Sunday, January 07, 2018

Another Onslaught

Well just when things seemed to be easing up, I get a text from a kid.

His parents don't speak English.  I got five female cats fixed for them last August and September, including Bonita, with the bad eyes, who remained here.  The other four were Rosy, Gato, Smidge and Mama Kitty.

KATA had referred them to me.  (Kitty Angel Team Adoption).  They had taken another female, Chiquita and her kittens out.  They were going to adopt Chiquita out, but then, not sure why, returned her eventually. 

The family has been evicted.   They are moving to a new place and the place doesn't take cats.  It's not their fault, the eviction.  The apartment complex is run down and the landlord has been under fire to fix things and so finally he is fixing something, but to do so, evicting all the tenants in the affected units.

By now they'd found a home for Smidge.  Mama Kitty vanished when a neighbor moved and they think the neighbor may have taken her.  So they have three tame girls, Rosy, Gato and Chiquita, all fixed, and then three more outside wild ones they feed, ones I didn't know about.  Two of them are teens another tenant threw out as kittens, when they moved away.

CAFA, a Salem rescue group, heard of the mess and offered to take one of the tame cats.  I immediately took the young man who does speak English and is the only one of the family I deal with, traps to catch the outside ones and a carrier for Gato, the tame torbi tux female, as I decided she would be a perfect fit for CAFA.  I hope KATA will help with Chaquita and Rosy.

The boys put her in the carrier and began their goodbyes to her.  They were crying.  I tried to tell them how I understood the pain of losing a beloved friend by describing Miss Daisy, but all that did was set me to sobbing too. 

I delivered Gato to CAFA in Salem yesterday, only a few hours after picking her up.


Gato is now up in Salem with CAFA and up for adoption.

By evening the boys caught only one of the two teens outside.  He texted me she was "a mess".  I said "What?"  Then called him and asked for a photo.  She'd fallen asleep in the trap and laid in the remnants of the wet food bait.  The photo was of the oldest boy holding her.  By the time I picked her up she smelled of soap.  I think they bathed her.  Yes, she's growly and also very cute, but likely too old to adequately tame for normal adoption.

The teen girl
I'd already promised to get cats fixed at Mountain Shadows again.  I went up with a friend.  The two boys they had they wanted fixed the most were tame and we just put one in a carrier, but had to trap the second since he'd gotten outside and was running around.  We then waited, using a bottle under a trap door, out front, with string attached to the neck of the bottle, to catch the one unfixed one, a kitten, of several the two women feed on the porch.   Then you're not catching everybody else.  I watched through a crack in the door and finally the kitten they'd talked about showed up with the fixed calico, who was left behind herself as a teen, tossed out when tenants moved along with her mother and 3 siblings.

I caught the little kitten, a gray tabby tux, also too old and too wild to tame for house cat placement.


And these are the two tame boys.  They need homes.  They are very tame.

The women call this guy LJ 

And they call this sweet boy Shadow.  I hope to find a shelter or rescue to take the boys.


We also caught a long hair black and white who had been hanging around but he immediately began meowing in the trap.  I took him out, and his hair was so long it had been impossible to see the collar with bell but he had one on.  For good measure, I felt him up, and yes, he is fixed.  We let him out promptly.

So anyhow, I have two adult tame boys now in the garage and two teen girl kittens, who don't know one another, in the bathroom.  It will all work out.   Onward.

In the night, the eviction folks caught one of the wild males they feed, a big huge brown boy, probably little teen's daddy.  He and the two teen girls will be fixed tomorrow and go for barn cat placement.  I wish I had a place for the little medium hair girl teen, who would work with her, but I don't. 

UPDATE:  Heartland is taking in Shadow and LJ tomorrow!

8 comments:

  1. It never ends...
    Thank you for all you do.

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    Replies
    1. It doesn't seem to, but may for me because just hauling a few traps, and my back is hurting again. However, I'm building a wheel set to clamp on the back of a trap, then with rope loop at front, I can wheel them instead of carry them.

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  2. It sounds like the cats were well loved by their family. I hope the teens understood what a kindred spirit you were.

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  3. You are training a younger generation to be responsible pet owners. Those boys sound very caring and responsible. A wonderful thing to hear about.

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    Replies
    1. I would hope I have done some of that because I'm getting old and creaky.

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  4. It's a shame to be shocked when I hear of someone actually TRYING, helping, and doing good things on their own. But it's clear to me that cats (and dogs) are seen as disposable and nothing that was given love or hope. If you take one, they become family. But are merely possessions that rate less than the garbage left behind.

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    Replies
    1. You're back! I see that daily, people who boast of their good values and yet treat living things like garbage or worse, something to torment or hurt and enjoy it. Makes me sick.

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  5. Oh, how clever to put wheels on the traps. ~hugs~ I'm sorry your back hurts, and that you have to step into these heartbreaking situations again and again. I hate that this family got evicted and had to give up the animals. Thank heaven they acted responsibly, and to you for all your efforts.

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