TNR Tuesday!

Today is TNR Tuesday.  I set a trap on Parsells, drove off to do the remaining spots on the ‘front nine’, came back and voila, a kitten.  One of the three that were born to the mom that I recently had spayed. They were born probably four months ago.  I only see two of them now, and they are feral.  I tried and tried to trap them when they were younger, but they weren’t going for the kitten traps I set.  This morning, one of the two went in the big cage.  Poor thing, scared out of its mind, and I have to return it tomorrow morning.  I feel TERRIBLE about this.  Returning a baby kitten to the street.  Then again, I had to return a six month old kitten last week to Central, but this one is so much younger.  I then set a trap on the back nine – at Central and Second, where I had seen five baby kittens playing, and several females (calico), etc.  I haven’t seen the kittens in over a week now.  I went off to do my rounds and when I was just about finished, I decided to grab the sweet boy that has been hanging around Pennsylvania and Second.  He lets me pet him, and he has learned to trust me in just a short time.  I placed the carrier upright, opened the door, coaxed him to me, grabbed him by the scruff, other hand on his bottom half, and gently lowered him into the carrier.  He is scared out of this mind.  Plus, I think he is going to make a sweet sweet pet for someone, so I may try him out in the bathroom tonight and he can be the first foster for the sweet girl Kim who offered to foster for me.  He is a big boy, just like Sawyer was, and Cammy.  They turned out to be sweethearts and very much loved companions once acclimated to being indoors.

A high number of cats in Rochester are feral, which are homeless cats (homeless either by birth or by abandonment). Feral does not mean that they are a threat to humans, but that they are distrustful and afraid of us. Feral, unspayed females spend their lives pregnant and hungry, while males often die from wounds inflicted in territorial battles over mates and food, and disease is spread - such as feline aids and leukemia.

Where did all these feral cats come from? Studies have shown that the high numbers of ferals have originated from people who are financially unable to neuter/spay their cats, irresponsible pet owners who can afford to, but don't, transient owners who leave their unspayed/unneutered animals behind to fend for themselves. These cats, when allowed to roam freely, will mate resulting in rampant overpopulation, which is what animal rescue organizations contend with.

At 5 months of age a kitten can have its first litter and that same kitten can have a second litter by the time it is a year old - a litter being anywhere from 1 kitten to 5, 6, 7... A nursing mom can get pregnant and 60 days later, which is the gestation period, can have another litter. Only about 50% of these kittens will survive. Please help to make known the importance of spaying or neutering their pets.

Please consider foster or adoption for all these sweet animals on and off the streets.  They need your help now more than ever.  Its getting cold out.

 Have a nice day.

Gimme Shelter

Photo by Kevin Tubiolo

Phew, what a weekend!  First off, the weather was pretty gorgeous, despite the rain Saturday morning.   It came down in buckets at times, but my hair remained pretty decent. J  Thank you Sunday Sheryl for enduring the dark, the dreary and the danger with me every Sunday for three years now.  Happy Anniversary Darling!  J  Ha Ha.  Actually, she is now Saturday Sheryl until further notice.  She has enjoyed stopping at the public market on Saturdays with me when the rounds are finished.  So she switched her dates until further notice.

But alas, it is fall now, and with that comes the cold weather.  We are supposed to see our first frost tonight.  The kitties out there are cold.  I set one shelter I had at one location where the shelters I had were trashed this year – but realized I am down to nothing now, except one or two really nice ones that I am hesitant to place in fear of them being taken.  So, I have been offered Styrofoam boxes in the past, and could really use some shelters pre-made for me.  If anyone is so inclined.  IT would be so appreciated by these kitties I am trying to make as comfortable as possible while trying to live their lives on the streets.

Saturday morning, my plan was to rescue Bugsy/Peanut from Baldwin, and bring him to the woman in Caledonia who kindly offered to foster a desperate kitty from the street for me.  I thought of him first because when I arrive at this spot each morning, he is a head butter and gorges the wet food I place, as if he hasn’t eaten in weeks.  And the black cat, Blackie #2, is not too pleased with him.  Bugsy could care less who gets in his way.  So I thought he would be the perfect candidate. Well, I grabbed him, put him in carrier, brought him home, opened the carrier door in bathroom, and he went berserk.  He was climbing walls, etc. and I knew he would probably bite me he was so scared, so somehow, I knew I couldn’t give this cat to this first time foster.  I knew in my heart he would eventually be OK, but it wasn’t going to happen right away.  I decided then and there, even though it broke my heart, I had to take him back.  So I did.  It did break my heart.  But for now, I need to find another kitty that I know won’t be as frightened.  There are so many, its very hard for me to choose.   But I will.  Bugsy was there the next morning, all over me again, as if nothing ever happened.  L

Riley and Squirt!

Sydney and Joannie!

Riley and Squirt, the two tabby kittens I rescued a few mornings ago, spent the weekend with me, in a cage.  They are so sweet that I was able to hold them, and kiss them on the nose!  J  Not bad for feral kittens!  We figure they are about 8 weeks now.  Mama was spayed last week, and her other set of ‘twins’ that were rescued two weeks prior, Sydney and Joannie, have really come around also.  Thanks to Melissa, the kitty whisperer.  I wound up taking Riley and Squirt to her house yesterday so that she could work her magic and get those two more socialized, while Sydney and Joannie went to a new foster home as they are close to ready as far as socialization.  Thanks Joy and family! 

Baxter needs his nails clipped so I am working on that – looking to have some help there.  His foster family reports that he has scratched their daughters – not out of aggression, but out of wanting to eat, constantly.   We need to get him adopted.  Fast.

Peaches is doing well.  Loves to sit with his foster mom on the couch, and even tolerates her dog. 

Spencer

Spencer is pretty much holding his own right now with me.  He is eating like a horse, could be the Prednisalone he is on.  He is lethargic and not very cuddly right now.  He just wants to lay at the window by himself.  My poor boy.

To top the weekend off, I flooded the basement – or my broken washing machine did.  So, on top of everything else, I had to order a new machine, to be delivered Wednesday.  What else could go wrong?  Much, I am sure of that.

Have a great day!

"The weak can never forgive.

 Forgiveness is the attribute 

of the strong."

Double Trouble

As most of you know, I rescued two kittens at the auto garage on Bay Street a couple of weeks ago, knowing there was still a kitten and the mom that had to be rescued/fixed.  That momma was SO hard to catch, and I had been setting a kitten trap ever since each day for the kitten.  Well, Momma was trapped on Tuesday and spayed, and I continued to set a trap for kitten.  Same thing this morning.  Set the trap.  I got back into my car and could see with the headlights that a baby and momma were milling around the trap with the yummy wet food in it.

I drove off to complete my rounds - I think I am stopping at 18 locations now to feed and fix cats.  I drove back to the auto garage, and lo and behold, TWO kittens were inside the one tiny kitten trap!  Poor momma was sitting there, probably traumatized that her babies were inside the cage.    I felt so bad, but so relieved!

Now, to find a foster!

I will continue to monitor my baby Spencer and when he seems like he suffering, I will take him to the vet.  I plan on rescuing 'Bugsy' from Baldwin and Grand tomorrow morning and he will go off to a wonderful girl named Kim to be fostered.  He must be removed from the streets.  He is in too much competition with the other eight cats or so that feed and shelter here.

Have a great great great day!

October 6th

Each morning when I get home from feeding the city cats, I go downstairs to the dungeon – its not really a dungeon – it’s the basement, and there is a room that is rather cozy.  Its got my computer, a printer, floor lamp, a futon, chairs, my cookbooks (A TON), and dry cat food.  Right now there is a LOT of dry cat food (enough to last for a couple of weeks)!  So many of you brought a bag or two of food to me at the fundraiser.  THANK YOU so much for that.  By this time its about 5:30 am. in the good weather (spring/summer/fall) so I begin my blog, check emails, and then go over to the food area, and start filling up the bags of dry food I will need the next morning.  I go through four of the 2-gallon zip loc bags of food, plus always keep a small amount on top of that in the Jeep.  I usually wind up spilling half on the floor as I am pouring from the bags to the smaller zip loc bags.  Get out the vacuum cleaner.  This is a daily routine part of my life.  Refilling the bags.  Then the wet food.  I rinse out the six large sized yogurt containers that are filled with the wet food.  I rinse out the dozen cans that are inside these containers after I’ve used up the food….  Wait, this is getting too confusing for some of you, its confusing me…  needless to say, I rinse out a LOT of cans in the morning to then place in the recycle bin, and those containers are filled up and placed in the fridge for next mornings use.  That’s a lot of wet food also.  But this is the daily chore that gets done first thing, so that I don’t have to think about what I have to do the next morning, until the next morning.  Day after day.  Good God.  How did I get myself into this?  J

I set the kitten trap this morning at the auto shop on Bay Street, but nothing, again.  Poor kitten.  I will just have to keep trying, but I don’t think it's going to happen if it hasn’t happened by now.

(BE SURE TO CLICK ON PICS TO SEE UP CLOSE!)

Here is what I found when I went to feed on Niagara this morning!  We were nearly nose to nose.  I sure have been lucky so far with these cute, but stinky critters!

Now I see a lot of skunks, raccoons, opossums, cats.  Also this morning, I had to bonk a raccoon on the butt to get him out of the shelter.  I surprised him eating the cat food on 7th, and he was not too quick to move.  He was humongous.  Ginormous.  As always, when I scare raccoons away, they always come back.  So I have to.  To refresh the food and water for the cats for the day, otherwise, they go without.  Those rascally raccoons!

Another thing I want to say is thank you to those of you who respond when I have a situation, like the one that Paul, the man on Second Street, had/has this past week.  This man's home is a dilapidated structure, but its still his one and only home.  Apparently the city did a roof job on his house over 8 years ago, but its now leaking something bad.  The guy that did my roof two falls ago offered to help Paul out with Paul making installment payments.  He is very poor.  Paul also allows me to feed cats and provide shelter for them behind his house and has for a long time now.  So I feel its my place to help him out when he is desperate.  His house now has a number of leaks, and I asked on for help for him on Facebook, because my roofer never went back to finish up his job.  Two people really stepped up to help.  Thank you Nancy, and thank you Darlene. Darlene will hopefully be able to get Paul help soon.  You are both DOERS and I am forever grateful for your help for Paul.

Finally, thank you Carrie, for these creative pictures of all the kitties in need.   And there are still so many more out there!  

Have a great day!

"Be happy... 

not because everything is good, 

but because you see the good

in everything."

Hump Day! Woo Hoo!

CLICK on PICS to see up close!

B-Mama

Well, little B-Mama went back to the streets - Sid and Johnny's Auto on Bay Street, to her remaining baby there, that just won't let me get her.  I set a kitten trap this morning before letting mama go, but no luck.  Poor thing.  Her sibs are doing great, I held them this weekend at their foster home.

Caesar

Caesar from Second and Central was also let back after spending an uncomfortable night in the trap on my porch.  He cried the whole time.  Ate like a champ, so did B-Mama, but boy do they get uncomfortable in those traps.  Its so hard letting them go.  Caesar had a couple of wounds so he got a shot of convenia while getting neutered.

Spencer before rescue

Spencer was brought to the vet yesterday.  Extremely jaundiced, and as the doctor said, he is very sick.  We are trying him on new medicine - Prednisolone, along with an appetite stimulant, and will then regroup on Friday.  He lost two pounds.  He is down to just over 7 pounds now.  I had to keep him separated when I brought him home to see if he eats.  This morning, he was crying at the door.  He ate a little and then went back to his perch.  He isn't moving around too much.  He definitely isn't feeling well.  Meanwhile, I went to the store this morning in search of every different chicken wet food I can find that he might like.   They even make these tiny pouches now with real chicken.  This rescue from Pennsylvania and Second was a happy one for me.  I knew he was going to be someone's angel.  But it didn't turn out that way - two potential adopters turned him down - so now he is my angel.

PARSELLS CATS

I saw quite a few unspayed/unneutered cats out this morning.  I need to take inventory, and really could use some help.  We can't have any more babies being born.  I am getting worried about the one Parsells location as I don't have shelter on this porch of the vacant house, where my shelters were all trashed by a property management company early this year.  There are over 15 cats that I am feeding at this one spot.  When they get spooked, you should see them all come flying off that porch.  This is also where there are two unspayed/unneutered older kittens that I couldn't trap, due to the large number of cats here.  I did get their mama spayed a month or so ago.

There is also so much glass out there.  Poor little guy on Short Street is limping.  The weather is turning soon, and I need to build up my shelters.  I could really use the help.

Peanut
(named Bruno when I grabbed him to be neutered earlier this summer)

There is a girl just waiting for me to rescue a kitty so that she can foster one - her name is Kim.  What a rare gem it is to find a foster.  I was going to do it this morning, but letting these two TNR's back out, and with Spencer's illness right now, I just couldn't do it. I am planning to on Saturday morning though.  I think I have just the one too.  From Baldwin and Grand.  Peanut needs to be removed from this location because he is extremely hungry//needy, pushes Blackie #2 around and Blackie does not like it.  There will be a fight sooner or later.  I trip over Peanut from the minute I get out of the car to the back of the dark lot when I place the precious wet food down.  He's gotta go.  Its one of my more harder feeding locations.  I am going to break my leg tripping over him sooner or later!

Have a great day!

"To foster an animal is a great gift and act of kindness.  The animals hold a special place in your heart and you make a world of difference in their lives!"

TNR Tuesday!

Couple of things before I forget.  Commissioner Jones, who was interviewed by the Democrat and Chronicle, and Channel 13 stating the rats and the health department was responsible for the removal of my shelters, was at the meeting - and GUESS WHAT!  He told us he feeds the cats at his house!  He said he loves cats!  I thought that was something..  a nice man, but now we need to get the health department on our side.

As far as profits, for one thing, I don't know what the grand total was - Kristin's dad takes the money and divides it up.  Some goes to the restaurant owner, per head, for the meals.  I don't get all of it.   I can tell you from past years, its enough to buy cat food for maybe two months.  (lets see...  $150x52=$7,800).  That's food alone. That's it.  Its not a big money maker, but bigger than I would ever see at one time, so I am still extremely grateful I have this, and that Kristin has stuck by me and continued the tradition for three years now.

This morning, lucky me, I had the skills of expert trapper Laura put to use for trapping the mom on Bay at Syd and Johnny's auto garage.  This is where I trapped two of her three kittens a few weeks ago, but couldn't for the life of me get mama and the third baby.  Well, Laura got mama this morning, but no kitten.  I will set a kitten trap for her/him tomorrow.  If I had a wish, it would be for someone to go sit there with a trap and wait until kitten goes in, no matter how long it takes.

Caeser from Second

Meanwhile, I set my new trap - thank you Melissa!  Melissa is fostering Syd and Joanie kittens - on Second and Central, where there have been sightings of FIVE kittens, and several female adults.  I set two actually, as last week, I got a kitten in one, and a lactating female in the other.  This time, a black kitty went in but was already ear-tipped, which means it was already fixed.  Let him go, and then within 10 more minutes another kitty went in.  I think he's a big tomcat.  He will go to the clinic for his neuter, and shots, and returned to the streets.  He actually looks like a big sweetheart.  So sad.

WARNING:  Graphic pictures.

Spencer

Spencer is not doing well.  He is bleeding all over from his excessive itching and is now vomiting blood.  I am waiting for the vet place to open (Southtown Vet) where he has been seen twice before and treated for suspected hepatitis.  I love this little guy so much.  I just don't know what I will do.  He is skin and bone.  He never left my side last night. 

Thank YOU!

My meeting at City Hall on Thursday went fairly well.  They talked, they listened, they heard the message that we have a serious problem in the city of Rochester with the overpopulation of cats.  It will be small steps, but steps up nevertheless.  Our next step will be to set up a meeting with the health department – and other city officials - which we will hopefully get something set up this week.  I am hoping Kristin can elaborate more on this because I think both she and I took away different views on the meeting.  So stay tuned!  

Saturday was the Meow and Chow fundraiser, which helps to support what I do every day out in the Beechwood Section of Rochester.  To feed, shelter, spay and neuter, and get medical attention for the sick and injured cats I rescue. 

I want to thank every single person who helped in some way, any way, big or small.  Thank you for your support.  While Kristin did the majority of the work needed to make it as successful as it was, each person who contributed from just donating from far away, to being there hands on moving chairs, decorating tables, putting up tents, anything and everything, it just wouldn't have come off as well as it did.  And boy did the place look beautiful.  From the tiny lights on the ceiling and walls, to the tiny tealights on each table.  The pumpkins, the gourds, the food!  The music!

Speaking of music, this year we had a new band play for us - Buckle Up!  I have to say, I miss Duncan, who was the founding member, singer, guitar player with The Honey Badgers, who have played the past two fundraisers.  Duncan died a few months ago way too early for his time, and I thought about him all day as I heard the new band play, and watched people dancing.  I miss my old boss from Schlegel.  He was the coolest boss I ever had.  Buckle Up turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  I was not familiar with their music, but am now a huge fan, and hope we can book them for next year!  A special shout out to their drummer, Elaine Dorris, who was a blast from the past to me.  What a great day it was.

I've been doing what I do every day for over 20 years now but no one really knew what I was doing up until five years or so ago.  So I thank my old supporters and my new supporters.  I just couldn't do it without you.

Below are pictures of BEFORE the start of the day.  (don't want you to think this was the turnout!)  :)  I can proudly say there were well over 100 people in and out throughout the day).  :)

Click on pics to zoom in!

Good Ole Mom

Appetizer Table

Cook Out Station and Bar

Kristin's Dad and Audrey

“Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.”