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 …