra cats, many in makeshift cages and even large live traps, is stressful and time consuming. Then adding on my daily chores with the rest of the cats, trapping for fixing, washing cloths and dirty cat laundry, washing dishes, cleaning litterboxes, making the two new containment cages, trying to find homes for the cats.....yesterday, I became so exhausted, I literally could not move anymore and collapsed on my couch, quickly falling asleep.Jack, temporarily in a large carrier, at his new home.
Hoffa, the massive Siamese, has already fallen in love with an older female Siamese on the property already. Love at first sight, and she, well she was already sleeping atop his containment cage. I think Hoffa is going to like his new home.
The woman also keeps llamas, for a friend who rescues them. This is one with a severe overbite, I'd say, although I don't know much about llamas.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Log Train

When taking the kittens back to the Millersburg Country Colony, I got stopped in my tracks by a log train. So I took a couple of photos.

These are three yet to be fixed cats, eating on the porch of the trailer. Two are females, one is a male. I saw at least ten more unfixed cats out there. But there are at least four litters of kittens, too, including two from the inside cat, the bobtail Siamese. One of these is a manx Siamese female kitten, that the woman's daughter is going to take. The kitten for awhile, she said drug her rear legs and now, can use them somewhat, but they are weak. I told her this is because of the kitten having no tail, that the tail is an extension of the cats' spinal cord and with manx kittens, sometimes it is, as my Corvallis vet used to say "manx gone too far". In other words, the spinal cord does not extend far enough in some of these abnormal cats, and manx cats are abnormal, to adequately innervate the rear legs or sometimes, bowel and bladdar control. I vaccinated both these two six week old kittens and two of the three 8 week old porch kittens. I wormed everybody, too.

The cats I saw needing fixed are three gray tabby females, another black female, a black tux male, a brown tabby tux female, at time of sighting, being mounted by the black tux male, two orange tabby males, one of them a manx, a gray tabby male, etc. etc. I know of ten kittens out there in three litters but from the kids and parents, I believe there are two other litters also. Meaning all those kittens will need fixed, too, when of an age to do so, or reproduction there will continue. Getting started, by trapping four cats, three of them female, one of those pregnant, was at least a start.
This is one of the unfixed black cats, crouching in the bushes.

Kittens Went Back. Barn Homes for Four

The Millersburg kittens went back to the trailer. The woman had another inside lactating female she felt would nurse them. Just as well. Jumping Jen really had no milk.

She was angry, however, when I removed them and expressed her anger by swatting, claws out, at my hand, when I was petting her this evening, as I have every day. I've been hand feeding her, in fact. She liked that. But tonight Jumping Jen was hopping mad, because I stole away her foster kittens. She laid open the side of my left index finger.

It's 2:00 a.m. and I finally got all the chores done. After returning the Millersburg kittens, I went to Corvallis, to get cat food and groceries. By then, it was after 9:00 p.m. I didn't get home until about 11:00 p.m.. Then I had to clean all the litterboxes, including of all the boys out in the garage and the two in my bathroom---Jumping Jen and Sweet Pea. And feed everybody and medicate those needing medication. Not enough hours in the day.

I am still cursing the Clover Ridge situation and the people involved in causing those cats suffering and then me suffering, too.

I determined that at least once a month, I will walk through that development in filthy clothes, gurgling and coughing and spitting on the sidewalk and acting like a retarded crazy homeless person, just for kicks. I'll ask everyone I see, "Have you seen my kitty?"

If I do it enough, if lots of people did the same thing, hundreds or thousands of people did this, maybe these stupid developments of pastel all look the same particle board houses thrown up in a week, where what you do is controlled by a neighborhood association, a.k.a. THE GESTAPO, maybe these pimples on our community would stop sprouting.

I have homes now for four of the seven Clover Ridge cats still here. Smolder and Jumping Jen are going to an Albany barn home Saturday morning. Also on Saturday, Jack and Hoffa, the Siamese, are heading to Veneta.

That leaves the lovely Twister and Frap, one of the black and whites, and little tame Sweet Pea. What I have to do tomorrow, is build two containment cages. It's hard to get all this stuff done alone. Harder than hell, actually. But I do it. I wish I could figure a way to go on even like a five day vacation somewhere away from the telephone and away from Albany and away from all my cares. A nice vacation. Yeah right. I'll just write a check to cover the expenses. Hahahaha.

I don't really get out of this valley. I've never been to Bend or points beyond. Never been to Eastern Oregon, or North Eastern Oregon, never been much of anywhere I guess. Except I lived in Alaska a few years when I was young. That's about the extent of my travel.

The lonliness is killer. Sometimes I feel like I'm just waiting on Mr. Death. I suppose we all are in a way. Mr. Death is breathing down my neck lately. I can feel the hot breath. I try to keep a step ahead but I can feel Mr. Death closing the gap. So I keep running and grabbing cats as I run, getting them fixed, and tossing them back out there with a wave and a "good luck" and then I sprint a ways, because he's gaining on me again. Mr. Death. Hahahaha.

I beat you today, didn't I, and maybe you'll hover over me tonight, but watch out for these cats of mine. They have claws and they don't like black shadows stalking. When you catch me, I'll put up one fight, I will, and I'll do my damndest to take you down with me, I will, I will.

People are dying over there in Iraq by the score. I can feel it here. I can feel the mothers shaking inside. The mothers of America. The families wanting their dear soldier's end to have stood for something. To take the edge off their sorrow. Their never ending sorrow.

These people blowing up those people. Those people's grief stricken families blowing up these people. It will never never never end. Unless, unless we all forgive everything. Let everything go. Lay down all our sorrows and hatreds and angers and revenges, and hug a purring kitty.

Take away the guns and put purring kitties in your holsters, boys.

They won't shoot straight for you, but boy can they make a lonely night warm.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Unbelievable Mother. Jumping Jen takes on Millersburg kittens

I don't have volunteers helping me out. Until now. Jumping Jen, the feral torti from Clover Ridge Drive, became my very first volunteer fosterer.

Mother cats, even young ones, are unbelievable. Jumping Jen, the feral torti from Clover Ridge, who was apparently the mother of the missing in action kittens, who mysteriously quit crying two days before I arrived on scene, just, without question, took on four ten-day-olds, I found screaming in various places back of a Millersburg trailer.

I couldn't leave the little buggers to just scream until they died. I'd been returning four cats just fixed out that way. The kittens were cold and all seperated, as if they'd decided with mom missing they might as well strike out each on their own, screaming as they went, in search anything warm and hopefully with a nipple attached somewhere. But did I want to feed bottle babes? Hell no I don't.

So, I eyed Jen, confined in a small cage in my bathroom, since every other nook and cranny is currently filled with cats needing homes and I'm stressed and tired out. I could see she had perked up considerably just at the sounds of crying kittens.

I said "Jenny, can you do me this favor?" and I held out one of the kittens for her to have a look at. I continued, "I promise I won't ask you to look after them for long." (I was lying there). Then, I unceremoniously deposited all four kittens into the cage with her. I'd fed them KMR by syringe first.

She was looking confused and wide-eyed at first. She's not that old herself. But she's bored in that cage and scared and needs something to take her mind off things. Nothing like caring for four demanding kittens to take her mind off her own frights and fears.

Anyhow, I also took some new photos of the one eyed torti teen--Sweet Pea, who is super friendly, as one can see. The third photo is of Moonshine, the yard stray now the house stray. She is super self-confident, super-smart, a cut above the other cats and she knows it, and well, she's really a great cat. She also needs a home.




In other news, its' now looking like it will be Smolder and Jumping Jen going to the one barn home I have. That leaves Jack, Frap, Twister and the monster Siamese needing homes, from the Clover Ridge Crowd, along with of course Sweet Pea.

I don't think the barn home will come through in Veneta and have almost given up on the Dorena person who e-mailed an interest in Twister. They claim when they tried to call my phone number wouldn't work. When I called them, the phone just rang and rang, no answer and no message machine. Maybe their phoneline is not working right. Anyhow, I'll try both again, but have about given up on those options, meaning I need to find others quickly.

Photos of two Millersburg Fresh FIxes, Twister Rolling in Catnip, Siamese and Smolder

Twister is just a great cat, friendly, cuddley and funny. It's nice to see him free of fleas, wormed and feeling good. The Clover Ridge cats were covered in fleas. The big Siamese male, from Clover Ridge, ain't happy this morning. I wonder if he realizes he is missing a couple of body items. He doesn't need those, really. All they've done for him is, as my vet's assistant said, turned him into a beat up flea covered, scrappy ugly stinky tom. Well, his new life began yesterday and he will be better off for the change. The bottom photo is of Smolder, the poor Clover Ridge cat who broke a tooth off biting the trap. I had the broken piece extracted, but he's still hissy about it and I can understand that. Pain isn't fun. Been having some trouble with pain myself lately, after hurting my back again, in the stupid house projects, namely, painting the bedroom floor. Moving furniture, sleeping on teh couch--messed my back up. I can barely walk at times.Just spayed young Millersburg female.
I beileve this was the pregnant female from Millersburg. I will be returning them shortly.
Twister LOVES catnip. He is a sweetheart. I have an adoption interest in him out of Dorena and hope it works out.
The big Siamese male. Someone in Veneta on Fleck Road e-mailed saying they would take this boy, Smolder and the torti, if I'd throw in some cat food to help feed them, but I haven't yet talked to these people. It's hopeful and yet I don't want to get my hopes too high, because, like I say, I haven't been able to get ahold of them yet by phone.
And the angry Smolder. At least, now he's feeling well enough to eat. These poor Clover Ridge cats were smothered in fleas. Frap, who was to go to a new home today, along with Jack, has a big absess on his cheek. I know who he was fighting to get that---Mr. Siamese who has scrap marks on his cheek also. Frap needs that absess lanced before he can go to a home.

Dog in the Road

 I went to get groceries yesterday morning fairly early. I was expecting visitors, brief ones, pop in and out, so I wanted to get done with ...