Nothing going on here, that's for sure.
I don't even bother to turn my phone on anymore, since I get a call maybe once a week, if even that.
Cat help requests come in by messenger, most often, and what can I do about them anyhow, except urge people to get spots clear up in Portland, at the FCCO, now booking out into September. The majority of people who contact me do not do that. There's nothing I can do if they don't either, since there are no clinics around here, to affordably get colonies done. There are places, in Salem, to get one's tame cat fixed affordably. So if their cat is tame, I give them that info.
I sure am confused by the big shelters in our state, with border walls and territories set up to keep little kittens, from certain counties out! Like our counties kittens. Like kittens here have the pox or are possessed or dirty or something. They'll take in kittens from other states. I don't get it. I don't know if anyone gets it.
Nothing I can do about that either.
Guess I'm going early early one morning this week to help with a huge trailer park colony in Portland. At least they get spay neuter spots up there and also can get kittens into shelters. I don't imagine I'll be much help. People and groups have their own ways to trap and organize to catch cats at a large colony and usually an outsider like me with her own loner ways is just in the way.
Other than that, this week will take six Sweet Home kittens to be fixed in Portland. Originally they were getting to go through Kitten Caboose, where the FCCO fixes them then passes them along to participating shelters for adoption. But....you guessed it, those participating shelters decided to say no to kittens outside the Portland metro area counties. Yup, one of those shelters is the one that now has taken over our former WHS in Salem too besides having the Portland one. Why they won't help mid valley kittens, I don't know. Clueless here. They claim to be for the whole state. At least when they're after donations.
It's too bad--for those little Sweet Home kittens. I also feel bad for me, driving clear up to Sweet HOme to get them, then clear to Portland to get them fixed, hanging out there all day, which isn't that easy on me, until they can be picked up, then driving them all the way back to Sweet Home. It's also a tale about the lacks in the mid valley. It won't be much longer I can make those kinds of trips to get cats fixed, due to my 300k miles almost old car.
Ok I'll quit being a whiner now. Ha. I get this way sometimes.
I am not surprised you are frustrated and I suspect pissed off. I would be too.
ReplyDeleteYup, you hit the nail on the head.
DeleteI think everyone should be allowed the occasional day to whine :-)
ReplyDeleteYeah.
DeleteThe situation is all incredibly frustrating. Despite that, you are still getting a good number of cats fixed. And 300,000 miles on your car. That in itself is a remarkable feat.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it is, then I see a news story this morning. They're testing a headlight cleaner and claim its an old car, with 120k miles on it. I stare in disbelief. Really, only 120k miles? I bought this car used when it already that amount on it. I know its life is limited with so many miles on mine. It freaks me out, sometimes wakes me up at night. I live miles from even a grocery store. I have no way to get another clunker. I had a friend who gave me a loan so I could get this latest one but that friend has died.
DeleteGiven people like you are prepared to give up your own time and money to help without charge, it is such a pity that there is no real place in the system for you now. You have made a real difference.
ReplyDeleteYes, its sad. Thanks for saying I made a difference.
DeleteHow frustrating! I don't blame you for venting. ~hugs~ Do you think perhaps some misguided idiot thinks 'country' cats can fend for themselves? But they'll take out of state cats... Hmmm... I'm baffled and angry for you all. And even if you feel in the way at the Portland event, I'm glad you'll get to be with like-minded and (hopefully) kind folk. :) Take care, my dear.
ReplyDeleteNo, I think its more likely that it relates to the feud they're having with the county to north of me, where they took over whs but are refusing to take in stray cats or kittens from that county over something about wanting granted law enforcement status. Or something, I don't know. It's a big fat mess, is all I'm sure of. In the year since they took it over, they've reduced TNR spay neuter appointments increased the cost to fix a stray, feral or barn cat, from zero to $50 and refused stray cats and kittens from the county they now operate in. In other words, it took less than a year for a Portland shelter after they took over the shelter in the valley to destroy a lot of what was in place to help cats in the mid valley. We feared this, when it happened, but hoped, with their big money, they'd actually make things better down here.
DeletePolitics suck. Grrr... Hugs, my dear.
DeleteI just wonder if they're overwhelmed with the cats in their area, but it sounds like they're just being petty. Letting the cats multiply in your area will impact theirs eventually.
ReplyDelete