Due to the fact that I’m filled to the brim with kittens, it has been a somewhat slow month. I have been helping people get cats fixed and doing TNR as well. I will set traps at various locations and hope for the best. Some locations make trapping difficult, and it is often slow going. I trapped for one family that I had previously helped with several cats.
It has been a long, hot, frustrating month in the cat world. It seems like this year is one of the worst as far as kittens are concerned. They are simply everywhere! Every day I get multiple calls or messages from people asking me to help with or take on kittens.
My month had an upsetting beginning because of a post on social media about an abandoned mother cat and five newborn kittens. The post led me to believe that the family had been dumped near a school located not far from my home. The temperature that day was around 110° so of course I was deeply concerned for the welfare of the cats.
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.
This has been a month where I have spent a majority of my time at home taking care of many kittens and also a handful of adults as well. Due to a staffing shortage at the vets, there have been fewer appointments available so I have had to curtail some of my TNR work for the time being. It is just as well since the kittens keep me hopping.
The cats and kittens have continued to flow both in and out this month. Most of these felines had happy endings that consisted of them going to rescue. Seventeen lucky kitties went to rescue this month!!
One young cat had a not-so-happy ending. I picked up a severely malnourished female cat at a packing house near my home. A lady who worked there witnessed the poor thing nearly get taken out by a forklift so she contacted me. I picked her up immediately. However, despite my best efforts, the poor thing passed away three days later. Her starved little body just couldn’t recover.
The past month has been a literal “catnado” of cats. Just since my last column I have sent 30 cats to rescue and helped fix over 50 cats. The bulk of those were TNR projects but some were private pets. I help people get appointments and navigate the Cat House on the Kings new voucher system. It is pretty simple but not everyone is computer savvy so I help them get the vouchers, make the appointments and often I must assist with transporting the cat as well.
As I finished my last column, I was patiently waiting for the vet to return from vacation. She had already contacted me and set up appointments for the day after she got home on the 3rd. Meanwhile, someone dumped two friendly cats in my yard. Both males, one was fixed and one was not. The unfixed fellow is super fluffy and full of matted fur.
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.
Although I kept saying I wasn’t going to take in any cats/kittens during our home improvements, I apparently have a hard time saying “No.” I got a call from one of my feeders about an injured kitten at a local strip mall. I went to check it out and as I pulled up, I immediately saw the kitten. It was just sitting there with another cat that I assumed to be the mother cat. As I approached, it continued to sit there until I got very close.
