Life is Amazing

Our little teeny kittens are thriving! Thanks entirely to their foster mom Liz who has been bottle feeding them every 4 hours for the past two weeks. Yes. Every 4 hours, around the clock for the last two weeks. Due to her diligence these two little beings are progressing into the hysterically funny stages of kitten development. Here are a couple of photos from Tuesday (they are about 3 weeks old in these pictures.)

From Sleepy and Sedate...

 

 

 

 

To WILD and CRAZY!!

 

The word Friday was that they are now starting to play with each other and finally able to stand and keep their bellies off the ground :)  Amazing what a difference a couple of days can make, since when these photos were taken they couldn't even right themselves if they tumbled onto their backs in their snuggly carrier!

Sure is a far cry from mewing and tumbling around under a shrub in the yard of a vacant house.  I'm reminded of one of my favorite sayings, "It's always darkest before the dawn." - thanks for the reminder Kitties...

 

A New Name

So I've renamed this blog - The (Un)Willing Cat Angel.  Because despite my claims of being unwilling, apparently I AM willing.  I think that the un part comes from times like Glencairn and from not knowing where the money will come from, or who would take the teeny kittens that need to be bottle fed, or what will happen to these now six kittens that I'm fostering.  I am unable to ignore their plight and therefore I am willing to do what I can.  I'm not sure why I can't quite remove the un - maybe the parantheses are a step forward.  I really wish that my efforts weren't necessary, though I don't know that I can translate that into unwillingness. 

Every time a colony of cats finds me, they manage to open my heart - sometimes joyfully and sometimes by breaking it.  Perhaps I'm still unwilling to go about with my heart open and available for the breaking.  Trouble is, if I'm always protecting my heart it's tough to feel it at all.  Like a box with something fragile inside and lots of packing material to protect that valuable, breakable object.  What good and beauty comes from keeping that valuable, breakable, beautiful object in a box?  If we take it out, we can see it and appreciate it and it might get broken. 

I vote for unpacking the box.  How about you?

Yesterday Mourning

I trapped another black cat Wednesday evening.  He looked kind of wet and miserable since it had been raining for two days or so and despite my best efforts, the trap had gotten wet.  He overnighted in the garage and on Thursday morning, he and I went to the APL for the usual services.  While we were there and I was filling out paperwork, I uncovered the trap a little to see him and give him his name - a task which I take quite seriously.  Perhaps I'm not so much giving them names as listening for what their name is...  I usually attempt to name our cats and kittens for pets of those who have donated, or something about them that sounds like a cat name, to me :)

I struggled with naming this character and as I pondered, I petted him in the trap.  He was very quiet and calm despite the relative chaos of the TNR drop-off room - people coming and going, talking and moving around, cats everywhere in traps and carriers (probably 30 or so), meowing, scratching and the occasional hiss...  He was so calm.  I thought perhaps he is tame.  His right eye was very goopy and didn't look good, though that isn't too uncommon with feral cats and often can be cleared up with a short course of medication.  Hmmm....okay, I guess I can keep him a couple of days if he needs some meds.  So I told Sara (the TNR Coordinator) to have the vet give her recommendation and prescribe whatever she suspected would help him.  What's one more, right?? :)  Sara wondered, "What's up with his feet?", I told her they look wet, he was out in the rain, I guess he's pretty uncomfortable...

After I left I went home which is unusual.  I was having a cup of tea and my breakfast when my cell phone rang - the APL - why are they calling?  I picked up and was speaking with a vet, not usually a good sign.  The doctor had Glencairn under anesthesia and was doing his examination.  He was in bad shape, she said.  Really bad shape.  She figured that he was blind in one eye and had massive infection in his other eye as well as in his mouth.  Also, he was thin and his feet were ulcerated and swollen and she suspected it was painful for him to walk.  So, what did I want to do?  Even as I type that my heart jumps...  She said that there was definitely a "quality of life issue" here.  She could give him a shot of long acting antibiotics and I could keep him in my garage for a few days to see if he improved....  She asked if he seemed like a happy cat in the colony, because of course, he could be getting around just fine.  I couldn't really answer that because there are so many black cats in this colony that it is tough to tell them all apart sometimes.  I had about five minutes to make my decision while he was under anesthesia.  I asked the doctor to call me back in a few minutes.

When I put down the phone, the tears came.  I know that this is what I signed up for and I still don't like it.  Archie (one of our black cats) came to me and I picked him up and hugged him...  When I asked my question, the answer was obvious.  I was hearing it all around me - "Let him go."  The doctor called back and despite my best efforts, I was teary when I told her.  She said that she knew it was hard to do and that going into winter, this was better than him starving outside in the cold.  She definitely cared about Glencairn, too.

So, one of my other black cats, Jinxie jumped up on a stool in the kitchen, which she never does and I picked her up and held her as she purred and as Glencairn passed over.  I'm happy that his last night was safe and quiet in the garage next to another cat.  I'm glad that he received some pets and his name on his last morning.  I know that he walked into that trap for a reason and I feel that he knew what he was doing.  This is what I signed up for and it's sure not easy on mournings like this.

Godspeed, Glencairn.  I'm glad to have met you...  May your rebirth be fortunate.

Exciting Numbers!

Numbers of Cats
At this point in Operation Silsby we have assisted 12 cats (and at least 2 more tomorrow) on their way to a healthier, more relaxing life.  I believe we are at Hump Day (no pun intended :) since I think we have reached about 1/2 of the colony population at this point.  I'm guessing from my spreadsheet (yes, I'm that nerdy) that we have about 25 cats and kittens in this colony. 

We have altered and re-released 6 adults (3 males and 3 females) and removed 6 kittens from the colony (4 males, 1 female, and 1 that I don't know yet :)  The teeny kittens are doing great and the four older kittens that I am fostering are making good progress (more on them in another post.)

There are 4 adult cats in the colony who have already been sterilized prior to Operation Silsby, so I think that leaves us with about 9 cats and kittens who still require our "hospitality".

In just a couple of weeks, we have prevented the birth of 2.94 MILLION cats.  A breeding pair of cats can produce 420,000 cats in only 7 years.

Numbers of Dollars
On the financial side, we have now raised approximately $750 in pledges (nearly all received). 

So we have raised about $750 and we have spent about $466 - most of that on the 4 kittens that I'm fostering who have all needed extra attention at the APL (treatment for fleas, worms, SNAP testing for feline leukemia, and tapeworm treatment) as well as the two black kittens' vet appointment and eye medications.  Soooo.....by my estimates (from my spreadsheet :), we will need about another $166 to complete Operation Silsby.  That is, assuming that no one has a bunch of kittens in the meantime...  Oh, and assuming that no one else has medical issues...  Fingers crossed.

So, if you are in a position to donate, please give us a hand, donations have ranged from canned food to $10 to $200 and every little, and big, bit helps and makes this rescue possible.  I would also love donations of litter, we use The World's Best Cat Litter (it's environmentally friendly - flushable and made from corn - as well as being safe for kittens after surgery.)  The kittens are eating Innova wet and dry cat food primarily because it is a very high quality food while they are healing and gaining weight.  I can also use stinky Friskies and other less expensive canned cat food for baiting traps.

Thank you to all who are making Operation Silsby a success!  I couldn't do it without you...

Not Much Luck...But Some...

This was really the first time I can remember going to check traps every hour or so and finding them unoccupied.  I moved them around, still no takers.  It's not good if the colony is getting trap-wise...  Wait! I realized that I was baiting the traps with Fancy Feast - hmmm....perhaps my feline friends prefer the stinky Friskies that has been irresistible to so many others.  I baited again with Friskies and went back one more time to check the two remaining traps - nada.  Well, I left them overnight to see who we might have in the morning.

I don't have pictures of the two cats that I did manage to convince to join me in my Tuesday adventure.  They are a BIG, black, fluffy cat who is NOT happy to be trapped.  He was like a bucking bronco in the cage to the point that he was making it difficult for me to carry the trap with him in it.  He is named Apollo.  Our other guest for the night at Chez Garage (pronounced ga-ra-jhay) is a highly sought after calico that I am very excited to have as a client.  She is small and I'm not sure if she's a kitten or not, it was hard to tell because she was always running away when I saw her :)  Her name is Whirly.  Calico cats are almost 100% female, so it is fantastic to catch her, hopefully before she ever has a litter.  I know she doesn't believe me right now, however, her life just got WAY easier and better...  I'll have pictures of both tomorrow.

Five More Hungry Cats

On Thursday when I was trapping, our cats must have been especially hungry. Or I have found the best time and location for trapping, one or the other. I trapped three cats that had already been spayed or neutered within only an hour or so. Once I confirmed their identities and that their ears were tipped, I opened the traps and released them and re-set the traps. I eventually ended up catching two new "clients" as well. The pictures of all are below. The first three are "mugshots" of satisfied customers and the last two pictures are of Dewey (black) and Queenie (dilute calico) who I re-released Saturday morning after their surgeries and overnighting in my garage. Both scampered off to much happier lives without worry of procreation...

Cats and Prayers

As I was scoping the yard and putting out food where the cats are hanging out and taking pictures of the cats and kittens for record keeping, they suddenly scattered and I turned and saw a human foot, in a sandal.  Uh-oh...  I always go to take pictures and trap during the day when no one is home so that I don't disturb the human residents, however, one of the owners was home on Thursday afternoon.  After apologizing (which he said was not necessary :), we had a wonderful conversation about the cats and kittens.  The felines were obviously very comfortable around their friend Stephen and he assured me that he and his wife were very concerned about the colony and had been feeding them regularly.  He said they had tried to find out what to do, however, they had not been able to reach anyone to help them come up with a plan for the colony.

Later, Janice came home and I was still on my photo safari.  We also had a chance to talk and she expressed how concerned she has been about these wonderful cats.  She also said that she had been praying and praying and praying for something to happen to help these cats.  I told her, "I must have heard you."  Funny how things work out, isn't it?

Teeny Kittens

Sorry, still no pictures.  I haven't been able to connect with Liz who is bottle feeding them.  I hope to get pictures on Monday.  These little ones are now a little over two weeks old and doing GREAT!  Liz says that their eyes are open, they are eating great and really, really cute...

Now, we need a foster home lined up for when they transition to solid food (around 3-4 weeks old.)  At that point they are still a bit young to be adopted out, though 6-8 weeks is a great time to get them in a permanent home.  Please spread the word!!

Check for pictures Monday night!

Little Ones

Well, when I went to check the traps at 6:45am this morning, I had one more surprise.  There was another kitten in a trap!

So I took all four of the kittens to the APL for altering today.  All were large enough though the orange kittens appear to be older than the black kittens by a few weeks.  Pumpkin and Rusty are about 4 months and Spook and Little One are about 14 weeks.  All four were boys.  Spook and Little One need to see the vet because of eye issues among other things.  The APL suggested that I get them to a vet tomorrow (Thursday) so that's my plan.  Little One is not very well according to their cursory inspection.  I'm feeling that his energy is strong, so I'm hopeful that will keep him alive until his body starts to heal...  Right now, three of the four are snugged in to carriers with litter boxes, food and water.  The fourth (Spook) escaped from the carrier by squeezing between the door and the carrier wall when I attempted to pet him.  He is contained in one room, though I have set a trap in that room in hopes of catching him overnight...

As soon as I put water into their carriers, Little One went straight to his bowl and took a very long drink.  I take that as a good sign!  He also went right to his small meal that I gave him while the others were much more wary.  He's a fighter that Little One is...  Fingers crossed...

Drizzly Trapping

No, not Grizzly Trapping, Drizzly Trapping.  My traps are much too small to catch a grizzly :)

I decided to trap tonight on a whim.  It was a good whim!!  When I went back to check the traps I had TWO clients in one trap.  Two of the kittens, one black and one orange - YEAH!!!  This is my current priority, since we really need to get this little ones into foster care so that they can learn the joys of human company and get homes instead of living on the streets.  The little orange kitty is quite confident and let me pet him (70% of orange tabbies are male, so odds are...) through the trap.  He even reached his adorable little nose toward my hand.  I was curious, so I opened the trap's back door partially and reached in.  He let me pet his little chin and started to purr!!  Really, he did!  So I very, very much want to find a great inside home for him.  He might still need some time to really warm up and this was a great start.  The little black kitten was more nervous and hid behind his orange friend.  These kittens are named Spook and Pumpkin after cats belonging to one of our donors.  They are currently bunking in the garage until their visit to the doctor tomorrow.

Then an hour or so later, I thought, what the heck, I'll go back and check the other traps again.  Well, good thing I did!  I had another client - the other orange kitten.  YEAH, again!  This little one was more nervous, perhaps because he didn't have a friend with him.  I put him next to the other trap in the garage and covered the traps together so that all three kittens can see each other and stay warm together too...  I'm naming this guy Rusty.  Here are their pictures from photo day last week.

 

Aren't they gorgeous?

So, I'll check the rest of the traps in the morning and see who else might be going on a road trip tomorrow.  Now, the rubber hits the road - we need foster homes and permanent homes for these kids.  Please work your networks and send us some good leads as well as good energy and happy thoughts :)

Teeny Kitten News

This sounds like a newspaper :)  The teeny little kittens are doing GREAT!  Their foster Mom is bottle feeding them about every 4 hours and says that they are doing everything they should be doing.  They have almost doubled in size (!) already, their eyes are open and they are very mobile.  I'll have pictures hopefully tomorrow or Thursday after I go to visit them.  Yeah!!  What a miracle that we found someone willing and able to do this very challenging phase of rescue.  Thank you, Liz!!

This evening when I went to set traps (more on that later) there had been changes to the yard of the vacant house.  It was dark, however, I could see that branches had been cut and piled up in the yard.  It appears that the entity who owns the house did some "winterizing" per a note on the door and I can only wince when I think that they could have been tromping around that yard last Thursday when those tiny kittens were right there barely under a shrub.  The kittens could have been stepped on (they were in the area where a bunch of branches were cut) and/or disturbed or accidentally injured.  What luck that they were found before the workpeople scheduled this house!  They certainly wouldn't have been looking for kittens on the ground and definitely would have had other issues on their minds.

I guess things worked out for the best for these two little ones (I hope).  I'm going to keep my eyes open for Number 3, in case he/she is still around with Mom...

Fluffy, Fluffy Was A Boy

Though Fluffy is not a boy any longer, however, he is back with his colony and will have a much happier life.  His surgery and re-release were uneventful and he sprinted out of the trap and back to freedom on Saturday morning.  Fluffy was sponsored by Ronan, a young man who donated some of his birthday money to help this colony of cats.  Ronan has donated birthday money to other rescue projects that I have done, too.  Thanks to youngsters like Ronan, the cats of the world can look forward to many brighter days!!

Fluffy says, "Thanks!!" - here is his picture from before his trapping experience...

Okay, so maybe Fluffy wasn't thinking, "Thanks!!", the whole time he was in the trap/neuter/return process.  Perhaps he was thinking, "What the heck???", so next time you find yourself thinking, "What the heck???" - maybe something is going on that you'll be grateful for in the long run. 

Just something to think about...

The Rest of the Story...So Far

So, yes, there are a few other cats and kittens besides the two teeny, tiny ones.  I spent all day on Operation Silsby today and much of that was spent "making friends".  I took cans of wet food and opened them and left them around the yard to encourage any and all cats and kittens to come up and get their portrait taken.  I have photographed most of the cats in this colony, I believe, and here are some of the characters... 

My goal is to have pictures to help me keep track of who is who and also to promote these lovelies to their new prospective guardians.  There are two adults who I believe are already ear-tipped (i.e., spayed or neutered) which is great news.  There might be more kittens than I originally thought, though I think that I have a pretty good handle on the colony size.  I'm guessing around 15 cats and kittens.  I have about 13 documented, though in some cases, I'm still trying to figure out which black or orange cat/kitten I'm looking at :)

Fluffy, is the other cat who was in a trap and is still in the trap, to go to the APL tomorrow morning.  I brought the teeny kittens over to Fluffy in the trap to see if Fluffy might be Mom.  Fluffy looked at the kittens and me as if I had three heads and they did too.  So, I'm thinking Fluffy might not be Mom.  I get "boy vibes" from Fluffy, so we'll find out tomorrow if I have good "cat-dar" or not.

I will be away from Friday evening until late Sunday night, so friend-making and trapping will resume next week.  Every time I get involved in a cat rescue I wonder, and say, "Why do I do this?  Why??"  And then I remember why... 

Kitten Update

Well, after a very challenging day of checking on the two remaining kittens (the whereabouts of the third kitten is still unknown), I decided to bring them in.  I had been checking in on them approximately every hour and had given the mama a number of opportunities to move them if she intended to.  Whether or not she was too scared to do so, couldn't for some reason, or perhaps they had been abandoned, I'll probably never know.  When I saw flies beginning to land on the kittens and they were crying a lot and moving out into the open, I picked them up and carried them home using my t-shirt as a basket.  They calmed down as soon as I cuddled them into my shirt.  When we got home, the whole house was thrown into chaos by the two, tiny, squalling infants.  My cats were freaking out and Allie didn't know if they were the best squeaky toys ever or her "charges" to watch over.  They were VERY active and I eventually had to put them in a cat carrier to keep them from crawling away or falling off of whatever I tried to put them on temporarily.  They settled into their digs and napped a bit on their towel bed in their "room".

As I was walking home with the kittens an experienced rescue person that I had called, returned my call and said that, yes, she would take the kittens in and bottle feed them.  Wow.  As soon as I committed to the kittens, my need was answered - something for me to ponder...    I spoke with many people today, some of whom do not even know me.  The fact that I was given a lead to call someone who might know someone who might be able to help and somehow it all came together is nothing short of a miracle.  To all my new, and previous, friends who helped today - the biggest thank you isn't even enough...

I drove the kittens to their new person this evening and stayed for an hour or so to learn a bit about bottle feeding youngsters.  I also took a turn at feeding them and it was so rewarding when the bigger of the two figured out how to get milk from the little tiny bottle I was encouraging him to drink from.

So, for now, they are safe, warm, and fed.  Their odds are still long, since even expert bottle feeding cannot compete with a Mama kitty's care.  These kittens will need to be fed about every 4 hours and will also need their belly's massaged in order to eliminate waste.  This is a huge commitment and I'm very aware that many people take on this resonsibility every day for no compensation and, often, no appreciation - just because they can help to save a life.  Please take a moment to thank anyone and everyone you know who does any kind of rescue work - it's all heart and it's not easy.

Today's News

A stressful day. I released the spayed and neutered cats without incident, however, as I was feeding and taking pictures of cats and kittens I began to hear sounds. I followed the sounds. I found three tiny kittens in the yard of the vacant house. I watched them on and off for the next hour and a half or so. When I went back over to that yard, there were only two. They appear to be too young for one to have wandered off, so perhaps Mama moved one and was coming back for the others. I checked on them an hour ago and there were still two kittens there. The other complication is that I have trapped two adult cats today (by accident, I was hoping for the kittens who were hanging around eating wet food.) So I don't know if one of these is the Mom... I released one cat (not yet altered) hoping s/he was the Mom, however, I have not yet checked to see if she has moved the kittens. I now have to decide whether to release the other cat that I have in a trap (not yet altered) in case s/he might be the Mom.

Any help would be very much appreciated. Ideally, Mom comes and moves the kittens all to one safe place. In absence of that, we'll need to find someone who can bottle feed the kittens (I'm in a workshop for the next three days and unavailable) or a lactating mother cat who can adopt the kittens.

Second Day and Night

This morning I had two additional clients in two of the three traps that I had left out overnight, so this morning at about 6:45am, we all loaded into the Civic and I headed to yoga. From yoga I went to the APL and YEAH!! they had room for three more. So, this evening I picked up Cairo (all black female adult, lactating :( and Blaze, pale orange tabby male with a big white...blaze and Kismet, our very pretty dilute calico (girl). All are overnighting under cover and hopefully toasty warm in our garage for the night and tomorrow I'll be releasing them - unless anyone can take them in to foster.

All three of them let me pet them in their cages which is quite unusual. I think that all of them could be tamed quite quickly. I'll have pictures attached tomorrow morning - it was too dark this evening to get their photos...

So, three down and a bunch to go... Just remember that a pair of unaltered cats (and their offspring and accounting for mortality rates) can create 420,000 cats in only 7 years - so already we have prevented the birth of 630,000 kittens!

Thank you to Everyone, I'm off to get some sleep now... Please consider adding one of these gorgeous cats to your home - they are all in quite good condition and really lovely...

First Night

Well, we're off and running. I trapped for the first time tonight and have one young black cat overnighting in a trap in my garage, so far. I'll see who else I might have in the morning when I check... It's off to the APL in the morning (I'm hoping they have room for walk-ins :)

Fingers crossed!! Thanks to Everyone for all the help and support. Please spread the word about these cats and kittens since we'll be needing foster and permanent homes very soon.

 

Great News for Operation Silsby!

This is just a quick update on Operation Silsby since I am still in New York on vacation for one more day. I had a GREAT conversation this evening with the man who lives in house where the cats are spending much of their time. He and his wife (Stephen and Janice) are animal lovers and are willing to help feed the cats in preparation for their capture and surgeries and they are also willing to help with maintaining the colony once we get the kittens and any social cats on to homes or rescue groups. YEAH!! Stephen also told me the approximate number of cats and kittens and that there is a young couple a few houses down who caught some kittens last year and found homes for them AND TNR'd a few adults, too. YEAH! Another partner for our project... The husband of this young couple is a soldier who is overseas in Afghanistan right now, according to Stephen, so I'll be sending some prayers that way as well...

I made appointments at the APL for September 25th and 27th (the earliest ones that I could get) and that gives us a few weeks to socialize cats and catch the kittens. The kittens need to be caught as soon as possible to give us the best chance of socializing them into wonderful, friendly, loving kitties.

We also have approximately $200 pledged (I have to update my spreadsheet to give you the exact numbers) and that should get us pretty far into stabilizing this colony. I'm guessing that there are about 15-ish cats and kittens total and I'm really praying that there are no more mamas-to-be. A HUGE thank you to Everyone who has donated so far - whether you've donated dollars, traps, good energy, cat food, or anything else!! Donations can be sent to me at 3245 Silsby Rd., Cleveland Heights, OH 44118...

Take care, Everyone! I will keep you all updated on the socialization progress and please spread the word about these cats and kittens since we'll be looking for homes. Stephen told me that one of the cats comes up and rubs on his legs :)

First Reconnaissance Mission

Happy Rainy Monday (to those in Cleveland)! Happy Regular Monday to those who live elsewhere...

After my initial scouting mission today (in the rain, of course) we have a few more cats than I initially saw. Big surprise there :) So, we have at least 10 cats in need of assistance at this time, 3 that appear to be adults, 4 young kittens (about 7 weeks) and 3 "teenagers" probably between 6-10 months old. I have started a spreadsheet, of course, to track all these characters and have begun the naming process, too... So far we have $90 pledged to help the cats of Operation Silsby and with donations comes naming opportunities. If you have made a donation, feel free to send me names and which cat you'd like to sponsor too. Here are our critters, so far...

fluffy black adult (~ 1 year)

short hair orange tabby kitten #1 (~7 weeks)

short hair black youngster (~6 months)

short hair orange tabby kitten #2 (~7 weeks)

short hair black kitten #1 (~7 weeks)

short hair brown tabby adult (~1 year)

short hair orange tabby teenager with big white blaze (~8 months)

short hair black kitten #2 (~7 weeks)

short hair dilute calico - very pretty! - adult (~1 year)

short hair black teenager (~ 8 months)

I'll hopefully have some pictures soon. I need to make contact with the owners of the house where I saw them in order to proceed, so wish me luck (they were not home today when I knocked.) I have borrowed three traps to help catch this crew though we could still use a few more as well as donations of canned cat food for baiting traps and making friends, $$ towards spay/neuter/shot bills and any physical assistance that anyone would like to offer - oh yeah, and foster and permanent homes :) Many, many thanks to those who have donated already!!

 

Halloween Comes Early to Silsby Rd.

It's only August! How could Halloween come early, you ask?? Two days ago I saw two black kittens and two orange kittens as well as a black young adult cat a few houses from my house on Silsby Rd. Halloween has come early...

So, of course, I need to catch these little ones if I can and help them on their way in life. If you can assist in any way, I would very much appreciate it. It will cost $10 to get each of these little free spirits spayed or neutered and given basic shots as well as the costs to foster them until they find adoptive homes (hopefully there aren't more out there - yikes!). These kittens are so young that they should tame pretty easily and quickly, so I would VERY much prefer to find them homes instead of putting them back outside. PLEASE pass the word...

If you can volunteer to foster a kitten or two, send a few dollars to help defray the cost of their care or if you could consider opening your home to one or more, the Ark on Silsby would be forever grateful. I am a HUGE fan of black cats and know several people who say that black and orange cats both have especially neat personalities and tame more readily than some other flavors of cats. You won't be sorry if you open your home to one of these beings.

Cats symbolize magic in some cultures, so add a little magic to your life!