I’ll be quiet for awhile- about a week perhaps longer. Will explain later. ALL kittens and cats are doing good- this is a personal family emergency

“Hello?”
“Do you have kittehs?”
“I do..”
“Could I like, have one?”
“Well, that’s not how I operate.”
“HUH? You a doctor?”
“No, I just rescue cats”
“But you like just said you operate?”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant that I don’t just adopt out kittens on the spot. What exactly are you looking for?”
“Huh? I like want a kitten! I like want a kitten NOW!!!”
“As I just said, that is not how I do things”
“How do you like do things (heavy sarcasm in this teenager’s voice)
“I have an application form you need to fill out. I will review it. If it passes, I will bring the kitten to your home. If the home and you pass inspection, I will ask you or your mom or dad to sign a contract-and I will leave the kitten with you. If not, kitty comes back home with me.”
“Like ALL I want is a kitteh- I can’t have a kittenh?”
“My kittens aren’t old enough to go to homes yet. They need to be neutered first.”
“HUH?”
At this point I hung up the phone and just shook my head and laughed. It is doubtful she would know how to read a contract let alone sign one. She hasn’t called back.

They don’t have names yet, but at least they are healthy and settling in well with the others. Not all are shown- there are two black fluffy kitties- two mackeral tabbies and the Siamese mix. Two girls and three boys.

I just returned from the Petco Adoption Days and while I was there, one of the employees came over and said a woman on the phone had some kittens she needed to get rid of. Now, I need more kittens like Carter needs more pills, but something told me to take the phone call.

The woman had 6 kittens about 8 weeks old. She wanted to keep the mom and her other female was pregnant (sigh). She told me about the litter- 3 black kitties, 2 mackeral tabbies and a a siamese.

I told her I would take the kitten on two conditions: One, she get the females spayed (and I told her how to do it cheaply) and two she bring the kittens to the Petco where I was before 3:00.
When I hung up, I am sure I heard God mutter “sucker!”

She brought the kittens in and she had them in a cardboard box not real stable. I was putting them into an extra carrier. They look to be about 7 weeks old- no discharge from eyes or nose thank the Good Lord.

I had to run and get some litter for them in the store, so I left and my friend who helps me with the cats said she would watch both batches of kittens.

When I got back, I was informed that someone stole a black kitty! Linda said some teenagers came up and were oohing an ahhing over the newcomers and asking if they could hold one or two. Linda said sure and handed them the siamese and the black kitty. One of the girls, the one with the Siamese distracted Linda over a cell phone question or something and when Linda looked up again-kitty and girl were gone! When she said something, the other girl dropped the siamese on the floor and bolted! Linda went to pick up the Siamese and the girl ran out of the store. I arrived back at the table just at the end of all this drama and when I rushed outside, they were nowhere in sight! I have never seen these girls before so I wouldn’t even know if they came back to the table. I just pray they give this kitten a good home!

So now I have five more kitten bellies to fill up and I learned a valuable lesson. Next time, I will put the doors to the cage and the carrier facing me so no one can steal another kitten from me. This is the second time someone tried to pull this! It makes me so angry. The first time I caught the woman right before she stepped out the door- but this time, I was MIA.

Not surprising, Marlow wasn’t rabid. She was also negative for FeLV and Aids. He said in just the brief contact they had with Marlow, it was clear that something wasn’t right with her. I am not sure if that was supposed to make me feel better- but it doesn’t. I don’t like these type of decisions but when it has to be made, I won’t shy away from it. I can’t. It’s not fair to the cat.

They too were sacrificed for the “rabies scare.” It broke my heart because they were so much fun and so much work to hand raise and get back to the wild.

Bottle feeding carefully! LOL

Yesterday, Marlow launched herself on me like a torpedo. I got out of her cage in a hurry and did some hard thinking and a lot of praying last night. I finally decided to take her into the vet and talk to him about her off-the-wall behavior and aggression. I have had so many feral moms before, but she just feels different any way I look at it.

Dr. Steve said that based on what I have shared with him about her behavior and how she bit me three days ago, he is bound by the law to send her into the Oregon Health Department so they can test for rabies! I know she doesn’t have rabies, she has demons- not sure which is worse.

He said he knows the cost is prohibitively expensive but then he paid me a back-handed compliment and said “Mary Anne, I really like you and what you do for cats. If I just euthanize her and not follow-through with the testing and she does have rabies, you die. I have to live with that and I don’t think I can! In fact, I know that I couldn’t.”

So- Marlow has been put to sleep and no I wasn’t there because just the sight of me sends her spinning out of control. They will then send in her body to be tested and I will know by Friday. Not a bill I wanted and again I KNOW she doesn’t have rabies, but I understand their stance on this. I had one cat when I was growing up that had rabies and I remember it like it was yesterday. He was a huge, fluffy black cat who hunted gophers in the back field near our home. He came home one day foaming at the mouth and snapping at the air. My father turned the hose on him and while he was shrieking and shying away from the water, my dad caught him in a net and put him in a box and took him around the corner. I remember the gunshot and then nothing.

Rabies is rare in this part of Oregon so not only do I have to come up with the cost of this test now, but I am not allowed to have Marlow after she is gone and give her a decent resting place.

I told her I was so sorry about all of this but her aggression is escalating and I had to weigh all the pros and cons of keeping her here on earth- and for who’s glory would I do that? So I could eventually say proudly that I was able to socialize these demons at rest, or do I look at that whole picture and understand she was like a loaded gun with a defective trigger and just let her have peace.

It was a hard choice and it is going to be an expensive way of finding my own peace- but again, I don’t think she has rabies.

TODAY, Freekibble is donating 100% of the Halo kibble raised today to homeless dogs & cats impacted by the tornado in Oklahoma. Visit
this website to answer the trivia question and that’s all you need to do to add to the tally.

If you would spread the word via your blog or social media or at the grocery store it will make a difference! 🙂

Here he is- isn’t he gorgeous? he is 7 years old and his name is Kira

This beauty was stolen (yes stolen) by someone who had a grudge against the owner. The person actually stole this cat first and the second one exactly one year later.

She is microchipped- she is missing and being missed and her name is Cross. She has a crooked tail. If you could spread the news around through social media, perhaps this woman will get her cats back- we can hope. This kitty came all the way from China and it would be so nice if she came home safe. She was taken out of Reedsport Oregon-

I wish there were some way they could make an APP that would alert people to lost kitties. Sort of like the Amber Alert, but since cats still don’t count in so many facets of society, I doubt my dream would ever be realized- but wouldn’t it be nice?