This puppy has the energy level of a small hurricane, especially in the mornings. LOL  Yesterday, I let her out of her crate in the morning (she goes outside with me about 5 times in the night to do her business). She exploded out of the crate- and leaped on every piece of furniture we own. She was tearing around the room- cats were scattering and then she leaped on top of our antique chest and decided that wasn’t high enough. We have a 10 foot custom built (by Mike long ago) cat post in our living room and she leaped on top of the post looking quite proud of herself. Silly dog. I took a long look at her life with us and knew that this wasn’t the ideal place for her. She needs an active family with NO cats (she chases them in high-play mode, not a prey drive) but they don’t know that. She loves, loves, loves kids. She goes nuts when she sees kids. It’s like she’s saying to me: “Mom look, puppies on two legs!” She’s just all over the map.

I had to take Mike to Portland again yesterday and as always, Zara went with us. I talked to Mike about my feelings that although it was meant for me to rescue this puppy initially, it’s not to be that she is to stay here. He said he loved her, but he added, he only sees her for a few hours twice a week. He’s not there when she chases cats, eats Sharpies, yells her head off if I leave her alone for five minutes. So he told me he would pray about it and he knew I would do what was right for her. She was great comfort for me when B-Dog passed, but her journey ends with us and continues now with this new family who met her last night.

It was strange, I put the ad up on CL at 10:30 last night. I was completely honest about her having strong separation anxiety, chasing cats in play, eating everything she can find on the ground and her high energy level. I immediately got 4 phone calls and 10 emails inquiring about her. To me that’s crazy. I was interviewing people on the phone, trying to find the best place for her- evaluating emails and then my phone rings again and this woman’s voice says:

“OMG! I am so in love, I just saw your ad, please tell me you have this puppy still? I don’t have any money right now, but I have jewelry you can have for collateral until I get paid again- please, please my kids love her, we love her- can we meet her?” and on and on it went. The more she talked, the wider the smile grew, and I knew that Zara belonged with this family. I told the woman the money $60.00 which is what I initially paid for her wasn’t the issue. Finding the right home was top priority. She gave me her address and asked if I could bring her right then and there.

This was an answered prayer for me- not only did the woman have all the qualifications Zara needs- a large fenced back yard, kids, an active life and a lot of love, but today at 2:00 I am having minor surgery on my foot which will lay me up for a few days if not longer so I won’t be able to get up fast enough to let her outside to do her business or take her for walks.

I drove over there and brought Zara inside and she exploded- Lord have mercy she showed all of them what I was talking about in the ad, her high energy level. She was so happy to be there- she’s yapping and barking, running amuck in their big living room and the kids are laughing, clapping their hands and the adults are down to her level loving on her as she whizzes by. I’ve taken her out to a lot of homes and a lot of places and never have seen her exhibit such behavior before except with me in our home.

I knew then, she was destined to be their dog. I said goodbye to her and left. This morning, I got a positive report about her- she had slept in her crate all night, whining a time or two to be let outside to potty. So thankfully, that part of my training is working for her. They all love her- they changed her name to Midnight Blue based on the unique coloring of her coat- it has a bluish tone to it. The older boy was taking her roller blading this morning which she desperately needs.

I will miss her- but I have to say my blood pressure went down substantially this morning when I woke up and calm prevailed throughout the house. The cats were all clustered around me, I think they were thanking me for the absence of this whirlwind of a puppy. No more chasing around the house- they too can breathe again. I did rescue her and she rescued me- but this was not the home she was destined to grow up in-

Last night when I was feeding, there was a stranger in with the group of cats. She sort of reminds me of my Dad’s calico kitty and at first, I thought Callie might have come back- but this kitty is missing Callie’s beauty mark on her face.

I am calling her Gidget, she is fairly young and she is a long hair dilute calico kitty. She hisses but she is all bluff. I had to laugh, the photo I took of her shows her yowling at me- but once you get your hands on her, she loves to be petted. She is so matted though especially on her belly. This morning, I spent about an hour pulling blackberry stems out of her tail. She wasn’t enjoying it, but she was allowing it-

I can’t post her picture at the moment until my battery gets charged again- but will post one tomorrow.

The tomcat who I have been trying to trap for over four years now, who I named Merlin has caught his last nap. He was curled up under our Chinese maple this morning and at first I thought he was just sleeping. But he’s gone. He must have gotten hit on the road and made his way back to a place he felt safe to take his last nap. I know we can’t save them all but he was worth all our efforts even if they didn’t pay off in the end.

Good Night Merlin-

Dear Nameless One,

This morning, when I went to let my puppy, Zara outside to go potty, Zara ran over to a shoebox left on our porch and started pawing it and frantically barking. I ran over to the box and picked it up. Taking it inside,  opened the lid and to my dismay discovered six frozen just day-old kittens. I rushed into the kitchen and threw a dry dish towel into the microwave to warm it up and picking up each kitten individually worked over 20 minutes to stimulate them, warm them up and bring them back into the land of the living. It was to late, they have gone on to a better place but that doesn’t excuse your cold heart that put them in this darkness in the first place.

You might have heard that hypothermia is a relatively painless way to go, but in reality it is not. Kittens especially at this young age don’t just nod off and go to sleep. They suffer seizures, spasms their organs shut down. One kitten had bit her tongue in half during one of these seizures. Our temperature was down to 20 degrees last night. Why didn’t you just knock on the door and hand me these kittens while they were still alive? At the very least you could have blasted your horn as you sped down our driveway to escape into the night. I wouldn’t have condemned you then, I do condemn you now.

Six lives have winked out because you did not possess the courage to do the right thing. Do I have room for six more mouths to feed? Wouldn’t have mattered, I would have taken them from you gladly and brought them into the warmth this house possesses.

I can’t even break frozen ground and bury these small ones. I had to go into the woods and just lay them on the moss, giving them all back to God. I covered them with thick leaves and dirt. At least now, they will be warm.

I made a promise to two people with good hearts who are struggling in keeping up with the amount of cats dumped on them in the past few years. I saw this colony so in trouble, so many sick kitties, hair loss from fleas, just sad conditions and my heart spoke out to say, “Yes I will help.” They were so happy, they both hugged me tight and said “Thank you, no one else will help us.”

Now as the days pass, I scramble to find enough traps to get this done. I found a place that will charge me $50.00 a trap to “rent” them, They say they will hold the check until the traps are returned- but years ago, I fell into the same sort of situation and the check was “accidentally” put through and the funds weren’t there to cover it. It got quite sticky there and I gave them a what-for because all the traps had been returned. So I can’t take the chance that the same thing will happen again. my argument in my head is that why would I pay $50.00 to rent a trap when I could go out and buy the same trap for $35.00 brand new if the funds were available?

We just got bailed out on our vet bill by all of you kind folk and here I am asking for money again. I think that is the most aggravating part of what I do. I have no problem socializing and working with these cats to find them homes. I take them in to be vetted and neutered and do all I can to lower their stress level and allow them to understand people can be trusted. But the hardest thing being non-profit now is ask for money, Because now it seems like I do it all the time. I don’t like doing it- I really don’t. I am not squirreling the money away to take a tropical vacation- it all goes to the cats. But it’s not like old times, people are struggling to pay their mortgage, their losing their jobs, their houses their lives. And here I am on the cyber corner of Life with my hand out and a tin cup asking for help. I don’t do this well. Put me in a room with a dozen true feral cats and I am in heaven. Put me in front of a grant form to fill out and I do such a poor job that they just dismiss me. I have asked repeatedly for grants, filled them out sent them in, entered contests. I’ve done all I can and it seems to always go to the big dogs, the ones who really don’t need the money but who hire people who can fundraise for them or write up grants.

I put it all out there every day. My phone rings off the hook, people pleading for me to take their cats and I don’t think that will ever end. We are down to 21 cats in the sanctuaries now. That is a low number for us- we generally have 33 and last year we went beyond and had 54 cats. So with 21 I can breathe again.

Now I am faced with making a promise, I am not sure that I can keep under all the circumstances here. To only neuter part of the colony serves no purpose- we have to get as many as we can in order to stop them from mating. My plan was to go in 5 days before the neuter date and set the traps up with cable ties keeping them opened and on the fifth day removing the ties and trapping the majority of the kitties who will by then be comfortable going in and out of the traps without incident.

Perhaps I wasn’t thinking clearly this time when I told Wes and Chris that I would help. Now I am looking for another miracle to complete this challenge for them and take the load off their shoulders. I can tell they love all these cats and they have kept the owner of the land from fulfilling his promise. He wants to just shoot all the cats and be done with it!

Anyway, I am always pretty direct about my life here on this blog. I have the added worry of this second ulcer on Mike’s good foot not healing and him potentially becoming a double amputee. To much stress, to much worry and even giving it to God it still plays in the back of my mind how to help Wes and Chris and how to help Mike.

As always thanks for listening. Feeling just a bit overwhelmed at the moment-

5:00 p.m. update- I have been in touch with a gentleman who will let me have 11 traps for one fee of $50.00. YAY! That we can work with- I can have these traps for one week and I have promised faithfully to return every last trap to him after the neuter and release.

On the question about the caretakers raising money. They live in a pretty shabby camper on the property and one is disabled. They live there rent free because they watch over all the equipment on the land. They have no money and no way to raise any as I have already asked them.

Mary Anne

On March 27th I am transporting as many feral cats from the aforementioned colony that I can trap. I believe there are 38 cats total- but it is hard to count cats who wish to stay elusive and have such great hiding spots. These cats will be neutered by the Feral Cat Coalition and a group of women in Salem will be transporting all the cats in their vehicles. I just have to get my clowder into Salem.

TFCC will do neuters/spays, check and treat for earmites, parasites and vaccinate and ear tip all my group all for a donation. I will be doing a local fundraiser but usually they only net a few bucks and I am asking those of you who can- to put this out through social media and other means to see if we can raise some money for this group.

Usually when you do these spay and neuter clinics they are limited to only the county they are in- we are far away from Portland, but this group accepts any number of cats from anywhere in Oregon and to be that is astonishing and quite a blessing.

If you can spare a few dollars on payday- consider sending it this way for this group. This time my vet won’t see a cent of the donation and that too is rare. 😉 LOL

At any rate, March is going to be busy for us as we start to acclimate these stray cats to traps. My plan is to go in 5 days before the day of transportation and set out all the traps I can find and wire the doors so they stay open. Then the day before we transport, the wires come off, the doors come down and afterward the colony is sterile. Amen-

As always thank you for your help, your prayers and your comments which are all always welcomed-

Mary Anne

CATS Inc.,