Those of us involved in feline rescue and spay/neuter clinics see some things that really don't quite rate a thread of their own but probably should be mentioned at least. This is the place for it.....
It's 4:30AM on July 4th. I woke up early and decided to look around to see who was out and about in the neighborhood. So far this year I haven't seen any kittens, but I know they're out there. That I haven't seen them, even at this hour, isn't good--it means they're more feral than previous generations and will be harder to trap and socialize....
I looked up at a picture on the wall of The Other Half with a big red tabby named Ralph. I found Ralph quite by accident in 2005; I was watering my tomatoes when I heard a loud, insistent cry that almost but not quite sounded like a bird. I went into the back alley to investigate; in the enclosed yard of an abandoned house I found a little red kitten with no mother or siblings. I scaled the wall, put him in my shirt pocket, and climbed out--he fell out once and had to be retrieved but was OK; resilient things, kittens are. I got him home ten minutes before a nasty thunderstorm.
He was almost hypothermic; had I not found him when I did he would not have survived the night. His eyes were barely open and were infected. For weeks he had to be fed by syringe while we treated his eye infection. We used KMR and gradually mixed in wet kitten food until he was ready to eat solids on his own.
He's now quite big and happily lives with a dentist and her husband. He barely fit in the palm of my hand when I found him. Red Tabbies. Go figure....
George didn't fare as well, but the odds were far worse. He was literally a day old when a neighbor brought him to me last year; his umbilical cord was still attached. He lasted about 48 hours. Like Ralph, I tried to use my own body heat to keep him going (kittens that age cannot generate their own body heat; hypothermia and not hunger is the greatest danger), but at some point he fell off of me and may have struck something--there was blood in his nose. That really threw me, and got me into this business....
I'm amazed sometimes at the cruelty of some kids. At a recent clinic a young cat was brought in to be neutered but also had an infected foreleg which needed treatment. This was a friendly stray, not a feral. He was caught by some kids who tightly wound a rubber band around his right forepaw just for laughs. What did the little pricks expect? Cut off circulation and the limb becomes useless; gangrene sets in and if the limb isn't saved or amputated the cat dies--slowly and painfully. Fortunately the cat was caught in time--we saved his leg and his life. I can't say the same if we ever catch those brats....
We do monthly clinics at Animal Control and the SPCA. I work in post-surgical recovery. At the former the surgery is done mostly by veterinary students, so it's at a slower pace. At the latter, the docs are vets and recovery fills up quickly. We expanded the recovery area so that each cat had its own space. We then discovered where we were. The recovery area at the SPCA is also the morgue, and we were stacking the cats on top of freezers filled with cadavers. They didn't know or care, but we did. It was kinda funny in a grim, gallows humor kind of way, but that's necessary in this line of work....
A few months ago at a busy clinic at Animal Control six cats were brought into recovery. They were not patients; they were cats on their way to be put down. We were their last chance. All six were fortunately fostered. One I examined was a quite friendly declawed calico. Blows my mind. What kind of effin' idiot declaws and then abandons a cat...?
Animal Control is a city agency so it has its own standards and accountability. They do not permit us to test cats for FIV/FELV at their facility. The SPCA does. Any feral cats I trap will be held for the SPCA clinics. A managed colony requires testing. Animal Control nominally supports managed colonies, but seems a tad unclear on the concept....
It's 4:30AM on July 4th. I woke up early and decided to look around to see who was out and about in the neighborhood. So far this year I haven't seen any kittens, but I know they're out there. That I haven't seen them, even at this hour, isn't good--it means they're more feral than previous generations and will be harder to trap and socialize....
I looked up at a picture on the wall of The Other Half with a big red tabby named Ralph. I found Ralph quite by accident in 2005; I was watering my tomatoes when I heard a loud, insistent cry that almost but not quite sounded like a bird. I went into the back alley to investigate; in the enclosed yard of an abandoned house I found a little red kitten with no mother or siblings. I scaled the wall, put him in my shirt pocket, and climbed out--he fell out once and had to be retrieved but was OK; resilient things, kittens are. I got him home ten minutes before a nasty thunderstorm.
He was almost hypothermic; had I not found him when I did he would not have survived the night. His eyes were barely open and were infected. For weeks he had to be fed by syringe while we treated his eye infection. We used KMR and gradually mixed in wet kitten food until he was ready to eat solids on his own.
He's now quite big and happily lives with a dentist and her husband. He barely fit in the palm of my hand when I found him. Red Tabbies. Go figure....
George didn't fare as well, but the odds were far worse. He was literally a day old when a neighbor brought him to me last year; his umbilical cord was still attached. He lasted about 48 hours. Like Ralph, I tried to use my own body heat to keep him going (kittens that age cannot generate their own body heat; hypothermia and not hunger is the greatest danger), but at some point he fell off of me and may have struck something--there was blood in his nose. That really threw me, and got me into this business....
I'm amazed sometimes at the cruelty of some kids. At a recent clinic a young cat was brought in to be neutered but also had an infected foreleg which needed treatment. This was a friendly stray, not a feral. He was caught by some kids who tightly wound a rubber band around his right forepaw just for laughs. What did the little pricks expect? Cut off circulation and the limb becomes useless; gangrene sets in and if the limb isn't saved or amputated the cat dies--slowly and painfully. Fortunately the cat was caught in time--we saved his leg and his life. I can't say the same if we ever catch those brats....
We do monthly clinics at Animal Control and the SPCA. I work in post-surgical recovery. At the former the surgery is done mostly by veterinary students, so it's at a slower pace. At the latter, the docs are vets and recovery fills up quickly. We expanded the recovery area so that each cat had its own space. We then discovered where we were. The recovery area at the SPCA is also the morgue, and we were stacking the cats on top of freezers filled with cadavers. They didn't know or care, but we did. It was kinda funny in a grim, gallows humor kind of way, but that's necessary in this line of work....
A few months ago at a busy clinic at Animal Control six cats were brought into recovery. They were not patients; they were cats on their way to be put down. We were their last chance. All six were fortunately fostered. One I examined was a quite friendly declawed calico. Blows my mind. What kind of effin' idiot declaws and then abandons a cat...?
Animal Control is a city agency so it has its own standards and accountability. They do not permit us to test cats for FIV/FELV at their facility. The SPCA does. Any feral cats I trap will be held for the SPCA clinics. A managed colony requires testing. Animal Control nominally supports managed colonies, but seems a tad unclear on the concept....
