Tough Old Yard Stray with Bad Teeth

The second big yard stray male I've trapped in two days was neutered today. No wonder Sam and Comet have been all up in arms. These two were huge dominant males, spray marking and that is tough on any male cat, fixed or not, to deal with passively.

But, when I was picking him up, they mentioned his breath was bad and he has a lot of tartar on his teeth. He's a mature kind of dirty older cat, and I do take what I do seriously. So, he stayed at the vets' and tomorrow, courtesy of that gift card fund, his teeth are going to be cleaned.

He's not really that feral. Sure he hissed once at me, when I was petting him through the wire of the trap this morning, in a busy vet office. I didn't take that seriously. I believe he will end up with me, waiting for a home here.

He waits for me every night, for food, was desperate at first. I believe he is just another Albany throw away, who has been on his own awhile. Damn this town is hard on animals.

So the big boy's teeth are going to get cleaned. Imagine how wonderful that will be for him, a stray, a cat thrown away, who doesn't think anybody gives a damn about him.

Imagine.

It's beautiful--a beat up old stray, getting some relief at last. I think it's just wonderful, like magic land, and I so much appreciate all of you who have donated to that gift card fund at the vet clinic, so this can happen for him. THANK YOU!!!!!

And guess what else! The starving calico is still alive. It's hard for me to believe. I saw her tonight. I've been after her again. Right now, I'm building up her strength and hope with food, lots of it and she's found it. I ran straight into her tonight, gnawing on the grass where I'd left food for her last night. She ran when she saw me, but not before she gave me a good hard look, that was both hopeful, desperate and poignant. I know the look. I left her lots more food.

I knew she'd found the food spots, because I put some in one of her runway culverts. I knew she's used that before. Sure enough, this morning, it was gone. I knew it was a cat who ate it and not a nutria. I'll tell you how if you want to know. It involves the anatomy of a nutes' mouth and teeth, compared to that of a cat.

I hope I can catch her before she's hit by a car. But even if she's hit now, she'll have a full belly. At least there's that.

What about that plane landing in the Hudson River? Just after I was posting about what kills birds, like airplanes. Well birds can kill airplanes, too, if they're sucked into an engine and I guess that happened.

I was watching TV, eating lunch, when the news alert came on. To see all those ferries surrounding that downed plane, like guardian angels, just made me almost want to cry. I was so hoping that plane wouldn't just suddenly sink. It was hard to watch, at least for me, to think it might suddenly sink and to know there was all the desperation and drama going on down there, with lives in the balance. But it all worked out and everybody got off and that pilot did a damn good job and so did the flight personnel.

How wonderful! Made me want to jump up and down and cheer.

I took Feather, the rest area kitten, to the vet today. She has a cold and I'd felt a lump where her kidney is. The vet said it was her kidney but it was not abnormal in size, just prominent because she's been eating so much her belly kind of pushes it out a bit, so I could feel it. Anyhow, she tested negative and the vet told me to up the antibiotics dose slightly for her URI.