Meet Bartholomew- he is one of the three strays that showed up right after the end of The Jamboree. This country music event draws people from all over. In the past, we’ve had entertainers such as Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton, etc. Some pretty heavy hitters.

This kitty when he showed up, his balls are bigger than his head. I’ve never seen anything like it. I knew I had to trap him pretty quick because I think something’s  wrong with him. But he is very Alpha. He’s already challenged two of my Alpha cats. I have been breaking up catfights recently at night.He is little but mighty. He’s also loud, hence his name.

He was eating this morning and chasing the other cats away from the food. I have been working with him very slowly, and he was starting to trust me. I actually petted him the other day very briefly before he tried to bite me.

I went inside and fetched my top-end cat carrier, my No-Cry gloves. I figured that he would take-off the minute I put the cat carrier on the ground near him, but he was busy eating. I distracted him by giving him more wet food. I went to pick him up by the scruff only to discover that he is so depleted he doesn’t have a scruff. This kitty has no fat on him whatsoever.

I said a quick prayer slipped off my left glove. I bent over, I grabbed his neck as gently as I could, and I put my gloved hand underneath him. I  was able to put him in the carrier. He did not act like a feral cat when they are cornered. He didn’t rush the door or start going crazy, but he was yelling very loud. He was not happy that his freedom was taken away.

I called my vet to see if I could get him in this morning for a neuter. They can’t take him until tomorrow. I almost choked when they told me how much a neuter is these days $164.48!! For a 10 minute surgery, on a stray cat, who doesn’t even need a pain pill afterwards!

Because of Kota’s recent surgery, I have $12.32 left in CATS . In my own primary account, I have $18.50 to run for a month. But Kota’s surgery was paid for.

Please, if you have any coffee, money, rattling around in your truck or car. Or maybe some mad money stuffed in your wallet? I could really use it right now. More importantly so could Bartholomew.

When I went outside this morning to feed Momma- she was waiting for me. She startled me, she wasn’t in her accustomed place. She was waiting for me in a pile of brush that I had just cut down. This pile is  in front of her feeding station. She darted in front of me, but stopped short of going out-of-reach. I put her food down in the bowls. Glancing over,  I saw she was still there. Taking a chance, I placed my hand flat on the ground near her. I waited not looking at her. I felt her breath on my hand. then she head-bumped my hand!

I needed that this morning, this is the morning that Kota has his eye surgery. Even since our last visit to the vet which was just a few weeks ago, the growth has gotten bigger. He’s been pawing at it quite a lot. He also has been crying out in his sleep lately. I will be glad when this growth is gone.

Momma is slowly coming out of the shadows! She still won’t let me get very close to her, but I just keep doing what I’m doing and hoping it works. She vanished for a couple of days making me worry more about her. But she’s back now. Isn’t she pretty?

I just wanted to clarify something regarding the letter I wrote to all of yesterday. I am hearing from old and dear friends this morning who are coming out of the woodwork. Keep coming please!

Thank you so much all of you,for your kind words and thoughts. First of all, I am not dying! If I gave that impression I do apologize. I don’t think God’s done with me yet. Second of all, you can still donate to your heart’s  content. The only thing is it is no longer tax-deductible..

I will still be blogging. Yes, I have health struggles right now, but honestly anyone my age  has those. All I will say is mine are a bit weird.

I have done this a very long time. Virtually my whole life. There are slides (remember those?) that I have stored in a drawer upstairs of me in my crib with these beautiful long-haired Maine Coon looking kitties surrounding me.

My father was instrumental in teaching me when I was a child how to deal with wounded creatures of all kinds. He would walk to work every morning. He was a mailman. He would find cats and kittens that needed help and bring them home. We would embrace every single one of them and they would  became a crucial part of our family. I give him a lot of credit for how I feel about these cats. That feeling I will never lose . I will still be rescuing, but only within my circle. By the way, my Mother hated cats!

When I made this decision. (I actually did it a few months ago and was talked out of it) But this time when I made my decision, I felt such a relief come over me. It was as if God had bathed me in a warm light. I can’t describe it. I didn’t expect it. Thinking on it later I realized that I am no longer obligated. I no longer have to listen to the tragic stories told to me by people desperate to “Get rid of their cats!” I won’t get calls from Police officers to meet them at hoarders homes because of the “feral” population.  Gone too will be the situations that I have encountered which create  my nightmares. Situations that I have never discussed with anybody because I simply can’t believe them myself, much less understand how these cats and kittens survived them! When I started CATS Inc., so many years ago- my single mission was to take those others had discarded. The ones who had no hope, the throwaways.

I just wrote to someone about this. I told him in essence that in the work that I do, I am often dragged into the darkness of humanity. That Darkness is very draining. Generally, the proof of that darkness is either sitting in my hand or in a carrier waiting to go to the vet.

Rescue can eat at your soul, the only way that I was able to sustain my soul was through God. I am not a church-goer any longer. But I am a believer. I believe that in all things Good triumphs over the Darkness in the end! It’s a faith I hang onto tightly, especially in these times.

Sometimes these kittens or cats didn’t make it. But I truly believe that their stories need to be told. My manuscript has been sitting on a shelf for five years. Yes, I am old-fashioned, I am writing it by hand. My last manuscript got wiped out when my computer crashed. That will never happen again.

It’s time to wipe the dust off of it and get back to it. It’s also time for me just to stop rescuing. That warmth, that feeling that came over me, when I finally reached this decision, came from God. I truly believe this, It sealed the deal.

To those who are asking me who are left here? We still have Bentley (my distemper survivor) Magoo, and Ashley the fire kitties. They are doing splendidly. Even Bentley’s stomatitis has been on the run ever since I started adding powdered deer antler into his meals.

We have PITA-my troublemaker (I didn’t name her after the bread.) I named her that after I got her I will add she is a real Pain In The A$$ at times. This is not her fault. This is something that happened to her when I surrendered her to the Humane Society to get her adopted. When I went to see her, I didn’t even recognize her. The loving kitty who was snuggling on my neck was now in the back of her cage, hissing and spitting and lunging at me. I took her back immediately.

Pigeon is still with us. His horrible injury that he suffered years ago, the scars have never gone away. But he is a loving boy getting a lot older. When I go in the cat enclosure in the morning, he’s on the high shelf. It has become customary for me to go underneath that shelf until he reaches down and grabs my neck with his paws, and settles on my chest to say good morning. He is my Maine coon lover.

We have Salem, Twist, Poe, Old Man who I believe won’t be here next year. He is 17 years old now. For a kitty who has lived outside his entire life, that’s  a pretty good age. In the house we have Aspen, her sister Laurel did not survive her abuse. We have Addie, she is a tortoiseshell and she is a constant concern for me. Her treatment before we got her is something I do not speak of.  I’ve had her now over a year and a half. I still cannot pick her up. If I try, she bites me and I end up in Urgent Care. Her PTSD behaviors are off the chart, sadly this makes her unadoptable.

Our three new arrivals are “Momma” who I saw this morning (even though I overslept.) She was waiting for me by the fence. We have Bartholomew, he is a beautiful long-haired tuxedo kitty. I put him probably around a year-and-a-half old. It’s so cute when he sees me with his food. He lets out one quick, small mew-thus his name.

The last newcomer I am trying to actively trap. He is a little black kitten and it’s weird because he’s got the same colorings of Crazy-Eyes, except this little guy isn’t cross-eyed. The reason I’m trying to trap him  is because his balls are bigger than his head! I kid you not. I have never seen such a tomcat in my life and I believe that there’s something wrong with him. He also walks funny. Although he’s young, he’s quite formable. He even went after Bentley the other night during feeding time. His Alpha tendencies are strong.

So that’s why I wrote that letter yesterday. I will still blog and I am beyond grateful for those of you who have hung in with me for so many years, or those who have found me and decided to check in once in a while and see what’s going on. Thank you old friends and new for reaching out to me this morning. You really made my day!  Amazingly, I even heard from someone who I know from The Cat Site- where I was a moderator and that’s going way back!

Please know that I love you all.  Please donate when and if you can, because we really still do need the help every single day.

God Bless You-

Dear Cat-Lovers and Friends,

Over all these years, I have shared my passion, my experiences, Rescue stories, and love on this blog. I have included tips, tricks, and hopefully helpful advice along the way to those of you in need. I have tried to de-mystify, the rumors around these glorious animals. I have proven time and time again that it doesn’t matter what age the “feral” cat may be, they can still be Socialized just never “Tamed.” They are their own spirit, and anyone who wishes to break that spirit should not be working with them. I don’t even refer to them as feral anymore. I called them. “Strays with feral tendencies.”

I have developed wonderful email friendships to so many people I’ve not yet met. I have had the joy of meeting some of you in real life. It has all been quite the journey.

My heart has been blessed with my rescues who have come into our sanctuaries over the years. Sharing their lives along with their stories, I had hoped I was making a difference in someone’s life in the world (or more importantly in the life of a cat) and at times I have received proof that I did. The stories were never easy to tell, the cats not so easy to work with at  first  (Cyclone-Hurricane Charlie-Guinevere-)  come to mind here, to name just a few. Some rescues have broke hearts (including mine) Others touched  the whole world-(Shell-Prowler-Hissy)

My decision in recent days to stop Rescue completely has not been an easy one. But I have decided that it is time.  I am letting my nonprofit status lapse this month. I need the extra money for Kota’s upcoming surgery, that coupled with the myriad of health issues I’ve been facing for the last few years,sealed the deal.

I am so grateful to all of you who’ve hung in with me over the years. Sending emails and texts of comfort and support,  sharing your own personal struggles with me, encouraging, inspiring me to keep on going. Opening your wallet and your heart to our mission here. I love you all.

When I made the final decision the other day, there was such a relief that washed over me. I will still be blogging. My rescues are still here and currently there are three new mouths to feed. Well, actually more than three because “Momma” Recently dropped her babies.

Gone are the days when I could deck-dive with flashlight and canned food in hand, searching for kittens I could hear but not see. Unfortunately too, gone are the days of kind neighbors allowing me to do so. I am still feeding any stray cat that comes on my property. We’ve had three show up in the last two weeks. Mama is a beautiful Siamese. She looks Purebred. Sadly, she presents with so many feral tendencies that I can’t even get close to her right now. I have her on a routine, she has started to show up before I do in order to get her food, cat milk, and other goodies. By the look of her belly, she is full of milk. I whisper her name when I go back in the bushes. I do not wish for my cats to know of her existence. Unfortunately, she chooses to stay in the front yard near the highway, which leads me to believe she’s been dumped. The noise of the traffic should at least drive her in the backyard, but she’s not having any of it. Plus, now she’s fiercely protective of her kittens so she doesn’t want to be around other cats. I am feeding her in the thick bush back by my fence as far away from the road as I can.

It’s going to start slamming rain here pretty soon, so I have put a table up and camouflaged it, hoping it cannot be seen by anyone walking on the highway . So far she’s pretty wary of what she considers a new trap. I did put a trap out for her when she was pregnant, but she had nothing to do with it. In fact she vanished until I put it away. I’m sure she thinks this new contraption , I put together is  just another way for me to trap her but I know  she’s feeding a lot of kittens.  (I assume) Her hunger will drive her under the table and she will realize that it’s not a monster waiting to eat her.

So my work does continue, just not in an official capacity anymore. Those of you who are still donating will get my final tax deduction letter along with my thanks and appreciation this year. But please know this- every time, I either received a PayPal alert, or a package at my door. YOU made a major difference that day. Not only in the lives of the rescues here, but in my personal life as well. It seemed that these donations arrived at a time when I was struggling to figure out how I was going to feed or get gas money in order to take one of our rescues to the vets. YOU will always have a space in my heart for helping me to continue to try to make a difference in the lives of these wonderful, often misunderstood cats.

Momma’s Feeding Post:

Once again, the State of Oregon would like me to file a report regarding my nonprofit. Filing my report comes with a fee of $50. At this point in time, I don’t have the $50 to give them. I have till October 10 to come up with it.

The reason I don’t have the money is I took Kota to the vet recently.  Turns out he has to have surgery on his right eye. The vet would like to do it sooner than later. Because the growth will continue to grow. The vet wants to get it done quickly so that doesn’t happen.

Kota will go in for that surgery on October 28. The surgery is going to be expensive (as most surgeries are). But I am putting that fee in front of paying for my filing fee.

This beautiful dog saved me once again on Thursday. I was headed down the embankment of the creek to check out a tree that had fallen the night before in the storm. I slipped in the mud, I did a header right into the creek bed. The creek was dry, but it was muddy and full of stones. I could not get up. I tried so many times just to get back on my feet and all it did was exhaust me. I did have my cell phone in my hand, however it flew out of my hand and ended in the middle of a patch of blackberry bushes.

I had left Kota on my deck on a “down/stay” command. (He has never broke a command). From the back of the house to the creek is probably the distance of a football field. He must’ve heard me crying and here he comes crashing through the underbrush right to my side! (for some reason when he arrived, this phrase came through my head) “Quick Lassie! Timmy is in the well!”

It took some doing for me to get into a position where I could actually use him to get up. All I can say is while I was doing this very strange maneuvering in the creek bed, I was very grateful nobody was nearby, laughing and putting this on video to go on YouTube! I was a muddy mess and I was still crying because of the pain.

But I got it done, I got on firm footing and with his help I was able to stand up. However, I was unable to walk. With his help, I made the normally eight minute walk to the house in 45 minutes. Afterwards, I ended up in Urgent Care.

I was really upset at myself because I couldn’t get to my feet in the creek bed. I told the doctor that I was giving clear messages to my legs and to my feet to get under me and get me out of there. It wasn’t working.

After they did all the imaging, the cause was clear as to why I couldn’t get up.  To quote the radiologist who read my films: “You have arthritis that is so severe in places that you shouldn’t have arthritis in.” So that explained to me at least, why I couldn’t get off of that creek bed and on my feet. I was also relieved to find out I didn’t need a knee replacement.

If anyone reading this cares to reach out and send the money to PayPal to help pay my filing fee, that would help a great deal. I am saving every penny that I’m getting out of my donation jars and anywhere else I can find, in order to get this wonderful dog his surgery so he doesn’t lose his eye. This will be the fourth time that he has saved me since Mike left.

Just wanted to add that I now only have one working email. Don’t get me started on Comcast! My only email is: MaryAnneM@ladydawg.net   Thanks to the kindness of a gentleman friend, The email on the donation button was changed to that address.

I

I received a new Extreme Heat Alert yesterday. Once again, high 90s, possible triple digit weather headed our way. I don’t want to have the same scare, I had earlier with my outdoor kitties. So this morning I decided to build them cooling shelters, using cinderblocks and tree limbs, pine boughs that have been knocked down and still lying around along with other storm debris.

I used the cinderblocks to make a space for the cats to go into and lay down. I used the twigs the limbs and storm debris to create a sort of rough roof structure. Then started piling the fallen branches of the pines, evergreens etc., to create a shelter for them. I made sure to cover the areas where the cinderblocks were because they do maintain heat, but I do not believe after I finished that any sunlight can get through these branches that I’ve stacked up.

The photos above show the construction of the shelters. I hope this works, it was too close for comfort last time to have these cats and such distress and be unable to do anything for them since we also had power outages on that day.

This is the orange mackeral tabby who’s been hanging around for the last two weeks. He is a tomcat (of course). We never seem to get neutered strays around here. His markings are amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it. From the front half of his head to the middle of his back, he is a brilliant, orange, striped mackeral  tabby. Almost as if someone has drawn a line down the middle of his back, the back half of him is also in the macro tabby pattern, but it’s a muted orange. I decided to call him Hamilton. He seems to want to stick around coming in at all hours of the day and night. I am looking at ads on Facebook because July 4 is a scary night for kitties and they runoff and go along way before they stop running. So far I have not seen anything to what he looks like being searched for. He is not feral and by next week, he will no longer be a tomcat. He’s welcome to stay and eat for as long as he wants to, but I’m not going to have an intact male running around during kitten season. He looks fairly young. Hopefully in a few days, I will be able to get him into a cat carrier and get him into the vet and get him neutered.

Soaring into the triple digit temperatures recently brought quite a scare. Three of my free roaming, ferals, I found open mouth panting in the yard, barely able to move. At the time it was 106°F. I quickly fetched carriers and remarkably was able to pick each kitty up. They were so hot. They were all my senior boys, but they offered no resistance. As I was carrying two of the carriers  into the house, I noticed another cat flat on the grass. This kitty turned out to be my Bentley! I quickly put the remaining feral into my bathroom. I grabbed one more cat carrier and returned to find Bentley just flat as a pancake. When I picked him up, he was so hot. His ears were burning. His tummy was hot. His paws were hot. He was open mouth, panting rapidly.

He quickly joined the others. I. turned the fan on low turned off the light and shut the door so they could at least cool down a bit. Thankfully, I have supportive fluids on hand. However, what I couldn’t find were the proper size syringes. I had to stick these poor kitties at least seven times each to get enough fluids into them to bring them back around. Not one kitty resisted. I also gave each kitty a tepid bath, and put rubbing alcohol on their ear flaps and the bottom of their paws. I do not remember it ever being this hot that so many cats were succumbing to the heat at the same time.

Thankfully , all kitties are now back to normal. I had taken some empty water bottles and filled them. I put them into my freezer for 24 hours and then laid them out around where I know the cats were sleeping and hanging out. I covered each one of the bottles with a thin  pillowcase. I’m sure it wasn’t very comfortable for them to lay on these plastic bottles just to get some coolness and relief.

Then I remembered that I had upstairs all of these snuggle pads. They are made of pure plastic. Yes, they are a heating element, but they’re completely sealed. I ended up substituting the water bottles for these flat round plastic discs. I know I won’t be able to ever use them again for a heating element, but for what I needed during that time for them, it’s worked out quite well. Just running the discs under the cold water and then putting them into the freezer they froze fairly quickly.The kitties were more prone to except them as a bed because they were flat and they didn’t make noise when they laid on them.

I have to admit that Bentley scared me the worst, he was so reactive to the heat. He’s 15 years old, he lives outside either in one of the cat enclosures coming and going at will.  I wondered if he had an underlying health issue because he was the last one to come around. I found out that his stomatitis was extremely active, plus for the first time since I’ve had him he had ear mites in his ears. Generally, he gets yeast infections in his ears, but this time he had ear mites. I dosed him with Revolutions because that also kills ear mites. He is doing fine now and we are back down into the 80s and the 90s. Hoping we don’t get more triple digit weather anytime soon.

While they were all in the bathroom and I had the fan going for them-Of course we had a power outage. It went out at 8 PM and it didn’t come back on until 9 AM the next day. I ended up just putting them outside in the carriers under the shady trees and thanking God that we had a little bit of wind to keep them cooler. For Bentley, I just sat outside on my deck with him in my lap all night. He just slept there didn’t move an inch. I didn’t close my eyes because I didn’t want the raccoons to come up and harass me or him. He was just plum exhausted.

I am still coughing, but I am not infectious anymore. However, I am staying away from people just in case. I was told there was just a little residual fluid left in one lung. An annoying visitor, who just won’t leave yet. There are a lot of people in town that are sick right now. The hospitals are full up once again with people fighting upper respiratory infections. So grateful that I was able to stay out of the hospital. I don’t know what would’ve happened to my cats otherwise.

I have recently been diagnosed with pneumonia. Thankfully, I have only gone to the ER to get supportive fluids. I have managed to stay out of the hospital. But this bug has got me wiped. If I can make it out early in the morning to feed, for me that’s a good day.

I wanted to say “Thank You!” to whoever it is that is sending Friskies canned food to us. To say that we are grateful is an understatement. The kitties inside the sanctuaries are enjoying this to the max. I cannot feed wet food outside. The neighbors cat comes over every morning and if there’s wet food out, she eats it.

Plus, few months ago, I noticed a new visitor on the property- one lonely raccoon.  I haven’t seen any wildlife on my property since the Holiday Farm Fires That was over three years ago now. This raccoon was acting a bit odd. Coming out early in the morning, peeking around the barn at me when I was feeding. Generally, when I did see raccoons in the past, it would be at night or super early in the morning. I was hoping it was a male, But males generally don’t stick around they wander.

Yesterday when I went to feed at 4 AM. I didn’t see one raccoon. I saw 10! Mama has had nine babies! That’s pretty rare, but I believe they know that their numbers were decimated during the fire and they’re making up for it.

I’m going to call Fish and Wildlife today and talk to them and see if I can get some of them to come out if I can get these some of these babies trapped. I’m hoping they’ll be able to come by and pick the babies up and take them somewhere where I know they’re not going to end up on the highway . They deserve a chance at a normal life.

It’s so funny to watch these babies scamper around in the grasses early in the morning. I’ve been putting out nuts and berries, hoping that that will stop them from eating cat food, which is not the best food for them. But in all the years I’ve been here I have never seen a mom raccoon with more than four babies. I have a feeling fish and wildlife are going to tell me that they want the raccoons to repopulate in all the areas and I’m kind of stuck with them. So this means that my free roaming ferals that come and go here and eat early in the morning will have to change their schedule or find someplace else to get food.

The cats are curious about the newcomers. But I believe mom has already made her intentions known that they are to leave her babies completely alone. Kota already knows not to chase any wildlife so I’m not worried about him. What I am worried about is the traffic that sometimes goes as high as 90 miles an hour on Highway 20. It would break my heart to have to pull these babies off the road. I will see what fish and wildlife have to say. I know that it’s against the law federally to relocate skunks in Oregon. But I don’t know if that applies to raccoons or not. I hope not.

All cats are doing fine. They don’t like the extreme heat and then the sudden snap to colder nights. It’s been a strange start to the summer.

Again, many thanks to the person who sent the cat food for our rescues.