Hi, We are not new members, however we have not been very active. For many years I have done cat rescues on my own, usually one at a time. When I get a rescue cat, we have them vetted and if they are in poor health we nurse them back to a healthy state. If they are spayed or neutered that is completed before we place the cat with a new home. We do our placements through word of mouth and only place a cat where it will be allowed indoors and well cared for. We are not a rescue organization, just private individuals with a soft spot for animals. We support our local rescue center, Catman2, which is a large model facility run by a local family and some committed community members.
Since we do rescue cats, we have ended up with a kitty family of our own. Our oldest female Abby has a difficult personality. She has been with us since she was 18 months old and her original family dumped her when she became pregnant. We found homes for her three kittens, had Abby spayed, and she has been with us since. She is nine years old. Abby will demonstrate some very poor behavior if we try to introduce a new cat into our group, like peeing on the furniture. We found out by accident that she does better with kittens, so the last two additions to the group were Sam at 10 months old and CJ at 3 months who arrived with a serious injury and required several surgeries. CJ has recovered perfecty with no long lasting effects. We have another nine year old female, Izzy who came to us at four years old. She is the only one who is a purebred Norweigion Forrest cat who's owners moved and did not want to take her with them. It took Izzy and Abby two years to finally get used to each other and to get along. We ended up crating one of them all the time and alternating letting them take turns out of thier crates. Finally they decided to get along just about the time we thought we were at our wits end. So for the last two years we have been a happy four kitty household.
About a year ago a simi feral young male shown up on our porch. He was tame enough to share the porch with us, but not tame enough to handle. At first we thought that he belonged to a neighbor and just liked to hangout at our house. He looked well fed and well taken care of. After a few months it became apparent that he was a stray, probably the victim of a dump. We live in a very rural area, and dumped animals are common. We fed the little kttten, and he quickly grew into a young adult. Than all of the outdoor cats in the neighborhood began to stay at our house. The males would fight over the females, and so on. Our four cats watched from the windows of our house, and sometimes would fuss with each other because of the ongoings outside. We made the decision to trap the male cat, and get him neutered. He was fully vetted and found to be in perfect health, except for a few fleas. We named him Buddy and he will now let us touch him, but not for too long. He is tame enough to apply medications to, and lives happily in a custom made cat house on the front porch.
Buddy is not tame enough to be a house cat. He goes sort of crazy in the house, and panics looking for a way outside, so with our vet's approval he is an outdoor cat with his own little apartment where he can come and go as he wishes. The fighting has stopped. The other cats don't come around any more. Buddy is territorial, and does not want other cats in his yard.
So for a few months we were living happily with our five cats. A couple of months ago my sister-in-law decided that she wanted a cat. Someone gave her a two month old male that is sort of unusual. He is a long-haired yellow/red stripped kitty, but has bright blue eyes. He is absolutely stunning. After a few weeks the sister-in-law has decided that she cannot keep the kitty. She has early dementia and gets nervous very easily. The kitten bites, chews, and scratches like all kittens do. My sister-in-law cannot understand that this behavior is normal and that the kitten will settle down as it grows into a cat. My wife is in love with this kitten, so we are going to take him as our own. I figure that since his is a baby and a male, the two old females will be OK with the new addition. So now we are going to be a six cat family. Add to that the four dogs and you get the picture. The dogs have a large kennel with an air-conditioned dog house, so we don't have them inside all fo the time.
I am thinking that with six cats we will need to build them a room separate from the rest of the house so that they can have a place to go when the grandchildren are visitng or we are away from home. What I have planned is a 10 x 8 building with AC/heat and a 8 x 16 covered fenced outdoor run for them. Thier outdoor run will be a separate section inside of the 24 x 70 dog kennel so that other animals cannot bother them. The cats don't pay any attention to our four dogs, so there should not be much stress from them being next to each other. We will let the kittys have access to a 12 x 40 enclosed sun porch for extra space to play or sleep in the sunshine. At some point we are going to have to cap our number, and I think that six is more than enough.
Since we do rescue cats, we have ended up with a kitty family of our own. Our oldest female Abby has a difficult personality. She has been with us since she was 18 months old and her original family dumped her when she became pregnant. We found homes for her three kittens, had Abby spayed, and she has been with us since. She is nine years old. Abby will demonstrate some very poor behavior if we try to introduce a new cat into our group, like peeing on the furniture. We found out by accident that she does better with kittens, so the last two additions to the group were Sam at 10 months old and CJ at 3 months who arrived with a serious injury and required several surgeries. CJ has recovered perfecty with no long lasting effects. We have another nine year old female, Izzy who came to us at four years old. She is the only one who is a purebred Norweigion Forrest cat who's owners moved and did not want to take her with them. It took Izzy and Abby two years to finally get used to each other and to get along. We ended up crating one of them all the time and alternating letting them take turns out of thier crates. Finally they decided to get along just about the time we thought we were at our wits end. So for the last two years we have been a happy four kitty household.
About a year ago a simi feral young male shown up on our porch. He was tame enough to share the porch with us, but not tame enough to handle. At first we thought that he belonged to a neighbor and just liked to hangout at our house. He looked well fed and well taken care of. After a few months it became apparent that he was a stray, probably the victim of a dump. We live in a very rural area, and dumped animals are common. We fed the little kttten, and he quickly grew into a young adult. Than all of the outdoor cats in the neighborhood began to stay at our house. The males would fight over the females, and so on. Our four cats watched from the windows of our house, and sometimes would fuss with each other because of the ongoings outside. We made the decision to trap the male cat, and get him neutered. He was fully vetted and found to be in perfect health, except for a few fleas. We named him Buddy and he will now let us touch him, but not for too long. He is tame enough to apply medications to, and lives happily in a custom made cat house on the front porch.
Buddy is not tame enough to be a house cat. He goes sort of crazy in the house, and panics looking for a way outside, so with our vet's approval he is an outdoor cat with his own little apartment where he can come and go as he wishes. The fighting has stopped. The other cats don't come around any more. Buddy is territorial, and does not want other cats in his yard.
So for a few months we were living happily with our five cats. A couple of months ago my sister-in-law decided that she wanted a cat. Someone gave her a two month old male that is sort of unusual. He is a long-haired yellow/red stripped kitty, but has bright blue eyes. He is absolutely stunning. After a few weeks the sister-in-law has decided that she cannot keep the kitty. She has early dementia and gets nervous very easily. The kitten bites, chews, and scratches like all kittens do. My sister-in-law cannot understand that this behavior is normal and that the kitten will settle down as it grows into a cat. My wife is in love with this kitten, so we are going to take him as our own. I figure that since his is a baby and a male, the two old females will be OK with the new addition. So now we are going to be a six cat family. Add to that the four dogs and you get the picture. The dogs have a large kennel with an air-conditioned dog house, so we don't have them inside all fo the time.
I am thinking that with six cats we will need to build them a room separate from the rest of the house so that they can have a place to go when the grandchildren are visitng or we are away from home. What I have planned is a 10 x 8 building with AC/heat and a 8 x 16 covered fenced outdoor run for them. Thier outdoor run will be a separate section inside of the 24 x 70 dog kennel so that other animals cannot bother them. The cats don't pay any attention to our four dogs, so there should not be much stress from them being next to each other. We will let the kittys have access to a 12 x 40 enclosed sun porch for extra space to play or sleep in the sunshine. At some point we are going to have to cap our number, and I think that six is more than enough.
