The Magic Number is 80

I can always tell when I've been on the phone too much. I have two HUGE "phone zits" on my chin that are positioned exactly where my phone touches my chin. I hope the other volunteers can join me in saying, "It's worth it all."

I just added up August's adoptions for the month. (Although I think there are a couple of adoption agreements outstanding...) We've had 80 adoptions for the month of August! EIGHTY!! Think about 80 cats in one room...or 80 cats in cages at the shelter...That's a lot of little lives saved.

Our volunteers are just too awesome; Between hundred's of dollars spent in gasoline driving cats around, setting up a raffle, hours spent at adoption events, countless hours spent on the phone, answering e-mails....it's really paid off. We had a wonderful month! Our average is about 50 cats adopted per month, so 80 cats feels huge! You should see the pile of adoption agreements on my desk. I should throw them on my bed and roll around on them. (but that seems a little weird, even for me)

With the successes come the heartbreak...we've lost several kittens this month to God-knows-what. One of our kittens was in emergency today, in fact. ($$$$) We've seemed to dodge the "Distemper bullet" this season. (*knock on wood*) Doesn't matter what it was...it still hurts.

To show you how dedicated our volunteers are, one of our favourite foster Moms delivered a beautiful baby girl a few days ago and had an adopter come today and take her foster cat home! What a trooper! Seriously...after my first baby, the last thing on my mind would've been a foster cat. God bless her.

Tomorrow is Labour Day and a new month. I'm looking forward to sleeping in, waking up tomorrow and gloating.

80. EIGHT. ZERO. The Big Eighty. 10+10+10+10+10+10+10+10

That's what I'm talkin' about :)

The August Award for....

...."Stupid Reason to Dump Your Cat" goes to this charming Craigslist poster. Here's her post, dated August 21, 2008:

" I love this kitten but I can't keep him anymore. He is the most adorable and affectionate animal you will ever come across. Always wants to be on your lap. Sleeps curled up beside you. Quiet. But he has a very sensitive stomach and throws up on occation. I have my condo on the market and can't have people coming in and there being puke somewhere. I honestly didn't mind cleaning it up once in a while but can't right now. He's fixed. He's awesome. And I don't want to bring him to the humane society..."

(By the way - this cat is NOT a kitten. In the title the "kitten" is 1 year old.) The cat throws up, she doesn't want to find out WHY the cat throws up. She just wants to get rid of the problem because she's selling her condo. Boo Frickity Hoo. She's so stupid - no wonder the cat is throwing up. She's making me sick too.

I'm speechless. Really.

The Samantha Chronicles

About a week ago I wrote about a little girl that I lovingly referred to as "Cha-Ching" because I figured she'd cost us a ton of money. The poor little girl had so many fleas, flea bites and flea poop all over her that she had lost all of her hair.
I've decided to periodically post pictures that her foster Mom sends me to update her progress. Her foster Mom is "Jenn" - Jenn is very pregnant and took on this sad looking little cat. I can't picture Jenn trying to bathe this scabby bald cat with her big belly over the bathtub. (Sorry Jenn - you're not THAT big!)
This is Samantha's shelter picture. A cat can't look much more pathetic than this little girl.

Rescue Date: August 11th, 2008

Comment from foster home: "Just wanted to let you know that ChaChing, who is now Samantha, is doing pretty well. Her skin actually looks amazingly good, just a few scabs which should clear up in no time. I'm pretty impressed how good of shape it's in, once I got the flea dirt scabs and sebborhea washed off. She's eating like a pig too :) Now I just have to tame her, she is pretty scared, poor little girl!"
New Pictures of Samantha arrived today, August 18th, 2008. Wow! Look what love, good food and a bath can do!

More thoughts from Samantha's foster Mom: "Just wanted to show everyone how much better Samantha looks in just a week!! Now we just need the hair to grow back! And boy, she still stinks - and farts - out loud!
She is also the craziest lap cat who is teaching me how to work with one hand as she insists on climbing all over me and jamming her head into my belly and face to get some attention, I can't believe the complete turnaround :) Problem now is I can't get her to leave me alone!!"
I think this little girl gives the term "Labour of Love" a whole new meaning. :) Jenn: You rock!

En Passant

It's been really fun this week to answer the rescue phone line and hear more adoption inquiries than surrender calls. My voice has definitely taken the brunt of it and I'm in the middle of nasty laryngitis. I can still talk -barely - it's just a huge effort and my throat is sore. It's kind of surreal that I quit smoking and end up with throat problems. Life ain't fair sometimes.

We also have some new foster homes, which has been rather exciting! I love talking with new foster homes. To hear the anticipation in their voice about getting their new cat. They want to make a difference in the world, God-love-'em. Hearing them gets me excited all over again. It's contagious!

One of my foster cats "Dylan" was adopted a few days ago by a a very sweet yuppie newlywed couple. He LOVES cats and she had never had a cat before. She was worried because he was "biting" (aka: "playing"). She looked tense and asked questions about shedding. (Those kind of questions are red flags in my book) I told her to relax and E-N-J-O-Y him! I took them into my kitchen and showed them 3 of my cats sprawled out on the kitchen counter napping. I gestured dramatically, "I think people worry too much about cats on the kitchen counters and forget to have fun with them. " I told her that Dylan's the only cat they're going to have, so they might as well spoil him rotten. She blushed when I told her that Dylan would probably still be around when their future children are in high school. That seemed to seal the deal - they took Dylan home for a 7 day Trial Adoption. I put a Cat Hair Roller for their clothes in a little bag and gave it to them as a send off. The e-mails are coming in with cute pictures of Dylan sleeping on their pillow (none on the kitchen counters yet) and I'm guessing that Dylan's in his forever home.

My sons are getting WAY too attached to Andy & Buster (my other foster cats). I guess I am too. Lordie, they're a cute little pair - Rowdy as hell, but a cute little pair. :) The screens on my windows are starting to shred, and Buster likes to take flying leaps onto my back. He's quite a character!

We moved my older son into his house near the University on Saturday and I asked him to foster a cat for me. He admitted that it would be fun, but he has FOUR roommates and couldn't guarantee that doors wouldn't be left open, etc....he's right, of course. But I had hope of him taking a real problem child foster cat. This cat would be PERFECT in a rowdy house full of guys. Hell, the cat could probably poop all over the place and nobody would see it until they moved out in April. (Mental Note: NEVER rent to 2nd year University Students)

I can feel a good week coming on. Even if it's not a good week, I'm ready to take it on anyway.

Cha-Ching!

I should've checked my horoscope to see if money was coming my way. It's been crazy financially the past few days with the rescue. I came home from my vacation to find that the rescue was a DISASTER financially! (Ok..it's always a disaster, but I was REALLY scared this time) The vet had billed my credit card (mutually agreed upon way of paying the rescue's vet bills) over $5000.00 in one week! Good gravy Moses...my blood ran cold.

Whenever things like this happen I roll up my sleeves and get organized. I started going through the enormous pile of crap on my desk and filed...and filed...and filed. Son-of-a-gun - I found a wad of cash totally $350.00! Where had THIS been all this time?? Even though I was alone, I was pretty embarrassed.

D--and J--have never let me forget that they found a cheque in my garage nestled in an old file folder while we were setting up for a garage sale.

The next little financial miracle was the adoption event on Saturday. We had TWENTY-ONE cats adopted yesterday! (one was a trial adoption, and she's being returned because their resident cat started pee'ing on the bed. A sure sign of a deal breaker and that it's not going to work out) PLUS I was given a cheque for $900.00+ for a garage sale last weekend that I forgot we had!

I looked at our bank account a few moments ago and discovered the last deposit I made had a keying error and it was in my favour for $360.00! Holy crap! IN MY FAVOUR?? Nothing is EVER in my favour. If there's a keying error, it's usually $360.00 zapped out of my account and out of my life forever.

So we're not out of debt - not by a long shot. We're still broke, but the emergency I was having was squelched by some little financial miracles. Turns out I don't have to ask David for money. I don't have to stop rescuing this week. We're still in business by the skin of my teeth. ("Skin of my teeth"? Is that really a saying?)

Maybe the tide is turning...maybe it was just a momentary reprieve. Regardless, I'm grateful for the little financial miracles. Because this is the next cat we're being asked to rescue...

I think we should name her "Cha-Ching" :) This one might pay off Dr. S's student loans before we're through. But how can we resist?

Look at that sad little face...."We're comin'...little....'Cha-Ching'!
UPDATE: "Strawberry" has been rescued! She's safe and sound at our vets! (you didn't REALLY think I was going to call her 'Cha-Ching', did you?)

Everybody Has an "Ozzy" in the House

Anybody who has multiple cats in the house, has an "Ozzy". Ozzy is my own problem child. Like any problem child, I find myself really endeared to this bad boy. Ozzy doesn't know his name is "Ozzy"....he thinks it's "NO-NO!" Seriously. He thinks his name is "No-No".

Ozzy is a polydactyal - he's really a freaky looking guy with all those extra toes. One of his toes grows repeatedly into the pad in his feet, so he needs to have his nails trimmed regularly.

Last night, it took 4 adults to hold 18 lb Ozzy down to trim his nails. This cat is ALL muscle and was like a fish flopping out of the water while we had the nail trimmer out.

We all ended up with battle scars. Scratches, bites, white hair all over the place - it was a war zone.

We managed to trim ONE nail.

Ozzy is great about riding in the car, so I took him to the vets today to have his freaky nails trimmed. Dr. S was such an expert and snipped away. It took him about 15 seconds.

Ozzy is also my "Pee-Pee" boy. I'm happy to say he's on medication for it. But for months, he pee'd in every sink, pee'd on every baseboard, and every plastic bag laying around. The medication is successful, thank God. But giving him a tiny little pill every morning is another matter. The little booger won't even take the pill in a cat treat! How does he know it's there??

I'm convinced that Ozzy greets the new foster cats by saying, "HEEEY, new guy! You can pee anywhere you want and nobody gets mad at you!"

For all of Ozzy's faults, he's my "Family Ambassador". He's the cat that I let meet new foster cats first. He doesn't care of anybody hisses at him, or takes a swipe. He just wants to eat their food and poop in their litterbox. Ozzy is the cat that is my bar for checking out whether a new foster cat likes other cats.

If Ozzy had been living at somebody else's house, I'm sure they would've gotten rid of him by now. I can't imagine Ozzy not being in my life. He was a shelter cat that was going to be euthanized. He was a foster cat that I couldn't part with. He's my little "No-NO".

I write this to give encouragement to anyone that has an "Ozzy". It's cats like Ozzy that make you smile when times are tough and you're feeling low. He's the cat that my sons hug and kiss when they're feeling bad too.

So what if he licks the butter on the Easter dinner table?

I love this guy.

Life Goes On...For Some

I don't know where the time goes. It's already well into August and this is my first blog post of the month. Granted, I've been on holidays for 10 days - maybe I'll cut myself some slack. :)

As usual, everything moved along beautifully while I was gone. I know it's so hard on the volunteers who work full time during the day to return phone calls and e-mails. It's a hard job when you DON'T work full time during the day.

I went to the shelter today and rescued a couple of cats. It was grim in there, I tell ya. It's been a while since I've been out to the shelter. It's been even longer since I left in tears. But today must've been "the day". It was just overwhelming. There were so many of every colour, age and all were looking at me and pleading for help. Their little paws came out from the cages.

For many of them, today was their last day alive. The vet comes tomorrow.

I left in tears today. Halfway to the highway I got pissed. Is there anything that can be done to reach people about spaying and neutering? Or to let people know that these beautiful creatures have feelings? I drove too fast down the road. I kept hoping that the faster I'd drive, the more anguish I could let out. I kept changing the music on the radio with hope to find something that didn't make me feel sad or angry. It didn't work.

As I type this, I wonder when I'm going to stop writing about this. It seems like I write about the same old shit every time I go to the shelter. But look at this sweet little girl....she's going to die tomorrow morning - there was an "X" on her cage. She's wearing a collar with a bell.

Somebody loved her....

Only In The Summer

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person in the world that could be stressed in the middle of a beautiful summer. It's really been a wonderful week - lots of adoptions, no complaints to speak of...so how could I be stressed?

D-- had gone into the shelter a few days ago and shared with me the number of adorable Mom cats that were there with their nursing babies - all marked for euthanasia the next morning. She mentioned one in particular that I couldn't get off my mind. She was wearing a red collar and had 5 beautiful kittens. There's something very upsetting to see an unwanted cat at the shelter wearing a collar. She was somebody's pet. They didn't care for her properly, she got pregnant, now they didn't want her.

Only in the summer does the visual of the shelter really plague my mind. I laid in bed a few nights ago thinking of the little Mom cats tucked into their cages for the night with their new babies suckling and warm. They didn't know there was an X on the front of their cage choosing them for death the next morning. I kept picturing the little Mom cat with the red collar. The shelter was going to kill her and her little family tomorrow and I couldn't stop it from happening.

I couldn't sleep. Midnight...1 a.m....2 a.m...I was still awake and getting angrier and angrier. I think it's wrong we get so angry at the shelter for killing these beautiful creatures. It isn't their fault. We KNOW that. But I want to blame something tangible.

By the time I woke up at 9 a.m., I knew it was all over. They euthanize the animals before the shelter is open to the public. We wouldn't want to upset the public.

Only in the Summer does it get this bad for me. I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow and thinking about that little Mom cat with the red collar. I wonder if they left it on her body. Sorry for the morbid thoughts. But I needed a rant. It's not what I really wanted to say...

...What I really wanted to say was full of profanity to the people that cast out these beautiful felines with the garbage.

Cat Earrings

I had a dream last night that I was at a car dealership and going to buy an expensive car. But they wouldn't sell me the car because I was wearing cat earrings. I think this is a whole new dream low. I opened my jewellery drawer this morning and saw the offending cat earrings and grimaced as I remembered the dream.

So what if I wear cat earrings? So what if I have a cat charm bracelet? So what if I have a bunch of cat statues in the house? Sure, I sound defensive. My adorable husband who NEVER complains about anything (other than garage sales) finally told me, "NO MORE CAT STATUARY!" Hahahaha! Surely he doesn't mean it, because I just went to Home Sense yesterday and bought THE CUTEST yellow cat statue for the guest bedroom. I haven't unwrapped it yet, and it's sitting in the guest room that he never goes into. Tough cookies, buddy - the cat statue is staying.

I really want a personalized licence plate that says "CAT RESQ". I admit that it's a little creepy - me driving down the highway with my cat earrings, cat charm bracelet, and a Home Sense bag full of cat statuary for the garden in a car with a cat related personalized licence plate.

Nobody will have to guess what I'm about.

But I'm also about other things too. I love God, my husband, my children, my friends, Tim Hortons, and shoes...the list goes on ad infinitum.

Yes, I'm a bit defensive about my life. I've had too many people recently call me "TCCL" (The Crazy Cat Lady). I'm not crazy. Sure I get frustrated, angry, sad and lonely.

But when it comes to "The Cause" - I'm in it all the way...cat earrings and all.

To Our Former Adopters...

This is an open "Thank you" to all of our former adopters. Not our future adopters....but to the folks that have adopted from us. (Although we hope our future adopters can learn from the former adopters!) With all the whining I do in this blog, I figured it was time to make a special note to lovely people who give our cats forever homes...

Thank you....

....for showing up on time when you met our cats and calling us when you were going to be late.

....for staying in touch with our foster families after you bring home the cat. We loved "Fluffy" when he was frightened and flea bitten. You can't imagine how an e-mail or phone call telling us that he's happy makes us feel.

....for sending us a photo album of "Fluffy" in every cute possible pose when we only asked for 1 picture. It makes our hearts soar!

....for making us a friend on Facebook.

....for understanding when we cried when you put Fluffy in the carrier. It's hard letting go sometimes.

....for taking Fluffy to the vets when Fluffy got sick the first week he's home with you and not complaining to us. We didn't know he was sick when he was adopted - really and truly.

....for making BIG exclamations on how "completely adorable...perfect...wonderful...so sweet..." Fluffy was when you first saw him. (We thought so too!)

....for telling us about all the toys, cat beds, and windows that are in your house.

....for telling us something really cute that Fluffy did when he first arrived in your home.

....for letting us know if Fluffy has passed away. We want to grieve with you too.

A special note to Shiya's adopter: I know there's not much chance you'll see this...but we can't find your phone number and Shiya's foster Mom desperately wants to know how she is. She still cares....

...and always will. It's what we do.

Another Glamorous Day in Rescue

Ahhhh....the Glamour of Rescue! Today was an administrative day. I spent a glorious 8 hours filing, sending out tax receipts for donations, bookkeeping and updating my e-mail address book. If that wasn't boring enough, the highlight was a trip to Staples to buy some office supplies for the rescue.

I could probably make administrative days much easier on myself, but I really believe in the personal handwritten letter to anyone that sends us money. These days money is too hard to part with, so I really believe it's the right thing to get off my ass and send people a thank you note. Yep..."My Mama done brought me up riiiight."

On a happy note, my foster cat McKinley was adopted last night! He was dropped off by an adopter (I think I wrote about him in my last post) on Canada Day. I was SO HAPPY that he didn't have to stay for very long. He was such a nice boy and he was adopted by the same couple that had adopted my foster cat Magoo!

I'm dealing with URI in the house right now. My foster baby "Carson" had a fever last night and "Eddie" the siamese is sick with it too. My little "Thomas Turner" is now sneezing. I've never had URI run through the whole house, but I'm guessing that's exactly what will happen. I had Carson quarantined for 2 weeks, darnnit. I suppose my next blog post will be something regarding snot. Something to look forward to.

I feel like a mole down in the basement on this beautiful day. But I really have to be mentally prepared for a day of administration and I thought about it all last night. It's the side of rescue that nobody really talks about and nobody wants to know that I do. I wish I were rescuing some cats that needed me instead of doing this.

But alas...with the "House of Snot" going on, maybe being in the basement isn't such a bad place to be.

Kelly and McKinley

Happy Canada Day! My holiday started with the return of one of our cats. McKinley is a very cute older kitten that was adopted 6 weeks ago by a young woman and her boyfriend. I've always been a little prejudiced against young people that live together out of fear that they're just "playing house" by adopting a cat. I always worry about their commitment level.

I received the call from Kelly last week. Her and the boyfriend broke up and the boyfriend doesn't want McKinley and she still has 1 year left at school and has to move home. I avoided calling her back right away because I had hoped she would work things out by reconciling with the boyfriend or her parents would allow McKinely to stay there. It wasn't meant to be. Her calls became more and more frantic.

There were SO MANY things I wanted to say to Kelly. I had rehearsed them last night night. I wanted to tell her "Next time, adopt a fish", or "What were you thinking?" or "Obviously, you weren't ready for this kind of commitment."

I couldn't do it. She showed up at the door and was a lovely young woman. She had his toys and McKinley had received his booster shots and her own vet. She loved him and took care of him. Her eyes brimmed with tears as I took him out of his crate. She couldn't speak. I took McKinley around to some of my cats and said in a cheery voice, "McKinley, this is Wilbur your new friend!" I suddenly wanted to make her feel better. I told her that she could come visit him and she could have him back if she pulled her life together and he was still available. I even said something stupid like she could meet the potential adopters. *sigh*

We all make mistakes. Certainly I was naive at 22 years old. But at 22 years old I was married, had a baby and 4 cats. It was my choice and I wouldn't do anything else. But I couldn't help but console this young woman. She had a year left of University. Her life was in front of her. There would be other cats and other boyfriends.

For now....I need to console McKinley. He's a confused little guy and doesn't understand what happened to him. He's so sweet and gentle. He'll be ok.

Kelly will be OK too. I hope she remembers us after she graduates from University. Maybe she'll become a veterinarian and offer her services for free! One can only hope!

Buddies...

Imagine you and your sister/brother/best friend have been together your whole lives only to have a stranger come along and tear you apart - never to see each other again. I don't think we say enough about "Bonded Pairs".

Potential adopters call me all the time and want a new companion for their cat who has just lost their partner cat to cancer, old age, hit by a car...etc. We know animals grieve. I had two sisters - Newman and Whoopie. Whoopie died and Newman was left in total anguish. I remember three days after Whoopie died Newman sat in the foyer and howled. It was like nothing else I had ever heard. It could only be described as "total and utter grief."

Kim at the shelter is very conscious of bonded pairs. I remember when I first heard her philosophy of "they must be rescued together, or they die together." I thought she was crazy! Isn't it better to save ONE than lose two? I don't feel that way anymore. I agree with her 100%. The bonded pairs at the shelter huddle together - they've lost their home and they only have each other. It's really a pitiful sight.

I decided to write about bonded pairs today, because we have TWO PAIRS adopted in the past 2 days. What a victory this is to see pairs that love each other so much go home together forever. Adult bonded pairs are really hard to adopt. We always tell foster homes that they'll have them for a while.

Sometimes pairs that we THINK are bonded really aren't bonded at all! We had a pair named Tiggy and Tazzy. Tiggy was very outgoing and darling. Tazzy was very shy and hid a lot under the bed. The foster Mom was certain that they weren't bonded at all - even though they had lived their whole lives together. With a heavy heart, we permitted Tiggy to be adopted first. After his sister was adopted, Tazzy was a different cat. He no longer hid, and he was Mr. Social! Who would've ever guessed?

What would we do without our foster homes to tell us this kind of stuff? Another wonderful reason that a foster-based rescue is the best way to adopt a cat...or two...or three...

The Kitten Chaos

People ask me all the time why I don't foster kittens. The truth is...I *used* to foster kittens exclusively when I lived in California. I loved when they would come running to me when I walked into the room. It was an instant ego boost - I was loved!! I could turn off the t.v. and just watch them play - all the posturing and experimental Lion-like behaviour. Who can resist?

I contacted one of our foster Moms last night who is fostering a rambunctious orange kitten. An adopter wanted her as an "only cat". The foster Mom's response was this: "I strongly recommend that B--- go to a home with a playful cat friend, or with someone who will play with her a lot *LOL*. She has a hearty appetite and will try to eat your food as well as hers (Greek salad was a big hit), door-dashes, climbs in the stove, frig, dishwasher, races around behind the washing machine, and climbs under the covers with you. She loves her cuddles."

Yah. The Kitten Chaos. Thank you for the reminder! It's like having a 2 year old child on steroids in the house when you have a kitten. Nothing is safe and everything becomes a toy. Gotta love 'em.

Yesterday afternoon I had a litter of 3 kittens at my house for a few hours before I transported them to their foster home. My 20 year old son came downstairs to get me saying, "Oh. My. God. Mom. You should SEE what the kittens did in the bathroom!"
I sighed. I walked into the bathroom to find the shower curtain on the ground. What I didn't see right away - I could smell. (((Insert Psycho Theme music here))) Somebody had used the litterbox, walked through the poop and tracked it all over the bathroom. Tiny kitten poop footprints were on the floor, the wall, the front of the cabinets. How did they manage to get poop on the wall???

When I walked in, the little poopers were sound asleep in their cat bed...it was hard to believe they had made such a mess in a matter of a few hours. Now they were blissfully dreaming. Their little bodies entwined together made them look like one kitten.

The moment reminded me of when my kids were little. There were some days I couldn't put them to bed fast enough. I was burned out...fed up...and ready for a "Calgon Moment." But before I'd go to bed, I'd check on them and they'd look so precious. It was easy to forget that they had thrown temper tantrums, wet the bed, spilled cheerios all over the floor.

The foster family that took the little darlings yesterday was thrilled with them. They're fluffy lookin' little angels...angels with horns.

Gotta love 'em :)

Family First

I'm back....again. I feel like this has been a month of me apologizing for being gone, or being out of the loop on things. Life gets in the way sometimes.

I've always said, "Family comes first". No doubt about it. But I can't help but feel badly for the volunteers that I left in the lurch last week while I was away. We had a HUGE weekend with a waterfront festival and adoption event. I was supposed to help at both of them. Fortunately, they were able to scramble and things went on without me. But I know that we were really pressed for volunteers.

Looks like we had NINE adoptions while I was gone! Ahhhh.....the volunteers *ROCK*. Two cats went out on a trial adoption and I can only pray that they work out.

While at an adopt-a-thon, one of our prior adopters dumped her two cats there and said that I said it was "OK" to leave them. I didn't. I had been working with this woman who had family issues. She felt like she couldn't deal with two cats that she adopted six weeks ago AND her family issues. In the spirit of "Family First", I didn't mind helping her rehome the cats but she lied like a rug when she said I approved it. The poor cats are so depressed. They're sitting in a Petsmart cage right now not knowing what the hell happened to them. I sent her a rather nasty e-mail for which I make no apologies. I'm a little embarrassed about what I said, but at least I didn't use profanity. *shrug*

I'm going to the shelter tomorrow to rescue a few cats. We don't have room for them, but five of them are older kittens and I can't let them die. They're marked for euthanasia in the morning, and I'm a complete freak for thinking we can squeeze in five more cats in the program.


This is Pretzel. He's only 12 weeks old and he's supposed to die tomorrow. Hard to believe somebody gets PAID to kill him. It's even harder to believe somebody didn't pay the money to have their cat spayed so he wasn't born and unwanted in the first place.
(*stepping off the soapbox*) I figure anyone that reads this blog probably knows this stuff anyway, so I'm preaching to the choir.

Speaking of "Reading the Blog"....I was so surprised to receive such wonderful e-mails in support regarding my daughter. I didn't know that so many people actually read this thing! My daughter is getting better and we had a lovely mother/daughter time together. There's nothing like shopping, manicures and a fancy hotel room to make the most depressed person feel better. Worked for me!

Now if I can only figure out what to do with these cats I'm rescuing tomorrow. Maybe I'll think about it over a pedicure....(ha.ha.)

It Never Rains in California....Unless Your Daughter Lives There...

I'm heading back to California this morning on an emergency with my daughter. There's no time to do my usual "shaking of the finger" - and threaten everybody to feed cats, clean litterboxes and give medications.

Thank God for cell phones! (My son looks a little too happy that I'm leaving....)

I'm Still Alive...

What a crazy week it's been! I kept sitting down to write in my blog about some event or another then would get sidetracked. Can't believe it's been more than a week since my last post. I really missed writing. Where did the time go?

I'm pleased to say that I've finally finished and mailed the Charitable Tax Returns for the rescue. If there was a definition for "Ostrich Syndrome" in the dictionary, there would be a picture of me with my head in the sand and the Revenue Canada forms flung around me. I feel so much better now that it's done. It was late - but it's d-o-n-e.

We had two kittens pass away last week. They were from different litters, but seemed to both be genetic problems. As horrible as it sounds, I wish the kittens would die at birth rather than at 6-8 weeks old. The foster Moms are so attached and they're so damn cute. Poor D-- had to go to work after holding her kitten and watching him die. What a way to start the day.

We had a foster home leave in a snit. I don't know what her problem was, but she dumped her two foster cats at the vets after saying she would adopt them. We're all pretty relieved about it. She was a very difficult foster home and had to move more cats out of her home than she actually adopted out. I wish people knew how much time and effort it took to move one cat.

Over the weekend, we had EIGHT adoptions! I love it when we have weekends like this. My own foster cat, Magoo was adopted. The couple that adopted him were thrilled and I have no doubt he'll be loved forever. One of our new foster Moms had both of her foster cats adopted this weekend too. I hope she feels really good about it. One of the cats was a black kitten....it's such a victory when a black cat is adopted.

My internet connection was down for the past 4 days. It was surreal to watch my sons emerge from their rooms to watch T.V. with us. My younger son said that he had NO idea what was going on at school because he couldn't log onto MSN. You should've seen his face when I suggested that he CALL his friends on the phone. Obviously, I'm not connected to the high school communication scene anymore. I'm really no better - I didn't realize how addicted I was to my e-mail until I didn't have any! Rogers finally came out and did some rewiring. Poof! I have e-mail again!

It was probably a good thing for me to have some down time. I've been SO sick for the past 10 days with God-knows-what. Antibiotics haven't seemed to work, so it must be some nasty virus going around. If this is what our cats go through when they have URI....

It sure feels good to write again. :)

The Tide is Turning

Maybe it's been so long since good news has come through this rescue that when it finally started rolling in I didn't recognize it right away.

Within a 30 minute time period, we had 3 adoption calls: two of them were for black cats - Scooter and Annie. The other for a little butterball, older calico named Razberry.

If that wasn't enough good news, one of our foster homes tells me that $2500.00 is on our way from their employer who donates to charitable organizations based on their volunteer time of their employees!! Whoo hooo! I can pay the vet bill this week! This is a huge load off my mind. There were tears streaming down my face when she told me. I hadn't realized how worried I had been about it.

I'd like to put this bit of good news in a bathtub and bathe in it for a while. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!

So this morning, I'm sitting here sipping my coffee and listening to the pitter-patter of galloping paws upstairs. My house is clean and my laundry is done. It's a rainy day and I'm hopeful that three hard-to-adopt cats will find forever homes this week, and I get to make a $2500.00 deposit.

Even if the adoptions don't go through, it felt so good to know that adopters inquired about them. Foster homes need good news too.

I'm lifting my coffee mug this morning in a toast to "Good News - I love ya, man - welcome to our rescue. Sit down and stay awhile"

Lost and Found

I lost one of my foster cats. I don't know how it happened or where it happened, but he's not in my house. Dakota was rescued with his brother "Max" and they're about 18 months old.

I'm a veteran at answering the front door bent over with my hand flat out so the cats don't get out. I've been doing it for 25 years, and my family is the same way - I can't imagine how he could've gotten out the front door, but I'm guessing he did.

His brother Max is devastated. He's been wandering around my house with the mournful cries, crying out for his brother.

It's horrible. Really, really terrible.

Tomorrow, I'm going to put signs up, and check with Animal Control on Monday. Dakota is a pretty skittish guy so I don't hold out much hope he'll turn up on somebody's doorstep. I've only had him for a few days, so he doesn't know where he lives.

Tomorrow, I was supposed to take Max and Dakota to the Petsmart adoption centre. I can't do it now. I can't leave Max in a Petsmart cage after he's lost his beloved brother. I can't do it. Can't do it.

This incident doesn't go under the category of "shit happens". It's beyond that. I feel like such a fool. I took the dog for a walk tonight with hope I'd spot him. I called out his name, but he doesn't really know me.

I haven't given up hope yet....but I'm close.

Update Sunday 9 a.m. - DAKOTA HAS BEEN FOUND! He was hiding behind my dryer. I must've looked there a million times yesterday, but there he was laying in the lint and lost socks. I have no idea if he could get out or not, but at least he was in the laundry room with food, water and a litterbox. He's hissing at me and his brother seems happy to see him. Thank God.

Stress and the City

I don't think I've ever really talked about stress and cat rescue before. I don't know what it is about stress, but I'm not one of those people that thrive on it.

The phone rang at 6 a.m. (yes, 6 in the MORNING) yesterday morning by a lady that adopted Sawyer, a darling, sweet little guy with a Grade 5 heart murmur. He had simply dropped over and died. No doubt it was a heart attack. She was crying and asked me to come over and pick up the body. That's a service I can't provide - not at 6 a.m.. It hurt to e-mail the former foster family that loved him dearly. The heart murmur was fully disclosed to the adopter, but I had hoped she would love him longer than the 2 weeks she had him. Such sad stuff.

The day continued with me picking up a shoe filled with cat pee and flinging it all down the front of me. How on earth did Bob pee in a shoe? I don't think I could pee in a shoe if I tried. I loved those shoes.

I must've been really focused on the tasks of the day, because I forgot to close my car window fully at the car wash and got a blast in the face with water. I took this as a sign to get myself together. What else could I do but laugh? It felt good to laugh and I could feel the stress ease away.

Over the past 48 hours we've had two prior adopters come forward and want to return 3 cats. One of the cats had been adopted over TWO YEARS AGO! The other gal wanted to return her two cats because they broke a vase and she can't handle the stress. Good Lord, did I really adopt to these people? A broken vase? She needs to spend a day at my house.

I'm not letting these people off the hook. I walk a fine line when I tell people to suck it up and deal with their responsibilities. I don't want the cats to suffer the consequences. But we're REALLY full right now, cats are dying at the shelter and I don't feel very nice about taking adopted cats back.

We have a couple of foster homes that need to move problem cats, and I have two brothers in my den. One of the brothers gave me a scary howl and chased me out of the room. *argh* I hate it when that happens! I'm sure it's a funny site to see....me running out of the room with pooper scooper in hand.

I was at the shelter yesterday and rescued a bunch of cats. It's a grim site over there, lemme tell ya. So many sweet young cats. I ended up taking too many. Somehow it'll all work out, but it sure didn't help the stress levels in my head. The newly empty cages on a Wednesday meant that quite a few died.

I went to bed last night worried about the garage sale. They're calling for rain on Saturday. Looks like we're going to have to cancel. At least my garage isn't full of crap like it was last year. David's happy about that. We gotta get the husband's happy, right?

Although this post sounds like I'm discouraged, I'm really not. Things are OK despite the stress. I'm going to take some extra doses of vitamin B complex and cautiously take some treats into my cranky feline houseguests in my den.

Yep...yep....it'll all work out....