The Emptying---Goodbye to a Lot of Cats

Yesterday was long and wonderful.

I was up too early, awakened by knee pain, no way to get comfortable.

It's been over a month since the injury, but sometimes I'd think it was yesterday.   I've received no useful medical help outside of some stronger than Aleve anti inflammatories.

So my alarm was set for 5:30 a.m. but I was up before that.   I prepared the four cats I was to take, Raven, the tame black tux from Mountain Shadows, George, the wildish black tux, Nita, the wild mom of the four kittens, and Jynx, a tame black tux, also from the park, but owned.  I had five reservations and one of Nita's kittens looked big enough.  I got out the postal scales and sure enough, he was just over 2 lbs, so I put him in a kitten trap and off we all went, headed to Salem.  We arrived by check in time, which is 7:15 a.m.

In the check-in line, two familiar faces.  Jodie, from Brooks, with a cat, and Edith, clear from Roseburg, with a car loaded in cats from Douglas County.

I came home to find on my computer a message from Meow Village.  They had agreed to take all seven kittens, including little Jules, who was up being fixed.

Jules, one of Nita's boy kittens, fixed yesterday, then went straight to Meow Village

I was happy!   I began preparing all their records and gave Nita's other three kittens their first vaccine.

In the meantime, the guy from the sticks colony, the one who broke one of my traps by "adjusting it", called and wanted to meet me at Circle K, to return the other, said he was done, mentioned he'd trapped a cat he'd never seen before and that was it.  He had no time for this.  

I didn't argue.  I went to meet him and stood outside my car.  He drove up in a pickup and I could smell the trap before he even parked.  Skunked!   Ha!  So that was why the rush to return the trap.  His wife's been away, on a trip, ha!   He hadn't even tried to clean it up.  There is skunk spray dried onto the bottom and sides of the trap.   I've had it soaking in a paste of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide.

I'm glad to be done with that one.  

I went to pick up the cats at the Salem clinic and my friend, who places barn cats, was there to meet me.   She took home Nita and George, both fed, with Nita's kittens, at the same trailer at Mountain Shadows.  Allegedly, the same tenants left both behind when they moved out.  

Young mom Nita, now spayed, and off to a new beginning

George, formerly of Mountain Shadows, is fixed now, and off with his friend Nita, to be placed as a barn cat

I loaded up Jules, Nita's kitten, Raven and Jynx and headed off to Meow Village.  I'd brought along the other six bathroom kittens---Nita's other three---Jillian, Tuffy and Mocha, plus the sticks colony kittens Zephyr, Sapphire and Mosquito.

Nita's boy Mocha, now with Meow Village

Nita's girl Jillian is also with Meow Village now

Tuffy is with Meow Village too, Nita's 3rd boy

The three sticks colony kittens went along:

Wonderful Zephyr, already tame, went along with the other six to Meow Village.

Wild thing Mosquito, half the size of her alleged siblings Sapphire and Zephyr, went too.

So did the gorgeous Sapphire, the silver muted torti, on the bottom of this photo (That's Tuzio up top)

I was so grateful to Meow Village for taking them on!

Then it was home, and soon Melissa stopped by to adopt Raven.  Goodbye sweet Raven, no more Mountain Shadows for you.

Sweet Raven then went to her home after being fixed yesterday.  She was in heat again.  No More Mountain Shadows for you, sweetie.

AFter she left, tired out, I still had chores.  I fed the farm colony cats on my way to Sweet Home to return Jynx, of Mountain Shadows, to his owner.  At least that beautiful boy is fixed now.  

Jynx went home after he was fixed, clear back to Mountain Shadows

Home then, and  straight to bed, early enough, tired enough,  I never heard the phone ring.  If I had heard it ring, I would have known the elderly Albany woman, who feeds a mom and three kittens, had caught one kitten in the trap I left her.  Maybe then I could have stopped her from making a novice mistake.  She left the kitten in the trap out all night on the porch, for mom and her other two, to see.   I'd warned her not to do that, but it hadn't sunk in.   When I picked up the little girl this morning, I told her it might be a long while before she catches anybody else.