Tri

Tri

Is out of the crate! The five steps she ran from my arms to under the chest she mastered with ease, amazingly enough, no stumbling or loosing balance. And, under the chest she's been since about 8:30am. She's got food and water and she's about 4' from the litter box. I suspect she'll be out in a day or two. She's doing fine with the cats, as they are with her. I'd hoped to get some of her walking today but she needs to ease in before she ventures out........... silly me. At about 9pm, I tried taking her out so I could give her an extra feeding but she would have no part of it - hiss hiss. We've almost got her surgery and hospitalization for her. Now, she needs an adoptor, either armchair or in home.

Henry's Cats - 2nd Trapping

On Wednesday, Jan 13, at 1pm, Kallie & I met at Henry's to trap 10 cats. Kallie got there first and found out the news of the new kittens, born Sunday. There were 2 out of 4 left. One or more cats killed the first two. Henry said they were pretty bloody. The other two, tiny little things, look like they're going to be long hair grey tabbies. They were in the corner in a Friskies 48 cans box in the corner. They have rudolph noses, mouths and butts - could be sick. We set up the traps and got 8 cats within about 20 minutes. One of the traps got triggered with no cats and the other we were saving for the new mom. We'd put the kitties into a carrier with the trap in front of it with a sheet over the trap and carrier - the idea being that mom would only be able to get to the kittens by going through and into the trap. 8 hours later, we still hadn't gotten mom. We weren't sure which cat was the mom. We tried to identify her. We tried many things during the hours we were there. We left the trap in front of the carrier for a couple of hours then were concerned that the babies weren't getting nurished so we took it away. Several times during the day, Kallie and I sat in the car in the driveway while waiting for things to normalize hoping to catch mom. At one point, Henry was sitting next to the trap and when mom entered, he was to close the door. He did. Unfortunately, he didn't close it properly and mom burst through the door. Cats can be pretty strong when they're panic stricken. We tried putting a long rope through carrier tied to the door while we waited for her to enter so we could pull the door closed and run to fasten the lock... Didn't work either. We found a place for mom and the kittens. Safe Harbor agreed to take them. Best with mom but even without. They are great with bottle babies. We had to get them there by 6pm and they were about an hour away. We were still trying for mom. The delima was, leaving the kittens in a house where they were being killed. Henry's house can be divided. At one point, we thought we had all the cats but the one we suspected being mom in the living area with the rest being locked in the basement. Henry lives in a tri level with a finished basement. We had a trap set for mom near the kittens. Kallie and I went to the car. When we came back in Henry said, 'There are about 3 cats running around up here!' We ended up using the two unfilled traps to catch two more cats for TNR at Treehouse the next day. We were pretty sure the mom was one of the two young grey tabbies. We checked the cats in the traps from the bottom and couldn't see any swollen milk glands. At some point in the afternoon, we took the 8 cats we had in traps to an empty apartment Kallie's mom owns near Fullerton & Laramie. It's closer to Treehouse near North Ave & Ashland and more convient for the morning. We had to be there by 8:30 am Thursday. At one point, we put canned food in the basement at a point where we could see the feeding cats through a window. We saw cats we hadn't seen but knew there were more hiding. There are 2 cats that Henry's described, a white one with black spots and a brown one. One of the cats looked like it had bald or light spots but it didn't look like ringworm. We left Henry's at about 8:45pm with the remaining 2 traps now with cats. Kallie agreed to keep them in the basement for the night so we didn't have to drive all the way in the city. I got home about 10:30pm. We found homes for 5 of the 10 cats we had in traps. Jane, a TNRer in DeKalb was going to take 3 of the sick cats, one's with URI's to access for sociability. Adrianne and Jenny at Tails made the arrangements. When the cats are socialized, they will adopt them out. That's if they're socializable. If not, they'll go the way of many cats too scared to socialize. They'll be killed but they will at least have a chance. We have 5 cats with no place to go. WE NEED HOMES FOR 5 CATS. Plus at least 8 cats left at Henry's. Cats are great companions, even those that can't be held and touched. We're hoping they'll go in 2's and 3's. They are family and the transition will be hard on them. They are stressed and have had lives abnormal to a cats natural surroundings. Separating them even further would be cruel too. They need each other. Please email us at catvandotnr@yahoo.com. DONATIONS ARE ALSO NEEDED to cover the cost of surgeries, vet care and meds, supplements and essences and food. THANK YOU TO THOSE OF YOU GENEROUS ENOUGH TO SHARE YOUR MONEY TO HELP THESE CATS AND KITTENS.

Henry's Cats GIVE A CAT A HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

First, the good news. Paul's eye is much improved. Looks like it probably isn't a tumor and the inflammation is decreasing. His lense is being reabsorbed without too much difficulty. His medication has decreased to once a day. He's playful, friendly and very curious. He doesn't like doors of any kind, on a crate or in the bathroom. He purrs up a storm and loves to be cuddled and played with. The rest of the story is the reason why I've skipped 3 days of writing. Too much. We've lost kitties. We have 5 kitties left, 4 here, one at foster (one died at foster too). One of the ones we have, Isabelle, has been battling her URI and is getting intensive care. She gets her oral and nasal antibiotics, she's tented in a cage and vaporized 3 x a day. Today, she's finally getting better. We added colostrum that we add to water and syringe feed. She's gotten about 2 oz today and it's made a great difference. She'd quit eating so it serves as nutrition and an immune boost. Peter is a bit punk, not gaining much weight and still shy. Another, a long haired grey tabby we've yet to name, is going strong, playing and eating, gaining weight, but still shy. 2 died during the night on Tuesday, one at the vet on Wednesday, and 2 died yesterday. Three had similar symptoms, 2 had different symptoms, even than each other. We're still unsure what killed them but believe it was a combination of things, their URI's, depleted immune systems and for some, possible panlucopenia. The last one, yesterday, was fine at 9am, and gone by 5pm - no vomit, no diarrhea fine in the am, then gone by 5pm. One of the symptoms shared by 4 of the ones that died is that their body temperature cools. Once a cats body temp goes cool, there's not much that can be done. As hard as this is to hear, imagine how hard it is to experience. The cat we had tested at the vet had no nutriphils, one of the bacteria fighting cells. We returned to Henry's Friday. We took the 4- 6 week old kitties - sorry we didn't get pictures, they were adorable. Long hair fuzzy kitties, 3 female, 1 male, pretty wild but because they're young, they should socialize fairly easy. They went from Henry's to Elmhurst Animal Care (EAC) for their vaccines, Frontline, and one got a Feline Leukemia test. Our Outreach Director, Janet P, found a home for them at CatNap, where they went from EAC this morning. We learned that another litter had been born about Thanksgiving. Out of 3, one tiny 2 week old remained. Her mouth and nose were red, she was missing a toe, she had scratches and small wounds all over, in addition to being overrun with fleas. The vet said she still had a lot of spunk so our wonderful volunteer and now foster mom, Kallie took her and her supplies home to feed, express and lovingly care for. Little one has 3 people caring for her (we think) round the clock. She's had a rough life. Henry rescued her from the house cats when they were throwing her around between them. He put it in the carrier before we got there. One of her siblings had no legs. Henry didn't know if it was a birth defect or if the cats ate the legs. I don't know if it's true but I've heard sometimes the dad kills kittens to encourage cats to have more little ones. I also wonder if, when living in crowded situations, they might kill the young, more volnerable ones. We're going to trap the remaining cats. Five will be returned to Henry after their surgeries, vaccines, and wellness checks and/or meds. The fate of the others is still unknown. With so many variables, healthy, sick, low funds, no place for them to go, there are decisions to be made. Each cat has to be trapped, evaluated and vetted. We are going to try to save as many as we can. We have more leeway with the project. Now that so many are out and we're helping, Henry is feeling less anxious. As hard as this has been, the next phase I think, will be harder. As I've said before, Henry is not a bad man. When his wife first started bringing cats into the house, he was getting them sterilized - the whole thing just got to be too much for him. A wife with Alzheimer's and a son with rage issues strong enough for institutionalization. He wants what's best for the cats he loves and cares for, he just needs his life back - at 89, the sooner, the better. If you'd like to be part of the team to help the house cats, please contact us by email or comment. We need all the help we can get. Of course, we always need more money, foster homes, adopters, sponsors too. If you have a couple of house cats, why not one more? We'll help with incorporating with your current babies and wouldn't adopt out sick cats to homes with healthy cats. Give a cat a home for the holidays sorry, blog won't let me post photos!

Peter, Paul & Z, Henry's Cats

We pulled (took the kittens to their new temporary home) the kittens on our 4^th visit there. On our 3^rd visit, Henry said he found a dead kitten (a 3 week old) in the hall. He reached into a closet and took out plastic bag that contained the dead kitten. It was in a state of decay. He said he use to bury them but can’t anymore – he’s tired and weakened by 89 years of a hard life. Remember, his wife, the woman who brought the cats in, was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s , for years before she went into a care center. We took the cat. Put it into the trunk and buried it. The smell stays in your nose for hours. On our second visit, in addition to extra litter boxes and water bowls, we brought cat toys. Most didn’t know what to do with them.

There are 3 remaining kittens , born Nov 5, who are staying until they’re are 8 weeks old. We’d pull them but there’s no place for them and the mom to go. Sad, it’s a sick house. Not just because of the urine but because of what has to be, dead cats in the walls. Cats often go to dark secluded places to die. We’ve seen them enter through a crawl space. Not to mention the Herpes /URI infections that effects the entire household. But there’s no place to go. Which is the real reason most people don’t want to deal with hoarders. Because there’s no place for the cats to go. Because some of the cats have to be killed as a result. Because we’re in this to save cats, not kill them.

Someone wanted 7 cats, 2 for her and 5 for her friend. I told her about the relocation process and I haven’t heard back from her. I also asked if she might be willing to pay the clinic fee of $26 per cat……. Said it wasn’t mandatory – that we were appreciative she’d take the cats.

We’re applying to get some of them admitted to TreeHouse’s foster/adoption progra m. We’re waiting to hear from CatNap who said they’d help. Animal Care League said they didn’t have room.

The 11 kittens we pulled range in age between about 4 – 6 months. They’ve been with us for about 10 days and they already look much better. They’re putting weight on, their coats are getting a shine and their URI’s are clearing up.

Peter, Paul & Zee, three medium and short hair orange tabbies, soft as a cloud, have terrible eye problems. Peter is blind in his right eye due to a herpes infection that probably happened before they all opened their eyes. Peter has an active herpes ulcer that has eaten away his lense. We’re hoping the ointment will stop the infection and just leave him with a blind eye. Paul has inflammation of the cornea that could be due to genetics, infection or a tumor – we’ll find out next week. So far, their first office visit with the ophthalmologist including meds was $300……. They are sweet. Paul is the most friendly and playful. Z is really warming up. After meds tonight, during lovin time, he relaxed enough to stretch out on my his back so I could pet his belly.

Part of this is great – working with the kitties. Unfortunately, it’s such a small part.