Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Four Cats Being Fixed Today

I took four cats up to be fixed today: three males and one female. One male is from Lebanon, a stray being fed by a woman who also feeds two females. She believes one of the females, abandoned by the former tenant, might be fixed. The other, a muted calico, she doesn't believe is fixed, but couldn't catch her last night. So just the male is being fixed.

On my way up to Lebanon, to pick up that male, I stopped in at the Chevron to get some gas. I ran into catman Roger, the grass seed farmer I've known forever, although he lost his farm and now works for the county. We joked around some, then he said he had another male show up at his place. He's a nice guy and so is his partner. I told him I'd stop by on the way back from Lebanon and pick up the latest arrival there. I did.

It's always a pleasure to stop by their place. They offer me cold drinks, food, and they're just super nice people. So that boy is up being fixed. Where he came from, they don't know. Could be another Safehaven escapee or dump off. They're across a field from SafeHaven and have ended up with cats who have escaped people bringing them in from there before. And then of course people dump cats at SafeHaven. It's a dangerous thing to do for the cats, as many get hit then on the highway.

The other two cats are Albany cats. I got a female and her four kittens fixed for a very nice young Albany couple. They took in that female, who showed up and had kittens under their porch. They are trying to find all five of those cats homes now. Now they are caring for a relative's female and wanted her fixed. So she's getting fixed today. The young woman is going to take a vet assistant class and then try to get into prevet. She'd make such a great vet. I hope she can get in.

The fourth cat is a male from the complex across from that trailer park that houses 33 cat trailer. The woman left a message awhile back stating she was very ill, would be entering the hospital and needed to rehome her cat. I did not return that call because I just couldn't take in another cat. Then she left another message, that she wanted to get her cat fixed. I returned that call, and said "I thought you were dying or something and had to rehome your cat." Well, that wasn't the case and I'm not sure what the case was. Doesn't matter, he's getting fixed and going home afterwards.

When picking up that cat, I ran into a man, maybe 30, outside smoking, who was confrontational in a way. He claimed to work for the old man in the trailer park, who had the cock headed calico I got fixed, that he feeds as an outside stray and those four kittens, three of whom disappeared during the day, while their mom was being fixed. He was accusatory, that I took those three kittens, and said the old man wanted the other kitten, the only one apparently who lived through that day, back after she was fixed.

I said "He didn't want her back. He wanted me to find all four of them homes. When I couldn't find the other three, he wanted the fourth one at lesat placed if possible, because he thought his neighbor killed the other three. I told him when I returned the mom, that I found someone to foster her."

I did tell him. And he knows the woman who fostered her and found her a home, because that woman said she used to drink with him. And that woman also knows the man I was talking to today, who is the same man who was on the porch of the old man's trailer when I was trying to find those kittens that day they disappeared, and who gave up the search quickly, saying he wasn't going to put any more time into it. I then continued the search for another hour, while the old man, this younger man, and the old man's caregiver sat around on his trailer porch smoking and chatting.

Then the man said I should check somewhere nearby for the kittens, because they were possibly there, after I mentioned seeing a kitten who looked like the male on a porch of one of the nearby felony flat cottages. I said, "They're not my kittens. Why don't you do that for the old man, or have him check there?" Boy.

Anyhow, drama drama! At least they're all concerned sort of in a passive way. Better than being not concerned outright, you know?

The Pink House woman and I have long ago come to terms. I stop by every now and then to see the cats and feed them. They look good, healthy, good weight on them, and now their good health and fixed status is a source of pride to her. To see them looking good, happy and healthy, also makes me happy.



Pink House cats this morning, when I stopped in to feed them and say hello. They still know my car and come running even when my car is several hundred feet away.


Below are photos of the four cats up being fixed today:
Nice sweet good looking black tux from Salem Road.
This is the Lebanon stray male up being fixed.
This is the Albany Siamese female up being spayed.
And this is Catman Roger's latest arrival, being fixed today.

In other news, I called a woman for whom I got three cats fixed. They are low income and I don't think anybody in the household works. Since then, they also got an orange kitten from someone else. I got two males fixed for those people they got the orange kitten from. They'd already got the female fixed. One of the males was the sibling of the orange kitten these other folks took.

Anyhow, I call them today, to arrange to get that orange cat, now four or five months old, fixed. They tell me they got another orange kitten and are going to breed them. I say "No, don't do that, please. There are too many cats out there." I also told them "Poppa's policy is, that if you breed those cats deliberately, you will get no more help ever." I told them, "It's also a matter of money. It is not faceless money. You don't see the faces behind those who work to contribute to pay for the fixes of cats for people who won't get them fixed or can't afford to get them fixed. Nonetheless there are the faces out there, of taxpayers, in the case of grants, and donars, mostly little people without a lot of money. This isn't magic money that pays for these fixes. These are people trying to make a difference and sacrificing to do so. Think of them, before you do this. Picture the faces in your mind of people going to work everyday, paying bills, and setting out a little of what they, taking away from themselves and what they can do, to pay for your cats to be fixed."

I try to remind most people of this. To have some respect for donars and for taxpayers.

I remember seeing a Judge Joe Brown episode. A woman on public assistance had adopted a huge St. Bernard and then couldn't care for it. She asked the woman she bought the dog from to keep the dog for her, for awhile, until she got another place. She was on HUD. The woman would only agree to this if she paid her a boarding fee and showed her a lease allowing a dog and allow her to visit to see that she had a fenced backyard. The public assistance woman was sueing the woman she bought the dog from, because she wanted the dog back but had met none of the requirements, including paying for the boarding and training.

Judge Joe Brown gave the woman hell for buying a dog she couldn't care for using taxpayer money, since she was on public assistance and ruled the dog was now owned again by the woman she bought him from. To also save taxpayers, the judge denied the boarding fees to the original owner, incurred when the woman gave the dog back temporarily, under the stipulation from the former owner she pay boarding in the meantime. The Judge stated this only because if the woman was forced to pay the boarding fees she promised, those really paying would be taxpayers. Again he chided the woman for her behavior.

So what in the world is this Albany woman thinking? She couldn't afford to get the cats she has fixed, and now, gets two more cats and is considering breeding them? What in the world is she thinking? I know what Judge Joe Brown would say!

I'm also highly suspicious of where that second orange kitten came from, considering one of the three kittens who disappeared that day at the trailer park was orange.

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