Back To Square One

My nagging suspicion was confirmed - the red cat we trapped was NOT Scarlet, which means she's still outside and either pregnant, had her kittens, or worse, had the kittens and they didn't survive. I still have not seen her in about 2 weeks now, but that does not concern me with the cold and snow.

The cat that WAS trapped was apparently in really bad condition and it was more humane to just put it down. It breaks my heart, but I know these organizations can't put a lot of money into ferals except to neuter, and only if the quality of life is worth the cost.

I think our next post will be about Frenchie, her kittens, and her struggle to get adopted. Please stay with us!

Scarlet's Story

This has been a strange yet productive week. Eliza ended up going with the rescue woman Saturday morning since Friday night just didn't work out. Now, the rescue woman knew about the pregnant red female (who we named Scarlet) we've been trying to catch and she wanted to trap her if we could, but I don't see Scarlet often enough to even try. On a whim, the woman decided to bring her trap with her when she came to get Eliza. She had a friend with her who also does TNR (trap-neuter-return for feral cats). They wanted to get an idea of where Scarlet comes out in case they could ever come and try to trap her, so I took them around and showed them where I normally see her and where I think she lives. The other woman found some cat tracks on the other side of the fence that separates the buildings from a steep hill down to some train tracks and started following them, just to see if she could get an idea of where her den might be.

Some background on Scarlet: We met Scarlet shortly after we moved into our apartment two years ago. She has always interacted with us - we could call her, talk to her, she would come towards us and meow back at us, but she would never come within about 10 feet. In the two years we have known her, she has had 3 pregnancies and out of those, only 2 kittens survived, and I haven't even seen THOSE two kittens in a month or two, so I don't know if they're even still alive at this point. This is her fourth pregnancy. We have been trying to catch her ever since we met her.

Fate works in strange ways. The day that I was moving out of that area and the last chance I thought I'd really have to see Scarlet again was the day that she was finally captured. While following the cat tracks, we saw a red cat bounding clumsily through the snow. The rescue woman ran to her car and got her trap and supplies and after about half an hour and moving the trap several times and throwing food at her, I heard the trap snap shut and I burst out crying. I was just blubbering away. TWO YEARS and four pregnancies finally came to an end. It really makes me question fate, God, or whatever you want to call it.

Now, there is a tiny bit of doubt that we trapped the right cat. I usually see Scarlet at night and I've never seen her super close up, but the cat in the trap was freaking out and wouldn't really hold still for me to get a good look. The snow made the red fur look much richer than Scarlet's and the cat looked more fat than pregnant, but again, the cat wasn't staying still. I sent a picture that I just happened to have of Scarlet to the rescue woman and she said she thinks it's the right cat, but I'll have to wait until she takes her to the vet to make sure. If the cat is pregnant (or recently birthed, God forbid), then we know it was her. Hopefully I'll find out tomorrow.

The only thing that bothers me about this situation is that it will be a pregnant spay - meaning the kittens will be aborted. The only comfort I have in this is that I'd rather have it that way than newborn kittens dying in the snow and cold outside. There just aren't resources for kittens and there is no good way to care for a truly feral cat and her kittens, so I know this is the best solution.

Eliza Update

After rushing to get home quick enough to pick up Eliza and get her to the vet on time, it was quite an informative visit. Eliza is a little under 1 year old and weighs 4.6 lbs. She is so underweight that she cannot be spayed for two weeks so she can gain. She tested negative for FeLV/FIV and got her vaccinations. She has a chipped tooth, but the vet was unconcerned about it, and it doesn't look like it bothers her when she eats.

Her bad paws are due either to trauma from the cold (frostbite) or an autoimmune disorder. In the two weeks she has to wait anyway, if her paws heal--which frostbite WILL heal on its own if it's not too bad, which it isn't in her case--then great; if they don't heal, then it's a problem. I'm not sure what the rescue group would do with her at that at point, honestly. He found a pebble behind one of her paw pads and pulled that out. I was hoping that would fix her limping and why her one paw hurt so much, but she doesn't seem to have improved overnight. It's a chore even to get her to stand up on her front legs now. It looks like her paws might be scabbing over, though, so that might be why it's still uncomfortable. He gave me Clavamox (antibiotic) in case her paws got infected at all.

The vet is certain that she was someone's pet at some point, because she is just too friendly to be feral. We would honestly keep her, not even just foster, if our new lease allowed it. The woman from the rescue group is coming to pick her up tonight and she is going to keep her for those two weeks until she can be spayed. I wish so so much that we could keep her and give her the care she needs.

So tonight our last adventure in rescue comes to an end for the time being.

Good luck, Eliza!

Pretty Girl Eliza

Just when we thought our days of rescuing were on hold. Our new apartment only allows us our 3 cats, no more. We took our boys over to the new place Tuesday night. Wednesday (yesterday), there was a huge snow storm. My husband and his friend were outside enjoying the snow when we saw what looked like a red feral cat that we've been trying to catch for almost 2 years who is currently pregnant (again - 4th time since we met her). Right now it's a rush to catch her before she gives birth, so hubby chased and caught her since the snow slowed her down. I was ecstatic, because for so long we couldn't get her.

Once inside, we realized it wasn't our pregnant red, but a pretty buff-colored tabby (looked red against the snow) we saw a few times within the last month or two. She was the skinniest cat I had ever seen, even including ferals. We bathed her, gave her food and litter, and she is SUCH a sweet cat. I immediately contacted the rescue group I was just working with to adopt out a stray mother and litter of kittens, which the last one (mother) was just adopted this past Sunday. The lady knew about the pregnant red I've been tracking, so I asked her if she still wanted to spay this new girl. She agreed. She will be taking her Saturday before the movers come, then she'll be spayed and put up for adoption with their group or at a shelter - either is better than being outside in winter.

Not only is Eliza very very underweight, but her paw pads are all red and torn up a bit, either from frostbite or sidewalk salt irritation. She limps and doesn't want to put any pressure on one paw in particular. She's going to the vet this evening for testing, vaccinations, and to get her paws treated. Thankfully, they have medication for treating frostbite.

She is an incredible girl, she loves loves loves being held and will cry for as long as it takes to get us to pick her up. She was miserable by the time I went to visit her this morning after being in the bathroom all night by herself while we slept. I would have left her out in the apartment but she doesn't seem to have the energy to seek out the litter box by herself if she's too far from it since her paw hurts so much. She tries not to walk as much as possible.

My husband is in love with her, head over heels. I've been looking for a female for a long time that didn't have an attitude, so far all of the female strays we've taken in either didn't like us or didn't like our other cats. It's sad that she came to us at such a bad time, when we definitely can't keep her, but I think we got her just in time for her own health.

More updates after the vet visit tonight.

Welcome to the crazy world of the Iuzzies!

My husband and I have wanted to start a blog about our animal rescue efforts, as well as just the average days of our permanent furbabies, for a very long time. We will be moving in a few days to a new place where our rescuing will be put on hold for awhile, but I would like to share our last rescue story before the adventure ends.

A little bit about us and how this big, insane, overwhelming enterprise started:

Before my then-boyfriend-now-husband and I moved in together 3 years ago, I had my own cats. I had 2 cats, Pumba and Pookie, who I adopted from a humane society about 4 months apart, and then I was given a kitten for my college graduation, Pippin. When I moved away from my hometown to be with now-husband, I found a very good home for Pippin and my mother took in Pumba and Pookie. Pookie was 15 years old when I adopted her, and at 17, she developed diabetes, got very ill, and had to be put to sleep. I never got to say goodbye, since she was still with my mom.

I moved in with now-husband and his roommate, and the deal with the roommate was no cats, which is why I left them behind. About a month after I moved in, I found a kitten wandering around the stairwell of our building. Roommate said no. A few days later, now-husband was with me and we saw the kitten again, this time wet, dirty, and cold. He took him in and weathered the storm with his roommate about it. This kitten turned into our Dusty, a 15-pound Ragamuffin everyone adores. Months later, we rescued Bobby. Then Kuro. Roommate just about blew a gasket.

We stayed with just those 3 for a few months before we got our own place and took them with. Pumba made the move out here about 8 months later. So far, we have rescued something like 25 cats total (including two pregnant mothers who had kittens with us). We either find homes for them, work with rescue groups to get them adopted, or a few have went to a no-kill shelter. Kuro passed away two weeks after an unfortunate incident with a box, which I'm sure we'll tell the story someday here.

Right now, Dusty, Bobby, and Pumba are our permanent boys. We have rodents as well, most of which were adopted from pet stores (returns, people bringing them when they don't want them anymore, etc.) instead of buying them. We will tell more of our story as time goes on and the mood strikes, but this is good enough groundwork for what I really wanted to talk about today, coming soon in a new post.