by Jackie Dale

Have A Plan

As I ended last month’s column, my friend Janice and I were trapping the cats at the home of our departed friend. Bobby, the large male cat with the injured tail has settled in nicely at his new home. He was kept in a large enclosure on my friend’s porch for three weeks before she opened the door. Bobby is a very lucky cat with a wonderful new home. The two black cats, a brother and sister, are living in my yard where they seem to be very happy. The male cat, named Tipsy, has become very friendly and allows me to pet him now. His sister, Donna, is not quite ready for pets, but I am certain she will eventually come around. We then trapped a large, fluffy, gray male who fortunately had already been neutered. I was not sure where to put him. I already had too many male cats and did not need another. So I bargained with a friend. She would take my feral fellow, and I would take one of her unfixed friendly cats. Well, this male cat turned out to be not so friendly. The first couple of days he seemed nervous but fine. Lately, he has sought refuge under a dresser in the room. Everyone should have a plan for their pets in case something happens to them. Life is uncertain and one day you just might not be coming home.

The Cats Keep Marching In

This cat joined three other cats in the room. I picked up a white, female cat at a senior complex. In the woman’s apartment, she showed me some kittens she had rescued. These kittens were actually about four months old. They were all crammed into an unbelievably small cage. I told them I would take two of them off her hands because they were severely overcrowded. All three of the cats are very nervous which translates into “will be here for a while.” The two kittens are both boys and when the new guy joined the group, the smell of male urine permeated the room. Seriously, the smell of hormone-charged urine could peel the paint off a wall. All the boys have since been neutered, but it takes at least a month for the smell to begin to dissipate.

In the meantime, I had taken Yeti, my 18-lb. polydactyl male to the vet for what I thought was a cold. He turned out to have a pretty severe case of gingivitis. Although my rescue has a dental unit, they were booked solid so he could not be accepted at that point. However, thanks to some generous donations, I was able to get Yeti in at my vets for a dental. I was charged a very reasonable $420 to extract five teeth. A couple of weeks later, Yeti went to the rescue! Along with Yeti went Lola, the white cat that my foster insisted was blind. I admit I dismissed her concerns because the cat had been with me for three weeks and I didn’t notice anything unusual. Well, as it turns out, Lola is quite sight-impaired. Not totally blind- but a significant impairment. AND, Lola has already been adopted!

An update on the injured or sick orange male cat that I trapped. The two vets where I took Oscar could not agree on whether it was a mouth injury or cancer. I brought him home to “wait and see.” Oscar had great difficulty eating so I had him on a puree diet. Oscar did not get better. He began to quickly get worse. A subsequent visit to my vet showed an aggressive cancer that was growing rapidly. The decision was made to end his suffering.

We trapped another already-fixed cat at our friend’s home. A large, fluffy orange and white cat. We aren’t even sure of the gender. Anyway, we put it in one of the catio enclosures but I forgot to latch one of the doors and the cat escaped. I’m sure it is somewhere in the yard, and there is plenty of food out. We then trapped a very large tuxedo male. He was immediately fixed, and we found someone who was willing to accept and care for the cat on her property.

I took in a few more adult cats. Athena, a shy but very nice girl who was owned by a sailor. When he was deployed, he asked a couple he knew to foster his cat. However, when he returned from his tour, he refused to take his cat back. The couple was no longer able to keep the cat, so I agreed to take it. Oh, did I mention they suspected the cat was blind? I thought to myself, “Oh no, not again.” Aside from the strange habit of splashing her water all over the place, I did not see any sign of her being blind. But to be safe and sure, I took her to the vet where she received a clean bill of health. No obvious eye issues were detected.

I also accepted a couple of adult cats from a rescue friend. She urgently needed somewhere for two cats to go so that two others in need could be rescued. The two cats are understandably nervous but hopefully will settle in soon.

No Exchanges!

Then, from two different people, I received screenshots of a Facebook post from a guy looking to rehome two of his cats. I don’t have the exact details of why, but they had four cats and their complex only allowed two. Two of their cats belonged to the woman’s mother, so I surmised that she moved in with them, bringing along her cats. The guy had been trying for some time to find some place for his cats. and by the time I was made aware of the situation, the guy had one day left. So I agreed to take them. I drove an hour to pick up the cats. When I arrived I was surprised to see that the cats were both kind of, well, fat. They didn’t look that large in the photos. I took them home and set them up in their enclosures. They had to be initially separated from the other cats since the owner had not vaccinated them.

After a couple days, they were doing great, and I knew that they would be accepted by the rescue. BUT… I get a message from the previous owner. He wants one of the cats back. He will give me one of his mother-in-law’s cats instead. Boy, I bet that was one awkward conversation to have. I asked if the cat was as friendly as the one he wanted back. He described the cat as “nice, but nervous.” That was kind of a red flag for me as I absolutely did not want to be stuck with yet another unadoptable cat. Plus, I was a little bit uncomfortable with the thought of him strong-arming his MIL’s cat from her. I politely said that while I appreciated the fact that he missed his cat, I thought it best to leave things as they were. I told him the cats had settled in and the rescue had by now, accepted them. He got very angry and demanded that I give him the name of the rescue so that he could go adopt the cat back. Well, I told him, “No, I couldn’t do that.” The last time that happened, the person harassed my rescue to the point where I almost got black-balled!

I reminded him that he had posted these cats on at least two Facebook sites for any random person to take. I reminded him that they could have just as easily ended being bait food for fighting dogs. I did my best to assure him that the cats would be safe and well cared for. He called me a liar and then blocked me. I did feel bad for the guy but I did not create his dilemma. I helped him solve said dilemma. End of the story as far as I’m concerned.

Even as I was typing this column, I had to pause because someone had dumped a white cat at a winery just a few miles from my home. The, of course, unfixed male cat was battered from many hormone-driven kerfuffles. He is very sweet and will one day be off to the rescue.

DONATIONS ARE ALWAYS GREATLY APPRECIATED!! I can’t operate without them. If you would like to make a donation, 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.