These two babies arrived yesterday. Their mom had succumbed to the smoke, but these two were left behind. They are both boys, I am naming the grey one Ash and the white one Doc Holiday. Right now, they are quite weak, they have been given fluids. They are very feral and very scared. Ash is pooping gravel and hair and Holiday isn’t pooping at all. I will be doing all my tricks up till Monday morning when I can get them evaluated at the vet’s. They are eating and are quite fierce about no one interfering between them and their food bowls. They grab the bowls and hang on for dear life growling all the while. I have to be quick to add food to the bowls otherwise, I would be shredded meat. LOL!  I think they are right at the cusp of being weaned, but they are so hungry they don’t want the bottles, they want the food!

Mr. Baker has a really severe UTI.The vet said that something inside of Baker is driving him to continually flush out his kidneys. Even though the urine draw was so dilute there was a lot of blood in the urine. Stones were ruled out. He was given a Covenia shot and I take him back in two weeks for another urine test. In the meantime, I will keep all three giant dog bowls of water full for him so he can continue to help himself out of this latest challenge.

This morning, a volunteer went on my behalf to Walmart to pick up our standard cat food donation. She was told that this would be the last day for those donations. After several years of them helping us out with cat food both dry and wet, they will stop.

We have been told we have to register with this organization that oversees all non-profits. Once out registration is complete (I just finished faxing them all the legal paperwork they required) They will make a determination if we will be able to get any outside help to feed our sanctuary cats. I was reading there terms and agreements, and if they do qualify us for help, I am to keep accurate records of all donations coming in through their partners and where and when the pet food is being used.

The rainstorms are still coming through town. We had high winds last night and slamming rains. The cats were screaming outside because of how wild it all was. Thunder, lightning, under different circumstances I would have been out on the patio enjoying the show. It was crazy stormy and I was Molly’s comfort. She was quite upset having her sleep interupted! She is such a diva. I am glad that Kota is not scared of storms. He snoozed his way through it all.

It feels good to be home again and close to the ferals. But it’s a definite uneasy peace to be sure. I am unloaded, but not unpacked. The fires are still going- and so many of them are still burning. I pray that these rainstorms are doing some good at helping the firefighters, but I know the real concern is the wind and flash flooding. I am certainly grateful for the brand new roof on the house. I think the old roof would have collapsed last night in the wind and the rain.

I know so many of you are dealing with so much chaos in your world. Please stay safe. Love those who love you back and help those who cannot at this time find their footing..Above everything else, be kind. Kindness seems to be in short order these days.

I am back home and my cats are back with me too. I am missing Crazy Eyes and Ms. D is looking pretty hammered. But I was back as much as I could be to check on them while I was out of the house. Baker is unfortunately not doing well. I don’t know if the stress of moving him and the others had a play in how he is acting right now. He will not stop drinking water. I timed him yesterday, he drank water for an hour straight! He is very lethargic and when he eats, he hurls it up immediately.

I did weigh the pros and cons about moving him. It was either get him to safety in case the fires broke rank and moved in- or move him and hope that he is strong enough to deal with the sudden changes. He goes to the vet in the morning for a recheck.

I wanted to talk to you guys for a few minutes and catch you up on what has been going on.  I am sure most of you know that the West Coast is literally in flames right now. Here is Oregon, my home is being threatened by the Holiday Farm Fire and I am evacuating today. I found a place to put my semi-feral cats that isn’t being threatened by fire. I feel like I have abandoned them, they left this morning.

Leaving behind, are my full feral cats. I have a lot of food, water and other diversions left  for them. I feel so bad, because I promised them long ago, that I would never abandon them. So I am breaking my promise to them. Under the circumstances, I don’t know what else to do. If the fire does breach the hill and come over and they have to run- they will be running toward the river. There, they have a chance of surviving, otherwise- well, it’s all up to God..

I don’t know when I will be able to log-in to my blog again. That’s one thing I cannot work from my cell phone just my PC.  My truck is packed to the roof and I am so tired right now, I am falling asleep at the keyboard. Not sleeping well these days.

Kota and Molly will be with me- I will be staying with a good friend for now. Beyond that, I do not know, Please all of you, just stay safe- these are turbulent times for so many..

Photos of the sky over my pasture

And here are my cats going to what I pray stays safe shelter

I had it all set in my head. I was going to log in and tell you about the cat that I found in a local park. She was old, she was bony, she was barely moving. There were people moving all around her. Ignoring her pleas for water and assistance. She was declawed, weak, dehydrated she was dying. But people were partying around her. She wasn’t hidden, she was under a tree.

I happened to be visiting a friend that lived on that street, and I stopped at the park to give Kota a run. I saw the kitty, so I left him in the truck and ran over, She was so debilitated. There was a little girl almost on top of her playing with a balloon!  I asked her if she knew anything about this cat? She just shrugged her shoulders and told me the kitty had been there for awhile.

I raced back to the truck. Thankfully,  I had a small blanket tucked under the seat. I picked her up gently, rushed her to the vet. On the way to the vet she died. She was a Siamese, someone had decided her life wasn’t worth much. (That decision was made when she was declawed). I named her Spark and left her with the vet so they would cremate her and do a community scattering. Our ground here is so hard that even my tractor could not have made a dent in the soil.

So I was going to share all of that and call it a day, then on Saturday the 30th, a day that will stick in my mind forever. I got a call from a friend. She had recently lost her Bull Mastiff and she had found another dog that she had at her home. The owner was there at the time, and she wanted me to come by and meet the dog and give her some tips about how to introduce him to the five kittens she adopted from me a few years ago. I asked her if the dog was dog friendly, she left the phone came and said Yes, Dan (the owner) said his dog was dog friendly. So I brought Kota with me, a decision I shall forever regret.

Kota is very intuitive about dogs. I did not teach him this, he just knows that with aggressive dogs, he immediately goes submissive. On his back, paws up, no threat. They back off because that is a pack way. For shy dogs, he lays down so his belly is flat, he lowers his head and lets them sniff him until they are satisfied that he is okay. And for happy, active dogs he is a tornado of play.

We get there and I keep him in the truck. I have been around dogs long enough to know that when they are on their property, they are highly protective. I told my friend that I was going to take Kota for a walk and that she and the previous owner needed to go down the driveway and walk away from where we were standing (a few houses down)

So they come down the driveway and this dog is HUGE!  He is bigger than a Mastiff. They start walking. The dog is focused on the street ahead of him. I am about a yard away and ready to make a giant swing into the street far enough away to keep us safe and come up in the street ahead of them,

Well this brute finally saw Kota and it was on. He didn’t even show one “Tell” There was no growling, no barking, not a raised lip, no tucked tail or low body posture. NOTHING! He lunged and in doing so (I found out later) broke the metal ring on his collar where the leash was and he knocked over his elderly owner.

But he was on Kota. Kota went submissive, didn’t matter this dog was on the kill. Kota was screaming, like I never want to hear him scream again. The dog was laying on Kota with both of his front legs in his mouth. He was chewing on him like he was a piece of chicken. Kota is screaming, he’s not fighting back.

I just jumped in. I was screaming. I grabbed that damn dog’s collar and I yanked as hard as I could. I pounded on the side of the dog’s face with my fist and I am screaming Get off my dog! He finally let go of Kota and Kota took off screaming. He was shot out of a cannon, he was moving so fast. It happened by the University of Oregon. There were people during the fight coming out of their houses, cars were stopping, people were getting out of their cars. It was like a circus.  All this was happening during the fight. The dog ,he didn’t bark when he was on Kota, he roared. I’ve never heard anything like that.

So there I am, I have this dog, I am behind him and I have his collar in both hands. I am keeping him off the ground with all my might and I don’t know to this day how I did that? This dog,  it would turn out was over 200 pounds. I am 180.

So he turns and he sees me. It  was eerie. The look in his eyes- he was cunning. He lunged backward and threw me off balance. I fell into the gutter, and I felt this tremendous pain in my bad knee and my foot. I saw him back up and crouch down. I met those black eyes and they were narrowed. I knew he was thinking he had me.  I also knew, that even if I ended up in the hospital I was going to kill that son-of-a-bitch.

I was getting ready to bring my legs to my chest and kick this brute with all my might. He went to launch on me and he was grabbed by onlookers, i think. (Its all sort of a blur). I tried to get to my feet and a this kid built like a football player leaned in and said Where do you hurt?”  I told him my knee and my foot and this kid just lifted me up under my arms like I was 40 pounds.

I turned around screaming Kota’s name over and over again. I wanted whoever might have him to know that someone was looking for him. I had flashes of thoughts that someone would see him, stuff him in the car and take off with him, or he was  laying somewhere dying. I tried to hurry but my leg wasn’t cooperating.

I finally got to the street where he disappeared. People were reaching me, telling me it was okay that the dog was gone. I didn’t care about the damn dog. I wanted Kota..I Iooked down the street and I saw him clear at the end. He was flanked by the two female joggers who went after him after he fled. They wanted to bring him back to me, but he couldn’t walk.

When I reached him, we were both shaking. I put him on the down, stay and he laid down on the grass. I carefully searched him looking for bite wounds, broken bones. His front legs were swelling at an alarming rate. The guy who helped me up had followed me. He told me that he could carry Kota back to the truck for me.

I told him I couldn’t let him do that. Although my dog is the sweetest dog on the planet and a service dog, I explained. He also just got attacked with such ferocity that if he was injured internally and you hit a pain spot, he might bite you because he is not himself.

I bent down and I talked to Kota. I told him I had a big Ask. He had to get up. I had to get him to the truck and get him to my vet. Bless his heart, he got up and both of us limped back to the truck with people following us. There were people on the adjacent streets coming out, They did not see the attack, but they heard it. I still hear it in my head at night. The noise was unbelieveable.

On the way to the truck, the owner appeared. I  put out my arm at full length and told him to go away. I did not want to talk to him right now. He said to me:

“I have one question”

I snapped back “WHAT?”

Then he asked me the strangest thing:

“Did you see any red on your dog?”

I looked at him, and I said, no, I did not see any bite wounds.

To which he replied “Oh you won’t he NEVER leaves bite wounds!”

Well, i already knew the man was a liar and a pastor! This photo taken two days after the fight proves he lies. His question to me and his answer showed me this dog has done this before.

And these aren’t even the bad ones! Those are inside his leg, one going up into his chest with a drain in it. I won’t show those.

Kota has 10 bite wounds. He has soft tissue damage to his front legs, his left side where he was slammed to the ground. When we shaved him, he has bruising from neck to tail on his belly and on his left side. He is on Rimadyl, Cephalexin, Trammadol and CBD oil. He is having nightmares every night, as am I. He is on house arrest for months. I take him by his leash to his pen four times a day to potty. If he doesn’t have pain killers on board, he can only walk two steps before he collapses.

I have filed a report against the owner. If I told you my friend still has the dog, you wouldn’t believe me but she does. At least the last time I talked to her she does. She “feels sorry for the dog. It wasn’t his fault!” I have tried with all my might to talk her into taking this dog and surrendering him, but instead she is keeping him. She goes outside with him and reads her book! I told her she has a suicide bomber in her backyard and she has no idea when this dog will trigger. She doesn’t believe me. If she goes as far as to let him in the house, he will barrel through the door of the basement and kill the cats and the bunnies who now live down there.

I thought she was senile by how she was talking, until one night about 2:00 in the morning, I got these strange texts from her that were unreadable. Fearing the dog had finally gotten to her, I called her and in 5 minutes I knew, she was stinkin drunk. I have parted ways with her. The police tell me I cannot do anything about her keeping this dog. She is a grown lady and if she wants a killer dog, so be it. I can’t even go over and get my cats back. They have no rights or standing in the law.

I could kick myself for being so stupid about all of this. I never take anyone’s word for it when they tell me their dog is dog friendly. But I trusted her. I would learn later that the owner spent three days with her and the dog prior to my arrival. WHO does that? Who adopts a dog out and then spends 3 hours or 3 damn days with the adopter. That would be a red flag for me right there.

So I have parted ways with this woman. My focus is on Kota and getting him back to health. I will no longer be able to use him for Service. He has been retired. I cannot trust that taking him into public places will not trigger him if he sees another giant dog, or smells something, or sees something that triggers him into attack mode. He has PTSD now and so do I. The vet said once he is better, he will be put on Prozac in a low-dose. He still has nightmares, he screams in his sleep. He’s trying to constantly crawl into my lap and freaks out every time I go outside without him.

I am so mad at myself. I caused this gentle boy to endure this pain. I hope he forgives me for all of this. I’ve asked God to forgive me too.  The vet said that two things saved Kota. He weighs 90 pounds and he DIDN”T fight back.

This is the Red Zone dog that attacked Kota. I had posted on FB about this attack. I received a private message from a gal in Idaho that trains dogs- service dogs, attack dogs, guard dogs, she does them all. This is not a bull mastiff. This is a mix of two South African dogs a Boerbol, and a Kanga. Both dogs are fiercely protective and are used to hunt and kill lions.

She said that looking at what she called Level 3 bites on the photo, tells her that his dog has been trained to bite the body suit. You know those big inflatable suits they use in police work for attack. She said this dog needs to go to the bridge immediately. I have no control over that. He bit my dog. had he bit me perhaps I would have more standing on what happens to him. My friend insists that he is “so loving, so gentle, so wonderful”  I just want to throw up when she tells me this over and over.again..

Thanks for letting me get all of this off my chest..I hope Kota comes out  the other side the same as he was, but I doubt it. All his work we were doing in nursing homes and children’s hospitals will now cease. And this dog? I hope my friend comes to her senses and puts him down.

I did drop off Sundance at the vet and not long after, they called to tell me that he had tested positive for FeLV and FIV. So we stamped his Bridge Pass. A few days later, another orange stray showed up in the exact same place that Sundance first appeared.

I tried to get close to him, but if I thought that Sundance was skittish, this boy was ten times worse. Just one move toward him and he vanished for about 5 days.

I ended up just setting the trap into the bushes . During the day, I left it open and ready, but at night, because of the fear of trapping a coon, skunk or possum, I would prop the door open so it wouldn’t spring.  I kept checking it using my binoculars, but it stayed empty.

About a week later, I decided that perhaps he was just looking for his brother, and he wouldn’t be back. I was involved in a new project in one of my cat enclosures. It was nearing noon, and I was ready to go in the house and call it a day. I decided to go ahead and take one more look at the trap- and lo-and behold there he was trapped!

I was so happy to finally capture him. Watching him from a distance, I could tell something was really off about him. I grabbed a dark towel and hustled to the trap.

When he saw me coming, he went ballistic, ramming himself repeatedly over and over against the wire. I quickly covered him and waited for him to calm down. I knew that the vet wouldn’t be very pleased to have me drop him off so close to closing time, but I called anyway. They told me to bring him down.

I picked up the carrier and to my surprise the door wasn’t firmly latched! I had put a stout piece of cardboard inside the trap before the trigger plate. I think when he initially went inside, his back feet scooted the cardboard forward and it jammed under the door. He was sticking his paw out of the opening, and when I went to pull the door open a bit and slide the cardboard out- he nailed me. He tried to put his head under the door, desperate to escape.

I was not going to let that happen, so I tilted the trap quickly backward and he slid to the back of the trap. Before he could figure out how to show up and fight again, I slid the cardboard out and slammed the door shut.

Carrying him to the truck, became quite the ordeal. He was running back in forth in the trap and it was so off balance for me to hang on to. He was a HUGE cat- and heavy. I was out of breath when I got to the truck. I slid him in and braced both the sides against some containers, so he couldn’t get out even if he wanted to,..

It was another hot day. I was worried he was overheating, so because he was braced securely, I removed the cloth and was able to get a good look at him. Although his eyes did not show any cloudiness to them, I got a sense he was blind? His pupils were darting right and left and he appeared to not be able to see me? He was so scared. I just sat there and talked him down until he stopped open mouth panting. Then we went to the vet and I dropped him off.

I named him Elusive, because he certainly was that. He sure gave me a run for my money. I was still out of breath after I got to the vet.

Just like the other orange boy, he too tested positive and we put him down. I was sad to lose two golden boys within weeks of each other, but they are no longer suffering AND no longer making babies that are probably infected as well.

I hope this is the end of the strays around here. I had the place pretty cleaned out with trapping, neutering and releasing all the feral cats last year. Not sure where these boys came from, but I know where they are now- they are much better off than before.

I have been absent from this blog for awhile because of a new stray that has shown up. I am calling him Sundance. He is a Tom, and he is very skittish. He would vanish the minute that I stepped out the back door, even though he was only lurking in the bushes at the end of our four acres. He was that scared.

I started to feed him on a regular basis at the same spot, at the same time. I could only “look” at him through my patio window with the aid of my binoculars. I could see that he wasn’t in good shape.

A few days ago, I was surprised to see him at the drinking pool in the middle of the yard. I guess, I shouldn’t have been, because the temps were in the triple digits. Although I was providing food and water back by the creek daily, his bowl must have been empty prompting him to move closer to the house.

Tonight, I decided that I would try and trap him before dusk. Usually, I trap in the mornings. Although, I don’t know why, I had a feeling that he really needed to be helped. I saw him appear in the customary spot by the creek, so I loaded my trap. I prayed all the way to the spot, put some tasty FF in a dish. Since I didn’t want him to see me load it. I stopped halfway there and set it up to trip. I had to carry it very carefully so not to trip the lever.

I set the trap down. I  turned around and went back in the house. I grabbed my binoculars and waited. All the time, I am thinking of that old adage: “A watched pot never boils.”

Pretty soon out he comes. I placed the trap so the door was toward the bushes, not the house. I didn’t want him to come around the trap and see activity in the yard and get spooked vanishing back in the bushes..

All of a sudden- he goes to the front of the trap and he vanishes! I’m praying that he is inside and trapped, but I have my doubts because trapping is never this easy! I grabbed my telescoping boat pole. My thought was if I get close enough to the cage to use the 8 foot pole, maybe I could just reach out and hit the trap with the pole and snap the door shut. But he was trapped!

Poor boy, he was so scared. He was spitting and hissing, So I went back to the barn.  I grabbed  a dark blanket and covered him up. Before I put him into one of the empty enclosures (still in the trap) I took a better look at him. His right eye, the orb is missing. 🙁 His left side of his face is swollen.) I will take him to the vet in the morning and let them sedate him and evaluate him.. If they can, neuter him. I suspect he will have to have his eye socket surgerized. I hate that he has to stay in the trap for 12 plus hours, but the pay-off is worth it.

On a more somber note, by boy Baker is not doing well. I took him to the vet the other morning..He went postal during the exam, but they did manage to draw blood. He also managed to draw blood on me! He shredded the inside of my thighs- big time. He was so scared. He is currently living inside the large enclosure with Pigeon and PITA but he is semi-feral.

The vet called tonight and the  news is not good. He has pancreatitis. If some of you don’t know that that is, it is when the pancreas is misfiring and eating itself up. It is very painful. He also has hyperthyroidism and is in early stages of kidney disease. He is 14 years old.

He was 6 months old when he arrived here. Someone sped down the highway and tossed him out of their car as they passed our home! He suffered massive bruising and has a protruded disc in his back.because of this trauma.

The plan is for now, we are going to put him on anti-nausea medication, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs and I will try and get him to eat whatever I can. If he continues to lose weight, and the vomiting does not stop, (now I know where all those piles of vomit have come from out there) I will have no choice but to put him to sleep.

Please if you can- and ONLY if you can, please send something to the CATS fund to help cover some of the expenses we are about to be hit with. Between Molly’s seizure medications and now this- my head is spinning. I just made a large payment to my vet too and was starting to relax. Not anymore.

Thank you for anything you can send and here is my Baker Boy. This was taken just after he got home from the vet. He is giving me stink-eye.

I have no idea if anyone can even read this or not, because of all the violent weather back East and elsewhere. I know that power is out pretty much everywhere and flooding is a real concern- but here goes my plea….

Molly had a seizure this afternoon. 🙁 It lasted just under a minute but it felt like an eternity). She defecated and urinated all over herself and before I could get to her, she had bitten her tongue.

I raced her to my vet and he said it was more than likely this is from Kota jumping on her and just reinforces the fact that she is neurologically challenged.

I had to buy special medicine for her- and because it’s Molly, it had to be compounded so it came out of a special pharmacy. Without thinking I wrote the check for $187.00 and afterward realized there is only $9.00 in the account. I have two days to make up the deficit. He will hold the check until Monday. If ANYONE can send me anything- it will stop my BP from boiling over with worry and stress. I had to do it. It’s my Molly-girl.

God Bless and Thank You for anything you might send-

Yesterday, I received a text from a good friend of mine. It contained a link to a FB page. All Doris said was “I know you aren’t actively rescuing now but this one needs you.”

I went to the link and saw that just down the way from me a kitten/cat had been found. The person who found it was highly allergic to cats and couldn’t even have it around. The photo, the cat looked hammered. I could tell by the body language, this cat’s ninth life was slipping away. I answered the call and we went straight to the vet.

This kitty was as stiff as a board inside the carrier. She was a dilute calico long-haired, a real beauty. I could hear her ragged breathing next to me, and my foot went a little harder on the gas.

If she was feral, she was to sick to care. All I heard during the exams were a couple of growls. First we drew blood to see where the kidneys were. Blood work, surprisingly was good- elevated in spots that would explain her condition (horrible) and her stress level. She was rail skinny, she was sub-normal temp 92.3 when you put her on the ground, she would circle and fall over. It was hard to watch. We had pulled some pretty large waxballs out of her ears and she wanted to badly to scratch her ears, but she was so weak her leg would not make it to her head and she would fall over.

So now the discussion- what to do? I wanted her tested, so she came out negative! YAY Vet said, take her home, feed her, keep her warm TLC.

She hadn’t eaten for me, so I asked if they would feed her to see if she would eat? They brought in a bit of food and she scarfed it up- then threw it right up. Didn’t hesitate, just gave it right back up to us. That’s when I asked my vet, please run a film.  She would tell me later: “Good call, Mary Anne.”

Turns out, Peaches had a diafragmented hernia. Her intestines were exploding into her stomach and her lung was collapsed. I said a sad goodbye to her 15 minutes later. Before she left, she got kissed on her head, I stroked her beautiful face and told her I loved her. She was gone before the plunger hit home. Her leaving so suddenly put a big dent in my heart, and another hit on the vet we were trying so hard to pay down. But, even though our meeting was brief, I am grateful to have met her.

This morning, I received a very weak meow from Ms. Molly! I wanted to dance on the stars when I heard her squeak at me! As much as in the past, I wanted her to find her mute button- since she talked all the time- I was afraid that she would never speak again.

She is not eating with much gusto. I watch her when I put the food down. Force feeding was not successful. Even though she was weak and hungry she was ready to battle me every time. But she is eating. I can’t say that she is back 100% yet, but I think we are at about 80% there.

She is hiding under the futon upstairs, during the day and at night she might come down about 2:00 a.m. to join me before I feed. If Kota is on the bed, he has learned quickly that she will run at him hissing and swatting until he gets down! She may be five pounds to his 95 pounds but it is clear who is the heavyweight around here! LOL  All I can say is “Welcome Back Ms. Molly!”