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We had almost all
the cats fixed in 2007, but a few new ones
just showed up... A couple females, which
turned out to be pregnant... and a couple
new young ones, from who knows where......
The females, one siamese mix, and
one grey with with white feet both
had three kittens... The females were
impossible to trap! (as for Sir Ocelot...)
We eventually had to build a drop-box trap
and january 2008 we finally caught all the
"regulars".the females and their
kittens!.. We just need Sir Ocelot
but he is just too smart for us... Just
the smell of a trap and he is gone!
Blackie
Boy was in our home for a little while
in December... He showed up one day at the
office with the side of his head swollen
and he was very listless... We brought him
to the vet who said perhaps a dog had
bitten him, and he needed surgery... He
had a terrible infection. Surgery
(>$500) went fine but we needed to
bring him home and keep his wound open and
clean... for over a month until everything
was healed. The vet said that the wound
actually looked more like a gunshot than a
dog bite! It just amazes me. How can
people be so terrible?!!
Blackie Boy healed just fine... and
although we considered adding him to our
indoor managerie at home, we knew he was
happier at the office. At home, a couple
of our cats didn't accept him, and always
chased him under the bed, or cornered him
then sat and growled at him. Back at the
office he was free to run and gets along
with pretty much all the cats. (Although
likes to Bully most...) He is very healthy
and happy now again.
If anyone wants
to and is able to donate $$ to help offset
vet bills or just help pay for food , or
if someone wins the lottery and can buy a
couple acres to create a cat sanctuary,
where all cats would be safe.......it
would be greatfully welcome!
Felix, one of
the youngest at our colony, showed up with
a cut and infection at his mouth, in
March. We had him cleaned up at the vet ,
(they shave the spot, and flush out the
wound, and check for deeper problems.) The
vet said he had a puncture wound, either
from a piece of wood, or wire, or another
cat , which went all the way through his
lip inside his mouth.They put him on
antibiotics and instructed us to keep him
in a clean place while it healed, and to
actually keep the wound open, so it could
drain. So the guest bedroom at our house
was his. We also brought Trouble,
his sister and bestfriend, to keep him
company. They were still young enough that
our adult cats didn't mind them very
much... except, funny thing, a couple days
of getting along great, all of a sudden,
Trouble got scared of Shaggy!Something
made her run and hide... and wouldn't come
out of hiding if he were around. He is
BIG. And perhaps she just realized
this...
This same week,
Pumpkin moved in with us... Another
best friend of Felix and
Trouble so after a couple days,
and Trouble not happy at the house
anymore, we brought her back to the
office. Pumpkin and Felix played a lot,
then Felix healed fine, and we
returned him to the office a few days
later.
.
When Pumpkin, one of the new
"WALK INS",
was fixed, the vet said he had a polip in
his ear that needed to be removed... It
was undoubtedly uncomfortable for the cat,
and bothering his hearing, plus could be
cancerous... SO we made an appointment.
When the vet tried to remove it, which is
usually a quick easy procedure, he had
trouble finding the end of the polip... It
went way inside his ear canal! It must
have been very uncomfortable! The vet got
it removed (biggest polip he ever saw!)
and left a hole deep inside his ear... so
we had to bring him home with us.... to
keep it clean.
It wasn't cancerous, from what they
removed, but it most likely will grow
back, and if any dirt gets trapped in his
ear could be very dangerous for him....
Well, amazingly, Pumpkin got along
with ALL our cats at home! So he became
number 11!
Baby Girl,
our smallest cat, (who was an office
colony cat too) chases all newcomers, but
when she chased Pumpkin he just
stopped and gave her a look, like "what's
up with you!" She still tries to pick a
fight with him, now and then, but he
mostly ignores her. She does still bother
Orangie though... He was an office
colony cat whom we adopted in October 2007
(birthday present for Shaun...)
He had been trapped by the DLNR, twice
inside a wildlife sanctuary, and given to
the humane society. Since his ear was
clipped and tatooed they knew he was from
our colony. BUT, if he is caught a third
time they just kill him! After the second
time we couldn't release him at the
office, and risk him being caught again.,
so we had the humane society put him up
for adoption (We had 9 cats already at our
condo, and Orangie being an adult, we knew
it would be tough to introduce him to our
cats....)
Sadly, there are so many cats in shelters
that getting an adult cat adopted is
rather hard... He was there a month. I
visited him several times. He and and all
the other cats were always just laying
there..... bored, depressed..... When I
would get there, I would say
"Orangie" and he would look up,
MEOW, and run to me! We played a little,
and I played with the other cats... but I
had to eventually leave... It is SO like a
prison there! Please, visit any humane
society near you.... play with the
animals, bring them toys.... If you adopt
an animal get one (two ) from there!
Never, ever, get a pure breed or one from
a pet store! There are thousands upon
thousands of dogs and cats "put to sleep",
aka killed, because no one adopted them!
At the same time there are thousands of
cats and dogs breed for sale, with mothers
kept in cages their whole life, as
breeding machines..... Almost all of their
offspring have genetic problems, or will
develop problems, because of all the
inbreeding.... It is a terrible terrible
industry!
People need to look at what's best for the
animals and not only look at them as
"something" for the kids, or a deterant to
burglers. These are living creatures with
feelings. We should all adopt no less than
two, (unless it is known the animal wants
to be alone.) Most animals are like
humans... they need friends... someone to
play with, and keep them company... They
are less likely to chew on your shoes,
too, if they have a friend...
We adopted Orangie and he gets
along fine for the most part! And now
Pumpkin and Orangie are best
friends. They play a lot and
Orangie even gives Pumpkin
baths!.
Laptop showed
up in April with a hole in his neck which
was badly infected. We brought him to the
vet who cleaned it out and put him on
antibiotics. He stayed in our guest
bedroom for about a week, to keep it
clean, but then we released him back by
the office.
Bunny and
Boots also showed up with
infections on their faces that same
week! Boots healed fine but
Bunny was super skinny, and very
dirty! She wasn't eating or cleaning
herself... She had a rip and infection
next to her mouth, which, perhaps made it
too painful to eat and clean herself. We
brought her to the vet who put fluids
under her skin, and gave her a vitamin B12
shot, which stimulates eating. The vet
knew holistic care also and knew a spot,
on the nose, that when tapped gently would
also stimulate appitite! And it worked!
She actually got Bunny to eat
something right there, at the vet!
Bunny and Laptop shared the
guest bedroom for awhile. Bunny
healed, and was even becoming playful,
which is rare for her even at the office!
I felt bad bringing her back to the
office, she finally seemed happy. But
after a couple days back, she ended her
depression and seems happy again, choosing
to stay inside more than before....
Laptop showed
up now again, in May with another hole in
his neck! We brought him back to the vet,
who said perhaps it is a new injury, or
the old one only seemed to be healed on
the outside but was still infected on the
inside. So he is back in the guest
bedroom, and on more antibiotics... Make
sure he gets ALL the antibiotics.
We found one
cat hit by a car, in February, and believe
it was the big orange and white, unfixed,
male from the back...
We haven't seen
Tabletop or the "new" young grey
Tabby with white feet,Sox, who
showed up around the same time as
Pumpkin, Fall 2007 nor have we seen
Sister Oscar in several
months....
July 4th we got a
call from our recycling truck driver....
who found four kittens in a
dumpster!!!
We tried calling the humane society, but
they wouldn't answer, and never returned
my call... So I went out and, with the
help of the driver, we were able to trap
four very wild and scared kittens from the
trash!
I brought them back
to the office... bought a huge cage for
them and some kitten food....
They didn't want anything to do with
humans!
One week later the driver found another
kitten in the same dumpster! So I went and
got that one too... The humane Society
didn't want any kittens that were wild and
in need of fostering... they would have
killed them... So we ended up keeping
them. I brought them to the vet.... All
were fairly healthy, no major problems,
other than fleas and worms..... We needed
to keep them quarentined for a month, to
make sure they didn't have anything
contageous.... so we brought them to our
apartment.... in our guest bedrooom,
seperate from our other 11 cats....
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