Addie has been here now just over 30 days. During the night, she is a bundle of energy. She races with the other cats up and down the stairs, they tumble down the hallway, scattering area rugs in their wake. This morning when I went into my office, I discovered that one of them (my money is on Aspen) she had opened my file drawers, and scattered all my files all over the floor. What a mess!

I have started doing a lot of interactive playtime with all of them right before bedtime. Sometimes it works, other times not so much. Addie has also decided that Kota’s bed is the best place in the house to sleep.

While she is on it, she will charge Kota if he tries to lay next to her. It’s the funniest thing to see this tiny little Torti kitty challenge this big black German Shepherd. So I thought well I’ll just go out to the barn and bring in his second bed so that he has a bed and she has a bed. That didn’t work so well!

She liked this one too! Silly kitty.

Monkey has been in his new home for over two weeks now. Last I heard, he’s fit in with the whole family, they love him a lot. He is the only kitty in the house. So I can imagine they treat him like the king. He believes he is! After he left, I could feel the whole house let out a big sigh. The balance returned between the three kitties, they were able to find their way with each other. Even though all three of them are female.

He was quite the instigator to a lot of the issues they were having. I did caution, the people that adopted him to not get another cat at least not right away. Monkey does not like to share his attention with another animal.

I’m almost finished with the book by Anne M. Martin – “Foods Pets Die For.” This has not been an easy read by any measure. It certainly has been eye-opening. She challenges the reader within her pages to be very careful and read all the print on all bags and cans of pet food. After I read the challenge, I took out my trusty magnifying glass and did just that. I was amazed to see that on the dry food, in really small print, there is a warning that says: “If you get any of this product on your hands, wash your hands immediately!” This is the food we are supposed to feed our beloved pets?

I would go into greater detail as to what she has discovered in her investigation of the pet food industry that falls into our dry and wet cat food and dog food. But I can’t because it just distresses me to no end. It is not a regulated industry. It is a self regulated, industry and all sorts of flotsam and jetsam end up in the mix. Dry food is the worst, but as a friend of mine recently pointed out to me, what can you do when you can only afford so much money to feed your pet. There’s little out there that is quality, and that includes the broader more expensive brands. Unfortunately, according to the author, even those expensive brands are not of good quality. Especially after a sell out, ingredients change. She does list nine ingredients to steer clear of: meat meal, meat and poultry byproducts,bonemeal, animal fat, or tallow,, copper, zinc, and iron. I just want to highly recommend that you pick up this book and take a look at it. It will make you more aware of what is going on with companies that we are supposed to trust.

I am anxiously waiting for Friday, hoping for the first time in many days that it won’t rain. They can’t dig a trench when it’s raining. Hopefully by the end of the day I will have actual water flowing through pipes instead of garden hoses into my house. They are also going to test the water to make sure that there’s nothing unhealthy lurking within. However, looking at the weather forecast for the week, it doesn’t look hopeful that it’s not going to rain.

Well, I need to run now, I hear noises from my office. I suspect that Aspen is up to her antics again, and my files are once again probably spread all over the floor. Kittens can’t live with them, can’t live without them! LOL!

Laurel has developed a very unhealthy attraction to plastic. Not plastic toys, but anything wrapped in plastic becomes her ultimate goal is to conquer. It’s been so concerning, she has made several trips to the vet just because she has what he calls “the feel bad’s.” With all the testing that they’re doing they cannot seem to pin it down into one diagnosis. I know what it is, she has eaten plastic in the past unnoticed by me. Now with even all of our attempts to childproof all the drawers, cupboards and closets. She still seems determined to find and kill any piece of plastic she can locate.

Last night I woke up to the all to familiar dreadful sound of plastic rustling. I quickly sprang out of bed, running into the kitchen I turned on the light. I found her completely immersed in eating a plastic grocery bag. I have no idea where it came from? None of our cupboards or drawers or closets were opened. She must’ve just found it stuffed somewhere. It is quite concerning how obsessed she is. She’s not eating very much. I’ve tried her on everything from baby food, to safe human food. It seems her palate only wants plastic.

A friend of mine was telling me about a book she recently read about micro plastics. In it, the author has discovered that these small micro beads of plastic are being found in everything from adults, to babies!. They are being found in livestock, cats and dogs. Apparently no one is immune. I have had cats in the past to have wanted to lick the grocery bags, or even P on the black garbage bags. But I’ve never had a cat as obsessed over plastic as Laurel shows herself to be

My struggle right now is to get her to eat. We’ve tried appetite stimulants, I went to the feed store and got a few feeder mice. She’s just not interested.

She went to the vet two days ago they gave her a shot of Cerenia, they took x-rays, although they know plastic won’t show on the x-rays. They could find no evidence of obstruction. The only thing they discovered, which was concerning to them was her colon wall, and her bowel wall appear to be very thick. They suggested to sound an ultrasound. The budget does not support that test.

Since we are still without potable water, when I buy water now, I have to immediately unwrap it and throw the wrapping’s deep down in the trash. Otherwise, she will dive in after it. It’s very odd to say the least.

They are going to fix the well on the 27th of this month and I cannot wait. You just never know how much you take something for granted until it’s gone or out of reach. The water coming out of my irrigation well right now is extremely nasty smelling  They tell me that this will be fixed once they put in the brand new tank. Something about the old tank is so ancient, that the sludge is just sitting at the bottom of the tank with nowhere to go as the tank no longer holds air. All I know is I need this problem fixed before winter sets in. The garden hoses that bring the water into the house currently or just adding to the problem of unpotable water.

This post, will not be about cats or kittens. This post is about something much more precious, which is water. This will be the 31st day since I have experienced “water inconsistency” in my home. I suppose it’s the way they label things now. They don’t call people without homes homeless, they are now houseless. They don’t call kids who are starving in the United States as starvation, they call it food inconsistency. As I learned recently, they don’t call people who are dealing with a dry well, what it actually is. a dry well, they refer as I have water insufficiency.

I drive to town every two days and fill up my jugs with as much water as I can carry. Several of the gas stations I talked to would do this for me for a price. I found one, who lets me take the water for free. I’m not talking about 50 gallon jugs that I’m filling up. First of all I have a 5 gallon jug that when I fill it up I can barely lift it. I’m talking about juice containers and old water bottles, things of that nature.

I’ve had people come out, they are “experts in their field” some are pump experts, others are well drillers, and others are well constructors (which I never even knew there was such a creature.) They are not free. I wish they were. So much for free estimates. I also talked to the Water Master, who I found a very delightful man. He was full of a lot of information. He told me that my water table is very low. He told me that on this street alone in the last year, there have been 17 new wells drilled. He also said that a lot of these houses that have stayed empty for so long and are now occupied , they are occupied by people who are used to paying high water bills. He said he’s discovered that the thinking among these people when they first discover that they don’t have to pay for water is they don’t worry about it. They don’t realize that water may be free, but it is not endless.

It takes me about an hour and a half to do my dishes. I have graduated to paper plates. I cannot use my washer. Going into town to do my laundry last week was a real culture shock for me. I have to be honest,  the last time I went to the laundromat was a long time ago. To wash clothes was $.50 to dry a quarter. Those days are gone.

I’ve had one well claimed dry, and the expert said that he would certify that it was dry. Yesterday this well sprung a leak, after somebody who said he knew what he was doing decided to redirect the irrigation well water to the domestic well. Unfortunately, about an hour later, my domestic well just blew up. Literally exploding water everywhere. The pressure cracked pipes, damaged casings, and even blew the top off my two year old pump comply off!

I am looking for funding. What I am finding is that due to the political issues, they have put a freeze on what they consider “nonessential funding” unfortunately this non-essential funding involves the elderly of which I’m one. So although there are grants out there that I could get. They have frozen them, so nobody gets them.

I’ve had quotes on how to fix the problem, going anywhere from $2,000-$12,000. The problem is even to qualify for funding you have to have estimates. Even the experts that have been out here who have told me that before they left, I would have a written estimate in my hand, can’t seem to follow through with what they promised. I am paralyzed because I can’t apply for funding without knowing how much money I’m going to need.

So here I am, jumping into my truck, driving into town and filling up these jugs every two days. I am repaying this courtesy with my cooking. I take most of my meals and make dinners and then can them for winter. The gentleman is very appreciative of what I’m doing. He is a bachelor with four children. I wish I was a better cook, I definitely wish I was a chef. But I do honest, home-cooked meals. The food they give you at the food bank is plentiful. I’ll put together whatever I can with what I have to make things work.

I am sorry to be such a vast departure from what I’m all about which is my cats. When they redirected the irrigation, well to the house, the mineral content in it was alarming. I had to boil it for three minutes until all the minerals formed this nasty ring around my pots. Then I had to clean the ring off, and re-boil the water in another pot for three more minutes. That was just to get potable water for my animals.

I have done everything I can do to get this process going. I have filled out a Dry and Abandoned Well Report for the government. I have applied through the government for a grant, which again is there, but isn’t. I have contacted 10 organizations that help the elderly with low income.. I have called 21 well drillers, six pump companies. I’ve had only four replies. Only three people have come out.

I am sitting here, treading water, trying to stay afloat. Wondering when I’m going to have water coming back through my pipes into my house. From where I’m sitting right now. It looks very bleak. They all tell me on the phone:. “Don’t worry as soon as it starts raining your wells will fill up.” It’s supposed to be raining hard right now, according to the forecast but there’s nothing falling from the sky.

Thank you for letting me vent. It’s been a totally overwhelming time for me lately. All kitties are fine, they are getting the best water I can offer them. I am doing the best I can with what I have.I always do.

“May God Bless your day”

M.A.

Both Monkey (aka Turtle) and Addie have been brought together in short spurts of time over the last few days. It has not gone well. I think we might have been rushing them together to soon (because the family waiting in the wings are becoming a bit insistent of taking both home). It isn’t in the forecast in the moment. They are coming over Saturday to see the kittens (and I think) to also try to persuade us to let them take both of the kittens home with them. Again, that is not going to happen. The two kittens are not getting along with each other, although Addie is very submissive to both Aspen and Laurel. She is openly hostile towards Monkey.

These introductions done properly can be accomplished successfully, I wouldn’t have put these two together yet, for a least another month. Addie simply wishes to kill Monkey, she is intent on hurting him. I am going to talk to the family to see if they can change their minds and only take one of the kittens. The family has another female cat already.But again, even if they decide on only one, doesn’t matter how much they beg, the kittens are still not quite ready for a new home.

We also have introduced Monkey to Kota. Monkey likes to crawl into Kota’s ear! I can’t allow that- Kota currently has an inner ear infection. Although the photo below shows a calm Monkey, he does not stay that way very long. He likes to bite Kota’s paws and tail hard! I have to stand by and referee, to make sure that Kota stays safe.

Rushing this process is backfiring a bit on me, I thought it might, but with three little girls waiting in the wings and sending me sweet notes about how much they love these two kittens, I decided to chance it. Now, I wish I had followed my instincts and let more time go by before the introductions officially began. Live and Learn as my Dad would say.

We recently found an organization that will work with us and give us decent prices on spay and neuters,

We. currently have $20 in our Kitty, if anyone can add to that so that we can meet the cost, we would

I have found a family who want both the kittens.The mom has been adopted by the person who fostered her. So after a few weeks when all the testosterone has left the building for Turtle, our focus will be to get the two of them to get along together. Right now, that ain’t happening. This is typical when they’re both not fixed. Especially because now is kitten season, I am sure that the outside of my home is being repeatedly sprayed by two tomcats, who have recently shown up. It’s going to be an adventure I’m sure.

The kittens have been here for over two weeks now. Addie has gone from being a true “scaredy cat” to head-bumping my ankles when I come into her room. Turtle, on the other hand, he is still in full play/prey mode most of the time. He is acting like a typical kitten who should still be with mom, she is his best instructor.

His favorite things to attack are my ankles and my hands. God forbid I should wear my fuzzy slippers into the bedroom when he is out and about. He will attack my slippers with a vengeance.

It can be difficult in these circumstances to be the teacher for such a little guy. His best teacher is occupying the cat room, and that would be Addie. Although she has not had kittens (and she will not.) She goes in for a spay on the 29th of this month, she still possesses all the Queen’s instincts when it comes to dealing with rambunctious kittens.

That being said, a few days ago, we put the two kittens together for some interactive playtime. In order for this to work, we needed to introduced Turtle into Addie’s environment. This will lessen the chance that she would hurt Turtle unintentionally, because she is on her home turf.

Addie is staying in the cat room, while Turtle has full range of the bedroom during the day. At night, he sleeps in his cage in the bedroom.

We are using the best cat/kitten toy on the market today; Nekoflies during their meet-and-greet. If you haven’t yet discovered this unique toy, I urge you to do a search for it. I believe since Covid hit, she shut down her website, however, her toys are still being produced. You can find them all over the web; from Amazon to Etsy.

During these interactions between the two of them, I often see Addie smacking Turtle when he starts to bite her. Although he is play mode this is their first introduction into how to stalk prey. His bites, when not corrected, can really cause a lot of damage. He needs to know where to draw the line on how hard he bites. As stated above the best teacher, for that is Addie.

We will continue these short introductions slowly, until the day arrives when both kittens can share the same space peacefully. It’s always good when you have kittens, to have two kittens that actually play together and sleep together. However, due to the extreme age between the two of them, Turtle believes that Addie is mom and keeps trying to nurse on her. She is not allowing that. this is another lesson he needs to learn.

Here they are stalking the cat toy instead of each other

Turtle, looking up at me with his favorite new  toy a stuffless rabbit. Mr. monkey did not survive very long. His stuffing turned out to be flying all over the bedroom. He’s in my sewing basket, waiting to be sewn back together.

Addie, It really is a relief to see her on the bed instead of underneath it. Slowly and steadily, we are running the race toward true socialization.

I am sitting here right now in my arm chair. Decompressing from today and everything that has happened. On my lap, Aspen and Laurel are sharing this time with me. Aspen is vigorously marking me with her claws, kneading her paws in and out on my leg, Fortunately, I have prepared myself by draping a large bath towel over my legs. Laurel, she is head, bumping my cell phone, she is chasing my fingers as I type. She is obstructing the view of the screen. She is such a wonderful distraction.

I sit here and wonder why I can’t have normal cats. In the same breath, I say to myself, “Why would they be normal? I’m not!” The cats who are here now under our care are so not normal. That’s why they are still here. Why would somebody want to adopt a cat who sprays?  Would they even perhaps gamble with a cat who is so pet aggressive, if you stop petting him before he wants you to, you turn into shredded meat.

They all have their issues, they all have their quirks. Some of them keep me up at night because they’re PTSD goes to a higher level after dark. We take the casts-offs, we take the cats people when they call us. Tell us how they want to “get rid of.” They tell us in graphic vivid detail how exactly they wish to accomplish this. That’s when we race for the door.

I go to battle for these cats every day. I try to dispel the myths that abound about “feral cats.” I can honestly say that in the 35+ years that I have been working with these cats, I have only met three true, feral cats. They were all different ages, one was even a kitten. But they were all truly feral cats. I tell people that there’s quite a difference between a true feral cat and a cat with feral tendencies. And sometimes I asked the person if they’ve ever  read Lord of the Flies? Those boys weren’t born feral, circumstances beyond their control made them feral. Same with the cats with feral tendencies, you do all that you can to survive.

Today I faced, probably the biggest battle I’ve ever fought, I’m actually still fighting it. The fight is occurring via email. You can’t even get these people on the phone. I am fighting a Big Box Store who somewhere in the maze of qualifying as a nonprofit and being vetted, the computer has lost me somewhere in cyberspace. Today was the day that I was supposed to hear positively that we have qualified. I have pieces of email here that I could copy and send them to show them that both of these websites (which I had to navigate through in order to get here) say that I have done everything that I was supposed to do and that I am qualified.according to what I was told, that’s not going to help.

However, there’s this List that I am supposed to be on. I was told it only takes 48 hours to show up. But so far if someone’s put me on the List, they did so in invisible ink. Because of the type of rescue we are; not open to the public, no big parking lot for people to pull in, you can’t just drop in and see cats. (All they’d do is hide) so what’s the fun of that? Lol.

We also don’t adopt out to just anybody, no matter how many dollar bills they’re waving in our faces. You lol have to fill out an application first, then your home is inspected and now we meet every family member. We learned a years ago by omitting that  last step (because the husband was on a business trip)  it almost cost a kitty dearly. We found ourselves re-rescuing her quickly before she was dreadfully injured. It was close, a lesson learned.

So anyway, once your home has been inspected and approved, we hope the kitty has found her forever loving home. We also flatly refuse to put our cats inside cages unless it is medically necessary. This means that putting them up for adoption in a store will never happen. For those types of reasons, we are often overlooked or disqualified when we apply for assistance or help or virtually anything. You have to fit their mold. We step away from it.

I will find out tomorrow if this current battle is in our favor or not. Whatever the outcome is, the kitties here will continue to be loved, cared for, vetted when needed and fed. if one happens to show up at our gate, it will not be turned away. Somehow, someway they always do get fed. We were just hoping that The Big Box Store would be the one helping to feed them for awhile so we could stop begging on their behalf.

Wish us luck!

Turtle with monkey

Rain is now called “Addie” due to her “Tortie-Tude” She is no longer hiding or when I come into the room. She runs up to me and headbumps my ankle. She does not like to be petted, but oh my goodness she loves to be rubbed. In small increments daily I am introducing the two kitties together. I know it takes time, one day she will stop hissing at him. That’s when I will give them about a 10 minute play period, supervised, and go from there. You can’t rush these things, even when the kittens know each other from the past.

(Requesting assistance if anyone is able. We are $50 short on our nonprofit fee this year. Too many things happening to explain why this is. It’s just is the reality at the moment. I am hoping and praying in a few days to hear from the Big Box Store that they will pick us up for donations of cat food and cat litter. That would help immensely.

We simply don’t understand how people can just discard animals like trash. Take them out to a remote area for whatever reason? Just leave them to fate, or try to end their lives, as if their lives don’t matter. We never want to understand the mindset of these people. But what I, myself have learned in all my years of rescue is; they could be anybody.

We would like you to meet two kittens, who along with their mom were dumped in a remote part of the forest up on the mountain. They were found by a friend of mine. I got the call yesterday morning around 8 o’clock. They were here at the house by 10. The little Torti girl, who is now called Rain, she spent the entire day underneath the daybed. I would hear her softly crying when I went in to check on them. I ended up just putting her food underneath the bed. The food disappeared. Her stool is pretty nasty looking. Dark dark green. Making me wonder what kind of foliage she was eating to try to stay alive? This morning surprisingly she came out. I made no move to pet her or move towards her. I did manage to snap this quick picture of her before she disappeared back under the bed. I will only pet her when she shows me that she wants me to. Right now she’s trying to figure out where mom is, where her littermates are and where the devil did she end up at?

Mom is emaciated. She has no milk. She is in foster care. She will be spayed within the month, along with Rain (who we haven’t weighed yet) But if she’s 2 pounds, she will go with the others up to the FCC in Portland to be spayed.

Mom has a home! The gentleman who brought her over to me wants her. He really wanted one of the kittens, but I told him that mom is probably going to be overlooked. The kittens will be the focus of the adoptees. It’s sad, but it’s just the way it is. Everybody wants a cute kitten, now, it is our priority to make sure that these kittens land in the correct homes.

The long-haired, mackerel, tabby girl, I am calling Olivia. She is a sweetheart. But she is so hungry, I really think that she would eat my shoe if I dropped a bit of cat food on it accidentally. We have to be careful how we feed her. Little bits at a time, slowly, and surely.  I have put her into a large soft-sided cage. Although it’s highly possible that they have the same mom, they are not from the same litter. It would be foolhardy of us to think that they would get along right now with all the new adjustments they are having to make: new place, new smells, mom’s not here, new sounds getting used to the pulse of the house. It all takes time.

To say that we need kitten food, both canned and wet is an understatement. If anyone can help please do.

This morning I am quite concerned about my boy, Bentley. Bentley is over 12 years old. He is a distemper survivor. He was the only one who survived in the entire litter of 12. When I go outside, if he is outside, he will follow me around like a dog. We play fetch with his toys. He brings them back every time. Then he will let me know when he wants to go back inside the enclosure. I walk to the door and open it and he just walks right in. This is a routine that I have been used to for years. My neighbors are always amazed to see him following me around like a dog as well as just walk in to the cat enclosure before dark.

He has never strayed off property in all the years I’ve had him. The reason he is outside is because he sprays like a firehose. Right now I wish I could say that he is doing that now, but it is not.

For the last few weeks, he has been incessantly meowing. Morning, noon and night, not a loud yelling meow just a soft one. So not like him. He’s eating, he’s drinking, he’s moving around, he’s not lethargic. I took him to the vet last week thinking that his stomatitis might’ve flared up. But he just had a recent Depo shot. When I see looked in his mouth, his. stomatitis did not look that bad. The vet didn’t think it did either, but just in case they gave him another shot (a smaller dose.)

When we got home, I decided instead of putting him inside the enclosure. I put him inside the introduction cage. He has been in there now 2 1/2 days. He is eating and drinking. The puzzling part about this is the minute I put him inside the cage, he just went silent. No soft meowing nothing, but unfortunately in 2 1/2 days although he’s eating and drinking he is not pooping and he is not peeing.

I am taking my boy back this morning to find out what’s going on. I already know he has kidney issues So if you’re reading this by any chance during a holiday weekend. Would you throw a few prayers our way? I am really worried about him.

On a better note, our Holiday Farm kitties are turning turned three years old!  Honestly, when they first arrived here, we saw how bad of a shape they were in, we didn’t even think they were going to make it to the first birthday and here they are turning three! We’ve had recent local fires, and there was a lot of smoke in the air. Once that started to happen, Ashley started pulling her hair out. I put a pheromone collar on her, hoping to stop the behavior, it calmed it down a lot, but now with the rain that started a few days ago, the smoke has cleared and she’s no longer pulling her hair out.

I don’t know if she was reacting to something that’s happening inside the enclosure that I’m unaware of, or if the smell of the smoke perhaps triggered some sort of a stress factor in her ? I can’t really understand if that’s the case because when they were born is when the fire was passing over. Newborn kittens can’t smell and they can’t hear. LThey are guided to the Queen by her purring, the vibration that they feel in the ground is what leads them to her .

I am grateful for the cooler weather, I know that California is getting slammed with a lot of rain, I just wish some of it would head up here and stick around. We are getting rain, but it doesn’t last very long and it’s not a hard rain like we need.

I will update this as soon as I know what’s going on with Bentley. I just pray it’s something simple and however it has been my experience with these cats, that really nothing is ever simple when they start acting off.

Update: crisis averted when I went in to get Bentley to take him to the vet he was in  the litter box doing his business! The mineral oil that I gave him in his wet food finally worked. Big relief I was so worried about him.