That Useless Feeling

 Last week, I felt I did well, catching six more cats at that difficult ditch colony, when most are already fixed now.  

A lady texted wanting to get a friends cat fixed, said she took her in as a stray.  She didn't want an ear tip.  I said I had nowhere I could get a cat fixed without an ear tip.   This prompted a response that shook me up---that HCC, my nonprofit, really was no more, because I can't find anywhere to get them fixed.  I sent her back her $25, that she had donated, but she's right.

Yesterday was the day to try for appointments in April at the Salem clinic.  I only got ten.  But ten is ten, you know, better than zero.   No, its not enough to even fix one moderate size colony.   So what's the point?  I don't know anymore.

The Corvallis shelter no longer helps with spay neuter, like they used to, before the pandemic.  The local private shelter, which is really fancy and well staffed, no longer even helps with vouchers.  After they ended the voucher program they had, briefly they had a once a month cat fix day, for owned tame cats only brought in by owners.  I don't know how long that lasted.  Not long.  Now they offer no help at all and if they take in a stray, the cat must be fixed before they'll take it.  I don't know the reasons there.  Probably same old---staffing or something like that, only a guess.

I had to quit using the nonprofit clinic an hours drive north and east.  I was told different things.  One thing I was told was that I wasn't a paying customer, although I paid same day every time, the amount they charged.  I still have no idea what that meant.  Then the last time I tried, most of the reservations I'd made were taken away from me, needed by people in that county, I was told.  Ok.  I was also told they were no longer going to help anyone outside of their county.  Ok.  But I knew a local rescue was taking oodles of cats there to be fixed.   So I figured they just didn't want me there, for some reason I don't know about.  Another option bit the dust.   I assume its because they're very very busy.  Seems like every clinic is.

I did pay for a few cats to be fixed at private clinics.  One clinic charged $200 per neuter.  $1000 would only get five boys fixed.  Gosh almighty.  You'd have to be super rich to use that option to humanely control the cat population.  Which is my real mission.  And patient.  Since you can't get in easily.

That left only two options---the Salem clinic and the Portland one.   Using the Portland clinic is hard on me and on my car.  Because of the distance and traffic congestion in the Portland area, I spend the day there, waiting on the cats.   This can be freezing, in the winter, and scorching, in the summer, if I try to sleep in my car.   Used to be, I'd go on outings when the clinic was on the east side, to all sorts of places, even to hike at Multnomah Falls in the gorge, while the cats were fixed.  But that was before the population overrun of people, the state has seen, with its corresponding increase in cars and congestion.  Sometimes it feels like being in a straight jacket, when up there, like you can barely move, due to everywhere being so crowded with people and traffic.   

The Portland clinic requires that the caregivers themselves contact the clinic to get reservations, which does make things more difficult.  The cat caregiver, if they even try, which most around here do not, or they may have no phone, or limited minutes on a phone, or only text, leaves a message and then the clinic calls them back, which can become a case of phone tag.   I asked the Lebanon 30 cat colony folk to get reservations at the Portland clinic, knowing there'd be no chance at getting 30 fixed via the Salem one.  She began to try in late November, as did I for her, but we were told not to even call until after January 1.  I heard of some other folks, in Portland though, getting spots quickly in mid December, and she tried again, but again was told not to call til after the 1st.   She did do that and got 15 spots the 18th of February.  

In other words, the Portland clinic and Salem clinics are very very busy, overwhelmed busy probably.   In other words, yeah, my nonprofit is kind of dead in the water right now.  At least the cat fixing part of it.  I still deliver a lot of cat food around.   I took five cats to be fixed, is all, in January.  Five cats.   Great.  In April, I can only take ten cats in.  But at least for those ten cats and their people life gets better.  

I shouldn't say completely dead in the water.  I'll probably get about 35 cats fixed this month, for instance, between the Salem and Portland clinics.  I want to make sure that big colony in Lebanon is done once and for all.  Its such a huge relief, not only for the cats to be all fixed, but for the caretaker, and also neighbors.  Creates peace.  And I want to finish the ditch colony.   There are at least 3 unfixed there still.  If that's all there are left needing fixed, that will be 25 fixed there.  So its not like I do nothing.  I don't have any low cost options I can offer to help low income folks get house cats fixed.  I wish I could come up with something there.  In years past, when there were far more options, I sometimes took close to 300 cats a month to be fixed at various clinics.  I worked it more than full time, going door to door even.  Without many options now, should I be contacted, I slink around like a stray cat, keeping a low profile, kind of ashamed in a way, feeling inadequate and rather useless.

Out the window goes my dream of a more humane future through population control.  

It is what it is.  

Latest project, removing the shaggy shredded carpet off my cat trees and replacing it with newer carpet.  I began to renew one of the cat trees last week, but cutting off hanging frayed sisal rope, reattaching what was left, with staples and glue   Today I worked at removing the shredded carpet and putting new carpet on it.   

The moment I pulled it out of the bedroom, to the living room, so I could watch TV while working, the cats decided to interfere.

I remove the old carpet and staples with a pry bar and needle nose pliers.  Yeah--messy.

I measure what I'll need then and cut a piece from the remnant I got at Home Depot last week.  I staple it back to the cat tree.  First I had to fix the stapler.  It had old staples jammed in the middle.  I finish off with a line of glue on the cut edge, to hopefully keep it from fraying.

I didn't replace all the carpet.  Eventually I'll get some more sisal too.  But for now, it looks a lot better.