Every time I go into this cat’s enclosure she turns fierce and attacks me. She is rubbing and headbumping me and then she turns on a dime and becomes this fierce feral kitty who I do not recognize. Tonight- she actually blocked me from leaving and turned on me scaring the crud right out of me. She had reached up to hit the doorknob and I thought she was stretching but when I reached for it- she nailed me pretty good and then took a giant leap up to my face. Not a fun time and hard to accept that such a beautiful cat would be so traumatized to do this-

She has been left completely alone except to see to her needs: food water and litter pan cleaning. Not sure what is actually going to happen next at this point.

Here are the three kittens from the local shelter- the “feral ones” although- they really aren’t feral- they are just unsettled and scared. Still can’t get the mack tabby to sit still long enough to get a photo- but soon I hope to be able to snap a photo of him/her and get my hands on this shy one-

Turtle

Shya

Sydney

Sweet Bones is at the vet’s right now being assessed for how blind this kitty really is. Bones has been acting strangely for the last week- banging into the security door almost full speed and I have found her so close to the road several times that I am afraid that I will be having to remove her from the road soon. Bones will not come inside and with the death of her brother Sawyer last week- she just isn’t the same kitty. I had to do a drop off because I have an adoption run in about an hour with Cagney going to the local shelter in the hopes of finding a good home-

Bones was put down 20 minutes ago. Severe corneal ulcers and an infection of the retina pretty much told us that leaving her outside was a huge liability for her. I did not want something ugly to happen to her out there so we chose to let her go. She will be missed- the vet said that at best, she was only able to see shadows because of the extensive ulcers clouding her eyes.

Thanks in large part to those who follow my blog- our vet debt is now $749.56 🙂

I have been privy to a mess of fb messages between the rescuer and the woman who owned the cats (and left them in the dust when she  moved) It is a hodgepodge of misinformation starting with insisting (in the original plea to take this cat) that the cat is loving, friendly, likes all other cats and people….To when the rescuer emailed her in a panic when this cat went aggressive on her for no reason the response was “Oh ya, the cat is a real bitch! She got me maybe three-four times in the 9 years of us having her.” (I am paraphrasing here)

At any rate it is clear from the tone of the messages and the rate of hostility that occurs within them as they go along that this woman was a bit unbalanced to begin with and the husband bf tried to kill himself in front of the cat but the cops were called and his life was saved. Now he just wants to die (apparently). What a mess. I did tell the rescuer that this cat might not be able to be saved for she gives off every impression of being abused or mistreated. We will take it one day at a time, move slowly and keep our guard up and see how it goes. I have had worse cases here and been able to turn them around- but then there have been times when we just had to admit defeat and send the cat off to the Bridge. Time will tell- she is friendly this morning- but she is on a “No touch no contact” order for now.

I am unsure just what this cat has seen or lived through. The details were a bit sketchy. A messy divorce, two cats, a suicide attempt, one cat left (Twirl) But this morning, she about took my head off when I went out to see how she was doing. She may look beautiful but she has some deep emotional scars within. She turned into a hellcat and if I hadn’t taken off my coat and thrown it over her- she would have left with half my face in tow as she took off across the yard! As it was, I managed to herd her into the cat cage and shut the door. I left the food for her enough for a few days and I am just going to just leave her be for a few days. She is safe, warm, there’s food, litterpans and water. Whatever she witnessed or lived through or endured- she needs to now just decompress and relax. Or, maybe they called her “Spaz” for a reason. But I will give her a chance, a new name and respect her space until she understands she can trust me.

I just got the most awesome update from Sterling’s new family. Seems he had taken to hiding under a chair in the bathroom and no one saw his whiskers or nose and they were getting worried. Because Sterling lived in such chaos with so many kittens, I suggested they put their resident cat Clancy in the bathroom for a short meeting- here is the result:

Mary Ann,

Clancy and Sterling met last night for a brief time. A little hissing and such but no problems. Sterling wants to get close to him in a big way but it’s too soon for Clancy. When Daisy came home he hissed a little for about 3 days then they became close friends. 

Sterling won’t stay in the bathroom since then – he is very affectionate as you said and follows me around the place now. He is eating well, drinking water and using the litter box like a boss. He is just wonderful. He purrs and talks to me and has explored the entire upper floor of the house. I will have a job keeping him inside for the next 3 weeks as he is very fast on his feet. 

Emilie touched noses with him this morning then laid down and the little kitty came up to her face. I think they will get along OK. 

Thank you for giving me such a delightful cat.

Sincerely,

robin

Normally, I wouldn’t introduce two cats that quickly, but Sterling was always looking for the biggest pile of cats he could just plow into, knead him a spot and fall asleep. So job well done. Emile is a 3 year old masfif as gentle as can be. I think they will soon be fast friends.

Also recently got a call from a gal in Portland. Her friend who owns a 9 year old cat had tried to kill himself after his wife/girlfriend took off with a new boy toy. He was unsuccessful in his suicide attempt. I was told he tried to kill himself in front of the cat but when he got back home he was going to take his cat down to put her to sleep because he couldn’t deal with life. The girl said she called everyone in rescue both up there and down here and no one would help. By this time she was crying and my heart just went out to her. She had the cat, it had been turned over to her, but it attacked her and now she was afraid of it. The name of the cat: Spaz- who does that? Who gives such a disrespectful name to a beautiful creature like a cat. I listened to her story and felt her anguish and told her if she could bring the cat to us, we would take her.

She arrived this morning- a beautiful all white girl with golden eyes. She has been isolated until I can access her but she will adopt out rather quickly because everyone loves white kitties.

A bit out of focus but here is “Twirl”

Early last year, I placed Brambles into a home. Surprisingly, I got a update this morning about how she now runs the house and is best friends with Buddy the dog. Here is one of the photos sent

With the arrival of the four from the shelter and one more that is coming in on Saturday- canned food is at a low point here right now. If anyone would like to send us canned food – seems the favorite choice is Friskies but not the pate. They love the new concoctions that just came out- but right now it is spendy because it is new.

Looks like in the new arrivals we have a black cat male neutered, a tortie and a mackerel tabby as  well as “Sid Vicious” the gold and white who bit some people. I am calling him Sydney. So far this “killer  kitty” hasn’t even moved out of the carrier he arrived in. I just ended up draping the carrier with blankets last night so the kitty would stay warm. His cage is just off the porch- so it can get cold if he goes outside in the catio. But inside, it is insulated and fairly warm. He’s a beautiful boy but he looks scared to death. I think they said he came from New Mexico?

I needed a smile and went to visit Dickens today. He looks so good, they have made him a playroom full of toys and it has windows so they can watch him play before going in to interact with him. I went in and sat on a chair and clicked my fingers and he ran over to me, smelled me, head-bump so I picked him up. He wrapped his wonderful paws around my neck and covered my face with kitty licks and kitty kisses!  Made all the bad stuff of yesterday just vanish! He has not let the absence of his radii bone in his front leg slow him down.

Here he is today- handsome fella!

Here he was when he left here:

Then I got an urgent plea from the local shelter. They had received four feral cats in a transport and due to their rules, they can’t have feral cats on their floor. One of them, a big orange boy bit someone and was on a quarantine- could I please take them? So I made a deal with them- if they would take Cagney – I would take their ferals. Done deal and the shelter is only 35 minutes from the house- not hours and hours away- So I went and got the ferals and they get Cagney on Monday. That gives Cagney enough time to decompress from all that travel so hopefully it will be a smooth trip. I know she will be adopted out quickly as long as she is the only cat in the cage and in the adoptees home. She is beautiful and she loves people so much.

I just walked in the door and my pissed-off meter is pegged to the max. The email? It was a practical joke! I wish I was kidding but I am not. 🙁

I got to the shop at noon and it was closed. Thinking she was at lunch, I went to the shop next door and inquired if they knew her? It was interesting when I walked into THAT shop- two beautiful cats came to greet me- a Ragdoll and a Maine Coon (white!) Beautiful! But I am digressing. I was so stressed because during the long ride- Cagney started open-mouth panting and I had to stop several times, douse her head with water, lay cool paper towels on her body and finally decided to heck with it and just took her out of the carrier and laid her on the passenger seat on my coat and turned on the air conditioner to help cool her down. Her ears were red they were so hot! I don’t travel the freeways unless there are no other options because traveling with cats, you never know what is going to happen. There was one time about 10:00 when she actually stopped breathing on me and I picked her up by her rear legs and swung her around until she started breathing again. I was so scared, shaking, crying praying- but she had made it- she made it all the way to the shop.

The two shopkeepers knew her and called her and handed me the phone. I said Hello this is mary anne miller of cats inc- met with silence then I heard “Who?” Who are you? I explained about the appointment about the special needs kitty- again- silence, confusion and she said “I have no idea what you are talking about!”

Stunned, I repeated that we had been emailing for a bit and that she had invited me to meet with her today at her shop. She’s like- “Hon, my husband is allergic to cats, and I really don’t like them all that much!”

Thank God, I had brought copies of the emails with me- and she met with me and looked at them. She was as confused as me until it all came together for her- and this is what I was told.

She does have a fourteen year old son. ALL the information in the email shared on my blog is true. But, her fourteen year old son has a 19 year old girlfriend that she found out about a few days ago. She put a kaboosh on the relationship immediately, grounding her son, and going over to the girl’s house and talking to the mom and telling both of them “This relationship ends NOW!”

The next day, her doorbell rings and there are three Mormans outside. She is confused (she is not Morman) They tell her she called for a ride to church and they are there to take her! Several other odd things have happened to her since that confrontation with the girl and then she tells me that she just signed up for a computer class a few weeks ago, and this girl helped her set up her emails and FB page. But she found it too confusing and confessed to me that she rarely uses email at all! This was all done for revenge because of the relationship being ended.

I don’t make this stuff up guys- I wish I did. I wish I held a boring life and just made stuff up to have people scratch their head and go “They did that?”

The long drive- the stress it put on Cagney (who by the way is not going anywhere at all)The scare when she got so hot she stopped breathing- the nasty windy, rainy blowy weather and the draw on the account to cover the gas which was promised (in another email) to be donated back to us plus more for the adoption.

I gave this woman all the emails that I had with me and I told her to go to the police- I know I would. But she is a retired sheriff and she is going to the police and I don’t think this 19 year old girl is in for a good time when that happens.

I’m just grateful Cagney didn’t die on this trip. I am glad to be home and I kept looking around for the television cameras thinking I was on “Let’s Get Punked” or something similar.

Cagney is fine now, she is lying on my lap probably wondering when the next road trip is coming her way. That answer is NEVER. I’ll put up with her growling at the other cats based on her reaction to being in a vehicle. Not fun-

A couple more things from this surreal day- the two shopkeepers offered to take Cagney to save her the strain of a long ride back home (but turned out they already had 9 cats!) The goal was to find Cagney a place where she would be the only kitty and much more comfortable. As I was driving through the town to go back home, I saw a Cat Adoption Store and went in and told the women what had happened and asked them if they had room to take her and find her a home on my behalf- when they took me into the cat area- I saw they too were full up and there was no more room in the Inn. Soo we just came home and here we are.

Just received the following email from an ad I put out over a week ago to find Cagney a new home: For me, after reading her email- it seems to be the perfect place for this cat- waiting to hear back from her now- and hoping for a road trip tomorrow morning. It will be 6 hours round trip but well worth it for Cagney to finally find somewhere she fits in-

Hello, I am very interested in your black and white kitty.  I will tell you a bit about myself, and what I can offer her, and you can see if you think we would be a match. I am retired, a young 52 year old, from the sheriff’s department in California.  I rented out my California home and purchased a 2nd home in Elkton, Oregon.  I moved here 4 months ago, for the Elkton school for my 14 year old son. I also wanted land, and room to garden, grow our own food, and for my animals. I have a horse, miniature horses, and miniature goats.  Though I am retired, I opened a little shabby chic shop in Sutherlin, Oregon, where I spend all my time.  The shop is more of a tax write off, hobby, than anything else, but it’s so far been surprisingly profitable.  I have many return clients and wish to have a pet mascot in the shop, to greet clients and for the kids to pet when they come in.  I keep it heated, and comfortable.  I have a delightfully beautiful cat bed, and the shop is about 1K square feet.  Kitty can sit on my lap all day while I’m there, listening to Enya with me, and greeting my peoples who come to shop.  I think she would like it, it’s a quiet shop, with soft music playing constantly.  It’s spacious and comfortable.  I can afford the very best of food, care, and medical veterinarian care as needed/required.  I have never given away an animal, once they are mine, they are mine and I take good care of them.  If you think this situation would be ideal for your kitty, let me know. Thank you, Julie.  You are welcome to come by my shop and visit anytime to see the conditions.