I don't know how I got involved in that horrible situation in Lebanon at the city owned RV park.
The city should be solving it humanely, not me.
Anyhow, I took the four from there yesterday to be fixed and tested, along with a female cat fed nearby at apartments. These five I took to the Salem clinic.
I drove from the Salem clinic to Corvallis where Growler and two of her kittens were fixed.
I came home briefly. I thought the Lebanon woman who had been feeding Growler would be up there trapping for the last kittens but she wasn't. In my make believe world, the people who feed cats are eager to help catch them to be fixed, find homes for the kittens, all that. She doesn't get up early. Usually 10 or 11:00. So I went up there with another trap and set it. She came up later and was there a few minutes when another kitten was caught. We got into a scream off.
I said I didn't know what to do with all these cats. I said if I return them, then she'd be feeding a colony here too. She had said she'd take the mom and two babies. I thought ok and then offered, maybe she'll be tame and you can take her to Safehaven. That set her off. She wasn't into helping cats other than feeding them. She thought I was taking advantage of her to even ask her to help trap the ones she'd been feeding. She didn't want involved at all. I think she was horrified at the number of kittens, and that there were kittens at all. She generally doesn't even tell me if she's feeding another place. I only knew about this one, because of when she asked me to feed when her truck broke down.
I left after that, but not to go home. Growler and her kittens were ready to be picked up in Corvallis. I picked them up, then drove to Salem to get the other five. I had the Waterloo unfixed kitten in the back.
At the Salem clinic, I found out Tabby, the male with a neck wound from the RV park, is FIV positive. They have to be negative to go to the barn home. Shoot. He'll go back to the RV park but after this, FIV positive cats will have to be euthanized from there. Usually its just the bigger males. Tabby is a young adult male but had fought with someone to get a neck wound and likely got FIV as a result of that bite wound. His brother Pepper is negative and will get to go to the barn home. Probably will save his life. From Salem, I drove to Lebanon.
I left Tabby, the tux girl from near the RV park and Growler with Julie in Lebanon, who will return all three. The feeder lady had blocked my number but I wasn't going to take them to her place anyhow. I'd texted her the cat would be returning to where trapped, since there were other kittens still there who needed her but have no idea if the text went through to her.
I have the three kittens in my bathroom, two fixed, one will be fixed next Monday. The three from the RV park are back in the garage cage and will go tomorrow to a barn home. The kittens tomorrow will go to someone who will work to tame them.
I feel my age, exhausted and depleted, after a few days hard work and taking care of extra cats. ;I hope that lady who had fed Growler continues to feed her and the kittens I never caught. I had thought she got it, and knew if she fed cats they needed fixed and would actually help get that done. She has two traps of her own. But no. It was depressing to discover that.
Today I'll just be doing clean up and caring for the six extras. All of them will leave tomorrow, then it will be another clean up. At least 8 more cats are fixed. 3 boys, 5 girls.
It was cool yesterday after our thunder storms, and windy but the sun was out. Today we may have sprinkles. Its supposed to rain Thursday.
I know how discouraging it must get that so much more is needed (and that you get minimal help) but what a HUGE difference you have and continue to make. Not many of us can say that.
ReplyDeleteI still get shocked that someone doesn't get it, that if you feed cats YOU need to get them fixed. I thought I knew her at least a little bit.
DeleteUnfortunately, it's not surprising that many of the people you deal with in the cat world, are not responsible or nice. If they were, there wouldn't be as much of a problem. Expecting you the volunteer to do everything, reminds when when I did garden help in college. My friend and I tended a rather large garden for an older woman. (She seemed old at the time, but she may have been younger than I am now.) We would go a few times a week, between classes to help out. She was upset with us because she thought we didn't come often enough or exactly when she wanted. We kept going, but it would have been nice to hear a thank you and not just complaints.
ReplyDeleteOh my, that garden story is unbelievable. Sometimes I think people don't understand that nothing is free, that a volunteers time should not be wasted, and that if they need help with say cats being fixed, they need to also help, not expect a volunteer to do everything at no cost.
DeleteFools again. Your world is full of them.
ReplyDeleteI know, Andrew.
DeleteI still have nightmares after thankless care for my mother before she died in 2017. People generally suck. Thank you for not being one. Hugs, my dear.
ReplyDeleteOh I'm sorry Darla. Nightmares are not enjoyable in the least. Most of the dreams I remember involve cats, usually me somehow having some along somewhere awkward that I then have to leave and I can't find them all.
DeleteSome people. You'd think they'd want fewer cats around to feed, but...
ReplyDeleteOne thing I had the 7th graders do was to write down something about themselves. One girl wrote about how she catches stray kittens to rescue them. With her mother, apparently. (It was a short thing, so I didn't get a chance to ask her about it.) So, there are others out there at least trying. You can only do what you can do.
That's good that kids are involved, will maybe grow up to change things.
DeleteAnd speaking of cats---- the answer to your question was the cat was lying on a suburban lawn with boring plants in the background. I wanted the attention to be on her eyes.
ReplyDeleteHer eyes are really full of it. Not only did her body look ready to spring, so did her eyes!
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