Happy Endings, New Beginnings

May 27, 2009 : 6:46 AM
A bit of a hard week, with some unresolved conflicts, followed by a very busy weekend! Started out early Saturday morning to trap some cats that had been living in the house of a woman who had to be hospitalized. None were spayed or neutered, and she was not able to clean up after them, so it was a difficult project. There were more than 6 adult cats living in or around the house, and 6 kittens. We were able to trap 6 adults and 2 kittens, then took the adults to be immediately spayed/neutered. After their operations we set up cages at a volunteer’s house so that she can keep them for the two weeks it will take to clean and seal the owner’s house. None of these cats are friendly enough to be rehomed, so they will all be released and fed outside in the future. Luckily the volunteer lives nearby and can train the cats to get food near her place. There are plenty of abandoned sheds and buildings around for the cats to take refuge in, when it gets colder, and we’ll also help to make some warm cat beds. We were first contacted because relatives had planned to have the cats professionally caught and taken to be destroyed, so we’re just happy that, with the help of people in the neighborhood, we could come up with a reasonable alternative. There was a bit of fate involved because the volunteer helping us by keeping the cats temporarily at her place, was a woman who contacted us not long ago about needing help with cat food. She had also been worried about this 90 year old woman living down the street with so many cats. We’re still trying to catch those wiley kittens, and the 2 adult cats that have been seen in the area, so one of the volunteers went back out there today. More pictures from the rescue…

Saturday evening we went to pick up the 4 kittens being fostered, as they were headed to Tokyo on Sunday. At pick up, the family seemed very sad to see them go, so I suggested that we had a feral mother and 6 kittens at the shelter that were really in need of the same kind of help the family had just completed with these 4. They agreed to take them on! They did such a good job with these four, which are very friendly now, despite their feral mother. It’s such a relief to have someone working on this project for us!

Sunday morning we went out to Tokyo. David went to attend the walk-a-thon that Tokyo volunteers had planned, which actually ended up getting canceled due to bad weather, and turned into a social get together. I delivered 2 kittens to their new home with a Cirque Du Soleil performer! These were Gary and Sandy, now Taiyo (sun) and Luna (Italian for moon), 2 of the cute new bobtail group. I think these 2 babies are going to be very spoiled, as they were so looked forward to and well received! Next I went out to PAWS with the 4 and the remaining 2 bobtails. Bob and Patrick are headed to a new home on the base, and because their adopter had a scheduling problem, PAWS very kindly offered to process their adoption for us. The other 4 will go to a PAWS foster home to get a little older before adoption. More pictures from the trip…

We had to get back to the shelter, the same evening, because we received a report that at least one kitten and an adult cat had been abandoned in front of a house in our neighborhood. It’s difficult for people to abandon cats directly in front of the shelter without being seen, so they often turn up where there are convenient access roads, nearby. The house was Saku-chan’s and after they tried unsuccessfully to catch the kitten, Saku-chan became very worried about the frantic mews that she kept hearing coming from under their shed. David and I tried to get the kitten to come out late into the evening, but finally gave up, leaving some kitten food out, and making plans to try again in the morning. Saku-chan’s mom also put food and milk out over the next couple of days, trying to coax the kitten out, and though it ate the food, it stayed put! They were finally able to catch it last night, and so it’s now at the shelter. No sign of the adult cat, after they saw it only the one time with the kitten, the morning of the first day. Saku-chan and her mom came over today to say hello to “Mew-chan” who has calmed down in a safer environment, and purred while being held by her new old friends! More pictures of their reunion…

It’s important for me to remember why we started this NPO…we helped keep more than12 cats from being destroyed this week, put 6 kittens in foster care, placed 8 kittens in or on their way to new homes, rescued an abandoned 7 week old kitten, and made the people connected to these cases very happy. Beyond that we’ve taken more calls about TNR help to start soon, as well as a call from animal control, to arrange a meeting with us, at which we’ll talk about working more closely together to save more lives. All of this, while still doing our day jobs! There will always be problems to work out, and the thought of adding that to our already daunting schedule is exhausting…but today, I’ll try to feel the glow from this week’s great successes!