Sunday, November 07, 2010
Goodbye Peko and Zorro
I took Peko and Zorro to their new home today, all the way down to Florence Oregon. Then I drove back up the coast to Walport, before cutting across, enjoying the coast scenery along the way. I wish I had gotten an earlier start so I could have beach walked or something.
The home for the two boys is an excellent one. Very lucky to have found it. Peko gave me terrible pangs of guilt and sadness as I left him, standing on his back legs, reaching up to me, not wanting me to leave him, worry in his eyes. I just wanted to sob.
Zorro, on the other hand, being a charmer and a kitten, adapted immediately, prancing around, tail up, showing off.
It is a very wonderful home, the best I could have imagined. Great people.
I miss Peko already.
The home for the two boys is an excellent one. Very lucky to have found it. Peko gave me terrible pangs of guilt and sadness as I left him, standing on his back legs, reaching up to me, not wanting me to leave him, worry in his eyes. I just wanted to sob.
Zorro, on the other hand, being a charmer and a kitten, adapted immediately, prancing around, tail up, showing off.
It is a very wonderful home, the best I could have imagined. Great people.
I miss Peko already.
Guilt Over Peko. More on Starly's Death.
Peko is charging around here tonight, playing with all his friends. Tomorrow, he is leaving and his life will never be the same. It will be a good life no doubt, but the turmoil as he adjusts will be hard on him. I feel great guilt tonight, watching him so happy here.
Zorro too is leaving. However, today, when I came in from hours out raking and shredding leaves, poor little Zorro was limping around, holding up one front foot. I imagine he caught a claw and twisted it, or fell on it wrong. He is quite the climber and there is not stopping him.
He is bedded down in the spare bedroom tonight, on the floor in a cat bed I put there so he would stay off his sore foot. I trimmed his nails again. I have learned cats get into lots of accidents when they catch a claw when jumping down. I think Electra broke her jaw that way. I'm still not sure what killed Cattyhop, but I am not convinced it was not a diaphramatic hernia, maybe inflicted in a fall from a shelf or the top of the bed, when chased by another cat. Cats do fall.
I trim nails now as often as I can, every six months on the ferals here. I net them and do it.
Starly's death has gotten to me some. A person dies, there is no sense grieving for them. They don't know anything now. I barely knew her, and to be honest, got into i with her at least once. I guess her brother moved into her place and is temporarily taking care of her animals. He wants to rent it out, one Eugene cat person said. I have never been to her place.
There was indeed a dead cat in the road, where Starly was also hit and killed. She had left her car running, door open, and probably had seen the cat hit, and went to see if it was dead. She made it across the road, but not back across. One of her best friends told me she stopped in the middle, thinking a car would just go by, but instead, the car changed to the lane she was in, probably thinking she would continue walking into the next lane. She was hit by that car and thrown under another car that ran over her.
There was, of course, a cat inside her car, too, probably on the way to a clinic to be fixed, or just picked up from being fixed.
Starly always struggled to make ends meet. I remember her working a Neuterscooter clinic. She could barely walk. She needed a double hip replacement and was waiting, she said, I think for a surgeon arranged through the Whitebird clinic. She had no health insurance. Next time I saw her, which was not that long after she had a double hip replacement, she looked great and was running around like she'd never just had major major surgery. She said the surgery changed her life, took her out of most pain, and she felt forever in debt to that surgical team who helped her, for nothing.
She died doing what she would do, trying to help a cat, who had been struck by a car. It is fairly fitting she died near a stray and in the same way.
Zorro too is leaving. However, today, when I came in from hours out raking and shredding leaves, poor little Zorro was limping around, holding up one front foot. I imagine he caught a claw and twisted it, or fell on it wrong. He is quite the climber and there is not stopping him.
He is bedded down in the spare bedroom tonight, on the floor in a cat bed I put there so he would stay off his sore foot. I trimmed his nails again. I have learned cats get into lots of accidents when they catch a claw when jumping down. I think Electra broke her jaw that way. I'm still not sure what killed Cattyhop, but I am not convinced it was not a diaphramatic hernia, maybe inflicted in a fall from a shelf or the top of the bed, when chased by another cat. Cats do fall.
I trim nails now as often as I can, every six months on the ferals here. I net them and do it.
Starly's death has gotten to me some. A person dies, there is no sense grieving for them. They don't know anything now. I barely knew her, and to be honest, got into i with her at least once. I guess her brother moved into her place and is temporarily taking care of her animals. He wants to rent it out, one Eugene cat person said. I have never been to her place.
There was indeed a dead cat in the road, where Starly was also hit and killed. She had left her car running, door open, and probably had seen the cat hit, and went to see if it was dead. She made it across the road, but not back across. One of her best friends told me she stopped in the middle, thinking a car would just go by, but instead, the car changed to the lane she was in, probably thinking she would continue walking into the next lane. She was hit by that car and thrown under another car that ran over her.
There was, of course, a cat inside her car, too, probably on the way to a clinic to be fixed, or just picked up from being fixed.
Starly always struggled to make ends meet. I remember her working a Neuterscooter clinic. She could barely walk. She needed a double hip replacement and was waiting, she said, I think for a surgeon arranged through the Whitebird clinic. She had no health insurance. Next time I saw her, which was not that long after she had a double hip replacement, she looked great and was running around like she'd never just had major major surgery. She said the surgery changed her life, took her out of most pain, and she felt forever in debt to that surgical team who helped her, for nothing.
She died doing what she would do, trying to help a cat, who had been struck by a car. It is fairly fitting she died near a stray and in the same way.
Saturday, November 06, 2010
More Cat Photos
Zorro, on his last night here. He is sad, missing his sister. 
Taken a couple days ago.
Zorror, with Lily, before she left.
Starry. Tomorrow her brother leaves.
Starry is a beautiful torti now.
Peko, on his last night here.
One of two females, from a contact off craigslist, from Lebanon, fixed last Monday.
The other Lebanon female fixed last Monday.
The Corvallis female fixed Thursday, after a referral from a homeless advocate. The owner is a veteran who has been homeless most of the last two decades, but is now in housing.
Corvallis male, Rupert, fixed last Thursday.
Tabby tux kitten, from Davidson street, one of two female kittens, fixed last Thursday and the last unfixed cats currently roaming that location.
Football Game Traffic Snarls My Plans
I was headed to Salem this evening, to have dinner with Poppa's pres and her hubby. We were then going to attend the very last night of the Oregon School for the Deaf Huanted House. Also, I was taking them the little Siamese from Lebanon, as Keni was going to foster her. There is already someone in Portland interested in maybe adopting her.
Alas. Stupid football traffic brought freeway traffic to a near standstill and also my plans for the evening.
I do hate the fact the football games obliviate the ability of non fans to go anywhere sometimes due to heavy traffic. It's kind of rude.
Oh well. When I lived in Corvallis, there were some game days I would forget there was a game, and be unable to get back home, due to game day traffic.
Football fans of course see no problem with tying up an entire state's traffic for their obsessions. I thought it was interesting radio show hosts in Portland were outraged over traffic problems caused by President Obama's visit, when he spoke late in a campaign blitz rally for democrats in Portland in the Rose quarter. How right wing self-centered, to consider this delay an issue, but not to consider the routine tie ups from football games endured by many.
We're not all fans, you know.
So the Siamese is still here. She's not doing that great, but is improving I think.
Tomorrow, Peko and Zorro leave. I will miss them very very much.
But it will be great to get two more out of here, with winter's onset, and the cats who generally stuck to the outside, in the cat yard, now coming back inside for the winter.
Lily is gone, too. I hope very much to find the gorgoues and huge Sage a home soon. She has grown so much since coming here. She dwarfs the other cats in sheer length. She's something else.
I spent all morning raking leaves and pulverizing them with the leaf sucker. My leaf sucker is splendid and so much more relevant than a leaf blower. I reduced massive piles of leaves today, to an amount that did not quite fill my yard debris container. Normally by now, I would be buried in leaf piles as tall as my roof.
Not this year! This year, I have a leaf sucker! $5 at a garage sale.
A leaf sucker is the anti thesis to the leaf blower.
Alas. Stupid football traffic brought freeway traffic to a near standstill and also my plans for the evening.
I do hate the fact the football games obliviate the ability of non fans to go anywhere sometimes due to heavy traffic. It's kind of rude.
Oh well. When I lived in Corvallis, there were some game days I would forget there was a game, and be unable to get back home, due to game day traffic.
Football fans of course see no problem with tying up an entire state's traffic for their obsessions. I thought it was interesting radio show hosts in Portland were outraged over traffic problems caused by President Obama's visit, when he spoke late in a campaign blitz rally for democrats in Portland in the Rose quarter. How right wing self-centered, to consider this delay an issue, but not to consider the routine tie ups from football games endured by many.
We're not all fans, you know.
So the Siamese is still here. She's not doing that great, but is improving I think.
Tomorrow, Peko and Zorro leave. I will miss them very very much.
But it will be great to get two more out of here, with winter's onset, and the cats who generally stuck to the outside, in the cat yard, now coming back inside for the winter.
Lily is gone, too. I hope very much to find the gorgoues and huge Sage a home soon. She has grown so much since coming here. She dwarfs the other cats in sheer length. She's something else.
I spent all morning raking leaves and pulverizing them with the leaf sucker. My leaf sucker is splendid and so much more relevant than a leaf blower. I reduced massive piles of leaves today, to an amount that did not quite fill my yard debris container. Normally by now, I would be buried in leaf piles as tall as my roof.
Not this year! This year, I have a leaf sucker! $5 at a garage sale.
A leaf sucker is the anti thesis to the leaf blower.
11 Cats Fixed Yesterday and Starly's Death
I got to thinking about why Starly would park on one side of a road, then cross four lanes, or try to. She didn't make it across alive. One reason I can think of is if she had a trap set on the other side somewhere, where there is no parking. I hope that is not the case and there is not a trap set down there with a cat sitting inside it. I would think someone who knew her might know if that is what she was up to, but they might not, too, if she was independently trapping.
There are no logical reasons for her to park, then cross the road where she did at that hour, unless you knew Starly. Starly was a cat trapper and loved animals. She must have either seen an animal hit and wanted to see if it had survived, or, she had a trap set over there. Those are the only two possibilities I can think of.
The second possibility needs checked out. I would guess the first option is more viable, because she must have been in a hurry to cross in the dark, without waiting for a proper opening. That suggests urgency, like she saw a cat or other animal hit by another car and wanted badly to find out if it survived. But then, she was slightly scatter brained, and that makes the second possibility just as likely.
11 cats were fixed yesterday. Five were females and six were males. Seven were from the Lebanon 5th Wheel colony and of those, only two were females. Two were kittens from Albany, both girls. Then, there was a beautiful black long hair male and long hair Lynx Pt. female, from a former homeless vet from Corvallis. Both also had earmites. I cleaned out their ears this morning before returning them.
I have now returned all but the little Lebanon Siamese female, who is terribly skinny, just horribly underweight. She has finally come out of anesthesia, but needs serious food to survive. She's going to Portland, into foster, to get excessive food. If she went back up there like she is, she would die within a week. I already told them she can't go back because she's not going to make it if she does. They love the cats but the cats live in the bushes and grab for food under the trailer but the dog often eats it all first. Then, there are so many, some get very little. It is also the cheapest dry cat food money can buy put out for them, lacks the nutrition young cats need to grow, especially when they get very little of it.
I hope there is not something else wrong with her. Well, guess we'll find out. She is Gimpy's sister, and Gimpy got tested by that Good Samaritan who found her lost last week. So, I'm guessing this little one is also negative.
There are no logical reasons for her to park, then cross the road where she did at that hour, unless you knew Starly. Starly was a cat trapper and loved animals. She must have either seen an animal hit and wanted to see if it had survived, or, she had a trap set over there. Those are the only two possibilities I can think of.
The second possibility needs checked out. I would guess the first option is more viable, because she must have been in a hurry to cross in the dark, without waiting for a proper opening. That suggests urgency, like she saw a cat or other animal hit by another car and wanted badly to find out if it survived. But then, she was slightly scatter brained, and that makes the second possibility just as likely.
11 cats were fixed yesterday. Five were females and six were males. Seven were from the Lebanon 5th Wheel colony and of those, only two were females. Two were kittens from Albany, both girls. Then, there was a beautiful black long hair male and long hair Lynx Pt. female, from a former homeless vet from Corvallis. Both also had earmites. I cleaned out their ears this morning before returning them.
I have now returned all but the little Lebanon Siamese female, who is terribly skinny, just horribly underweight. She has finally come out of anesthesia, but needs serious food to survive. She's going to Portland, into foster, to get excessive food. If she went back up there like she is, she would die within a week. I already told them she can't go back because she's not going to make it if she does. They love the cats but the cats live in the bushes and grab for food under the trailer but the dog often eats it all first. Then, there are so many, some get very little. It is also the cheapest dry cat food money can buy put out for them, lacks the nutrition young cats need to grow, especially when they get very little of it.
I hope there is not something else wrong with her. Well, guess we'll find out. She is Gimpy's sister, and Gimpy got tested by that Good Samaritan who found her lost last week. So, I'm guessing this little one is also negative.
Friday, November 05, 2010
Goodbye Lily
Lily went up to foster with a Poppa Inc. volunteer tonight. She's in great hands. We will miss her here though. I wanted her out of here, before she caught something from those three latest Lebanon kittens or just from one of the adults here.
It was quite the fight to save Lily and Zorro, worth it though. They went from emaciated dehydrated ditch kittens to unbelievably beautiful and loving house kittens, adored by all here and anyone who met them.
My bus driver friend stopped by this afternoon, after I had returned the Corvallis pair of cats, and the Lebanon six. I had cleaned the ears of the two Corvallis cats, who had ear mites, in my bathroom before I returned them. I then took six of the seven adults back to the Lebanon situation. I didn't take the Siamese teen female, who did not come out of surgery well, and has not eaten. I told the folks she was staying here, and may not make it. Actually, she too will head off to Portland into foster, if she does make it.
I hope she is just slow coming out of it because of malnutrition and dehydration.
So then my bus driver friend stopped in with a cup of coffee for me. It tasted wonderful! She fell in love with Lily and I thought she was going to take her home, hoped anyhow, because what a wonderful home that would have been for her. But she said her husband would kill her. She sure wanted her, though.
She is going to pay to have Miss Daisy's mouth taken care of. Miss Daisy is again having pain issues with her mouth.
Then I returned the two Albany kittens and then took Lily up to meet the Poppa volunteer. I was so grateful to her for fostering Lily.
Zorro and Peko are leaving Sunday. I have to prepare myself for Peko's departure. He's been here since mid July, with a few weeks at the home on the coast before he and Machi were returned by their adopter for the one spot of ringworm Peko got by his nose. Subsequently, Machi got a few spots. But both boys got over it quickly and the outbreak was limited to them. Thankfully.
Peko and Zorro have bonded. Nemo is more independent and the woman and her husband absolutely loved Zorro. So the boys go together. Peko likes mothering and big brothering Zorro.
So, at least a few are moving out, but others move in immediately, like the ringworm trio from Lebanon, still in the garage, until Peko and Zorro leave.
Fallout from Hanford Continues. Hunt for Radioactive Rabbit
Although Handford nuclear power plant has been closed for a long time, fallout and clean up continue. Click post title to read about the ongoing efforts to capture and kill radioactive animals who drift onto the site and consume radioactive particles, through water or dust.
It isn't just animals. Insects like wasps, knats and flies, coming in contact with radioactive material, becoming radio active, then potentially flying off the Hanford site to radio activate humans has been a problem and ongoing concern.
Yes, the thought of a radio active bunny, reproducing mutant bunnies, is the stuff of science fiction and calls to mind such classic tales as Jimmy Stewarts ten foot tall best buddy talking rabbit, although that rabbit was not a mutant! Animals and humans mutated by radio active exposure are common antagonists in horror movie genres. Local writers---a Hanford horror tale is waiting to be written!
It isn't just animals. Insects like wasps, knats and flies, coming in contact with radioactive material, becoming radio active, then potentially flying off the Hanford site to radio activate humans has been a problem and ongoing concern.
Yes, the thought of a radio active bunny, reproducing mutant bunnies, is the stuff of science fiction and calls to mind such classic tales as Jimmy Stewarts ten foot tall best buddy talking rabbit, although that rabbit was not a mutant! Animals and humans mutated by radio active exposure are common antagonists in horror movie genres. Local writers---a Hanford horror tale is waiting to be written!
Starly, a Eugene Cat Trapper, Struck and Killed
I have been informed by a West Fir cat group, that the woman struck and killed by cars in Eugene when crossing a street, (click post title for article), is Starrly, a Eugene cat trapper/rescuer. I worked with Starrly a handful of times at various clinics. The Neuterscooter vet hired her to assist in several clinics I also worked. That is primarily where I encountered her.
I guess she has over twenty cats on her property who now have nobody. Starrly may have been attempting to rescue a cat when struck, according to the cat group who e-mailed me the information.
I guess she has over twenty cats on her property who now have nobody. Starrly may have been attempting to rescue a cat when struck, according to the cat group who e-mailed me the information.
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Happy State of Gimpy
Gimpy is just a teenager, living life on the edge, at the Lebanon 5th Wheel colony. But Gimpy lucked out. She was one of the first four cats I took in to be fixed from that colony, brought over in the back of a pickup, by a friend of the couple who feed the cats.
She was spayed. I flea treated her and wormed her and wished her luck when I met the pickup couple at the gas station and turned the four girls back over to the friends of the couple who feed them.
I was cruising craigslist early this week and saw an interesting "Found" ad. The ad showed a photo of a black cat lounging on her side. The text of the ad said "Found. Black cat. Young, recently spayed. Ear tip, so she probably went through an FCCO clinic."
I contacted the poster. It had to be Gimpy!
The man, however, lived on the wrong side of the river. How in the world would Gimpy end up across a river from where she lives? I told the man maybe it was her, but maybe it was a cat taken to an FCCO clinic by some Lebanon people who sometimes round up cats to be fixed in that area. I forwarded him a photo I took of Gimpy when here, before she was fixed.
This good samaritan had immediately carted her off to the vet and paid for her to be tested on FIV/Felk (negative) and put on antibiotics, for her URI. I think he also had her ears cleaned and treated for mites.
Gimpy lucked out.
I told the poster if it was her, I doubted the 5th Wheel couple who feed her and a zillion others would be out looking for her, especially not across a river.
But, Gimpy's owners did look for her. The young couple had taken her in after she was fixed and on Halloween night, she followed kids and ended up lost. About the time I was calling to arrange the next mission up to the 5th Wheel colony, the young woman and her kids were over checking out the cat found by the Good Samaritan, to see if that was Gimpy. I told her husband, "If you adopted her, it's Gimpy all right." They live close to the man who found her.
Gimpy lucked out and may reach adulthood.
The young woman had told me she doesn't like to even go up to the 5th Wheel couples' place because there were always dead cats or dead kittens. 11 kittens died in a couple of days after being turned out of the 5th Wheeler the couple up there live in, by the husband. The younger woman believes they were killed by dogs who frequent the property, and are owned by guests of the property owner. At least one, maybe two, died in this manner (shaken by a dog) in the last few days. She said some died when the burn pile was burned because they were sleeping in it.
Vince, the big polydactyl Siamese male, has disappeared up there since his neuter and may also have been the victim of a free roaming dog, whose owner was staying with the property owner. It is not a place where cats live long or easy lives.
But Gimpy's life may be different, more hopeful, more full of decent food and love. I wish all the cats from the 5th Wheel colony could have better lives. It is the indecency of overpopulation that causes such suffering.
Gimpy will get a friend from the colony. The son will choose. It's like playing god in some ways. He will choose a cat who may live a long life, rather than die before even reaching adulthood. He is leaning towards Gimpy's black tux sister, spayed two days after Gimpy. Or, he is thinking the torti point Siamese to be spayed today. White cats don't live long out there, not so much because they stand out to wild predators but because they also stand out to dogs and there are lots of big dogs who come and go out there.
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