I was getting a bit worried because as of a few hours ago, Slade had not eaten anything at all since his captivity. So I took some chicken baby food and nuked it for a few seconds to bring out the flavors and lo and behold- he ate it! I am so glad and if I have to supply him with baby food for a few days until he decompresses- so be it. I can handle him with thick gloves on. He hisses and swears at me but doesn’t try to bite. After dealing with Twirl. he is a breath of fresh air.

Also, I recently signed up for the Fresh Step Paw Points Program. If you buy this product either online or at your local store and go to their website and want to donate the points to CATS Inc., our shelter code is SHELTERBONUS914  Once enough points are accumulated, we can turn them into kitty products that typically never get donated- kitty beds, kitty toys etc..

Here he is decompressing from being three days in a trap except for his neuter. vet debt now $812.45 but at least he is safe and won’t be spreading more kittens in this world-

I got the call on him about three weeks ago. He was previously owed by a family who got evicted over a year ago. They “forgot” him in their move and haven’t been back. One of the women who adopted Sterling called me about him and said he was sneaking into her house and stealing food-so I suggested she trap him and when he was caught to call me. She called me this morning, she trapped him yesterday and he is now with my vet getting tested/neutered vaccinated deflead de-wormed. He is a big tomcat at least 20 pounds of aggressive mack tabbiness that over time will slow down. He will live in the big cage and catio off the back porch when he gets his procedures done. I felt so sorry for him- he had smashed his face against the trap and broke a front tooth- the vet will likely have to pull it during the neuter. So much for once being a beloved family pet!

I also heard from the woman who dumped her three cats on me in December. Seems they are no longer homeless and she wanted to come and get her cats next week. One problem with that- her cats were readopted out when there was no contact from her for two months. They were aggressive among each other and with the other cats so it was determined to break them up and get them adopted. They are all happy in their own homes now. I found it odd when she went off on me and told me that I didn’t contact her before the adoptions. I am not obligated to keep in touch with people who dump their cats at my door- it is their obligation to keep in contact with me and when I emailed her and told her that her one cat Cagney had attacked me- she never responded and that was only two days after the cats were dumped here. Legally, if they are left here after 30 days of no contact, they become our responsibility. They are all doing fine in their new homes as it should be.

So far in 2016 we have placed 29 cats/kittens in homes- 6 went to the Bridge and we have accepted 7 cats into the sanctuaries.

This morning, I moved Sydney from the cage on the back porch to the gazebo enclosure. This cat is just a kitten! He’s a big kitten, but he can’t be more than 8 months old if that. He was terrified when I let him out of the carrier and immediately went and scaled the walls to come to rest on the ledges that George provided for cats near the ceiling. He didn’t stalk me, scare me or try to bite me. Bottom line is, he is just a scared kitty and when whoever reached for him- he bit them to defend himself. He looks like there is a sweet boy lurking inside. Now, he has room to roam and an outdoor catio to enjoy when the weather gets nice. His bite quarantine ends tomorrow and as I expected, this cat is NOT rabid.

Every time I go into this cat’s enclosure she turns fierce and attacks me. She is rubbing and headbumping me and then she turns on a dime and becomes this fierce feral kitty who I do not recognize. Tonight- she actually blocked me from leaving and turned on me scaring the crud right out of me. She had reached up to hit the doorknob and I thought she was stretching but when I reached for it- she nailed me pretty good and then took a giant leap up to my face. Not a fun time and hard to accept that such a beautiful cat would be so traumatized to do this-

She has been left completely alone except to see to her needs: food water and litter pan cleaning. Not sure what is actually going to happen next at this point.

Here are the three kittens from the local shelter- the “feral ones” although- they really aren’t feral- they are just unsettled and scared. Still can’t get the mack tabby to sit still long enough to get a photo- but soon I hope to be able to snap a photo of him/her and get my hands on this shy one-

Turtle

Shya

Sydney

Sweet Bones is at the vet’s right now being assessed for how blind this kitty really is. Bones has been acting strangely for the last week- banging into the security door almost full speed and I have found her so close to the road several times that I am afraid that I will be having to remove her from the road soon. Bones will not come inside and with the death of her brother Sawyer last week- she just isn’t the same kitty. I had to do a drop off because I have an adoption run in about an hour with Cagney going to the local shelter in the hopes of finding a good home-

Bones was put down 20 minutes ago. Severe corneal ulcers and an infection of the retina pretty much told us that leaving her outside was a huge liability for her. I did not want something ugly to happen to her out there so we chose to let her go. She will be missed- the vet said that at best, she was only able to see shadows because of the extensive ulcers clouding her eyes.

Thanks in large part to those who follow my blog- our vet debt is now $749.56 🙂

I have been privy to a mess of fb messages between the rescuer and the woman who owned the cats (and left them in the dust when she  moved) It is a hodgepodge of misinformation starting with insisting (in the original plea to take this cat) that the cat is loving, friendly, likes all other cats and people….To when the rescuer emailed her in a panic when this cat went aggressive on her for no reason the response was “Oh ya, the cat is a real bitch! She got me maybe three-four times in the 9 years of us having her.” (I am paraphrasing here)

At any rate it is clear from the tone of the messages and the rate of hostility that occurs within them as they go along that this woman was a bit unbalanced to begin with and the husband bf tried to kill himself in front of the cat but the cops were called and his life was saved. Now he just wants to die (apparently). What a mess. I did tell the rescuer that this cat might not be able to be saved for she gives off every impression of being abused or mistreated. We will take it one day at a time, move slowly and keep our guard up and see how it goes. I have had worse cases here and been able to turn them around- but then there have been times when we just had to admit defeat and send the cat off to the Bridge. Time will tell- she is friendly this morning- but she is on a “No touch no contact” order for now.

I am unsure just what this cat has seen or lived through. The details were a bit sketchy. A messy divorce, two cats, a suicide attempt, one cat left (Twirl) But this morning, she about took my head off when I went out to see how she was doing. She may look beautiful but she has some deep emotional scars within. She turned into a hellcat and if I hadn’t taken off my coat and thrown it over her- she would have left with half my face in tow as she took off across the yard! As it was, I managed to herd her into the cat cage and shut the door. I left the food for her enough for a few days and I am just going to just leave her be for a few days. She is safe, warm, there’s food, litterpans and water. Whatever she witnessed or lived through or endured- she needs to now just decompress and relax. Or, maybe they called her “Spaz” for a reason. But I will give her a chance, a new name and respect her space until she understands she can trust me.

I just got the most awesome update from Sterling’s new family. Seems he had taken to hiding under a chair in the bathroom and no one saw his whiskers or nose and they were getting worried. Because Sterling lived in such chaos with so many kittens, I suggested they put their resident cat Clancy in the bathroom for a short meeting- here is the result:

Mary Ann,

Clancy and Sterling met last night for a brief time. A little hissing and such but no problems. Sterling wants to get close to him in a big way but it’s too soon for Clancy. When Daisy came home he hissed a little for about 3 days then they became close friends. 

Sterling won’t stay in the bathroom since then – he is very affectionate as you said and follows me around the place now. He is eating well, drinking water and using the litter box like a boss. He is just wonderful. He purrs and talks to me and has explored the entire upper floor of the house. I will have a job keeping him inside for the next 3 weeks as he is very fast on his feet. 

Emilie touched noses with him this morning then laid down and the little kitty came up to her face. I think they will get along OK. 

Thank you for giving me such a delightful cat.

Sincerely,

robin

Normally, I wouldn’t introduce two cats that quickly, but Sterling was always looking for the biggest pile of cats he could just plow into, knead him a spot and fall asleep. So job well done. Emile is a 3 year old masfif as gentle as can be. I think they will soon be fast friends.

Also recently got a call from a gal in Portland. Her friend who owns a 9 year old cat had tried to kill himself after his wife/girlfriend took off with a new boy toy. He was unsuccessful in his suicide attempt. I was told he tried to kill himself in front of the cat but when he got back home he was going to take his cat down to put her to sleep because he couldn’t deal with life. The girl said she called everyone in rescue both up there and down here and no one would help. By this time she was crying and my heart just went out to her. She had the cat, it had been turned over to her, but it attacked her and now she was afraid of it. The name of the cat: Spaz- who does that? Who gives such a disrespectful name to a beautiful creature like a cat. I listened to her story and felt her anguish and told her if she could bring the cat to us, we would take her.

She arrived this morning- a beautiful all white girl with golden eyes. She has been isolated until I can access her but she will adopt out rather quickly because everyone loves white kitties.

A bit out of focus but here is “Twirl”

Early last year, I placed Brambles into a home. Surprisingly, I got a update this morning about how she now runs the house and is best friends with Buddy the dog. Here is one of the photos sent

With the arrival of the four from the shelter and one more that is coming in on Saturday- canned food is at a low point here right now. If anyone would like to send us canned food – seems the favorite choice is Friskies but not the pate. They love the new concoctions that just came out- but right now it is spendy because it is new.

Looks like in the new arrivals we have a black cat male neutered, a tortie and a mackerel tabby as  well as “Sid Vicious” the gold and white who bit some people. I am calling him Sydney. So far this “killer  kitty” hasn’t even moved out of the carrier he arrived in. I just ended up draping the carrier with blankets last night so the kitty would stay warm. His cage is just off the porch- so it can get cold if he goes outside in the catio. But inside, it is insulated and fairly warm. He’s a beautiful boy but he looks scared to death. I think they said he came from New Mexico?