I wish I could just work with the cats all the time, but of course, I have to pay the bills, and volunteer work doesn't pay so well. Someday, my dream is to make this my career somehow. But for now, I just have to keep working out the balance of life/work/passion.
I'll get to the meat and potatoes and share what's been going on with the kitties at hand.
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| Nightingale watching over her playful kittens |
Dusk and Dawn are still with me for a while longer. They proved to be tougher nuts to crack than we thought. Even after being fixed, they were both still pretty sketchy, and took to peeing on me in my sleep. Funny, until you have to get up at 3 am to strip bedding and wash it. LOL! Either way, I moved them into their own room for a while, and am working with them every day. They weren't QUITE ready to be handled and be stressed out when I had to take them in for their fixing, and it did set them back a little. But with the help of our houseguest, Precious, they are slowly coming around. They are not cuddlers, and probably never will be, but now they greet me happily when I come into the room, take food from my hands, and play with me. I can touch them briefly, but that's about all they will tolerate. It's still in the air as to whether they will be gentled enough to become companions cats, or if they will go into a barn cat program. I think we'd all much prefer them to be companion cats, but in some cases, the feral runs too deep and the best you can get is that they don't hate or fear humans, they just don't really want to be around them. It would be a shame, but at the same time, you have to do what's best for the cat. I'm not ready to give up completely yet, but I have to admit it's a little saddening at times. It is what it is, and all anyone can do is their best. Most importantly, they weren't euthanized just for being ferals, and that's the goal. No cat deserves to die just because they are a feral. Every life is important. This is one major thing I'm glad that Lori believes too. She keeps rescuing the ferals and difficult cats, and I will keep helping her with them. The pretty cats, the friendly cats, they are easy, and the other rescues can have them if they like. Every life is precious and worth saving. Thank goodness for Lori.
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| Chickadee and Raven posing in a kitty pile |
Nightingale is doing extremely well. She has turned into a regular lovebug. She loves people and loves being around them, and she especially loves TV. She will watch for hours from her spot on the floor. No way in the world this cat was ever feral. Terrified, in pain, sure. Feral, never. We will be taking her for her xrays soon, but as she is ok and manages, we decided to wait until her kittens were gone before we started to stress her out with xrays, poking, prodding, and potential treatment for her disability. It's an old injury for sure, pelvis or legs or both. I can't imagine how she survived, pregnant, crippled, in pain. Makes sense as to why she was thin as a rail when she came. I have no idea how she hunted and fed herself while pregnant with her mobility so compromised. She is a miracle and so are her kittens. They are absolutely little darlings, too, so I'm glad she made it and so did they. They are growing like weeds! 7 weeks old now, in a few more weeks they will be ready to head to their forever homes. A definite victory for all involved, and especially for them and whoever gives them forever homes. They are all little angels and will make anyone wonderful life companions!
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| Robin snuggled up |
I have had a special project this last week as well. 7 fully feral kittens, about 10 weeks old, who needed socialization before they could go into the stores. All hissy fussy little pisspots, but I love them. Kittens trying to be tough is one of the funniest things ever! In reality, they are just scared, without their mom, and aren't really sure what to make of all the fuss. Three of them only took a few days and have already headed off to the store. The last four are the more frightened of the bunch, and will probably take a few more days before they are ready to go. There's one in particular, an orphan who was all by himself, trapped, brought in, malnourished, and was thrown in with a bunch of other kittens so he wouldn't be alone. I call him "Houdini", because he can get out of anything and can get in anywhere.... But it's fairly obvious he's been through deeper trauma than just being separated from his mom and trapped. Trap-trauma is bad enough. This little guy is scared of humans for more reasons than just that, I think. I plan to get to the bottom of it, but I have a feeling he's going to be here for a while. Poor little guy. The others are just more scared and are already making leaps and bounds. A few more days, they will be good to go. It's nice when you can get the scared/feral ones when they are really young, because they are like children; move past fear more quickly, are more motivated by play and food, they are just closer to the blank slate than an older cat who's experienced major trauma. Helping them before bad habits and paralyzing fears become crystalized and ingrained is the best way to help them. I'm confident they will find forever homes quickly!
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| Raven: "Whyfore you blind me wif dat bright ting!?" |
This week I was also contacted by a local Humane Society to help them with one of their cats. She's good with other cats, but is TERRIFIED of humans. Unfortunately the Humane Societies are not set up to deal with scared or feral cats. They are a place that is set up to adopt friendly, settled cats into forever homes. They don't have many options when it comes to helping the scared ones, although I firmly believe they do the very best they can. I agreed to do what I could to help them help the cat, and have built a basic plan. I'm heading out there today to meet her, assess her, and hopefully give the staff some advice for things that they can do that will help her move past her fear. I have to get some kitties off my plate before I could take her to work with her, and honestly, I think that with the right techniques, the staff there could be taught how to handle cats like this and get them normal and adoptable, or at the very least make assessments between "feral" and "scared". It would be awesome if that could happen. Either way, I don't want a sad end for this little girl, and neither do they, so I will do what I can to help her out. If I have to take her for a while, I will :) From how she's been described, though, once the fear is gone, she will be an amazing cat. She's good with other cats and likes them, that is always helpful in showing them the way. Another little soul who deserves life. She's going to get the best chance possible. I'm mostly just relieved that they reached out for help instead of giving up, which would be the easy route. Nothing about cat rescue and rehabilitation is easy, but the payoff in the end is so immensely huge, it's all worth it.
There is always something you can do to help. If you are a photographer, helping your local rescue get really great pictures of cats and kittens gets them adopted more quickly. If you can drive cats to appointments or help out that way, you are STILL MAKING A DIFFERENCE. A donation of $5 might not seem like much, but it might be that last $5 needed to get a cat a surgery or medical procedure that could save their life. If you are willing to open your home to foster, please consider it. And if you are looking for a cat to adopt, please adopt a rescue! Rescues have so much love to give!! You will never find a more grateful pet than a rescue. If you are interested in adopting any of Nightingale's kittens when they are old enough, or the former ferals, or any kind of cat at all, please contact Lori at Neveah's Charity of West Lincoln and she will help you find what you are looking for! You can also find links to some of the other rescues we love in the links section of the blog. All are awesome, and you will be sure to find the kind of cat that's suitable for you and your home. Please adopt don't shop!
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