Three females fixed yesterday and Fetus Loving Kitten Killers

I wish I could have taken in more yesterday but had some folks bail out. One female is a stray on the same street as the alleged collector who isn't a collector. She's been a stray since kittenhood, and is fairly tame. She was pregnant again. Her three kittens from the last litter will be fixed Friday.

Another female comes from contacting someone giving away free kittens, unfixed of course, gone by the time I called her. She has two unfixed females but wouldn't let me take the second because her husband thinks she might be pregnant and doesn't believe in abortion.

I again laboriously explained to her how at this point, you are choosing between not killing fetuses or not killing live kittens, because if you let a cat have even more kittens, when there are not enough homes, the result is, like it or not, dumped and dead kittens and adult cats result.

But see, this is sight unseen to so many people, that they can happily live in their fantasy religious self-r;ighteous hands off bubble world, if they can give away the kittens born to their own mothers. "Not our problem anymore. We're not affected now!"

I explained to her also, that giving away the kittens unfixed means other kittens won't get homes and it also means feline overpopulation gets a big boost from them, because likely, those kittens will go on to reproduce and be part of the problem. I explained to her how this behavior adds also extreme costs to those trying to clean up the problem.

Sometimes religious beliefs are blind to reality and the suffering, death and expense these head in the sky beliefs cause.

No deal, though. The woman said she saw the point but didn't know if her husband would.

One female from them got fixed. And I even kicked myself afterwards for doing that for them, when, upon returning the now fixed female, she told me she'd spent a hundred bucks or more at the fair Sunday. A hundred bucks at the fair? Who has that kind of extra money and then won't get their own cat fixed? Oh my god, I thought to myself. Oh my god.

I have an extreme respect for the volunteers who try to earn or raise this money and this is an affront to those volunteers and to me. Bottom line, however, they had the money and still didn't fix their cats. I believe that's a sin or should be.

Modern religion's sole focus seems often to be anti-abortion. Anything and everything else goes! Woohee!

Religion has fouled the morality of many people.

The third cat comes from a very physically disabled woman who takes in the strays left behind by tenants at an Albany complex. She had only two of over a dozen that were not fixed. She'd gotten the rest fixed, god bless her. So she went off to be fixed. Tomorrow, a cat owned by this woman's caregivers will be fixed. I don't mind at all helping such a woman.
Someone near the alleged collector feeds this stray female, who has roamed as a stray since she was a kitten, I'm told. She had one litter already and was pregnant again at spay. She'll never have another, at least.
The disabled rescuer's young tabby female, in heat at spay.
The female from the people who don't want the pregnant cat fixed.

Well, in some heartening news, the only folks who did not immediately back out of kitten adoption with a great big "eeeuuuhhhh" when I told them the cats broke in ringworm, is adopting Aces, the most sverely affected due to his whiteyness, anyhow. They poohooed concerns with the unsightly fungi, citing upbringing on a farm. Boy, did I immediately love them, sight unseen.

Yay for people who aren't afraid of fungi. So, with any luck, one of the seven will leave here tomorrow. So far, Sashi and Blueberry show no outward signs of ringworm, while Pokey and Rocket each have one small patch. They're all getting the full treatment and I mean full treatment including the every other day baths, which isn't easy.

And the other good news is this: a trade of sorts with another farm family. I get the four female kittens fixed they found by their dead mother when they were barely born and they take in, in return, feral mom from here, who, no doubt, during her confinement time, will take over as mom of the four girls. What a coincidence, isn't it? Wrecking yard mom had four girls and these are four girls without a mom.

There are spooky angelic things involved with this dead mother at the farm. The farmers didn't know she was out there, until they found her dead. She'd crawled out of the kitten nest, skin and bones, to die in plain sight. Her kittens crawled out and were crying atop her.

And, the only reason the farmer's wife found her was because she had a mare giving birth that night. That's why she was out in the barn. If the mother cat had crawled behind the hay to die, the kittens would never have been found. They don't know if she died just of exhaustion and malnutrition, from too many litters and no food and how long had she roamed unloved, unfed in a savage world before she found this barn. How horrible it is to cause such suffering, by abandoning an animal.

She'd roamed in apparently, found this safehaven, this barn just in time, where she could at least give birth. She had her kittens and she died, but her last act seemed to have been directed towards saving her kittens. She crawled out into plain sight in that barn and died, where she would be seen and where she knew her kittens would come out and also be seen on her body.

The farmer's wife refused to even name them, fearing they would die. She bottle fed them, worried over them and saved them. And now, Wrecking Mom, the fierce protective wonder of a mother, who also suffered so, trying to feed herself on her own and her kittens, after she was abandoned, she'll take over with the four girls, saved by a kind farmer. And she will have a permanent home there and so will the girls.

I am happy, very happy, about this offer, and the subtle similarities. I am happy a farm raised husband and wife are going to take in Aces anyhow. It's like these two events help me, too. I've been in the doldrums, suffering from isolation, lack of fun and menopausal symptoms (severe). So this has made me happy.

In other news, the garbage man made a mess by pulling out too soon, leaving some of my trash, including used cat litter, on the street. The neighbor had a smaller mess, but one also. This time, I called the garbage company. They're making good wages and charging hefty fees. They should at least clean up after themselves. Finally the truck came and cleaned up, sort of. I had to finish the job with a broom and dustpan. Later, a supervisor called to see if he'd come and said the driver said he isn't the one who made that mess. Yeah right, buddy. Guess I'd say that too, in these days, if I had a good paying job, and messed it up.
So I have five cats going up tomorrow. It took me all day to line them up. I know, I was going to take a big break, but not til next week.

Those going include a Corvallis male. I asked them to bring him over themselves. They did. It's a grandma raising her grandkids, so I felt bad in a way, because it hurts them to come over then go back, and do the same tomorrow night to pick him up, due to gas prices. She said "It's only a 20 minute drive, since they live in North Corvallis, but that's still significant gas money, if coming over and back twice." People are struggling, even to go short distances. I didn't know what to say.

Another female from the Albany complex. This one from the caregiver of the disabled woman who takes care of the abandoned cats there.

One from the triangle between Albany, Brownsville and Lebanon, of farms. A female, with kittens. But the kittens are too little to be fixed yet.

The fourth and fifth cats are two more from the harried recently divorced woman working two and sometimes three jobs in a probably losing attempt to keep up. A friend of hers meets me at the house. He said she told him she didn't think she could keep up such a pace. I told him I thought she was going to drop dead of exhaustion the last time I was up there and that she ought to just give up and go live under a bridge, because sooner or later, she'll drop under such a load and she won't make it anyway. He said "I know" and that lots of people were telling her that.

Then I felt guilty and said to the friend, "Look who is talking. I don't have any money, nothing and I'm giving out financial advice! HA!" Then i apologized for sticking my nose in. But I feel for her and she's fighting a battle I don't think she can win and I hate seeing people up against a wall pounding their heads on it and bleeding. Sometimes you just can't win. Better to cut the losses.

Actually I see a desperation and exhaustion in her eyes that seems life threatening to a stranger from a distance.

Taking these two leaves one more male who needs fixed. She got torn up again trying to catch him. I told her friend "Don't let her try that again. Let's just trap him." This is the second time he's bitten or slashed her when she's been grabbing at him and trying to stuff him in a carrier.

When her friend hesitated on the phone I quickly added, "Or she can just keep trying and keep getting torn up." Then I tried to giggle to break the awkwardness of being knowitallish to strangers.

I don't like driving up to that area now. I'm afraid I'll run into Mr. Mansionhood who hates stray cats and apparently me, too. His mansion was so large I bet he's some big wig and will have me strung up the way little ol ragged me dared talk to him like that the other day. So I'm keeping an eye over my shoulder for Mansionhood and maybe his buddies tailing me in fleets of bright new sports cars and Mercedes.