Two Hours

It was brutal out this morning.  I try not to speak negatively about what I do, I always try to remain positive.  But when you are shoveling out shelters, day after day - two day in a row to be exact - it tends to wear down on you.  Today, I shoveled out shelters that were covered with new snow since I left them yesterday morning.  We got at least another 4-5 inches.  The winds picked up in the afternoon and kicked that snow around to create drifts that were past my knees.  Its hard walking to the back of city fields when the paths you created since the last storm are covered over, and you have to create new ones the very next day.  Brutal.  And the cats have to crawl through it as well.  

The weatherman says we’ve had over 100 inches of snow so far this winter.  And there is a new storm brewing for next week.  What is that…  9 feet of snow?  I pray it doesn’t happen on Monday when I need to set traps down for kitties to get spayed and neutered.  I should not have agreed to start this early in the year.  I do not like to keep cats in traps overnight when its this cold out (they spend the night on my porch after surgery, to heal and recover from anesthesia, and to ensure they get some food in them hopefully, as well).  What was I thinking? 

Good news:  Do you remember this picture I posted last fall?  His face was half gone.  Well, this cat has now miraculously healed.  I had tried to grab him, and then trap him, when he was on Melville, to no avail.  Well, he is a regular now on Parsells and he has completely healed.  Its amazing how the body works.   He doesn't run from me either - just another of the dozen or so cats waiting for their turn now...   

The black cat was at the shelter on Pennsylvania this morning – he sleeps inside the wooden hut, and comes out when he hears me pouring food.  He is starving – you can tell.  He may have a blockage, he may have a wound or abcess – he has saliva hanging from his mouth, and his fur is unkempt.  I have decided to bring a carrier with me tomorrow morning.  I am always nervous with cats I don’t know, but I think he is so desperate, he may not fight me when I go to grab him by the scruff and place him in carrier.  Again, I am petrified each time that I will get bit.  I will have to maneuver the food so that his back is to me.  Wish me luck.  Poor baby.  Hopefully off he will go to the clinic on Bay Street when its opens, or to the emergency hospital in Brighton.  I’m not sure which.  Uggh.  

Sick kitty on Garson

If you will remember the pretty white cat that I ‘rescued’ on Short a few years ago..  I had heard a soft crying inside one of the huts that was there (before the City came along and trashed my stuff).  There was a beautiful cat inside it, and it had wounds too severe to save it.  And the one on Niagara, and the one on Central, and the one on Second..  there are so many cats out there suffering.  I am thankful these cats find their way to my shelters, and I am glad I am able to offer it some help.  Here we go again.

Have a nice day.