TGIF!

 It wasn't a great week, Dear Blog.  I have someone in my life, very close, that was just diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic cancer.  And now to top that off, Colon cancer.  He was told he had 4 months to live.  Can you even imagine that?  What would you do if you were told that.  I think I would want to crawl into a hole and die right there.  I know I would have a hard time speaking to anyone, including my mother.  I know it would break her heart into a million pieces and wouldn't want her to suffer like that.  They say you lose friends during this time because they just don't know what to say.  I am going to be there for this person til the end, I pray, that he doesn't shut me out.  As I probably would if I had this certain fate.  

I pray my friend dies as he lived.  He'll want to fight to the end and will want to try everything.  But then he also might reach a stage where the burden of treatment is greater than what he is gaining from it.  Would I want longevity, or would I want quality of life, which I don't think is giving up.  I think its brave if you wouldn't want to go through chemo, such an invasive treatment....  I just don't know what I would do.

Regardless, I will love him to the bitter end, just  as I have for 30+ years now, and will never be able to really show it.  Its hard to show love, isn't it?  Words are words.  Love is love.

So if you see me and I'm not the energetic happy loving person you know (ha ha), remember, we are all going through heartache in one form or another.  We all have trials too difficult to talk about, but never hesitate to ask.

Ok, I am going to get back to cats here.

Bunny, Buddy and Berry are all thriving, with mommy Melanie doting on her babies like a good mother should.  I believe all three kittens will be adopted this week - Hopefully Buddy and Berry will be adopted together as the police officer that has fallen in love doesn't have any other pets, and we all know one kitten alone is not right.  They need sibling companionship, or at least another pet in the house to look after them.  And the third kitten Bunny will hopefully go to a family that already has one kitty, and I think a dog or two.  Fingers crossed!  Sorry there are no new pictures, but Foster Sheryl is not the best at taking them.  I miss Foster Sue.  She took pics of the kittens she had every six seconds.

On the streets there is nothing new.  It gets lighter earlier now so I am able to see the filth in the neighborhood I feed in.  The garbage.  Some people just don't care about what their home looks like.  The cats are still out there and waiting for a home.  So many beautiful red tabbies, black cats, grey tabbies, and calicos.

(Those are not my ugly boots above - ha ha)  Please consider fostering an adult cat, you will never regret it, and if you don't fall in love with it, I can guarantee you we will get it adopted.  Just let me know!

Have a great day.

RATchester!

 

Last week was a zoo.  Very busy with work.  And after work even worse.  But I am back and starting this post with a disgusting picture of a HUGE rat I saw on Niagara and Central.  Yes, we do have Rats, and the city doesn’t seem to have any control with eliminating them, but the cats continue to do their job, and its proven at many of my spots that I feed at.  There is one spot that I go to – on private property that I have permission to be on – that its like a landmine, you have to watch where you step as there are many little dead critters scattered around.  The cats have a ball playing and killing these guys.

The weather has been getting much better.   The mornings are warm and that is good for all the cats out there that have been pregnant and having their babies under porches, or where ever.  At least the poor babies won’t freeze to death.  But if they manage to stay alive past a week or so, they are in danger of predators eating them up.  Please help to spay and neuter.  Do something to end the tragedies happening out there.  Speaking of, I’ve had some great help recently.  A friend drop trapped FOUR pregnant females on Ferndale Crescent, where a huge limb came down two weeks ago from our last windstorm.  Sad to say, but they were spayed.  Do you REALLY thing there needs to be more cats in this world?  Be real, those cute little things grow up to be adult cats.  The kind I find splattered on the streets occasionally, like the one I had to peel off from the middle of Fourth Street two weeks ago.  Esther was with me, and I don’t think she has seen something like that too often.  I wrapped it in a towel and placed it to side of road, there were no bushes or trees, I think she thought I was the monster, but really it was the person that smashed the cats skull in and kept driving.  I see this far too often.

 

The second grey I rescued two weeks ago, that Sheryl is fostering, Melanie, had her babies last weekend (?) - I am so bad.....).  Their eyes are already opening!  She had three – two boys and a girl.  Berry, Buddy and Bunny, all spring themed names.  They are doing great, and mommy Melanie has already been adopted, when babies are weaned of course. 

A shelter on Parsells was removed from behind a house.  Nothing I can do when they are neatly piled up and on the curb when I pull up.  Granted, there were rat holes, but I had been placing poison far down the holes so it would have eventually been cleared up.  But the house’s occupants are a bit nuts, especially the young guy who is up at all hours.  Hanging out the window, even in the dead of winter.  We placed a plate of food and bowl of water behind the house, placed the board against it to keep yesterday’s rain from soaking it as the few resident cats don’t get that on the other side of the back fence, on Melville, is another shelter.  I must try to get them over there.  Cat call.

So, again, please spay and neuter your pets.  I can’t do this forever.

Have a great day!

"The secret of change is to 

focus all of your energy 

not on fighting the old, 

but on building the new."

We Got Babies!

 So, you remember last week, I rescued ANOTHER grey pregnant female, this time from just around the corner where Lucy was parked when I rescued her, on Melville Street.  I had noticed this kitty for sometime, she was fairly new on the scene, but recently had noticed a slight bulge in her belly.  I scooped her up on a ...  what....  Tuesday?  And by this past Monday, she delivered three babies!  Pretty good catch I would say.  Again, a bit too late for an abortion.  Like we needed more cats in this world.  Most outdoor cats are dying one way or another.  They are euthanized when brought to a shelter, they are hit by cars, they are eaten by fox and other such prey, or they are abused and tortured by sick individuals - and we have plenty of those also.

So little Miss Melanie is now a mother, and thank you to their foster mother, Sheryl, for caring for them.  Now to think of names for the little ones.  And determine the sex!  (that third one looks like he has a milk mustache!)

Other than that, its been really quiet out there.   I can't think of another year when it was this quiet.  I should say quiet between the hours of 5am and 7 am.  Its the earlier hours where its not quiet.  We've had seven murders this year in Rochester, and four of them just so happened in the hood I feed cats in.  I thank God each day for having the safety and strength to do what I do, but again, as I've said before, it can't continue forever.  I have a whole other life and need to pursue it.  Including sleep.  I need it bad.

Please spay and neuter any animals in your perimeter -- don't rely on rescues (although you can ask for advice!), and please don't just ignore it.  Pay attention to your own area and do something about it. 

Thanks and have a great day!