Purple Rain?

Not quite purple, but it was definitely rain.  And it poured.  I was a drowned rat this morning.  My hair, my clothes, I had to peel off my shirt and pants.  Sunday Sheryl gave me something waterproof, can't remember what it is, but I certainly forgot to wear it this morning, as I was soaked in the first ten minutes of my route.

What a failure for TNR it was this morning.  I saw very few cats on my hour and a half route.  I must have placed two traps at four spots, each time leaving them while I went off on my rounds.  First at Central and Fifth in the back of that lot, next on Pennsylvania and Second.  There are many unaltered cats at each of these spots.  Then I went off to do the  rest on this 'back nine' of my route.  As I returned to each of the traps, both soaked (I did place a towel over the trap so the food wouldn't disipitate under the rain), and no cats, but one miserable raccoon.  I opened the trap and said GIT!  I then went to Webster and Ferndale where there is a lovely calico kitty.  I set the trap there, and went off and set a trap on Baldwin and Grand, hoping to either get black kitty, or the young pretty red short haired tabby there.  I drove off to Garson, fed the kitties there, and came back to Baldwin to find nothing but the black cat sitting inside the shelter waiting for me to put its 'proper food' down. 

I then raced back to Ferndale and Webster and found nothing there.  Filled the bowls, and gave up.  Finished my route, and here I am.  What a freaking morning.

I did phone the NET office for the quadrant where the Susan B. Anthony apartments are, and have yet to hear back after leaving a message to call me.  I hope they can help me out here with a solution.

MARBLES

Marbles tested negative, and wonderful rescue GRASP is taking HER in.  Yes, she is a female.  And a lovey dovey too.   She also doesn't display any markings on her belly, so we don't think she is spayed, but I've never seen her pregnant in all this time I've been feeding her.   That's kind of like my Buster, who also is a female, but I never had her spayed, and she has no marking on her belly, nor has been pregnant.  Wonder why that is.  The vet believes Marbles to be about a year old, but she's a big girl.  With big feet.

That's it for today.  I am off to an all day training class for work.

Make it a good one.

"Another day, another blessing."

Marbles!

Well, I did it again.  Sunday morning, I rescued Marbles!  He or she is the SWEETEST kitty!!!  Loves belly rubs, and pats..  Will go nose to nose with you.  Since being on the streets for God knows how long, the sweet personality of this cat has remained.  My little pirouette kitty.  :)  Today Marbles goes to the clinic for a combo test, and to confirm its sex!  It is not ear-tipped, and I just can't tell by feeling in the back!

My Garden on Pennsylvania.  Its growing beautifully.  Thank you to those of you that donated bulbs last year, and helped me plant.  This picture was taken in the dark Sunday morning, but this morning, the tulips were opening up too!  If you click on it you can see it closer, but this summer mulch will be added, a nice dark mulch to contrast the beautiful annuals I would like to add.  The kitties and their shelters remain intact in the back.  So far, so good.

A nice family came over on Saturday, and guess what, PEPPERCORN has been adopted!  Or will be on Monday, of next week.  I tried to get them to take two, but they wouldn't budge.  Out of the three, I am glad they chose Peppercorn.  I don't think I could break up siblings Arnie and Charlie.  Arnie is still too tiny anyway.

I mentioned a woman that reached out to me recently.  She is looking for help with two younger/older kittens that she has been feeding.  PLEASE HELP.  I reached out to help someone last year that contacted me, please, can someone do the same for this person?  I can't do it all alone.

AnonymousApril 19, 2016 at 10:30 PM

Janine, Hi. I sent you an e-mail at janinethebean10@yahoo.com

but don't know it that's an accurate address. I have a dilemma re 2 orphaned sibling kitties (4-6mths old)living under my car in the open driveway and under a bush in front yard. I feed them but I cannot take them into house!! Called every organization to take, everyone full. Will not call Animal Control 'cause they will kill. I will DONATE any and all funds you need to take them,(or I can bring them to you) to get them neutered/spayed etc etc etc and foster them out.

One all-black, gorgeous and very petable- the other black-body, all-four white mitten paws, white face and black-tip nose. Adorable. Both keep pawing and mewing at door to come into house. I cannot. It's all so horrible impossible.
With hope,
Nancy ( I left my ph # on my e-mail to you in case it WAS your correct e-mail)

AnonymousApril 20, 2016 at 11:34 AM
Nancy please post an email address so I (or others) can get ahold of you with information of who to contact that might be able to take these two sweeties. Sounds like they were tame kittens who were dumped and need to be taken in or at very least they will be pregnant soon.You might not have contacted ALL groups who do rescue.
Delete

AnonymousApril 23, 2016 at 11:25 PM
Gosh, thanks.

Pregnant?? Oh no!!!!

If anyone does have info on any groups who can do what's necessary for them,(I'll fund) here's my e-mail.

ne7idi.5@frontier.com

TIA,
Nancy

A SORT OF impasse has been made with me and Creepy Guy from Niagara.  He was there full throttle this morning.  A minute after I slid the dish under the fence for the cats to eat, he started walking toward me.  I yelled out 'what a pathetic life you have... what, do you set your alarm just to come out here and throw the food out?  what a jerk you are..." and then I said 'if this door were only left open, perhaps over time I could convince these cats to cross the street over to the shelter!"  He then started to talk to me....  that he would be willing to work with me to keep the door open but I would have to talk to management.  So, I guess I am going to try to call the NET office to see if they can talk to the property manager about this - my heart is too much into this to speak rationally to ignorant people (the cats are scaring the females).  Ugggh.  I don't need another situation to handle, really I don't.  I don't know how successful this is going to be, but willing to try.

That's it for today. Fingers cross and prayers said for Marbles to test negative.  Then, a rescue group has offered to take Marbles and find a good home for IT.  :)

Have a nice day.

PS, that 'nice man' from Arizona, who asked for my help, in which we got the mother cat and five kittens out of his mother's basement, has never responded to me about helping out financially.  Not a word.  Not a penny.

Lets Go Crazy!

Prince.  May he rest in peace.  Such a talent.  Another one gone.  My era too.  Its getting scary, so many dropping like flies.

Someone is coming to look at the kittens I have this evening.  Fingers crossed they consider two.  Its a nice family, but I hope they realize the importance of adopting two kittens rather than just one.

Charlie, Peppercorn, Arnie

Poppy, Birdie, Sparky

10 Reasons Why Two Kittens are Better Than One

The decision to adopt a kitten is an exciting event, but not to be entered into lightly. Kittens require an enormous amount of care, which, of course, is compensated by the extreme pleasure of watching them grow and develop. Sometimes, it is better to adopt two kittens, whether this is your first cat or an addition to a feline family. I put the challenge to my forum members to explain why two kittens are better than one. They came up with some very solid and creative arguments for two kittens.

Reason #1: You're saving two lives instead of one.
"If it's kitten season, that's one more kitten that will get a home instead of growing into an adult which will decrease its chance of getting adopted." It is entirely true that kittens are much easier to place than adult cats, and the 15-month-old cat you see in the shelter today is very likely a holdover from last year's crop of kittens.

Reason #2 :
A kitten left alone during the day can become lonely and bored, which sometimes can lead to mischief. Two kittens will never be lonely, especially if they are siblings. In fact, you'll often find situations in shelters and rescue group adoption where a cage will contain two kittens with a sign, "These kittens may be adopted only as a pair." Shelter volunteers recognize that siblings really need to stay together. And since shelters are often frightening, unfriendly places to small creatures, unrelated cats often form close bonds that should be respected when adoption time comes.

Reason #3 :
Although it might sound contrary, an older, established cat will probably accept two kittens better than one. One kitten will seek out the older cat as a playmate, or worse, tease and pester the senior cat which can cause stress to an older cat. The kitten in return, will be "rewarded" for his playful efforts with hisses and swats. Two kittens will expend their energy in play with each other, leaving their older "uncle" to relax in peace.

Reason #4 :
Kittens learn by copying. If one kitten is quick to learn appropriate litter box use, the other will be likely to copy. They also help each other with grooming; wash-up after meals soon becomes a ritual with two kittens.

Reason #5 :
Even the most devoted human caregiver can quickly become exhausted by trying to keep up with the energy of a single kitten. Two kittens will wear each other out, leaving their human parent free to just enjoy watching them. The downside to this, of course,  "...but of course, sometimes you have double trouble, too !"

Reason #6 :
Many people who experience behavior problems with kittens find that some of them go away when they adopt another playmate. What may be perceived as mischief is often just the result of boredom. Much like their human counterparts, kittens sometimes misbehave because "negative attention is better than no attention."

Reason #7 :
"If one kitten is finicky about food, the belligerence is often overcome by curiosity at what its sibling is eating. (Feed one cat Same Old, the other cat New Stuff, and they both end up tasting the new stuff.)"

Reason #8 :
Kittens will often play so hard that they simply flop where they are, and more likely than not, they will flop next to (or on top of) each other. There is no sight so endearing as two kittens curled up together for a nap. Their peaceful innocence can soften the heart of even the grumpiest curmudgeon, and the sight of that blissful moment will wash clean the slate of their previous misdoings.

Reason #9 :
"And of course, they're just so much darn fun to watch!" Having lived through (and survived nicely) the joy of adopting and raising two kittens, I can personally attest to the downright fun of having two kittens.

Reason #10 :
Two kittens who grow up together will almost always be lifelong friends. Although they will sometimes have their little squabbles (what friends don't?) you will more often see them engaging in mutual grooming, playing together, and sleeping with their best pal.  If you are considering adopting a kitten, think about your best friend and consider whether you would deprive your kitten of the enrichment a friend brings to life.

Have a wonderful day!

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair."

Last Count

Thank you to those of you that offered food, and donated recently.  As I've said before (and so did Hillary), it takes a village!  These cats are our cats, those of us who live here, who work here, who care for any hungry stray animal.  Its OUR responsibility.  I am only their caretaker.  Thank you SO much for anything you can donate.  I just can't do it alone.

Thanks for all the deworming tips also.  I think I will do Sunday when Sunday Sheryl joins me.  Too much for me to do when you are driving around feeding all these cats.

Speaking of all these cats, here is the count today:  This is how many cats I actually saw this morning at each location:  There are 15 locations I go to - unless i am missing something...  I thought it was 19???

Niagara - 7

Short - 6

7th - 3

Central & 5th - 4

3rd - 5

Penn & 4th - 5

Penn & 2nd - 5

2nd - 2

Webster - 2

Baldwin - 8

Garson - 4

Parsells behind house - 7

Parsells Porch #2 - 4

Parsells Porch #1 - 4

Melville  - 4

WOW, how many is that?  EXACTLY 70. (I just counted - :)) But that doesn't include this little guy I found on the side of the road after I left my Garson spot.  In tact male.  Young, fluffy, hungry.  I had to leave him after I placed the food down.  There are so many.  This number does NOT include the ones that are hiding that I can't see, and there are many, at each spot. This does not mean all are spayed or neutered either. There is so much work to be done out there!  I can't do it alone!

Maryleigh - I have not seen this crazy chick since winter.  Wonder what has happened to her?  

Freak on Niagara.  The 'man' that throws the food away for the cats inside the fenced in Susan B. Anthony apartments on Niagara and Central continues to do his thing.  This morning, it was my intention to leave food there before going to work, so when I pulled up, I kept driving because I saw someone inside their car, inside the fence, throwing bread in the same area, for the birds.  At least someone loves nature.  I waited, and then pulled up an reached under the fence and plopped a bowl of food on the ground.  What I had left there earlier was swept up and thrown out.  All the cats were watching me.  Sick.  This 'man' must be stopped.

A rescue group has stepped up and offered to take in Marbles.  So if Marbles can hold on, and not get hit by a car, or killed some other way, I will scoop him up Sunday morning, and get him to the clinic for combo testing on Monday.  

Other than that, its a wrap.

Have a good day.

"We can't help everyone, but everyone

can help someone."

Money!

Money, it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I'll buy me a football team
PINK FLOYD - LOVE THEM.

Pablo, the young male grey tabby that I 'trapped' yesterday for neutering at the clinic was let back out this morning.  He had a good dinner and then a good nights sleep in a cozy bedded very large carrier and spent the night on my porch.  Sad to let them back out.

Flies - someone wrote me asking about the flies in the summer when you put food out.  I told them I am sure it affects the cats - they get worms, etc., but now I know I can get cheap dewormer in liquid form, and can give a dose here and there to the kitties when I place their food down.  Last year I had enough for the first half of my route, knowing I did not treat ALL the cats that eat there, but some.

My WISH LIST, if I could wish, would be for liquid deworming - Petco sells it - and cat food, and money. My bill for taking the kittens in for a wellness visit, and a spay and neuter yesterday, was $264.00.  That is a lot cheaper than going to a regular vet, but very very expensive for me.  I have not heard from the man who we did this favor for - getting the mother cat and her kittens out of his mother's house so that he could sell it. He seemed genuine at first, but not having heard from him, nor getting a donation to help with finances, I am beginning to wonder.  The bill on Saturday for Sparky, one of the other kittens (total of 6) was $40.  Not only did I have to pay this, but I received a notice that the clinic cost for TNR per cats is going up by $10 to $60.  I will not be able to continue to do TNR of two cats per week like I used to.  I have been a recipient of Missy's Fund - for those of you that wonder - but that is not everlasting.   With costs of food of $150+ per week, and then to top that off with $120 in TNR's per week, I just can't afford this.

I do have an attorney working on getting my tax exempt status soon, so that will help.  But in the meantime, I must cut back.  I do thank the handful of people who occasionally donate - you are amazing.  And you know who you are.  If every person out there, that cared about animals, donated just $1.00, just think of how much of this burden I carry - to pay for the food and spay/neuter of Rochester's city cats - could ease.

If you read the comment yesterday about the two young kittens that need homes, I must address this now.  I am not a 'rescue'.  I just feed and shelter and care for the cats in the Beechwood section of Rochester.  How will I respond to this???  I already have three/six kittens in my custody.  I feel so overwhelmed sometimes....

MARBLES

Marbles continues to run to me each morning, and do a spinning pirouette for me.  He needs to get off the streets.  I am hoping someone will offer to foster him at least.  There are two unneutered males on Baldwin - a sweet red boy, young, and old ornery black cat.  The kittens need adoption...  anybody?

ARNIE

PEPPERCORN and CHARLIE CHAPLIN

Poppy Birdie and Sparky

There are just so many challenges doing what I do.  Please spread the word for me.  I do need help (yes, and mentally.  :))

Have a nice day.

"You're going to go through tough times - that's life.  But I say, 'Nothing happens to you, it happens for you.'  See the positive in negative events."

TNR Tuesday

It is very difficult to trap two cats on Tuesdays when you still have to feed over 70 cats at 19 different locations all within an hour and half.  If you place the trap at one spot, you have to go to the next one to feed, come back, check on trap, go do another spot, come back, check on trap.  If there is nothing biting, still, you have to move the trap to another spot, and then go and feed at another spot.  Its a lot of running around, and leaving the trap unattended for a short while, which is OK, but its the running around.  I had the trap set up at two different locations - one at Baldwin, and one on Pennsylvania and Fourth, but they are too smart there.  I knew I could grab one of the kittens that were born last spring, because he lets me pet him now after I place the food and he is eating, the one on Parsells behind the house there.  That is how I got this guy this morning.  He was upset, but I reassured him all would be fine.  He was going to the doctor, he would be neutered so that he can't make babies, and given shots to make him well, and then I would let him back with this mom, sister and brother.  All of whom were spayed and neutered.

Mom cat Penny, the one that was rescued from the basement with her five newborn kittens on Karnes Street will be spayed today also.  It was discovered that she has worms.  Totally gross.  Nevertheless, her kittens have them too, obviously.  She is with three of them at a foster, and I have three of them, one being Peppercorn from another mother.  My three went to the vet yesterday and had a kitten wellness check where they were given deworming medicine, so hopefully Arnie will begin to grow big and strong now!  He is the runt of the litter.  This whole fiasco is costing me a fortune.  I have asked the man to help with finances, it the man in Arizona who's mother is the one that he asked for help for, with her coming in from Henrietta to feed the ferals, with her house being vacant and up for sale (kitty stuck in basement!).  Habitat for Cats have taken care of spaying/neutering the ferals outside, and I have undertaken to care for the mother and kittens.  I haven't heard a word from him, which I am disappointed about.

I went back to check on the food I dumped on the grass under the fence on Niagara, and it was still there on my way to work.  What I am concerned about is the ants.  They will out marching soon, with the warm weather.  Whats the point of placing food on the ground for the cats to eat it if its covered with ants?

That's all I have today folks.  Its never a dull moment.

Have a great day!

"Don't mistake my kindness for weakness.  I am kind to everyone, but when someone is unkind to me, weak is not what you are going to remember about me."

Oh RATS!

Sort of quiet weekend in the hood.  I haven't seen the monster on Niagara Street, but he's there every morning throwing away the food for the eight cats that live there.  And he has the rake out when I come back and dump some food on the grass inside the gate.  Does this guy have a life?  How pathetic it must be.  I would love a bunch of you to offer to drive by, place some food under the fence, and drive off.  Just knowing these cats have something to eat during the day.  Its bad enough I am going there three times a day.  I go there first thing after I leave my house at 4 am., swing back around before I cross Goodman to do the other side, and then on my way to work. He knows my schedule in the early hours.  I would love some other individuals to NOT be afraid to drive up, get out of car, place food in a bowl, lift up the fence underneath, and pour the food onto the grass, and drive off - throughout the day.  As far as getting the property manager to open up the gate to let the cats out, I don't think they will, nor do I think the cats will just walk out and cross the street.  They literally consider this their home, and they are frightened of the cars that go whizzing by.  And rightly so.  I don't know what else to do.

The kittens are thriving.  We have Arnie, Charlie, Peppercorn, Sparky, Birdie and Poppy.  We have three boys, two girls.  They are totally adorable.

And the mom Penny, she is actually coming around to touch.  I don't think she will be returned to the streets.  We may try to socialize her and get her adopted!  She was just scared out of her mind, and wasn't used to humans for a very long time, but obviously, if you can touch her, she is not completely feral.   I am going to try to get her spayed as one of my clinic spots tomorrow.  The kittens are still nursing, but eating also.

I am having an issue with RATS also!  Isn't that a lovely topic.  :)  On Second Street, behind Paul's house, I have shelters set up back there.  Many kitties, including our sweet little Cleo most recently, have been rescued here.  Many have been TNR'd here.  Paul is the kind man who has allowed me to feed behind his house on his property for many years now.  Right now, there are many rats here.  They run right in front of me.  The past two or three mornings, I have not seen my regulars here.  The little black kitten with the head tilt and cloudy eye, or Spot, the white kitty with a few black dots on him, or the older girl tabby who I fed for years, until recently, where come to think of it, have not seen.  This is also where TUFFY hung out, many years ago, and hasn't been seen in over a year now, at least.  Anyways, this morning, as I walked to the back of the house in the dark, I did not see any kitties, but I did see the rats, and heard them scuffling about.  I see holes in the ground against the house, and I can hear them nibbling the food when I place it behind the board.  Its quite gross to listen to really.  So I did not leave food there this morning, after making sure there were no kitties hiding, waiting.  I don't know what to do about these rats.  If I don't feed there for days, will they leave???

Such problems!  :)

Have a great day!

"Some people are like clouds.  Once they go away, it's a beautiful day."