I. LOVE. CATS.

On Friday, I had to pick up a sick old tomcat, now named Mr. Ed, at one of the trailer parks where I TNR. The wonderful feral colony caretaker, Regina, found him huddled on her doorstep Wednesday night and brought him in. We were both very anxious and worried about him, but the good news is that he should be ok after some meds and TLC. And hopefully, we can get him neutered in two weeks once he is stronger. So, while I was there chatting outside with Regina, I looked up and saw what has to be the funniest thing EVER!!! Her voluptuous indoor cat, Maggie, had squished herself down between the back of the sofa and the window. I was crying laughing and hooting and hollering like a lunatic over this scene. Regina said that she does it all the time and sometimes falls asleep like that. Absolutely hilarious. It looks like she is levitating. And she just keep blinking at me as if to say, "what is wrong with you lady and why are you laughing at ME?" I can never say it enough. I. LOVE. CATS.

A Purrfect Trio

Here are 3 of my current foster babies helping me cook dinner. The adult tuxedo boy is Freddie Patterson. I bailed him out of animal control twice after a man trapped him while trying to trap raccoons in an area where I had TNRed in the spring. Needless to say, I am so glad he is safe now. Freddie is THE most awesome cat. The big black kitten is Pepe (le Pew). We trapped him at a trailer park where we were TNRing in June. He was sick and tiny and needed some TLC. Pepe is a lovebug and weighs 8 lbs now...whopper kitten!! And the little black and white girl is Minnie Mouse. She was dumped with some other kittens at a Wendy's :(. These cuties are full of purrsonality and joy and ready for adoption!

Pine Street TNR

For the past few months, my husband had been noticing a lot of cats and kittens living in the front yard of a house he passes by on his way to work every day. He had been urging me to go by there and approach the homeowners about TNR, but I seemed to keep getting tied up with other cat situations. Well, I finally found the time and mustered up the nerve to go talk to them two weeks ago. Thankfully, they were very kind and very receptive to having all of the cats spayed and neutered. The family that lives there started feeding stray cats many years ago and had done their best to spay/neuter the first few, but new ones kept arriving and they couldn't afford to "snip" every single one. Soooo, as it always goes, many litters of kittens have been born and things have gotten a bit overwhelming for them.

Last Friday, I trapped 15 of them and ran them all through our monthly feral cat spay/neuter clinic on Saturday. There are about 20 cats total, so I got most of them taken care of and will try to get the rest at a later date. Some of the kittens were quite sick, so 4 of them are still here with me so I can give them the meds and TLC that they need.

Here are a few photos that I took the first day that I met with them.






The kittens snuggling in a warm bed here at my house....

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.

Huge TNR trailer park project!

The TNR group I volunteer with is doing a massive feral cat spay/neuter round up at 3 trailer parks in Lexington. It has been in the works for awhile and tomorrow is the big day! I am in charge of one trailer park...will be the largest trapping project for me yet....daunting but exciting! I just finished prepping our garage. 18 traps, 6 carriers and a whole lotta towels, blankets and tuna. When I visited the park today, one of the kitties was curled up in a baby stroller...he was quite a friendly little greeter. It was rainy so most of the cats were hiding under the trailers. I hope to get some good action shots tomorrow if the weather is nice and sunny...paws crossed for that!

This project is so important not only for the cats but also for the people feeding and caring for them. They have a hard enough time making ends meet, yet they still manage to feed many cats. That is true compassion, kindness and generosity.

The goal is to get 20+ cats at each location. Stay tuned for an update this weekend!

All ready to go...



The recovery area...

TNR Update...Body Shop Cats

I realized that I never reported on our second round of trapping at the body shop down the road. We TNRed 7 cats awhile back and then returned 2 weeks ago to try to get the rest taken care of. We headed out on a Friday afternoon and within an hour, we had 4 cats trapped. After that, went to a second location...an apartment several exits over, and managed to quickly trap a female that desperately needed to be spayed. We returned to the body shop and trapped a new little guy that had been hiding in a drain. Unfortunately, we were unable to get the final adults (the torti queen mama and a wary black male kitty). My car battery died while we were sitting back there in the pitch dark so we thought that was our cue to head on out. Never a dull moment during our cat trapping adventures!

I checked in on the cats last weekend and noticed another new cat....a thin, scared brown tabby who appeared out of nowhere when she smelled the canned food I put out. So, 3 more kitties to fix before we can move on to another crew. We will probably be heading out there this weekend with our trusty drop trap....a MUST for those hard to catch kitties!

The release! Run free, sweeties....



Cute little guy at the top of the drain...

Body Shop Cats Update

My dear cat lady friends, Jane and Carla, and I headed out to the body shop on Tuesday for a big trapping. It was quite an afternoon. The snow was swirling and temps were in the 20s. We would set the traps and put hot roasted chicken in them and within 15 minutes, the chicken was frozen. Not the best conditions for trapping, but we we really wanted to get these kitties not only spayed and neutered but also treated with antibiotics and steroids because many of them were clearly suffering from upper respiratiory infections. AND we had hoped to get the queen mama but she was nowhere to be found. Not surprisingly, she is going to be a challenge! We toughed it out for 2 hours and managed to get 7 kitties so it was a successful day.

They were fully vetted on Wednesday and we found out that 5 were boys and 2 were girls. Jeff, one of the fluffy orange ones, had some major mouth issues, so the vet pulled some of his teeth. I am sure he is going to feel so much better now. Our vet is an ANGEL...she always thoroughly examines each cat and does whatever needs to be done ($15 for spay/neuter, vaccinations, flea and ear mite treatment, antibiotics, etc etc.!!).

We tried to trap again on Wed morning but it was a futile attempt...waaay too cold. Also, we found out from the business next to the body shop that there are 20+ cats instead of the 12-15 like we had thought. So, this will be a long term project. We are hoping to pick up where we left off later next week.

We released the boys yesterday afternoon and they were SOOOO happy to be back in their territory and their "dad", the caretaker, was thrilled to have them home safe and sound. The females will be released this weekend when the weather is a little warmer.

I wanted to get more photos but it was hard to juggle everything. I hope to get more good ones next week!

Jane setting traps....



The kitties all warm and cozy in the car with us....

TNR 2011: The Body Shop Cats

Our first TNR project for the year is supposed to start today. It is snowing, so I am not sure if we will postpone until tomorrow....but the plan is to begin trapping this afternoon. I was informed about a colony of cats living at a body shop a few miles from our house. I have been going there on Saturdays for about a month to assess the situation and then my cat lady friends and I finally went to meet the owner yesterday. Thankfully, he was extremely receptive to the idea of TNR and was really grateful to know they will FINALLY be spayed/neutered and fully vetted. You could tell he was exhausted from worrying about them and trying to rescue and find homes for all of the kittens. It all started with one stray torti girl 4 years ago. There are currently at least 12 adults. They are very well fed and have shelters but several of them are quite matted and a few are very sniffly and congested. It is certainly time for them to get proper vet care. I love seeing TNRed kitties blossom into healthy, hearty cats once they are snipped! Our main target is the torti queen mama...she is obviously already pregnant so we gotta work fast!

Paws crossed that we can get them all taken care of this week!

Punka Munk

Punka Munk is one amazing old girl. I have been staring at her through our glass door for almost 2 years so it is surreal to have her inside and be petting
her. I was FINALLY able to trap her Friday night after countless tries
since we moved here. I literally fell into a pile of tears when I saw her in the trap. She has been pregnant over and over and would have her kittens somewhere far off in the woods. I have no idea what happened to all of those litters but not a one ever appeared. So sad and frustrating to watch and wonder about. Well, Punka Munk is now spayed, vaccinated and safe inside!!! What a relief. She is almost completely toothless...don't know how she was eating the dry cat food I put out. She is eating 3 large cans of wet food a day now :). She is also deaf...can't hear a thing. Yet another reason to be amazed at her survival with all of the cars, trucks and wildlife looming around. I was never sure if she was feral or just a longtime stray who was scared and cautious. Well, there is no doubt that she once belonged to
someone. She is super sweet and loves attention and affection....purrs and stands on her tippy toes for a back scratch. How could someone have let her go and put her through this?

During her spay surgery at the TNR clinic, they found a tumor in one
of her mammary glands so my regular vet will be removing that in a few
weeks. I read some scary stats on the internet about mammary tumors,
but we will just have to stay hopeful and be grateful that she won't
suffer outside no matter what.

I just moved her from our foster bathroom into my art room, so she
will be my art assistant. I am soooo looking forward to spending
all day with her and showering her with love. She is already sitting on the sofa in here taking a bath. Brian isn't thrilled at the prospect of another cat being here, but he totally understands her situation. I hope he will be ok if she
has to stay as a "permanent foster", but i promised I'd try to find
her a suitable home. We'll see.... I am already totally in love with
her and cry when I am with her...for so many reasons.

Purrs to all,
Carrie

Cat Trapping Success!!!

This past weekend was the monthly feral cat spay/neuter clinic. To make a long story short, Brian and I managed to trap 2 mama cats that we had been trying to get FOREVER!!! It was a GREAT night! I was jumping for joy and crying with relief all at the same time. One of the mamas lives outside at the blind man's house where we have been TNRing for year. I have 2 kittens from her most recent litter because they were sick and needed to be rescued, and we trapped the 3rd kitten, had him neutered and he went back to the man's house where he will stay inside and be very loved. I'll write about the other mama cat tomorrow...she is a heartbreaker and is staying in our upstairs foster cat bathroom for the time being.

Tired Mama Callie after her spay surgery...no more kittens for her to care for!!!



Little Julius...now neutered and living inside, safe and sound!



Pixie and Cheetoh napping the afternoon away....



Ooops, the camera woke them up! These two cuties will be going to Good Mews in Atlanta after they are snipped later this week.

Missy, my sweet street survivor

Beautiful Missy (aka Chumba Wumba) in the hostas. This girl is the perfect example of how spaying and neutering not only alleviates overpopulation but also improves a cat's life immensely. Before we moved into this house, neighbors said that Missy would always be running up and down the streets toting kittens in her mouth, searching for food and shelter, just trying to survive. Now, she is spayed, healthy, plump and happy. She spends her carefree days lounging in the sun...as it should be.

TNR, Garfield update and WIPs

Last week was a bit cat crazy....a little more than usual, that is :)! Friday evening, my friend Jane and I headed out for a night of cat trapping at the stockyards and at a nearby warehouse area. After four hours of creeping around in the bushes and all sorts of trickery, we were covered in KFC and tuna and managed to get 5 cats!! It wasn't an easy night, but we met our goal and that is what counts. While we were out there, we also ran across a terrified puppy. Poor thing wouldn't let anyone near him, but he did get plenty of food. The next day, I happened to see a "Lost Dog" sign near my neighborhood which matched his description. I couldn't believe it! Thankfully, long story short, the owner and pup have been reunited!! I am soooo relieved.
As for the cats, they were spayed and neutered on Saturday and are back at their managed colony locations. There were 4 girls and 1 boy, so that's a whole lot of births prevented this spring! One of the girls had an infected uterus so it was especially great that we got her taken care of.

Now, for some really wonderful news!!!!!!! Precious ol' Garfield has a place to go!! I sent out pleas for help to all of my rescue contacts as well as a few no kill shelters that take in FIV+ cats. On Thursday, I heard back from Safe Haven for Cats in Raleigh, NC, and they are happy to make room for him! It is a fantastic shelter. My mom actually volunteers there, so i have had the opportunity to visit their facility a few times. They are always full and save a multitude of cats from death row in animal controls throughout NC, so I am beyond grateful that they are willing to fit Garfield in. I cried and cried with joy when I received their email.

Garfield came home from the vet on Saturday, and I cannot begin to express what an amazing boy he is! I love him to pieces. He was awfully grungy, so the vet techs bathed him on Saturday morning. They said that he just stretched out calmly and let them clean him and "furminate" him. I carried him up to our guest bedroom and put him on the bed. He has been luxuriating ever since. Garfield is so laid back and just wants affection. He has a funny little meow and sort of grunts at me. His life has been incredibly difficult for way too long, and yet he hasn't let it get him down one bit. I am doing my best to shower him with tons of love, kisses, chin scratches and tummy rubs! He appreciates his non-stop meals too...has gained a pound in just one week. Here are a few photos of this handsome, chipmunk cheeked boy! His wounds are healing, so hopefully, i will have some good "after" photos in the next few weeks. (He isn't going to NC until mid May.)





And as for my artwork... these are a few WIPs...ornaments and miscellaneous critters.

Garfield...a sweet ol' lug needing a home!

A dear friend of mine takes care of a large colony at a Wendy's in Lexington. There are about 20 cats there and she has worked tirelessly to get them all spayed and neutered. The Wendy's is near a large, low income apartment complex so there is a constant trickle of new abandoned cats coming into the colony. Garfield is one of those...totally tame and sweet...just down on his luck. He has been living in the colony for awhile, and she was finally able to get him into a carrier last night. She brought him to my house to spend the night, and I was heartbroken after I spent a little time with him. He has cuts and abscesses and old wounds all over his face. His ears are full of mites and his eyes are swollen. He just meowed sadly and wanted to be rubbed and loved. He is not aggressive toward other cats, but was picked on and beat up constantly by the territorial cats. My friend came to get him this morning and took him to our wonderful vet to be neutered and cared for. Unfortunately, he tested positive for FIV. Cats can live long, healthy lives with FIV as long as they are kept inside and properly cared for. So, we are now trying to figure out what to do and hope that we can find him the purrfect person to give him a special, forever home. My amazing friend is willing to sponsor him for the rest of his life by paying for any vet care he needs in the future...what an awesome gift!!!

Garfield is the poster child for what happens to unneutered cats when they are left outside to fend for themselves. It is so sad, unnecessary and just not right! They all deserve so much better. Let's hope that at least this guy gets a happy beginning!

Spring Cat Chat

Our spay/neuter efforts and kitten fostering have officially begun again! It was nice to have a little break during January and February, but a cat lady's work is never done. First, some very good news....our 3 orange foster kittens (Archie, Barley and Chili) have already been adopted at Good Mews!!! I knew they'd go fast...it doesn't get much cuter and sweeter than they were.

The monthly low cost spay/neuter clinic was last weekend, so we headed out to a house in Georgetown on Friday morning to help a lady, Naomi, with her cat colony. Naomi is a wonderful caretaker. She basically takes care of all the neighborhood stragglers....all those that have carelessly been abandoned. She gives them breakfast and dinner and provides bedding and shelter both in her garage and on her back patio. There were 5 cats that we needed to trap. 2 of them are so tame that we got them into carriers, and then we were able trap a 3rd cat. Unfortunately, the other 2 were extremely suspicious and knew we were up to something. I delivered the 3to the clinic on Saturday morning and much to my amazement, one of the clinic volunteers called me to let me know that all 3 had already been spayed/neutered!! That has never happened to us before. But at least they got their vaccinations and flea treatment and were eartipped so it will be clear that they are snipped! I took some photos of one of the kitties. He stayed up in my foster bathroom, and I couldn't believe how amazingly sweet he was. I just can't imagine how anyone could give him up...crazy! He had perfect manners too...slept in his bed and used his litter box. All he wanted was lots of affection.





We have had some newcomers outside our house. Rudy Dude is a black tuxedo boy who showed up around Thanksgiving. We trapped him and had him neutered and vaccinated in early December. He was very scared of me until February and then suddenly decided that he trusted me. Now, he is a total love bug and sleeps on our front porch and loves to rub my legs and receive lots of chin scratches and body rubs :). Well, then 3 weeks ago, an adorable, old, chubby, orange tabby boy appeared out of nowhere. He is now known as Mr. Tubbs. What is particularly odd is that he is neutered AND eartipped! This is wonderful, but I am totally perplexed as to how he got here. Mr. Tubbs will come close and meows but won't let me pet him yet. He has changed the dynamic on the porch immensely. He loves other cats and has become buddies with Rudy. In addition, one of the other feral kitties, Natasha (who we trapped and spayed a year and a half ago), who used to ONLY come for dinner and disappear into the night is now arriving early and staying all night with Mr. Tubbs and Rudy. I put soft bedding out on our doormat and the 3 of them curl up together around 9:00 and stay all night. It melts my heart to see them bonding like that. Amazing. I just stare out the door at them and wish that I could scoop them up and bring them in. Our 3 back patio feral kitties stay back there and don't bother the threesome on the front porch, so their is peace and balance, thankfully.

Here is Rudy (look how nicely he matches our porch decor...ha!) sunbathing...



...and the Three Amigos sleeping soundly (so hard to get a good photo through the glass but you get the idea!)



We have a new rescued foster kitten with us right now, and I am picking up another one tomorrow! So, I am hoping to get some good photos this weekend. I will write and update on them soon.

Lucky Thai Elephants

Oh boy, I hope the weather is as beautiful where you are as it is here!!! I wish I could bottle it up and save it. Unfortunately, I need to sit here on the computer and do prep work for our taxes. Ick. Oh well. I'll feel a lot better once it's done!

We started our weekend cat trapping adventure early this morning. We got 3 so far and will hopefully have 2 more by the end of the day. They are such beautiful, sweet kitties...not feral at all...just neighborhood cast offs :(. It makes me very sad but fortunately, their sweet caretaker provides them with plenty of food and shelter. I'll write more about what happens later.

I finished up a few cake toppers yesterday...several elephants. The ones in the photo below are particularly special. A woman in Australia ordered them. She and her fiance are getting married in Thailand on the beach. They are riding in to the Buddhist ceremony on an elephant! So cool! She requested that their attire match her bridal down and the groom's outfit. The wedding colors are magenta, orange and lime, and she wanted the elephant's trunks up for good luck.

Final TNR of the season for the SnipPet Girl!

This first day of winter marks my final feral cat trapping until spring! I spent most of Friday trapping in the cold rain, so I am very relieved to hang it up for awhile. It's just too icky out there for both people and animals! Despite the challenging weather, I was able to trap 5 kitties for the spay/neuter clinic on Saturday. All were kittens....4 were ferals from Don's garage (the kind blind man i have posted about before). I was hoping to get the trap savvy calico mama cat, but no luck :(. I tried ham, turkey, tuna, mackerel AND chicken mcnuggets as well as some other tricks, but she refused to give in. Disappointing...but I'll keep trying once the weather improves. Nevertheless, it was great to get her most recent litter of kittens all taken care of, especially since 3 of them are females!!! That was 3 more potential mama cats that won't be reproducing, thank goodness! I tried to take photos of this little crew, but they were blurry. I released them a little while ago and they were SO happy to be back in their straw filled garage with their mom.

The fifth kitten is one that was abandoned at the stockyards a few weeks ago. Poor little bug! She is totally tame and THE sweetest, most gentle girl. Literally, all she wants to do is sit in your lap or in her bed and make bisuits. She even makes biscuits while she is standing on the floor. It is the funniest thing! Non-stop kneading and padding. Consequently, i think her name should be Miss Biscuits. She is being adopted today by one of the guys who works at the stockyards.

These pictures don't do her justice at all! She is like a little black bear...fuzzy and round. Meowy Christmas from Miss Biscuits :)!

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...