Islands and Beaches

Went to a conference last Saturday, about the push to improve the animal welfare laws, when they come up for review in 2011. Great turnout, which was very encouraging. I took lots of photos, but I have been asked (several times!) not to post any photos from the conference on my blog. Perhaps the problem is that there were several panels with photos from animal control facilities, that people would find very disturbing, were those photos made public. Or perhaps the issue is one of copyright. To be honest, You really wouldn’t have wanted to see them anyway, and I rather wish I hadn’t. The photos make it clear to me that we need change now, not in ten years, and not in two. The speech that I found myself most encouraged by was that of Alive‘s founder, Nogami san. She has achieved so much, in the name of animal welfare, by continuing to make issues public and information about the issues readily available. At the dinner afterward, I met a woman who is starting an organization to help the deer living on Miyajima. It was the first time I had heard that the deer were living so badly, and under such inhumane circumstances there. I visited Miyajima quite a long time ago, before the ban on feeding the deer was instituted, which has led to their current plight. Please take a few minutes to find out more about this issue. There is also a petition that can be signed, along with addresses for contacting those who might have some influence in creating a better plan for the Miyajima deer.

On Sunday we went out to take a look at a new TNR site near the lake. The cats look to be mostly in good shape, which was a relief to find, and all of the people that we met there were interacting positively with the cats. We rescued 5 friendly kittens, that were all suffering from mild upper respiratory symptoms, though one of the kitten’s health declined sharply last night. We went out to the vet today for more aggressive treatment, and are hoping for the best. She can’t stay at the clinic, due to the contagious element. The rest of the gang has improved to the point that their eyes look good, and sneezing is at a minimum. Still quarantined to their big cage, but hoping they can come out soon to play. Next on the agenda is coming up with names! I’ve posted an appeal for foster and adoptive homes, and these are all real cuties, so maybe they won’t be here for long.

Cat food shopping on Monday, and got a new tower for the kitten room. The price had been reduced, and I’d been looking for a way to give the kittens a bit more exercise, during their out of the cage time in the small room. During the rest of the week, we spent our free time setting everything up and rearranging the kitten room cages to make a larger space for the newbies. We really are bursting at the seams in there, since it’s now too cold for any of the younger kittens to go out into the enclosure. The 5 and 6 month olds are still staying out there, with a few adults, and we’ve added warm boxes with hot water bottles and thick blankets. Birdie is camped out in front of the kitten room heater, and was the first to climb up to the second step of the new cat tower! It’s sad for me to see her so thin, now, but we are doing everything that we can to make her comfortable, as she heads into the last stages of FIV related kidney failure. She doesn’t like going to the vet, which we need to do nearly everyday now, but she still seems to enjoy the comforts of home…resting on her soft blanket in front of the heater and nibbling on her favorite foods. We even went out for a walk in the sunshine today!

We lost poor Poppy…she passed away at the vet’s clinic. She did better there, for a while, but her condition went up and down. I know that she received the kindest care, while she was there, and I’m glad that they were able to make her comfortable at the end.

Tricky is doing well at the clinic, but remains much smaller than his siblings. We seem to have rescued a lot of kittens this year with digestive problems. Chobi was dripping again today, after having joined the kittens in the enclosure, recently. She so loves to stay in there–we saw her sitting between two of the adult kitties, yesterday, getting groomed by both of them! However there is no way to limit her diet to the special food that she seems to need, in order to stave off the diarrhea, so we’ve moved her back into her big cage. Thankfully she’s been able to stay active and happy, other than the recurring bouts of diarrhea, so we are just crossing our fingers that she’ll eventually grow out of that.

A volunteer photographer came out from Osaka today to take pictures of the kitties for adoption and sponsoring. I saw a few of them, on her camera, and they’re fantastic!! I can’t wait to get them up onto the web site. I am determined to remain calm (this is me being calm!) about the growing number of kittens that we will need to adopt out before next season starts. They are all adorable and I feel sure that if we just work a bit harder at promoting them, we can place them all, over the next 3 months.