Friend of Ferals Award Badge - Apply Here

[Anne]

Thanks again.im sure I'll stick around. The little things having been hurting me personally lately due to some personal struggles and today the loss of one of my fur babies.thanks for you concern

I'm so sorry about the delay. I had to go back one page and find your original post about the kitties. I simply didn't notice it back then, possibly because I'm used to seeing very long stories shared (not that there's a need to do that necessarily - yours was perfectly fine). The best thing to do if you're not feeling you're getting the response you need from myself or any team member is do one of the following -

1. send a PM (private message)

2. use the mention feature (type @ followed immediately by the username, as you would in Twitter or Facebook), or

3. Use the quote feature to quote and reply.

Either one of these three triggers a notification email to the user whose attention you wish to draw. I'm afraid otherwise the chances of that person missing out on your post aren't low. I know that's the case for me, with my ADHD 

. Please don't take this personally, I definitely was not ignoring you on purpose and I do apologize.

In the future, please don't hesitate to PM me with such matters. It is far more effective than posting about it in a thread. In fact, negative feedback about the site should always be kept within private communication channels (as per our site rules). 

 

[Anne]

We have been caring for a colony of cats for about two years now. We have taken four inside to make that population six. There are about a dozen or so thst live outside. All of the outside cats have access to the laundry room via a pet flap. About half of the outside cats are very social and tame. I am able to give them meds and treat them for parasites. The best part is that I can stroke them and let them know how much I love them.

There are three wild and wooly toms and at least two youngsters that are probably pregnant.

We have been doing TNR and had things under control until a couple of weeks ago. Suddenly there are about half a dozen new cats at our place.

We have been in the throes of a family situation that had taken us away from home for most of the last couple of weeks. I am eager to get the new kids on the block into traps and out of the baby making business. I would rather trap and neuter five or six now than a dozen or more later.

I love this site and learn so much from it. I don't know why I couldn't figure out how these cats always seem to find us. I may have to start sprit zing my tame cats butts with Chanel # 5 so they don't bring so many new friends back to the table.

I'll take a badge if you have any extras. I'll also raise my glass to all of those who do so much for cats. Every cat that I feed blesses me in some way. I enjoy watching the way that they treat one another. A lot of people could learn from feral cats!

Welcome, fellow cat magnet

! I'm so glad you like the site! Badge awarded, of course!

 

[icey bolt]

Thank you catspaw66. I was angry at the world yesterday. Doing better today. And cat woman I no longer live there. The best I've been able to do is find loving homes for cats .i don't have the money to do much but make sure they are fed and have a safe place to rest from the world. My dream is actually to start a no kill rescue where cats can live out their lives safe and healthy but I know that would take a fortune of money unfortunately. And Anne I love all that this site provides and I am still getting the hang of how some of this works.i do apologize if I made it seem like I was being impolite. I just thought it was odd that people who had posted after me were getting responses . And of course yesterday was very hard.i had to bury Lilo. And I wasn't getting much support here at home so that didn't help. But yes all I've been able to do is try to find homes for ferals and my friends and family know if they find dumped kittens puppies basically anything I will do my best to care for them until I can find them a home which can get overwhelming at times but very worth it to show them that life can be awesome.i recently took on some kittens and newborn opossums.unfortunatly the opposums didn't make it. Thanks for reading

 

[Anne]

Thank you catspaw66. I was angry at the world yesterday. Doing better today. And cat woman I no longer live there. The best I've been able to do is find loving homes for cats .i don't have the money to do much but make sure they are fed and have a safe place to rest from the world. My dream is actually to start a no kill rescue where cats can live out their lives safe and healthy but I know that would take a fortune of money unfortunately. And Anne I love all that this site provides and I am still getting the hang of how some of this works.i do apologize if I made it seem like I was being impolite. I just thought it was odd that people who had posted after me were getting responses . And of course yesterday was very hard.i had to bury Lilo. And I wasn't getting much support here at home so that didn't help. But yes all I've been able to do is try to find homes for ferals and my friends and family know if they find dumped kittens puppies basically anything I will do my best to care for them until I can find them a home which can get overwhelming at times but very worth it to show them that life can be awesome.i recently took on some kittens and newborn opossums.unfortunatly the opposums didn't make it. Thanks for reading

Don't worry about it. I was wrong to miss the posts and I wasn't expecting you to know everything on how the site works. I am sorry about the losses you experienced. For future reference, I think that with baby possums or any wildlife, it's best to try and find an established wildlife rescuer. They're a real challenge. As for the feral cats, I hope you manage to move forward with having them spayed/neutered too, else whoever is feeding (is it you?) will end up with many more cats very quickly. The harsh truth is that f you feed, you have to spay/neuter, or soon enough you won't be able to feed. If you let us know where you live, maybe we can help you locate a local TNR group? 

 

[icey bolt]

Thank you.what is a TNR group? I don't have those ferals around anymore since my move but for some reason kittens get dumped on my busy street a lot. 3 times in the couple years I've been here. And I found out the business across the street has taken in a dumped litter also. Wish I could find out who it is and report them!i cried when I found the mom with her newborns in the trash bags.like they wanted her to die and be picked up on trash day.so frustrating. Actually worse.

 

[catspaw66]

TNR stands for Trap, Neuter and Release. It eliminates the problem of them having more litters, but doesn't leave a hole in the food chain like totally removing them would.

 

[icey bolt]

Oh ok.ill look that up.thanks

 

[datagrrl]

If you are lucky you will live near an organization that helps. Mine will vaccinate and spay/neuter for $25 once you take the class. I was actually thinking of trying to have a fund raiser to try and raise some money to start TNR on a colony near me. A nice couple feeds them, but I think adding TNR to the mix would help everyone.

 

[roguethecat]

ha! FixOurFerals charges $15 for spay/neuter PLUS vaccinations PLUS revolution for a feral. Gotta love FOF www.fixourferals.org/

 

[datagrrl]

ha! FixOurFerals charges $15 for spay/neuter PLUS vaccinations PLUS revolution for a feral. Gotta love FOF www.
fixourferals
.org/

:rub:

I guess I can add that to reasons I would like to live in San Francisco.

 

[roguethecat]

I guess I can add that to reasons I would like to live in San Francisco.

 

[icey bolt]

The one I found is far from my home. I'll call them and see what info they can give.

 

[lrosewiles]

Hi Icey Bolt

so sorry for your bad experiences and frustration.  Where are you located?  Maybe there are other members in your area who could put you in touch with help.  There are a lot of TNR organizations and low cost clinics that offer traps and reasonably priced spay/neuter services, and even some private vets that offer discounted services.  I'm so sorry you lost a fur-person, and of course that upset you and made you miserable, there is no need to apologize for that.  I think most of us here on the site have experienced horrible people doing dreadful things to cats and a big life lesson I have learned here is that each of us can only do our best with what resources we have.  I think most of us struggle and get frustrated at times, not just with lack of money but lack of space and time to do as much as we'd like. There are some who do amazing work and others, like me, who just manage a few (I have 5 rescues) and you know what ... anything you can do is better than nothing.  I take a great inspiration from Catwoman's logo: Saving one cat won't make a difference in the world, but it makes a world of difference to that one cat.  No one can save them all, but together we really can make a difference.  I am very proud to have five beautiful cats who would likely be dead by now without my intervention, and you should be very proud too for what you have done.

Oh and mea culpa, I would have responded sooner but I've been dealing with a major kitchen renovation and one of my cats with an injured tail needing constant attention and multiple vet visits.  She is fine now, but has kept me distracted for a few weeks.

 

[roguethecat]

 

[Norachan]

Beautiful! He was well worth the wait.

 

[supermax1943]

How on earth I never found you all until now, I will never know! I am not sure how to even tell my colony story without writing a book. But the beginning of the story is that I came from an abusive childhood. My grandmother gave us (my sister and I) two Persian kittens for Christmas one year. We named them Jingle and Jangle. I simply adored them. I dressed mine, Jingle, in doll clothes and carried her around like a doll. We had them for about three years. Then, one day, they were both simply gone. No explanation. No nothing. They were just gone. I really never recovered from that, but it wasn't until almost thirty years later that I would know that.

The house I bought after a divorce had lots of cats around it. The house is located in a small town on the ocean in California, but it is within an area that has miles of open land around it. Almost wilderness, but also miles of open fields of agriculture. 

I started feeding the cats. Over time there were more and more of them. The lady who seemed to really be looking after the cats, who lived across the street, was older and became very ill. Eventually, she died, and without knowing what I was doing, I took over for her. The continuation of the story will be familiar to all of you...suddenly I was taking care of all of these cats, and then there were kittens, and oh my, I had a colony of cats to take care of. 

I started trapping and having them fixed, still not knowing what I was doing. The more I trapped the more showed up. Eventually I figured I had at least 40 or more cats I was helping. 

The rest is history. I have spent almost all I have on the colony, and now with funds depleting and me worrying desperately about how I will continue to care for all of them, I finally working on getting a website up and running ( launching, I hope soon). The cats have  become my family and my life. 

Without realizing it, they have also become my purpose in life, as I guess is true for most of you too. I am thrilled to have found you all. I look forward to getting to know you. In the meantime here are pictures of just a few of the 50 of what is known as The Feral Cat Sanctuary.

Little Smudge (5).JPG

• supermax1943
• May 26, 2014

Snicker Brother of Coco.JPG

• supermax1943
• May 26, 2014

Martha (4).JPG

• supermax1943
• May 26, 2014

 

[Anne]

Snicker Brother of Coco.JPG

• supermax1943
• May 26, 2014

Martha (4).JPG

• supermax1943
• May 26, 2014

Thank you so much for sharing the story and those beautiful pictures! Badge awarded, of course, and I'm glad you found us and joined us! 

 

[supermax1943]

Thank you so much. I am honored. Really glad to be here.

 

[supermax1943]

Where did that funny little blue man come from? The one that zips around. I want one!

 

[catspaw66]

 
Where did that funny little blue man come from? The one that zips around. I want one!

If you are posting from a computer, it is in the set with the smiley face next to the Omega sign. In the reply pane                                                                                    Up there.