Rescues Have Been Adopted!

I'm excited to say that the three girls who I brought to the rescue in February were all adopted and have gone to their new homes! Phoebe/new black kitty was the first to get adopted and she is going to a new home with another kitty. 

And another person, who I was in contact with before the rescue shelter help, adopted Blaze and Fiona! Yay!

So, all's well that ends well. These 9 kitties all landed in better spots and I couldn't be more happy! Everyone came so far and no more kitties living in the woods and having more kitties! 

Thanks again for all your help!

Cat Rescue Concludes

On Tuesday, I was fortunate to hear from Montgomery County Humane Society agreeing to shelter Fiona, Blaze and New Black Kitty until they are adopted. They are a no-kill rescue that also runs vaccine clinics and low-cost spay/neuters. All these girls got their spays completed here so I have a lot of confidence in them and their abilities to find these girls their new homes. 

Away they go!

It is a lot quieter around here and I will admit that I miss them and their antics. But since I went in to this knowing that I wasn't going to keep them forever, at some point they were going to leave regardless. And I know they will end up in great homes. 

With the holiday weekend coming up, they may not show up on the MCHS website until Tuesday but when they do, they will be listed here: https://www.mchumane.org/adoptable-cats/ And applications can be filled out here: https://www.mchumane.org/adoptable-pets/cat-adoption-application/

So, how did we do with our Adventure in Rescuing West Virginia Kitties? Since early November, three months and some change, we were able to capture all but one of the 10 cats. Every cat you see above in the logo, except for the orange tabby, was captured. 

The first group were the three girls I called Miss Sass, Cinnamon and Pumpkin Spice. I caught them all in mid-November. 

Lovely Miss Sass

"Miss Sass" was adopted in early December as was "Pumpkin" and "Cinnamon", aka The Twins, who are looking a million times better than when they were captured with very bad upper respiratory infections and their previous "owners" had cut their whiskers which have since grown back. These two bonded girls were adopted out together. 

The Twins today in their new digs

I headed back up in mid-December to capture more cats and was able to catch Blaze, Sam and Fiona. 

They became the next trio to head back to the D.C. area with me. 

Blaze, Fiona and Sam hanging out in my cabin

Again, everyone was pretty sick with upper respiratory infections and I held off on getting Fiona the tortie spayed as she also had a potential eye and ear infection to deal with as well. Blaze was spayed and Sam we determined was definitely neutered. 

L., who had been doing the big task of feeding the other kitties at the abandoned cabin every day, captured the grey tabby boy with an infected eye and decided to keep him when it was apparent that he got along great with her other animals. Tony is going to need eye surgery to remove his right eye and get stitched up, which L is taking care of. 

Tony with his new buddy

I headed up again between Christmas and New Years to try to catch the remaining black kitty as the temps were dropping rapidly and snow was coming so we wanted to get as many as we could out of the outdoors and inside. The black kitty was not interested in getting caught by me, but L. was successful a few days later in capturing here and we met at a halfway point so I could bring the latest, and last, black kitty back with me. 

    

New Black Kitty (NBK) was a bit panicked when she was captured

And the "after" photo, making herself at home. She is a strikingly pretty cat. 

So, now I had a group of 4, and in mid-January, Sam went to his new home and they were thrilled to get him. 

Sam is definitely one of the chill-laxed cats I've ever met

L. was able to catch the big gray and white male who also has an infected eye. She's named him Frankie and while she is not going to keep him like Tony, she's gotten him neutered and he is scheduled for eye surgery in just a few days. Since he kind of stalks her female (but spayed) cat a bit too much, so L. is working to get him in a rescue soon to find his new home. We have a lead with Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County, who I'd reached out to about Fiona, Blaze and New Black Kitty, so our hope is that he can go there after he recuperates from his eye surgery. 

Frankie just after being scooped up

So, how did we do? 

1. Miss Sass
2. Pumpkin
3. Cinnamon
4. Fiona
5. Blaze
6. Sam
7. New Black Kitty
8. Tony
9. Frankie

Only 1 cat out of the 10 was just too elusive for us to catch. Both L. and I set traps for him but he just wasn't going to let us catch him. As an orange tabby, he looks like a bigger version of Sam and you can see him here in this photo below with New Black Kitty before we caught her. The cabin people have moved back in, so we don't feel comfortable trying to trap him with them there. Neighbors are keeping an eye on him. 

The elusive bigger orange tabby we were unable to capture

Not too bad for a team of 2! Along with a lot of awesome folks who donated food and a feeding station. And generous donations via GoFundMe which helped us with the costs of spaying 6 female cats, vet exams, medications and surgeries. Thank you again for all that support and help. We couldn't have done it without you!

If you are interested in adopting the 4 cats that are still looking for new homes, please keep checking the Animal Welfare League for Frankie and Montgomery County Humane Society for Blaze, Fiona and New Black Kitty. 

I'm going to keep this blog going for about another month to see if there are any additional updates. Thank you again, and take care! 

T. AKA The Crazy Cat Catching Lady 

Where Did Everyone Go?!?

Well...I cannot believe it's been so long since I posted here, nor how long it's been since I've been actively trying to find the remaining kitties their homes. I do still have the tortie (Fiona) and the black and white kittie (Blaze) and subsequently, with L's help, we were able to catch a remaining black kitty as well. 

There had been more progress on getting homes for the kitties, with Sam going to his new home the weekend of January 15th. I also knew that I wanted to get Fiona and the new black kitty spayed and got them scheduled for January 24. With that, I had dialed back a bit on finding them homes until after they were fixed. 

Blaze loves to show off her tummy!

The very unfortunate thing in all of this, and one I could never had predicted nor would have ever have wanted to anticipate in November when we started to try to rescue cats, is that a family member of mine was diagnosed with stage IV cancer in early January. The news was, and is, devasting and so much of my time has, and is, suddenly gone to and is going to researching this cancer and to planning for his needed care and treatment. 

My brain around the rescue cats kind of shut down with this news. That said, the three here were a welcome distraction many nights when we will go down to the spare bedroom to play with them and give them attention. And I just needed to take the time to take a beat and grieve for our old life and with this new life with cancer at the center of all my attention and focus. 

Where I am finding I don't have the energy is on socializing these remaining kitties and finding them new homes. And while they are all three lovely and sweet cats, I don't think it is fair to them, nor to us, to keep them holed up in our spare bedroom indefinitely. With that, I have started to put some feelers out to rescue orgs to see if someone else may be able to foster them and/or to see if I could take them to a rescue place.

Ideally, Fiona and Blaze would be adopted together as Fiona, with her lowered vision, could really use a friend/seeing eye cat and she and Blaze get along great and love to play. 

Blaze and Fiona, the two office assistants

I've vacillated on the other black kitty, if I'm going to just keep her. She is somewhat shy but quite sweet. She has recently developed some scabs on her back, which is something I've never seen on a cat who is on flea/tick meds, and which need to be looked at by a vet, and her right eye comes and goes with tearing up a bit. Part of me says I should just keep her and add her to our multi-pet household and the other part of me wonders if I am up for another pet during our current situation. 

New Black Kitty/NBK who needs a name (I've called her Black Betty and Freya but nothing is sticking) and is looking pretty 

All things considered, we did quite well in getting these cats out of the abandonment situation that happened in October. The first three I captured, plus Sam, have all found homes. L captured and decided to keep the male tabby with the bad eye, whom she's named Tony, and she's getting his and the other gray male kitty with eye issues, who she also captured, in for surgery. 

With that, the only one we were never able to successfully capture was another male orange tabby. I went up on January 28 with a trap and he was just too wise to take the, literal, bait. And since then, I believe the jerk has moved back in to the cabin so I've not gone back since. And with a cancer diagnosis in my life now taking the primary focus, I've actually not even checked in recently with L to see how things are going with the two kitties she currently has, who soon will be getting their needed eye surgeries. 

So, that is where we are. I never imagined that this is where we'd be by January, with a horrible cancer diagnosis, or else I probably would have not volunteered to help. But who could have possibly known? That said, I am glad that I was able to help with getting the 4 who I rescued in to their new homes and I know these 3 I have now will land in a good place. I care about them too much not to ensure that happens for them. 

Blaze is a clown

With that, please let me know if you know of anyone would is looking for a cat(s). If I do end up finding a new foster/rescue for these three, I will update here with that rescue's contact information around adoption. 

Meet Fiona - Spayed Female Tortie with Limited Special Needs - Looking for her new home!

Name: Fiona (nicknames: Fiona Bologna)

Sex: Female, Spayed

Age: Around 8 months

FIV and FLV Negative

Meet Fiona, a sweet, spayed tortie female kitty who doesn't let her limitations slow her down for one second. Fiona had an untreated eye infection at some point in her young life, which left her with scarring on her corneas in both her eyes. She is fully healed now. Many times when I look at her soft, muted tortoiseshell coat, I think about how Monet himself had limited eyesight and if not, we may have never ended up with his works like Water Lilies, and how Fiona looks like how an Impressionist painter would paint a cat's dappled coat. 

Before Fiona, I'd never experienced a Tortie and their "tortietude" but that's Fiona! Which is why there are many times I completely forget that she's "special needs". She must have had an ear infection as well,  so she walks with a cocked head, which could also be her leading herself around with the eye that she sees best out of. 

Honestly, I'm so used to it now, I don't even notice it. She can hear, she can see, she can run around and chase the other kitties, she can play, groom herself and the others, and she's pretty darn fearless. She loves to eat! Eating is her favorite! The girl never misses a meal. 

Ideally, I would like to have Blaze and Fiona go to a home together. I think Fiona would really benefit from having a buddy she can hang with and as a partner in crime. I think she'd get sad being alone or not accepted by another cat in the household. She may also be best for a female adopter. She's started to warm up to my husband but that has taken some time and patience. I think she may have been mistreated by a man/men in the past. :-( 

Fiona is not a cuddler. She will let you pet and rub all over her, though. And she will lay next to you on the couch and wants to be with near you. But she's not a lap cat and doesn't really like to be held or picked up. Blaze makes up for that as she will practically try to crawl under your skin - LOL! - so they would make a good balance for someone who could handle a two pack. 

Another Cat Catching Attempt

I don't know how you like to spend your New Year's Eve and your time off work, but I decided to use mine to head back up to the abandoned cabin for another attempt to catch the remaining black kitty there. Since she'd been allowing "L" to pet her, and she seemed to be from the same litter as Miss Sass and Blaze, my thought was she could be next on the list to add to the cat menagerie that is now my spare bedroom in my basement. 

"L" met me there this time since the black kitty would know her and maybe she would have better luck in getting her in the cat carrier. Black kitty was having none of it. She was totally on to us! Mind you, when I had come up on Wednesday and was actually able to get my hands on her, in a very bad scruff, and got scratched for my efforts, the black kitty ended up sitting on a log behind the cabin watching me and meowing at me. Tempting me to try again. Little brat! 😸 I will get you, just you wait! 

But, we now had this new and unexpected visitor in a black and white longhaired kitty who suddenly had shown up. 

"L" assured me that no one nearby had cats and we were both suspicious that someone most likely had dumped this cat here. They may have seen the cat feeding station that had been set up. They may have read the posts we'd been putting on the neighborhood NextDoor app. Whatever it was, this sweet kitty definitely looked like it had been dumped and it was going to take everything in my power to not leave it behind. 

"L" knew of someone who had expressed an interest in maybe fostering a cat or perhaps adopting one of the cabin cats. She gave the lady a call and said that we had the ideal cat for her. She was a bit on the fence so we said "hey, you can foster!" And we scooped the kitty up. 

So, this lovely kitty is now with her. Our hope is that is turns into a "foster failure" and she decides to adopt him. If she changes her mind, we'll take him, no questions asked. Granted, now that we know that he is actually a he, and he has not been neutered, he can't be here with Fiona. Not looking to add to our group of cats that need homes! 

Fiona the Tortie is in Heat

So, along with the million other reasons to spay your cat, a female cat being super annoying while in heat should also go down on the list. 😹 

I am realizing that I've never actually been around a cat in heat before so it took me awhile to recognize what was going on with Fiona when she started being super affectionate and much more vocal. 

I honestly just thought she was feeling better as she got over her upper respiratory infection and now being indoors with plenty of food and shelter. 

Girl, no! 

I had to google it! And yep, Fiona was ticking all the boxes except for spraying (thank god!) and loss of appetite (girl loves to eat!).

She desperately wants to escape the spare bedroom that's been turned into catlandia. She digs at the carpet (bad kitty!) and I now have a broom to literally shoo her away from the door when I go in so she doesn't try to sneak by me. 

She did make it past me once and it was dash across the house by my husband and me to catch her and put her back in the room.

I'd been worried about Samwise being cryptorchid but given that he's not been interested in her (thank god!) it's helping confirm that he's neutered. 

I don't have as many posts yet about Fiona as she's on the mend and we're working on her issues. She's got corneal scarring on her eyes from an untreated FHV infection and she walks with her head cocked to the right which is from an inner ear infection. Honestly, none of this gets her down! She loves to play and run around and unless you closely looked at her eyes, you'd be none the wiser that she's special needs. 

Initially, she didn't seem to like men and would only let me interact with her but she's since let my husband and son play with her and pet her. She doesn't like to be picked up and held so she's not a love bug like Blaze but she's otherwise sweet and lovely. She enjoys the other kitties, too, even before she got all crazy in heat! 

Blaze Gets Spayed & a New Cat Back at the Abandoned Cabin

Today was the day for Blaze to get spayed! And not unlike Miss Sass, she rebounded really quickly and without any problems. So good, in fact, that she didn't need the "cone of shame" e-collar as she wasn't interested in her stitches whatsoever. This was the last step in getting her ready to go to her forever home. 

So, if you are looking for a lovebug who loves to play, Blaze is definitely your girl! 

Feeling good! Look at meh bellay! 

After dropping her off first thing in the morning at the Montgomery County Humane Society - who have been great to work with in getting these kitties sterilized -  I decided to take a trip back up to the abandoned cabin to try to snatch up the remaining black kitty. 

There are three remaining kitties at the cabin: a gray male cat who is missing an eye/has a serious eye infection, an orange tabby male and a female black cat. My plan was to try to get the black cat as it has seemed the most friendly as she was allowing "L", the nice neighbor who's been feeding them, to pet her. 

Gray and white male with infected eye (poor guy!) and the female black kitty share a lunch

Imagine my surprise when I saw yet another cat in the mix! 

While this lovely black and white long haired kitty was absolutely as friendly as could be and let me pick it up and give it love, I hesitated in taking it because I wasn't sure if it was someone's pet. 

And then I struck out in getting the black kitty into the carrier. 😟 She did give me a few scratches on my hand when trying to snatch her. So I left today empty handed and a bit bloody and scratched up for my troubles. 

We'll have to try again! 

Below is a video of the cats still at the cabin and are still on the list for rescuing.