A Kitten in Trouble and The BIG Colony

Thursday Bambam from the big huge School Road colony was fixed.

In the late afternoon, I picked up seven of ten kittens the couple had trapped at the colony.  They decided to keep three of the kittens.  Fine by me.

But by the next day, they had trapped yet another kitten, this one very tiny.  It is unknown how many more adults there are there.  At least five more cats have been seen, four of them teens.  The guy wants two cats back, once fixed.  His friends, the older couple, have been driving back and forth to check and set traps and housing kittens, until I can find a place for them.  I hope he gives them some gas money at the least.

Currently, since last Sunday, the couple has trapped 19 cats and kittens there. They have done so with two large old traps and one tiny kitten trap, its size not deterring starved adults from entering it to be caught.

I got the first five, 3 adult females and two older male kittens fixed last Monday and then all five went to my friend who places barn cats, although one kitten, who got loose on staff at surgery, and bit an assistant when they were trying to contain him, is on bite hold with my friend until the 24th.

Then the couple caught three more adults, including Bambam, fixed Thursday and now also up with my friend who places barn cats.  The other two, Rastus and Glory, wait here, in a cage, in my garage.  My, how they eat!  They'll be fixed next Wednesday.

By then they'd also caught ten more kittens of various ages.   Make that eleven as of yesterday.   I took seven of those kittens with me Thursday afternoon, and my friend met me at the Salem clinic and took them, along with Bambam.  She has a shelter she works with, who had fosters for them lined up.

So my barn cat placement friend has so far helped with 13 of the 19 cats and kittens caught.  I'm in awe.  I'm in awe of the couple too, in their 70's, who have trapped all these cats, at their friends place in Lebanon.   The couple will keep at least three of the four kittens they are currently holding.  The two adults here will be fixed and go to my barn home placement friend.  What about the five to who-knows-how-many more adults still out there?  They'll go to barn placement too, when there is room.

Helping 19 cats and kittens in less than a weeks time, now that's fabulous!

Some of the seven kittens who went north on Thursday

The kittens are being treated for parasites and URI's. (upper respiratory)

If you wondered about how prevalent rabies is in Oregon, triggering the bite hold for a simple provoked bite from a scared kitten, consider very recently a woman in Waterloo (that's where I got over 100 cats fixed last fall and this winter and spring and am still at it), recently had to undergo rabies shots, after she was bitten by a rabid bat.

 She heard a hissing sound behind her camper, went to investigate., it was a sick bat, on the ground, and the bat bit her.  It was tested for rabies and was positive.   This is the second rabid bat bite in the valley this summer.   Rabies is very common in our bat population here.

On a side note, maybe we cat fixers should get community service status.  Every one of those 100 plus cats I got fixed in Waterloo, got rabies vaccines.  If a vaccinated cat or dog plays with a sick on the ground rabid bat, and gets bitten, they don't get rabies, then spread it to other animals or people, by biting them.  Vaccinate your pets, people!

So late Thursday night, after waking from a long early nap, I get texts from the woman on the street in Lebanon where I helped over two dozen cats, removing most of those cats to better situations.  She and her boyfriend live in a trailer on her grandma's property and had two unfixed females with six kittens between them.  I finally talked her into getting them all fixed.  Seven of the eight are now fixed, including little Max, a black kitten.

She was texting me that Max's eye was hurt and swelling rapidly.  I told her she would have to turn the kitten over to a shelter or rescue with the money to get him vet care.  Well KATA responded to her request for help, but wanted her to bring the kitten from Lebanon to Sweet Home.  She has no car and never any money and so couldn't get him to Sweet Home.  So yesterday morning, I went and picked Max up then met KATA in Sweet Home.  They took him straight to their vet.  He didn't lose his eye, which is good.  The infection was just above his eye.  Thank you so much, KATA, for helping Max the Kitten very quickly.  I know vet care is expensive!

Poor little Max

KATA sent me this photo this morning, of Max, on the left, and another teen kitty who had the same injury and surgery.  Both will be just fine.  Those are drain tubes in their wounds.

For good measure, here is a photo of Max, he's the black kitten at top of photo, when he went with two brothers, to be fixed at Heartland Humane in July.

Clementine (formerly named Blessed) is spending a few days here, while her owner is on a much needed vacation.  Clementine is the old gal nearly starved to death, roaming Mountain Shadows, now doing great in her new home.  Most recently she went to the coast clinic with me and 11 bad teeth were removed, thanks to Happy Cat Club.  Now she's visiting here again.  Eating up a storm too and has slipped back into her easy lifestyle she enjoyed while here before.  She sleeps in a cage with the door wide open so she can be out and about when she so chooses but return to the cage to sleep privately because its her space and eat.  She's an easy old gal.

Clementine goes home on Tuesday.

Other than that, I'm not doing much of anything, really.