Back to Break?

I'm longing already for break days, even though I did really nothing except too many projects during my alleged break in July.

What a week it's been. 

First off last Monday it was picking up the orange mom and her five kittens, all six filthy, in Sweet Home, bathing them all in the bathroom sink, trying to kill their massive flea populations, worrying over them. 

Same day, off to Waterloo park, and then running into the dumped teen mom there, trapping her, finding out her kittens were also dumped and that KATA already had them.  Then KATA picking her up.

Then it was Sulu being returned and dealing with that.

Then it was taking the orange mom and her brood, now clean and mostly flea free, to Meow Village.

Then it was the Circle K clerk's kittens, who by now were young adults, my goodness.  And getting them to CAFA.

Then it was rounding up cats for yesterday to fill seven reservations, driving to Gervais when two kittens were trapped there to pick them up.  Trapping the otherwise doomed three in Lebanon, then finding the N. Albany trailer with so many cats to get one of them to fill out the reservations.

The two Gervais boy kittens were fixed yesterday---Sundown and Sunrise.  They get to go home today.

Sundown, black male Gervais kitten

Sunrise, orange tabby male kitten

The little Lebanon family of three were fixed yesterday.  Tango, the kitten, turned out to be a boy.

Tango, a little boy, and the only survivor of his mom's latest litter.

Don Juan, the male, and daddy to Tango, obviously.  He got a convenia injection for a cheek bite wound infection.

Black mom with Tango.  I named her Rosalita.

In search of a 7th cat, since another male orange kitten, would be coming from Meow Village, I went to a trailer park in N. Albany.  I had been told, right as my break began, about kittens in the shopping area over there.  I went over, mainly to check it out, and decided they were likely from the trailer park and went over in search of them.  I asked a man if he'd seen a mom and kittens and he pointed out a trailer.  I went there and found a ton of kittens, plus unfixed adults.  So Sunday, I went back there.  There are three unfixed females and three unfixed males, although one only comes around when the girls are in heat.  There are ten kittens inside her trailer with access to a catio she's made of the deck and three wild kittens outside.  The ten tame kittens are going to Safehaven, today in fact, although she'll bring them back, once vaccinated, since they are currently full, she said.  I trapped the outside female with the three wild kittens.  They are old enough to not need mom for a couple days.  Ten weeks she said.  So Mokey was fixed yesterday too.

Mokey, a gray tux female, fixed yesterday.

I took Mokey back this morning.  The woman seems extremely excited to be getting them fixed at last.

This was after I took another kitten to Salem to be fixed this morning.  I fortunately was gifted a spay neuter reservation someone else wasn't using.

 Once I got home yesterday I was contacted by a local business who had trapped a kitten.  They had not had this happen but once before.  The trapper's wife was cruising the web looking for a humane solution for the little wild thing and found me.  I went and got the kitten yesterday morning after I got home from taking the seven cats to the clinic.  I'd first picked up the Meow Village boy, Hitch, to take also.

Hitch, a wild boy Meow Village needed fixed

  The little black tux was in their live trap and scared to death.  I immediately covered their trap and then took the trap to the back of my car, laid it on its side, with the end that opens up against the back of a tomahawk transfer trap.  Got inside with all the windows and doors shut.  I moved the towel covering their trap, over onto mine and carefully opened the door of their trap, which was not a transfer trap, moving the back of my transfer trap to cover the opening.  Once the door of their trap, laid on its side, was completely open with the wire of the back transfer door of mine covering the opening, I opened that transfer door and the kitten darted into my trap, anxious for the privacy provided by the towel covering mine. 

The kitten wanted water, food and to sleep, more than anything.  I put her in my bathroom so she could do just that and tried to nap myself for awhile.

And did.

When I picked up the cats at the clinic yesterday afternoon, my barn cat placement friend met me there.  She usually transfers the cats she's taking from my traps to her feral containers, in the back of her truck.  But its not climate controlled so she came with her husband in her car due to the heat we are experiencing here.  She had agreed to take the Lebanon family of three.

However things got mixed up, as she transferred in the back of my car.  I took two other cats in traps out on my side, to make room for her inside, and her husband took out another on the other side.   And somehow the black cats got mixed up.  She took home Sundown, from Gervais instead of Rosalita, Tango's mom. 

I didn't notice she'd taken the wrong cat since all the traps were covered, until I got home and went to return Sundown and Sunrise, boys from Gervais, to my bathroom, until I return them today.  Sundown is black also, like Rosalita.  I was a little surprised to see the adult Rosalita was the black cat I had.  I called my friend and we will swap today and probably she'll take Freezie, the little black tux kitten from the local business, too.  I think she'd match well with Tango, from Lebanon, and Rosalita.  Rosalita lost two of her kittens somehow and Freezie seems all alone in this world, although this morning, on the way to Salem with Freezie, I saw a deceased small black tux on the road right near the business where Freezie was trapped.  I bet it was a sibling or maybe even her mom.

Freezie, from Frozen Foods

All in all the last 9 days have been very productive in helping cats.  I am a bit worn thin with the intensity but I'll survive.   However, my dreams last night were filled with beaches and warm water and wishing wells.