Granted we still have a month-and-a-half left of the year- but so far this year we’ve rescued 64 kitties- Adopted out forty-seven of our sanctuary cats while sixteen of our cats went to the Bridge. Ten cats were reunited with their original owners thanks to the power of the Internet and social media.

This morning, in dense fog, I pulled into a 7-11 and opened the back of the truck to grab my purse. Funny thing, my front seat was full of cat food! Anyway, as I opened the truck door, I see and feel this presence by my feet and this mackerel tabby (bone skinny) comes and jumps in and settles on my food bin! I went into the store to find out that someone had dumped this poor kitty a few weeks ago and it has been dodging cars ever since!

I went back to my truck- kitty hopped in the front seat and laid there the entire time to the vet! She (they dubbed her 7-11) but I am calling her Alexa is about 10 years old and looks like she hasn’t had food in months! She tested negative, we have de-wormed and de-flead her and I am feeding her small amounts of canned food so she doesn’t get sick. I have given her fluids as she was enormously dehydrated and she is the sweetest of the sweet kitties! No carrier all the way home from the vet- she has been spayed (her ear is tipped) so thank God for small favors. When I got her home, I weighed her. Bless her soul she only weighs 5 lbs 9 ozs! 🙁

I picked up Smuckers while I was there- they spayed her yesterday and said she was very lovable. I will wait a few days call the photographer to come over and get some photos of her after she is calmer and see if I can get her into a good home.

Not only are we getting an older Calico feral girl from Meow Village in Portland next week- but this little one just came to us after being discovered in an abandoned car. The car was non-running and no owner can be traced. The contents of the car look like the person or persons were homeless. We are calling her Smuckers- and although she is scared- she is definitely not feral.

This girl will arrive next week along with three other “feral” cats that MV is having problems finding a place for them-

Thanks to those of you who are buying Fresh Step Litter and donating the points to CATS Inc., The last point turn in got us these really nice kitty blankets you warm up in the microwave and the heat lasts for 9 hours so  that was super-cool (or warm) for the kitties when the temperature dipped.

Also just thank you for the comments and suggestions you offered this year, both on the blog and privately. Many thanks for all the monies donated for the care of these kitties and just being interested in the goings-on occurring here. There were a lot of passings this year, more than ever before but we also adopted out a slew of kitties and helped some that were really close to the brink to come back and have a chance at a better life.

So thank you all of you- for following this blog- for caring, for praying, for doing all of it in the name of the kitties who were hiding in the shadows.

Mary Anne

Didn’t care much for the name of Rumor so we have named him Raleigh. This kitty is sweet with a capital T! Putting him up for adoption this weekend- wish us luck!

I also just got a phone call from a gal from California who is here in Oregon interviewing small rescue groups for a documentary to be shown before Christmas at a film festival. She will be here Monday to film and interview me in the hopes of driving up volunteerism and donations. Donations would be grand, because that is what I owe the vet right now. One Grand! 🙂

Here is Mr Raleigh who I call my spot of sun in my day-

I am so relieved to say that this boy is looking so much better today! He came out of hiding, he ate a bit and drank some water and head-bumped me. The vet had asked me to stay up most of the night and give him fluids and force feed him, but instead, I just left him alone. After seeing him go ballistic when they tried to take blood from  him, I figured just letting him decompress and let God decide things would be best. Seemed like a good call and I think he will be okay if nothing happens in the meantime to stress him out. he really is a sweet boy and my hope is after some socialization and TLC he will make someone a really nice companion.

Speaking of socialization, I am now able to pet Pirate briefly without her trying to bite my hand off! Slow and steady wins the race.

Here he is one day after his neuter. He did not respond well this morning when I went in to feed enough to worry me, so off the vet we went. They did bloodwork- his glucose is extremely high- all levels are okay. He is drinking an incredible amount of water for a year old kitty so there is a concern for FIP or Diabetes. But it also could  be stress- he doesn’t like being messed with (who does?)I am going to watch him carefully for a few days and if anything out of the ordinary is going on- I will let the vet know. My fear because of how covered he was in grease and oil was that we might be looking at anti-freeze poisoning- but that has been ruled out. He is a really sweet boy who suddenly has lost all interest in eating.

Just not acting right- I am a bit worried.

Late last night, we get a phone call and I hear a woman say- “Are you the cat lady?” I laughed and said,

“Sometimes, what’s up?”

“Rumor has it that there is a cat caught in the fitness gym in Sweet Home for about 4 days. The rumor is true- I have the cat!”

I went down immediately and fetched this orange and white boy who looks like he has seen better days. He has either been caught in the engine of a car, or he has been living in a mechanics garage, because he was covered in grease. I got him home, covered him with shortening and took a warm towel and started to remove the majority of oil and grease. What I uncovered was a lovely orange and white tomcat. He is super friendly- or he was until the vet started poking and prodding him then he turned into a true tom. He is being neutered as I type, he had no mircrochip so if I do find the owner over time- he will get back a neutered boy who might stay put instead of roaming. I am calling him Rumor. I don’t know his age, but suspect he is 2-3 years old. The vet will fill in the blanks when I go to pick him up later on.