Tonight, I handed over Huggles and Franklin to one of the local shelters. I know they will get adopted quickly as they are both such nice kitties. The shelter will also take Zulu the gray and white dump kitty when I get back from a quick trip to see my mom. I leave this coming week and will only be gone a few days but it is trip I feel I need to take. Quincy will be going with me as Mike is unable to care for him fully yet. George and Haley will be taking care of the cats and Ron and Jack will check in on Mike. Everything should be fine and when I get home, I will surrender Zulu over to Heartland and concentrate on the socialization of the feral kittens in the bedroom. I am anxious to see my mom and she says she is eager to see me as well although there are times when she forgets my name when we are talking on the phone. My dad’s last wish was for me to watch out for her and I am doing the best I can.

Right before going to bed last night, the phone rang. It was someone who has adopted from us in the past. She now cleans the offices in town and she was at the Sanitation Department.  Seems there was a cat hanging around there for the last few days. Coco said that this cat was all over her and starving. She was afraid to leave it at the dump because of all the dangers and toxic food there. I got dressed and drove to town bringing back with me a very young, matted long-haired gray tomcat. For the next few hours, I spent chasing the matts out his hair. I couldn’t find my seam ripper, so I used a roofing nail instead. My motto is whatever works, and this worked. He only got growly with me once when I was working at a mat under his tail. When I finally freed the mat- he ran over to the litterpan and let it all loose.

Poor boy is of course so skinny- no muscle, no fat not even an ounce. He has inhaled several cans of cat food over the night as well as dry food. He was dehydrated so we gave him fluids. Like Franklin, he too was covered with fleas. I gave him capstar and will go and get him flea meds this morning.

He is out in the deck enclosure right now. It is only supposed to get up to 80 today, but I turned the fan on anyway this morning. He has several hidey holes in there if it gets too breezy for him.

Here he is: We have not named him yet-

This little boy wandered up on a nearby farm. The person who gave him to us said that she suspects an abusive family (long moved on) left him behind in the move. I am calling him Franklin and looking to see if Heartland will take him along with Huggles tomorrow. Not, that we can’t use the adoption fee to chop down the vet debt, but the shelter gets way more traffic than we do I have had him in my lap, he is skin and bones. There should be a law against how skinny this kitty is. At least he isn’t black. At least he has a chance of getting out of this sanctuary and into a better life because he is a color most people WANT to adopt.

It is always amazing to me how quickly “feral” kittens turn around when you provide them safety, feedings on a schedule and a quiet environment. This morning when I went in to feed- all five of them were clustered around the wire watching me dish out the food. When I opened the nesting box door, I only got hissed at once and then they dove into the canned food. Five kittens can eat a LOT of canned food.

They are using their litterpans which I was glad to see. I am going to wait a few days before trying to clean them up a bit- I still just want them to settle down and not feel threatened.

I talked to a friend of mine who works at a local shelter and if I don’t find a home for Huggles by Sunday, I will take her over to Heartland and let them find a home. I don’t imagine with her loving personality that she will be in their cages more than 24 hours and I need the room for the new kittens to be able to run around and really start to socialize them and work with them in unconstrained spaces.

Non-stop calls on kittens. The local rescue group confessed to me that they have 117 kittens in foster homes! That’s just nuts. These babies lost their mom this morning and the gentleman said he called everyone, but when he told them the kittens were feral, he was turned down repeatedly.

Yes, I took them and they are cute although I wish they were any other color but black and mackerel tabbies. I have them out in the nesting box right now. I am waiting for a home for Huggles to come through, then I will move the babies into the bedroom. Mom was pure black and not yet a year old. Same old story-different day-

Here they are, I have no idea what sex they are. I have de-flead and de-wormed them with caution- they are formidable hissers and strikers at the moment. There are five of them- two black and three mackerel tabbies

I have put a carrier inside the nesting box to give them a cave to hide in. I covered the top with a towel to make it darker being careful not to cut off all their air. I moved the nesting box into the bedroom and they are cautious with me as long as I keep my distance from them. They are eating canned kitten food- thank the good Lord, I had a little on-hand right now. The adult food is much to rich for them to eat right now. I do have dry kitten chow which they are also eating. I am not putting water in with them- they make a mess when they are this age and you give them water. As long as they are eating wet food- water isn’t an issue. One Mackeral tabby just sits and trembles when he/she sees me. I am pretty much leaving them alone except for feeding times- feeding four times a day. They have plain clay litter in the litter pans which are nothing more than those throw-away aluminum baking pans you get at the grocery store for a few cents on a dollar. I like those as beginning pans because they have low sides and you get four of them. Kittens such as these are used to mom being the clean-up crew and they will poop wherever they are. The more pans you can leave out for them to use, the better the clean up will start to be.

The babies are caked with mud and bark- they came out of shed that stores firewood. But, I am just leaving them alone for now. Let them acclimate to their new surroundings, get used to not having mom around, then I will take them out and use some Crisco lard to remove the sap on their fur then brush them gently if they will tolerate it. I don’t want to bathe them right now- they had access to clumping litter before arriving here and they have it all between their pads, on the back of the legs etc., putting water on these little one will cause that litter to set as strong as concrete and I will never get it out of their fur.

Huggles is not thrilled with her new roommates and she has taken to sleeping under our dresser now. She will come out when I am in the room and go over and growl at them. Tonight, when the temperature starts to drop, I will cover the nesting box with a blanket to keep them calm and warmer. There is a pet heating pad under the carrier as well to provide warmth.

Andie’s bloodwork is back and it is spot on good considering her age and all she has been through. That’s the good news, but I got a call a few days about an orange kitty that crept through the bedroom window of a little boy and the mom was a bit frantic. She loves cats, but her two dogs- apparently don’t share the same sentiment. When one of the local rescues confessed they were full up, I said I would take her. The woman said she was told the cat is pregnant, but she actually is actively nursing- no kittens have been found yet.

“Huggles” we named her that because when you pick her up, she just wraps her paws around your neck and hangs on- was spayed today. There are several people on the street looking for her kittens. I have also tried to look, but there are stray cats all over that street and it is like looking for a needle in the haystack. I did ask the woman that when the cat was inside did she cry out to go outside? I was told no, in fact when they let the cat outside, she tried to get back inside. My hope is her kittens are old enough to go it alone- but Huggles is only about 7 months old- so it’s anyone guess what happened to her babies.

So here she is- and she is quite the loving girl.

My hope is she will adopt out quickly being orange and being a female- she just might.

Andie has merged into the rest of the group and is hanging out in cat enclosure now. She hides in the tunnels right now. But, she is eating and drinking and she is safe. I will put her up for adoption as well when the weekend rolls around.

Turns out this girl is not only huge, but she is at least 16 years old! We dewormed- deflead and drew blood on her just to get a baseline and see if there is something internally working against her. She scared the vet tech when she tried to climb the wall twice, and I just told the girl to calm down and let me handle her. She was fine, once she was in my arms, but her growls are quite formidable.

Here she is, not the happiest kitty camper on the planet but looking better than when I found her- She is 19.5 pounds and I have to say my vet was quite impressed with her size. He said she must have Maine Coon in her because her bones are huge.

We are going to call her Andie and she is gorgeous, semi-feral and scared out of her wits. She has to be the largest kitty I have seen in a good while and if I had to guess, I would say she has Persian and Maine Coon in her. She has been here less than 24 hours and right now, she is on our bed growling at us.

I got the call yesterday from an elderly gentleman who was hiking one of the many trails out at McDowell Creek Park. This park is a beautiful, remote area full of waterfalls, trees, tourists and locals but not much else. Located high in the mountains, there are no homes nearby where this cat could have wandered out to investigate her world.

She is an older cat, when she was yowling at me, I did manage to take a good look at those teeth of hers. They show heavy tarter build-up and her one canine is broken. She is 24 pounds of fur and fury at the moment. She has so many parasites that she had eggs caked from her rump down to her back legs!  Her rapid breathing could just mean she is terrified about being indoors, or it could mean heart damage. If someone owned her- they didn’t care a whit about her- she was matted completely. It took me three hours of TLC and a heavy duty seam ripper to get her mats out and then she had a bath and I kept all my fingers during that ordeal. But she needed one badly. She had three rinses before the water ran clear.

We need to get her to the vet. I am looking for that special good Samaritan who can help us cover the cost of that visit. I know they will test her ($45.00) then there is the general exam ($30.00) and whatever else she needs- one which is Profender for her load of parasites. We are not asking for anyone to cover what is already owed to this vet, we just don’t want the bill going over $1,000.00 which if I take her in today as I have determined we must- the bill will be higher. We have been making small payments to get it paid down- but donations are slow coming into the various boxes around town.

Since it is Saturday, I will need to take her into my vet’s clinic. Although her rapid breathing alarms me and makes me think that she might have lung or heart issues that would allow someone to take her to this remote setting and let her go – until Dr. Steve actually examines her- it’s anyone guess what is going on with her. I know she is crawling with parasites and fleas but I just flea-treated everyone last week and don’t even have Advantage here to put on her.

She is a beautiful girl and I wish you could actually see her.The photos are so dark. I don’t want to turn on the overhead lights and get her anymore upset. We get so many in here who are rail skinny and starving. She is the opposite end of the spectrum. I will post photos when she calms down a bit. It makes me angry that someone would just dump her up there. There is no campground at this park- it is just a place to go and enjoy the three waterfalls. The man found her hiding in the bushes. He heard her crying and stopped to call me. Turns out he knew about us from before because his daughter adopted a cat from us recently! I am glad he found her, that she stayed put until I got there and God Bless cell phones-

When I was gently trying to get her mats out of her, she peed and pooped all over the bed. Her stool is crawling with parasites. 🙁 She has been neglected for quite awhile.

Please help us help Andie –

At 3:00 a.m. feeding, Chippers passed away. This little girl had so much against her from the beginning, I wasn’t surprised just sad that she had to endure so much early neglect before coming here. She died knowing a bit of love and comfort but I was so praying for a different outcome here.

Late last night, I went on a rescue call (this one for a dog) someone dumped at our local damn. I didn’t find the dog and there were several of us looking for her. What I did find was the leash left behind, coiled on the ground!  I was so angry- Green Peter Dam is so remote, not many people go there and we called and shook biscuit boxes and looked everywhere. I hope that someone picked him up. The FB page said he kept trying to get into peoples cars and he was starving and thirsty. At least with dogs, more people are willing to pick them up then they are cats.

I got home to find out the woman who brought me Mojo had called and she had found another kitten. This one with the sac still on it. I called her back and she brought over a beautiful little girl kitty who was also stone cold and lethargic. On the phone she said they were going to give her non-dairy creamer. I asked her please not to give that crap to a kitten and instead bring it over asap.

She, like Mojo is gray and white, shorthair and in rough shape. The woman said she found it inside the wood chipper! The mom must have put her there but with the kitten still in the sac it is clear this mom has no intention of mothering her. I am calling her Chippers-

I was up with her all night- warming fluids helped her a great deal and I am feeding her every two hours warmed goats milk with a bit of Karo syrup in it and some colostrum. I was using the feeding tube as of 2:00 a.m. this morning, but now she is suckling so I am using a small syringe. She doesn’t have the strength yet to suckle on a nipple. I have also put out a FB alert that I am looking for an actively nursing queen for her. That is the only way this little girl is going to even have a chance at survival. I am told there are more kittens but they can’t find them 🙁

It is now 10:00 a.m. and I have introduced Chipper to four separate queens with bad results. The reaction the moms have to this kitten is showing me the kitten is sick or damaged. The queens want nothing to do with them. It is at this time more prudent to keep Chippers with human rescuers versus feline ones.

Right now, prayers are my only weapons and coffee is again, my best friend