Read the Introduction, to get the general picture of my interaction with the alley cats, and the Summary, to put the stories on a timeline.
This week I was giving all the time I had to Rocky, I told you about him in the previous Diary post. We found him skin and bones, starved. Home, he was eating well. At first I gave him water by syringe, but then I started to add it to the food. It was very important to have him hydrated for all organs to function well, but also so he won't get constipated. I had to wait almost 2 days for him to poop... I was getting worried. Then he actually slowed down with the eating, of course, his digestive system was getting adjusted. Was I worried? Of course... Meanwhile I was trying to hold him and pet him as much as I could so he would feel some love and safety. At some point he started to cry, and I've got worried, again, that maybe he his stomach, intestines hurt as I touch him. It wasn't that. He was scared by the other cats... even when they were at the end of the room. It took few day for him to get an eating and pooping rhythm, and he also started relaxing his fear. I set him in a carrier, but left the door open when I was close enough to save him if in trouble, and he started to come out, more and more. He is very sweet, definitely friendly but still recovering so I was really skeptical about him being accepted for adoption. I really really hoped, because as I told you, his front left leg looks bent, it would be a huge expense for me to help him with that.
I was also trying to spend quality time with Misty and Sharky , that I had for few months and love them dearly. I also feel they love me back, they answer to their names, and behave like I'm their mother. Very painfully to let go, only I know I saved them from dying of starvation and they'll have a chance to a good life. But I will never see them again, and I will not actually know how their lives will be.
The other newcomer, also hurt (bloody ear infection), Phoenix/ Hagrid, is still in the entry closet. He is the sweetest boy, but he doesn't feel that well and he's an adult not neutered, so he gets excited by the smell of my other cats, and I suspect getting bored in there. If I knew he'll be in the house so long I would have put him in a room. But now, as he is scheduled for surgery for neutering and cleaning the ears for next Wednesday, I decided not to move him and give him more stress. I'll let him recover in the closet and then move him.
Friday, I took Misty, Sharky and Rocky to Org T. for admission for adoption, as planed. And they all got in! I was soo happy especially for Rocky as I know he will get better medical care than I would have been able to give him.
I went on the adoption floor to cheer up Coco and Lily and I was very happy that Coco was so much more relaxed. The shelter staff said that she started to relax even with them. And they let me know that Oki and Hope just got moved from the clinic on the adoption floor. So I went to cheer them up too. Well, they were desperate, hiding beneath their bedding , but Coco was the same at first, so I hold my sadness and worry. As I was there for couple of hours, I went to them three times. They were a little better with each visit, but not relaxed. It's gonna take few days to weeks.
The feeding went as usually. My husband was happy to see a beautiful blue main coon that he hasn't seen in a while. Meanwhile in our second colony few were coughing and some were no show. We are definitely worried for them. My husband is looking actively now for who is truly friendly so we can take them to Org T for adoption and for kittens. There were four colonies where he knew there were kittens, at three of them he still sees them. They are in broken down garages and they don't come out long enough for him to grab them. He'll keep trying...
And that's all that happen this week with the cats. Myself, I've got a bad cold/ flu. I'm definitely tired, besides day by day life, the cats are really adding a lot. And as you see I'm doing a lot for them these days.
Saturday, January 25, 2020
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Opinions and Resources: What are feral cats?
Read the Introduction, to get the general picture of my interaction with the alley cats.
Alley cats are generally called feral cats. But among the alley cats are also stray cats and even house pets that live indoor/outdoor.
I like how the difference between the stray cats and feral cats is explained here. In short, it is the friendliness towards people (strays are friendly, ferals are not). That web site also emphasize that is often hard to tell them apart, as stray cats behavior looks feral when they are scared, and they are scared... With regular feeding I find that the stray ones start to relax in few months. I share this, because I know many people think that all outdoor cats are feral, and in my experience this is far from the truth. In my experience, in the colonies I've looked after, at least half of the cats are friendly. That web site also tells you the appropriate action one should take when handling the alley cats (find homes for strays and kittens, and TNR- Trap Neuter Return - the true ferals). I'll write posts about my experience with both getting the stray cats adopted and the TNR process. I will say now, that I do agree with everything the web site I shared say, but I don't how to practically implement this when I look over 75 alley cats. I find myself in the position of helping one cat at a time...
Read this only if you are in a moment when you can handle the straight truth about the alley cats hard lives, told by PETA.
I share the opinion of this organization, that ""feral" is a behavioral characteristic, not a biological one", so they didn't evolve genetically to be feral, they regressed behaviorally from being domesticated. They are not wild life, as some cities classifies them. Why it matters? From a legal point of view, it is illegal to feed wild life. My city considers feral cats as wild life, but has am ordinance setting condition in which is legal to feed them, as I mentioned in the Introduction. From an ethical point of view, to me, the feral cats existence and their pain, is the result of human behavior, people leave their un-spayed/un-neutered cats outdoors, or pets get lost, or kicked out, so I see it as a responsibility of humans to fix the problem.
Do I help them because I feel responsible as a human? I don't think so. I've red psychological studies that humans are feeling happy when helping. And it's true, it makes me happy to help them, but, on the other hand, I feel a lot of pain and sadness about their situation, I actually feel more pain then happiness. And I've felt overwhelmed, burned out... In the end, I think I feel less pain helping them, then knowing how they live and doing nothing.
Alley cats are generally called feral cats. But among the alley cats are also stray cats and even house pets that live indoor/outdoor.
I like how the difference between the stray cats and feral cats is explained here. In short, it is the friendliness towards people (strays are friendly, ferals are not). That web site also emphasize that is often hard to tell them apart, as stray cats behavior looks feral when they are scared, and they are scared... With regular feeding I find that the stray ones start to relax in few months. I share this, because I know many people think that all outdoor cats are feral, and in my experience this is far from the truth. In my experience, in the colonies I've looked after, at least half of the cats are friendly. That web site also tells you the appropriate action one should take when handling the alley cats (find homes for strays and kittens, and TNR- Trap Neuter Return - the true ferals). I'll write posts about my experience with both getting the stray cats adopted and the TNR process. I will say now, that I do agree with everything the web site I shared say, but I don't how to practically implement this when I look over 75 alley cats. I find myself in the position of helping one cat at a time...
Read this only if you are in a moment when you can handle the straight truth about the alley cats hard lives, told by PETA.
I share the opinion of this organization, that ""feral" is a behavioral characteristic, not a biological one", so they didn't evolve genetically to be feral, they regressed behaviorally from being domesticated. They are not wild life, as some cities classifies them. Why it matters? From a legal point of view, it is illegal to feed wild life. My city considers feral cats as wild life, but has am ordinance setting condition in which is legal to feed them, as I mentioned in the Introduction. From an ethical point of view, to me, the feral cats existence and their pain, is the result of human behavior, people leave their un-spayed/un-neutered cats outdoors, or pets get lost, or kicked out, so I see it as a responsibility of humans to fix the problem.
Do I help them because I feel responsible as a human? I don't think so. I've red psychological studies that humans are feeling happy when helping. And it's true, it makes me happy to help them, but, on the other hand, I feel a lot of pain and sadness about their situation, I actually feel more pain then happiness. And I've felt overwhelmed, burned out... In the end, I think I feel less pain helping them, then knowing how they live and doing nothing.
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Dear diary - about the appointments for acceptance for adoption
Read the Introduction, to get the general picture of my interaction with the alley cats, and the Summary, to put the stories on a timeline.
Feeding was done as usually, by my husband. He goes every second day at the further away colonies, but once a day where he knows there are kittens as they really need the food. The colony near our place is spoiled and gets food and back scratches twice a day.
This last Friday, as every Friday this month I've had an appointment with Org T, for assessment of some cats for admission for adoption. I'll write a post explaining their process of getting the cats in for adoption, soon.
As I said in the Introduction I was able at the end of last year, to get into the Org T non kill adoption shelter some cats that I was fostering in my spare rooms. It felt good to have those rooms squeaky clean and be able to use them for their intended purpose (my art studio and spare bedroom). But I also thought, thinking at the experience of last spring when I've got in many sick kittens, that I better take them in now, healthy, then later sick...
You know for sure the idea "Build it and they'll come" from the movie Field of dreams... It was something like that. My husband was worried for few weeks now because a young friendly female (under a year), that was always scared of the older cats in the colony anyhow, had her back hurt, some fur missing, so probably bitten, then he haven't seen her for few weeks. So when he saw her, he got her home and became our Genie . Then, at the newest colony, as he got to be able to touch the cats, he realized a big friendly teddy bear had a terrible ear infection (blood and puss coming out). He also has an damaged eye, it's all white. Poor guy. My husband went looking for him every day, but he came just Friday morning. Once home, we named him Phoenix that later was reborn into Hagrid.
Friday afternoon I took them both to Org T, and the girl, Genie got in, Phoenix/ Hagrid didn't. He wasn't considered friendly. And of course, being brought in just that morning, then put in the car, plus he is not feeling good, plus he has all the testosterone from not being fixed he was scared. So they've made an appointment for him in two weeks for TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release). I was sad that he has to endure the pain of his hurt ear two more weeks, I cannot afford to pay the regular vet the few hundreds of dollars they would want to put him under anesthesia and clean his ears, plus Org T is gonna do it anyway while neutering him. And being put under anesthesia for both procedures so close one to another would be stressful too. On the other hand, two weeks in the house will make him relax enough to be friendly and be admitted for adoption, because he is friendly with us. Otherwise, don't worry, I'll foster him and try to admit him again in few months. It's just that with TNR they also clip the ear, it's standard procedure... And he'll take room in my house and I won't be able to bring somebody else in.
While being at Org T, I went to visit the cats that I have brought in. Lily and Coco (mom and daughter) are there from two week ago, Coco is very shy, and visiting helps her relax. Then I've got to the kitten room, only it was all empty. Volta and Tesla (sisters) got adopted together. So I've decided to make appointment for next Friday Misty and Sharky (other siblings that I've got home as babies. I didn't want to bring them in until Volta and Tesla got a home, because all of them are black (black beauties that is). I didn't want them to compete with each other because Misty and Sharky are way more friendly then Tesla and Volta because they stayed with me longer. While at Org T. I've also inquired about Oki and Hope, two siblings I've brought in two weeks before, but they were still on the clinic floor, not on the adoption floor.
And this is not all that happened this week... On Thursday I've got a picture in a text from my husband, with a starved kitten discovered next to his dead brother, in a building in construction. They were locked in and it seams nobody entered there in few weeks. The guys that found him ran and bought some food from a convenience store, and my husband ran to pick him up. It got home late Thursday. We asked the guy that found him to name him and he said Rocky. He was really just skin and bones... Our vet was closed already, otherwise I would have splurged and gotten him to the vet. He ate again and I gave him water with a syringe. We've decided to pray for the best and not take him to emergency room, damn money. He made it... But we realized he was hurt at the left front paw. It didn't seam broken, maybe an old injury that healed badly or maybe rickets from being malnourished. Being at Org T the next day I asked if they would take him in hurt like that, They said yes if friendly. So I added him on the appointment for next Friday.
And that is all that happened this week...
Feeding was done as usually, by my husband. He goes every second day at the further away colonies, but once a day where he knows there are kittens as they really need the food. The colony near our place is spoiled and gets food and back scratches twice a day.
This last Friday, as every Friday this month I've had an appointment with Org T, for assessment of some cats for admission for adoption. I'll write a post explaining their process of getting the cats in for adoption, soon.
As I said in the Introduction I was able at the end of last year, to get into the Org T non kill adoption shelter some cats that I was fostering in my spare rooms. It felt good to have those rooms squeaky clean and be able to use them for their intended purpose (my art studio and spare bedroom). But I also thought, thinking at the experience of last spring when I've got in many sick kittens, that I better take them in now, healthy, then later sick...
You know for sure the idea "Build it and they'll come" from the movie Field of dreams... It was something like that. My husband was worried for few weeks now because a young friendly female (under a year), that was always scared of the older cats in the colony anyhow, had her back hurt, some fur missing, so probably bitten, then he haven't seen her for few weeks. So when he saw her, he got her home and became our Genie . Then, at the newest colony, as he got to be able to touch the cats, he realized a big friendly teddy bear had a terrible ear infection (blood and puss coming out). He also has an damaged eye, it's all white. Poor guy. My husband went looking for him every day, but he came just Friday morning. Once home, we named him Phoenix that later was reborn into Hagrid.
Friday afternoon I took them both to Org T, and the girl, Genie got in, Phoenix/ Hagrid didn't. He wasn't considered friendly. And of course, being brought in just that morning, then put in the car, plus he is not feeling good, plus he has all the testosterone from not being fixed he was scared. So they've made an appointment for him in two weeks for TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release). I was sad that he has to endure the pain of his hurt ear two more weeks, I cannot afford to pay the regular vet the few hundreds of dollars they would want to put him under anesthesia and clean his ears, plus Org T is gonna do it anyway while neutering him. And being put under anesthesia for both procedures so close one to another would be stressful too. On the other hand, two weeks in the house will make him relax enough to be friendly and be admitted for adoption, because he is friendly with us. Otherwise, don't worry, I'll foster him and try to admit him again in few months. It's just that with TNR they also clip the ear, it's standard procedure... And he'll take room in my house and I won't be able to bring somebody else in.
While being at Org T, I went to visit the cats that I have brought in. Lily and Coco (mom and daughter) are there from two week ago, Coco is very shy, and visiting helps her relax. Then I've got to the kitten room, only it was all empty. Volta and Tesla (sisters) got adopted together. So I've decided to make appointment for next Friday Misty and Sharky (other siblings that I've got home as babies. I didn't want to bring them in until Volta and Tesla got a home, because all of them are black (black beauties that is). I didn't want them to compete with each other because Misty and Sharky are way more friendly then Tesla and Volta because they stayed with me longer. While at Org T. I've also inquired about Oki and Hope, two siblings I've brought in two weeks before, but they were still on the clinic floor, not on the adoption floor.
And this is not all that happened this week... On Thursday I've got a picture in a text from my husband, with a starved kitten discovered next to his dead brother, in a building in construction. They were locked in and it seams nobody entered there in few weeks. The guys that found him ran and bought some food from a convenience store, and my husband ran to pick him up. It got home late Thursday. We asked the guy that found him to name him and he said Rocky. He was really just skin and bones... Our vet was closed already, otherwise I would have splurged and gotten him to the vet. He ate again and I gave him water with a syringe. We've decided to pray for the best and not take him to emergency room, damn money. He made it... But we realized he was hurt at the left front paw. It didn't seam broken, maybe an old injury that healed badly or maybe rickets from being malnourished. Being at Org T the next day I asked if they would take him in hurt like that, They said yes if friendly. So I added him on the appointment for next Friday.
And that is all that happened this week...
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Summary
Introduction
Chapter I a - The first fairies I encountered Princess, Bobcat and Magic (2008)
Chapter I b- The loss of Magic
Chapter I c - The fairy Princess
Chapter I d - New fairies MiuMiu, Moto, Miki (2011)
--- to be continued ---
Chapter I a - The first fairies I encountered Princess, Bobcat and Magic (2008)
Chapter I b- The loss of Magic
Chapter I c - The fairy Princess
Chapter I d - New fairies MiuMiu, Moto, Miki (2011)
Chapter I e - MiuMiu runway show and exit
Chapter II - My first colony (1st Co.) Leona - the one true feral, Tawny, Angel and (2014-2017)
Chapter II - My first colony (1st Co.) Leona - the one true feral, Tawny, Angel and (2014-2017)
- Jack, Rasputin and Johnny Five
- The newcomers Yoffy, Max and Rosie
- The Tortoise Boy, and few more newcomers (update 2017-2020)
Chapter III a- The second colony of fairies - Maya Co (2nd). (2017-2018)
Chapter III b - The baby fairy Maya
Chapter III c - The good mother Lily and her babies (Simba, Pongo, Milo and Coco) (2018)
Chapter III d - The colony near the knight S - S Co (3rd). (2018)
Chapter III e - Winter trouble for the young fairies Gheisha, Liam and Marie (2018)
Chapter III f - A colony in each back alley of the neighbor kingdom (2018)
Chapter III g - Early spring Hope and Ocki (2019)
Chapter III h - After winter tally and goodbye to outdoor Miki (2019)
Chapter IV a - Searching for allies (organizations that TNR and help with adoptions)
Chapter IV b - Marriages for Blue, Thar, Rusty, Bunny
Chapter IV c - The hardship of exotic Samantha, spay and neuter for 1st Co.
Chapter IV d - The happy samurai Garfield
Chapter IV e - The pregnant fairy Lizzy, the additions Anthracite, Brave Heart, Beanie, Peaches and Little L
Chapter IV f - The aunt turned mother for Dandelion and Azalea
Chapter IV g -The midsummer nightmare and goodbyes to Chip, Foxy, Dreamy, Little L
Chapter IV h - Happily ever after lives for Ozy, Teddy, Didi, Fatoush and Azalea
Chapter IV i - Three orphaned black baby fairies, Misty, Sharky and Raven
Chapter IV j - Dark energy Volta and Tesla
Chapter IV k - No ears Nemo
Chapter IV l - The end of the year 2019 headcount, from 3 to 10 colonies,
Chapter IV m - More fairies moved away to live happily ever after, Peaches, Dandelion, Milo, Pongo, Lily, Coco, Ocki and Hope (end of 2019, beginning of 2020)
Chapter IV n - Overwhelmed guardian but regrouping
Chapter III b - The baby fairy Maya
Chapter III c - The good mother Lily and her babies (Simba, Pongo, Milo and Coco) (2018)
Chapter III d - The colony near the knight S - S Co (3rd). (2018)
Chapter III e - Winter trouble for the young fairies Gheisha, Liam and Marie (2018)
Chapter III f - A colony in each back alley of the neighbor kingdom (2018)
Chapter III g - Early spring Hope and Ocki (2019)
Chapter III h - After winter tally and goodbye to outdoor Miki (2019)
Chapter IV a - Searching for allies (organizations that TNR and help with adoptions)
Chapter IV b - Marriages for Blue, Thar, Rusty, Bunny
Chapter IV c - The hardship of exotic Samantha, spay and neuter for 1st Co.
Chapter IV d - The happy samurai Garfield
Chapter IV e - The pregnant fairy Lizzy, the additions Anthracite, Brave Heart, Beanie, Peaches and Little L
Chapter IV f - The aunt turned mother for Dandelion and Azalea
Chapter IV g -The midsummer nightmare and goodbyes to Chip, Foxy, Dreamy, Little L
Chapter IV h - Happily ever after lives for Ozy, Teddy, Didi, Fatoush and Azalea
Chapter IV i - Three orphaned black baby fairies, Misty, Sharky and Raven
Chapter IV j - Dark energy Volta and Tesla
Chapter IV k - No ears Nemo
Chapter IV l - The end of the year 2019 headcount, from 3 to 10 colonies,
Chapter IV m - More fairies moved away to live happily ever after, Peaches, Dandelion, Milo, Pongo, Lily, Coco, Ocki and Hope (end of 2019, beginning of 2020)
Chapter IV n - Overwhelmed guardian but regrouping
Chapter IV o - Two baby girls: sweet orphan Candy and cute Tzompi , plus her mom Mimi and the aunt Petra
Chapter IV p - In dire need to be saved, the too young Genie, chased by too many suitors and a fair but broken gift (named Rocky for the win) from a knight from far away and
Chapter IV r - The wounded Hagrid from the new found colony (the 11th) and the pregnant Happy calico
Chapter IV p - In dire need to be saved, the too young Genie, chased by too many suitors and a fair but broken gift (named Rocky for the win) from a knight from far away and
Chapter IV r - The wounded Hagrid from the new found colony (the 11th) and the pregnant Happy calico
Chapter IV s - The young and Oh so pretty Oscar, Lolo and Sunny
Chapter V a - Beginning of the pandemic, stay at home order (March 2020)
Chapter V b - Saving the Cookie
Chapter V c - Two pregnant ladies: Greta and Kiki and... 9 babies
Chapter V d - Feeding the strays, summer losses, lots of stray babies, no help in sight
Chapter V e - The brave mom that was stuck in a building with 3 babies, help for Daisy and Lilah
Chapter V f - Two toddler boys: Toto and Vasi
Chapter V g - New baby sloppy Joe, aka Sammy
Chapter V h - The summer baby: Snowball that melt the heart of a princess and left with Cookie
Chapter V i - Black beauty Marylin married very well
Chapter V j - Two sickly babies: Mowgly and Pumpkin
Chapter V k - Private adoptions: Petra
Chapter V l - More private adoptions: Yoffy and Marie
Chapter V m - The sensitive Cava
Chapter V n - The adventure of saving the stranded again mom with 4 young fairies
Chapter VI a - We've got new allies to help when we needed it the most TNR (January 2021)
Chapter VI b - The broken leg Gray got into a foster
Chapter VI c - The 3 sheltered in a broken car kitties move to a palace
Chapter VI d - The happy go lucky Billy Bob, Bobby, for short
--- to be continued ---
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Introduction
An alley cat life is nothing of a fairy tale. I've chosen to take a playful tone, and to allude to fairy tales calling the cats "fairies with tails" and the blog "Fairy Tails", to tell you about the "happily ever after" stories and also the sad stories, then leave the sadness in a far away land and in a forgotten time.
So, I help the alley cats. In my city, alley cats are considered wild life and it is illegal to feed wild life. However, the city and animal care organizations came up with a plan that became an ordinance. You can legally feed them if you register them as a colony, and yourself as a colony caretaker, and follow the rules they've set. The rules are that you stay with them as they eat and you clean the leftover food so no other animals (mostly rats) are attracted by that food. Also you do your best to neuter/ spay them and to find homes for the friendly ones and the kittens.
I inherited my first colony from a neighbor that moved away. This colony is stable. All the six cats are spayed and know their way around, and the neighbors know them. In the last four years there were just few newcomers. Two were friendly and got adopted and two stayed around just for few days and were in very bad shape so I suspect they perished.
The two year ago my husband had a project in a transitional, up and coming neighborhood, and saw few cats several days in a row. One day he found a lost kitten around 3-4 weeks, and brought her home. We later found that her mom died. I nursed this kitten, and my husband started to go regularly to feed this colony. He counted thirteen cats. There was a local man feeding them just enough for them to stay alive, and they had shelter in a broken down garage. They were looking good. As the summer months passed, few new kittens appeared and then... disappeared. And as the winter came he saw how half of them got sick. The majority of them recovered, three disappeared.
Driving regularly tough that neighborhood he found cats on every single alley.
With spring came more kittens. Knowing from the previous year that they probably won't make it on their own, he tried to catch them... unsuccessfully. Then some got sick and got too weak to run. He brought them home. He continued feeding the outdoor ones, and then during the summer he got home few more kittens and few adults cats that were friendly, some sick. The majority made it, few didn't. Some of them got adopted by our friends. As we looked to spayed/ neuter the adults ones, we found animal care organizations that subsidized this surgery, bringing it to just around $50. That was a big relief, because we payed the regular veterinarian for all the other issues they were having. So we were helping few cats, by bringing them indoor, but what about all the others (many) that were outdoors? I mean we were and are still feeding them...
We realized that we are in over our head, and we started to contact all organizations we could think off. We've learn that the bigger the organizations are, the more inefficient they've got. They all have a set of rules and wouldn't stray from them. Their big push is to TNR. Trap, Neuter and Release back. This make total sense for the true feral cats, as you stop them for multiplying. The friendly ones should be adopted but this is limited by the space in shelters.
We started to work with one organization, Org T. For TNR they would even send somebody to trap the cats. My unhappiness is that they spay even the really pregnant cats (on the other hand we saw with our own eyes the kittens rarely make it to become adults), and also, after the surgery they keep the cats in for just one day. If complications would arise after surgery and the cat was back outdoor, then what? We did TNR few and they were released after a day and they were fine, but it was mild spring weather, I would still be cautious to use them in summer or winter. The situation is even more complicated as we don't live in that neighborhood. I'm looking into other organizations policies now, to hopefully start doing TNR systematically.
I am very happy that after few months of learning their ways, I'm able now to work with Org T, towards adopting the friendly cats. I'm trying to give them healthy and already spayed/ neutered cats, and two at a time. that are friendly to each other. If two of them go in together, and stay in the same cage, they sooth each other. I found that this is a recipe for them to get adopted quickly. If they are sick or need spay/neuter surgery they need to stay in their hospital first, isolated, and they occupy the precious space, but also get stressed and then harder to get adopted.
We registered the colonies trough Org T. They asked at the end of last year to count all the cats in the colonies. It came to 75. This is where we are at. I'll keep you updated with what will come, and the new cats I'll meet, but I'll also share the "tales" of the cats I've met along my way.
At this point I think I'll have three categories of posts:
- Tales of the fairies I get to know better that are gonna be "chapters" in the overall story (see the next post "Summary") but I feel I can write the tale only when I have the ending... that "and they lived happily ever after"
- Diary kind of entries of what happens in the present
- Opinions and resources, so I can put together what information and thoughts I've got along the way.
So, I help the alley cats. In my city, alley cats are considered wild life and it is illegal to feed wild life. However, the city and animal care organizations came up with a plan that became an ordinance. You can legally feed them if you register them as a colony, and yourself as a colony caretaker, and follow the rules they've set. The rules are that you stay with them as they eat and you clean the leftover food so no other animals (mostly rats) are attracted by that food. Also you do your best to neuter/ spay them and to find homes for the friendly ones and the kittens.
I inherited my first colony from a neighbor that moved away. This colony is stable. All the six cats are spayed and know their way around, and the neighbors know them. In the last four years there were just few newcomers. Two were friendly and got adopted and two stayed around just for few days and were in very bad shape so I suspect they perished.
The two year ago my husband had a project in a transitional, up and coming neighborhood, and saw few cats several days in a row. One day he found a lost kitten around 3-4 weeks, and brought her home. We later found that her mom died. I nursed this kitten, and my husband started to go regularly to feed this colony. He counted thirteen cats. There was a local man feeding them just enough for them to stay alive, and they had shelter in a broken down garage. They were looking good. As the summer months passed, few new kittens appeared and then... disappeared. And as the winter came he saw how half of them got sick. The majority of them recovered, three disappeared.
Driving regularly tough that neighborhood he found cats on every single alley.
With spring came more kittens. Knowing from the previous year that they probably won't make it on their own, he tried to catch them... unsuccessfully. Then some got sick and got too weak to run. He brought them home. He continued feeding the outdoor ones, and then during the summer he got home few more kittens and few adults cats that were friendly, some sick. The majority made it, few didn't. Some of them got adopted by our friends. As we looked to spayed/ neuter the adults ones, we found animal care organizations that subsidized this surgery, bringing it to just around $50. That was a big relief, because we payed the regular veterinarian for all the other issues they were having. So we were helping few cats, by bringing them indoor, but what about all the others (many) that were outdoors? I mean we were and are still feeding them...
We realized that we are in over our head, and we started to contact all organizations we could think off. We've learn that the bigger the organizations are, the more inefficient they've got. They all have a set of rules and wouldn't stray from them. Their big push is to TNR. Trap, Neuter and Release back. This make total sense for the true feral cats, as you stop them for multiplying. The friendly ones should be adopted but this is limited by the space in shelters.
We started to work with one organization, Org T. For TNR they would even send somebody to trap the cats. My unhappiness is that they spay even the really pregnant cats (on the other hand we saw with our own eyes the kittens rarely make it to become adults), and also, after the surgery they keep the cats in for just one day. If complications would arise after surgery and the cat was back outdoor, then what? We did TNR few and they were released after a day and they were fine, but it was mild spring weather, I would still be cautious to use them in summer or winter. The situation is even more complicated as we don't live in that neighborhood. I'm looking into other organizations policies now, to hopefully start doing TNR systematically.
I am very happy that after few months of learning their ways, I'm able now to work with Org T, towards adopting the friendly cats. I'm trying to give them healthy and already spayed/ neutered cats, and two at a time. that are friendly to each other. If two of them go in together, and stay in the same cage, they sooth each other. I found that this is a recipe for them to get adopted quickly. If they are sick or need spay/neuter surgery they need to stay in their hospital first, isolated, and they occupy the precious space, but also get stressed and then harder to get adopted.
We registered the colonies trough Org T. They asked at the end of last year to count all the cats in the colonies. It came to 75. This is where we are at. I'll keep you updated with what will come, and the new cats I'll meet, but I'll also share the "tales" of the cats I've met along my way.
At this point I think I'll have three categories of posts:
- Tales of the fairies I get to know better that are gonna be "chapters" in the overall story (see the next post "Summary") but I feel I can write the tale only when I have the ending... that "and they lived happily ever after"
- Diary kind of entries of what happens in the present
- Opinions and resources, so I can put together what information and thoughts I've got along the way.
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