Kate + 8 have been removed from Henry Co. and are off to their next stop, where they can live for the next two weeks while they are in quarantine and before they are moved off to foster care. Please think good thoughts for the kitties as Mama has to have a "combo" test which will test her for Feline Leukemia and FIV. It could be sad news if Mama has Feline Leukemia, but for now, let us focus on one phase of this journey being accomplished.

Kate + 8 are out of the KILL SHELTER!

Thank you very much Barbara at WCR for doing all the paperwork, making the calls and finding a safe haven for all these kitties, Judy with Kat5 for finding transport and boarding and Bobby for kindly transporting the kitties OUT of Henry Co., as well as all the other folks I have not met yet, who are part of this hopeful story!

I promise to catch everyone up on Henry Co. Kitties. Many of them got the funding they needed and are poised to be rescued. Final paperwork and details still need to be worked out. Not all the kitties are going to be rescued, but a good, big number of them are. I don't like to say-"not all" but no matter how many we pull, there will always be some left behind.

I hate it and so do all the folks involved with this...there aren't enough people to do what is needed. There aren't enough foster homes...etc...we're doing our best and then some.

My little foster, Felixia, who just weighs 2.5lbs at 10 weeks, fell ill last night and was lame on her back right leg this morning. She visited with Dr. Larry a little while ago, who gave her an exam and tried to get some x-rays of her leg but she was in too much pain to allow much of that. We saw most of her leg and it looked good, just not her hip. She has a bit of a temp (104) and he suspects an abscess is brewing so she'll be on Clavamox for 10 days. Hope that does the trick or she goes back for a good look at her hip---which would require a tiny bit of sedation first.

And...super Deb found flea dirt on her so she and the two other fosters just got Advantage treatments and I just had to clean out their room and have fun with flea spray. Hope nothing is brewing in there. I never had a problem with fleas before, but it's gonna happen sooner or later so I better get used to dealing with it.

More soon, I promise and I hope to have FINAL "time to celebrate" news on some of the Henry Co. Cats. Your donations amaze and delight me to no end. You guys KICK ASS and I love you for it!

We need to raise just $345.00 to help get Huggy Mama and the Babies off death row and into my home for Fostering. I've already donated $100.00 to get the ball rolling, so now we only need $245.00!

Come on everyone! Pitch in what you can and let's get this done! Every dollar counts. I mean it. If you can afford one dollar that's fine. Just do it.

THANK YOU FOR HELPING Kat5, help me...so we can help Henry County and we can all help the kitties. That's a lot of helping!

DONATE

Left to Right: Felixia, Nova & Malibu

Fostering still goes on here at Covered in Cat Hair HQ. Last night I had a very full lap of loudly purring kittens. I managed to get a sound clip recorded on my iPhone. Came out good! I played it back for the kittens and they were all very curious about how I was pulling off such a realistic purr.

I hope you can keep my secret!

Nova helping herself to a place on the cat bed with Malibu

Malibu is settling down. I'm very proud of him. Nova is helping keep him from running off when I enter the room. If she doesn't, he doesn't. Malibu has also started snuggling with Nova more and more. I hope they get adopted together!

Looks like the kitties will be leaving soon. I need to take in a Mama and 5 kittens pretty soon so these guys will go to our main adoption bldg to wait for their forever homes. It's been nicer than I expected having big kittens here. They're all so sweet and friendly. I have no work. Just love 'em and play with them. Nice and simple.

Felixia. A tiny sweetie pie.

I wish everything was that easy.

Speaking of which-am bouncing emails back and forth with the ladies about how we can help those Henry Co kitties. We're doing our best, but are getting stuck on the 2 week foster/boarding placement we have to come up with right away.

Stay tuned.

No news. No nothing from lady in Indiana. The least she could do is say something either way. Since time is running out, I've decided to start work on getting "Hugging" Mama and her two offspring to CT to be fostered in my famous blue bathroom (where Tweetie lived for awhile).

It's not ideal, but it means life for them. It's not saving all the kitties, but it's what I can do. I'm going to be on the hook for an adult adoption and that scares me because we don't have a shelter and have little adoptions as it is, without making it harder to place an adult. I hope like heck she is super friendly or I am really gonna be in trouble.

I don't care. I have a feeling I need these cats to be here. With the kind help of Barbara from WCR and Judy from Kat 5, I hope we can pull the necessary strings to get these guys out of Henry Co. soon.

I just sent the email to Betsy, who's the contact at Henry. Hopefully I didn't say anything wrong since I've never done this before. My fosters come from families here in Newtown or the woods in the surrounding communities, not from Georgia. So...cross fingers I don't piss anyone off, say the wrong thing, step on toes, etc.

I better just apologize right now. I'm sorry universe! I'm sorry. I'm really sorry about all the other kitties. More than I can say. In my heart, I have saved them all, but the real world doesn't work like that. I have to be OK with what I can do and move on from there.

I hope to have good news about "Kate + 8" in the coming days, too.

Last call..if anyone can help with fostering or adopting out any of the Henry Co kitties, now is your time to speak up. Contact me and I will help you. You don't have to have the GA License if you work with Ms Lowe-though she is REALLY busy right now, so we must be delicate about bombarding her and I am talking to myself more than anyone else. So just drop me a line and we'll take it from there.

UPDATE: WE ARE IN DIRE NEED OF A FOSTER HOME IN GEORGIA. IF YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO CAN TAKE HUGGY MAMA & HER TWO KITTENS FOR ONLY TWO WEEKS PLEASE CONTACT ME ASAP. JUST TWO WEEKS! COME ON FOLKS! STEP UP!

UPDATE: there was a miscommunication regarding this kitten. She was put with the Dilute Calico Mama & 2 Kittens ID# 7/20-3032.

The rescue effort continues. I'm on pins and needles wondering if this potential adopter is going to become a committed adopter. To make matters more complicated (not really worse?!), the ACO at the Shelter needed a mama to help nurse a newly stray/rescued kitten, who would have starved otherwise. Mama stepped in to help out!

Photo by Henry County Care & Control

So now I need either someone to adopt all four cats or, at least someone to adopt Mama and maybe one kitten, then we can move the remaining kittens into foster care. We'll find something for them. Just don't know what yet. It feels like we just dumped the contents of a jigsaw puzzle onto the table. We have all the pieces, we just don't know how they are going to fit together. I can't use a hammer to make them fit, though I'm sorely tempted! I'm reduced to crossing my fingers and hoping for the best until I get further news

I had a chat with our Director last night. I was hoping to keep her out of this since our group is "full up" and I know that, but she was wonderful and supportive and assured me that if we needed to do the rescue, as long as I take them in to foster, that we will get them homes. No problem. I can't tell you how scary it is to put yourself out on the line like this...the mama could be FeLuk or FIV+...the babies, too...then what can of worms have I opened? BUT. If I don't stick my neck out, we know what might happen. Not an option.

Our group grows to four. What the heck. In for a dime. In for a dollar. I gotta get ready 'cause I have a potential adopter coming to meet Malibu. Hope she takes two kittens. I think I'm going to need the room for more soon.

Henry County Animal Care & Control, where Zabby was rescued from, is bustin' at the seams. This post by Betsy Merchant tugged at my heartstrings-as so many of them do.

I'm just a little nobody, but I have a few good friends who know a few good friends. It doesn't hurt to ask for help, as long as I'm not being obnoxious to those few good friends, right?

We got a nibble of interest on this kind mama and her babies. A warm hearted woman all the way in NW Indiana took a liking to the kitties. After suffering the loss of two of her cats, she may feel she's willing to give a home to a new family. I don't know IF she'll actually end up adopting Mama & both babies, but that is the hope.

Photo by Henry County Care & Control

If we can get her to green light this adoption, she'll have little to do. After hours of emails back and forth, we've been able to work it out with the super nice contact we have at Henry to talk to her Director about allowing us to transport the cats, all together, to Indiana and their new home. Normally this is not allowed and I can see why. The cats have to be spayed first and get all their shots and tests. The kittens won't have to be spayed, but all the test and shots and a two week quarantine is necessary before moving them across state lines.

We can work out the transport and we might be able to find a foster situation for them for the two weeks we need them to be quarantined. Sounds fairly simple, but if we don't get this adoption to happen, then, on Monday, time runs out and the cats may all be euthanized.

I feel sick to my stomach about this. I've written about it before and I've talked about my frustrations. I so want to help change the situation in these struggling shelters. I know saving one or two doesn't really help-of course it helps the ones that are saved, but it is said it's like trying to empty the ocean with a spoon.

Photo by Henry County Care & Control

It makes me realize just how LUCKY my own cats are-to have such a loving home, dedicated to their needs and comforts. When I think about all those poor innocents, stuck in a cage-with little chance of ever getting out alive, it just breaks my heart in two.

I'm too close to this story to accept it if they're put down. I'm not going to tell myself it's ok and we'll save the next one. I can't do that. IT IS NOT OKAY FOR THEM TO DIE. IT IS NOT OK! If it means I get them to Connecticut and foster them here in my spare bathroom, then that's what I will do-even if I'm taking in another mama and five kittens in a few days. These cats are going to be the lottery winners at Henry and beat the odds that are against them.

I am not going to let them die.

I've had a few folks ask after Winkles and I'm glad to say that
Winkles had his surgery last week and is recovering well.

The biopsy that was done on the eye that was removed did NOT show any signs of juvenile cancer. This means that the injury to his eye was from a strong blow to the head. There is nothing else that would have caused his eye to swell up so large. How Winkles got the head trauma, we will never know. Probably a good thing since if I did know and it was a person that did this and I could get my hands on them-well, it could get ugly.

I received a photo of Winkles, but it's a bit too graphic to post. I hope to visit the little guy soon and take some photos of him now that he's healing.

We're also greatly relieved to know that Winkles is using his litter pan! Prior to his surgery, he was NOT using it and also had diarrhea, so Our Director had a lot of extra work keeping things clean. It would have seriously effected his chance of being adopted if we couldn't get him on track with this. Now that he's feeling better, everything's falling into (the right) place, so to speak! Hee hee!

Winkles may have one more hurdle, but that remains to be seen. Until then, thank you ALL for the good wishes, the DONATIONS and the prayers for this little cutie. Hopefully Winkles next stop will be a loving forever home!

Zabby's been busted out of the Henry County Animal Care & Control! WOOOHOOOO!!!!!!I just LOVE saving another kitty. Do you realize it took over 16 people to help this ONE kitty her life back!? If folks had spayed/neutered their cats, this story would never have to happen. Shelters wouldn't be overcrowded and no animals would be needlessly put down. I know-preaching to the choir. We need more ways to get the word out and to get LOW COST S/N for all animals.

Judy, from Kat5 Rescue has Zabby boarded for the next two weeks. Necessary quarantine to make sure she doesn't have anything contagious that could be spread to the generous folks at Catnip Cottage, who'll be giving Zabby a place to live until she finds her forever home.

More good news! Zabby's paw has been treated and is improving. Her combo test results were NEGATIVE! All that remains is for Zabby to get spayed next week, if she remains in good health, then on August 24th Bobby will drive her to South Carolina!

Photo: Henry County Animal Care & Control

Zabby is NOT FOUR YEARS OLD. Zabby is only 8-9 months. Just a baby. If you can give Zabby a forever home, please contact me until we have Zabby moved to Catnip Cottage.

Due to the generosity and compassion of so many people from all over the world, Winkles will be having her surgery today! I just shot this photo of her while she was getting ready to head to the Specialist for her procedure. Winkles is a real beauty and I just know that once her eye is removed, she'll feel so much more comfortable!

Years ago, I rescued a stray who had a severe eye injury and her eye needed to be removed. I cried when I got the news, thinking of the miserable future for my new foster. My Vet reminded me that cats adjust and don't mourn over such things and that I shouldn't worry. He was right. Sasha did well. I ended up adopting her as she was a geriatric kitty with lots of health problems, but we think she lived to be 21!

I also have more exciting news! We ended up getting more in donations than we needed for Winkles surgery. Normally, these funds would remain in our Angel Fund for the next kitten in need. Just about the same time we rescued Winkles, another kitten was rescued by another group, also needing emergency eye surgery. Sadly, this group could not afford the surgery, so the cat was facing a dire future.

It was decided that we would offer the funds to cover this kitten's eye surgery, as well, even though the kitten was with another rescue group. We feel that we're all in this together and since we were blessed with good fortune, thanks to all of you, we wanted to pay it forward.

So in a sense, with your donations we had a "BOGO" (Buy One, Get One) on cat rescues or rather a RORA? (Rescue One, Rescue Another?).

Regardless of what you call it-THANK YOU!