Adult Cat Rescue | Savannah's Paw Tracks

Archive for the category “Adult Cat Rescue”

15 Jan 2016

Give Life to Free Roaming Cats #BtC4A

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

I am joining a movement which is near and dear to my heart. In case you are new to my blog, I am an adult shelter rescue cat…working hard to make a difference for all those similar to me—who do not have the voice I now have thanks to social media.

Are you ready to join me?

Today, I again proudly join the global Blog 4 The Change movement.

I pawticipate

My post this quarter is very important to any and all who want to see the live release rates RISE at their local public animal shelters. Come on, read more, learn, ponder the information and then hopefully, you will JOIN me and Mom L in helping all free roaming community cats live their lives beyond being trapped and left at an animal control shelter to be euthanized.

Interested? Read on.

Now you may be wondering just what is the Return to Field Program? Mom L and I learned about this opportunity to save the lives of Free Roaming Community Cats (FRCC) through one of our rescue pals, Ms Julie, founder of Outcast Cat Help. Now you likely wanna know what is the difference between FRCC versus “Feral Cat”? Right??

Let me help you with that explanation. Basically, they are the same. End of explanation…ok? It is just a new label to address the same challenge.

THE CHALLENGE

FRCC/Feral Cats are frequently trapped by humans who feed them, but do not know what to do about managing the increase in numbers as the FRCC multiply due to lack of being spayed/neutered. Those cats are dropped at public animal shelters across the USA…and then the cats—who have been living a life free from humans, are subjected to anywhere from 72 hours to 5 days on “hold” just in case some human arrives to claim them. The ending is not freedom. It is almost always being euthanized. Healthy, but unadoptable, often young cats who have clearly been fed by someone who cared.

You can see that all these FRCCs are desperate, afraid and also…healthy, and longing to live.

Can I please leave now??

The FRCCs are both young and adult…

ENTER: RETURN TO FIELD PROGRAM

Advantages:

FRCC receive FVRCP & rabies vaccintation; administered by the shelter, at no cost to the transfer partner rescue, for this program. Additionally, each cat receives an examination which includes a Body Condition Scale assessment (BCS) and is treated for fleas. Additional treatable medical issues are also addressed.
The cats may be part of an established colony with a caregiver/feeder. The rationale behind RTF is that if the cat has a good or better BCS (not starving), that cat is getting food from somewhere.
The FRCC must suffer through the hold period at public animal control shelters and all involved know that the end is death. When the public shelter has Transfer Partners in the local rescue community, these cats can be Returned to Field, meaning the area within which they were trapped, taking no longer than the time to recover from S/N surgery.
Once the FRCC are removed from the shelter, there is SPACE for other cats who are not adverse to human contact; and who are adoptable. A Total WIN-WIN!

Concerns:

Who will take care of the cats who are RTF’d? Great question. And, given that someone was kind enough to trap the cat, kittens etc….that means someone will care for the newly S/N cat/kittens and there will be NO MORE born into this community
Kittens who are not open to socialization are returned with siblings and/or their Mom Cats
Adults who are shy, but open to human contact are given the opportunity to live in foster and seek adoption.

Take a look at so many FRCCs being released through OCH’s transfer partnership with my county Animal Services Shelter…615 FREE ROAMING COMMUNITY CATS RETURNED TO FIELD…that is SIX HUNDRED FIFTEEN CATS SAVED!!

Which means MORE space at our county shelter for the adult cats and kittens who are truly adoptable…is there ever a better WIN-WIN???

Please support Return to Field in your local cat rescue community…just say’in…

PAW PATS, SAVANNAH

Additional Information:

Million Cat Challenge: Return to Field

Maddie’s Fund on RTF

Jackson Galaxy on Return to Field

Huffington Post

Managing Community Cats

Transforming Local Government

Posted in Adult Cat Rescue and tagged adopt adult cat, Blog 4 The Change, paw it forward, return to field for cats

09 Nov 2015

24 Comments

Adult Homeless Foster Cats’ Personal Insights

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

Most of my readers know that I have been running a series of posts featuring Adult Homeless Foster Cats. I have interviewed seven of these wonderful, adoptable cats and hope that their revelation of their hopes and dreams of what their forever home looks like has inspired some of you to promote them like crazy. Or, if not the seven I featured, I sincerely hope it has prompted my readers to begin to seriously promote this community of cats that if not placed, become forever in foster…they are in sanctuary but have not real home to call their own.

For myself, I gained incredible insights into these very special Adult Homeless Foster Cats. Their hopes and dreams were just the same as mine when I was living in, thankfully, a no kill shelter. Of course, that was ‘after’ I was schedule for ‘euthanasia’ and before my ‘foster’ pulled me. I was An Adult Homeless Shelter Cat for over a year. Surely, if we all work really hard, we can help the often forgotten Adults, living in foster homes, find their real permanent families.

Let me share what this amazing population of Adult Homeless Foster Cats revealed to me…

1 Adult cats have memories; we have experienced abandonment, rejection, and much more from humans; please be patient with us.

2. When presented at public adoption sites; i.e. pet supply stores, adoption events, etc.…we often become reticent and anxious with all the unfamiliar smells and sounds. Our REAL SELF cannot be revealed. Meet us in a quiet place to learn our true character.

3. We get scared if you don’t give us time to become acquainted with you and the new smells of your home. Adopters often fail to follow the explicit instruction of our foster human; i.e. “keep the cat in one room, visit, play, talk with the cat, etc. for at least a week if no other cats in the home and for 2-4 weeks if it is a home with one or more cats”…

4. Kittens have to be trained to the litter box and miss once in a while and yet this is acceptable to humans. However, we adult adopted cats are returned far more often because we may, in the initial orientation period, have a little accident or two. We don’t mean to, but we are nervous and need your support.

5. Adopters assume that we are no longer playful, especially if we are seniors, aged 8 and above. And yet, we adult cats in the senior age group often have never been played with and crave being able to exercise our hunting and playful energies.

6. We adult cats have a personality. In time, with encouragement, we will carefully give our forever family glimpses into our REAL SELF. Adopters of Adult Homeless Foster Cats often remark at the pleasure of having ‘won’ our affection and trust.

7. Humans fail to realize the incredible pleasure that they can realize when they allow us to demonstrate our preferences to enable a loving, mutually caring and affectionate relationship to evolve.

I found a quote that I believe appropriately sums up what I have learned from the Adult Homeless Foster Cats I interviewed. Let me know what you think in comments please.

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. People have forgotten this truth,” the fox said. “But you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed…” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

And that is what Adult Homeless Foster Cats want their forever homes to understand about them. They have so much to give, with time and patience and caring, you will become forever theirs.

PAW PATS, SAVANNAH

If you care to catch up on this series…click here, here, here, here, here, here, here

Posted in Adult Cat Rescue and tagged adopt adult cat, adult homeless foster cats, paw it forward

02 Nov 2015

14 Comments

Late: Local National Feral Cat Day

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

I am very late to be posting this celebration of National Feral Cat Day; but believe everyday ought to be “Feral Cat Day”. I want to celebrate and share a local feral rescue and one of their many feral cat colonies. Mom L and Dad P and a friend attended an event on October 17th.

Homeless Animal Response Program (HARP) serves both woofies and kitties who have lost, or never had, a home. They support approximately 10 colonies of feral cats in my county and I want to introduce you to the River Town Cats of Antioch, CA.

We are ON camera!

Mom L did not notice any cats at first…just this one black kitty who was very shy with a photographer…

Nope! Not going to ‘pose’ for this photo shoot

So my human parents and their guest bought some lovely, yummy baked goods and then strolled around a bit. One person pointed them to a location of one of the feral colonies; so they strolled over to look around. These are mostly adult cats, living in two very old and crumbling structures along the front of the Sacramento Delta.

First they saw a brown tabby…so scared that Mom L barely had time to grab this photo…

Who are you? Can I trust you

And then Mom L and her friend Miss Nancy began to discover more and more cats…all adults…(hover over each photo to view the sincere comments)

I know you cannot see me

This is the only home we know

This house is MINE

It is lonely here

Finally, Mom L found one last kitty, who seemed to be standing guard over the entrance to the last dilapidated structure and this cat gave Mom L pause for reflection…we are sorry that the photo is blurred…but Mom L only had her iPhone with her and grabbed this photo through a chain link fence around that dilapidated property.

This is the only home I will ever know

I am joyful that my life did not turn out as this adult cat’s did. Please, please…defend, support and care for those ferals who are living in your communities. They never were given a choice to live in such conditions.

I am so very thankful for the HARP rescue humans who make sure these feral cats receive care and kindness including being spayed and neutered; given vet checks; appropriate vaccines and daily meals.