(Originally posted to our Livejournal blog on July 16, 2010)
Sorry for not posting last week. Gail and I did go out trapping and we were looking forward to an easy night. We were traveling clear across town to help out a woman who had 7 cats in her house she needed to get spayed and neutered. She told us she had 2 adults (a female and her adult son) and 5 kittens. She swore that the adult son was not the father of the kittens and that the mother snuck out and got pregnant but it seemed to me that she based that idea on the fact that the mother and son would not mate because they were related. News Flash folks, related animals will mate. When hormones take over they aren’t picky about who they mate with. Likely the kittens are all inbred. Luckily they seem healthy enough but we needed to step in and help before the situation became a disaster.
Unfortunately, despite the cats all being handleable, the night did not end easily for us. Gail had repeatedly asked the woman, in their many phone conversations, if she was certain the kittens were over 3 pounds. We need the kittens to weight at least 3 pounds in order to get spayed and neutered. The woman reassured Gail that they were. So we loaded up carriers and made the long drive to what turned out to be a pretty shady part of town. The woman met us at the door and told us that kittens only weighed 2 pounds. Really? Please tell us we did NOT just come all this way and not be able to fill our appointments.
I took a look at the kittens and sure enough, they were too small. We took the two adults and will have to return in about a month to finish the job. It is beyond frustrating. If ever you need the help of a rescue PLEASE be certain that the info you give them is as accurate as possible. I’m sure the woman didn’t mean to deceive us but she obviously had a scale available and she should have weighed them before we came out. She cost us time, money and much needed sleep.
Since we had 7 appointments to fill and only 2 cats we had to return to my home, drop off the cats we had, and load up the van with traps and all of the other equipment we need.
We headed out to another location we had been working on, and a frustrating location it is! The cats are fairly easy to catch but the man who called us in is a breeder. Not of cats but of birds, hamsters and probably chihuahuas too. My gut instinct is to not help but the feral cats certainly won’t benefit from us not assisting them. We have to put our personal feelings aside and do what is right, even if those around us are doing the wrong thing.
It was a late night. It took a while to catch 4 cats and we were pretty exhausted so we left with one appointment unfilled. I managed to get home at about 11pm.
The next day I got a call from someone at ARNO. Two, 3 day old kittens were found in a soaking wet box in a gas station. ARNO did not have anyone available for bottle raising so they wanted to know if I could take them in. Luckily I was able to do it and now have 2 new bottle babies. Since they were found in a gas station I figured they were there to protest Big Oil because the oil companies make baby kittens cry. Their names are Ethanol (Torti-Ethyl for short) and Solar (orange).
Both kittens are doing well. They are gaining weight fast and have opened their tiny, precious eyes. They will be running around and tearing up my house in no time.
Gail has adopted a new, old dog. A couple of months ago there was a puppymill bust in Mississippi. The puppymill owner died in a car crash and when the police went to his home to notify the next of kin they found a puppymill. The dilapidated house was filled with filthy dog crates containing over 80 dogs and puppies (goats and horses were also rescued). More info Here
Of all the dogs Gail met she chose a special little Min Pin. This dog has a heart of gold and a sweet and trusting personality despite what she went through and is still going through. When she was rescued from one of those filthy cages she had an excruciating infection in one eye that required immediate surgery to remove it and relive her suffering. Unfortunately she is also completely blind in her other eye so this little dog will live the rest of her life in complete darkness thanks to the inhumanity of one man and those that continue to support puppymills through their consumer choice to buy those cute, little puppies in the window.
Little Cleo (as Gail named her) also has serious lung issues. Cleo isn’t breathing well. Most likely she has significant lung damage from breathing in the filth and ammonia fumes for the first ten years of her life as she churned out litter after litter of puppies. She is not yet spayed, likely because she was too unstable when they operated on her eye and had to be brought out of anesthesia as quickly as possible. Her current vet does not seem overly optimistic about her prognosis. He’s afraid that she will develop a uterine infection before her lungs heal enough to handle the spay surgery. All Gail can do is insure she gets her medication, love her and pray that she pulls through. No matter what the outcome is, this little dog is going to have the home she always should have. She will be loved and cherished by a patient and caring “mom” who is ready to help her through the many challenges that a puppymill dog faces when they are finally freed and have to learn a new, better, way to live.
This week’s TNR report is blessedly bland. We went out to a new location were were alerted of, set the traps and the cats were practically standing in line to get in. We filled our traps within a half an hour and were home before the sun finished setting. Boy, did we need an easy night.
Donations are greatly needed. We have had a busy year and our funds are running low (getting to the scary point). If you can afford to make a donation we would appreciate it. Please remember that WAIF is a 100% volunteer organization. No one gets paid so every cent of your donation goes straight to the animals. You can donate using the Paypal button on our site or drop a donation at any of our donation jars around the quarter (locations are on our Petfinder Shelter Page).
Thanks to everyone for your support. We still have several kittens needing adoption. I will have more kittens available soon so keep checking or give me a call/email (the number/email is on the Petfinder pet listings for WAIF).
so please visit our Petfinder Listing
