Trust

VIOLET - still unable to eat solids, but still waiting for a home too!

HERMIE's foster needs remove Hermie from her home - please consider this special need (super shy) cat
I think the only option would be Lollipop for him.  

FRANCIE is super shy, and needs to find a permanent home desperately

So, I pulled up to the last stop this morning, at 4th and Pennsylvania, and there is a cat I call Big Red #2.  Big Red (#1) was rescued years ago from Garson Avenue.  He was a big big red boy, with injuries, and after a while, he learned to trust me and allowed me to pet him.  I finally got word from someone that they would take him.  So I scooped him up.  He is now living the life, with Monkey, a young kitty I scooped up not long after him, from Second Street.  Monkey had a curly tail, which is how she got her name.  They live in Penfield with their family - parents and many canine and feline siblings.  In the meantime, Big Red's twin - I've been feeding him for a very long time - many  years there - and he has always stayed far away when I arrive, as do the other seven or so regulars that I see when I pull up there.  But this past summer, one of the other red kitties, with some white on its chest, has started to friend me.  He sidles up to me and enjoys the long pets and scratches I give him.  Well, what do they say, monkey see, monkey do?  Big Red saw me petting this other red, and he wanted in on some of that.  And there we were this morning, a really nice cuddle, me and Big Red #2.  It really is amazing how it could take years before an animal will trust you, but they do!  They really do come around!

So take heed, any of you that are considering giving up on an animal because its too shy for you to pet.  It might not take years, it could be a matter of months, days...  most of these cats have been born on the streets, and do not trust humans.  But little by little, day after day, they do learn that you are good, that you are there to love them and be kind to them.  And they WILL eventually come around.  Big Red #2 is living proof.   Better yet, Buttons is living proof.  Buttons was born in a hole in the foundation of a boarded up house (I am assuming).  I fed him and his siblings and cats around there on Sixth Street and when they were older had them all spayed and neutered.  Buttons would get closer and closer and sweeter and sweeter enough to let me hold him.  Briefly, but he trusted me that much!  And he was born feral!

Speaking of Buttons, he went to the vet yesterday for a pre-op check.  He will have some teeth removed tomorrow.  PLEASE READ MONDAY'S POST ON HIS RESCUE.  Thank you Nancy for donating money towards his pre-op check, with a little left over for this very expensive tooth removal tomorrow (although this is the cheapest around).  I can't tell you how much it means to me.  This cat is not MY cat, its a cat that is/was in desperate need because it was starving to death not being able to eat.  Imagine, every morning, I pulled up there, did my thing, fed the six or so cats on Short Street, and drove off thinking - they are filling their little bellies for the day - what a great feeling for me.  But no, little Buttons was watching me drive off saying "it hurts to much for me to eat!' and had to wait in hopes that it might change the next morning when I drive up.  I am SO thankful I had the wherewithal to scoop him up.  I knew I had cats in foster already that are still in need of homes, I know that Cammy needs to come back to me from his foster, as she has been very kind and patient with him this long after finding out he has FIV, and she only deals with healthy kitties in her rescue group, and I know Hermie is in need of someone that can get him out of his shell, and his foster is in desperate need of someone to take him now, she cannot keep him any longer.   But I just had to get Buttons. 

BUTTONS

If anyone has an extra few dollars they can spare, please call Caring for Cats in Greece (585-865-5220) and make a donation towards Buttons surgery tomorrow (it could be under SueAnn Meddaugh's name - she got the ball rolling for this by finding out pricing for him, and making the appointment for him).  Remember, this could be your way of helping an animal without the bother!  When I started doing this over 15 years ago, to this day I had never encountered dental problems with the cats I've rescued.  I didn't bargain for this, nor do I have finances for anything above and beyond just feeding them, and getting them spayed and neutered.  I am doing something that the city should be doing, caring for its homeless.  People and cats, they both suffer.  There are so many that need our help.  PLEASE help me to help them.

Have a WONDERFUL day!

"In the end, we only regret the chances

we didn't take."