Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Scenes from the Hood


 This is what most people miss in the early morning hours.  Look at that sky.  The bluest blue with the pinkest pink of clouds.  Illuminated by the sun coming up.  Most people are snug in their beds, but I get to see the most amazing moons, skies, trees backdropped by the sky... so many beautiful things, in some of the worst neighborhoods that there are. 

Well, it's been a crazy few weeks.  Of the three cats I rescued two weeks ago, two are adopted, and the third -- I can't believe has not.  She is the sweetest, most beautiful black long-haired lap cat!  Please go to Petfinder under JanineTheBean Rescue, and view the beautiful adult cats currently up for adoption.

The next item on the agenda, I was feeding under the tree on Parsells, where the meanest cat-hating people live in almost every house around there when I kept hearing a meow.  I thought it was just a few houses away, so I got in my truck after feeding the hungry babies there, and listened quietly as I drove slowly away, and then I stopped when I knew I had pinpointed the location.  I got out of the truck, walked over to a porch, and then I saw a cat in a cage crying.  I got closer, and it was a cat that I had tried to rescue at the end of this past winter, but he went berserk and I had to let him go.  There he was in this cage, completely emaciated, and sitting in his own feces.  Not a bowl of water or food in sight.  And here we had a nasty thunder and lightning storm that night.  It was now 5 am.  That poor animal.  I got a squeeze clickable treat from the car, went up on the porch, and squeezed it in.  He ate that voraciously.  I made a note to call 911 when I got home, I knew animal control didn't start until 7, and I still had more places to feed at.  When I did call, I got the nastiest, compassionatelessness (is this a word?) female dispatcher that could have cared less.  I actually wondered if she would report it.  I called back a half hour later to see if another dispatcher would answer.  Same one.  I hung up.  She called back.  I didn't answer.  Later, around 8:30, I drove to the spot and the cat was not there, but there was a kindly-looking gentleman standing on the porch.  I asked him if he knew about the cat, but he didn't.  He lived in the other part of the house, a duplex.  I asked him if the other tenant was home, and he said yes, I went ahead and knocked on the door, and within a minute a woman was sticking her head out the window.  I asked if the cat in the trap was let out, and she said yes, she had him in there because he had some kind of 'sore'.  I said he looked very emaciated, she asked what that meant, and I told her very skinny.  I told her I wanted to help the cat, and she said it was hers.  She had her cell phone still to her ear, but then I heard her tell the person she would call back.  She shut the window, and I knew she was coming down to talk to me.  Well.  She came down, opened the door, and half-dressed with a towel around her began SCREAMING at me.  Telling me are you the bitch that puts food down across the street?  Get your ass off my porch!  These @$%@$ cats, are you the one putting food on my porch?  I said no.  I would never do that.  She said if I ever catch you doing that you'll be sorry, or something like that.  And I was looking at this kind man in disbelief.  I asked her why was she screaming and she said she'll talk as loud as she wanted.  She approached me and told me to get off her porch.  I seriously thought she was going to push me.  I walked slowly down them, bent down to pet a sweet cat, and she told me get your @#$%@$ hands off that cat, it's MY cat.  I walked to my car just staring at her.  I wanted so bad to give her a piece of my mind, but I held back.  This kind of mentality is rampant in that neighborhood.  I told the man, before the woman stuck her head out, that I have rescued hundreds from that street over the years.  He really was a nice well dressed older man.  Her language in front of him...  I just couldn't believe it.  It was obvious he knew when to be quiet.  I drove away from there with a rapid heartbeat but calmed down by the time I got home.  As long as this poor cat was no longer in that cage, I was good.  It was there at the tree across the street this morning, looking so sick.  

I can't do any rescuing now.  I will be unavailable to do my route for about a month, but luckily, I have help, most of which I am paying for, but I am grateful for people to help.  That is why donations are so important.  I have to pay people to help me each and every time I go out every other day, and that doesn't include the $100 it takes to feed every other day.  This is an expensive mission.  

Here are some pictures I took this past week:  You can click on them to zoom in:

Speaking of trash - just look at this house.  And children live here.  The handwritten sign in the front had different kinds of empanadas for sale -- um...  I wonder what the health department would think of this.


This woman on Bay Street has at least three waterfalls here and decorates her little yar every year with more and more.  At least there is some beauty amongst the filth.



This young kitty was desperately hungry as he sat on the sidewalk on Ferndale Crescent:


Another very emaciated sick cat on Melville Street.


Growing family.  We have a new fat red tabby coming to join from the field, and a new grey tabby.  The other three I've fed for over 10 years now, on Pennsylvania Avenue:


Have a great day!



Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Just SO Many!

First, let's start with little Lucy.  Lucy came through with flying colors for her surgery, and she now has three legs.  It was her back leg that was amputated, and you wouldn’t believe – her foster mom updated yesterday:  “Lucy is no longer keeping her cones on.  We put them on and she has them off in 5 minutes!  She seems to be good with not licking so we are letting her be.  She has started to jump onto a small cat tree to be able to lay in the sun.  She loves to be held like a baby and purrs like crazy.  She is anxious to get out of the room!  She is making leaps and bounds with starting and trying new things.  She is doing so much good!”  Lucy goes into the hospital to have her many stitches removed.  On Saturday, she will be going to her new home with her lovely new parents Karen and Brian who are going to spoil her immensely.  They have renamed her Darling!  What a long way this little kitten has come – from walking up to my foster’s home on Grand Avenue limping, to having her leg amputated, to being spoiled to going to a wonderful new home where she will be treated like a princess.  I can’t thank the donors enough for sending funds to help with the cost of her surgery.  I could not have done it without you.  Lucy will be forever grateful to you.

The two kittens I was fostering, Cloe and Fender, have gone to their new home, and are thriving.  Being music lovers like me, their new parents changed Cloe’s name to Laney and kept Fender.  Great minds think alike.  😊 They are two spoiled kittens.



So one of the spots I feed at is Short Street.  I’ve been feeding Mr. Whiskers and Bell there for way over 7 years or so….   The shelters were once removed by the city, but have been rebuilt a million times.  A year or so ago, we had some newbies show up.  Recently this year, a long-haired black cat has been there at 5 am. each time I go out, every other day, along with a young tabby.  This weekend I noticed that BOTH felt and looked pregnant.  Both are extremely sweet, so I reached out to the clinic for an appointment for TNR.  I haven’t done TNR in a long time because of my knees and not being able to lift much, but this morning, I managed to pick the black cat up and put it in a trap, she was just so friendly.  I will be trying for the second one on Thursday.  You have to bring in the ‘feral’ cats for the TNR program in a trap.  She is EXTREMELY SWEET, and I HATE the fact that she has to go back out after recovery.  I wish I could find someone to keep her for a bit.  I just KNOW she will be adopted soon.  Just a sweetheart.  No babies for her.   Not on my watch. And thank God for Rochester Animal Clinic.  Thank God the Supreme Court hasn’t been messing around with animal rights. Here is her picture.  I hope someone steps up?  She is SOOOOOO Sweet!  I promise I will find her a home ASAP!  I will have her overnight, and then she has to be released.  ☹  PLEASE CONSIDER opening up a room in your home for her!



 PLEASE SPAY AND NEUTER.  I know these kitties were not given that chance before they were kicked out of where they were brought to originally.  They obviously were handled by humans, but in this area, friendly cats are all over the place because of irresponsible humans.

Have a great day.