Community Cats | Savannah's Paw Tracks

Archive for the category “Community Cats”

23 Apr 2018

Returned—”What did I do wrong?”

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

Oh My Cat! Do I have a ~~tail~~ tale for you that you are gonna just luvluvluv—no ending just yet—but progress!!

I haven’t given you all the whole story about my latest Paw It Forward Project. You have had some glimpses but I didn’t wanna say too much until I was sure Mom L had some stories to share that will lift your hearts.

You know that I have been directing Mom L in her work with the community cat colony that is close our home, right? I have shared some other stories from this very same colony, like Strider’s tale, but there are so many ~~tails~~ tales to share from our ongoing “Move the Friendlies Home” work with this colony.

Right now I wanna make sure you hear about sweet Koko. When Mom L first started working with the feeders of this community cat colony so close to us that Mom L can walk there—I never knew there would so many “friendly cats” we were gonna be able to help.

Right now, I wanna share about one of the three first cats Mom L and Dad P caught up in their rescue net way back in January of 2018. Koko was a really new member to the colony, he had only been showing up for about three weeks. But Mom L saw that “he” needed a little snip-snip if he was gonna hang out. So Dad P scooped him up in their first capture of friendly cats in hopes of getting him not only neutered, but also to have his badly infected eye treated.

Well, Koko, who always did figure eights around the feeders’ legs when he was being fed, turned out to need his right eye enucleated. It could not be saved. So Koko recovered from that surgery, but he was extremely shy after.

Nonetheless, as a resident of the Contra Costa Animal Services shelter, he was soon made available to adoption and indeed he was quickly adopted.

But, sadly, Koko was returned after two months with his adopter. He was shy and they were working twelve hours a day and had no time to spend with him at night. NOT THEIR FAULT! Simply a case of the adopters not having the experience with a kitty who has just lost an eye on top of being dumped only weeks prior to that surgery by his former caretakers. Koko was a throw away, damaged kitty who the adopter thought they could manage. Not so.

Long story short—Koko was thankfully returned to animal services just last week.

But Koko thought maybe there was something wrong with him. Thankfully, Miss Sue, who volunteers at animal services, found a place where Koko can recover and find his forever family. Pet Food Express is a fabulous pet product retailer who always gives back to the bay area community. Their store in a larger city in the East Bay had space for Koko and Mom L and Dad P took him there yesterday, Saturday, April 21, 2018. He is the only resident in this facility but will soon have others joining him I am pretty sure!

Mom L visited Koko today, Sunday, and check out what she could do with him after only twenty minutes of her singin’ her stoopy made up songs!

Ahhh…now that is nice!

And then Koko really “cut loose” for him!! He purred and let Mom L touch his TUMMY!!

Koko even relaxed enough to stretch out.

I apologize for Mom L’s lousy photo skills, but she was lying on her side reaching into a small cubie where Koko was hiding out.

Here are some photos of Koko’s current digs. He is gonna be the hit of the cat adoption parade!!

Please SHARE this post about Koko. He can really use some peeps supporting him getting a great new family. He is starting to feel better about himself, but right now, he still thinks he has done something wrong. Please helps him learn that NO CAT does anything wrong when humans abandon, mistreat and dismiss them.

PAW PATS, SAVANNAH

Posted in Adult Cat Rescue, Community Cats, paw it forward and tagged adopt adult cat, paw it forward, real rescue stories

02 Apr 2018

21 Comments

Time to Come Inside

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

Most of you know that Mom L has been working lots with the feeders of a community cat colony near our home as they try to pull adult friendly cats out and put them through adoptions at our county animal services.

What you may not know is that Mom L has also been pulling cats from this colony who appear to be in need of medical attention or who appear to seniors who need a general vet check up. If you read my story about sweet Strider, then you now that Mom L has been focused on the senior cats in this colony. She and Dad P were able to get the other two more senior cats pulled to take them to the cat clinic owned and operated by my great friends Community Concern 4 Cats. One cat was Pumpkin2 who turned out to be in excellent health at the age of approximately eight to nine years old. The other one Mom L knew would be older as he has been at the colony since at least 2006. That is a cat the city park clean up crew have named Willy. He follows them around while they work in the park and has little meow chats with them along the way.

You can see Willy gobbling up food at a feeding station in the next photo.

Willy has always been so skinny and so hungry. He is a long, tall lanky guy with totally black furrs and gorgeous long white whiskers. He is a popular cat with the humans who visit this long standing community cat colony.

Unfortunately Willy’s vet check required blood work which Mom L knew was needed due to his constant hunger and skinny body. Willy turned out to be hyperthyroid, with a heart rate that exceeded 200. His little heart was pounding out of his chest and that wasn’t just because he was scared. He had to be sedated to do this vet check and even then his heart rate was a worry. Mom L’s vet friend Doc Josie did the vet check and blood draw and told Mom L what Willy needed. He would need to have one pill per day—try doing that in a community cat colony when even the feeders cannot always be there every day. So Mom L worried—NOW WHAT??

The colony caretakers agreed that Willy would need to be euthanized. Mom L and Dad P had him all comfy in a nice enclosure in our well insulated garage and they just couldn’t think of doing that just yet. Long story short, it took a village of feline rescues to come together to help precious Willy find a caring hospice care home. Mom L found so many who were so caring that they helped her find a caretaker from another cat rescue who agreed to take Willy under her care until end of his life. Oh, did I tell you that Willy is about 14 years old??? And he has lived in this community cat colony since he was about a year old!! So most of his 14 years were spent in his colony and outdoors.

It was time for Willy to come inside!!

I think I feel better, but don’t get too close, OK?

Miss Sharon, on the Board of Directors for HALO animal rescue, agreed to be Willy’s hospice caretaker. And then another wonderful rescue Contra Costa SPCA agreed to sponsor Willy’s medical meds and needs to the end of his life!!! HIGH FIVES and HIGH FOURS for Willy!!!

Unfortunately as Willy was already weakened by his long term untreated hyperthyroidism, and due to being stressed in “captivity”, he came down with a URI. He is on meds for that now and we hope he will have a complete recovery.

Mom L visited Willy just a day ago. He has his very own ROOM!! Yes!! A whole room just for himself!! As soon as Mom L entered Will greeted her with a signature hhhsssssssssss!!

I know you are in my room! Do not come near!

You can see Willy was kind’a serious. And you can also see that Willy has just one eye. His left eye was removed due to serious infection about ten years ago. And yet, every time Mom L and Dad P visit the Delta View Cat Colony, Willy was always there to greet them and looking for pets, food and a good chat…errr…ummm…good meow?

Mom L laughed at Willy’s hiss and said “Come on Willy, I know you have a better hiss in there for me!” And indeedy do he did!

ssppffftt hssssss!

And there you have Willy’s last words with Mom L!

So here is my message to all my readers. Please, do not ever give up on caring for members of a community cat colony no matter their age. Even if they will never be a lap cat, they deserve to be pulled from that colony in their senior years and welcomed inside a human’s home to live out their remaining days, weeks, months, even years in comfort and learning that humans can be kind.

Willy has allowed his caretaker to sit with him, sing to him and finally Miss Sharon was able to pet him and he purred up a storm!!

Let me know in comments how you have helped a community cat colony senior cat find comfort.

PAW PATS, SAVANNAH

Posted in Community Cats and tagged Community Cats

12 Mar 2018

23 Comments

Mr. Hissy On the Loose

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

Mom L, Dad P were at the animal services shelter to pick up a black feral cat we trapped in our own back patio.

When can I leave? A not happy Mr. Hissy in trap

He was neutered, vaccinated, flea treated and ready to be returned. We figured due to his chunky body he was being fed somewhere close by my castle.

Dad P, Mom L and Miss Sue, animal services’ Cat Specialist, went to the feral ward to pick up Mr. Hissy. The ward looks kind of like the one in this photo, and they have cages on all four walls. The room is about fifteen feet by eighteen feet (4.57 meters by 5.4 meters).

But all three were asked to leave the feral ward when Mr. Hissy became adamant about not wanting to leave his cage. The animal services Peep#1 and Peep#2 were trying to pry him from behind his feral den box and he was having no part of it. They were gonna have to open that cage so that’s why they vacated the room. Just imagine Mr. Hissy jamming his whole body behind his den box with his cage set up like the one in the photo below. He should’a been “in” the den box like this orange kitty, but nooooo—Mr. Hissy was BEHIND his den box!

Then all heck broke loose in that room!!!

Thud! Rrrrrrrrooowwwl…mrooowwwlll!!

Mom L hears Peep#1 in the feral ward hollering to her co-worker Peep #2—”Oh no! get the big gloves!”

Screech…bam!

“Holy smokes”, says Mom L. “That sounds like Mr. Hissy hit the door at the TOP!!”

Peep #2 shouts “Watch out! He’s climbing the walls!!

Scuffle, scratch…whoosh!

“He’s under there! Use the net handle to push him out! says Peep #1 in an urgent but calm voice.

Meowwww…huff, puff…meowwwwwwwww—”Mouses these Peeps are slow!!” thinks Mr. Hissy.

Clang! Ping! Clangity clang!

“There go the food dishes!” whispers Dad P.

Sploosh!

Peep #2 warns “Look out the water is everywhere!”

Mr. Hissy is just getting started in his run for freedom—”Sheesh…Peeps are gonna have to get smarter if they wanna get me back in that stoopid den box. It’s a tight fit for me.”

Feral Den Box

Kathunk!! “Ouch!! I Missed him! And that cement floor is hard! ” Peep #1 exclaims.

Screeeeeeeeech….yeowwzah…grrrr—”Maybe my growl will throw them off” Mr. Hissy mutters to himself.

Zoom…kazonk—”heh…heh…using the wall to launch from gave me a lot of speed!!” Mr. Hissy smirks proudly to himself.

Peep #1 urgently asks Peep #2 “Toss me the towel!”

“The towel??! Are you crazy???!!! Did you hear that growl!!”

“Just give me the towel now!”

Zip! “Mouses again!!” shrieks Mr. Hissy. “How did I end up in this corner??!! Noooooooooo!!!”

Peep#1 exuberantly states “Got him!! He’s a burrito cat now.”

Peep #1 used the old “toss a towel over his head” trick!!

“Double mouses!! That thing works every time!! It’s dark in here…hmmmmm…not bad after all…nice and dark and finally quiet. Maybe I’ll just let them think they won the day” giggles Mr. Hissy.

“Ok, quick open the den box. Good grief he sure has a big butt!” mutters Peep #2.

“Hey Peep! Watch who you are calling “big butt”! I am nicely padded, that’s all” says an indignant Mr. Hissy.

Peep #1 emerges from the feral ward room, and proudly shows Mr. Hissy firmly caught in his feral den box. “Ok, Mom L, here is your Mr. Hissy to release back where he was trapped.” (Peep#1 and #2 were both wiping sweaty brows and upper lips).

“Mr. Hissy ought to nap all the way to his home.”

Mom L thanked the Peep#1 and #2 and hoped their day would get better after the Mr. Hissy adventure.

Mom L over hears Peep#1, considered by fellow workers to be Queen of the Feral Cat Ward, say—”I live for this excitement!”

As you can imagine, Mr. Hissy was not happy once he got home. He had made himself comfy and was taking a much needed nap when Dad P tried to get him to leave his feral den box! Mr. Hissy lived up to his name and uttered several meaningful growls.

Let me know what ya think of Mr. Hissy’s Adventure in comments!! Purrsonally, I am giving Mr. Hissy 10 points but I have to give the Queen of the Feral Ward 12 points!!!