Savannah's Paw Tracks

Kittens treated like trash

HIYA!!   SAVANNAH HERE!!!

Mom L wrote this blog post six years ago. If you do not click on this link to read this moving post about how insane America is relative to being a “throw away society”, then you will miss the entire point of my blog post today. As for me, another “thrown away” adult cat, I believe that post is one of Mom L’s best posts. Now, all of mine are brilliant, but—Mom L and Dad P saved me from remaining as a “thrown away” cat.

Now let’s talk kitten trash. Yes, I said “kitten trash”. I live in the San Francisco bay area, in Contra Costa County. Our “kitten season” is now ten months, not six months, long. That my pals is called “climate change”. We virtually are losing any “winter” respite we once had in the breeding time for abandoned adult community cats.

Given that our county animal services has chosen to fall back on something called “community sheltering” for all abandoned adult, friendly or not, community cats and all kittens born in “the wild” to those same parents, none of our county’s small nonprofits, like mine—Delta View Cats—has any resource to help us save the lives of this year’s “thrown away like trash kittens” during our over extended “kitten season”.

I have examples of kittens and juvenile kitties (six months to twelve months) that we have found dumped at  city parks, along our delta waterfront and even in a boat at our marina.

August, 2021: Mom cat (seven months old) and four kittens dumped at a city park. Two kittens euthanized. Mom cat and remaining two kittens fostered by Delta View Cats and waited six to seven months to find their permanent homes.

While in foster care—

Six week old kitten, clearly from someone who loved her, but could not find resources to help her keep this kitten safe. Sadly, her guardian chose to dump her in a carrier, in the rain, with food and a note at a city park. If only this human knew there are still resources in our small city to help her keep her kitten. Shiloh was surrendered to county animal services as an “abandoned kitten” with no ability to TNR her.

Nine kittens, left with a note, in a plastic container at the entrance to the city park where Delta View Cats (DVC) feeds a colony of twelve adult cats.

Two kittens, about four months old, found again at this same delta waterfront city park by our DVC colony caretakers. Very sick, thin and terrified. They were passed as a Good Samaritan drop off at a sanctioned local emergency animal clinic and then transferred to our Contra Cost County animal services. Thankfully, both have recovered and been adopted.

Within about seven days, DVC received another call about five more kittens dumped at this same park.

These kittens were only about ten weeks old, again very ill with upper respiratory infections. Again, Contra Costa County Animal Services had to accept them because 1)  they are ill/injured and 2) there is no possibility of TNR ( trap, neuter, return) because DVC has no idea “where” to release them as they were dumped, like trash at this park.

DVC received a plea to help a very pregnant mom cat—only about eight months old herself. We quickly got a local vet to take her in immediately to end her pregnancy and spay her. We named her Tiffany and she has been adopted. Tiffany was dumped by the trash dumpster at a nearby apartment complex. Guess they could not fit her into their car when they left. She was just a little bit more trash they left in the parking lot.

Yes, I know you are tired of reading this very long post. But I do still have two more examples of kittens being tossed aside as non-recyclable trash.

Mom L and her pal Miss Carol Ann found yet again THREE MORE dumped kittens at the same city park where DVC manages an adult cat colony. These sweeties were about six months old. Starving and scared but incredibly filled with trust and need to be with humans. Why were they dumped? *tapping paw on the table for a moment*—Oh right!! Because our Contra Costa County Animal Services does not provide more than sixteen spay/neuter appointments for a county with about 300,000 abandoned community cats/kittens!! Pl ease meet Cruiser, Spats and Bandit!! Now waiting for adoption and our county animal services. ONLY because they were abandoned at a city park. Had they been in someone’s backyard, animal services would have said “shelter them in place” then TNR them. Leave them to a life outside.

Lastly, found just days ago. Two abandoned kittens found in a boat at our city marina. DVC was able to collect two of these kittens. We have not been able to find the mom and third.

Left like trash by our city employees. They found this little family in the morning but did not bother to contact DVC until the end of their work shift. Too late to be able to trap mom cat and the last little tuxedo kitten Mom L saw. These two were again taken to county animal services where they are “mandated” to intake only sick, injured and abandoned kittens. Had these kittens been located in someone’s backyard, they would have been doomed to living a life outside where they would likely starve over time.

So I say “Welcome to America”!! Do you know that our state of California and our county of Contra Costa have zero ordinances that “mandate” our taxpayer paid for animal services must intake abandoned adult friendly community cats/kittens? Yup!! When will we all wake up to the fact that our abandoned community kittens deserve humane care? Why do we, and I ask this of my California Contra Costa County, believe that it is just fine to treat these abandoned, lost soul kittens like trash that has NO redeemable value?? What??? Ya can’t recycle tiny little kittens??

So how’s it going with public funds dedicated to providing humane care and management to abandoned community kittens in your part of the good ole USA?

PAW PATS, SAVANNAH