I was sick all week long with a cold/ flu. It made me feel exhausted. I also couldn't eat much. I've fell behind with everything, cleaning, cooking, laundry, groceries...
Hagrid (formerly known as Phoenix but we decided that he has the personality of the Harry Potter professor) was supposed to have his neuter surgery on Wednesday at the Org T. They've called on Monday and left a message to call back to confirm the reschedule for Thursday. But they never pick up the phone! I've left a message and my husband drove there on Wednesday to be sure we are on the list.
I'll open a parenthesis here... Org T. has two services, intake for adoption and TNR, and they just work with strays, not home cats, or they take cats from other shelters. I'm quite happy with their process of admission for adoption of stray cats, they say they'll accept all friendly cats. They took in most of the cats I brought them with the exception of one and Phoenix, that was very stressed when I took him for the appointment. But I'm confused with Org T TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) program. Theoretically, I know that all animal help organizations are trying to help as much as they can the ferals brought in for spay/ neuter, while they are under anesthesia. When ferals are awake they are hard or impossible to handle. Org T says they have to stick with their TNR package and not provide any extra help because of luck of time. But what is their TNR package? They have no written info on their web site or at their location. I honestly have the feeling that they make it up... different people give different information.
Now, back to Hagrid, when I've scheduled him for TNR, the person that made the appointment said they'll reassess for friendliness, and if friendly, they'll accept him in the shelter. More then that, their web site says that each cat brought in for TNR is assessed for friendliness and if friendly, it is admitted in the shelter for adoption. When I got there on Thursday they said they'll do just TNR, that would mean no treatment of the ear.. And they would clip his ear. And they won't asses for friendliness. So I took him back home without the surgery.
Open parenthesis again... The lady kept saying that that is their policy... It is the third time I had this conversation with them... I had to put a big effort to not them ALL I think about their policies. Firstly, where are they written? Secondly, aren't they supposed to help the cats? But as all I want is to help the cats, I cannot afford to fight with them a fight that cannot be won. It's just that my time is limited, and I wasn't feeling good, and I went there for nothing...
Back to poor Hagrid... he is still not solved. I moved him from the closet in a room but he's at the door all the time, scratching. He smells the other cats, he wants out. But firstly he has to be tested to be sure he has no contagious viruses, and whenever out he has to be supervised. Of course he has to be neuter and the ear cleaned and treated.
I have tree options:
1. try again to have him admitted for adoption by Org T. He is friendly, but he is not social, I'm not sure if they would accept him so soon after they refused him, especially as I refused the TNR. And he would have to be kept in hospital for few weeks for neutering and treatment of the ear, when he wouldn't progress in socialization.
2. try another organization for neutering and treatment. We used to work with Org P, but not TNR, we just took in the cats as household pets. They did treat as much as they could, including giving them long therm antibiotics, giving us antibiotics to give them if we thought we could, cleaning the ears, fleece medication, testing for viruses. But for household pets they schedule the surgeries and the waiting time is two months. We never tried TNR, I asked and they said they usually take them as walk ins, unless they are really really swamped. And I would really like his ear not to be cut... I never had that question for them. If I call, the person that answered doesn't know this stuff. So, I'll have to take the time to go there and see if they'll be flexible. There is also the Org A. They helped us majorly with four cats not long ago, but we were sent there by a big animal activist that sent us to the management. We lost that contact, she sent us another contact, but again we'll have to actually go there and see. I took the time and I did go, again, on all organizations web sites. They all mention TNR but it is hidden deeply somewhere in their web site and gives NO real information and no schedule.... The biggest buttons are donate, volunteer and adopt... Of course,TNR is not pretty...
3. the third option would be to just go to the doctor. But I really think it's stressful for him to put him under anesthesia for ear cleaning and then again for neutering. To pay for anesthesia and ear cleaning it would be around $300 I think and for both ear cleaning and neutering together over, $500. It's too much for us.
Helping the alley cats unfortunately is not easy or fair. For now, Hagrid (Phoenix) is safe, his ear infection doesn't seam to be life threatening. The worse case scenario would be to wait few more weeks and take him for admission to Org T. It's making myself sad to think he is in pain, but he is already better then he was outdoors, in cold with no food, and the ear does look better, he's not scratching anymore. To spend the $500 bucks at this point is not a choice, at this point we go to the regular vet just for life threatening situations. I do plan to start working towards TNR anyway, so it is in my plan to go to Org P and Org A anyway, I'm only limited by the lack of time.
Now, the good news! While I was at Org T, I found out that Lily and Coco got adopted, together!
I visited Oki and Hope on the adoption floor and cheered them up a bit. Hope is starting to relax, Oki not yet. They are in a big cage, down on the floor and you would have to stay on your knees to get to them, I'm not sure how many of the staff or volunteers do that. I visited them again on Saturday, same story.
Rocky and Genie and Misty and Sharky are all still in hospital, but all doing well. Rocky has the leg stable, I couldn't find out if it was broken or what else. Genie was under observation as they thought she may be in pain (I know she was bitten few months ago). She used to cry when she was with me in the house, but just when she saw cats, when she was just with me, she wasn't crying even if I touched her and press a little. Misty and Sharky has to be spayed, oh how I miss them, they were my bottle babies.
My husband feeds the colonies, as usually. He is worried that he haven't seen many of them. He is still looking for kittens to take in the house for few weeks, then to Org T, but was still not able to catch any of them.
That' s it for this last week.
I have tree options:
1. try again to have him admitted for adoption by Org T. He is friendly, but he is not social, I'm not sure if they would accept him so soon after they refused him, especially as I refused the TNR. And he would have to be kept in hospital for few weeks for neutering and treatment of the ear, when he wouldn't progress in socialization.
2. try another organization for neutering and treatment. We used to work with Org P, but not TNR, we just took in the cats as household pets. They did treat as much as they could, including giving them long therm antibiotics, giving us antibiotics to give them if we thought we could, cleaning the ears, fleece medication, testing for viruses. But for household pets they schedule the surgeries and the waiting time is two months. We never tried TNR, I asked and they said they usually take them as walk ins, unless they are really really swamped. And I would really like his ear not to be cut... I never had that question for them. If I call, the person that answered doesn't know this stuff. So, I'll have to take the time to go there and see if they'll be flexible. There is also the Org A. They helped us majorly with four cats not long ago, but we were sent there by a big animal activist that sent us to the management. We lost that contact, she sent us another contact, but again we'll have to actually go there and see. I took the time and I did go, again, on all organizations web sites. They all mention TNR but it is hidden deeply somewhere in their web site and gives NO real information and no schedule.... The biggest buttons are donate, volunteer and adopt... Of course,TNR is not pretty...
3. the third option would be to just go to the doctor. But I really think it's stressful for him to put him under anesthesia for ear cleaning and then again for neutering. To pay for anesthesia and ear cleaning it would be around $300 I think and for both ear cleaning and neutering together over, $500. It's too much for us.
Helping the alley cats unfortunately is not easy or fair. For now, Hagrid (Phoenix) is safe, his ear infection doesn't seam to be life threatening. The worse case scenario would be to wait few more weeks and take him for admission to Org T. It's making myself sad to think he is in pain, but he is already better then he was outdoors, in cold with no food, and the ear does look better, he's not scratching anymore. To spend the $500 bucks at this point is not a choice, at this point we go to the regular vet just for life threatening situations. I do plan to start working towards TNR anyway, so it is in my plan to go to Org P and Org A anyway, I'm only limited by the lack of time.
Now, the good news! While I was at Org T, I found out that Lily and Coco got adopted, together!
I visited Oki and Hope on the adoption floor and cheered them up a bit. Hope is starting to relax, Oki not yet. They are in a big cage, down on the floor and you would have to stay on your knees to get to them, I'm not sure how many of the staff or volunteers do that. I visited them again on Saturday, same story.
Rocky and Genie and Misty and Sharky are all still in hospital, but all doing well. Rocky has the leg stable, I couldn't find out if it was broken or what else. Genie was under observation as they thought she may be in pain (I know she was bitten few months ago). She used to cry when she was with me in the house, but just when she saw cats, when she was just with me, she wasn't crying even if I touched her and press a little. Misty and Sharky has to be spayed, oh how I miss them, they were my bottle babies.
My husband feeds the colonies, as usually. He is worried that he haven't seen many of them. He is still looking for kittens to take in the house for few weeks, then to Org T, but was still not able to catch any of them.
That' s it for this last week.
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