I know where mine are, all in the house and all in various stages of hiding, huddling, fleeing for their lives. There has been a loud party back behind us some time at around 2:00 a.m. someone must have hit on a brilliant idea to wake the neighbors (or the drunks at the party) and shoot off fireworks. It woke me from a sound sleep- that and the act of three cats running over the top of me as they fled for their lives. Running and scared means claws out and I was sleeping above the covers (silly me) now my chest is throbbing from the puncture marks!

I got up and opened several cans of cat food to try and quiet the bunch, but they weren’t having any of it. By the time I figured I should just get dressed and start my day earlier then ever, I heard the sirens as the police responded to the partiers.

At least all the cats are inside and safe. I just feel sorry for the ones who aren’t being kept inside as the sky exploded around them.

He comes out into the center of the room now and rolls over exposing his lovely white belly. he loves those belly rubs and will flip over and over afterward when I stop.

He is so beautiful but still unwilling to accept any cat in his vicinity. He charges the wire door of the room when the kittens come by to say hello reaching for them with his clawless paws. I suspect if he had his claws, he would be less confrontational on that front.

He has even succeeded in driving ShyAnne from her bed in the room across from him and now she is splayed out on the bed next to delilah- a huge suprise, because my nickname for this lovely dilute calico is “grumpy growly.” Maybe she has met her match with Bentley.

I put him on Petfinders last night- I am hoping someone steps forward and wants to adopt him and that they have no other animals in the house. Time will tell-

Mike is calling the house the Kitty Maze right at the moment as everyone is still inside the house to stay safe from the craziness of fireworks in a few days. This morning I went across the road to try and reason with the man who has been shooting them off early- but you can’t argue with a man who is guzzling Budweiser and holding a pit bull by a chain to keep it from attacking you. Love this red-neck town! LOL

I always find it puzzling that there is a county-wide burn ban this time of year, but fireworks are permitted. That just never makes sense to me. Last night with the skyrockets went off- my cats just erupted in terror. I have put extra hidey holes out in the enclosure to help them find safe spots, but I will be so thankful when all this nonsense is over. Heck, there aren’t many folk who even know what the 4th of July is really all about. They just see it as another excuse to drink beer, act crazy and blow things up.

Yesterday, after yet another change in his living conditions; Bently went from living outside in the Intro cage to moving upstairs, he spent the majority of the day hiding under the futon. I am sure the switch even though he only lived in the cage for a few hours was scaring him, not to mention a vet visit.

I just let him decompress. I am sure he is waiting for his world to be rocked again in a major way. When I went upstairs at scheduled times to feed him, he would stay under the futon crying softly which broke my heart. I could see his front paws reaching out and kneading the carpet toward me (another heartbreaker in my book).

His food was gone this morning and he used the litter pans- so his behavior isn’t litter pan hits and misses common for cats who have gone through the trauma of de-clawing. I hit the room this morning with my black light and saw no telltale signs of urine marking.

It is highly possible that he is still in shock and hasn’t relaxed enough to show off his true personality, though I find him a very loving cat, a far cry from what usually comes through my door this time of year.

I wrote down the new cat list this morning as today is flea treatment day. Counting the five barn cats, Mike and I sit at 27 of these strays. Last night, I turned down kittens right and left and will probably do so today. Sometimes Mike gets so frustrated at the sad stories that he says he wants to change our phone number! I know the feeling. People plead, they cajole they even threaten trying to get me to take these cats or kittens they are “getting rid of.” Man I hate that term- it is so disrespectful to the beautiful creatures it refers to.

One lady late last night asked me how I pick and choose who I take? I had never been asked that before and I just told her, I don’t choose these cats, they choose me. What else could I say? If my sancturary were open, I would have room (for awhile) to take more. But do I want more at this moment? No- not with all the cats now inside waiting for the dreaded holiday the 4th. Our neighbors across the road near the river get nuts this time of year and last night they started letting their fireworks off early! I had to scramble to find the remaining cats who were still outside- but they came running at the sound of the can-opener and now are all inside as we wait for the craziness to be over.

I heard from the vet last night about Emerson’s necropsy. It was a toxin that killed him. There is nothing toxic to kitties in this house but I can’t say the same for the shop, which is where he was born or where mom moved the litter to. There is a hole in the floor close to where the kittens were so there is no telling what might have been swept or dripped down on the ground? His brother is doing fine now, he was vomiting for a few days but the store had been out of the regular kitten food so I was feeding him a different brand. I also called the couple who adopted the girl and she is doing just fine as well, so it is a mystery what happened.

I changed the brother’s name yesterday to Magoo because he is so clingy now, he wants me all the time. He cries when he crawls into my lap and won’t stop until I have him tucked up under my chin with my arms wrapped around him. It isn’t illness that is making him so clingy, it is him missing Em. I don’t know how they know when their siblings die, but they do. He didn’t seem that bothered when Em was hospitilized for those three days, but when Em was PTS Chandler changed and became this velcro kitty. I renamed him Magoo (after the cartoon character Mr. Magoo) because it just seems to fit him now.

Well, my day has started and my phone is ringing- I bet it will be about an unwanted kitten or a stray.

Well I took the new cat to the vet and weighed him 18 pounds! They checked for a chip and found one. I was so elated thinking that someone was frantically looking for him. Well, they don’t want him. This is this 5 year old’s history:

Purchased along with his brother at a local shelter at 3 months old. Declawed at 6 months old (both kittens) happened along with the neuter. Kicked outside because of behavior issues- (brother is still living outside) The cat was then given to a friend because “she just fell so much in love with him! He is such a beautiful cat, such a love, so friendly..” when she wound down I asked- “Do you want him back?”

No hesitation in her voice “No.”

Apparently after he was given to someone who “fell in love with him” she in turn gave him to another friend so he could be a barn kitty. A declawed cat as a barn kitty? I just want to smack someone!

“He wanders” she said.

People just stun me- they simply do. I brought “Bentley” home and he is now upstairs and he is decompressing poor kitty. He is a very vocal kitty, earlier, he was curled into a very small ball on my lap and he was sleeping, but he was crying at the same time. I am going to give him a few days to adjust then put an ad in the paper and see if I can find a special home for this beautiful boy.

I got the call tonight during dinner. Someone in town has found a cat and he can’t keep him. The kitty has been declawed so putting him out in the barn is out of the question and he won’t stay in the house. He went on to say that the kitty is now losing some of his hair and asked me to please take him…sigh…

This gentleman is always dropping off cat food and stall dry here so I couldn’t turn him down. I went to get this kitty and I’ll be dipped, but I think he is a Snowshoe! Of course when I took out my camera, he turned his back as if to say he is to good to have his photo taken. I will take him in tomorrow and see if he is microchipped. Chances are if I am right and he is a snowshoe and has been declawed (poor kitty) they also put a chip in him.

Here he is- I haven’t named him yet. I just feel sorry for him being declawed and then finding his way outside whether deliberately or accidentally.

I have him outside in the introduction cage because Shawn said he hates being in the house. I don’t even know if he is a tom or not- I haven’t checked but would put money on it that he is.

I finally landed on how to name these kittens. When Mike first saw all the kittens in the pen- he said “Damn, look at all the kittens!” My sentiments exactly, so I am naming them after dam’s of the world.

For the black boys we have Sinclair and Bartlett and for the cow kitties we have McGuire and Quincy.

I still haven’t landed on a name for them yet- gee can you tell they are related? LOL
They are all boys-

Tonight, I took three of my older cats to their new home. The people live in a nice farmhouse on 8 acres. They have a huge grain barn that is getting over-run with mice. I took them my best mousers: Baker, Trump, Slim and Squirrel. The place is so isolated and beautiful, I know once the cats are released in a few days they will be in heaven.

These kittens still need to be with momma. It makes me wonder as I watch them interact and race around the bedroom, if she was able to be with them naturally much at all, or did they spend all their time in the pen with her? I see a lot of social confusion with the litter and the two cow kitties will be playing with the others and let out this horrific meow/growl/hiss combination. The sound is very formidable. Stops me in my tracks every time and I have to go and investigate if there is an injured kitty in the wake of it. There never is- but it is a chilling sound. Reminds me of when two toms square off over a queen. Lots of testerones running amuck in the bedroom right now.

Delilah has recovered from her stroke almost 100% and I have tried putting her into other rooms so she doesn’t have to deal with the kittens, but she always want back in the bedroom. She is ignoring them to a large extent (I wish I knew her secret!) LOL I do know that these kittens need to still be with mom so she can complete the socialization and training process- but this is not a perfect world and I will have to step in and try to be mom for awhile.

I talked to a friend the other day, she is also a fellow kitten rescuer. Her batting average is higher than mine and I was asking her what I am doing wrong that these cats aren’t making it recently. Never in all the years of rescue have I run across so many ill or damaged kittens and cats. She told me that she rescues with the support of a non-profit group of people. They go to the shelters and pick the healthy kittens to adopt out. The ones with the sniffles, eye discharges etc.. they are left behind. They also rarely take black kittens from the shelters going more towards other colored kittens as they are easy to adopt out.

She said “Mary Anne, you don’t have that option. You get in the hard cases, the ones who should already be gone and what you do, to the best of your ability you do a great job.”

I know she isn’t blowing snow up my skirt. She has always been straight with me about anything I have asked.

I think, when you rescue if you don’t ask those probing questions from time to time, you shouldn’t rescue. Because then you either get an over-inflated ego, you become complacent or you burn out.

I chose several years ago not to involve myself with any of the local rescues. I didn’t like their politics. I struck out on my own and yes I get stalled from time to time, but like my friend said- don’t think of the ones you lost, think of the ones that went on to live.

It’s a good thing I had this period of self-discovery because yesterday four more kittens arrived. I believe them to be about 7 weeks old. All boys, two black and two adorable cow kitties. They are part of this bunch here.