Sushi kitten...a very happy tail!

At the end of November, a tiny and amazing little soul came into our life. Meet Sushi, the most loving kitten I have met in a very long time. This sweet girl was living in a trailer park where a friend of mine had been TNRing. Sushi was trapped and spayed in late October along with her feral siblings and many other cats. But when my friend went back to check on them a month later, Sushi was very sick and had not grown a bit. All of other kittens were twice her size. Fortunately, Sushi was the only one who decided to be tame :) and came running to my friend for help. She ended up with me shortly after that. After a few weeks of antibiotics, deworming and TLC, Sushi doubled her weight and became a perfectly healthy little lady! Her unbelievably loving and friendly temperament stole my heart. There was NO way that I could put her back outside at the trailer park, so I posted her story on Facebook and one of my animal loving friends decided to adopt her! Sushi is now living with 4 other cats, 3 dogs and a family that adores her!!! She will enjoy a safe, happy, indoor only life from here on out.

In the sink with her favorite toy...





Playing peek-a-boo...

Chubby Tail needs a home and a REAL name :)!

I have a new foster girl in addition to the lovely Audrey Hepburn. Right before Christmas, we trapped another kitty at the empty Kroger lot for TNR. As suspected, she is totally tame, so I could not bear to put her back out. She is now spayed, vaccinated, dewormed, combo tested and ready for a loving home! This little girl is A-dorable!!!! She has the cutest markings, is petite and has a short, chubby tail. She is full of purrsonality! She slept in the sink for a few days, but now that she is well rested she flies around the house stalking and chasing our cats and playing with any toy in sight. She is very affectionate too. I can hold her like a baby and she will rub her face against mine. "Chubby Tail" is definitely a character! And she desperately needs a name that suits her. I had lots of suggestions when I posted her on Facebook, but nothing seems exactly perfect. Any suggestions from you all would be greatly appreciated :)!

And of course, she needs a wonderful home with people who would never abandon her again!

Rooney and Boogie in their beds....

Happy New Year!!! Cheers and purrs to all of you!!! Just thought I'd kick off the year with a few fun photos.

Rooney is wishing you a purrrrrrrfectly wonderful 2012!



Grandma and Grandpa gave the cats this fantastic bed made from an antique chair. Roon had to try it out as soon as it was unwrapped. We are ALL in love with it!!



All of the kitties are enjoying the goose sled by the fire...



Boogie girl sharing the tuffet with a mouse....such a considerate lady :).



Poor thing now has to share her bed with two mice!!!

In memory of our precious Teeny....

I can't believe I haven't posted a thing since December 1!!! Yikes! Well, December was a rough month in many ways for us, so I wasn't quite myself. I promise to get back on track very soon. I have lots of cat stories to share and some great photos to brighten your days.

I just wanted to dedicate this post to our beloved Teeny girl. We adopted Teeny from the Atlanta Humane Society when she was 6 weeks old. That was almost 15 years ago. She was our very first kitty....the one who started all of this cat craziness. We loved her so very much. We found out right after Thanksgiving that she was dying of cancer. On December 20, we knew it was time to let her go. It was an extremely sad day, and we miss her terribly. Here are a few photos of her over the years....

Audrey Hepburn...a furry brunette beauty in need of a home!

Meet Audrey (as in Hepburn). She is a PRECIOUS girl who was living under some bushes in an empty Kroger parking lot. A friend of mine and I were feeding her and are still feeding several other sweet, stray cats there. We are DYING to get them all out of there and find homes for them!! Audrey finally hopped in my car last weekend and rode home on my lap making biscuits and purring the whole way. She is a purrfectly wonderful cat. She loves to sit right on your chest and sleep. PLEASE let me know if anyone can give her a good home!!!! I will drive many hours to get her to a truly loving place. She is approximately 5 years old and has already gotten basic vet care (physical exam, combo testing, deworming and flea treatment), and I will take care of her vaccinations and confirmation that she has been spayed soon. The doctor shaved her tummy and there appears to be a spay scar.

Audrey in her bed ON the bed in her own private suite :).


Here she is after exploring downstairs and meeting our other cats. She got in bed with my husband and crawled onto his chest to help him read research papers. What a loving AND intelligent girl!

Finally an update on the SOS mobile home TNR project!

I think it has taken me this long to recover from the huge SOS (Spay our Strays) mobile home feral cat TNR project! So sorry for the delay in reporting on what transpired. First and foremost, our efforts were a huge success!! We TNRed 79 cats in 3 mobile home parks in Lexington. That was a major effort for one weekend. I was in charge of one park and trapped 21 cats and kittens. The only bad part was that I could have trapped 100 more. These mobile home parks are literally FILLED with ferals and strays needing to be spayed and neutered. They are often local animal control facilities' largest source of homeless and unwanted kittens and cats. I learned quickly how important it is to for TNR volunteers in every city to tackle these areas in order to bring down the number of cats killed in shelters every year. One woman had taken 5 litters of kittens to our local animal control just this summer. Homeless cats are EVERYWHERE, but mobile home parks are the most fertile breeding grounds in every community. The people there can't afford proper vet care or spaying/neutering and many leave them behind when they move away. Then, there are always kind hearted souls who feed the abandoned kitties and the next thing they know, they've got 50 cats and kittens on their hands. It is a terribly vicious cycle. It is what has kept me preaching about spay/neuter since 2005 when I happened upon my first feral colony.

I can't discuss this project without giving a shout out to Dr. Liz Ubelhor, the amazing veterinarian, who performed all 79 surgeries last weekend!!! Yep, 79 cats in 13 hours. Her skill, tireless dedication and unbelievable generosity is nothing short of phenomenal!! I honestly can't properly describe the awe and gratitude I feel for her. She works as the main vet at the humane society five days a week and then volunteers her time most weekends at various low cost feral cat s/n clinics in our area. She is truly the spay/neuter queen and an angel to animals.

Ok, here are a few photos of my TNR adventure....

I didn't get any action shots during the trapping because it was raining and cold, but here are all the of the cats lined up in their traps in my garage once I got them all home.





This is Marlon aka "Fathead" after being released. He totally stole my heart! He is a HUGE, gorgeous cat with a the chubbiest cheeks you've ever seen (male cats often develop those large cheeks when they are unneutered). His caretaker has been feeding him for 5 years and he has fathered countless litter of kittens. NO MORE of that!!!!



Here he is sniffing out familiar territory...



This is one of Marlon's children, Pegleg. Apparently, Pegleg terrorizes his dad and drives the other kitties crazy, but he is such a sweet boy with people. He lost his back leg at some point...the stories on how it happened vary. He is a heartbreaker...so affectionate and funny. His caretakers are going to try to keep him inside now that he is neutered, but I am not sure how well that will go. He is one of those boys that will probably not like being confined in a small space, but my paws are crossed that it works.



And here is Pegleg with Regina. Regina is WONDERFUL! She is such a lovely person and was very grateful to have lots of kitties on her street TNRed. She is one of the four caretakers I worked with.



One of 5 kitties trapped at Tammy's trailer. She was thrilled to have her mama cats finally spayed.



And here is "Preggo" after I released her. Her caretaker said that she is ALWAYS pregnant hence the obvious name. I trapped several of her boyfriends as well.



So, that pretty much sums up the mobile home project. While we won't be able to do a mass trapping like this for awhile, we will continue to trap a few at a time. It is definitely going to be an ongoing endeavor.

The Auto Body Shop Kitty Crew...

I will post an update about the big mobile home TNR weekend soon! It was a huge success! In the meantime, I just wanted to share a fun photo I took on Sunday while I was feeding the auto body shop colony. They now know my car and all come running when I pull up. Two of them climb up into my lap and the others circle around my door anxiously awaiting their canned food buffet. They are the BEST greeters ever!

The adorable dilute torti is Wendy. She used to never let me near her and now she is one of the boldest! The darker orange one is Speedy. He is a lovebug...purrs and climbs right up onto my legs.