National Feral Cat Day.....

Today is National Feral Cat Day started by Alley Cat Allies.

The rescue we work with started out doing TNR as their main goal....and while they do adoptions and rescues, their main purpose is still very much TNR. From helping those that request help to going into neighborhoods (they are working in a trailer park right now) to help out, there are many trappers and colony care takers in this group. One couple takes care of two colonys and feeds about 100 pounds of food per month. All of the cats are fixed and vaccinated - and they can track new cats and make sure they see if any of the current colony needs medical care. The rescue helps with their expenses as much as possible, but they cover a lot themselves as well. It is an act of love.....  If you go to the rescue's facebook page, you can even vote for your favorite feral cat house as part of a contest they are having. :)

Of course, for us, this is personal.....  our baby Bug was found as a tiny kitten born to a feral mom and abandoned - but raised as a bottle baby and then adopted.

Of course, the great Junior was trapped later that summer and now lives with us.

Junior checking out the tiny kid in baby jail

In our neighborhood, mom and the neighbor lady (on their own) TNR'd 6 adults and trapped an additional 5 kittens (the memorial kittens) after Junior and Bug.

Grace and Audrey

Jimmy Stewart

Annie (or Oakley) either the kittens mom or aunt

 Blackie (not the daddy but a big boy hanging around with his girls)

And of course, there is our Allie girl that gave us the alcohol kittens and after being spayed, ear tipped and released, lives in our garage.

So, how can you help?  Support a local TNR group....either with your time or donations. Honestly, there is a great satisfaction to putting out a trap and coming back to find a cat in it and helping to stop overpopulation (mom still does her happy dance when it happens). Can't do that? Consider donating money or old towels/sheets (to cover traps), food or even live traps (check your local farm stores - you can find them on sale sometimes). Any little bit helps. And contact your local humane agency and let them know that your support TNR - not trap and kill (which a lot of communities are still doing). And for fun, you can follow the Spartanburg Animal Services in South Carolina on facebook....they are being a great example of animal control being feral friendly!!!

weekend wrapup....

Mom went away for the weekend and left us (in the capable hands of the pet sitter)!!!

She spent the weekend with her parents in Tennessee and got to see her brother, sister-in-law and the kid. They went to a festival on Saturday.

Sunday they celebrated her sister-in-law's birthday:

Then she went with her parents to check out houses in the area. Grandma and Grandpa are building their house and looking at others for ideas.

Mom was coming home on Monday. But she stopped to visit:

The QUEEN of Tennessee

Yep....mom stopped to visit Katie Isabella and her mom!!! They are both very sweet and Katie kissed mom's fingers so we guess she is allowed back in the state. Mom says she knew she had found the right place when she saw Katie sitting in the front door.

And then on the way home she picked up Sugar:

Sugar is a 9 year old Cocker Spaniel that was turned into a shelter in Tennessee. A rescue in our home town agreed to take her and since mom was driving back her, she brought Sugar with her. She was very sweet and a great car rider.

Sorry....

No regular post today.

Mom is meeting with royalty and hanging out with a dog. More on that tomorrow.

We may kitten news by the end of the week too.

How's that for a cliffhanger??

Random Fridays.....

We are hoping to have a quiet weekend. And doing lots of this.......

Though rumor has it there may some manicuring going on. It seems someone:

 was sitting on mom the other day and went she went to dislodge him, he stabbed her. In the ear. And drew blood.

Yep....that will get you in trouble!!  MOL

We hope you all have a nice quiet window-whiffin weekend!!!

tock-tober

Some big orange tocks:

Uncle Tim tocks and fuzzy Oliver tocks:

And Goose has a story about his tocks:

So you remember that mom bought us this new tunnel right?

Well she left the ties on in case she wants to collapse it. The other night, Goose was playing with the ties, grabbed one and ran.....and the tunnel followed him!!!  And then he ran in a circle and it swung around and bonked him on the butt. He was so startled he shot straight up in the air and then straight under the sofa.  Mom laughed so hard she almost fell out of her chair.

Goose braved up a little and stuck his head out from under the sofa - Oliver and Maverick were there staring at him. :)  And then, as Goose was about to come out, Mozart (on the other side of the room) walked into the tunnel. It made the crinkly noise and Goose was back under the sofa.

Fortunately he wasn't scarred for life as he was playing with the tunnel the next day.

Wordless Wednesday..... Goose and Maverick style

Toesday....

Sometimes we like to dangle our toes....

Goose

Maverick

 Amelia - the Dust Bunny

Sometimes we just stick them out

Oliver and Tim

(man, those kittens love them some Uncle Tim)

Mozart

Weekend update....

Saturday was pretty slow.....mom did laundry and got groceries (YEAH more cat food). Then those boys in green played on tv with a football. And they won!! That always makes mom happy. She went out that night to meet our friend Miss Kelly for dinner and coffee. She said you have to MAKE time for friends....and they had a nice visit.

We thought Goose and Maverick had the right idea and spent most of Saturday snoozing. It hasn't been hot, but it has been muggy and rainy here, so closed windows still. sigh.....

Jake and Elwood and Amelia (dust bunny) went to the  v-e-t on Friday. They just can't shake the eyeball booger and poor Elwood was so bad that an eye was sealed shut (and the vet tech took a picture - how rude is that?). They are now on meds for 30 days!!! sheesh.....  But we do feel bad - Amelia seems to be feeling ok but we can tell the blues brothers just don't feel good. They are just laying around a lot.

Sunday was the adoption event at Petco. Amelia isn't ready to be adopted yet, but mom took her for the cute factor. If you look close, she is missing her eyebrows.....mom was cleaning the snot off her face and the fur came off. Oops.....

From Petco mom took Amelia to a dog festival. One of her friends was supposed to be there with her new pet care business but ended up not going. But Amelia was a big hit....mom heard "wait that's not a dog" several times. MOL

She then dropped off donations at the rescue adoption center. As you can see, Amelia was pretty worn out by than and passed out. She recovered though and spent Sunday night running around with Goose and Maverick and Oliver.

Random Fridays.....and a BIRTHDAY

This is Gryff. He lives at the vet our rescue uses. There are 3 cats that live there....Gryff, McGee (a solid gray male) and Raven (short hair black male). Not sure how Gryff and McGee got there, but Raven showed up one day and let himself in. They are "sorta" looking for a home for Raven. Gryff though cracks mom up.....he is a BIG boy - all 26 pounds of him. Mom asked the tech if it is hard to talk to clients about overweight cats when Gryff is sleeping in the lobby. He laughed.
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It really is too bad that Elwood can't learn to relax.  He sleeps on the top level of the cat tree most nights and mom laughs when she discovers parts sticking over the edge (the other night she thought his head was hanging off but it was his back feet).
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIM AND TOM!!!!

The boys are 10 years old....and don't act like it at all!!!

This was the first pair of siblings in the hosue and it has been interesting to see their relationship. Mom has said all along that kittens are better in pairs, but she can now tell people that siblings keep their close relationship (they have lived with us for 8 years).

you snooze you lose....

That ESSS gets some serious use. The adults love to scratch is and the kittens snooze in it. Miss Amelia - the Dust Bunny - fits right in the curve.  :)

However, Miss Amelia got up and left.

So Goose decided to use it.

So the Dust Bunny decided to sleep on the track ball toy and stare at Goose.

Seems Goose isn't too intimiated....though he did get interested in the football game on the TV.

Wordless Wednesday.....

Opt to Adopt.....

This is Petra - a 4 month old kitten at the shelter were mom volunteers.

She is super sweet, kind of tiny and sooooo soft!!!

Our friend JaneA wrote a great article on Catster about an ASPCA study about length of stay in shelters and reasons for adoptions. But it turns out their "black is not an issue" statement is based on dogs....while we think black dogs languish in shelters too, a lot of them are labs which is one of the most popular breed of dogs in the US.

Mom has volunteered long enough to say that yes - black animals DO take longer to get adopted. Not always, but is there is a litter of multi-colored kittens and black kittens, the other colors go first.

If the ASPCA wants to do an accurate study, here is mom's idea: find some open admission shelters that will share their numbers. Take the total intake and separate out by color (most shelters now use software that will let you do this easily enough). Then figure out the percent - of the total animals coming in, what percent is what color. Of those animals, how many make it to the adoption floor? What is the length of stay?  THEN tell us that black cats don't spend longer in shelters.

Of course, mom says she tells people to pick by personality (though she was thrilled one night when a family came in and said they wanted the "right" cat but wanted a black one).

Weekend wrap up....

Mom doesn't get updates all the time from the shelter, but it appears that Orbit was adopted on Friday night. So the last of the space kittens has been adopted and mom doesn't have to worry about fosters over there at the shelter.

Mom got to play with her on Thursday night - she was having a blast running around with another kitten named Petra.
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Another Saturday another transport:

Allie is a senior girl on her way to a foster home. She is an aussie mix and was a great traveler.
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Most of the kittens seem to be feeling better. Once there are adoptions at Petco someone will move up there. But poor Jake seems to be worse. Everyone is still on meds so hopefully Jake will be better in a couple more days. He is still eating and everything so mom isn't too worried about that, but he did spend most of the weekend laying around - even better if he could find some sun to bake in.

Mom does wonder if sleeping with his nose in the carpet isn't helping the situation.....

Opt to Adopt.....

Random Friday.....

Mom was reading all the Remember Me Thursday post yesterday. It was wonderful to see the support for the movement. But even more than that, it was a good reminder to mom and to us that there are SO MANY people out there who want the same things we do. Another reason we love being part of this community.

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Goose Maverick and Oliver (the fuzzy guy) checking out that trackball

Goose looks like he is snoopervising Maverick's inspection

How many monkeys can you fit in the cat tree??

Apparently at least four - mom didn't notice Maverick down below

until she loaded the picture. MOL

Middle shelf: Amelia (Dust Bunny), Goose and Oliver

no one does disdain quite like a kitten - MOL

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We could use some purrs sent to our cousin Max.

Mom's brother called her the other night asking about some dental issues that Max was having. Mom said it was time to see a vet. Mom's sister-in-law (Max's mom since before she married mom's brother) sent her a text on Thursday and said they had been into the vet and got a diagnosis of cancer. Due to his age (he is about 16 years old) and the location, there isn't much they can do but keep him comfortable. He wasn't eating much but they discovered he will eat deli turkey. They are going to keep feeding him whatever he wants and give him all the love he can stand for whatever time they have.