Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Monday was supposed to be a quiet day but I ended up taking Aslan (see earlier posts) to Vets4Pets because of a recurring eye problem -just needed a change in medication. Also to pick up a very thin cat (see photo) which had ended up in a lady's garden not far from V4P. Just a very old, friendly neutered cat and I'm putting a poster up in V4P's window tomorrow to see if anyone claims him.
Yesterday afternoon I was summoned to the Animal Krackers shop where I was asked if we could take a 14 week old kitten -owner pregnant. Rang Carol who agreed. Never got it as PawzForThought, who'd initially agreed but had never got back, got back and took it.
The cats were unusually busy that day claiming the lives of two birds, both starlings. I wouldn't mind so much -they can't help themselves- I just wish they would eat the damn things to give their deaths some meaning. I found a third bird sitting motionless under a bush with Leo our ginger cat looming. I picked it up and placed it in a bucket with some water, covered over the bucket, and left it. When I checked this morning, it had died, probably of shock.
Tuesday morning I went through to Low Fell, Gateshead where my mother is resident in a home. Deep now in the arms of dementia, she didn't recognise me and hasn't for a year now. I find this deeply distressing and I hate going to see her. Selfish, I know, but it's just so difficult to see her in that state. I pretended just to talk to her normally even though I knew not a word was sinking in. One of the staff overheard me saying that I rescue animals and asked if I could catch a pet rabbit which was loose in the immediate surroundings.
Despite being in a very built up area, there are lots of trees and expensive houses with big garden and is, as the name suggests located on what used to be a fell. It still is I suppose, just overgrown with houses. Nevertheless it supports some wildlife including a vixen which has just given birth and obviously a direct threat to the wandering bunny.
I was informed it (the rabbit) had just been seen under a car round the corner. I went out, not having much hope of catching a speedy rabbit. As it was, a cat was more its immediate danger but it disappeared when it saw me. The rabbit didn't disappear but it lit out like a speeding bullet and vanished under a car. A woman who saw me came out and offered to help. By this time it had shot into the grounds of the residential home and under, ironically, my car.
After playing chasies a little more, it got itself cornered in a corner behind a rubbish bin with the corner of a low wall at its back and that was where I managed to grab it. I popped it in the boot of my car and was about to take it to our shop back in Sunderland when a local came with a cardboard box. He believed it belonged to a neighbour who kept rabbits but was out. Fair enough. I left my number if it wasn't his or he didn't want to keep it. So far no phone.
Last week I put photos of Aslan and Marmalade (see earlier posts) on the national Cat Chat website. Within a couple of hours Aslan was offered a home in Newcastle and that was where, a week and an exchange of emails later, I was headed after picking up Aslan from Carol's.
Newcastle being Newcastle it took me 40minutes to drive the final mile through Gateshead to reach the Tyne Bridge into the city. Imagine a funnel full of cars trying to squeeze through the tiny spout. I found the flat easily and quickly, a quiet greenish area not far from the city centre. The adopter was Tara, a woman in her twenties at a guess, a student of middle eastern extraction but very much a local and definitely a cat lover. Aslan proved to be everything she hoped and she let in the living room a small short haired ginger cat who watched Aslan carefully. Neither cat growled or hissed. She also had three other cats who preferred to keep to themselves while I was there. I was happy -Aslan would be secure, looked after, and loved, and that's all that matters.
I drove back through the centre of Newcastle, out again and was home -well, at the local Asda, within twenty minutes.
First thing tomorrow morning, if it's been caught, I'm taking a feral to V4P for neutering.
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