paw it forward | Savannah's Paw Tracks

Archive for the tag “paw it forward”

09 Aug 2021

It Takes A Village…

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

That old human adage—”it takes a village” is true for what it takes to rescue an abandoned community cat in danger. Mom L and Dad P are co-founders of a nonprofit TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) all volunteer group, Delta View Cats (DVC) dedicated to helping these cats in our city of Pittsburg, CA.

Of course, this is one of my most ambitious Paw It Forward project ever!!They are carrying it out under my paw tracks guidance. This story was first written by one of our DVC volunteers who pawticipated in this rescue story. Mr. Chris and Mr. Mauro were present the night Stormy was finally saved and Mr. Chris wrote this about it.

“Shivering, hungry, and covered in fallen leaves

On Saturday, July 31, during their routine, daily, community cat colony feeding at Riverview Park, a couple of volunteers with Delta View Cats (deltaviewcats.com), a nonprofit trap-neuter-release organization in Pittsburg, heard a loud yowl and went to investigate. They found an adult, black kitty in one of the park’s storm drains.

We suspect Stormy was abandoned in the park, an all-too-common practice. We found a cat carrier in bad shape near the storm drain.

It would make sense that this frightened feline, an apparent domestic cat, dumped through no fault of his own, would retreat anywhere to safety from park traffic.

(this video is not professional but if you turn up the volume you can hear Stormy’s cries of fear and his hope for help)

Volunteers to the rescue

On Sunday, after several unsuccessful attempts to coax Stormy out of the drain, one of our tireless Delta View Cats volunteers reached down into the drain with heavy-duty gloves. Ray began petting stormy and offering him smelly tuna. After several tense moments, with a confident scruffing, Ray lifted Stormy into a cat carrier held by another volunteer. Collective sigh of relief!

Chalk it up to timing & good fortune. The quiet of the near-midnight hour. 4 people putting their heads and hearts together. And a little black kitty magic.

He rested on our balcony covered with a blanket, heated by a safe space heater and he had a midnight snack of water and a little bit of tuna. He appeared to not be feral; he gave slow blinks and didn’t hiss or strike when I went to put water in the carrier. His eyes are so soulful.”

After the rescue, our DVC volunteer Mr. Ray, had a storage building already set up to house community cats on their way to being adopted. It is managed by another cat rescue, Kitty911. Stormy waited for a neuter appointment and we knew his adoption would be overseen by our partner, Community Concern for Cats.

Delta View Cats is making neuter surgery plans now and fortunately, another DVC volunteer who feeds the colony we manage at this park, Miss Shashi, fell in love with Stormy and his rescue.

Short story short! Stormy is now with Shashi as a “foster to adopt”.

We are fortunate that our city of Pittsburg has provided us with funds for spay/neuter for cats we find along the waterfront area. Once Stormy is all done with his medical needs, then Shashi and her family can adopt him forever!!

Again a short, not great, video of Stormy accepting the love from his foster to adopt human!

I will keep you updated on Stormy’s journey.

PAW PATS, SAVANNAH

Posted in Adult Cat Rescue and tagged cat photo, CC4C, Community Cats, paw it forward, real rescue stories

12 Jul 2021

16 Comments

UPDATE: An afternoon at the Kitchen Kitten Clinic

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

I know most of my readers are very familiar with KITTEN SEASON! And you also know that Mom L, at my direction, has been volunteering with our partner nonprofit organization, Community Concern For Cats (CC4C) for over eight years at their almost weekly KITCHEN CLINIC.

This clinic takes place in the kitchen of the lady who manages CC4C. The attending veterinarian is my buddy Doc Josie. Mom L does the recording for medical records and Miss Gemma does all of the “holding” of the patients for Doc Josie.

This clinic is basically set up to prepare kittens for adoption. All kittens are from abandoned mom cats living outside as community cats. They receive the following when they come in for “The Works“!

FeLV test for feline leukemia
First FVRCP vaccination ( feline distemper)
First of a series of three, every two weeks, of Pyrantel for deworming
First of once a month treatment of Revolution for fleas
A general Vet check-up

Mind you, some kittens are resistant to these inflictions upon their bodies!! MOL!! Especially the part when they must be held still!

At this weekly clinic, Doc Josie also sees some only “medical cases” which can be adults or even kittens that are not thriving.

The handsome male brown tabby above had the biggest paws and so dark and handsome!

We see so many kittens, itty bitty ones, with eye infections. Sigh—the perils of being born wild in the out of doors. But with the wonderful fosters from CC4C and this Kitchen Clinic and Doc Josie, these littles are cured and thrive and find loving forever homes.

The above trio of kittens came to the clinic so thin, severe diarrhea and simply not putting on weight. Normally, kittens who are thriving gain one quarter pound per week. Miss Gemma told their foster that she would take them under her wing for care. Miss Gemma can snatch almost any kitten from the paws of death—and that’s no kidding!!!

Doc Josie and Miss Gemma brought out some yummy Nulo turkey and chicken wet food, good for kittens and adults. And the kittens chowed down! Mom L saw these kittens last week and they are doing GREAT!!!!

This Kitchen Clinic is Mom L’s most favorite thing to do ever!! She has learned so much and done things to help her bestie Doc Josie do surgical repairs to kitten’s butts and oh so many more things—not bad for a retirement project, right??

So what do ya think about our Paw It Forward work??

PAW PATS, SAVANNAH

Posted in Community Cats, Feral Kitten Rescue, foster kitties, paw it forward and tagged CC4C, Community Cats, paw it forward

24 May 2021

17 Comments

Part One: Gigi’s Journey—A rags to riches tail

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

I promised you last week that I would have the back story on Gigi, from our angel pal Spitty’s home. You see, I asked to have Gigi brought here, to my castle, after Mom L and Dad P saw that she was injured. Gigi has lived most of her seven years as an abandoned cat, left by a human to fend for herself outside. Fortunately she found her way to a city parks’ maintenance facility where kind employees have fed her. Her home has been a storage trailer for years. We often found her on the roof watching us. We suspect she lived under it.

Here is Gigi, and her home, back in 2018, when we first met her as we trapped out her little colony of six cats.

In December of 2020, we learned that no one was feeding this colony on weekend, city holidays and when their one feeder employee was on vacation. They were left to go without food and water during those times. Of course I told Mom L to get over there and feed those kitties when the employee was not around and she and Dad P have been feeding there ever since. The purrty long haired gal in one photo is Baby. More about her later…

In early February, we saw that Gigi had clearly been injured. Look at the left side of her neck/chin and you can see a large patch of fur torn away.

Out came the traps. Yes, I said “trapS”. You see it seems Miss Gigi was very knowledgeable about regular cat trap and she wasn’t going anywhere near that thing!! She just casually watched and then just walked on by it!!

Then we got our drop trap and bam!! Mom L caught her first try! Gig indeed had a very bad couple of puncture wounds that had abscessed pawfully! So off for a week of treatment and recovery she went to our county animal services. It was a tough week for Gigi because she was hurt, in a very scary noisy place. So’s I told Mom L to make sure a bring her back to my castle for some R&R (Rest and Relaxation).

Now secretly I was hoping that Gigi was gonna like bein’ warm and well fed and that she would pour on the charm for Mom L and Dad P. Gigi did not disappoint!!! Her first day in Mom L’s office, in a 36 inch cage, she began to work her charms. I posted about our Ambassador Katie’s part in making Gigi feel at home.

The above photos are taken from the first two days Gigi lived with us. Can you see her cute paw in that photo of her lying down, making air biscuits!! As long as Mom L talked baby talk to her, she made enough air biscuits to feed a city!!! MOL!!!

Gigi was comfortable having pets right from the start BUT she let Mom L and Dad P know when she didn’t want anymore—she has a mean left hook with claws out!! Typical calico I hear. Gigi also was delighted when Katie visited to welcome her. As for me, well I did step in once to check her out. I gave her my best hisssssssss from the doorway and casually strolled back to my master bedroom, never to visit her again. You see we left the door open to Mom L’s office when Gigi was living fulltime in the cages. After a month she graduated to a larger 42 inch cage. That’s when we started to learn that she sure does like to play!

Here is a short 54 second video of Gigi accepting pets from Dad P on her first day inside with us and then the next day she shows Katie that she really wants to be friends.

Come on back next week and I will share Gigi’s socialization process so’s you can appreciate how far she has come when you see her over at her own blog, Gigi’s Calico Corner. Stay tuned for Part Two: Gigi’s Journey—A rags to riches tail