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Part of me regrets removing the "feeding station" and water cooler from my back porch since Blaliko (the most famed of my visitors) and her daughter Seteria, pre-TNR, had benefited so much from it. There's no doubt in my mind that having a reliable source of sustenance made a big difference to other feral and stray cats too. I was even able to get two additional felines TNR'd while the H2O and food were out there.
But I ultimately decided it wouldn't be fair to the grrrrlz to have their property be a destination for every homeless cat for blocks around. It also wasn't fair to those cats to subject them to attacks from the fearless Blaliko when they encroached on her territory. Helping matters was the fact that the population of, shall we say "undocumented," felines has dropped considerably.
More so than that, we live in a neighborhood where it seems there's an uncommon level of kindness to animals. (Would that this weren't the case.) Late one night a few years ago, I was walking home when a fluffy little white dog who clearly owned a person or persons eagerly ran up to me. While petting it I explained that I'd have to go on alone because I had a cat in the house who wouldn't take kindly to it. My heart sank because the city's Animal Commission wouldn't be open until morning; the beast wasn't wearing any tags. During the one-sided conversation two people emerged from a nearby doorway. Long-time acquaintances of mine, they assured me they'd look after the pooch and I knew they could be trusted. When I followed up with them the next day I learned that no one had shown up looking for the dog as far as they knew. (Of course that might've occurred while they were asleep.) So they'd kept the wayward pet in their apartment for the duration. By mid-morning the happy reunion had taken place - the canine HAD been "chipped." Just this past month, word flew up and down my block about a "very skinny, you could say emaciated" pregnant cat who had started showing up. At least two households wasted no time leaving provisions outside in a safe place for her. Though "extremely friendly" - and therefore probably dumped by uncaring owner(s) when she started to show - this feline was never seen by me. She was only spotted over the course of maybe a week. We can only hope that fate was good to her and the kittens she was bearing.
There's an entire network of cat-owned and other good people in my neighborhood which mobilizes on short notice. I can always count on multiple sets of eyes to keep watch for Blaliko when she's set off on one of her notorious excursions that can last for up to a week. Literally dozens of folks grieved along with me when Weasie died last year. When an elderly single man in the high-rise around the corner passed away with no known relatives, the friend in charge of his business affairs put out a call for assistance re-homing the man's 5-year-old cat. The e-mail wires hummed for over a week and delivered a new person for the bereft kitty to own.
Out of the four cats who share living quarters with my sister and her family in Ohio, two found them on their own. And one of them was rescued by my youngest nephew. He had to be dragged away from soccer practices and games, so enamored was he of a stray/feral kitten who hung around the playing fields. Told "NO MORE CATS" in no uncertain terms by his dad, he bided his time. When my BIL went away on business, he made his move and brought the kitten home. Naturally there was no turning back after that.
I didn't mean to turn this post into one of my rambles. But seeing anything about lovelorn animals gets me stirred up. Too bad recounting all these stories (and there are plenty more) doesn't accomplish anything more than letting me vent.
This is what came into my house one cold, rainy March Sunday...they were up against my neighbors house and he didn't want to deal with them. The vet guesstimated them at about 5-6 weeks old (closer to 6) when we took them all in that afternoon. The mom ran from everyone that tried to catch her, when we walked out to get the kittens, she waltzed right up to my wife and curled up in her lap as I boxed these guys up. We still have her plus 4 of these, this was oh, 4 or 5 years ago at this point?
It was the summer of 2010 and I'd just finished mowing the lawn and was putting the mower back in the shed when I caught some movement in the neighbor's grass out of the corner of my eye. There was a tiny little kitten struggling to walk through the unmown turf.
I went over and picked her up. She was tiny, no more than 3 weeks old, I'd guess. Didn't even fill the palm of my hand. Her eyes were goopy and stuck shut. She was sick, with a runny nose and rattly breath.
I took her into the house and my wife said, "You know you have to keep her."
"I was thinking of taking her to PetSmart for adoption," I replied.
"No, you can't do that. Today is Father's Day."
So, a little neosporin cleared up the goopy eyes and generous servings of kitten milk filled her tummy.
She is now nearing her third birthday. Black as coal and smart as can be, with a beautiful shiny coat and piercing golden eyes. Still tiny - the smallest adult cat I think I've seen. She loves climbing trees and purring in my lap.
Last edited by Old Gringo; 05-15-2013 at 10:03 AM..
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I didn't mean to turn this post into one of my rambles. But seeing anything about lovelorn animals gets me stirred up. Too bad recounting all these stories (and there are plenty more) doesn't accomplish anything more than letting me vent.
It was an interesting post to say the least.
Where I live in a semi-rural area there are people who would as soon run over or shoot a stray as look at it. Feed it? Never. City and town people are more inclined to feel compassion for a stray cat or dog. Country people have a different mindset. That's why I still mourn the loss of the few friends I had here who have fled back to civilization.
I am still feeding a black stray for years now. Someone dumped four young adult male cats here a few years ago. I got 2 vetted, the orange one, who looked sickly, vanished, and only the last one is left and he avoids people like the plague. But none of the adult cats I put so much time and money into came to good ends, so I will not do it anymore. Good homes can't be found for them and we can't keep them all. I will feed them and that's about it. I still see the tortoiseshell once in awhile and it looks like she's had her kittens but I haven't seen one kitten so far. The number of predators here will make sure the number of cats never grows. We are literally overrun with large black coachwhip snakes, among other types. We have fox and raccoons and possums. We have the occasional coyote. We have large owls and hawks - large enough to pick up and carry off near-adult rabbits. People claim to have seen vultures carry off live pups, piglets and kittens. We have loads of voltures but I haven't seen that happen. Our roads are deathtraps for wildlife and pets. It's rare there isn't something run over between here and town at any given time.
One of these was a beautiful black cat I'm sure was the one the so-called Rescue lost in less than I week of me turning him over. I believe he was trying to get back home to us....
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Kitten no one loved....
