Project Delta View Cats | Savannah's Paw Tracks

Archive for the category “Project Delta View Cats”

13 Sep 2021

So about my current castle guests—

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

So I had a bunch of my readers askin’ about my newest “castle guests” ~~“introoders”~~. So yeah, it’s been a rough couple of years for me to maintain order and ~~submission~~ tolerance in my castle. Our county animal services stopped without tell’in any community cat that they aren’t gonna help the friendly adults and the healthy kittens get adopted. Period! Sigh—they told our Delta View Cats that from now on managing our county’s overpopulation of abandoned community cats is up to us little guys, the nonprofits and our cities, to take care of this county wide debacle!! AIIIEEEE!!!

So here we are, in my castle, not expect’in to be doing much in the “foster cat” arena and we are smack dab in the middle of it!! So my castle has become a kind’a revolving cat flap of fosters.

The newest threesome: Eowyn, the calico and about six months old; Arwen, the “torbie” and a cerebral hypoplasia kitten (CH); and her brother Frodo. All named after characters in The Lord of The Rings Trilogy. Mom L’s fave books for decades!!

All three kitties were abandoned at the city waterfront park where Delta View Cats manages a 12-15 member cat colony. Two weeks ago, about dusk time, one of our colony feeders called Mom L to let her know there was an older kitty (Eowyn) and three littles that had clearly just been dumped at this waterfront park. Mom L dashed over and she picked up the one very ill kitten that the feeder could easily capture—he named him “Dancer”. A little Siamese, barely six to eight weeks old, who could do nothing but spin in circles. The feeder fostered the baby over night and Mom L took him to our only treatment option, our county animal services. Their medical staff determined that sweet Dancer was so neurologically damaged that he could not be treated nor adopted. Dance was humanely euthanized. He had very severe cerebral hypoplasia (CH)

Dad P and four other Delta View Cats volunteers went to the park the next night, and after two hours, they were able to capture all three of the remaining young kitties. Of course, Dad P and Mom L brought them to ~~MY CASTLE~~ our home for comfort and help in socializing them for adoption.

Eowyn, the six month old calico, we thought might be their mom cat, showed us immediately that she was the most friendly six month old kitten ever!! You can see that our feeder was able to pet her immediately. And that is her lounging in a cage as soon as we brought her home to foster.

Eowyn is such a snuggle bug, crazy pants high energy playful young lady. She went through her first “heat” with us the day she arrived. YIKES!! The noise!! But Mom L and Dad P comforted her for six days and then she was through that. And now she is spayed!!

And yes, she is reclining on Mom L’s shelf ABOVE her monitor!! She is a climber!1

And Frodo and Arwen are indeed bonded siblings. Frodo only has a teeny bit of CH while Arwen’s is visibly noticeable. Nonetheless, Arwen give as good as she gets during play sessions !!

And cutie pie Frodo is a wonderful big brother to his CH sister Arwen. Frodo snuggles with her and he always protects her—except when he has his favorite mousie wand toy to protect!!

And the three are so joyful when they are together. Eowyn cleans them when she can hold them still!! And she teaches them how to hide our in “TAG! You’re it!”

The littles are so bonded and snuggle when they sleep. They all bring joy to our hearts!

So what have you guys been up to??? MOL!!!

PAW PATS, SAVANNAH

03 May 2021

20 Comments

When cats are too smart for their own good

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

I know all of my readers know what TNR is; but let me just say a couple of things about “targeted” Trap, Neuter, Return which is what my our nonprofit, Project Delta View Cats, does.

We go door to door within intact neighborhoods to learn who is feeding abandoned community cats and whether or not they need no cost spay, neuter or perhaps medical treatment for the cats they feed. By targeting complete neighborhoods, or complete colonies in one location like our Riverview park cat colony, we are able to trap out the entire population to eliminate any possibility of further breeding. Abandoned community cats, left intact, are subject to a wide array of illnesses from fighting and mating. Once we can reduce the desire to roam and mate, we reduce not only unwanted kittens being born but we also increase the adult cats’ long term health.

I say all that ‘cuz now you will understand why Mom L and other volunteers have been trying for about three months to trap an intact male cat that comes for his meal once a day at one of our park feeding stations. The park feeders named him Freddie the Freeloader! MOL!!

Turns out that Freddie is what we call a “trap savvy” kind’a kitty. He hears a teensy tiny “clink” of metal and he is gone! This mancat has been trapped before. Now, the all our park cat colony is already spayed and neutered so we are not much concerned about him starting any “families” or fights in our park colony. BUT—cats roam and who knows where Freddie goes let alone how much we will improve his own health and well being if we can just trap him and get him “snipped”!

Standard trapping practice is to cover the baited trap with a towel to create the appearance of a safe dark space for the cat.

First time Mom L tried to trap Freddie, she did her usual “special bait” of salmon and stinky sardines. Freddie didn’t even bother to show up!!!

Next time Mom L used “camo” cover from a kids birthday party decorations. She baited it this time with ONLY stinky sardines. Of course, Mom L also sprinkled food grade diatomaceous earth under the area where the bait was to keep the stuppy ants away.

All set! Now where is the cat???

Mom L didn’t have long to wait. She sat in her car reading her latest book on her Kindle and after about thirty minutes, all of a sudden, there was Freddie!! Up above the feeding station where the trap was waiting for him.

Mom L was now on the alert! Watching Freddie’s every move. She was holding her breath when he slowly stepped carefully, on paw forward at a time, down the slight embankment toward that delightful smelling stinky trap!

Freddie was sniffing that tantalizing stinky goodness of those slimy, squishy canned sardines. It was almost more than he could stand.

Squeee! His head is under the trap door!!! GO FREDDIE!!!

And then, he ran up that hill like he knew the world was gonna end instantly!! MOUSES!!!

In a minute later, Mom L heard a “meew” under her car and a very skinny little girl kitty emerged, talking back to Mom L like they were gonna be best pals.

Next thing Mom L knew that kitty dashed, starving, into the trap!!! So Mom L and Freddie still have a few more “trap” dates to make sure he gets his “snip” appointment, but check out this totally darling, friendly ladycat that is now under our care.

Meet Chiquitita!! (Yes! After the ABBA song!

We are not certain, but Chiquitita may be a bilingual kitty. She appears to respond to Mom L’s “not so good” Spanish!

So, what have you been doing lately that just makes your day??!!

PAW PATS, SAVANNAH

Posted in Adult Animal Rescue Stories, Adult Cat Rescue, Community Cats, Project Delta View Cats and tagged adopt adult cat, cat photo, Project Delta View Cats

31 Mar 2021

12 Comments

We can’t bring them all inside

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

I am hoping I can get a bloggy posted with this lousy new editor! I have a really good story to share and I hope Mr Gutenberg editor lets me do it. Here goes—

Mom L and Dad P, through our nonprofit Delta View Cats, helped a feeder who has about 15 cats to feed everyday. We helped get all of them spayed and neutered in 2018. Miss Elaine let us know that she had 3 new cats, a male tuxedo and a mom cat with her daughter—both calicoes. Dad P worked with one of our Delta View Cats’ volunteers to attempt trapping ALL THREE at the same time! Hah! I said!

But then there was Dad P with three trapped cats in our garage and he was setting up a place to hold them overnight before their surgeries!! Yay for Dad P and our trapper volunteer Miss Sue!

Dad P transported them to the cat clinic for their surgeries next morning. Mom cat, named Peaches is on the right with a trap bump on her white nose, and year old daughter is on the left with the brown nose.

When he went to collect them same day, the clinic staff asked if they could keep the handsome and apparently friendly tuxedo male to place him in a foster home and get him onto an adoption path! Great news! And he is now on his way to being adopted! The clinic suggested we try to foster the two calico girls as they also seemed like they might be able to get socialized. Mom L and Dad P agreed to work with them.

First Mom L and Dad P set up two cages, one 36 inch and one 42 inch and placed Peaches in the larger cage as she was apparently more friendly and baby Sunshine went in the 36 inch cage. They were so very afraid.

They really wanted to be together. We did not learn until later how very bonded Mom and daughter are.

Dad P wrapped a towel around his hand to reach into the cages and try to lightly stroke each cat. Mom L did the same several times a day, always both of them talking very quietly and soothingly.

The feeder who has known them the longest was eager to be with them again and quickly agreed to come for a visit. Look how much more at ease BOTH are with Miss Elaine!

After several days of being separated, but always pressed against each other through the cage wire, Mom L and Dad P decided to put them together in a large cage. And they immediately snuggled together. Unfortunately, instead of the daughter, Sunshine, becoming more social like her Mom, it was Peaches, the mom, who dropped back to acting more feral! So very disappointing. We invited Miss Elaine to visit with them again and they were better with her, but still not enough to encourage us to stress them more by trying to help them become social enough to get adopted.

After another several days, the decision was made to return Peaches and Sunshine to the care of their feeder, Miss Elaine. She will continue to work with both of them and who knows—one day they may decide they trust humans enough to come inside a home. But for now, they are safe on an eight acre site where Miss Elaine feeds them and nine plus other cats. There is amply shelter from heat and rain and cold for them and there is no auto traffic.

Enjoy watching their release day and their dance together the following day as they lead Miss Elaine to their food dishes.

We learned not every abandoned community cat that likes pets from its feeder is ready to come inside and live with humans. Peaches and Sunshine taught us a lot.