Another stray in the trap this afternoon. I was grateful it was the orange cat because I had seen it pulling chunks of fur out of its body and I was concerned.
I ran it to the vet, tested negative and turns out to be a female. But she is rough shape. Most of her hair is gone, her blood is as thin as water, she has two erupted canines in her mouth and they estimate she is around 12 years old. They want to run bloodwork, but she has so many fleas- would rather get those under control first and see how she bounds back before spending money what right now isn’t available.

She is a sweet girl, she has all her claws, no chip of course. She was so hungry she couldn’t wait for me to get the food out of the can. She’s not skinny though suspect it is worms that are bloating her out.

I am calling her Charity because that is what it is going to take to see to her immediate needs- I’m just glad I don’t have to name her Hissy! She is extremely social.

She has a sweet, sweet face-

Not even four days after Bentley was placed, he is back with us. The grandparents had little patience for a kitty who hid in the daytime and cried at night. Mike got the initial phone call this morning and the man was so upset that 20 minutes later I hit the road to go and fetch him. I kept telling them when I was there to just ignore him and he would be out in fine style quite quickly. But even as I talked, they toned me out and they were getting up off the couch, peering over into the back and pointing and saying “There he is!” sigh…. About two blocks from their home on the way back during the first visit, I had this irresistable urge to just turn around and go and get him and tell them that I didn’t think it would work out. But, I wanted to give it a chance and figured my misgivings came from how close he and I have bonded. I should have followed my instinct.

He leaped into my arms when he saw me and didn’t want to leave those arms to get into the carrier, but I know that traveling with a loose cat in your car is never a good idea. He cried for about an hour and I stopped several times just to cuddle him and reassure him he was going home, and finally he just slept.

It’s good to have him home and perhaps we spoiled him to much when he was so ill and made him into an inadoptable cat. I don’t know. I know they didn’t give hiim enough time to settle in. They said he was using the litterpan but not eating so at least he was drinking which is a positive. Right now he is cuddled on the floor next to his buddy B-Dog.

Early this morning when I opened the door to let B out, I saw a cat lying on the side of the road near our driveway and my heart sank. But, when I pulled him to safety, I did not recognize the cat at all. It was black but the black cats I have here are either medium or long haired and this guy was short-haired. I stopped at the trail and hiked into the forest and laid him to rest on a bed of pine needles. Again, I feel partly responsible for this as I am the only one on this road who feeds cats and he probably on his way for a nightly snack. The best I could do for him now is give him a forest bed and a prayer to send his soul off. Bless his heart.

Started out on the upswing with the re-adoption of Jedi Night! Boy what a home this is for this little black kitten who fought so hard to stay in this world. She has 18 acres to run on (when they do let her outside) two graduate students to love on her, hardwood floors to slide on and a large dog to sleep with if the humans do the introductions correctly. Her nearest neighbor is a large dairy farm and the farmer there said if she shows up anytime in the future, he will just shoot as much milk in her mouth as she wants straight from the cow! But she will have to stand in line as seven barn cats already have “first dibs.” Although we will miss Her Royal Blackness a lot- I drove home with a giant smile on my face. When I left their home, she was sitting on the couch looking at the birds outside.

I get home and the wooden feeder trap is shut. There is a cat inside- one of the eight dumped here. This boy looked pretty hammered, so I put him into a carrier ((he had no fight left in him at all) and rushed him to the vet. I was going to call him Fletcher. Unfortunately, he tested positive and we put him down. He was a tomcat so there is no telling if he has fathered any FeLV positive kittens. He was a pretty boy but when i dropped him off, I told the vet that either he was to old, or to tired, or to sick to care about to much because I just lifted him out of the trap feeder into the cat carrier.

This is the only photo of him:

That’s two departures for us almost back-to-back. My hope is the remaining 7 are healthy. Time will tell.

Tomorrow Squirrel, our 14 year old barn kitty is going to the vet. She has been pawing her mouth recently and when I try to look inside, she screams in pain. All I can see is one broken canine in the front before she snaps her jaws shut and scratches the devil out of me. We’ve had her since she was just a few days old- but she is unadoptable as she poops on the floor and has since day one. I finally figured out a few years ago, if I put an empty litter pan in the line of pans on the floor, she will poop in the empty one instead of the floor. But still, no one really wants her but us. She is my best mouser. I hope her mouth isn’t that bad- but they will probably have to sedate her to find out what is going on.

Bentley has been adopted today by a retired couple in Woodburn. The man is on dialysis three times a week and he wants a loving feline companion. I could think of no better ambassador than Mr. Bentley. The wife is healthy and they have three teenage granddaughters that visit often. The house was beautiful and although Bentley and I did not have an easy goodbye (we have been through so much) He is smart, I know he knew this would be the last time he would see me. I can still hear him crying as i shut the door.

And even though I cried on the drive home, I know in my heart that this is the right thing for him and he will settle down once I leave.

Here he is with his new owner Chris- his attention is diverted to the man Miles who was standing off to the side. This was a hard adoption for me. I have turned down five homes for him so far. But, this one felt right and as long as he doesn’t get outside until they microchip him, he should be alright. They fell immediately in love with him and who wouldn’t? I told them that I hope their vinyl blinds survive! LOL I’ll call on Weds to see how he is doing. I will miss the little scamp.

Although, I am reasonably sure you will never see this in the pages of Cat Fancy, to me it is just what I wanted. Far enough away from the house to feel secure, protected against the elements and we just used up all our leftover lumber. I’m hoping this is the last project for awhile.

The “trap” has a wire that runs under the door and out the top of the private feeding chamber. I will be leaving it open for about a week so the cats get used to going in and out- then I will take the wire and bring it out into the yard, so I can sneak up on the cats (HA!) and trap them. Once the door swings shut- it can’t be opened from inside.

Putting sadness on hold for a moment, there are still cats here in need of help. When I went to feed this morning, I still had my camera that I had tucked in my pocket yesterday. This is one of the eight new strays that “magically” appeared all at once after my encounter with Karen. I shall call him Merlin, because if I even get close to this tomcat, he magically disappears. Once again, a trap-savvy cat- won’t even go close to our drop trap. So I had an idea.

George is coming today to build a new central feeder- the other was wrecked in the last storm. I am going to pick his brain to see if he can figure out a way to trap cats within the feeder–hmmmm maybe I might be onto something.

By the way, I heard a commercial the other night about new trash bags with mint scents that are supposed to keep racoons from raiding your trash. Sooo- I bought six fresh sprigs of mint and hung them by wire by the food bowls outside. Lo and behold, the next morning when I went out there was still food in the bowls! The water bowl wasn’t empty either. The coons stayed away! The mint isn’t going to last long- but there are a lot of strong scented mint products out there. I am going to experiment to see if I can find something-non-toxic that keeps the food around a bit longer. The cats don’t seem to mind the mint at all.

At any rate, this is the closest I have gotten to Merlin and here he is-

Dr. Steve just called and said that the future for Phantom looks quite bleak. Her mouth is a mess, she has broken canines, heavy gingivitis/stomatitis, her throat is swollen and inflamed. She is covered in flea dirt, anemic, worms coming out of every orifice, tail caked in poop, run down- not fighting anyone, and there is a mass near her kidneys. The smell he said is probably her stomatitis and her kidneys sounding off.

We talked a bit, IF she were to be saved, it would be stressful and a long road to recovery. She would be sedated to do the blood work and the testing to check most of all her kidney level. She would have to be on steriods and heavy-duty antibiotics to calm the massive infections in her mouth, then she would have to go in and have all her teeth pulled. After that it is a battle to get control of the stomatitis. I cried, I prayed but I told him to let her go.It’s time for her life to begin anew, where she doesn’t have to run to hide, where she can play and be happy again and be the cat she is supposed to be. One thing he said to me stood out. “Mary Anne, she makes Shell look fat.”

She was euthanized without me in attendance because they were closing for the day. I told him, I hope someone will hug her on the way out. He said he would see to it that she knew someone cared about her. I don’t know how come the first couple of times we did trap her, how she escaped but it made her so leery of us. I guess in the end, she came to me because it was time. I wanted so much for her to live, she apparently had other plans.

Here is the last photo taken of her before her departure

About an hour ago, I was sitting on the back stoop, head tucked between my knees, praying for God to give me guidance regarding the cats in our care. I felt a headbump on my ankles, and still with my eyes closed, I reached down and started petting the headbumper. The fur felt peculiar, the bones were protruding- oh my heaven’s it was Phantom! I took a deep breath opened my eyes, scruffed the neck of this poor calico and carried her into the house depositing her into a nearby carrier! She is now at the vet’s they are working her in. I told Dr. Steve that she warrants saving although I am unsure how she is still alive- but she has survived this long, I will fight to save her if possible. I took a photo of her inside the carrier, but it is rather a poor photo will post it in a minute.

Please pray that they believe they can save her. I still can’t believe I caught her! Poor sweet kitty, she reeked something bad. Even though it was raining, I had to drive to the vet with the windows down. I had her covered with a thick blanket and it still didn’t help.

They have been with us now for seven weeks. I just returned from the vet and he told me that they look like different cats then when they first arrived (which made me grin)

Here is Sawyer:

Here is Blake the kitty I want to put on YouTube:

Matilda- so named because she waltzes between my feet-

And this is Morgan who only recently will let me pet him just one time before he bolts

The others besides Goofy Gus are still running around loose. Kitties are now of good weight and you can’t feel their bones any longer-

Ironically now our property is flooding with strays. I suspect I know who is dumping them but have little proof, other than recognizing some of the cats when I went to pick up the others from her a few weeks ago. But, it isn’t worth hassling her with, I just need to start taking care of them. I know my neighbors are upset, but there is little I can do with someone dumping cats on our land.

This morning, I counted 8 new strays near the woodpile. They all scattered when I came out of the house, but you could tell they have been together in the past because they all ran off in the same direction.

If anyone out there has ideas about fundraisers, I would welcome any ideas. There is a company that has been emailing me lately, GoGO Photo, they specialize in running photo contests online for non-profits. I’ve researched them to the best of my ability and they seem legit. The only thing is, there has to be an incentive (prizes) for people to enter the photo contest- at least three good prizes in order to accomplish the end goal and raise the monies. I would like to offer something unusual, like a brand new cat carrier, stuffed with cat goodies, a small collection of cat and cat care books and such.

I’ve also decided (because of the untruths floating around about us) to at the end of each month, present on my blog the stats of the sanctuary. How much money was raised, what it was spent for, how many cats were adopted that month, how many we turned down, how many were dumped, who went to the vet etc… etc… I have let it be known to the person who told me about the hoarding rumor to check in to my blog at the end of the month to see if that stops this reputation ruining campaign.

So a lot of worry and concern on my plate. These new cats, how to capture them, where to put them once they are captured. How to keep them from harm until I can get to them and a push to adopt out all the adoptable ones here to make more room.
Thank you for anything you can offer. I am still turning down kittens daily and will continue to do so.