Words

WORD OF THE DAY:  Redolent

Definition

1 : exuding fragrance : aromatic

2 a : full of a specified fragrance : scented

b : evocative, suggestive

DIXIE!

BEAR! (adopted)

MOOKIE!

I love words.  I am starting a word of the day!  :)  Hope you like it!

Is a Monday.  That’s for sure.  Mondays always FEEL like  Mondays.  Don’t they?  The moon was high in the sky this morning as I headed out at 3:45.  Beautiful.  Scattered clouds drifting past, but still a dark morning.  Thank God for my headlamps I’ve had over the years.  Batteries need constant changing, but when they are fully charged, they illuminate the darkness for me – so I can see if there is anyone lurking in the shadows.  In all the years I’ve been doing this, there hasn’t been anyone, but you still check.  I was on Garson Sunday morning when, as I finished up feeding in the back of the lot, I saw a police cruiser sitting there by my car on the road.  I walked up, explained that I was feeding cats in the back, and he said ‘you know your car is running, and I said yes, I know, and he said, you DO know where you are?, and I said yes, and I said ‘ good reminder, thank you officer as I slinked my way back to the car…  I don’t usually leave the car running at this particular spot because if someone WERE in mind to steal it, I wouldn’t be able to run to it fast enough.  The other stops I go to are much closer.  Regardless, with summer coming up, there will be more people out there lurking, although as I’ve said before, this is the SAFEST time of the day to be out.  Its quiet.  People are sleeping.  

 All I can think about as I drive to my first stop is going back to bed.  Sleep.  I am so deprived.  But there was a ton to do over the weekend, that’s for sure.   Saturday Sheryl and I rearranged shelters, replaced tarps, refreshed straw inside the shelters.  I am so grateful for her help.  There are still shelters that need to be done, and will continue to do more each weekend.  We pulled up to a Parsells location, where the city came and trashed my stuff last week, and found the shelter we had just replaced was moved.  I noticed the tree was cut down.  Whoever cut that tree down moved the shelters down a ways and kept the food dishes there, etc.  Whoever did that had COMPASSION.  I would love to do a shout out in the Democrat and Chronicle, or whatever vehicle most Rochestarians would see it.  Can anyone think of how I could do that?  It was very kind who ever did it, knowing cats were depending on these shelters and the dishes of food.

This morning I pulled up to the first Garson spot, where I think I will discontinue stopping there after the encounter I had.  So for weeks now, the @#E%$#% who bought the place and is fixing up and threw all my stuff to the curb, and all the other garbage he had, including glass that shattered all over the place, the guy has been trashing the food I am leaving there for this one cat.  This is where I recently rescued Elsa.  There was a male standing there in the dark next door, and I recognized it being the guy that lives there.  I said hello as the kitty that I still feed there ran to me.  He came over and it was Michael, as we reintroduced ourselves.  I think Michael was a bit intoxicated, but that’s OK.  He talked about the ‘Jamaicans’ that bought the place and how they said they would kill the cats.  He said not on my watch.  He also called the cat I was feeding Beyonce.  I laughed.  He said it was his cat and yes, he feeds it.  She really is a sweetheart.  I would have ‘rescued’ it long ago if she was on my list of rescues that needed to be done.  I figured she was safe for a while so I never did it.  Michael said they would not be killing anything on his watch.  I thanked him for his kindness, and said I would keep putting down for her regardless.

Speaking of Saturday Sheryl, redoing the shelters obviously took time, and by the time we were half way into the second half of my route (the Back Nine), it was getting light.  I could now see the surroundings in which I feed these cats.  I couldn’t believe the trash.  There is so much trash!  People live like this.  They just don’t care!  To not go out and clean up the refuse and debris in your own tiny yard!  It is my mission to pick up the trash where I have shelters.  Not only to deter rats, but to keep the city happy.  I don’t want them complaining about the lots that I have my shelters on.  Not that it made a difference on Parsells though.  Bastards!  (oops!  Pardon for my French! – I really meant’ Batard! Which means bread in French).  J

The following is an excerpt from an article I read on litter and poverty.  Interesting:

A broken window in an abandoned car conveys a sense of deterioration which appears to breaks our codes of coexistence, as if there were no publicly acceptable laws, rules and norms. A dirty city, too, creates the image that it is suffering from neglect by people or authorities. If a glass window of a building is broken and no one repairs it, soon all the others will be broken as well. If a community shows signs of deterioration and no one seems to care, then there will be crime. This is well documented as the 'broken windows theory' which states that visible crime and vandalism will lead to more. 

With that said, this is another reason I feed in the dark.  I can’t see these conditions that these cats have to live in, let alone people.  And there are CHILDREN in these neighborhoods that have to grow up with this too!  Sad, so sad.

On a happy note, Swirly and Stripey have been adopted!  Their transfer from one country side to another went smoothly.  I continue to get good progress reports – they are still hiding, but their new parents can hear them zooming around their new space, their BIG space, upstairs, and love the sound.  They are finally out of their cage, and into a big room!  With windows too!  As I drove off after leaving them in Sodus, I looked up at the windows, and there was Swirly and his little face peering out.  I am so happy.  Thanks to Sue, his caregiver, for all she did for these sweet angels.  Without the Sues in this world, we wouldn’t be able to save them all, one cat at a time. 

Have a great day!

"The future depends on what we 

do in the present."

"Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths

Enwrought with golden

and silver light

The blue and the dim

and the dark cloths

Of night and light and

the half-light.

I would spread the cloths

under your feet,

But I, being poor,

have only my dreams,

I have spread my dreams

under your feet;

Tread softly because

you tread on my dreams."

W.B. YEATS

Now, if anyone can interpret that, tell me.  I  read and wrote this down several months ago at a friend's home who is an English literature professor with a lot of poetry books, and we had a bit of wine as well.  I thought it beautiful at the time and still do, but not sure about interpretation.  :)

oh well.

Such silly stuff on my mind.  Always.  I don't think I will ever grow up and be an 'adult.'

Baldwin and Grand
 (taken this morning with my broken cell phone)

This morning, as I was finishing up my rounds, I noticed a girl getting out of a truck and going into a house near one of my shelter locations, and she said hello as I turned around, while crouching to fill food and water dishes.  I said hello, she asked if I was feeding cats, I said yes, and I turned around to talk to her, and she started to tell me about a cat she had.  She said this house was an emergency shelter, which she was obviously staying at, but that she had to leave her little cat back at her last place, on Pulaski Street (#38) off Hudson Avenue.  She told me it was a beautiful and sweet cat that answered to the name of Baby G.  She told me she had the markings of a leopard.  She then mentioned kittens, and after I perked up, she told me she must have just had them because she was pregnant.

Now, I ask you - or I tell you?  A person must be in some state of mind, or their upbringing was disconnected from a what a 'normal' upbringing would be where compassion is thrown into the mix, to leave an animal alone, and knowing it had babies, not tell anyone.  She just happened to run into me, but did she tell anyone???  Someone who could DO something about it???  How can you just leave when you know there are babies?, or let a cat wander around pregnant to begin with!  She said it was very friendly and will run right up to you if you call it by its name.  I am just sickened by it.  Sickened.  If anyone reading this is so inclined, please try to go there and call for this kitty.  Look for the babies.  Knock on doors.  DO SOMETHING!  I had to get home to the kittens for bottle feeding and get myself ready for work, otherwise, I would be there in a heartbeat.  Work is my #1 priority, because without it I am screwed.

Connor is being brought to a third vet today thanks to Kristin.  He has some issues that we have to figure out - his concerned foster mom will be relieved once we figure this out as well!

I received reports on the Buffy and her babies and they are all doing well.  In case you haven't seen them lately, here they are, fat and happy and they have names!

SAFFY

oh!  then we have three more!  And Pixie is now BEAR!  He's a boy!  Boy's can't be named PIXIE!  Can they?   And another thing, these three are bigger and better today, and all crawling around on the floor moving from room to room exploring.  But we have to be careful!  They are so tiny under your feet!  SO CUTE!  Trying to wean them.  UGGH!.

BEAR Prowling Around

MOOKIE says Hello!

Have a great day!

"Just for today,

I will not be angry

Just for today,

I will not worry

Just for today,

I will be grateful

Just for today,

I will do my work honestly

Just for today,

I will be kind to every living thing."

Connor Part Three

as told by author, Joel Schmid...

A Guardian Angel Chapter 7 - Connors Story

  

…We are following the beautiful all black cat Connor's fortunate rescue by Janine after she noticed he was having trouble eating and was drooling excessively …

  

     Connor chewed the moist and meaty food as gingerly as he could, but he still felt intense pain every time he had to use his tongue, forcing him to keep his mouth slightly open as he chewed. But doing that was a problem - he could feel himself leaking drool from around his lower jaw like a big sloppy dog. He knew the human must be seeing his predicament, and wondered if there was something that could be done to help him. He knew that humans were very good at building things, and operating complex machines like cars - could they also be good at curing sick or injured animals? He had heard rumors from a few of the street cats around town that this human would sometimes trap cats, take them away from the streets, and then bring them back after a few days miraculously cured of their ailments. Some of them even came back finally rid of all those annoying fleas and ticks. He had always sort of scoffed at those tales, but he had to admit he was experiencing one of these wild stories himself right now. Would this human be able to cure him as well? He managed a few more bites before the pain from his tongue forced him to stop, so he sat back and just watched the human to see what she would do next.

After a few more encouraging sounds the human turned and left the poo-pee room, closing the door behind her. Connor was left alone, but at least he was free of the confines of the little plastic cage. He wandered around the small poo-pee room, sniffing everything closely to get a feel for what living in a human’s home might be like. As he inhaled, he passed the scents over his highly sensitive Jacobsen's organ (a special spot inside his nasal cavity that let him pick out very small amounts of a particular scent) and was amazed at the number of individual cat scents he could detect. A few of them were even slightly familiar. He could not exactly remember which cat they belonged with, but he felt a little more relaxed knowing this human must have been helping some of his fellow street cats instead of chasing or kicking them like so many he had seen in the past.

After what seemed a long time the human female came back up the stairs and gently placed him back in the plastic cage - he was a little sleepy so he didn’t try to hide or fight her. She carried him back downstairs and back out to a newer and smaller car, the frigid air woke him back to full alertness and he waited nervously as the car started up and moved rapidly along more bumpy roads. After a short ride the car stopped and the human brought him inside another strange building that was full of other animals he had never smelled together in one place before - cats, dogs, birds, and a few he could not identify (like ferrets, Guinea pigs, and rabbits) He heard the human female talking to a few other humans, and after a short wait she carried his plastic enclosure into another small but brightly lit room. A human male was looking at him closely, and while he was busy watching what the man was doing he felt a sharp little sting at the top of his neck. He hissed a little in surprise, but soon he was feeling sleepy again - very sleepy, and found himself drifting off despite his new scary environment.

While he slept, the man gave him a thorough examination, including his mouth and under his tongue. The man removed two tumors that were growing there (a result of eating garbage laced with nasty chemicals in his younger days) as well as ridding his skin of all the fleas and ticks that were causing his beautiful jet black coat to appear patchy and balding. When he awoke in the humans plastic enclosure his mouth felt numb and cold, but his tongue seemed better - it felt less swollen and lay more naturally between the teeth in his lower jaw. Did the human man fix his mouth? Oh wouldn’t that be wonderful! He hoped it was true. It felt like his poor tongue had hurt for days and days. He still felt sleepy so he dozed off again, waking up sometime later in the human females newer car as she sped along a smooth road for a while before once again stopping and carrying him past the other cats that lived with her and up the long set of stairs. She brought him back to the poo-pee room again where he stayed for the next few days. His tongue hurt fiercely at first, and he was afraid that he would never be cured, but then it began to gradually feel better and better each day. The human brought him fresh food and water throughout the next week and by the time he was brought to another new human house he was feeling almost like his old self. One thing that had changed however was his attitude toward humans. He had lost a lot of his resentment and fear of them, and had begun to trust and dare he say it - like them. He watched longingly as the first human female patted him briefly on top of his head before leaving him at a new human’s house - hoping this new one would be as nice as her. It turned out she was.

After a few days of being confined in the new human’s poo-pee room, he was allowed to roam her whole house. At first he stayed hidden as much as possible, but gradually he came out to see what she was up to more and more, and he even allowed her to touch him from time to time. This seemed to make the human very happy, which in turn made him feel more at ease in his weird new living conditions. By now his mouth and tongue had stopped hurting altogether, and the bald patches in his beautiful coat began to fill in making him look like a brand new cat. He would look at himself occasionally in the reflecting square in the human’s poo-pee room and marvel at how he could see himself in it, and wondered if the first human female was rescuing more of his street brothers and sisters just as she had done for him. He hoped for their sake she was …

To be continued …

Hump Day!

So, a couple of things on my mind today. 

Thanks to my friend Val for transporting, I got the three black kittens back yesterday, much to the dismay of their first days of life caregivers.  The Girls of Caledonia.  Sounds like a Playboy photo shoot.  😀.  I met a girl named Kim who became pretty much one of my first fosters.  She fostered many kitties for me, turned these street cats into mushballs, and also foster failed with two other kitties I rescued, who now have a great home with her and her family.  She then recommended her friend Amanda, if I ever needed another foster.  And very soon after she mentioned that, I did need another foster.  And that was Marti from Melville, who became a foster failure for Amanda!  Then came Chewy!  She has been fostering Chewy for me for months now, and has really made a change in this little girls semi-feral demeanor to being a loving house cat.  Chewy will be adopted next month by a wonderful couple when they return from Florida.  Fast forward, the kittens that were born the day after Easter, in my mom's back yard.  Mookie, Dixie and Bear were in the kind and loving care of Amanda and her friends (Amanda recently went on a vacation).  They were still being bottle fed round the clock.

I received a call from one of the girls who told me Mookie had some bathroom issues going on so I thought now was as good a time as any to take them back.  Even though it is another hardship for me - ALL extra cats, in my opinion, are work!  They are as cute as buttons, and have been feeding from the bottle like mad.  But its time to be weaned.  So I need to get as much advice, and supplies as possible to begin this process. Hopefully it will be quick.  I gave them a taste and pointed their tiny faces into a saucer of milk, and I actually got them lapping once or twice!  Of course, I then cleaned their little faces off with a warm washcloth.  I will next get some soft pate food, and mix with formula and put in dropper and get them to get a taste of real food.  And so we begin.

I always feel terrible taking the kittens away from their fosters.  Especially when they have fed them from that early stage on.  They get so attached.  But its a lot of work for the caregiver, and my friend Amanda has some other kittens under her care that hopefully will be a nice distraction for her when she returns from her vacation. 

The kitten in the garbage can a few houses down from me wound up being picked up yesterday, after the neighbor scooped it up in the morning, after unsuccessfully trying to get it into trap (it was a bit wild), and placed it on his porch and left for work.  I put it out there on Facebook, and a friend Julie came by and took HER home, named her Gracie, and will now go through the process of trying to get kitty adopted after she is vetted.  Would love to know the story with that one!  If only cats could tell.

Stripey and Swirley.  Now here is a story that makes me sad, and anxious.  A friend who adopted two kittens last year from me offered to take these two siblings to foster after I trapped them for spay and neuter.  I had every intention to return them back to the streets, even though they were sweet to me each morning, but I never have enough fosters.  Well, Sue stepped in, and I was thankful.  They were completely frightened after their surgeries.  We put them in a large cage in her house, and proceeded to get them less frightened, and more socialized being indoors.  Well, somehow, that backfired, and they have regressed.   Luckily, there is a kind woman out there that offered to take them BOTH.  She will keep them in a room until acclimated (which could be a long time!) and this Saturday will be the transfer.  I just feel terrible about the situation, as I believe they are worse than the first day in captivity.  I am not sure what could have been done differently.  I am not the expert at everything cat related.

So those are the few things on my mind.  Oh, and Connor.  Connor has lots of interest from potential adopters, but has some physical issues going on.  Thanks to my wonderful friend Kristin, and her husband Darrin, they will be taking him into their vet for a THIRD opinion!  We've got to fix this boy! Another shout out to sweet foster Joanne for loving him during this time.

Have a great day!

"You are somebody's reason to smile."

Cats Gone Wild!

This has been a challenging two days for me.  Two days?  well, I could extend the time frame to the last couple of years, but I won't go that far.  My life has become sort of unmanageable recently.  It culminated when I opened up the door to my garage this morning and saw what was happening in there.  It was like out of a horror movie.  Not only did I HEAR rats, but I stood at my window looking out the back to the garage, but I saw a very large one scurry along side it.  Why would I have rats?  Because for the past five years or so, I've been bestowed many wonderful things to help the cats, but when I can't use the items right away, they sit there.  Its also been the storage facility for extra dog food I get when I get donations from my local Walmart.  I get more dog food than cat food, and I originally stored it in the garage, which is how, I believe, attracted the rats.  I now have holes bored through the cement floor and the driveway, and through the ground outside it.  I went to look at a bag of beautiful cat blankets, the soft plush kind, and they were filthy, and from them dropped rat droppings.  I have Styrofoam boxes in there that need fixing up - i.e., spray paint, a hole cut, etc.  I have so much STUFF, I just don't know what to do with it.  I told Kings, EVERYTHING must come out.  I need to go through and trash most of it.  All ruined.  I have an 8 hour job, and can't do it all.  But now I DO need to do it all.  And I wish I had more help.

Another challenge was pulling up to Parsells #3 this morning, and finding the lot completely turned over.  My shelters, all gone.  And I had my flier there with the wording stating my rescue, my number, and that this was a TNR colony.  The CITY of ROCHESTER came through and cleared everything.  My shelters boards, tarps, pallets, GONE.  This is where I have rescued so many cats, have TNR'd so many cats...  this is where baby Huey and Harvey were rescued from.  I am sick over it.  I will have to rebuild, BEFORE TOMORROW, when it rains.  This was THEIR HOME.  

So the three newborn kittens, from my mother's yard, are/were being bottle fed by Amanda.  Amanda has gone on vacation and left the kittens in the hands of two wonderful girls that have been taking over bottle feeding round the clock.  I received a text from one of them stating that one of the kittens had bloody diarrhea and was crying loudly when being wiped.  I am going to have them picked up today and brought to me, so that I can get to a vet for a first checkup.  And then must get them weaned.  They need to be on solid food now.  They are in their fourth week of life.

I get home after work yesterday, and there is frantic knocking on my door.  Now, by this time, I am in my scrubs, I’ve freshly washed my face of makeup – and now look hideous because of my black eyes and do not want ANYONE to see me.  It’s the neighborhood kids.  I struggle to open the winter locked window to open and ask what they want.  They say there is a cat in a garbage can a few houses down and they don’t know what to do.  I hesitate, thinking about my appearance, and my hot egg white omelette waiting for me.  I hesitantly went out the front door and down the street, barefoot – still needing a pedicure – and black eyed.  There I see a young kitty’s head sticking up from a garbage tote by the side of my neighbor’s yard, a few houses down.  I go up to it and the older kitten is spitting and sputtering ‘stay away from me.’ ‘I’ll bite you if you get near me.’  There was also a small bowl of water in the tote, which was filled with yard debris from a sunny Sunday clean up.  I found a small stick and started to pet it with that, and kitten moved around.  I could see it wasn’t obviously injured.  Why would it still be sitting here in this garbage can when it could easily jump out?  I went home, got some food, left it next to the water.  I told the kids to leave it alone, that it would move on its own, and I went back home.  After microwaving my omelette, I sit back down to eat, and the door knocks loudly.  It’s the neighbor who has just gotten home to find the kitten in his trash.  Why me?????????????  After I told him, through the door – I am now SO embarrassed at my appearance – that he should just leave kitten there or he would be bit, and the cat would move on its own.  Later, I asked Kings to go over with a trap and shelter for the baby.  My neighbor’s sister works at Lollipop apparently, so she would know what to do once he trapped the little thing.  I told him, I CAN’T do it all.  He was knocking on my door loudly while just under his feet I had three cats in traps.  It was completely overwhelming for me last night, it just never ended.

Meanwhile, I had to let the three cats out – all males – to the streets this morning.  The tuxedo was very sweet, and actually did not run when the trap was opened on Central Park.  He cried the entire trip.  I hate it.  But it must be done.  Yesterday cost me $270 for all three cats.  I can’t do this forever.  I need help.

SAM - From This...

TO THIS!

Sam’s story.  So this kind gentleman called me and told me that he lives in the area of Short Street, where I’ve been feeding Sam for many years now.  Sam’s siblings were adopted by a girl I know from work, but Sam was left behind.  I always hoped someone would adopt him, no matter how many times I posted his picture and told the story of how he follows me back to the car each morning as if to say ‘take me home.’  This man told me that he was walking to a store in the plaza down Goodman, and saw Sam, who had somehow, run up to him.  He wound up picking up Sam and carrying him all the way back to his house!  He and his girlfriend had seen my shelters and went to investigate them, and that is how he found my name and number, from the flier I keep at each location.  What a wonderful couple they are.  They welcomed Sam into their home, and he told me that in my honor, they were keeping his name Sam.  What a great story!  If we could only have more of those, there are SO many deserving kitties out there every day!  ‘Doug’ would like to keep in touch and give me updates on ‘our’ Sam.  Thank you Doug and Yolanda!

Have a great day.

"It's not the load

that breaks you

down, it's the 

way you carry it."

TNR Monday and Connor's Story Part Two!!!

There are so many special people I've met in the past ten years since I have been more in the spot light.  And that is due to social media, no doubt.  I was a silent warrior.  No one knew what I did ten years ago until Facebook came along.  Even the blog I began in 2008.  No one really read it for the first couple of years.  Then, miraculously, someone found it and started reading, and started sharing, and boom, I now had five readers!  Ha ha!  There is still a large number of people that don’t know who I am, but the ones that do, I am so grateful for.

I attended a fundraiser yesterday that a woman, Susan, put on for me, and four other rescues.  She did it purely out of the kindness of her heart.  She asked for simply food and money donations, and bring your own food.  She supplied the sangria.  J  Which was great.  Quite a few people turned out, including a few friends that I have not seen in a great while.  I am so grateful to them that they showed up for me.  I had to make a speech at one point and as usual, forgot to mention a few things.  One being how honored I was to be amongst the groups that were also being honored there, i.e., the rescues that I have long admired, the rescues that I have sought advice from many many times.  Maybe not Guiding Eyes for the Blind, but Keller’s Kats, Four-Legged Friends, and Kitten Korner.  All awesome groups, doing their own thing, all of us unique in what we do.  For me, I am unique in that out of the three, I go out and FEED over 100 cats every single day, in the warmer months, trap at the same time (TNR) to get cats at my colonies spayed and neutered.   19 colonies to be exact.  If I could clone myself, I would do more.  I would be all over the city trying to help with this problem we have.  If I were independently wealthy, I would make this my full time job.

this morning I had the opportunity to trap and have neutered three cats.  This is a very expensive day for me.  $90 per cat.  And yes, I did get three.  One from Pennsylvania Street, one from Central Park, and one from Garson, where so many kittens came from last spring.  Thanks to Joel who ventured out with me again this morning.  Much appreciated having the extra help!

CENTRAL - Sweet Girl

GARSON Grey

PENNSYLVANIA Red

It was a crazy busy weekend trying to visit kittens, adult cats, meet and greets – Onyx didn’t turn out so well.  I’m not quite sure what happened, but the person didn’t feel that Onyx ‘picked’ her.  Some folks feel they need to know that a cat wants THEM, not the other way around.  Oh well.  And Connor, he had two folks interested, and both changed their minds before they even met him.  Swirley and Stripey are scared to death, but are being welcomed into a woman’s home, sight unseen.  Now THAT’s the kind of love we need more of in the world.  Next weekend, fingers crossed, their kind foster Sue can get them in carriers, and we can all meet in Sodus, their new home.  Buffy and her babies are thriving, and we are beginning to wean the babies.  Thanks to Carol for her awesomeness.  My other newborn babies – all black - are being fostered by Amanda, who is currently on vacation, but has some girls still bottle feeding Mookie, Dixie and Bear.   When she returns, they will come back to me and we will get them on solid food.  We can then get them big and strong enough to get spayed and neutered, and adopted!  Parsley and Hermie are just doing their own thing.  Two sweet boys that just need someone to take them under their wing.  They do very well once they trust you!  And they do not have to be adopted together!

I know everyone is anxiously awaiting Sam’s story, but time has run out.  Check back tomorrow, along with Buffy’s babies names!  J

and speaking of Joel - AND CONNOR, here is another chapter of Connor's Story!

A Guardian Angel Chapter 6 - Connors Story

  

…We are following the beautiful all black cat Connor's fortunate rescue by Janine after she noticed he was having trouble eating and was drooling excessively …

  

     Connor was crouched on his belly, hugging the warm towel in the bottom of the cage he was in as he felt the human’s car turn a corner and roll to a stop. He felt a few clunks from under the floor of the car and its rumbling motor switched off. He could not see anything outside the cloth draped over his cage, but he could hear the human female rummaging around in the front of the car, then the door opened and he heard her footsteps coming around to the back where he was. He heard the door open right behind him and he marveled at the totally strange array of scents in whatever location the human had brought him. He felt his cage being lifted by the human but the cloth covering the top remained in place while the human carried him inside some kind of building.

Once inside he was once again flabbergasted by the vast array of scents that filtered in through the sides of his cage. He counted at several other distinct cat scents, a few old and faded dogs, cat food, human food, and some that he could not identify, but had a sharp or harsh quality to them so he assumed they were used by humans to clean. He also smelled a vast array of kitten scents, most of them old and dusty but a couple of them were fresh. He saw lots of interesting looking doo-dads that might be fun for a cat to play with, but he was already moving past them and toward a narrow door into a brightly lit room beyond. He watched the human reach out with one hand and push the door open, wafting a wall of cat scents into his face like a wet breeze.

My goodness what a dizzying array of scents! He thought to herself, how many other cats live here with this human?

The human strode rapidly through the next room which was filled with a heady mix of food smells - both human and cat food - making him cry out again against the pain from under his tongue. His cage moved through an arch into a larger room, and here he saw quite a few cats sitting and staring back at him from all around various objects and corners. He did not sense any malice - just strange curiosity. A few of them called out to him –

"Hey handsome! Where'd you come from?" said a beautiful muted orange and black tortie.

"I hope you aint stayin long…" quipped a sly looking tuxedo patterned male.

But he said nothing in return, preferring to hold his sore tongue for asking the human for help instead.

The human carried him through another arch and up a long flight of stairs to a smaller room that smelled like a place for poo-pee (cats call a place to safely deposit poop or pee where predators - including humans - can’t find it - a poo-pee) where he was set gently down on the jauntily colored floor.

He had never seen such a confusing array of colors on a piece of ground before - humans must really like wild color combinations. The human made another one of those encouraging upbeat noises and he meowed loudly in return as he watched her walk back out of the poo-pee place, gently closing a door behind her. He hoped the human wasn't going to just leave him here. He was hopeful, but wasn't quite ready to fully trust a human just yet. He would just have to wait and see.

After a few minutes he heard the human’s footsteps coming back up the stairs, so he crouched back down onto the soft towel and watched with wide and cautious eyes as the human came through the poo-pee rooms door again with a paper bowl of moist food in one hand and a plastic bowl with clear water in the other. Connor felt his stomach contract with hunger, but his sore tongue warned him harshly that it would be painful to eat it. The human set the paper bowl and the plastic water bowl down on the floor and reached toward him, making those funny squelching noises again. He backed up rapidly until his butt made contact with the sides of his enclosure, startling him into a loud hiss. His sore tongue flared hotly in his mouth, making him moan a little in response. The human disengaged the latch on the front of his enclosure and backed up a little to give him space. He eyed the bowl of food hungrily as well as the water. The food smelled delicious, and despite his fear and the pain from his tongue he eased forward and emerged from the plastic cage to sniff the bowls. The human stood still, watching him like a hawk. He decided his hunger was stronger than his fear of the human and the pain in his mouth and at last dipped his head to eat …

To be continued …

Connor

Its Friday, and its the last day to work until Monday.  Woo hoo.  Always nice to have a break, eh?  Never a break for me though.  Its always cats cats cats.  And to be honest, I am pretty burnt out.  With all the troubles I've had recently, I could use a break.  I told my ortho doc yesterday, if I could just spend a week in the hospital.  I wouldn't have to move a muscle.  And that is all I want.  For one week.  To be totally taken care of, and not have to move.  I need a break.  I have so much on my plate this weekend.  I wanted to spoil myself.  Pedicure, get my hair looking good.  Time?  I have none.  I keep saying 'next weekend' but my weekends are planned now, with cat stuff, a week ahead of time.  I know this is what I got myself into, I know.  I shouldn't complain.  But I do, and I am.  

Sorry.  Its my blog and I'll do what I want.  :)  ha ha.  And I still look like a panda.  



My eyes are still black and blue.



To update on the kitty I 'caught' yesterday for neutering at the clinic.  Turns out he was already neutered.  When I checked him, his goods were still there.  He must not have had much lopped off when it was done.  I get embarrassed when that happens.  Plus, it still costs me the same amount of money.  they have to put him under, but he does get updated on shots, eartipped, flea treated, etc.  He is friendly.  I've been feeding him all winter.  I felt terrible letting him back out, but we don't have enough adult fosters.  Everyone wants the kittens.  Pretty sad.

And now, another wonderful story by our friend Joel.  This time, its Connor's time.  I hope you enjoy.

A Guardian Angel Chapter 5 - Connors Story

  

…Some who wander are not lost, yet others who are lost are sometimes found …

  

Connor crouched behind a swaybacked garage attached to a dirty house on the short length of 3rd Avenue waiting for the human’s call. His all jet-black fur made him seem like just another shadow in the dark, until he moved his head or swiveled his ear cups, pulling in faint sound from the surrounding night. He was hungry, and despite the ever increasing pain from under his tongue he still looked forward to hearing that funny squelching noise the human made when she was putting out food and water for the local colony. Connor was a typical feral male, and ranged over territory several blocks wide. His hearing was better than most cats - which made it close to godlike to a human. He could detect the subtle vibrations of the humans call from over 500 yards away, even on days when the fitful winter winds blew hard and cold out of the west.

Luckily today the wind was calm, but he could smell snow on the way. He hated snow - it made everything too quiet. You could not easily hear the subtle rustle of a mouse through the dead winter leaves when they were buried in soft snow. And when it got deep it made walking on his short legs very difficult. So he waited while the fat grey clouds overhead rolled past, gathering their load of snow as they trundled along.

Sometime around 4:30 a.m. he heard the tell-tale precursor to the human’s arrival, the rumbly throb of the motor from the human’s car. It grew closer and louder as it approached his position, then rolled past him with a bright glare of white headlights and red taillights as it cruised down Pennsylvania on the way to second street. Connor bounded out from behind the garage and loped with an easy gait down Pennsylvania after it, wondering if he would see one of his favorite colony females, the little calico Chewy. He'd had a crush on her since he'd met her last year, and was desperately hoping she would go into heat this year so he could woo her. He had no idea why she hadn't so far, and like most females not in heat she pretty much ignored most other males, but he was determined to catch her when she did.

Now as he sauntered up to the seedy empty lot that occupied the corner of Penn and 2^nd  Avenue, he could see the human female clambering out of her old car loaded down with bags of food and a big container of water. He spotted several other members of the local colony slinking out from the shelters arranged along the faded wooden fence at the back line of the lot and peeking out from behind the piles of refuse and tree stumps piled here and there. He did not however see any signs of Chewy. He hoped she hadn't gotten run over by a car or trapped somewhere. (he had no idea that Chewy had gotten trapped in the old church on Central Ave but had escaped and then been subsequently rescued by Janine) The human began making those funny noises that he so loved as she walked back to the small shelter set up at the back of the lot and he angled his approach to intercept her.

As he drew closer, he could see her laying out a new piece of human clothing on the ground to replace the one the rats had destroyed yesterday. It was now just a shredded rug- stiff with frozen water. He wished the human would do something about the rats - they were too big for most cats to kill and they constantly harassed the local colony and stole their food. The intense bright light the human wore around her neck spotlighted the back of the shelter and reflected garishly green and yellow in the eyes of the usual morning crowd at this location - two dirty looking red tabbies named Red and Rogue, a calico that might be related to Chewy named Spotty, and a pretty muted tortie female named Paisley. He stopped a few feet behind the humans booted feet and watched hungrily as she pulled the empty food plates out from under the shelter roof, opened her huge bag of cat food (where did humans get so damn much of the stuff ?) and poured it out in a small mound on the plate. The two red tabbies were slowly creeping around her into the shelters confines as they waited for her to finish and stand up, while the calico and the tortie sat on their haunches and begged the human to hurry up with plaintive meows.

At last the human poured out a bowl full of warm water and stepped back from the food. Connor darted forward with a grimace, anticipating the pain in his mouth when he took that first mouthful, but too hungry to stop himself. Over the past few weeks something had been going wrong around and under his tongue - it seemed swollen and sensitive - and he drooled excessively while eating. He had hoped that lapping up a few mouthfuls of snow would help, but it had done nothing except make his teeth ache fiercely for a few minutes. By now the promised snow had started to fall heavily, so he did not notice or hear anything to reveal the fact that the human had not retreated back to her car as she had other mornings, but was slowly advancing closer behind him, a large plastic box with a metal grilled door in one hand. He was busy scooping up small mouthfuls of food in between the dipping heads of the other three cats and trying to chew as gingerly as his sore tongue would allow when he felt something grab him by the scruff of the neck and lift him quickly off the ground. Before he could even think how to react he was thrust inside the humans trap as he felt the metal door swing shut behind him against the base of his tail.  He spun around to face her, his mouth open and lips pulled back in an angry hiss at the thought of being placed in this plastic box against his will. His mouth was oozing dripping saliva, and it just made him angrier that the human was seeing him like this instead of his normal healthy state. That made him hiss again, but the human did not seem intimidated or frightened. And she showed no sign of letting him back out - instead the world outside the cage he was in went dark and muffled as the human covered his enclosure with a cloth. He felt himself being carried out to the street, then his cage was set down on something dull and soft. The air around him was warm and moist, with a heavy scent of many cats all mixed together in a heady swirl.

He must be in the human’s car! What was she going to do with him? She had always been nice to him and the other cats in the neighborhood, so he was fairly confident she did not intend to harm him, but still it was very frightening to be enclosed in this tiny cube under the cloth cover. He saw the human as just a dim shadow backlit from the streetlights as she closed the back door of the car with him inside it. His ears swiveled as he followed her around the side of the car, then another door opening and closing behind him at the front of the car. The human made some of those squelching noises he was used to hearing - but now they did not seem so inviting. There was a slight jerk and a soft thump from under his feet, and the cars rumbling motor picked up its pace a little and he was moving. He forgot his fear for a moment and marveled at how he could be moving with all four of his feet sitting still inside the carrier. He meowed outload to ask the human where they were going and what did she intend to do with him but all he got was more of those squelching noises. He crouched down on his belly as the car rolled and bumped along, waiting to see what would happen next.

To be continued …

Have a great day folks!

"Let your smile

change the

world

but don't let the

world change

your smile."

TNR Thursday

I have six places on my body that need cortisone shots.  Insane pain.  I am allowed only three when I go to docs.  I have to pick which three spots hurt me the most.  uggh.  So off to the doctor I go.

That is my day.

He would not pose for the camera

Other than that, I managed to get this poor fella in a carrier this morning.  I had two spots at the clinic for TNR, I set two traps, mom set a trap for the cat that had the babies (her three out of five that I have - Mookie, Bear and Dixie), but nothing.  Actually, a pretty fluffy red cat on Melville went in the trap AGAIN.  He was just TNR'd a few weeks ago!  Some cats are smart, some not so smart.  I always thought a cat would never go back into a trap again.  They learned their lesson or something.  NOT!  I had to set him free, reset it, but nothing.  Those cats on Parsells (spot #2) are smart also.  This is where grey mom has hidden her babies somewhere (if they are still alive).  She must have had them a few weeks ago when I unsuccessfully tried trapping her before she gave birth.  So sad.

This guy I got this morning is an unneutered male.  He is also friendly and has multiple toes.  He hangs out on Central Park between 5th and 6th streets.  When I first started feeding him, he had a plastic flea collar on.  I knew he must have had human contact, besides the collar, because he was friendly.  But remember, there are SO many out there that deserve homes.  I rescue those I feel need rescuing right there and then.  The others are on a waiting list.  There are so many!!

That's all I have for today. 

Have a good one.