More Cats and Yes, More Kittens

Oh my, what a kitten season.

Already took 12 kittens out of that new colony way up between Waterloo and Sweet Home and they are now all in Portland, with various fosters and groups.  Five are already fixed and some of those may already have been adopted.  Was that just last week?

Anyway, I had three more spay neuter spots today, up in McMinnville.  So yesterday, I trucked up there to the colony.  I got there about 9:30 and it was already hot.

Driving up that gravel road to get there, I spotted a cat shoot off the road into the woods.   Hmm, I thought, that one wasn't on my list of 12 adults needing fixed.

I drive in and everyone is still in bed in the camp trailers and fifth wheelers.  There's no food on the porch and just one cat.  Before, when I arrived, there were cats everywhere.  Darn it, I thought, maybe this won't be that easy.

I caught the one cat lounging on the chair.  A black long hair showed up then, but I thought he looked like a boy.  I wanted first to take females and stop reproduction there.  The old woman who lives in the mobile home was there this time and came out and picked up the black cat.  I said "I'd rather take females, is he a boy?"  "How do I tell?" she asked, since she couldn't see back there, due to all that hair.  "Feel for the two little side by side marbles under his butt," I said.  After a moment of fumbling and him twisting and struggling in her arms, she announced, "He's a boy."  Then she dropped him and off he ran.  Just as well, I thought.

Here comes another torbi, running up.   Oh thank goodness.  She was tame and I put her in a trap. I had one trap left and spotted, behind me, coming out from under some junk, two orange kittens.  Oh my, not more, I thought.  But I couldn't leave them up there.

I was having difficulty with the traps.   That's because this oversized overly friendly lonely black lab puppy was everywhere I was.  He'd even climb in my car, eager for attention.  What a floppy awkward pile of joy!  But also difficult to trap around.

Finally I asked the old woman to put him in the house and she did.

I set my one trap left over near where the hungry kittens had been.  I looked over then and the trap was sprung.  To my surprise, inside the trap was one orange kitten and one orange adult.  It was their mom. 

I went back to my car and quickly put the tamest torbi into a carrier, freeing up another trap.   Then I set that trap right beside the one with the other kitten and mom in it.  I had to wave off a black and white male who wanted to go inside too.  Minutes later, the other kitten was in the other trap.

I showed the old woman the cats I'd caught and explained to her the adults would be back on Thursday and I'd try to find the kittens a placement and that there are always risks in surgery, the usual speel.  She nodded her surgery consent and acknowledged the risks of surgery.

The orange short hair female was another I didn't have on my list.  I knew there was a long hair orange female.   So I came home with two kittens and three adult females.

Because of the heat, they could not be in the garage for the afternoon and night as they awaited surgery.  I set up two cages in the living room, on tables, which gave me no room to move but it had to be. The heat in the garage was severe.

 I put the kittens into one cage and the three adult girls in the other.  They ate and ate and ate.  I didn't disturb them at all and watched no TV and read on my bed for a few hours before doing errands.  I had to go to the bank to withdraw the needed money for the three fixes.  It costs $45 per cat at this clinic and I give a $5 donation per cat also, which goes into my friend's fund.  She volunteers there and the fund is to help pay the fee to fix more community cats fed by folks who cannot afford the $45 per cat.  They only take checks at the clinic or cash and I had no more business checks.  When I got the cash from the bank, I also ordered checks.

I found someone to take the two orange kittens tonight.  They are new to taming wild kittens and eager to try it.  They are in Salem and I gave them names of folks they could consult, but they'd already been watching youtube videos on how to do it.  They will coordinate with Karen in Portland, once they are tame, to place them with a rescue.

The fungi kittens, now free of fungi by the way, also may have a Portland placement at a vet clinic, where staff play with them in the break room and they adopt them out to their own clients.   This would be very very wonderful, I thought last night, as I fell asleep, perfect for them.  I hope very much that it works out.

The two children injured when the out of control jet ski hit them Sunday at the lake are in very bad shape.  The girl's jaw is broken in two places and dislocated, plus a slash across her cheek, her sternum is cracked and clavicle broken and she has a lacerated liver.  She's only six years old.  The little boy, from another family, has multiple skull fractures and brain swelling and they don't know if he will survive.  It is very very difficult to see the posts from the two families and the anguish of the two moms.  How would one comprehend or survive such a thing?

It not required by law that jet ski owners have liability insurance, which is tragic because of the medical bills these families face.   They can sue the owner but that doesn't mean the guy has any money to pay all the bills, that include travel and housing up near their children at hospitals in Portland.  It just breaks my heart.

Speaking of insurance, my car liability insurance is due. I was dismayed to see the price has gone up $10 a year.  I've never used the coverage for any claim.  They claimed to have sent rebate checks of $10 or refunded a card its paid on, for the corona virus months where nobody drove much.  It seems just classic they give you a $10 rebate and then raise rates $10 a year.    People are so against "socialized" health care if government foots much of the bill, yet nobody says a darn word about private socialism that is the insurance industry.  Good drivers pay the price for bad drivers.  It makes me angry sometimes.

Speaking of which I was shocked to get a letter from the local paper that my card would be charged the first of August for continued subscription.  I had not authorized continued charge, only a one time charge for a few month subscription under a deal and I admit I was emotional signing onto that, with their plea to support local journalism.   The online subscription was delivered only for three weeks, where the link to the limited version of the paper was accessible then.  After that the link only took me to the page with a pop up that stated I would need to pay more to become a member.  I was furious then, and tried to contact the paper over it but they did not answer email nor the phone and I gave up and thought it will expire anyway its money lost.

Then came that letter.  I tried to call again to no avail.  I emailed their customer service and again received no response.  I called twice more and finally pushed a button on their long useless robot answering tree and got a human.  He was not polite at all and I could barely understand him.  I cancelled and was horrified when he asked if they should delete my card info.  I was horrified they had stored it in the first place.   So come August 1, I hope they honor the cancellation because they have made it nigh impossible to contact them.