Sorted Out Lebanon Situation

The killer old lady Lebanon situation isn't as bad as I thought. I took in the three, whom I returned yesterday. I loaned them two traps. There are at least four more they need to catch. I showed the daughter how to set them and suggested she start immediately. She is currently unemployed, while her parents both work.

They think the adult female is pregnant. At least two of the cats they feed have disappeared and now they suspect the killer old lady. I believe the short hair black and long hair black I saw on one porch along with a rabbit might be fixed. I left my card taped to their door, offering help fixing them if they're not fixed, but never heard from them. They look fixed.

I never heard from the short orange tabby porch cat people, but I saw the card I taped to their door, with a note on the back, was gone.

Across the street I'd seen a long hair orange and white and then yesterday, a gray tabby tux long hair with the orange and white one. I talked to those folks and those boys are both fixed.

I saw a long hair brown tabby way down a driveway and he isn't fixed, but nobody knows who owns him, if anyone. So he is one causing problems, spray marking and fighting and nobody likes him because of that.

There is allegedly a huge Siamese mix male, the likely cat described by the killer old lady, and the next scheduled for death by her. This is one who occasionally comes to the colony caretakers place and they hope to catch him, too.

So I narrowed it down to the long hair tabby, the black and white female, the brown tabby tux of unknown sex, the Siamese mix male and possibly the short hair orange tabby male still needing fixed on that street. But I haven't heard from the folks who I would think would have caught one of these by now. They've had my traps since yesterday morning and the daughter said she'd just seen the female, who she thought was hungry.

I haven't heard from the woman whose cat I paid to have fixed at the NS Albany clinic either. She had made an appointment and then told me her checks from wherever she gets money had not come in. I told her I'd front her the money, and she also wanted her cats nails trimmed and earmite treatment, which I also fronted her the money for. I did get her to sign something that said she'd pay me back within two weeks. She told me at the clinic she'd likely have the money by yesterday. No call from her, however, so far.

I probably should not have made that loan. I thought she was honest and maybe she is.

There has been a new show male spray marking my yard and everyone else's. He's a chocolate point young Siamese, who will soon find himself in a live trap headed to the vet. When males come in and start spray marking around my place it causes havoc for me. My cats start marking, most notably, Sam and Comet, and this isn't ok, to be affected so much by the negligance of other pet owners. So I just get the cats fixed, who show up in my yard who aren't fixed. If I think they might be owned, I go around the area knocking on doors.

But nobody should have to do this. If a cat is not easily outwardly identified as owned, if he or she enters someone else's yard, causing issues because he or she is not fixed, even spreading disease because he or she is not fixed, then that cat should be fair game to be fixed, by anyone willing. I'm not psychic and no one else is either.

There is no way to know if a cat without ID is a stray or owned. The burden should not lay upon the person whose yard such a cat roams into to spend tons of effort, time and money trying to find out if this cat has some negligant owner out there somewhere. I've already had to have one big male with FIV euthanized who was in my yard. That means the fighting male population in this area is at risk already.

Stinod is sick. She got the cold going around but because she is mostly blind and has other issues, it is affecting her severely. I have her now in a rabbit hutch on the table in the living room, where I can give her fluids, sub cu, and make sure she is warm enough, and steam her to help her breath. She's not eating and so I am handfeeding her.

When a cat gets a severe cold they are unlikely to eat. They can't smell the food and in Stinod's case, she can't even see the food. She is also on antibiotics.

I am out of eye meds. I went to Corvallis about ten days ago to get some terramycin at Denson's Feed store, because it is a good eye ointment for herpes related secondary infections. So I thought I had enough money, but the tubes, which are just tiny, have increased in price. I fumble for money, then when I don't have enough, I try to use my debit card. The man goes, "This won't go through. It's outdated." I stared at the date on the card. Sure enough, it's no longer useful. I tried to make excuses, mumbled something about needing to do a fund raiser for me, then slipped out, embarrassed as all get out.

Everything related to caring for cats has increased in price. I'm out of wet food currently too, because it's currently out of my price range. I'm going to have to buckle and buy some at least. I tell you what, it isn't easy on my tiny income, to afford even cat food and litter.

I don't have an increase in money and I don't get donations to help buy cat food--except for Jeanne, from back east, who sends me Fancy Feast once a month. The cats gobble that in two days and love it. Fancy Feast is a rarity around here, a big time treat. It's like party time when that comes.

I can no longer get into Costco, which is usually where I buy most of my cat food. Winco's prices have gone up per can of cat food by $.15. From $.33 per can to a whopping $.48 per can. That happened in the space of ten days. My guess is they got a new manager for the pet food department there in Corvallis. I don't know what happened. But I wonder if they know lots of people used to go to Winco only because their cat food was affordable. I wonder if they know that and that if they are the same in price as everywhere else, a lot of folks won't bother with Winco anymore. The old man at HTN only shops Winco because of their cat food prices. He will know they've upped it too, and it'll be a hot topic in his circle. He's older, on a fixed income and the fixed income people talk about where to get what the cheapest.

In the same time period, their four packs of Nine Lives Salmon, which I use for trap bait, went from $1.28 to $1.84. That's a HUGE markup. So I'm hurting as a result.

I finally found some tubes of mashed up uncooked turkey, at the Grocery Outlet, selling for $.99 for a one pound tube. It's supposedly for human use, but I have been cooking it up for the cats. It's far cheaper than cat food.