Needs a Home

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.

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!

A rare moment-Malibu sitting still.

Malibu's been here for a few days. I'm having a tough time warming up to him because once he decides to hang out with me, I get attacked. This guy has a strong drive to nurse, so I'm constantly pushing him away and trying to keep his wet nose off me. Yecch.

I feel guilty. I should be non-judgemental about my fosters and give each and every one of them the same loving care. I like Malibu! He's a good kitty. He's still quite skittish, but even when he hides under the night table, he purrs! I can hear him from a few feet away. It's pretty amusing.

Malibu enjoys channel surfing now!

He's slowly improving, though I need to spend extra time with him because tomorrow...drum roll...I'm getting three more kittens!

Who is ready for some company? Hmmm, let me guess?!

Four kittens aren't bad, but four older kittens, well that's like eight little kittens in craziness! In a way, it's been very peaceful with just Malibu here. He's very tidy and doesn't get into anything. It's been a good break, though I better take a nap today, too. I have a feeling I'm going to need to be well rested tomorrow.

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.

I AM SO PSYCHED!!!!!!!

I HATE KILL SHELTERS! It seems the SOUTH is rampant with them, not to say there aren't ones here, too, but the numbers of cats and KITTENS and dogs and PUPPIES put to sleep are shocking. Sure, maybe it's insignificant to think that saving ONE cat or dog from one of those places isn't going to make any difference...

...except to that cat or dog! They want to LIVE. They deserve a chance at a good life!

So get a load of this:

FRIDAY: A Plea Goes Out on Twitter by my friends at Kat5 to Help Zabby. I read the post. I looked at the photos (some are re-posted here). I ask about her age. She looks young. Maybe we can find a placement for here somewhere! I know I can offer to donate a few dollars, too, to help with her Vet bill, so I let the ladies at Kat5 know I'm working on it.

Photo: Henry County Animal Care & Control

Later That Day: I get an email from another one of mine, Jennifer, who works with the Feline Diabetes Message Board. She asked me if I could post ad Ad on Petfinder for her as she was trying to find a great home for a very nice kitty that was going to be euthanized by her "family" (what family would do that to their cat? not any FAMILY I know) for being mean. In actuality, this poor cat had never been spayed and had a nasty mouth full of dental problems. I'd be mean, too, if I felt like crap!

"Sure! I'll post an ad for you! Wish I could do more..."

So I post the ad for : LUCY And while I'm at it, I ask Jennifer if she knows anyone that can help Zabby. She says she'll post the info on their discussion group board and get back to me.

SATURDAY: Jennifer emails me that she has a placement for Zabby in South Carolina! WOOHOO! She's going to the Catnip Cottage in Summerville, SC! I let the Kat5 team know we have a placement, now we need transport from GA to SC.

SUNDAY: TICK TOCK

Zabby's paw injury (bite wound) is healing nicely. She's so very thin for a 4 yr old kitty. Poor sweetheart!

MONDAY: So far no luck. Kat5 is trying their best. Can't get a transport yet. Need to hurry!!!

TUESDAY, TODAY: YES! Jennifer's crew kicks butt! She emails me that she has a transport person! A wonderful person named Bobby (WE LOVE YOU!) has offered to drive the 4 to 5 hour drive up and back whenever we need it. Okay, I wasn't raised to believe in Angels, but I am starting to change my mind about that! WOW!

All Zabby needs now is a trip to the Vet, to get her combo test and this is where I get a stomach ache-she MUST be NEGATIVE for Feline Leukemia and, I believe FIV, too. After all this, if she's sick, it will be a bad ending to this story.

Photo: Henry County Animal Care & Control

Fingers and toes are crossed. Phone calls and emails and shutting back and forth. Zabby will hopefully be with her new rescue group soon. Of course, if you live in GA or SC and would like to ADOPT Zabby, contact me right away! This girl deserves a Happy Ending!

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!

Friday, late afternoon, I received an email from our Director about Winkle's urgent need for eye surgery. Within an hour, I had the information out to my Tweeps, my FB friends and my dear friends here on CiCH.

Many of you were kind enough to help me get the word out. Some were doubly kind and offered donations, from a few dollars, to much more. That you would take the time out of your day, the money out of your wallet, to help a kitten you don't know and a rescue group you may not be familiar with-well that just humbles me to the core.

I want you ALL to know that The Animal Center is a registered non-profit, 501 (3)c. Your donations go 100 percent to helping kittens. We're all volunteer. No one gets a salary and I design any fundraising materials for gratis. I welcome you to check us out or ask any questions. We don't have a shelter, though we dream of having one some day. We do in-home fostering, so the kittens we can help are based on the number of foster families we have and the financial resources we have.

As you may know, our donations, like most rescue groups, are down from the past years, so having to raise funds for Winkle, was a bit daunting. I'm very GLAD to let you know that in barely a day, we've gotten close to reaching our goal. If we should get any extra monies, those are earmarked for The Angel Fund, so it will ALWAYS go to cats in dire need of medical help. Every year we have kittens in crisis.

I'd like to catch you up on Winkle. Right now he's comfortable and happy in foster care. In a few days he's being taken to a specialist to have his eye removed. Though the Vet feels his condition is due to a "blunt force trauma" to his head, there is a SMALL chance that Winkles has juvenile cancer. Winke's eye will be biopsied to determine if he has cancer. We'll still get him a great home-but his new family needs to know that Winkle's life may not be as long as other kitten's.

With any luck, Winkle will just be a one-eyed kitty and the rest of his life will be long, healthy and filled with love.

I'll get some photos of Winkle posted and more updates as soon as they're available.

Again, my deepest thanks to all of you.

This JUST IN from our group The Animal Center:

Unexpected twists and turns in life happen to everyone. Winkle the kitten is only ten weeks old, but has already had some big ups and downs in his life. First, something happened to seriously damage his left eye, leaving him partially blind and in significant pain. But then his life started to change for the better when someone spotted him in a busy parking lot and brought him to the neighborhood "cat lady," who then contacted The Animal Center for help.

Shortly after Winkle came to us in late July, we brought him to an eye specialist who diagnosed his left eye with severe glaucoma. Winkle is completely blind in that eye and the pressure behind it is causing him considerable pain.

Photo credit: The Animal Center

But despite his pain, Winkle is always in good spirits, greeting visitors with purrs and affection, and he loves to play. Like so many animals who are abandoned and rescued, Winkle has demonstrated a strong will to live and trusting, positive spirit from the very first day we met him.

We don't know how Winkle was injured, but his veterinarian suspects a blunt force trauma to his head.

Photo credit: The Animal Center

What we do know is we can make life a whole lot better for Winkle. By removing his left eye, his doctor will relieve the pressure behind it, eliminating Winkle's pain. His surgery is scheduled for August 5th, 2009.

Today, we're asking for donations to our Angel Fund to help us pay for Winkle's eye surgery and follow-up care so that this kitten has a chance to live a full and healthy life free of pain. And if you know anyone who's interested in giving the sweetest one-eyed kitten in the world a home, let us know!

Note from Robin:

Every dollar helps, so don't feel like you can't donate enough. We appreciate even a $1 donation. Please help Winkle! I'll be sure to update his progress as soon as we have more info available!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

This chapter is a difficult one to write both physically and emotionally. Last night I wrestled with whether or not I should leave out what happened and just keep this as a positive, uplifting story, but that's not how life goes some times.

The truth is, socializing feral kittens can be difficult, frustrating and painful. It's part of the process. Some times all the work is for naught. Some times we have to accept the results we get, knowing we did our best. Some times things go beautifully and without a hitch and it's just another notch on our belt of success.

Yesterday, though Tweetie was mellow and friendly, the three kittens I introduced him to, didn't care for him one bit. Poor Tweetie wanted to fit in and play, but they just hissed and arched their tiny backs. Eventually, Tweetie hissed back and ran off to hide in his carrier. I got them all to play together and eat in close proximity, but clearly the kittens were all stressed.

Tweetie putting up with hisses from Sprinkles

Pixie, is not thrilled, while Tweetie looks to make friends elsewhere.

At 6pm Sprinkles' adoptive family come to see her again. Since they also wanted to see Tweetie, I left him in the room, instead of moving him to his private quarters.

Still hoping to make friends. Tweetie tries his luck with Twinkles.

Friend or Foe? Who's that knocking upon my door?

It was clear, fairly quickly, that all the kittens were stressed during the visit. Because it was important that Sprinkles show well, I realized I needed to move Tweetie to his room. Tweetie was upset. I reached to scruff him and he went down right away. A good, submissive move.

Because I was distracted by the visitors, I missed scruffing Tweetie properly and grabbed his shoulder. He flipped out and bit me. Instead of moving my hand, which I SHOULD HAVE DONE, I tried to adjust my grip, but it was too late. Tweetie's teeth sunk deeply into my index finger-the same one he bit a week ago.

Instead of screaming, I calmly let him go, stood up and told him to "go to your carrier." As I walked behind him, he ran into his carrier. I shut the door, preparing to return him to his room. My finger was throbbing painfully and starting to gush blood. Sprinkles' family thought I had magic powers over cats, by getting Tweetie to obey me so quickly, but I just knew he'd run to the first, small, dark place he could find.

I summoned up the courage to be calm and excused myself from the room, bringing Tweetie with me. I put him back in his room and quietly left him to calm down while I took care of my wounds.

I have five bite marks on my finger. It hurts like Hell. I furiously cleaned my finger, fearing infection. I've been down this road before with my very own formerly feral cat, Cricket. He sent me to the hospital once when he didn't want to go to the Vet. He sunk his teeth into my hand. It swelled up like a balloon, even though I cleaned it out. I got a few shots, one in the ass, for my troubles. I wasn't sure this wound was that serious. I sure hoped it wasn't.

The family finally left and I basically fell apart. I haven't slept well for a long while and I was very upset, thinking about Tweetie. He'd made all this great progress. Would his chances of being adopted end because he bit me? Would anyone see past that and feel safe around him?

I know it was MY FAULT that Tweetie bit me. He told me, most clearly, that he was upset and I did not heed his warning signs, so the warnings became more explosive. I never should have touched a cat in the "red zone." I should have re-directed him with a toy and got him into his carrier. My fear was how would he behave now that we've had this "incident?"

I went to bed at 10pm after getting everyone fed. Normally I'm up much later, but my body was aching. I laid in bed and couldn't get comfortable. I tossed and turned, worrying about Tweetie. In my heart, even though he hurt me, I know he didn't mean it.

I got up an hour later and made some chamomile tea. It tastes like ass (actually, I never tasted an ass, so this is just a guess). I brought it into Tweetie's room, not knowing what his state of mind would be.

He was sitting on the cat condo, so I sat on the floor next to it. I didn't reach out to give him a pet, I just looked over at him. He looked at me and burbled, then cocked his head, curious as to why I wasn't petting him. He jumped off the condo and nervously ran past me. He sat on the floor and looked at me as I sipped my tea.

He got up and jumped onto my leg. As I lifted the teacup to my lips, he head-butted my elbow and burbled another greeting. I touched his back and he melted into my lap, looking up at me as if nothing tragic had happened and that everything, as far as he was concerned was just fine...and oh, could I pet him some more so he could purr louder??

So this, my friends, is part of my difficult journey with a cat who has literally gotten under my skin in so many ways. He's a good egg, I promise. I take all the blame for what happened. I'm not sure what this means for him or if it's just another bump in the road? I just hope beyond hope's limits that I can find Tweetie the loving home he so deserves and a band-aid for my finger. I seem to be out.

Tweetie's Feral Kitty Boot Camp began almost a week ago. What was once a shy and fearful kitten, has softened and warmed into a sweet kitty. The next stage of the process is to begin to open up Tweetie's comfort zone. This will also allow the poor guy to get a break from hours of alone time.

Tweetie's first escapade was to travel with me to one of the only other rooms that, a) has a door on it and b) doesn't need to be kitten-proofed. Yes, another bathroom! Good thing I have more than one.

It was easy to put Tweetie into a carrier and bring him to the Master Bathroom where he could keep me company while I shower. And no, there is no and will not be ANY photos of this! Do you want to go BLIND? I mean, really!

Never undress in front of a kitten.

Tweetie was a bit nervous, as I expected, but the room isn't that large and he had some toys to occupy his attention. That was, until I turned on the faucet to start the shower.

Tweetie hid. Okay, no problem. I tossed his toys around and coaxed him back out of his carrier. I got into the shower and called out to him. He took one look at me and ripped out a YEEEOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW!!!!

In cat, I believe this translates to mean: "GET OUT OF THERE!!!! WATER!!!! YOU'LL GET WET!!!!! GET OUT!! GET OUT!! GET OUT!!! OH MY GOD GET OUT!!!"

I ignored Tweetie's pleas and called out again, assuring him that "hoomins need to not smell bad and this is the only way to get there, other than wear too much perfume, which really only masks the problem and doesn't really head the problem off at the pass, like people who think those air fresheners really do anything other than mask a lie. They should clean their house, not spray chemicals on their belongings."

Thinking back on it, maybe all I said was; "It's ok, Tweetie. Don't worry. I'll be out in a minute."

Tweetie just meowed.

After two days in a row of shower-meowing and with feral Mama Cat, Gabby no longer with the other fosters, I got the go ahead to let Tweetie share his play time with the kittens. Finally, no more day-long alone time. There'd be some adjustment time for all kittens concerned, but after that, it should be all right.

In another hour, the lady who is going to adopt Sprinkles will be here with her Fiancè. She wants him to make sure he also wants to adopt Sprinkles. Normally, we have one meeting, they adopt the cat, they go. This will be meeting number two of at least three meetings before Sprinkles goes home. They also asked to see Tweetie again, you know, just to help with his socializing, of course. They don't want to ADOPT HIM. Sure they don't! After all the oo-ing and ahh-ing of their last visit, I have a feeling they will change their mind.

Good thing Tweetie may already be spoken for.

:-)