Sushi settles in....

I wanted to share a few photos of Sushi settling into her wonderful, forever home! I LOVED seeing these...brought happy tears to my eyes.

Halloween SnipPets to help cats in need!

Last January, some friends of mine and I started TNRing a colony of feral cats at an auto body shop nearby. This colony has really captured my heart (as they always do!), and I am now feeding them on the weekends since the shop is closed and the weekday caretakers aren't there. As winter approaches, I am already feeling anxiety about keeping them as warm and comfortable as possible. Right now, they only have one small shelter and that just isn't adequate for 11 cats. They also don't have a covered area for food and water. So, I want to purchase 2 insulated feral cat villas and 2 feeding stations from www.feralvilla.com. I have two of their villas at my house for our stray crew and they really love them. I also want to get several bales of straw and a few more small shelters to put under a big pine tree that the body shop kitties stay under. Once I get everything purchased, I will spend a day over there cleaning up and creating the coziest, driest environment possible. These kitties are most likely FIV+ (3 have sadly died over the past few months and one tested positive), so it is imperative that they get as much care and comfort as possible. The group of 11 is doing well right now (no sniffling noses or runny eyes) and they have huge appetites.

The sales (100%) of my newest Halloween circus dolls will fund this project. I have completed the giraffe and owl piece and it will be available during the Pfatt Marketplace update this Saturday. I am finishing up the other two and they will be up for grabs for the Spookytime Jingles update at midnight on the 12th.

Jimmy, Calvin, Diesel, Webster, Sarah, Emily, Jenny, Wendy, Speedy, Pete and Lisa thank you for reading about their needs :).

Halloween Giraffe and Owl





Diesel



Speedy



Calvin



Eating in the snow last winter....they now have bowls but they REALLY need the covered feeding stations.



Once I get this project underway, I will post lots of "before" and "after" photos!

Cozy photo on a dreary day....

Some of you may have already seen this photo on Facebook, but I had to share it here too. When I walked by the front door yesterday, I saw my front porch crew all lined up snug as bugs in their beds. Mr. Tubbs, Natasha, Rudy and Ramsey are all strays who have bonded together over the past few years. I love them so much and have always told them that they are welcome to come inside, but they prefer their freedom, I guess. Mr. Tubbs runs in every once in awhile, but he gets nervous after awhile and heads out with his buddies.

As a FB friend commented, they looks like rump roasts! That totally cracked me up.

Silver screen kittens....

I have been temporarily fostering 3 absolutely beautiful kittens. Their original foster mom rescued them out of her trailer park where they were in danger of being killed by neighborhood dogs. They came to me for temperament testing. I was supposed to test their feralness and give my assessment on their adoptability. She had them for a month and their brothers came around quickly, but the girls were more scared and shy. When they first arrived here, Ava Gardner and Jean Harlow, would not even stand up at first because they were so frightened. They had zero confidence and stayed curled up in tight balls. Grace Kelly, the boldest of the group, came around quickly. She was playing and purring and waving her tail around within minutes. And now, after 2 weeks, the other two have completely blossomed. Gracie went back to the original foster mom, and it really helped the other two feel more secure since she was pretty dominant. Last week, I noticed that little Ava appeared to have a limp and after a visit to the vet and an x-ray, I found out that she had broken her leg at some point weeks ago and it had healed so that the leg is slightly shorter than the other. Poor girl! No wonder she wasn't feeling comfortable in her original foster home with the other rowdy kittens jumping all over her. Ugh. Thank goodness she is ok now! Ava and Jean(ie) are going to yet another foster home today. They will be with an absolutely wonderful family who will work to them adopted at the Caring Hearts' Petsmart weekend adoptions. I am going to miss them terribly, but my job is done and the next step must be taken. Paws are crossed that they will be in a loving, forever home before long!!

Grace Kelly



Ava Gardner



Jean Harlow

It may not be the Ritz, but.....

....it's a vast improvement! I am talking about the garage makeover I did yesterday. I have been helping a man TNR the cats that constantly show up in his yard for several months, and I decided that I HAD to redo his garage for many reasons. I have written about this situation before, but things have gotten a bit crazier lately. The dear man, Don, who feeds the cats is blind and his wife, Jean, is confined to a wheelchair. They can barely pay for their own food and personal needs and yet still worry about the neverending stream of kitties that end up at their house and do their best to feed and care for them. About 6 weeks ago, Don had to have gall bladder surgery and called on me to feed the cats while he recovered. During this time, I discovered that his neighbor was starting to trap the cats again to have them euthanized. This happened a few months ago and I desperately tried to change their minds to no avail. They hate the cats...period. And sadly, the cats love to hang out under their shed and in their backyard. So, this time, the best I could do was sneak into their driveway and release any cats that were in his trap. Trespassing is certainly not my normal behavior, but there was no way I could see that happening and not do something about it. Unfortunately, since I couldn't be there 24/7, he was able to get 2 young kitties. It still makes me so sad to know that they are gone. They weren't doing anything wrong and we had TNRed them. To make matters worse, the aggravating, irresponsible neighbor on the OTHER side will not let us get his female cat spayed for him, so he has kittens on his front porch that I KNOW will end up in Don's yard eventually. The whole situation is ridiculous, one neighbor producing homeless cats, one man trying to feed them and get them TNRed and one neighbor carting them away to be euthanized. It makes me want to pull my hair out to say the least. It is SO frustrating when you try to educate people on the humane course of action AND offer to do all the work and pay for it, and they STILL won't do the right thing. Sigh....

Well, my next thought was to TRY to entice the cats to stay in Don's garage instead of under the neighbor's shed. So, yesterday, I took the plunge and cleaned out all of the junk in there and filled it with straw. That garage was a smelly, dirty, moldy, nasty, spider filled MESS! It felt SO good to remove years of ICK out of there! I created a nice, clean feeding station and put mounds straw on tables and shelves and all over the ground....so many nice, warm places for the kitties to make nests and stay dry and cozy this winter. I hope, hope, hope they will set up camp there now! Keep your paws crossed that they do!

OH, and as I was cleaning, a calico cat (that won't get in out traps) sat in the back of the garage nursing her 4 precious kittens!!! I had a feeling that there were some in there, but hadn't seen them until yesterday. I wish I could rescue them, but Carrie's Catnap Inn is at full capacity, so they will have to stay there for now.

7 cats eating on the front porch...

Don's garage...


All the junk! The "before" photo...and this was after i had taken a lot of stuff out!

The new feeding station...

The "after" shots of the garage turned cat barn!



3 of the kittens exploring their new bedding...

Good news and a Giveaway!

I am happy to report that Miss Gisele, the siamese kitty I posted about this week, was adopted yesterday!!! A fellow TNR volunteer in a neighboring county emailed me that his brother was looking for a special kitty. His beloved Himalayan rescue cat had died in June and he was devastated. He had adopted him 10 years ago and loved him dearly. So, apparently, Gisele caught his eye and it was perfect timing. He was ready for a new, warm, furry body to share his life with. When I delivered her yesterday, she got right out of the carrier and started adventuring around his house. When her new dad would pick her up, Gisele would snuggle up against his face. He was completely enamored! She will be the princess in his household for sure. I am SO relieved to find a wonderful home for at least one of my fosters.

I haven't had any luck at all yet on my kittens, but hopefully soon someone will come along!

I can't believe it is July 30th and I haven't had a giveaway!!! Well, better late than never, right?! I am offering up a KittySnip again...whoever wins can pick one out from my Etsy shop. Here is my personal favorite, Emma.



How do you win??? You must leave a comment on this post and give me an idea for a name for the sweet stray kitty boy who showed up at our house (see last post for a close up photo). I had been calling him "Jack" and my husband keeps calling him "Steve". So silly! We think that human male names for a cat are so funny, but neither of those quite fit. We need your help, so give us some good ideas!! I will choose a winner on Monday.
Jack/Steve has come back every afternoon to sleep in the bed on the porch. It started pouring rain the other night and when we opened the door, he came flying in. I dried him off and he curled up on the sofa with us for awhile. I am going to take him to the vet tomorrow and get him combo tested and get his vaccinations and deworming done. Here are some new photos of him as well as a few of our regulars, Magee and Missy.


Which kitty is the real one :)??

Rosie Buddha Kitty

This is my sweet Rosie and the painting that she inspired. Rosie was living in one of our feral colonies in Atlanta. We always suspected that she was tame, and we finally got around to trapping her one hot August day. Well, she meowed and meowed (most ferals are totally silent in their traps) and we knew that she needed to come off the street. I felt so awful because she had been out there for many months and always sat alone up on an air conditioning unit. I immediately felt a strong bond to her, so we decided that rather than find a home for her like the rest of our rescues that she needed to stay with us forever :). I cannot express how much i love this crazy girl!! She is the funniest, quirkiest kitty...this buddha baby has absolutely stolen my heart. All i can say is, what idiot decided to abandon such a special cat???!! Well, i feel that way about abandoning ANY cat....
Rosie often sits in this "Buddha" position, so i decided that i had to illustrate it in a painting. Hope you like it!

SnipPet Girl T-shirt gets the paw of approval!

I am so excited! I just received a t-shirt that i ordered from www.customizedgirl.com ! I have been wanting to accumulate a wardrobe of items that promote spaying and neutering with my Sunny SnipPet Cat mascot, so that i can wear them when i am out TNRing...or want to approach other feral cat colony caretakers...or just feel like spreading the word when I am out and about. I think that it gives me some credibility and approachability and because Sunny SnipPet is so cute and cuddly, it gives a very serious topic more levity and fun.
My kitty, Rosie, gave it her paw of approval! And at this moment, my little Heidi is sitting on it. Well, it will definitely be blessed with a nice coating of cat hair :).