It's all about the cats

Robin at the cage at the store.  Not too thrilled, but she settled in!

Well, I know it's been a while since my last post.  Work sent me to Seattle for training for a week, but our youngest was AMAZING while I was gone, and took care of all the cats (measuring their meals, giving their meds, you name it, she did it), and we are so proud of her!   In that time though, of course, lots happened.....

Nightingale's kittens as well as Meesha all left the nest to go into stores for adoption.   Kestrel, Chickadee and Robin have all been adopted!  Sparrow and Raven will be adopted soon, I'm sure, they are absolutely adorable!  Now that they are gone, we can start moving on working on miss Nightingale.   She's such a lovely girl, and so playful and loving now.  Hard to believe when she came all she did was hiss and growl in terror..

Heart is doing very well!  She's almost ready.  Our youngest has been working with her and has done an incredible job breaking her of her habit to nip from overstimulation, and has completely moved her past her fear of people.  I couldn't have done it better myself!  Heart is almost ready for adoption, we just have a few more things to do around getting her easy to handle for carriers and whatnot.   Generally exposure therapy and repetition, with a good dose of positive reinforcement does the trick.  She's a smart girl, I'm very confident she'll figure it out quickly!

"Hamfisted" Tia!  Isn't she cute??

The orange tabby male, now named Rameses, poor angel, we really are working literally from the ground floor with him.  He does allow some love and touch, but gets overwhelmed extremely quickly and goes into complete terror mode.  I've decided to change directions with him, and treat him like I would a fully feral cat, instead of only a traumatized former pet, because when he's in the full grip of his fear, he IS a feral cat in many ways, and reacts with many of the same behaviors.   However, he DOES want to be around people, I just don't think he knows how to past his trust issues right now.    I've started just going into the room, not speaking or approaching him, but reading a book or doing something still and quiet for longer and longer times in his presence.   At first, he WAILS, like a baby crying, but unlike any sound I've ever really heard at all.....   But he calms down more quickly each time we go through the exercise.  I believe he's going to be with us for a long while, because working from the ground up is a time-consuming process, and you can't rush the animals through it.  They have to work through it at their own pace.   I'm ok with that, and I think everyone else is too.  EVERYONE is pulling for this guy, and after all he's been through, he deserves nothing less than our absolute best effort to help him live a wonderful, fulfilling life.  No life lived trapped in the cage of fear is fulfilling.   Hang in there, little buddy, we're here for you. 

One of the kittens pulled this week!

Our Polydactyl mama (hubby requested the pull) is indeed pregnant, and is growing daily.  She has three extra toes on both her front paws, and OMG she's adorable!  Super sweet, she was definitely a pet.  No idea why anyone wouldn't want her!  Those ham-fists are SOOOOOOO cute!  And she can grip things with them just like an opposable thumb (makes her NOT so graceful for jumping, though LOL).   Hubby is teaching her how to give high fives, and she's starting to make friends with Nightingale.  It would be sweet if they could be buddies.  Both are SOOO loving!  I'll definitely post progress on her as she's closer to her due date.  As it is she probably has at least a few weeks left.

Lori, being the wonderful lady she is, pulled a BUNCH of kittens from HAS this week in hopes of helping to avert another vet day.  Guess where some of those kittens ended up?   They have been having fun tearing around in the office and generally trashing the joint, but they are adorable and we don't mind at all.  A couple of them are quite terrified, and might need a few weeks work, but the rest are sweet, ,cute and ready to go.  I love it when a plan comes together, they are all going to an adoption event this weekend, and with luck, next week will find them ALL in wonderful forever homes!

I finally had to make the call on Bis, and he will be going to a barn home.  He's very comfortable with people, but like Dusk and Dawn, wants NO interaction with them at all.  That's ok.  I'm fairly sure he wasn't from a litter with the other kittens, he was feral born and raised through and through.  At least we know that he will be safe where we send him, and he can live life enjoying being cared for, yet still having his freedom.  NEVER a bad thing. 

Another pulled kitten, he has such cute markings!

As always, if you are looking to adopt any of the wonderful cats and kittens I talk about, check out Neveah's Charity of West Lincoln.  If you can't adopt, donate, or volunteer!  Every little bit makes a difference for a rescue!  Thank you for reading.  I know this was rather uneventful, but I'm still catching up! LOL!

A day in the life.....

A day in the life of a cat rescuer.... and it's been a crazy one!  Aside from the actual day job (which is great, but it doesn't involve cats, booooo), had to do some cat-catching today!   Dusk and Dawn got their barn placement.   So today, Lori came to pick them up to go to their new forever home, in the great outdoors.  They are placed with a lady she knows who has some barn cats already (all fixed, etc), and welcomes them to her little group.   I'm so pleased, but man they wanted NOTHING to do with me once they saw the carriers!  After a mad chase, and a stinky present left in the carrier (sorry Lori, LOL!), they are off to their new home.  May their days be filled with cuddles of other kitties, fresh air, lots of bugs and mice to chase, and safety. 

Nightingale's kittens are still here, as well as Bis and Meesha.  Robin and Raven BOTH had a little bit of goopy eye when I came home today, so out of caution, we're keeping all the kitties they were around cooped up for a bit.  I highly doubt it's anything serious (we've had nothing around here serious anyways, and all the adults are already vaccinated), but these things just happen sometimes.  That's ok, we can enjoy them for a few more days, and that's alright.

BIG progress with Heart!  She's really come out of her shell!  She was a little overwhelmed by the strong personalities of our cats, even Duck was a little much for this poor little shell-shocked girl.  With Dusk and Dawn leaving, I figured Den-Mother non-intimidating senior declawed Precious could help out.  I was right!  Precious is so sweet and calm, Heart took to him right away.  And he's so incredibly friendly and people-oriented, she just started following his lead!  Now when we walk in the room, she comes to greet us right along side him, with her tail up straight and the end in a little question mark, and she seeks attention too!  Yep, she's letting us pet her!  Seeking it out even, rubbing against legs, and generally people-friendly!  She's still a little quick to startle, and will sort of run, but she doesn't hide anymore.  She goes a little way and just watches.   Now, she comes back to you.  She does tend to get really overstimulated with petting, still, but that's fairly normal.  She's given a few love nips, and a few swats, but nothing aggressive at all.   Often cats who don't know how to relate to people yet get over-excited when they realize the wonderfulness that is people pettings.   It's just a matter of getting them used to it, and they usually calm down fairly quickly.  Without any major setbacks, I think that she will be ready to adopt pretty darn soon.  That's very exciting to me, and to everyone else who knows this sweet girl.  All she needed was a chance.  I have to say I can't take much credit for her, though... Our youngest really did the most work with her, and she's done an exceptionally good job of making sure she's a solid cat.  Now we just have to make sure she's solid with things like being picked up, and we can call her a success!

Look at this poor guy, no skin on his nose :(

On another note... we got a call from another Humane society.. an emergency case.  This poor orange tabby male was trapped.   That's bad enough, but not even the worst of it......
The person who trapped him didn't take him anywhere right away.   They left him IN THE TRAP for over 24 hours!!!  All the while this poor fellow was absolutely shredding himself trying to get out.  He rubbed all the skin off his face, shredded his feet and claws just to get out of the trap.  It's one thing to trap a cat, it's another to leave them in obvious distress for AN ENTIRE DAY AND NIGHT!  I don't ever want to meet the person (thankfully I have no clue who it was),  because I'd be tempted to awful things, and that's just not who I am.  But I can't help but be absolutely enraged by the obvious neglect for the feelings of an animal... Not even abuse, just complete disregard for the fact that they had just trapped a living thing and it was terrified!!!   I can't even begin to know just how traumatized this poor fellow is, but here's to hoping we can help him.  PTSD is a definite with this little fellow.. He's likely going to need a lot of work.  We don't have a name for him yet, but honestly, he hasn't even come out of the carrier yet, so we haven't gotten a good look at him. We will wait to see what he's like and pick something suitable.  He's a gorgeous boy, a medium-haired orange tabby.  When his face heals I'm sure he's going to be a gorgeous boy.  He's so far into his trauma bubble right now, though, who knows how long it will take.  He wasn't even interested in any kind of yummy stinking wet food.   When a cat is not even interested in food, you know they are way inside their own mind.  Poor guy.  It boggles my mind how someone could do that to a cat.

As always, if you are looking to adopt, please adopt a rescue cat!  Neveah's Charity of West Lincoln has some awesome and adorable cats and kittens available now, including some adorable siamese kittens!   If you are looking for a cat, get in touch with Lori, she will hook you up!  And if you can't adopt, please consider donating.  It makes all the difference in the world to a cat in need!  

They come...they go.. Then more come!

It's been a hectic week or so, with lots going on!  Three of Nightingale's kittens are now at the store waiting for forever homes.   Chickadee, Kestrel, and Sparrow are all of on the next leg of their journey!  They are so cute, they won't be there long, I'm sure of that.     Robin and Raven are going to stay with us a little bit longer.  They are especially tiny and we wanted to make sure that they get a little extra meat on their bones before they move on. 

Little miss Chickadee!

Most of the hissy kittens have moved on to the store as well.  They came around fairly quicky, got their shots and dewormings, and are looking adorable for future adoptive families.  The Tortieshell kitten (we have named her Meesha), and another black feral orphan, we've named Bis, require a little more time though.   Both are coming around quickly now that they're getting a lot more attention, but they just weren't ready to go with the rest.  They're quite happily hanging out together now, and enjoy playing with the laser pointer and feather toy, and snuggle up together for naps.  It's adorable, and they'll be ready very soon.

Pretty Sparrow

Heart is doing nicely.  She's got some very hair-trigger reactions to fear.  It's understandable, especially for a cat who's been in a cage for probably 1/3 of her life, for her to re-focus her fear in other ways and in other places.  She will hiss and swat occasionally, but slowly we are breaking her down.  I got her to engage in play the other day, and she was moving toward me fairly confidently.  That's a pretty big step, and although she's shy, she's more motivated by play than by food.  I've moved Precious in with her to see how it goes.  She was good with Duck and Mouse at first, but unfortunately, she's a submissive cat, and coupled with her fear, even the nicest cats will often pick or push around a cat that is fearful and submissive.  Precious is an old guy and is declawed (came to us that way), and is probably the most non-threatening cat who ever lived.  He's also amazingly attached to humans, so he will show her the way with regards to being excited about seeing people come in the room.  I'm looking forward to her progress.

Petite little Robin.

Another Humane society has reached out, and needs help with another trap-trauma feral.  I will be doing some work with this one as well at some point, just have to figure out the logistics of getting him here. ;)  It's much quieter though with less kittens.   When Robin and Raven are gone, Nightingale is going to start her long journey to recovery as well.  Currently, though, she's in heat, and although I feel awful for thinking it, she is pretty funny when she tries to stick her butt up in the air in a customary "come hither" fashion, but stumbles out of it almost as fast.  I will be very glad when we can get her some more relief.  Hopefully, something can be done to at least help, if not correct, her disability.  She's a very lucky girl.  Lori saved her and her babies in every possible way.  And she sure deserves it.  They ALL do, but frankly, Nightingale is pretty special.  I see how limited she is and every day I ask myself how she survived outside, pregnant, disabled and starving.   Now, she's safe, well fed, contented, and the sweetest cat anyone could ever want.  She will never be unsafe again, if I have anything to do with it.  This is what it's all about.

Things just keep rolling along.....

Lots happening, but isn't there always?     Kittens grow, kids grow, the world turns, and cats get dumped.  Seems to be the way things are lately.   The high kill shelter in our area is stuffed with cats and kittens, and a good majority of them are dumped, or are the products of dumped cats.  Some days, it feels like a hopeless cause, getting cats out just to see more show up, but it's a labor of love.  We try to save as many as we can, but at least we get some out.  Lori is pretty amazing when it comes to taking the cats that others leave behind, and it feels good to know that someone cares!  There are other rescues that take tough-case cats, but I think Lori is sort of famous (Infamous?) for it.   I couldn't be happier about that... I love a challenge, and she never has a lack of providing me with challenges!

New hissy.  Hard to get good pics when they move a lot!

The hissy kittens from a few weeks ago were basically ready, with the exception of one particularly terrified little Tortie.  Poor thing was just not ready to go.   So I'm keeping her to continue working with her, and the other three (Jetson, Smoke, and Houdini) are off to the store to find their forever homes.  They still aren't huge fans of being picked up, but Lori will help them with that at the store.  Sometimes having them exposed to that environment really helps progress their development faster, and kittens are SO adaptable!   Miss Tortie (we are calling her Meesha), will be coming around in no time.  There are some things kittens can't resist, and play is one of them.  She's already come out of her shell a bit more since the others left last night.... with the scared ones, sometimes divide and conquer is the way to get things done.

A VERY unhappy tabby hissy.   Can't wait to win him over!

Lori and I discussed last night, but we have come to the conclusion that Dusk and Dawn would indeed do best in a barn cat program.  They are not afraid of people anymore, and yell at me for food, for play, etc, but NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, will interest them in allowing to be pet.  Precious (their den-mother) has done a lot to move them past the last bit of fear they had of people.  When he comes for love, they come and scream at me because I'm not letting him give THEM attention, and they are just not interested in attention from people.  They aren't scared, they aren't aggressive, they just aren't INTERESTED.   That's ok.  They are allowed to be like that, now it's a matter of finding them a safe place to be (they are fixed, microchipped, and vaccinated), and Lori is working on that.  I felt a bit defeated at first, but the reality is, not every cat who comes to us will want to be a companion.  I'm ok with that.  They will go somewhere safe, and live happy lives chasing mice and lounging in patches of sun....

Little black hissy trying to melt away from view....

Nightingale's kittens are growing so fast it's scary.  They go for their vaccinations next week, then they will be going off to an adoption event to find their own forever homes. It will be bittersweet, but it always is with babies you raise, and they are wonderful little kitties who deserve wonderful homes.  They will have great lives.   Them being gone will also mean we can really concentrate on Nightingale and getting her into a more comfortable state.  She's a love, and she deserves to be comfortable.  We adore her.  Hard to believe when she came she was so protective and terrified, she wouldn't even make eye contact, and would growl even if you just moved around her.  Now, she's a lover, a tv addict, and loves junk food (we found she LOVES potato chips... long story, but we have to keep potato chips away from her LOL). 

Lori managed to save some other kitties the other day, and she scooped them BEFORE they made it into HAC.  Someone has trapped them, apparently they had a bunch of feral kittens running around their back yard.  They caught some, and were bringing them to HAC, but Lori miraculously saw them before they walked in the doors, she peered into the carrier, and that was that.  She agreed to take them and now they are with me.   They are all hissy, obviously feral born, but literally are already coming around (just overnight!).  I think more than anything they are scared and hyper-vigilant, and they've already realized I am the bringer of foods.....  So they watch me closely and have even meowed a few times when I enter their room.  It won't take long at all.  

This weekend, I am picking up Heart, the cat from the local humane society.  They reached out to me for help with her as a last resort.  They just aren't set up for dealing with scared or feral cats.  She is a little growly if you move quickly, and their volunteers are a little scared of her when she's like that.   Otherwise, it seems like they have done a really great job and gotten her quite a long way down the road to rehab.... She just needs a change of scenery and a specialized touch to get her the rest of the way.  MAD props to the ladies at Burlington Humane for working so hard with her so far, and for not giving up on her.  I promise I will do my best, and so will my entire family, to get the lovely Heart adoptable and help her to blossom into the kitty they know she can be.   She's a lovely girl, and when we went to see her, I could see that she's just at the cusp of crossing over.  Some kitty friends to guide her along the way (Duck and Trouble will be huge with this girl), and the right kind of approach, and I'm very confident she will be adoptable and happy as someone's companion.   I look forward to the transformation! 

The lovely and elegant Miss Heart!

If you are interested in adopting, fostering, or even donating, every little bit helps.  I know I always say this, but the need has never been greater.  We will be putting together some fundraiser events for NCWL in the next little bit, and would love to have any support we can get.   The rescues run 100% on donations, and even $5 is $5 more than they had.  That $5 can be the difference for a cat.  I'll post some information when we have some good events planned.  Please feel free to follow NCWL on Facebook as well for up-to-the-minute information about events and kitties finding forever homes!

Thank you so much for reading.   I can't thank everyone enough for supporting this blog and our efforts to help the cats.   It makes it that much more rewarding to know that people care.   :)

Sometimes tired is all there is.....

Yep, I'm tired.  It's been a whirlwind of a month so far and it doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon.   Between the day job, the kids, the cats, and just normal household upkeep, some days I'm amazed I make it to bedtime.   I am not complaining, I would rather be busy than bored, but it's definitely a challenge some days to balance it all out.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

I love happy endings!

Well, it's been a while, but as it ALWAYS is around our house, it's been crazy and hectic and busy.  That's not a bad thing, I know I'd rather be busy than bored, but it does make it hard to find time for updates sometimes.

The beautiful miss Wind!

This was a weekend with TWO happy endings.  First off, the beautiful Wind went to her forever home... even before she made it into a store!  A lovely couple adopted a cat from Lori as a companion to their current cat who's companion had passed away.   Unfortunately, the first cat was not a match to the household, and they returned her to Lori.  Lori wasn't about to give up, and thought that Wind would likely be a good match to the family.  She was right!  They fell in love with her beautiful looks right away, and she's now getting herself settled into her new forever home with her new play buddy!  We couldn't be more happy, she absolutely deserves it. 

Another happy ending...Bianca!  This is the mother who was horribly ill during her pregnancy, as well as being vaccinated while pregnant.  It was a struggle for her and her babies, but she got spayed, got healthy, and we found her a forever home as well!  My BFF had a friend (who I also knew but not as well) who'd lived with a horribly aggressive cat for years with her ex, and was actually afraid of cats.  She got past that meeting my BFF's cats, and when I mentioned that Bianca would need a forever home and would make a cat lover out of anyone, the connection was made!  Bianca would go to this lady to be her princess!  It was something of a road trip to deliver her, but she is now firmly ensconced in her new home, and settling in nicely.  The lady fell INSTANTLY in love with the beautiful Bianca, and I know it's a match made in heaven!  Congratulations Bianca, you deserve it!

Gorgeous Bianca with her babies.

New updates:  Dusk and Dawn will be moving into the youngest's room.  Taking them to the vet for their spay/neuters set them back a little so we sort of had to re-start the program.  I normally like to wait until all trust is in place to do vetting, but these too were too close to the brink and had to be fixed pronto.  They are in the kitty room right now, and we do visit them regularly, but there's something to be said for them being around sleeping humans.  It seems like they get a lot out of people being totally non-threatening (to predators, another predator sleeping around them is a sign of trust), and I think this will move their progression forward much faster.  I don't forsee it taking long, and the youngest is extremely good with ferals.  She has a knack of making them trust her very quickly.  She is definitely helpful!

With Wind leaving, it opened up our room to having Nightingale and her kittens move into the bigger room.  Now that Nightingale is trusting us more, I wanted to speed up that progression, and also have a chance to observe her much more closely.  I knew something was up with her, but wasn't 100% sure what because she wasn't moving around a lot away from the kittens.  This is normal with a feral, scared, protective mom, but it seemed to me like this was something more.  Her eyes weren't reacting the way they should to light, and I was SURE I saw her stumble a little moving around a few times.  Now I am sure.  Fairly sure her vision is disabled.. She seems to register movement, but doesn't recognize anyone unless she smells them or they speak.  As soon as she registers motion she hisses, and has to cock her head around the other way to get a better look.   Makes sense why she seemed more scared than usual.. if her vision is bad she's going to be more reactive to perceived "threats".

L to R: Chickadee, Robin, Raven, Kestrel, and Sparrow

Moving her into the bigger room, though, definitely showed more issues than I initially thought.  I saw her move around, as the kittens were in their glory tearing around all over the room and exploring their new space, and I realized, this cat has a badly healed old injury.  Either  a broken leg, or some kind of pelvic damage.  She stands funny and has a hard time weight-bearing on her back hind leg.  It sticks out a bit funny too.  I checked her over and there's no swelling, nothing CURRENT that's causing the condition.  Her temp is fine, her heartrate is fine, and there is no external damage that I can see, but there is definitely an old injury there, and it's causing her pain and discomfort as she moves around.  We will be taking her to the vet this week to have him look into it, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's nothing extremely serious or permanent, but my feeling is this will not be the case. Either way, she's making great progress on the social front.  She now thoroughly enjoys petting and chin-scratches (after her initial startle reaction), and is now coming out to lay in the room.  In fact, I'm quite sure that this cat is nothing close to feral, but was dumped or lost.. because she seems more comfortable in a home environment than any cat I've seen that was truly "feral".   That, and we discovered one interesting, and amusing thing.  Nightingale LOVES TV!

Nightingale avidly watching TV

The first time we turned it on with her in the room, her ears perked up, she moved out to somewhere she could look, and she happily watched House on Netflix with us for hours!  It was the sound that perked her to it, and something tells me, she's enjoyed TV before.  Poor darling, I can't imagine what she's been through, but that is all in the past, and she's never going to be neglected or hurt again.  We will make sure of it!

The kittens are doing extremely well.  They are sweet, social little things, although Robin and Raven are a little shy at first.  All five girls are running around like crazy, and the three larger ones, Kestrel, Chickadee, and Sparrow, have all started eating wet food!  This is great, because it will fill them up more and take some of the pressure off of mom to provide all that milk, and also leave a little more for the littler ones (Robin and Raven).  They are all very adorable, highly photogenic, and mom is an excellent mama!  They are regularly using the litterbox now, and I haven't even really had to put them in it!  So far we've only had ONE accident, and that's because baby got lost across the room (I put boxes in every corner so this doesn't happen, although she just didn't make it in time), and she couldn't wait anymore.  Oh well.   These ones are going to be fully litter-trained in no time!  Mom is an excellent example! 

Little ham Chickadee posing for her pic.

I'm very pleased with all their progress, and we are enjoying them all immensely.   Please, even if you can't adopt, consider fostering.   I hear a lot of people say that saying goodbye is hard.  Sure, it absolutely is.  I don't have an easier time saying goodbye to fosters than I would any other animal or person I cared about.   But it's not about me, or us, or any of that.  It's about what's right for the animals, and seeing pictures of them happy in their forever homes, being loved and cared for like they deserve... that makes it worth the hardship of saying goodbye!  There was an excellent article on Catster about this. If you can't foster, donate!  Especially during kitten season, the bills for the rescues pile up, and with so many cats and kittens to help, it's hard for them to make ends meet.  Remember, they are run 100% on donations.  Even $5 can help towards a vet bill or a meal for a rescue cat in need.  It helps to SAVE LIVES, and anyone who fosters, or even donates, are contributing to saving lives.  Be a hero, help out!

As always if you are interested in adopting any of the cats or kittens I talk about on my blog, contact Neveah's Charity of West Lincoln.  Lori Dudley is absolutely amazing, and will bend over backwards to help you find the perfect feline companion for your home. 

Gotta have a plan....

So, I'm sure some people are wondering what happened with Lomasi... the HAC Cat who was deemed a feral and saved last-minute from euthanization.  The poor girl was in full PTSD trauma, and that is certainly no way to adopt a cat.   A LOT of work had to be done in order to really gain her trust and open her up to loving people, instead of just fearing them.   I knew we had to have a good plan.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I did notice that Lomasi seemed to be somewhat more comfortable with the clinic cat present during her examination.  I hadn't had her long, and hadn't really exposed her to my resident cats, because I wasn't sure how she would react, and the last thing I wanted to do was put her further into trauma.  As it was, she spent her entire day cowering in a corner under furniture, her eyes as big as saucers, and hissing and growling at anything that moved or that she thought might move.  Humans made her especially terrified, even if all she did was hear their voices.   This poor darling was so hyper-vigilant, I don't know that she really slept for the first week at our house.   There had to be a combination of methods used in order to show this poor cat that nobody was going to hurt her, and that humans can be GOOD, not just terrible and terrifying.  Getting a cat in full shut-down to do ANY paying attention to anything other than their fear is fun in and of itself, but unless the connection is made, nothing will move forward.  I wracked my brains to come up with a full routine, and in the meantime, I spent hours every day in the room with her, not doing anything, not even looking at her, just sitting there, letting her smell me and see that I was not going to move or hurt her.   She did have her medication for her cheek at this time, and although she would growl and hiss when I approached her to give the meds, she was quiet and sat still, allowing me to apply the topical and give her her oral meds, and never ONCE did she lash out.  SUPER good sign.   If a cat is going to strike out, it's DEFINITELY going to do so when you are administering unpleasant medications.  All these observations help to formulate a plan of "attack", so after a week of medicating, observing her reactions, and seeing what motivated her...  I had a plan.

1)  Feeding time - Lomasi liked her food, but was not especially food-motivated.  The fear was stronger than the food.  But certain types of wet food seemed to get a stronger reaction than others, so I planned to feed her those foods, but lay right beside the food dish with my hand IN it, mingling my scent with the food and making a positive association in her brain.... People = Favorite food.  Cats are so scent-motivated, it is a no-brainer when you can make positive scent associations.

2) Other Cats - I have certain of my resident cats that I refer to as "Ambassador Cats".  These are cats that I can rely on to be solid, relaxed, and will respond with relative predictability to other cats, no matter what THAT cat's reaction is.   Mouse, Quark, Duck, and Trouble are all good candidates with different types of cats.  What seems to affect these meetings the most is if a cat is more dominant, more submissive, or more neutral.  I pay VERY close attention to where my cats are on their own hierarchy, and although there are subtle changes occasionally, but for the most part their own structure is pretty well established.  Lomasi is definitely more on the "neutral" side of things, but could be victimized because of her fear and weakness by a more dominant cat than her.  I had to think about who it was I was going to introduce, but I had a short list.  Duck is a big cat, his size can intimidate, although he's actually about as scary as a butterfly.   Mouse is extremely tiny, she's good with small cats, because she's not intimidating on size, but can be vulnerable to attack from larger cats.   Quark is lovely, but she can randomly be a "princess" and decide she's TOO GOOD for her current company.   Trouble seemed to be the best.  She's a "submissive" on hierarchy, but really, she's more like Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter books... in a class all to herself.  A stable cat, not an aggressive bone in her body, SUPER human-lovey, and very playful.  Seems like a win.

3) Being VERY careful with eye contact - Eye contact is a huge thing for cats.  They can carry on entire conversations with their eyes, and if you are observant, you can glean as much information from their eyes as you can from their tails and ears (sometimes, more).  There is a "proper" way for cats to greet each other, to approach new cats, etc, and much of it is communicated in the form of eye contact.  ANY direct eye contact can make a cat EXTREMELY intimidated and shut them down.  My plan for this was to always physically stay low (keeping on the same level with her and not above - above can be a threat), not to initiate direct eye contact, looking down to the side with soft eyes, and to make sure that I didn't engage in anything with her until I got her "permission" (slow blinks that show a level of trust and security).  Downcast soft eyes, any direct eye contact after permission, and soft eyes while dealing with her.  Hopefully it would all bring her threat level down to as close to zero as we could get it.

4) Contact with KIDS - Calm, understanding children seem to have a way of connecting with animals even when adults can't.  Getting the kids involved in a calm manner might help to create a level of connectedness with Lomasi that she may not evolve with an adult.  You never know until you try, and nevertheless, kids seem to be less intimidating.  Anything to remove that factor is a bonus.

5) Exposure therapy - Instead of keeping Lomasi in a quiet, sterile environment, which does NOTHING to move past her trauma but instead keeps her cushioned in it, I knew that we had to start exposing her to the sounds and movements that would normally shut her down, but do it in a controlled, safe way that can allow her to get used to the noise and movement of a busy household, but not put her back into her trauma shell and force us to start over.   Any quick movement would make her run or cringe, and loud noises sent her scrambling for cover.  Definitely NOT a good thing when trying to get a cat adopted.  If they hide all the time and are always scared, well, people don't want them as a pet.

6) Play and Confidence building -   If I could get her engaged enough not to be afraid of our presence, we could really build up her confidence getting her engaged in structured play.  It has the added bonus of also siphoning off some of that anxious energy, and oftentimes a tired, played-out cat is more responsive to all kinds of attention and/or training. 

The plan was set.  But would it work?  Any one of these elements could help, some may do nothing at all, but at least we had a full plan to crack the nut as best as we could.  The only thing left was to enact it....

Such a pretty girl.  Out exploring the wider world of the house...  

At first, feeding times were a bit of a challenge.  I generally feed all the cats (residents and fosters) at the same time... This prevents fights, and issues with fairness.  And if you don't think cats understand the concept of "he got more than I did", time to check yourself.  They ABSOLUTELY do and it can cause infighting in an established group.   Lomasi was still in her own space, but she could hear the other cats clamoring for attention, and they all knew when I went in to see her.  My method was to take in the food, and sit for her ENTIRE TIME EATING with my hand on the plate, almost in the food, laying on the floor.  A few times I got a cramp, or would get itchy, but any quick movement would send Lomasi scampering, and that doesn't help.  After a while she got used to me, and even started to look out and meow when she saw me coming.  This was HUGE progress.. .but she still wouldn't let me really touch her willingly.

Lomasi was in my daughter's room.  My youngest daughter is a lovely girl who adores cats and loves helping them.. but she can also be very loud and vibrant.  Bad idea to have Lomasi with her?  NOT AT ALL.  Lomasi VERY quickly realized that all the noise and movement from my daughter was not a threat in the least, and this exposure to the noise really started moving her along quickly, dulling her hyper-alert startle reflexes, and started to peak her curiosity.  She would watch what was happening from a safe place, and although she didn't come out, even getting her attention was a good sign of engagement.  I also spent a lot of time with my face jammed under my daughter's bed talking to Lomasi sweetly, getting her used to the sound of my voice associated with my smell (I spent a lot of time with my glasses off and her sniffing the stems, good way to keep arm's length and still have them SMELL you).  It seemed to pay off, and she started to come out, at least pop her head out, more and more.  These are the times I really expressed the "come hither" kind of eye contact.  The let's be friends we're ok slow blinks and the respectful, slow approaches, to the point she trusted us if we approached her that way, and stopped hissing and cowering, and was more curious..  Breakthrough!  It was time to really ramp things up.    Enter - Trouble.

Lomasi hanging out with foster-daddy on the couch!

As I mentioned earlier, Trouble was PERFECT for Lomasi to watch.  She's a HIGHLY people-oriented cat.  As soon as she sees a person it's a meow, tail up in the air, and an approach demanding love and pets.  Cats learn a LOT from watching the behavior of other cats, and we would leave Trouble in the room with Lomasi (who accepted her immediately - much to our pleasure), and when we would come in the room Trouble would greet us with jubilation.  Lomasi watched this very closely, almost like she couldn't figure out why at first... But when Trouble gets her pets and flops down rolling around and purring, Lomasi observed this trust of us, and saw that no harm came to Trouble, either.  I think this, more than anything, encouraged her on to the next step.  Her curiosity got the best of her, she had no reason to be scared that she could see, and eventually, SHE started to greet us when we came in.  Not coming out all the way, but poking her head out, meowing, and actually WANTING to be pet.

I have to say, once the floodgates were opened for this little girl, she turned into a love MACHINE!  You could not pet her fast enough or long enough and she would thrust her head into your hand demanding more pets, while running in circles to make sure you pet all of her!  She started more and more to come out from her hiding place to seek love, and really started to actively engage in play (instead of just the odd swat at an object).   She had made leaps and bounds in only a short time, but it all started with her ENGAGING with us, instead of just fearing us.

The lovely Lomasi, confident and comfortable in her environment.  A long time coming!

The next step... to introduce her to the wider world of the house and resident cats.  This made me especially nervous, because we also have two large dogs.  Now, to qualify that, although both dogs are 65 pounds, they are both EXTREMELY good with cats.  They have been trained from puppyhood that cats are higher than they are in the pack, they never chase cats, bark or nip at them, and in fact, our resident cats often mother and groom the dogs, or cuddle up with them.  I wasn't sure, given Lomasi's sketchy background and time in the big world, what her experiences with dogs had been, so that was definitely a factor.  But the only way to really know is to try, so we just opened up the door to her room, and let her have free roam in and out.   At first, she hid under the bed, but from a vantage where she could look out the door and see everything happening.  Before long, though, she was wandering the house, exploring, and although she would startle and run when loud noises or unexpected movements would occur, instead of just diving, she would run a few feet, then turn around and investigate.   She was past ONLY her instinct self-preservation reactions, and although she still has them, they are less and less literally every day.  Her first encounter with the dogs involved some hissing and poufy fur, and even now she's not particularly "friendly" with them, but she tolerates or ignores them and is no longer afraid.  She can meet new people with confidence, and is quickly inserting herself into the family routine.  She's even starting to help me with a few other trauma cats we have taken in (more about these guys coming), and has made incredible progress!  The other day, she jumped up on the couch WITH us for the first time every... planted herself down, and cuddled up!   We were blown away but so grateful..... This is where she needs to be.  NOW she can find a home and live a normal, happy, fulfilled kitty life!  Really all that's left is to get her ready to be in a cage in a pet store.  Her experiences with cages in the past were not good, but with some exposure therapy (feeding her in an empty cage with the door open, etc), before long I am very confident that won't be an issue either.  The months of work and effort paid off.... we couldn't be more happy!!

This is a beautiful little girl, and out there, somewhere, is the perfect forever home for her.  Whoever her future family are, they are VERY lucky.  This little girl is going to be the best cat anyone could ever ask for.  And I'm not just saying that... She's just AWESOME.

If you are interested in potentially adopting Lomasi, you can find all the contact information for Neveah's Charity of West Lincoln on their webpage, http://ncwl.weebly.com/, or their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/NcwlCatRescue

To read the first part of Lomasi's story, it is here:  http://traumacatdiaries.blogspot.ca/2014/04/about-as-feral-as-my-kitchen-table.html

About as feral as my kitchen table......

There are a lot of groups on Facebook devoted to cat rescue.  Many rescue groups work hand in hand - understanding that it doesn't matter WHO helps a cat, as long as a cat is helped.  There's several animal control services in the area, most of them are fairly good, but there is one in particular, Hamilton Animal Control, that is a terrible place to be if you're an animal.  They are kill-happy, and tend to not really investigate ANYTHING about the cats that come in... They just assume and carry on.  Basically, if a cat swats, hisses, growls, or does anything other than just sit there like a lump, they can be deemed "feral".  Nobody takes into account the simple trauma of being in that environment.. small cramped metal cages, unfamiliar noises, the smell of suffering, foreign things, and fear.  That kind of environment could put ANY cat over the razor's edge and cause them to act defensively.  Unfortunately, being marked "feral" at HAC means being marked for death.  Once that happens, the clock is ticking for any rescues who want to help.  Once "vet day" comes, the deed is done, and there is no help for the dead.

One particular little black and white (Aka Cow Cat) was getting a lot of chatter in the rescue groups.  She had a big nasty injury on her cheek... something she had received from being trapped.  The door of the trap came down on her face, and removed about 3/4 of her cheek.  The injury had not been tended because she was hissing and growling...   She was marked as "feral".  The timer was ticking, and Vet Day was only a few days away.  The race was on to see if she could be saved.

Lomasi in her HAC picture.  The mark under her left eye is the injury she sustained from being trapped.  No wonder she was traumatized!  The fear in her eyes is obvious.

Part of the issue with rescuing cats from places like HAC is that most of the wonderful people who want to help can't necessarily get there to collect a cat.  And only approved rescues can "pull" from there.  A rescue had to agree to pull a cat (essentially sponsor their vetting, adoption, etc) in order for it to be saved, but then comes the matter of GETTING it to safety.  There were a lot of busy people and it was tough to find a ride for this girl once a rescue stepped forward... and there was also the matter of where would they go?  Most of the rescues do not have the capacity to deal with cats this damaged, and it was easy to tell just from the look in her eyes that this cat was horribly traumatized by her experiences.  Moved, and determined to help this poor girl, I volunteered to take her if a rescue could pull her and we could arrange a ride.  The race was on!

Neveah's Charity of West Lincoln, run by an amazing firebrand of a woman named Lori Dudley, stepped up to the plate and agreed to help out this girl.  Unbeknownst to me at the time, Lori is a HUGE fan of "cow cats" (a favorite of ours as well, considering we have three), and really wanted to help this girl.  I hadn't met her or worked with her before, but all of my network said that she was a fantastic lady, and that NCWL was a reputable, honorable, and excellent rescue.  Perfect!  I would be working with them to get this girl out... now to get a ride.

Things were starting to get frantic, as the clock was ticking, and as the search continued for a ride, Vet Day arrived.   Generally things start to happen around 11 am, so the window of opportunity to save this "feral" cat was in full swing.  Finally, an amazing lady in rescue who does many of these "delivery" operations stepped up to volunteer, and we finally had everything we needed to get the black and white girl out!   The "pull" was arranged, the volunteer arrived, and not a moment too soon.  When she arrived, there was just under an hour until "D-moment".  Talk about a near miss!  One hour longer, and all hope for this girl would have been snuffed out.  Now, she really had a chance....

Everyone celebrated.  Relieved that one more innocent life was spared a sad, lonely, terrifying end for no other reason than being unwanted.  .  I was nervous, not sure what to expect, but knowing full well this cat would likely be severely traumatized, and would have a long hard road ahead of her.  I was definitely right.

The angelic rescue driver arrived, carrier in tow, and we chatted for a few minutes while she set the carrier down and let the kitty have a moment.  I could see she was huddled in sheer terror at the back of her carrier.    She was in full meltdown mode, generally a good sign of PTSD.  Not even the presence of other cats could bring out any curiosity (another sign of complete mental shutdown).  This girl REALLY needed our help!  The angel-driver left, and I moved Miss "Feral" up to a quiet room to decompress.  Even with her carrier door open, she refused to come out.  She was ok with me sitting close to it, but any quick movements would have her cowering and cringing, trying to practically crawl into the ground.  The poor thing was fully in trauma.

I put my hand close, and although she would hiss and growl, never once did she lash out.  This was a hopeful thing for me, because if she isn't lashing out, she's not aggressive, she's just defensively posturing.  Can't say as I'd blame her in her current state.  I was pretty concerned about the injury on her cheek though, and let Lori know I wanted to take her into the vet to get it looked at.  It was an awful injury, literally a millimeter or two higher and she would have lost the eye.  She was lucky, but an infection could still come to a nasty end, so I wanted to be sure.

It was easy enough to get her into the carrier (since she'd never left), so I closed the door and carted her off.  She was very afraid at the vet... but something very good happened there (aside from her getting needed meds and a clean bill of health overall).  The vet clinic has a resident cat... a lovely little boy who himself was a rescue.  I noticed that when he was in the room or close by, this little girl would calm down.  I asked them if he could stay in the room during her exam, and they were fine with it, but I realized that perhaps having other cats help me to reach this girl would not be a bad idea.  Armed with meds and a plan, we came home and settled her back in.

At the vet they had logged the cat as her HAC number, because she didn't have a name yet.   I asked Lori if she had a preference, but she left the name in my hands.  A beautiful cat deserves a beautiful name, and after poking around the internet, I found one I felt was suitable.  "Lomasi" - it means Pretty Flower in native american (Cherokee, I think).  She's a beautiful cat, and it seemed to fit.  Lomasi was our choice.  Our pretty flower had a long way to go, but flowers are things of hope, and we had a lot.  One thing I definitely knew.... this cat was about as feral as my kitchen table.  I thank all the powers of the universe that she's still around so she can prove it.   We just had to get her there.....

(To Be Continued..)

It starts with just one....

While fostering for a rescue, I dealt with many cats and kittens in various states of socialization, trauma, issue, illness, and what have you.  We had cats from hoarding houses, from neglect, dumped cats, abandoned cats, all kinds of cats.  All of them pretty much came around, and were adopted out as loving, social, sweet, well adjusted cats (haven't heard anything to the contrary from MANY adopters of our sweethearts).  Sometimes, though there is just that one cat, that special one that really needs your help, that can really help you to understand your passion.

Legacy came to me through a good samartan. A phenomenally beautiful purebred Showshoe Siamese,  she had been dumped by her family, and was housed with a senior cat who really hated her, and constantly attacked and harassed her.  I couldn't fathom even for an instant how anyone could allow her to get in such a terrible state, though.  Her fur was dull, her whiskers were broken off, she was overweight, but most of all, she was completely terrified of everything and everyone.  She wasn't fixed, and had never been to the vet (absolutely infuriating, I'm quite sure that she was being used for breeding as well, she had the look of having nursed kittens when she came).   When she first arrived, I put her in a room with my youngest daughter (She's 10).  I find oftentimes, highly traumatized cats respond well to calm, caring children.  Perhaps they sense that they are not as scary as adults, but there have been many times my kids have made connections with these cats before I do.  It doesn't bother me in the least WHO makes the connection... All I really care about is that it happens.  Once it does, magical things start to happen.

Legacy is a beautiful purebred Snowshoe.  Not a common cat at all.

Legacy was with us only for a few days when she started to realize that nobody was going to hurt her, and nothing was going to attack her.  She hissed and growled a little at first, unsure and hyper-vigilant for attack.  I felt awful that she was living in that state of constant fear and hyper-awareness.... but after a little while, she started to let her walls down, and we could see that she really WANTED love and attention, but had never really had it before.  This was absolutely disgusting to me.  I was determined that she would be allowed to shine, and that we would find her an amazing forever home.

With a lot of work, slow movements, and patience, we got her trusting us.   Eventually, we wanted to test and see how she would do with other cats, but we didn't want it to turn into something that would traumatize her further and perhaps set back her progress.   Cats who are traumatized are often further harassed by other cats.  Even cats who are usually nice can be on the offensive with traumatized cats, as they sense their weakness.  We have lovely resident cats, who for the most part are excellent with other cats, but admittedly, there are some strong personalities in our clowder who could be triggered by a "weak" cat.  We wanted to work past that in a way that wouldn't move us backwards.

Instead of introducing her to adults, I thought that, chances were good that she would be less intimated by kittens.  We had some foster kittens at the time, particularly fun and playful ones, and we decided to do an experiment.  We put the sweetest, most outgoing kitten with her to see how she reacted.  At first, she was a little grumpy, not sure what to make of the situation.. But soon, she started to engage him, and before long, she was grooming him, cuddling him, and watching him as he played.   This was particularly interesting to me, because she never engaged him in play.  I had tried everything, every toy and trick in my arsenal to get her to engage in play, and no matter what I tried, NOTHING worked.  Play is a fantastic bonding activity for cats, and I was sort of put out that I could not crack this nut.   The kitten, however, managed to do what I could not, and almost as if she was learning from him, she started to engage him in some play.   When I realized how much she watched him before she attempted herself, I realized, it was because she DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO PLAY!  Of course!  If nobody had ever played with her, how would she possibly know how?   I was extremely excited at the breakthrough, and knew that her progress would move along even more quickly now that I had another way to build her confidence.  Play for cats is EXTREMELY confidence-building.  It's also a good way to get the weight off, and she sure needed to get to a healthy weight!  Good food and lots of play work wonders!

The big day arrived, and it was time to take Legacy to be spayed - she was looking trim and sleek.  In the time between her arriving, and her being fixed, one of my very best friends had a tragic even occur in her family.  One of their beloved cats was struck after running outside by a driver outside of her home.  This particular cat was one of those extremely SPECIAL ones (I know they all are, but you know what I mean, some are extra-special).  She was like a small, furry, four-legged soulmate to my friend.  My friend had to suffer through the horror of seeing the accident, and having her fur-child die in her arms.  She is one of the most wonderful people I know, and I know how much her heart broke in that moment.  I knew that no other cat could fill that hole... but, I also knew that she needed to have someone to help, to help her through the pain, to help the coping, and to give her hope again.  Legacy, also, needed someone special.  Someone who knew cats and could and would invest the time and energy into helping her finish her journey.  Allow her to be who she was and flourish in her confidence.  I asked my friend if, when Legacy was ready, she wanted to bring her into her home.  At first I'm sure she felt like she was betraying her baby, but the idea grew on her, and she agreed to give her a forever home.  In fact, she chose the name.  Legacy, as a testament to the legacy left by the fur baby who'd gone to the rainbow bridge, and a testament to the power of love to heal.  I felt it was a fantastic name, for a fantastic cat, from a wonderful woman who deserves love.  When Legacy healed from her spay, she had a forever home willing and waiting.

Legacy was AMAZING at the vets.  Though she was a little scared at first, she quickly charmed the staff with her chatty ways and her extremely loving personality.  Her recovery was very fast, and as she healed, she flourished even more!  She found a little ball that she enjoyed, and would bring it and drop it by me.   I picked it up and threw it... Low and behold, she brought it back and dropped it, ready to be thrown again!  I was so excited, I immediately texted her new mom and told her all about it.  She was excited too, and was just as pleased to see that her fur-baby was making so much progress!

The day arrived to take Legacy to her forever home.  It was a three-hour trip from my house to where she was going, and I was a little worried about how she would handle it, but it had to be done, and I knew that once she arrived, she'd never be leaving again.  She was perfect for the trip, didn't howl, cry, or otherwise fuss.  She chatted a little in her Siamese way, but it's almost like she knew this was her last trip, and at the end was happiness.  When we arrived, I took her inside and set her down, trying to see how she was reacting to the change in environment.  Her ears were forward and alert, and she was looking everywhere, but not fearfully.  She was curious and anticipating the door being opened so she could explore.  We opened the door, and out she came, as confident as you could ever wish for, and started exploring her new home.  Within minutes, she was up the cat climber, and made herself quite at home.  It was like she was meant to be there all along.  Her new mom was thrilled, and she's quickly become a darling in the household.  She gets along with the other resident cats, and is a confident, playful, and loving girl.  She loves playing fetch, and keeps her mom busy throwing her little ball for hours every day.   She is not a "replacement" for the lost fur baby, but she has made the hurt a little less, and instead of filling a void, has carved out her own space in the hearts of her forever family.

Legacy ready to play fetch some more.  She will play all day long, according to her mom.

All it takes is one, and Legacy was it for me.  She was the one who really made me realize that we had made a massive difference, and even one cat at a time, if we could only help the worst off, they would have a chance at life that they would never have otherwise.  We all decided, we wanted to help cats other people wouldn't (because traumatized cats don't get adopted quickly and the lifeblood of many rescues is a quick turnaround), or couldn't (many are intimidated by a hissing, growling cat and don't automatically register that with the cat being scared - only aggressive).  It starts with just one.... but here's to hoping there's many more!

Cat rescue is great, but it's definitely not easy....

My family and I decided that we wanted to volunteer somehow.   We figured, hey, maybe we could foster cats for a local rescue group?   We already love cats, so figured it kind of fit with things.  Myself, I have lots of cat/animal experience, so it sort of made sense to me too.

Quark - Resident Cat - Was born in our home to a foster.  She never left.. :)

We set about finding a rescue, Google helped us out, and we got set up.  The first year was really hard, we had a LOT of cats go through, and learned a lot.  We felt the need to move on, after a while, because of various reasons, but we still wanted to help cats.  I won't go into gory details, because I don't believe rescue should be about ego... just about the cats.   That about sums up my philosophy on things, and so, for a while, we just sort of did our own thing.  I felt particularly drawn to the plight of extremely traumatized, scared, formerly abused, neglected, feral, or otherwise neglected cats.  I found that I had something of an ability to gain their trust and help them to figure out their place in the world.  My family, too, are great with these cats, and even our own, resident cats, seem to sense when a cat is in distress and are supportive, in their own ways (even if it means just not bugging or pestering them for a while).  We sort of fell into it, but now most of the time when we foster rescues, it's because they need special help and attention to get into a place to find a forever home.

I share my experiences with others sometimes, but I don't want to just have that stigma as "the crazy cat lady"...  but.. I do know some people out there would like to hear the things I learn.  Maybe they want to help their own cat... maybe they want to help rescues.  Maybe they just care enough about animals that they are interested in hearing the stories of cats that get a new lease on life.  I don't know, but it feels like the right thing to do, and gives me something of a venue to share my stories without burning everyone else out.  Mind you, most of my friends that I speak to regularly are "cat" people on some level, but I would like to share things to others beyond that group.  Hopefully I can inspire just one person to do something that can make a difference.  Even one animal who's saved or helped is still one more animal not in a bad place.  That seems worth sharing to me.  So here I begin the story of my life in rescue, and the Diaries of all the cats who are subjected to Trauma, but come into my home for help.  I hope you enjoy.