The Storm Before the Calm

Back to classes this week, but off today, so a good chance to spend time preparing for David’s upcoming Tokyo trip. We sent Rose and Daisy off to their vet check, before going to Tokyo. Lucky is hopefully on his way to a new foster home there, while waiting for adoption. But, he’s had diarrhea the last couple of days, and hasn’t been eating as much as usual. So we sent him along for a check, with a poop sample. The vet diagnosed coccidium (not a big surprise, given our recent problem with this), and Lucky ate well at the clinic, so we’ll treat him and send him to Tokyo as planned. He’s maintained his usual high energy, and affectionate personality throughout, but he’s such a little one that we have to be careful about any changes in health. We’ve kept him mostly separate from the others, for health protection, but he’s gone out to play in the enclosure, on occasion. He seems to suffer a great deal of stress, when placed in a cage, and begins climbing and crying loudly. He does love his soft little blanket, to nurse on, and his life-size little kitten pal. His need for attention outside a cage makes him the next important candidate for foster care. For the time being, we’ve settled on giving him the run of the kitten room, since there are only 2 kittens staying in cages in there now. Josie and Alexandra had a relapse of their upper respiratory symptoms shortly after returning to the shelter from foster care (clearly they loved their time with Gina, now waiting for her next lucky charges, and felt a little stressed about the change), so they’re getting antibiotics and lysine. Good improvement over the last few days, and we have our fingers crossed that someone will contact us soon about adopting a pair! They are soft as little bunnies and twice as affectionate (nothing against bunnies!), so I think they’ll do well. This is the time of year when we are frantically pursuing every adoption lead and working to get this year’s rescued kittens into homes. By late October things slow down, and new kitten intakes come to a stop. If all goes well, like it did last year, all of the healthy kittens are re-homed by late February. This takes us into the season where people start asking about kittens again, and we tell them to sit tight, they’ll be coming in again soon. Currently we have a waiting list of kittens from TNR projects needing shelter and re-homing, so we’d like to make space as quickly as possible. But since we’re having a very difficult time finding local help with cleaning cages and enclosures, it’s been impossible to extend ourselves further. Drawing a firm line regarding the number which David and I can care for responsibly, without the extra help and while also teaching full time, is essential. We get so many offers of help from people living in the big cities, but with a location so far out in the countryside, it’s impractical for these folks to come out here regularly. Animal welfare volunteering, not to mention volunteering in general, is almost unheard of in our rural area, so we have been scratching our heads for years as to how to find more of those willing to help. I imagine it may be the same situation in rural areas throughout the world–it’s frustrating to have the space to house the rescues, but not the adequate help for their care. Our few very dedicated local volunteers end up spending every free minute running around assisting on TNR projects, making trips to the vet, answering call-in questions, and working on other administrative needs. We have recently put up volunteer posters at local veterinary clinics, so hopefully we’ll get a few responses from people wanting to help, and not just those wanting help. Still, we’re very grateful for the recent help we are able to organize in the big cities. It’s not only a big encouragement, it should translate into more homes being found in those areas, which will translate into more possible intakes!