To reiterate what I do for those of you who don’t know, for
the past 20 years, I’ve been going out into the darkness of the early morning
hours and have been feeding cats. At
first I just fed them, and then I started to provide shelter for them knowing
they needed this shelter to survive our brutal winters. Those early shelters consisted of a plastic
tote with a hole cut out on the side and straw lining the bottom of them – some
were insulated – some were Styrofoam so the insulation was not needed. There would be a board placed over two totes
placed opposite of each other and in the middle on the ground I would place the
food and water, to shelter from the rain and not getting the food soaking
wet. More elaborate shelters were made
as time went on, with pallets on the ground to keep the moisture out, and tarps
over those to keep the wind driven snow out from inside. Then I had some super carpenter friends build
heavy duty huts made out of wood, and insulated.
The feedings started at just a few places around the city –
maybe five locations. I began to rescue
these cats, and this was before the Internet for me - where the Internet allowed me to find adoptors for these cats, so most of these cats I
kept for myself – Smokey from Hebard Street being one of the early
pioneers. Today, I have 19 shelters, and feed over 100
cats. That number is deduced by the cats
that actually show their faces to me, the ones that actually run to me when
they hear the truck coming from down the street, or hear my footsteps coming
toward them in the dark. Last year, I
rescued 122 cats – 60 of those were kittens I found either at the shelters, or
ones I took in for others that were frantic enough to ask for my help with the
abandoned ones they had found. I probably had at least 5 cats I had to trap
or rescue that had to be euthanized because they were so sick, or injured. Some were found inside my shelters, suffering
a great deal, but knowing this was a safe place for them to go to. This year, Kristin has kept a tally - I have rescued 40 cats this year, those include the latest kittens. I have trapped, neutered and returned at least 20, I have not had the tally on that yet.
I spend an average of $100 a week on cat food. That does not include the money I spend on
vetting. I try to TNR (trap, neuter and
return them to the streets after they spend the day at the clinic being spayed
or neutered). That’s between $80-100 per
cat, depending on if you want them to be dewormed. Connor, the VERY sick cat I rescued in early spring,
has not cost me well over $1000. That’s just
one cat. Buffy has also cost a fortune,
well over $1000, and thanks to generous people her initial $1700 vet bit was
paid for. She now (finally!) will be
spayed to the tune of over $500 (her foster is close to adopting her, and wants
her to have the very best care – she has had enlarged heart issues in the
past).
I haven’t had a day off since I went to Colorado for a long
weekend in 2016. My life has been
challenging, and when I am not thinking about cats, I actually have a nice life
– I love summers, I love all seasons actually, but I love my time not spent with
cats. Of course, I love my babies at
home, and my heart bleeds for the cats I have to leave behind each day, but my
downtime is precious to me. I dream of
the day money falls from the sky, where I can rescue ALL the cats on my route,
place them somewhere – my own shelters – where I can pay a staff to care for
them, and I can have a REAL VACATION!
OR, I win the lottery, and I can PAY someone to do what I do each day,
at least half the time. Let me actually
sleep past 2 am. a few days a week and not have to worry.
So, that s the short story of what I do. In the meantime, Melissa, the foster that recently
took in the four kittens I rescued on Garson, dropped off the little buggers to
me yesterday, and now I have a room full of kittens! Anyone want to come help socialize them? They are SO CUTE! I took each one out this morning before leaving
for work and held them, stroked them, and spoke to them quietly, and they
surely will come around with more attention.
I'm having a hard time downloading the sweet pictures that Melissa took of the kittens, so please check them out on my Petfinder site! :)
Have a great day!
"All beings tremble before violence.
All fear death, all love life.
See yourself in others.
Then whom can you hurt?
What harm can you do?
Buddha~
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