Geez it's cold

 It has been FRIGID here for over a week. Supposed to stay cold for a least another week with maybe 4 to 8 inches of snow this week.

Mom always worries about our feral girl Allie but even more so now. So she went out and ordered a heated cat house that can be plugged in to be put in the garage.

It's made by K&H and made to be outside. It seems pretty sturdy though mom used several HBO words getting it zipped together. It does have a clear flap in the front that mom wonders if she is going to have to remove. 

Since mom isn't leaving the house every day, she doesn't always see Allie. But the food is being eaten and she did see Allie on Friday and she looks ok. 

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Mom spent part of Saturday on the road going another bloodhound. Someone got Hank as a puppy and he spent most of his life on a chain. We this weekend he got a serious upgrade and is heading to NJ to be a search and rescue dog.

Big day

 Spay and neuter day for everyone. Then ready for forever homes.

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Mom ran out the other morning and look who showed up for breakfast.

Allie-versary

 

Seven years ago we caught this girl

 

and her kittens

 

kept them crated for several weeks in our entryway

Yep - that is Allie and her kittens. Amazing that is has been that long. We leave our garage door up and she still comes and goes. Mom doesn't see her as often in the summer when the weather is nice, but food, water and shelter are always available to her. Since the vet thought she was about 2 when she was spayed, that would make her about 9 years old.

While mom has never gotten to pet her, we hope she knows she is loved.

Junior and Allie

Junior has been having some mouth issues recently and mom has decided it is time to suck it up and get him to the v-e-t. For those who haven't followed us for very long, Junior was caught in a live trap as a kitten and mom thought she could bring him around as tame. Ummmm.....not so much. He is what mom calls our house-feral. He likes the other cats, mom - not so much. However, it isn't OK that he is hurting, so an appointment has been made for July 11. Now mom just has to figure out how to catch him. Without many options, she is planning to put gabapentin in some canned food and put that in our live trap and put the trap and Junior (hopefully) in the back bedroom. From there she and our favorite vet tech will knock him out and then they will do a blood draw and check his teeth and go from there. Since they do surgery on Tuesdays, the plan is to clean or do extractions or whatever needs to be done. And since he hasn't been to the vet in....a very long time...they will give him the once over and update his vaccines as well.

What mom didn't realize until she was giving the vet his information is exactly how old he is now. She estimates his birthday as May 2010 - which makes him 8 years old. Mom was SURE he was more than a year younger than Ivy.

What makes it more interesting is that Allie was trapped and spayed in June 2012 and the vets guessed her age at about 2 years old. If that is actually the case, she and Junior could actually be related. Mom just never put it together until recently. Weird right???

Mom actually saw Allie Wednesday morning. Mom was leaving for work and refilled the bowls and Allie stuck her head in the garage around the back of the car. For being almost 8 years old, she looks pretty good. Mom would like to try to get her inside, but goes back and forth with the idea. She is thinking later this fall when we don't have kittens - just set up the big crate in the foster room and see if Allie adjusts. If not, mom can let her back out. Since we already have Junior the house-feral, mom doesn't mind if Allie isn't friendly. Mom just wants Allie to be OK with being inside and not freak out. That way she can spend her senior years safe.

Meet and Greet - Allie

Mom thought she would take time this week to talk about each of us for those who are new to the blog.

Allie is our feral cat. She had kittens in a neighbor's patio and mom finally caught the kittens and Allie. She was spayed then spent a few weeks crated with her kittens in our house until the kittens were able to care for themselves.

Mom released Allie and she now has food and shelter in our garage and hangs out nearby most of the time. 

Random Fridays

Still too early for kitten season here. However, if you need a fix, visit some of our friends on facebook: Fellmeth's Fosters who have a tortie mom with 2 orange kitten boys and Cathy's Foster Kitties who is currently raising a tiny bottle baby.
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No really hot plans for the weekend. It is supposed to be nice on Sunday....so maybe open windows? If not then, the computer said it could get up to 60 degrees on Monday so hopefully mom will open one a little before she leaves for work.
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It was nice here on Thursday too and as mom was leaving for work, she saw Allie pouncing on this bush. No idea what was in there, but it does make mom smile to see Allie out and about. 

Random Fridays

We got over 4 inches of snow on Wednesday, so mom got a snow day. She says that there can be disadvantages to working in a small office, but sometimes there are good advantages too. She spent the day doing....not much of anything with all of us. She did put together something new for Chanel. More on that next week.
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Mom has gotten some emails from the neighbor lady Carol that helped with the TNR in our neighborhood. One of our original girls, Annie, isn't doing well. It is so hard when it is a house cat when at least you can provide some comfort. But it is harder when it is a feral you have cared for over the years and there really isn't much you can do for them without causing more stress. We suspect Annie doesn't have much longer here and we hope she crosses peacefully.

It does make mom worry that much more about Allie. She was in the garage on Thursday morning when mom left for work and they have built JUST enough trust that mom managed to get out of the house and into her car and out of the garage and Allie never left her bed on one of the shelves. Which is good since there is snow and probably salt and it is just plain cold here. Mom wishes she could just talk to Allie and convince her that coming inside wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Allie in nicer weather this summer

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Adoption events this weekend for the rescue. There is a fuzzy calico girl at one of the stores. So far there have been 3 applications for her....all of them bad for different reasons. Sheesh....
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We are supposed to stay cold here and get more rain...which means more ice. Stay safe and stay home if you can!! 

Random Fridays

Miss Connie asked WHAT the update on Ivy's ear was from the vet. Well....it looked good. She wants mom to keep using the meds once per week and then we will get her rechecked in another month or so. That said, mom checked Ivy's ear the other day and it is all crusty again. Sigh....  Cause the princess is such a great patient.
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Mom has been doing some serious worrying about our feral girl Allie. With the weather being so cold, she worries about every animal left outside of course. Allie has been sticking around the garage more in this weather with the cold and the snow. She is now around 8 years old though she certainly looks pretty healthy. Mom is making sure to put warm water in her bowl every morning and plenty of food out. If mom catches her right in the area, she will put canned out too but doesn't want to leave it to just freeze. She even has a few different beds set up in different places. Allie must be getting a little used to mom as the past couple of morning she didn't even leave her bed when mom got in the car to leave for work.

in warmer weather

Mom has been thinking about maybe trying to trap her, get her vaccines updated, get her retested and microchipped. However, the other day the garage door wasn't cooperating (mom leaves it up about 6 inches to let Allie come and go). It went up, then down, then up, then down....Allie finally freaked out and RAN!! So now mom worries that trapping her and bringing her inside would just freak her out that much more. It is tough to love a feral knowing that so many things can happen to her that are outside of our control.
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If you are anywhere near central Ohio tonight, be sure to stop in to the Amazing Cat Show III at 400 West Rich St. There will be some very cool art on sale along with other things, all supporting Colony Cats and TNR efforts in Franklinton. Mom will be there upstairs along with adoptable cats.
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And now.....for the moment you have all been waiting for......how much does Sigourney weigh??

According to the official vet records, she weighs 6 pounds, 8 ounces and is about 3 years old (mom REALLY doubts the age part though).

Our winner - closest without going over - is: Amanda P 

Random Fridays

We got snow last weekend. Chanel was a little fascinated by that, but what really got her attention was the truck that plowed out the driveways.

It is BITTER cold here. Mom worries most about Allie our feral girl - fortunately we have a nice set up in the garage. Still cold, but out of the wind. Mom has been taking down warm water to fill the bowl twice per day. It still freezes, but at least for a short period of time there is available water. Allie seems to be hanging around and mom has caught her a couple of time in a warm crate with bedding as mom comes into the garage. Allie is just so fearful of people....mom has thought about trying to catch her and bring her inside but fears it would very much back fire.

Just a short post today.....we know it is cold all over. PLEASE check on animals and the elderly. A lot of states are now implementing restrictions on companion animals being outside, so check with your local authorities and report people if they are leaving pets outside. 

National Feral Cat Day

Alley Cat Allies started National Feral Cat Day to raise awareness about feral or community cats. We admit, we didn't know much about the details until we moved into the condo, started volunteering with Colony Cats and then found our girl Allie and her kittens. We have since done TNR on at least 6 cats in our neighborhood. No kittens since then and no increase in the cat population. Don't tell us TNR doesn't work.....

Our girl Allie

TNR 6/12

Feral Cat Facts (courtesy of Alley Cat Allies)

• Cats have lived alongside humans for more than 10,000 years. They are part of the natural landscape. Feral cats, also called community or outdoor cats, are the same species as pet cats, live in groups called colonies, and can thrive in every landscape. They are just as healthy as pet cats, but they are not socialized to humans and are therefore unadoptable.
• Trap-Neuter-Return is the only humane and effective approach to caring for community cats and stabilizing the cat population. From 2003 to 2013 the number of local governments with official policies endorsing TNR increased tenfold, with hundreds of cities and towns successfully carrying out TNR programs. That number continues to grow every year.
• In many cities, cats are still caught and brought to animal shelters and pounds, where most are killed. In fact, the shelter system is the number one documented cause of death for cats in the United States. About 70% of cats who enter shelters are killed there, and that number rises to virtually 100% for feral cats. 

Dr Suess Day (for real this time)

Orange Cats

the oranges - Clementine and Tangerine

(now Ike and Izzy) (adopted 9/14)

Black Cats

Mozart - our resident house panther

Tabby Cats

Moonshine (now Gray Goose) and Bourbon

(adopted December 2012 [it's really been that long??])

Torbie Cats

Ivy

Feral Cats

Allie - our feral girl

(notice the ear tip - released 7/12)

House Cats

Sangria and Stoli

(adopted December 2014)

Mom loves them all

Jake and Elwood

(adopted 10/13)

2015 Year in Review (Part 1)

The end of every year we have taken a look back at what has gone on here. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Sometimes we get caught up so much in the day to day routine that we forget the things that have happened.....

January:
adoptions galore - Kahlua and Mae West and Cassidy (surrogate mom to the alcohol kittens, including Daiquiri)

Mae West sure was a chatty girl

The Lucy Pet Foundation reached out to bloggers to help spread the word about spay/neuter.
We got our new cat ladder and mom got it set up.
Mom got to meet D'Art who lives at the Dublin Art Center here in our home town.

February:
Mom watched the kitten bowl (and so did Daiquiri) and Daiquiri got to see her first snowfall.

We got our first litter of kittens for the year - Strawberry and her kittens Fanta, Faygo and Rootbeer. (the soda kittens)

We got an update on the orange kittens (Tangerine and Clementine).
The soda kittens continued to get bigger.
The mom posted about sometimes getting what you need rather than what you thought you wanted.

March:
The soda kittens got their first taste of freedom.
We discussed what we would do if we had thumbs
The soda kittens decided freedom was pretty awesome.
Mom took some of treats for a review at the shelter.

It was time for the soda kittens to get fixed, or so we thought.

that Rootbeer lurved his momma

And Rootbeer and Faygo both got adopted!!

April:
Mom trapped an older kitty that had been running our neighborhood and posted about her thoughts about strays and TNR.

Fanta got adopted (and the story was pretty funny)

The Fiesta kittens and their mom Margarita arrived:

We Blogged the Change about transports
The fiesta kittens had their eyeballs pop open and continued to get bigger (and bigger).

May: 
The fiesta kittens turned a month old.
Mom put a Great Dane in the Beetle.
We did an Allie (our feral) update.

The cute was seriously strong with this group:

yes, that is Tostada

The kittens all weighed in at over a pound.
We posted about a huge adoption event in our area.
A 6 week old fiesta kitten update
A wordless Wednesday of our girls.
Then mom headed out to Blog Paws.

June:
BLOG PAWS!!! (part 1 and part 2) Mom took Queso, Salsa and Taquito.

Margarita was spayed and went to a remote adoption location.
Morocco and her kittens joined us.
Mom got the sads when we learned our first bottle baby Bug passed away suddenly.
One of Morocco's kittens ran for the Bridge.
The fiesta kittens were spayed and neutered.

Then mom had to solve the "case of the missing meezer".

The kittens did some serious house trashing:

Queso and Salsa were both adopted (separately). And the heat caused London to melt:

*Be sure to check back tomorrow for part 2!!

Blog the Change

Tomorrow is National Feral Cat Day so what an opportunity to talk about feral cats, community cats and TNR.

Our feral girl Allie....hard to believe we have been caring for her for over 3 years now after she had her kittens in a window well near our condo. Mom sees her more in the winter and less in the summer, but we know she is around. Our garage door stay open about 6 inches to give her access to food, water and shelter. Some would say we need to re-trap her and bring her inside. We say - she would HATE that. Why should we change her lifestyle based on our beliefs? Would we love to know she is safe all the time? Sure - but she wouldn't thrive inside....and to force her into those confines is unfair.

This is Katniss. She was dropped off near us and then caught and spayed, but wasn't being cared for at all. Luckily we have friends who care for a colony out of town and they agreed to take her. It took quite a bit of time and effort on mom's part to catch her (ferals get trap savvy pretty quickly) but she was caught and moved. We don't recommend this for all ferals - it is better to release them where they are familiar with their own territory. But for her safety, it was decided to move her. She adjusted (eventually) and can now be seen integrated into the colony.

You will find some articles that state that feral cats are "bad for the environment". What they don't tell you is that all their "science" is based on one article - and it is bad science. The World Animal Foundation just published an article that disputes the original information...something feral advocates have been doing for years.

You can find out more about ferals from several places - we recommend Alley Cat Allies and Vox Felina. Mom has argued with our condo association and did manage to get them to back off. One man wanted to bring in "someone" to "get rid off those cats". Mom explained that extermination doesn't fix the problem. And that the cost of bringing someone in to do that certainly didn't seem a good use of her condo fees. Granted, while they let the people inclined to help continue to do so, they haven't put forth any effort of their own to help. But at least they aren't impeding the process.

In short, look around you. There are cats out there living in your community. Some of them are truly feral - living with a certain fear of people. Some are community cats - left to fend for themselves by people who once said they would protect them. Both groups deserve support and respect. Educate yourself and your neighbors. Spay and Neuter!! TNR and ear tip.

Blog the Change

We wanted to talk about how hard it can be sometimes for the public to understand why the rescue responds the way it does at times. When mom does an adoption, she will give adopters the rescue information and remind them that the main number is a cell phone - and the rescue can get upwards of 200-250 calls PER DAY. Leave voicemail and someone will get back to you but it may take 24 hours. Mom will give people adopting our fosters OUR information.

Of those phone calls, the majority are people asking for help. Or more to the point, "telling" the rescue that they can't keep their pets and have to leave them with the rescue. It can be exceedingly frustrating. And remember...the main goal of our rescue is TNR. The head of the rescue is very reluctant to take owner surrender animals (unless they are previous adoptions). She will make suggestions and give ideas and try to educate, but it doesn't always work.

And then you get calls like the rescue got last week. A neighbor noticed cats wandering near a house where the people had recently moved out. The cats were getting skinnier and skinnier and the lady knew she had to do something. She contacted several groups and said our rescue was the one that called her back. Volunteers went out and it was a disaster. The house was trashed. There were cats inside and out. Some already dead. Some in VERY bad shape. Some were feral as well. Luckily the neighbor that reached out agreed to help with the ferals, so they were medical checked, spayed/neutered and returned to the neighborhood. The rest are now in our care - about 30 to 40 cats. In this case, the news was also contacted and came out to do a story...which will hopefully help bring in some donations and adoptions. (we can't imbed the story, but you can see it by clicking here)

Which leads us to change.....what can YOU do?? Step up...volunteer, get involved in TNR, foster, educate or donate (or all of them).

The first step to change we believe is TNR - control the population and the rest gets a little easier.

Allie - our feral girl

caught - and not happy about it

but spayed, released and cared for

thanks for your support

wordy Wednesday

Can you believe it was June 2012 that mom first saw Allie (our feral girl) and caught the alcohol kittens??  (for their first post, click here)

At the time Allie was spayed, the vet aged her about 2 years old, which would make her about 5 years old now. For a feral, that is pretty good. We do what we can for her...keep an eye out, leave the garage door up a crack for her to get to food, water and shelter. There are even some toys in the garage (we know someone is playing - those toys move around). And while we wish we could wrap her up and find her a home and everything, she truly is feral. Mom can get within about 4 feet of Allie before she takes off. Even when she was crated with her kittens, Allie made it VERY clear to mom that she wasn't happy about the situation.

But Allie is spayed and she has safety and food. One of our neighbors has a shelter set up for her too and puts food out as well. And the neighbor said that she has seen Allie lounging under another neighbor's dryer vent in the winter. Resourceful our girl.....

We aren't sure how far Allie roams. And especially when the weather gets nice, mom doesn't see her as often. A couple of weeks ago, mom had seen her on a Monday morning. On Tuesday evening, mom drove to the shelter to volunteer and there was a cat on the side of the road that had been hit by a car and obviously died from it. Mom was almost sure it was Allie. But she couldn't bring herself to go check more closely. Mom said that just wasn't the image she wanted in her head of our girl. We were heartbroken....but we also knew that locking Allie in a house was never an option.

Well, that Saturday evening, mom ran an errand, and there was Allie - sitting just like she is above...across from our garage, waiting for mom to get out of the way. Mom was stunned. And while we hope the black cat mom saw along the road didn't suffer, we are glad it wasn't Allie.

We know she won't live forever.....none of us do. And life for a feral cat is even harder. Though with her being 5 years old now, she certainly has to be street smarter than most. We will continue to provide her with what we can.  Mom has sat in the garage before and talked to Allie, but Allie makes no indication that she is going to give mom a chance to get too close.

For anyone who loves a feral, you understand. And we certainly don't ever want to discourage anyone from getting involved in TNR and caring for colony cats. It can be incredibly rewarding.....and getting them spayed and neutered cuts down on fights and disease and overpopulation.