The Lost Girls

They were first seen over a week ago, at night, in the middle of the road.  The caller thought maybe eight or ten kittens.   They had to shoo them out of the road, so they would not be hit.

I went out the next morning, the 30th, and found two alive and one dead on the road.  The two I found, Sparrow and Wren, were in bad shape.  Dehydrated, starved and very very cold.  It took days to get their fluid level to normal.  The Harvest Drive boys, who hail from not that far from where the girls were found, helped give them confidence.

Then, improbably, another was found, this one about 3/4 mile from where they were first seen.  She was in horrible shape, same thing, dehydrated and freezing cold.  Also starved nearly to death.  I call her Meadow.

And then another was found, night before last, this time an orange girl.  The Circle K clerk who found her had to keep her warm that night by sleeping with her and tying a scarf into a sling so she could carry her against her body.

I gave her fluids once I got her.  She cried hoarsely, pitifully, like a kitten who had already been through far too much trauma and suffering. 

Sunshine and Meadow last night, in my bathroom.  I put a space heater in there, because they are slow to warm and want it like 80 degrees.

This is Sunshine yesterday.  After getting fluids then eating, all she wanted was to sleep on my lap.

It's hard to show in photographs just how skinny they are.

I think all four will survive.   Sparrow and Wren are now thriving in fact.

Yesterday I took five cats up to be fixed at Willamette Humane's clinic.   I'd gone clear to Sweet Home to pick up two of them, from two different trailer parks.   I had to chase Sidekick all over one trailer.  He'd been an outside feral boy, lured finally inside by this woman and then tamed, mostly tamed.  He finally let me scruff him and back him into a carrier.   But only after I climbed over the woman's disabled mother to get to him.  That was the buff boy Sidekick.

Sidekick was neutered yesterday

From another Sweet Home trailer park, with endless new cats showing up, I took Aqua, a pleasant young girl.

Aqua, fixed yesterday too

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From rural Albany, I took Mia, a young girl too.  Her people are moving shortly to Lacomb, and across from them, lots of feral cats fed by some man, they said.  I gave her my card to give him.  At least they could be all fixed.

Mia, a sweet brown tabby tux girl, was spayed yesterday

From Albany, another black male trapped at another trailer park.  Seems endless there too but the area where this guy came from, we think they're all fixed now.  I named him Shady.

Shady, from Albany, a big black male, was fixed.

The mom cat I got fixed there late September actually did have another litter just before I got her fixed.  They spotted them out on their back porch a few days ago.  Immediately they caught them however, a little boy and a little girl.  Both have front leg deformities.  The little gray boy has both front legs deformed and the little girl has one front leg deformed.  They're keeping them both.

This is the little boy.  He can get around with those turned in at the elbow front legs just fine.  This is a genetic defect likely from inbreeding.

Also fixed yesterday was a Brownsville boy who showed up at a home near some stables where a friend is getting the cats fixed.   So she brought him up and Smokey got fixed yesterday.

Smokey from Brownsville was fixed yesterday

After I dropped off the cats at the clinic, I headed north to Wilsonville.  Animal Rescue and Care Fund was ready to take on Blizz and Rabbit, the two Harvest Drive boy kittens.  So long kittens!  Good luck!

They were a little nervous about the change, in the carrier on the way up.

They had enjoyed destroying my bathroom, but....time to move on.

Also yesterday, my barn cat placing friend had room for Jakarta and I did not want to miss out on that opportunity.  I was tired by then, but after picking up the five cats from whs, I headed north again, this time with another former Harvest Drive kitty, teen girl Jakarta, a wild thing and met my friend in Aurora.   Jakarta will make an excellent barn cat.

So long Jakarta!