by Jackie Dale

It has been a few months since my last column. There has been so much going on that finding the time to sit and write has proved quite elusive. I left off in mid-September as the vet was returning from an extended vacation. “Popeye” had just had successful eye surgery. He was subsequently adopted by my son as a companion for his other cat. “AirRaid”, the stomatitis cat, is still here. I’m getting him steroid shots as we wait for an opening in the rescue’s dental unit.

The pregnant cat I had taken in had six kittens on September 15. Three of the kittens passed away and the remaining three grew into huge kittens that are still here. Due to the ear tufts and the kittens’ extreme size, I’m betting that dad was a Maine Coon. Their mom already went to rescue and hopefully her children will also go soon.

The vet was now back but would be leaving again at the end of November for two months to spend the holidays with family in the Philippines. This meant I had nine weeks to get as many cats fixed as possible. This actually became eight weeks as I had to go out of town on family business.

So I launched into full-blown TNR mode. Lots of trapping, transporting and caring for the cats. In that 8-week period, I facilitated the fixing of approximately 67 cats. One home had 12 cats needing to be fixed. Thankfully, not all the cats had to be trapped which made the project move quicker. I had a list of projects and I tried to get to each person on the list. That included a repeat visit to the golf course. The river had overflowed, flooding the parking lot and trapping a handful of cats at one end. Trapping went quickly and five more cats were fixed. In the two years I have been trapping at the golf course, I have fixed almost 50 cats!

Some of the cats that I had fixed were people’s personal pets or friendly neighborhood strays. Many people just needed help getting the discount vouchers, making appointments and/or transporting the animal(s). There are many reasons that people need help with cats. Some people work all day, some people don’t have a car, and some are elderly or have medical issues. Whatever the reason, they needed help, and that’s what I do.

As Halloween was approaching, I received a call from the local pumpkin farm. During an incredibly busy weekend, a large Sphinx cat was discovered wandering about the grounds. He was quickly scooped up by an employee, and a call was made to The Cat House on the Kings. I then got a text from Lynea asking me to go pick up the cat since it was near my neighborhood. I did as asked and the cat was delivered to The Cat House. A real head-scratcher as to how the cat got there since there are no homes nearby.

Two transports happened during this time, and I had to have other people drive the cats because I was so busy trapping. Two of the cats were returned because they had a tiny spot of ringworm. These cats were not mine. One of the things I do is help people rehome or find rescue for adult cats. My rescue usually has plenty of kittens but not so many adults so it is a niche I fill. My friend Janice was able to find a Bay Area rescue that had a ringworm unit and both cats were accepted. About two months later they also accepted the other two cats from this home. We felt so very fortunate! One of the transports took five of my cats and I was ecstatic. They were at an age where they were just wrecking the house on a daily basis.

I continued with my literal non-stop trapping. During this time I was also battling the state of California and the DMV to get my car tags. Despite the fact that the car passed all the emissions tests with flying colors, a “glitch” was preventing the computer from recognizing the heater on an oxygen sensor, thus failing the car. They told me to keep driving it. I drove it to UTAH (twice!), and still no go. I spent hours of time and thousands of dollars, and still a big NO. Finally, I filed an appeal with the Bureau of Automotive Repair. I needed my car! I can fit four traps in my car, five if one rides at an angle. It’s paid for and already broken in so I was not looking to buy a new car. Eight long months later, TA-DA! The Bureau passed my car and my 2024 tags are in the mail.

I trapped right up until the day before the vet left for vacation. I took in a pregnant cat and her four three-month old kittens from a lady who had pestered me for weeks. Then she didn’t even give a donation. I have to foot the bill for mom’s immediate spay and the kittens, who are now four months old. That just irks me no end. Funny story though—A local Fresno TNR group was kind enough to get me an appointment for this cat. When I picked up my cat and got home, I realized I had the wrong cat. A few calls later and my cat was located. I met up with the lady whose cat I had and we exchanged the very similar looking cats. No harm, no foul, stuff happens.

Three more kittens arrived, all separately. Billy Ray, Gordon and Derek are the current destroyers of the house. They are active kittens and are constantly getting into trouble.

There is no trapping to do, so I’m almost on a vacation. When a friend needed a place to stash six cats headed to rescue after the foster backed out, I said “sure”. They were only here a few days so no real trouble at all. Until we loaded them into their carriers the day before the rescue trip. The door fell out of the carrier I was holding and the cat ran into the bushes. As darkness rapidly approached, three of us crawled through some very thorny bushes for about a half an hour before ultimately retrieving the cat.

Four more of my older kittens were accepted at the rescue along with a cat that was being fostered by an elderly lady. Ten days later I was thrilled to send four more of my cats as well as two orange fellows that needed immediate rehoming. That really helped me clear out my house. However, there were two more orange cats, sisters to the boys. They were on the verge of being left behind when the owners had to move. The situation was dire as the cats were inside cats and the people outside were looking to harm the cats. So they are currently being housed in my outside catio.

I was notified that an older lady had been spotted dumping one or more cats at a local sports park. When I went to check it out, I saw a few cats so, thinking the cats were possibly friendly but just scared, I set traps. That’s when I found out there are a lot of cats at this park. The four cats I trapped did not seem the least bit friendly. And that is when I realized I had made a rookie mistake. I had cats in traps and no place to get them fixed. My regular vet was kind enough to squeeze me into his schedule without an appointment. But I had to pay full price, nearly $500. I won’t be doing any more trapping until the spay vet returns. I am already on her schedule to get all my kittens fixed as soon as she returns. Then I will also resume trapping. I look forward to daylight saving time as trapping in the dark can be scary.

FINAL COUNTS FOR 2023
INTAKES: 122
SENT TO RESCUE: 111 cats and 1 dog
TNR’s: 137

Not too shabby for this one-woman show! I do have to acknowledge and give thanks to my friend Janice Baker. She is relentless in her efforts to help me find rescues for my cats. I really couldn’t do all this without her help. She has personally driven many dogs and cats to rescues, even to rescues located in other states. Her passion for helping animals is inspiring.

DONATIONS ARE ALWAYS GREATLY APPRECIATED!! I can’t operate without them. For example, cats that come in stray or from the local shelter are fixed and vaccinated with those donations. Not to mention veterinary costs. PopEye’s surgery alone was over $400. If you would like to contribute, I have a PayPal account jackiejoy@hotmail[dot]com You can also support the post office and send donations/supplies via good old snail mail to Jackie Dale P O Box 1859, Reedley, CA 93654.

You can check out more animal rescue articles in KRL’s animal rescue section! Join our Pets Facebook group to help keep up with our pet articles.

Jackie Dale is a freelance writer who lives in Reedley with her husband of 27 years, Frank, and their 2 children. A former ballerina, Jackie now teaches yoga and fitness classes privately and at local area gyms in addition to her cat related duties.