It Takes a Village (of Cat Houses)

Straw, plastic totes, pallets, boards.  These are the materials I played around with this weekend.  I had to begin getting the shelters that I have scattered around the Beechwood section of Rochester set and ready for the upcoming months of COLD and SNOWY weather.  Its not like I don't like (dare I say the word...  WINTER), I really do love all the months we have, but its the cats that are homeless out there that don't like it.  And I will spend the next few months laying in bed thinking about them, especially during the snow storms.  Are other people as crazy as I am?  But I do my best to make the 70+ cats that I see, and feed each day, as comfortable as possible.  And by that I have to build shelters that will house at least 8 cats.  AND be able to hold their food free from the snow.  Every winter, during or after snow storms, I bring my trusty shovel with me to shovel paths leading from the road or sidewalk, to the shelters so that they can either enter or exit them, and dig out their feed spots in some cases.  During storms, you can't keep all the snow out.  That's why I also rely on tarps, cement blocks, anything to keep the tarps down during the windstorms we get.

I really do need more shelters.  I am figuring that I would need 10 more if I could get my hands on them.  Sunday Sheryl is building two more for me out of plastic totes donated to me by June and Gary.  She is very clever with her shelter building, and she spray paints them to blend into the darkness, to keep the hooligans away from trashing them.  She also lines them with Styrofoam.  You would be surprised though, you don't find too many kitties huddled in one tote, that is why you need multiple.  At each of my 18? locations I go to each morning, there are an AVERAGE of five cats.  Each one needs a hut.  At Melville, there are at least three baby kittens, and only three shelters there.  There are at least four adults.  I need more shelters.

This weekend, Petunia went to her new home.  What a lovely family she went to.  And thank God for her foster family.  I don't know how lucky I was to have a total stranger offer to foster.  And guess what, their little girl, as she cuddled Petunia to say goodbye to her, said to me 'can we get another?' which her mom confirmed that they would like to foster another kitty.  This means I can rescue another needy cat from the street.  There are so many to choose from.  Here are pics taken this morning of some of these babies.

Don't forget to click on the pic to zoom in:

I also went to visit Princess and her new digs.  She has a wonderful new mom too.  Princess was the last rescue I made on Parsells about two weeks ago.  She is a young kitty, not even 1 year old, and had a terrible upper respiratory.  I had her spayed, treated for URI, and off she went to her new home.  Her mom admits she is lonely, so we may be getting Princess a brother to play with!  :) Fingers crossed!  :) 

All in all, it was a good weekend and much was done.  Thank you to everyone who has dropped off things for me on my porch, and thank you to those that have donated in any possible way.  I do have a balance at the clinic ($36)? and have TNR Tuesday tomorrow.  I think I saw a pregnant kitten on 7th Street.  I also saw a very beautiful Calico on Parsells.  I caught her coming out of a shelter I placed on this porch there.  I don't believe she is fixed.   This will cost me another $100 tomorrow for both cats.  It would be nice for the city to pay for these TNRs but in the meantime, if anyone would like to donate towards this cause, please feel free to at 585-288-0600.  My thanks to you in advance. 

Have a great day!

"If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap.’

If you want happiness for a day —

go fishing.

If you want happiness for a year — inherit a fortune.

If you want happiness for a lifetime — help someone else.”