Friday, December 06, 2019

So Long Squeaky!

I took Squeaky, the darling little buff tabby boy from Egg Place, up to Wilsonville Wednesday evening.  I handed him off to Karen, who kept him for the night then took him with two other Egg Place kittens who had been fostered by another person in Portland, to the FCCO.  All three boarded the Kitten Caboose.  Off to Oregon Humane Society for adoption!

I took a final photo of the little guy.  We were in the car in Wilsonville.  I pulled him out and he cuddled in, purring as usual.  Love that little guy.


I started another project too.  Albany woman had called me, feeds cats, only one fixed, and was under fire, since a neighbor complained.  She faced a $1000 fine for having cats that trespassed an unwilling neighbors property.  Or something.   Oh brother.

So I finally got involved.  I went and netted the three youngest kittens in her shed.  A community service officer said he'd foster and tame them.   They're beautiful but not that young.



That was Thursday I did that. 

Then I found a barn home posting, someone wanting two.  But they were clear up near Seattle, a world class equestrian center of some sort.  In fact the woman who posted is involved in some Olympic event of some kind next two weeks, so she said it would have to be in the next two days, or after that was over.   I opted for immediately.  I always do.

The great thing was, she had someone coming up from near Corvallis today and if I trapped them fast, they could ride up with her in her horse trailer tack room.  And the even better part, the property owner up there is a veterinarian and would fix them there.

I got myself over there to the colony this morning, on a time crunch, since I needed to meet the woman transporting them up to their new home at 9:30 at the Arco down at the freeway.  And I had a doctor appointment for my shoulder at 10:15.  That's a tight line, especially if you add on that the transporter had to load up horses and that often never goes quite as planned.  And it didn't and she was late.

So I called up Stacy, who recently helped out with Boomer, a Sweet Home kitten, and she and her husband came on down, arrived just before the horse trailer pulled in.  By then I was on my way out, headed to my doctors appointment. I made it to the office with one minute to spare. Stacy and Dan handed over the pair of freshly caught teens.


Heartland came through also and said they'd fix the other six on Monday.  I just have to catch them.  The lady can hold them in a utility type room her nephew is helping her clean up and reinforce.  I'm trying to convince her to just build a small catio.  It's now down to six cats.  They'd be fine in a catio and she could work on finding them homes then.

Look at this big beautiful boy there.  A long hair silver tabby male.  Obvious dad of the most recent kittens.  He's got a laid back kind personality.  He will stay there.


So five, at least, now have moved out of there.   I caught another teen too, who is in the garage awaiting spay neuter Monday.

This is a sure sign of Christmas.  Look at all these UPS package delivery trucks heading out from their facility.  I was waiting at the gas station for the horse trailer transport lady watching them leave in endless lines.


11 comments:

  1. How did your doctor's appointment go?
    And, as always, many thanks for the work you do and the lives you improve.

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    1. Not really a doctor appointment---rehab for my shoulder. She has me do various exercises to try to strengthen the joint, and gives me exercises to do at home. My right shoulder is kind of a mess, might need surgery to function normally again (rotater cuff), but trying to see if exercises will help.

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    2. I hope the exercises DO work. I've had several people tell me they have been successful.

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  2. Anonymous1:48 AM

    So much good work done. You amaze me.

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    1. Thanks Andrew.

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    2. Agreed! I'm so glad you made your appointment on time and hope it went well. ~hugs~ Thanks for the mention of "Bone Tomahawk". I did see that film and enjoyed Mr. Russell's acting, for sure. Be well!

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  3. Strayer, I tried looking up such a law, but it soon became clear that I didn't want to spend the necessary time to find it. However, I did learn that it's legal to trap "nuisance cats" and take them to the pound.

    Because I am now--in a very, very limited way compared to what you do--am at least trying to help homeless cats, I'm spending more time than ever thinking about the problem. This has gotten me to wondering what percentage of the cats you work with are ferals (that you have neutered and then release) as opposed to adoptable cats. As to the latter, how do you find and screen people who want a cat, and do you have those cats neutered before they go to their new homes? I'm really foundering emotionally with my own role in all this because I've become so attached to the cats that I'm fostering that I'm consumed with dread at the thought of letting them go. I'm wondering how you're able to do it. I'm also wondering what you do with cats that have medical needs that preclude either finding homes for them or turning them loose. You're a one-woman operation, whereas I'm working with a group that has seventy foster homes, a website, a medical facility for the longterm housing of cats that are in no shape for adoption, a total of more than two hundred volunteers, and two Pet Smart adoption centers, yet it's still very hard to find homes for all these cats, partly because the group has to have at least some of the considerable money that it has spent on every cat paid back by the adopters (around $120 a cat), and partly because it requires that the cats be kept indoors, and that, in the case of kittens at least, that they have another animal companion in the home they go to. I want very much to learn from you because this is all so very new to me, and I find myself woefully ignorant.

    By the way, I just--as I often do--gave a link to your blog in the comments' section to my recent post.

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    1. I don't do adoptions anymore Snow, unless its to friends, for the most part, and always they are fixed first. Well, lots of those policies are good ones, Snow. There is little tolerance for outside cats anymore in most places, and they are far safer inside anyhow. As for kittens, of course they should have a companion. A kitten growing up alone won't grow up normal and be sad. It's easier on the adoptor also, to have two kittens rather than one because they entertain each other, instead of one lonely kitten crying all night, or getting angry in his or her loneliness and knocking things off the counter. Anyhow, I don't turn ferals even loose with medical issues. Two cases in point in recent colonies---Pirate, the male I trapped with the throat wound and hanging dead skin. He went to the Emergency clinic for that. And Gunny, the male with terrible teeth and the spay neuter clinic said not to release him until his bad teeth got pulled, so I had that done too. It's tough but most are very healthy and require really nothing, except to get fixed, vaccines, flea treatment and very importantly--worming.

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    2. It's pretty tricky since there are more cats than homes. Colonies form most often from people who don't fix their house cat. She has kittens out under a neighbors deck. The mom's owner doesn't bother to find them, just puts out food, pretty soon they have kittens too, and males come in, when the girls are in heat, and return to the same colony looking for love again every couple months. Unfixed free roaming tame males roam a long distance and often get lost and don't make it home. Or killed. There are entire colonies of "lost boys", once owned and tame, kicked out because they spray marked or they got lost. Tame cats of either sex can start behaving feral in a matter of weeks when on their own, as fear sets in and they dart and hide, trying to find food, any kind human. Abandoned unfixed house cats, or dumped ones are the other way a feral colony can begin. I wish shelters and rescues would not take in kittens unless making sure the mom of those kittens is fixed. Otherwise its a never ending cycle. There should be as many of the likes of me, getting the cats fixed that won't otherwise get fixed, whose kittens are handed out free to people won't fix them either, as there are adoption groups, or nothing will get better.

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  4. You had one exciting day with traps, cats, horse trailers, hurt shoulders, and UPS trucks. I hope you were able to get some rest after that.

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    1. Wild times, L and L, and I'm wild woman! Lol, just kidding.

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