by Jackie Dale

I started the month with a transport of four of my kittens to rescue. Since my specialty is supplying the rescue with cats aged five months and up, I was pleased and surprised when they agreed to take the litter of four kittens from Firebaugh. I can only assume it was because the kittens were not only very healthy AND super cute, but they were incredibly well socialized.

The kittens kept trickling in, first a solo Russian Blue kitten. Then a five-month old black female kitten arrived. At first she tried to climb the walls of my bathroom. Then she did circular laps around the room, knocking virtually everything onto the floor. She calmed down after a bit but the following morning, another mess. Towels on the floor, standing jewelry box knocked over and my favorite, a roll of toilet paper in the toilet. However, by the next day she was rolling round on the floor, soliciting pets and rubs and generally acting like a normal cat.

A lady showed up at my gate one night with a kitten she had found. The lady didn’t speak English and we had to communicate through a translator on the phone. I had previously helped this lady which is how she knew where I lived. I normally don’t tell anyone where I live because of the number of cats I am “gifted.” So I agreed to take that kitten. Then a fellow rescuer asked me to take a single kitten, and I had room, so again I said “Yes.”

In the meantime, I’m taking cats in for appointments again. The vet hired some new staff and I was able to resume my work. I’m now playing “catch-up” with the list of people who have been waiting for help.

I was feeding a colony of cats while the regular feeder was out of town. I pulled up one day to see a small black and white kitten sitting there. I got very close before he ran away, but he was not moving fast. I crawled into the bushes and managed to grab the kitten. The reason it hadn’t seen me sooner was because its eyes were sealed shut. Things were going fine. The kitten was friendly and energetic. Then one morning I found him dead in his cage. Drop dead kitten syndrome is a real thing that I liken to crib death in humans. A seemingly healthy kitten suddenly and inexplicably dies.

I disinfect everything and go on because there is nothing else I can do. I have to be ready for the next kittens. And it wasn’t long before a friend called to say she found some kittens in her yard and two of them had been attacked by neighborhood adult cats. I immediately picked up the two kittens, both Russian Blues, and went straight to the vet. His prognosis was grim. One kitten, although alert and eating, was completely limp, suggesting a possible spinal cord injury. The other kitten had a broken jaw. I elected to treat them with fluids and steroids and took them home. Unfortunately, the one never got any better. He could eat but he couldn’t walk or go to the bathroom without stimulation. I decided that he had virtually no quality of life and had to let him go. The other kitten is doing great and the broken jaw seems to be aligning up well without medical intervention.

Then the rescue called me for cats. I get so excited when they call me! Outward bound were the fabulous mother cat I named Theresa. She nursed eight kittens, only of which one was hers. She was accompanied by Eddie, abandoned at a local college; the stray polydactyl Siamese, Kington, a mature dude trying to survive in a battle zone; and two cats a friend rescued. One of those cats tested positive for FIV but the rescue had an opening in their FIV unit, so Chanel was allowed to stay.

The trickle continued with a pair of ginger brothers seeking a safe place to land. I also snagged a beautiful Siamese cat with stunning blue eyes. She had been trapped by a fellow rescuer, and when I saw how friendly she was, I offered to give her a place to go. A friendly cat never lasts long at a feral colony.

I began a trapping project at a local apartment complex and the cats there were having none of it. The pregnant female I was after had her kittens before I could trap her. Unbeknownst to me, another cat in the complex had kittens at the same time. I arrived to trap very early one morning as the day’s temperatures were predicted to be in the triple digits. I heard a kitten crying. After digging through a very dense bush, I uncovered what appeared to be a den. I took the lone kitten and set the traps. By the time I got the kitten home to feed it, the resident called to say that I had caught the mother cat. I set up the extremely feral mother cat and her baby in a kennel. The plan is to wait until the baby can eat on its own and then release the mother. Mom was spayed right away and I bottle-fed the kitten for 24 hours.

Then the resident calls that they found a kitten in the complex driveway and no mom had returned for it. I picked it up and was astounded to see it looked just like the mom cat at my house. I put the new kitten in with the other one and both are thriving. I think that somehow I may have interrupted mom moving her kittens and then when I trapped her, the other mother took charge of ALL the kittens. This project is of course, still ongoing.

A local resident, weary of a community cat having numerous litters, hired me to trap the cat. I had already trapped several cats for this lady. I spent the next week trying to catch it. I caught her already-fixed cat twice. I also caught two small dogs and finally, a skunk. I had never trapped a skunk before, but I guess there is a first time for everything. I threw a plastic shower curtain over the trap just as it decided to spray. Choking and gagging, I managed to open the door, prop it open with a brick and run like the wind. Although I didn’t get sprayed directly, the odor attached itself and I had to shower and wash my clothes. BUT, I caught the mother cat and no more kittens for her or the neighborhood!

I was absolutely jubilant when the rescue called asking for friendly adult cats. Five adults made their way from a questionable existence to a bright future with a family of their own.

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.