End of an era

This week has seen the conclusion of just over 18 months fostering for Cat Action Trust 1977. It’s not been a happy ending, sadly all too often in rescue it seems that personalities and politics get in the way of the job we all set out to do.

To balance the heartache of recent events I’ve been thinking back to some of the lovely cats and people I’ve been fortunate enough to meet over the last 18 months.

A quick tally tells me I’ve had 33 foster cats through CAT77, 6 of those were born here, one of them (new born kitten) sadly died here, and three of them have become permanent residents.

Duke

Obi & Amara

Gabriel

Star

Smudge

Honey & Amber

Alfie

Fluffy

Fidget & Flipper

Dizzy & Dunlop

Spook

Box

Cookie

Gaia & Gizmo

Pumpkin

Pirelli

Panda

Marmalade

Stanley

Snowflake

Cassie

Choc, Chip & Cuthbert

Murphy

Aminah & Amigo

There’s been about 45 vet appointments, fifteen being double vet runs for neutering (early morning drop off, evening pick up) and another 30 appointments for vaccinations, poorly kittens etc. I think its fair to say that the most notable of these was the trip with 8 kits with upset tums all the way to Doncaster, only to run into a serious traffic jam on the M18. You might think it couldn’t get worse, but the conclusion of the consultation was that I should gather stool samples from each of them over 3 days and take it back for analysis.

I’ve also met some lovely people whilst doing over 30 home checks, from Bakewell to Stocksbridge, and Walkley to Ripley. Then there’s all the wonderful people who have come to meet my foster kits and adopt them. I’m especially grateful to those who have taken the time to stay in touch and let me know how the cats are going on. The tummy upsets, trashed plants, torn curtains all seem worthwhile when I get a pic of a once terrified feline now sprawled happily on someone’s sofa.

I tried to estimate how many doses of anti biotic and wormer and eye drops and ear drops were involved …. and what proportion of it ended up on the bathroom floor. Who knows? I do know I got one heck of a lot of experience of medicating cats when the 8 tummy upset kits needed anti biotics twice a day for 10 days.

How many boxes of pouches have they consumed between them I wonder? How many toys have they trashed? How many hours of cleaning, feeding, playing? Yards of duck tape used in vain effort to mend and protect carpet? How many times have I said “get down” “leave that” “stop it”?

So many things just can’t be counted … like the joy they’ve brought me. Bless them all … may they and their humans have long and happy healthy lives together.

rescue party

Young Morris has landed himself a fab new home, and will be moving in after his humans’ holiday.

I think it went to his head a bit because when they came round to visit him again this evening he got brave and jumped over the back fence with the older kits. … and then couldn’t get back. I know its a great home for him because his humans instantly forgave his rudeness in clearing off and were concerned about him getting back.

There are a limited number of ground level ways through hedges and netting that the older residents know, and they tried to show him, but he wasn’t listening. The bigger kittens, Amigo, Aminah and Flipper put heart and soul into the search, following me round to both neighbours to see if I could get him round that way. All the little monkeys taking liberties with their sudden access to next door’s veg plot. Thank goodness I have such lovely neighbours. But we couldn’t get hold of Morris.

So with me climbing on the bench at the end of the garden, and leaning over the fence, the older kittens tried to show him how to jump. Flips and Aminah got on the shed roof and demonstrated how to jump across, but poor Morris was too scared.

rescue party

So Amigo went over and set up a game of chase encouraging Morris to race up some of the tress to build his confidence and climbing skills. Still no joy though Amigo did manage to retrieve a football that had been stuck in the back neighbour’s tree.

Came back inside and tried the waiting game … but still no Morris. So as it was going dark I went out in my jimjams with the step ladder to put over the fence. That adds more evidence to the neighbour’s estimation of me being the mad cat woman I guess, but I’m pleased to say that young Morris is now safely inside and in bed.

Congratulations Smudge – kits 6 weeks old today

Smudge is making a lovely job of being a mummy and her kits are growing up fast. Here they are on their 6 weeks birthday:

smokey spice smidgin and simba

Interesting, having very recently had Cassie and her kits, to see the differences. Both very good mums and happy healthy kittens. Cass was always snuggled with her kits and they took their time growing up. At gone 4 weeks they still hadn’t climbed out their flymo box, and 6 weeks were only just getting around to eating solids. This gang had their eyes open at less than a week old and young Spice, despite being the last born of the litter, was scrambling out of the basket at 3 weeks. They’re 6 weeks old today and have been tucking in to solid food for some time now. Oddly enough, it was little Smidgin, the only girl of the gang and the one who I was so worried about with not putting weight on in the early days who was way ahead of the others in starting on solids.

Sadly they’ve missed out on being headline news just recently with all the angst about Daisy and then Mog. Here are a few of the highlights of recent weeks.

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Friends Reunited

Fascinated by a couple of threads of life coming together this evening:

Bill: This is Lizzie’s cat who for reasons we talked about in a previous post is now coming to live with me. He’s been living in my bedroom for nearly two weeks now. I’ve worked on gradual exposure to the other residents and hangers on in the household. Started with swapping blankets to bring the different smells together, and then to short bursts of him coming downstairs to ‘mingle’, usually late at night when people are settling down for a snooze. It’s gone reasonably well so we decided today was the day to take the plunge and let him out for the first time. He padded straight off down the drive and I wondered if he was on his way back to Biff’s which is only a 5 minute walk away. But after a little while he came back, went off again in another direction, came back and hung around with the other cats quite happily for several hours.

bill and jango

I was a bit concerned that there may be some aggro between Bill and Jango, both big tom cats, but they seemed to be fine. Oddly enough the thing that upset Bill the most was little Morris. Morris just loves other cats and can’t resist running up to them and rubbing around them …. this freaked poor Bill who’s never experienced anything of the sort from Daisy.

Tom: This is the young man I took to be neutered yesterday. He went back to the cattery overnight after his op and the plan was to release him in the morning when he’d had chance to recover. Then because he was so friendly we re thought it and thought it would be better to keep him at the cattery and advertise for a home for him. I was going to go over to the cattery in the morning and get some photos of him for the advert. Unfortunately we didn’t communicate this to the person who went to feed him in the morning and they let him go! Then there was no sign of him all day.

bill and tom hanging out in the garden

Come the evening I’m pottering around in the kitchen and the cats are running in and out the house, and who do you think arrives for dinner? Yep – Tom! He was chatting to Bill a fair bit so I think they must remember each other from when they both used to hang out at Biff’s some years ago.

So Tom had his photo opportunity after all:

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More ups than downs …. just

It’s been a bit of a tough week with rescue politics and various crap. However there’s some good news.

Rocky is settling well into his new home. He loves his new humans and is having a very purry time. It was lovely to see the humans so excited about the new member of their family. This is one young man who has dropped on his feet.

playing with his new toys

chilling in the humans’ bed

The other good news is that the people I found who could get me onto the allotment to see to Mog are just lovely. Despite the allotments covering a huge area, their plot turns out to be one row away from where Mog hangs out, and their lovely dogs came from the same rescue that Mog did! How small a world is that?! Not only do I feel like I’ve found a way forward with Mog, I feel like I’ve made some new friends. I was able to feed Mog this evening, and put some Stronghold on her.

Have to say … the allotment holders have been lovely … lots of people concerned about Mog and willing to take my phone number in case they spot her and she’s not ok.

If that’s not enough good news and co incidence for now, I took a ginger stray to be neutered this morning. He’d been hanging out by Meers Cattery, Friends of Ferals got a neutering voucher from the RSPCA and I took him up to Peak Vet for his op. I’m pretty certain its Tom the ginger who hung out around my house for a while, and was hanging around Biff’s house a couple of years ago. He’s the most gorgeous ginger boy. Watch this space for more pics of him: