This blog is about my individual experiences while rescuing and re-homing cats for the Sunderland animal rescue charity Animal Krackers. The blog itself, however, does not represent Animal Krackers; it's just me, my sense of humour, and my personal take on things and in that sense, it's about me as much as cats. It it was a film, I'd give it a 12 rating for the occasional mild swear word and strong story.
So, other than a quick trip up to drop cat litter off for Lilian, I had no other animal-related jobs to do, until the phone rang...
A lady who'd been fostering a dog for us needed dog food. Neither Andrea nor Susan whom she'd spoken to had got around to doing anything, so would I..? No problem. They asked if I could get there around one-ish
About an hour later, around eleven-ish and Susan had gone out, I was pottering on the computer when Carol rang to see if I could pick up a cat.
Okay, no time to waste. I had to go over to Hylton Road about a couple of miles away to pick up a stray cat a guy's mother had been feeding until she died yesterday and his cats were frightened of it. Carol and I think it probably was his mother's but no matter. Found the house easily, put the cat in the carrier with a little effort but no blood, and took it to Carol's. Here it is.
Then it was back to Grangetown to pick up more dog food in addition to the stuff Susan and I had got from our garage. Fully loaded I headed to Silksworth to drop of the cat litter and another litter tray for Lilian. Baby has settled in well and seems very content. Here she is.
That done I headed off for Hetton on the far west side of Sunderland which, if you don't know the place, is very large in area, bigger than neighbouring big city Newcastle upon Tyne. I had a map printed out from Google with the location on it and I parked roughly where I thought the house should be. Problem: I'd forgotten the scrap of paper with the actual address and phone number on it. I rang Susan: no answer. I rang Andrea's mobile: no answer. I rang the shop: engaged. I tried all three again. And again. Finally got Andrea who phoned the house but didn't get an answer. I took the number and tried myself. Got an answer. I tried to describe where I was but the response I got (the map I'd printed out being on too small a scale to have street names) was ambiguous. Then I was told that her street actually had a different name for each side of it so you could have two No.15's facing each other. This is strange and perhaps something very rare that no-one except those who live there and the postman are aware of.
I moved forward, reversed, started back the way I came and hadn't gone more than a few yards when I noticed that on my left was number 16 and on my right was number 16. Yes, indeedy, I had orginally parked about 10 feet from where I was supposed to be.
The dog, some kind of lurcher cross, moves like lightning and is incredibly friendly. Here she is.
I suppose that's part of the fun of doing all this, the unpredictability and meeting all kinds of animals which, like the dog above, can be a delight. Some of the people can be nice too.
Different way to spend Sunday. We had a meeting with Lynn and Mary of Pawz4Thought. Although Lynn was the mainstay of P4W, it's now very much under the aegis of Mary who also voluntarily rescues stranded seals and keeps them housed, away from the public, temporarily on the Blue Reef Aquarium site, hence the meeting being there. When Mary took the reins it (the charity) was weeks away from going under.
The purpose of the meeting was to see what we (that is, Animal Krackers) could learn from Mary and to look at ways we could be of mutual help. What we discussed is, for the moment, confidential but it was an interesting and valuable meeting which left us taking a fresh look at what we are doing as a charity. Us, in this case, was me and Susan. Originally I wasn't even down to go but then Anne our Treasurer dropped out because a friends from Australia was visiting, Andrea went sick, and Gordon had a last minute something to do.
The meeting was held upstairs from the cafe in a roped off section (presumably open during the busier summer months) and then in area where Mary houses the seals. Sadly she didn't have any when we were there but we did have to walk through much of the aquarium to get to it. Apart from seeing the inhabitants of various tanks, we passed through the otter area where it was feeding time and the bred-in-captivity seals' tank. Fascinating and delightful and we (Susan and I) are definitely going again and will also spend some time at Tynemouth to walk along the shore (a very attractive area I haven't been to for decades) and, no doubt, go shopping.
I haven't been overly busy since the last posting. I took the cat (now named Florence) for its mastectomy at Roker Park vets on Friday and it's currently recovering well. Just waiting now for the results of the biopsy.
I was due to take a cat to Roker Park Vets around 9.30 but Carol got a lift. This was fortunate as Andrea needed a lift in the van with one of our Elderly Helpers to take said EH and her rescued dog to Vets4Pets at Fulwell. Andrea, as usual, was accompanied by her dog Millie and the recently acquired 3-legged dog Benjy (whose story will be told in this blog sometime). EH's dog Emma was recently acquired, not young, and has arthritis which seemed to flare up the day before hence the visit today. Emma is friendly but noisy when other dogs are around.
At V4P I made friends with an 18 month black female pug which sat on my knee frantically trying to lick my face. Emma was given more drugs and I dropped them all off at the nearby seafront so they could take the dogs along the beach for a nice walk.
In the afternoon I went to pick up the cat, the one I rescued from Seaham last week (see post). Her fur was very matted and needed large chunks shaving off. She seems otherwise in good condition, been spayed, and is extremely friendly. However, Wendy the vet pointed out that she has lump underneath a nipple and needs an operation which will cost around £225 including biopsy. I rang Susan who, after some discussion with Andrea and talking to Wendy, agreed we'd have it done. As if we could have done anything else.
Back home, Susan and I had just got settled in when there was a phone call. A timid rottweiler which has been roaming the nearby Hendon area for the last three months has been caught today and taken in. I went to the shop to pick up bedding and food and then off to see the lady who wasn't at her house but a few streets away looking after her mother who has Alzheimers. I took her home to drop off the food and bedding but didn't see the dog, which was cowering in a kennel, then took her back to her mother whom she visits several times a day. She thinks she knows a couple of people who might give the dog a home but we're going to get it thoroughly checked out at the vets first.
Tracy rang later wanting a neutering voucher. Then I had my tea and went to the pub with Ian P.
Today should be a quiet day for me on the animal front, but Susan has just woken up and doesn't feel very well so I might have to do her run to South Shield to pick up a dog and take it to Stray Aid in Durham.
Had a trip out in the van. First off to a tower block not far from the mouth of the Wear to pick up a cat from a tearful owner who felt guilty about it being stuck in a tiny flat which, being 12 floors up, it couldn't really jump out of the window. Then to Carol's to pick up two more -a mother and daughter- and take all three to Tracy's rescue at Burnhope (see earlier posts).
The cat in the photo is one she rescued recently and, as you can see, has just been neutered.
It took me longer to get through than I expected. From Carol's it was a little hop to the A19 and a turnoff at the second junction. Exception it was closed, so I had a few more miles to the next one and head across country before I could get onto the A690 for Durham. Once out of Durham on country roads, I hit a succession of slow moving traffic. I'm not complaining really as Tracy had told me she might not be there due to a vet's appointment. As things turned out she arrived just before I did.
I met her two donkeys and a large horse for the first time but stupidly didn't think to take any photos and then my battery went dead after taking some of the cats.
This is the kitten's mother and very friendly she is too. I couldn't get a decent photo of her kitten.
This is the one from the tower block. Never met another cat and nervous of strangers. The next photos are of cats already in residence and wanting homes.
This cat is a delightful character, full of life.
And lastly we have Little Bastard, as in, "You bloody bit me, you little bastard." He's been re-homed and returned three times. Not suprised.
Tracy was in a better mood than the last time I'd been up to Burnhope just before Christmas. A dog and horse had just died, cats weren't being re-homed and she had financial worries. Since then things have picked up including the re-homing. Animal Krackers is, after talking to Cats Protection and the vet she uses, sending her neutering vouchers as she needs them and the Consett-based vet is charging significantly less than we do in Sunderland partly because Tracy is such a good customer.
Been fairly quiet since then. Saturday morning I did my usual trip to Asda to buy cat food for Carol which I then took over to her. That afternoon she managed to rehome three cats which is pretty good, though two more arrived.
Sunday morning I went to see Lilian to check on the cat and bring her a bag of wood chip cat litter which is about the easiest to clean and lasts a while. She'd phoned Saturday about something, can't remember what though. Ah yes, the cat doesn't stop eating. Simple answer: don't give her as much to eat. I rememinded Lilian: a sachet and half in the morning and the same at night, a bowl of dried food always available, and a bowl of water. I'd also brought up a mini hi-fi system she's bought at the shop and was afraid I'd get lumbered setting it up but didn't. In a couple of weeks time, I let the cat out and stay to see what happens. I think the cat will be okay as she seems quite happy but takes no nonsense -i.e. tummy tickle equals Lilian getting bitten. she'll get the poor soul trained eventually.
I go up with a cat brush and give the cat a going over and emphasise again that cats shed fur.
"Ian, when are you coming up next?"
Oh oh, warning sign. Lilian is a clinger. This is confirmed by the next door neighbour I meet outside.
Monday.
"Ian, the cat's crying."
"Lilian, it probably wants to be out. Keep it in for at least another two weeks."
Tuesday.
"Ian, how much food should I give the cat?"
I've told her this before. "Lilian, three sachets a day, half in the morning, half at tea time. Always have dried food and fresh water down."
Wednesday.
"Ian, the cat's not eating the food, it's just licking the gravy."
"Lilian, this is normal. Cats often do this. Leave the food down and if it hasn't eaten it by bedtime give it fresh in the morning. Make sure the dried food is there."
Thursday.
"Ian when are you coming up next?"
"Lilian, I'm very busy. I'll try and check the cat out at the weekend." Which I will as I'm going to do this once a week anyway.
I've run out of titles so I'm copying cat quotes from the Internet. I've no idea who Jeff Valdez is.
1.
This is Penny. Earlier this week I got a call from a lady about a relative who had just died and had a cat which needed rehoming and the house had to be cleared by the end of the week. Carol was okay to take it so I said I'd get back to them. Tuesday morning I took two of Carol's cats to Roker Park Vets as their fur was matted beyong Carol's ability to control. We left them there for me to pick up later.
(Sidebar: Carol also brought along a kitten supposedly about 8 weeks old which was in a poor condition, suffering from diarrhea and an eye infection -her eyes being caked in green mucus. The night before, a neighbour of Carol's had bought her from a breeder just to save her life. The conditions were pretty poor and Carol has since reported the person to the RSPCA. Twenty-four hours later and the kitten is considerably improved.)
Being inherently lazy and never one to do two separate jobs when I can combine them into one, I arranged to pick up Penny that afternoon and then collect the two cats from the vets on the same trip. The lady donated a large amount of food but also had a pile of other stuff to give us. Ian F had the van so I called him and he collected some including a large cat play centre. Off I went to Roker Park vets where I chatted to the receptionists and mentioned the cat in the car. On the way out with the two cats, I popped my head round the door to say goodbye and one of them, Sue, asked to see the cat as she might know someone who would like it. She duly did this and phoned the person. Within 24 hours this lovely little cat is now happily rehomed with another elderly lady. Let's just hope this one outlives her.
2.
Yesterday I took M (see earlier post) and Charlie the one-eyed cat back to the PDSA to check that his other eye was healing properly. A couple of days earlier, Susan and Andrea had confronted M about the filthy conditions his flat was in and some of our helpers in the shop were willing to come and clean it up. Needless to say, this pissed him off considerably. It was his home, he could do what he liked. Susan agreed but what she and Andrea were concerned about was the health of Charlie and Tess his dog. Charlie had got the infection because of the conditions he was living in. M had a face like thunder. Susan told me that she would come along and try to get the vet to say that it would best if the cat was moved to cleaner conditions whereupon I would take him to Carol's just up the road.
Unsurprisingly this was not something I was looking forward to as M can be very volatile. Thankfully, M turned up the next day to apologise and accept the offer of help. All went well and Charlie's stitches were removed.
3.
This photo has nothing to do with anything current. These three are always cuddled up together on top of a cage in Carol's shed and just love looking at them. We want them rehomed together. Call them Milly, Molly, and Mandy. Just don't ask me which is which.
4.
On the way back from the PDSA, I rang Susan to ask her something. She told me that the lady cleaning out Penny's house had expected me back today to collect more stuff. News to me but it turned out to be a misunderstanding. After dropping M off, I called in at the shop and rang the woman and, following the conversation, I got back in the van and went round, picking up a vanful of bedding for Carol.
While sorting it at the shop someone rang asking for me specifically. Turned out to be a lady from Seaham (see earlier posts) a couple of miles down the road and I'd helped her out two years ago with some ferals which she fed. This time she'd noticed a long haired black and white cat which wasn't feral but was in a pretty dilapidated state and it had been coming round for a few weeks. She'd tried another local animal rescue but didn't seem to be getting very far with them. I rang Carol who'd take it, called the woman back and said I'd come round tonight. Finger crossed the cat would also appear. It did and was easily bundled into a cat carrier.
At the moment I have no idea about its condition, though I should shortly after Carol checks it out, and then I'll take it to the vets for a thorough examination. It almost certainly has fleas and worms. It could also be pregnant as a feral tom had been allowing it to share his food.
5.
And this is Gobbolino the Witch's Cat, adorable when she wants to be, which is most of the time, but hell on wheels when she doesn't. I love her.
Last weekend we were contacted by a couple from Hull who needed someone to look after, and probably re-home, the husband's mother's cat as she'd been in hospital (in Sunderland, in case you were thinking we'd extended the base of our operations) and was likely to end up not being able to return home. Needless to say we were willing to help. They came up the following day and brought the cat -Lester- to our house. He's 15 and friendly and very loud when ignored or locked in a cat carrier. They were a nice genuine couple and it was a pleasure to meet them. By a strange coincidence, one of my retired friends from work (whom I meet for coffee once a week with another ex-colleague) was old friend of the elderly lady's daughter who lives in the States.
Anyway, I took Lester to Carol's and began to think that he might be suitable for Lilian, the special needs person we tried with a different cat (see recent posts). I arranged for Lester to have a health check on Friday morning at Vets4Pets and pretty much talked Susan into letting Lilian have Lester. He was an old house cat who just wanted food, litter tray, sleep and lots of affection and until we actually got to the vets I was still thinking that.
Problem turns out to be that he might have either kidney or thyroid problems. He was obviously a big cat who had lost a lot of weight. Now while this might have been due to erratic feeding by a neighbour, some kind of illness seems more likely. It wouldn't be fair to Lilian to give her a sick cat and she wouldn't be capable of medicating him.
Carol, however, knew some one who would take him and had experience with cats in general and also cats with thyroid problems. This was Rachel who lives at South Shields and already has five rescued adult cats. I took him there this morning and it's looking very good. Lester was unphased about being somewhere new and started casing the joint immediately. Here's a photo of him with Rachel.
Meanwhile the blood test proved negative for kidney problems so samples have been sent away for thyroid tests. If he needs medication we can pay for that but we don't want to put an elderly cat through an expensive operation. Hopefully we won't have to make that choice.
Now, as for Baby, she is a friendly 8 year old who has been with Carol a few weeks. She's a nice adaptable cat and Carol and I agreed that I'd take her to Lilian instead of Lester. Unluckily she didn't have the best start.
I'd barely set off in the van before I smelled something poo-ey. Yes, she'd had an accident. Then she had another one as the carrier rolled over and she got smeared in the stuff. When I got her out of the box I had to take her to the abathroom to clean her up which was neither easy nor pleasant for me, involved some bloodletting (mine, not hers) and a little traumatising for Baby. She calmed down though and when I left she was sitting on the couch being stroked by Lilian.
A few hours later Lilian rang to say the cat was missing. How long for? I asked. Ten minutes, she replied. Showing great restraint, I did not slam the phone down but quietly said that the cat was just exploring. When I rang back ninety minutes later all was well. I'll call in tomorrow to see for myself, but I'm hopeful.
Here are pictures of some more cats wanting homes.
These two are in the same small shed together. The top cat (actually underneath the bottom cat, if you see what I mean) is friendly but nervous. The long haired tortoiseshell is a lovely friendly 6-year old. I picked him up and he started rubbing his face against my cheek and purring loudly. He has a nervous brother who is out of sight and hiding on a shelf underneath the top cat and they have to be rehomed together (but not with the top cat).
This morning I borrowed the van and loaded all the donated cat food we had and then went off to Asda to buy some more. After that, I set off for Sulgrave in Washington to pick up a cat. I'd been there before a few months ago on a similar mission and ended up going in circles. This time I knew where I was going. It was a nice little black cat, nearly 4 years old, neutered and chipped, and very re-homable. Cat loaded, it was off to Carol's to drop it all off.
She had a couple of new ones which I wanted photographs of. This met with varying success as I'm a rotten photographer and cats don't seem to like staying still. So, from the top-
Two semi-ferals who've been there a while and need a home together.
Hiding at the back is Molly, the subject of the previous fraught post.
Slightly blurred is Kitty who recently had her stitches out following the removal of a goitre.
The black and white one who won't look at the camera is a recent arrival, a friendly mature cat who is used to being outside and is a candidate for trying with Lilian. To be discussed with Susan.
Lastly, a nice tabby who is one of two cats who may be rehomed today. The other is Kiki the one I brought from Washington.
After that it was off to the North Hylton trading estate not far from Carol's to pick up a large bag of wood chip cat litter at Pets At Home and a pile of cheap cat food sachets from Aldi, all for my cats. Also got some flowers for Susan from Aldi -it's Valentine's Day tomorrow and also her birthday.
Charlie is a cat and M is either his owner or fosterer, I'm not sure which. Charlie's not a young cat and M took him on a few years ago. Last year Charlie developed an infection in his left eye and had to have it removed. Cats are adaptable and he's fine with it. Today, however, I had to take him and M to the PDSA first thing this morning as Charlie had to have an operation on his right eye which involved cutting and stitching his eyelid. If he goes blind we'll have to have him put to sleep -he's old and not that adaptable.
M is a bit of a sad case and you're about to understand why I'm just using an initial. He's in his 40's and has a long history of substance and alcohol abuse. It's left him mentally impaired and he mumbles and stutters when he speaks, his thought processes only vaguely coherent. But he's beaten the drugs and the booze and even gave up smoking over a year ago so all credit to him. A pity he didn't do it sooner as he's now waiting for a date for a triple bypass heart operation at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. A much less serious heart op knocked my buddy Barry for six (see earlier posts) so lord knows what effect it will have on M. He certainly won't be able to look after Charlie and his dog Tess, a small yappy friendly mongrel, for quite a while. I shudder to think what state his flat -already pretty grungy- will get into. It's so bad that Susan and Andrea were thinking of taking Charlie off him until his eye healed properly in case it got infected.
In the afternoon I got a call from a young woman who, as a result of a series of operations, is physically unable to look after her cat so I'm going to pick it up on Saturday and take it to Carol's. Sounds quite rehomeable apart from one thing -it chews electric wires.
Charlie was the last animal to be operated on despite the fact that he was third signed in this morning so it was nearly six o'clock when we finally left the surgery. I had to put the surgical collar on when we got him home as M's co-ordination or lack of it makes even a fumblefingers like me look like I have the dexterity of skilled surgeon. I told M to leave it on until Monday then take it off and if he needs it, I'll come back and put it on again. Back to the PDSA next Wednesday for a checkup. Hopefully all will be well.
Count your blessings, folks, count your blessings.
So I took the trap up to Lilian's and set it. I had my doubts as to whether it would work or not because just breathing on it would trigger the mechanism. I was also concerned about the cat because it hadn't eaten anything in nearly 24 hours and I had visions of it lying dead under the kitchen unit.
Next morning I rang Lillian. No sign of the cat. I arrived there half an hour later in the van with Ian F and some tools. Ian unscrewed the bottom of the unit and declared that there not only was no cat there, it would have been impossible for the cat to get inside it in the first place.
Next step, check the living room which meant pulling out the heavy wooden tv unit and every other piece of furniture in the room. No Molly.
That only left the bedroom. I looked under the chest of drawers and I looked under the cupboard and so did Ian F. No Molly. At this point I was wondering if Molly had gotten out and that Lillian had been telling us porkies about having seen her and had deliberately put down food so we wouldn't twig. Whatever. I pulled out a dressing table unit and looked along the skirting board which stuck out from the wall by a couple of inches. There, at the far end, her back against the wall, was Molly. I pulled more furniture out, got hold of her by the scruff of the neck and got her out. When I held her in my arms she didn't struggle. To say I felt like a nightmare was over would almost be an understatement.
We took her to Carol's where she went into a cage, immediately scuttling to the back as far away from us as possible. Now she's there she'll have a chance to calm down and Carol should be able to bring her out of her shell. One thing I do know, she won't be rehomed until we're sure she's ready and the new home will be carefully checked. I let this cat down once, I won't do it again.
As for Lilian, poor soul, she did nothing wrong and we will get her another cat but it will be the right cat for her and we will, of course, keep a careful eye on them.
This isn't an easy piece to write, partly because this particular story isn't finished yet, and partly because I think we may have made a big mistake.
Several weeks ago a lady called Lilian got in touch with Animal Krackers about taking on a cat. She sounded a little bit odd so Andrea and Susan did some digging to find out more about her. It turns out she's a special needs case. In less politically correct times she would have been called slow. She lives in a flat in Silksworth, a decent enough if somewhat deprived area of Sunderland, supported by a carer who visits regularly and attends a day care centre at Fulwell (a posh part of Sunderland). I've no idea how old she is -she could be around 60 or much younger (mid-40's). Andrea and Susan talked to people involved in her case and concluded that she wouldn't be able to look after a cat.
If that was the end of the story then I wouldn't be writing this. Lilian wouldn't take no for an answer and regularly phoned the shop about having a cat. Eventually, Susan began to reconsider, though Andrea remained opposed, and this is where my involvement started. I hadn't met the woman and had no opinion either way. As Susan and I have spent our working lives helping people so, as I thought about it, I tended to go along with the idea on a trial basis. Get her a mature calm friendly adaptable cat (bit like our laid-back Ted) and see how it goes.
Then, mid-way through last week, I was told about a couple who wanted their cat rehomed because it had caused their daughter to have eczema and their baby had started coughing. For the last six weeks they'd been keeping the cat outside. I spoke to them on the phone and they described it as very affectionate, seven years old, female and neutered. Sounded pretty good. Susan agreed. Now as I was taking one of Carol's cats to the vets to have its stitches out, I thought I'd get this new cat microchipped at the same time with Animal Krackers as the owner just in case it got out and got lost.
I went and picked it up, literally. Molly was a small mostly black cat who purred and didn't struggle as I held her. she was fine at the vets too, apart from being very reluctant to come out of the cat carrier and hindsight tells me this latter was very significant. Anyway, I had a pile of stuff -food (dried, tinned, sachets), cat litter, and litter box. I'd also written a very basic guide to caring for a cat (see Appendix), though, now, I'm not even sure if Lilian can read. Time to take Molly to her new home.
It wasn't as bad as I'd expected. The front door was at the side of the house and you had to open a high gate to get through; there was a field at the back. Molly herself looked a bit like a sack with human features -yes, I know I'm being uncharitable. Her manner was in keeping with her appearance, calm to the point of docility, quiet, monosyllabic. I talked about what she should do, emphasising that when she left the house, the cat must always be shut in a room before she opened the front door. I put down food, water and cat litter and then I got Molly out of her carrier.
While I held her she was fine and Lilian hestitantly stroked her saying how lovely she was. Then I put Molly down and she shot behind the settee. I got her and showed her the food and litter in the kitchen. Now in the kitchen Lilian had a washing machine that was too big for the slot so it was pulled out. Molly immediately disappeared behind it. I shrugged and told Lilian that she'd come out in a little while and left them to it.
As I arrived home about an hour later, after a detour to do some shopping at Asda, the phone was ringing. Lilian and the cat still hadn't come out. I told her to be patient and give it time. Half an hour later she rang again. And again and again and again. And when she wasn't ringing me she was ringing the shop.
By teatime the cat still hadn't emerged so Susan and I went up to look for it. We checked everywhere, under everything, inside everything, behind everything, on top of everything. No Molly. Susan asked Lilian if she'd gone out at all that afternoon and left an inside door open. She had.
That was it. The cat had got out. Full of self-recrimination and with the car full of the cat stuff I'd brought the day before, we left. I was furious with Lilian and sickened with myself. That couple (a lovely couple as it turned out) had put their trust in me to find their much-loved cat a good home and it had got lost within hours. Susan was mad at herself for relenting in the first place. We can't be social workers and animal rescuers, we told each other. The animals must come first and we ever have doubts about the suitability of a person to adopt an animal then we shouldn't let it go.
I rang Carol who said she'd ring round to see if she could get a cat trap. She reckoned that if it had got out -she was far from sure that was the case- then it would go to ground somewhere near. A little later, Phil rang me about the van and I told him the story. He had a trap, came and picked me up and we went to Lilian's where he set it up just outside her front door.
Hell of a day.
Around eight next morning Phil rang again to say that he was at Lilian's where he'd gone to check the trap and saw the cat sitting on the windowsill inside the flat, though it disappeared as he approached. I got there an hour later with all the cat stuff I'd removed yesterday and Phil showed me where the cat had been hiding. One place I'd never have guessed. In the space behind the washing machine was a small hole that was just big enough for Molly to get through and hole up underneath the kitchen units -almost impossible to see and impossible to get at. The other place was under a tv unit, a heavy large wooden thing with only a small gap at the front. And yesterday, both Susan I had assumed it was like that at the back. I looked and there was Molly. Yes, I did feel like an idiot. Poor Lilian had done nothing wrong.
Off home we went and it wasn't long before Lilian was on the phone telling me Molly had disappeared behind the washer again. And we got these phone calls all day. Susan and I decided that the cat was obviously too timid and nervous and would be better off in a cage at Carol's while we got Lilian an older calmer cat. I had two in mind but when I rang Carol this morning was awaiting collection and the other, which had just had an operation needed careful watching. Susan and I went up this teatime but Molly was firmly ensconced under the kitchen units so I decided to borrow Phil's trap and take it up tomorrow evening.
That's the story so far. Expect at least one update.
Appendix.
KEEPING A CAT: Basics.
Food, drink, cat litter.
Half of one large tin twice a day. Or 2 or 3 packets.
A dish of dried food and change it every day.
Always have a bowl of fresh water down and change it at least once a day. DON’T give her milk.
Change the cat litter every time it’s been used.
Wash all cat dishes every day.
Any problems at all, phone Ian on (number deleted)
The next photos are from Carol's where the rescued cats are kept. Please ignore the idiot who thinks his camera can photograph an interior while shooting through a reflective surface. The cat, however, is lovely and friendly. Want her?
This is Molly the cat from a broken home. She was neutered a couple of days ago and I picked her up from Carol's this morning and had her at home for a couple of hours which gave me a chance to get to know her.
The photos don't do her justice as I've never seen a cat with markings like hers -patterned ginger and tabby. She has a sweet nature, being very friendly and I thought her new owner would fall in love with her straight away. And she did thanks to the clever little cat making a fuss of her and her not quite three year old son. Her husband is a big cat lover and her two other kids aged 5 and 6 were dying to see her. She's gone to a nice quiet area surrounded by countryside and is going to be loved to pieces.
The next cat is a recent arrival at Carol's, a very friendly light tortoiseshell who should find a home very quickly.
Last is an elderly black cat who is recovering from a goitre removal. It's not a very good picture because I'm a lousy photographer. I took a couple of dozen of the previous two cats before I could get one in which they weren't moving.
Carol has managed to re-home four cats today, including two that were taken from their owner, who sadly has bowel cancer, only this morning. I can't remember which the other two were as I'd never seen one of them (the cat belonging to a squaddie who was about to be posted to Germany with his family, and apparently a lovely friendly little thing). If only every day was like this.
I was supposed to go and pick the two cats up but couldn't. I seem to have come down with another bug, some kind of chest infection, muzzy headache, and weariness combo. I was also supposed to be dropping off Molly the calico cat from last week (to be rehomed on Thursday) at the vets tomorrow morning for neutering, and taking another one to a different vets for a post-operative checkup but I've cried off those as well. Thankfully, Ian F is happy to do the runs.
Can't remember if there's anything scheduled for Wednesday, but on Thursday I've got to fetch Molly from Carol's so she can be picked up here by her new owner.
As you've seen, I sometimes like to reprint Funny Cat photos that particularly strike me. But there are also snaps which also strike me that I don't put up on this blog because I just don't like them. The majority of these are pictures of what I call freak breeds such as the hairless Sphynx..
These poor creatures are hideous and about as appealing to me as a human being without skin. I'm sure that in character they are typical cats, affectionate and loveable, but they are freaks. They are deliberately created by humans out of some perverse aesthetic need. It does the cats no good at all as they have to be house cats. They couldn't survive outside.
Then there are the cats with stumpy legs like a dachsund. This cat is just deformed. It's unable to jump properly like a normal cat and like its own instinct tells it to. Again, it will have to spend all its life indoors, or at best in a high walled garden.
It's one thing to encourage certain traits that don't distort cats significantly from the norm, such as a particular type of fur, though I'm not keen on the long thick coats. Sure there are exceptions -the Maine Coon is a good example of a healthy breed adapted to a harsher environment, or the attractive British Blue- but it just makes me sick when they are bred for a freakish non-survival trait such as the two above and those with ear folds whatever they are called.
But then I should declare my bias -I don't like breeders in general. Yeah, sure there are decent one who care about the health of their animals, but most I suspect are just in it for the money and if that means freak breeds, so what.
I may have mentioned this before but once at Vets4Pets, a woman who bred pugs asked me if we had any cats as they lived on a farm and needed them to keep the mice and rats down. And, oh yes, because they were near a main road, cats were always getting knocked down.
Caturday (Saturday). Just been up to Asda to get cat food for Carol and kitten food for the feral kitten at Lynn's. Carol has just phoned to say that old Ted, one of the two skinny tabbies we took to the vet's last week, has died in his sleep. He was old and frail and the only thing strong about him was his loud cry.
Following negotiations on Wednesday night, a guy called Simon came up from Teeside, via Seaham, to bring his step-daughter's young calico female. His step-daughter had just moved in with him and the girl's mother, plus her her children, after being abused by her partner and the cat was one thing too many. Also he has dogs. Luckily a colleague of Susan's has agreed to take it in a week's time. Meanwhile it's in Carol's care.
Bonnie, our eldest at 15, has just been diagnosed with arthritis in her back legs, plus she seems to be having a bit too much diarrhoea, so she has medicine three times daily and a pill twice. Bonnie, much as I love her, is a bit of a psycho-cat and does not take kindly to having pills thrust down her throat or medicine squirted into her mouth as the scabs on my hands attest and that's despite wrapping her in a blanket.
This is a post about nothing much because, as the title says, it's been a very quiet week.
Saturday, I did my regular cat food shop for Carol at Asda and also picked up some kitten food for John who is the gentleman who's looking after the first feral kitten we trapped. He called round for it in the afternoon with his wife, whom I'd hadn't met before, and they are both lovely kind people devoted to cats.
Dropped off the cat food to Carol on Sunday morning.
Earlier this week I emailed Cats Protection asking for another pad of neutering vouchers which are now on their way. I emailed asking about how old they advise that kittens should be before neutering as I'd heard it could be younger than the traditional six months. The reply was that they recommend any time after 3 months. I'll have a word with the vets who normally do this for us and see what they say.
Rang Lynn a few minutes ago to see how the feral kitten was after a week in her care. It's coming along nicely, uses the litter tray, is interested in the other cats, doesn't behave aggressively when handled but still nervous but then its only been a week. Very promising.
I may have to pick up a cat from Dawdon in County Durham on Friday and arrange for it to be neutered and possibly pick up a cat from Roker Park vets on Friday afternoon, Ian F having dropped it off in the morning for an operation to remove a goitre.
A quiet week on the cat front. I had coffee this morning (which I do almost every Wednesday) in the city centre with 2 ex-colleagues from the library, Denise and Sylvia, whom I've known for 40 years and they retired the same year I did (2008). Both are cat-lovers, fortunately, as I usually spend a lot of time updating them about my cat activities -neither have computers so they don't read this blog. Early tomorrow evening we're off to a retirement do at a pub for Phil the local history librarian. Must try to talk about something other than cats.
This poor old soul was put to sleep last week when Carol took him to Roker Park Vets. I wasn't involved but I wasn't surprised.
So, Thursday and I woke up at 3.30am and didn't get back to sleep. At 8.00am I was outside waiting for Ian F to drop off the van. When he did, I went over to Carol's to pick up three young adult males for neutering at Williams & Cummings, the nearest vets to us and the only one authorised by Cats Protection to accept their vouchers. I got home at 9.00am just as Phil rang to ask me if I'd take one of the feral kittens we'd been keeping an eye on. I was annoyed as I thought it had been agreed to leave them where they were and catch them for neutering in about three months time when they were old enough.
9.30 and I was out again to Carol's to pick up her and two old skinny tabby males and take them to Roker Park Vets. One, Ted the noisiest cat in Sunderland except when's he's having a fuss made of him, has a long history of thyroid problems. It was decided to try him out on what would be, if they worked, a long-term treatment with pills. The other cat, Oliver, had a horrible abscess on his chest which was dripping with pink pus. He also had other problems and had been losing weight for some time. We decided to end his suffering.
I dropped off Carol and Ted and drove to Gateshead to the funeral home to pick up my mother's ashes. Then further down the road to Hawkesbury House to pick up her remaining effects -mostly photographs as I'd told the manager to keep what they could use and donate the rest, if suitable, to a local charity shop.
Home and filling in neutering vouchers which then had to be posted which meant a trip to the Post Office as I didn't have any stamps. When I got back the phone rang and it was a lady wanting her cat rehomed. A genuine and good reason this time. They were at Caterick Army base but her husband (and her) were being transferred to Germany and the cat didn't travel well at the best of times. Initially I said I'd have to check with Carol but when she described it I said we'd take it. I knew Carol had space as two cats have been put to sleep and two of the three being neutered today were being rehomed tomorrow. This one is four years old, had all its vaccinations, chipped, neutered, good with other cats and dogs and great with her 15month old son. Sold!
Finally I lay down on the bed for a nap and managed about half an hour before I got sick of the phone ringing and eventually answered it. Susan: Phil's feral kitten was in a cage at the shop and Lynn (see earlier posts) wanted to foster it. She was also thinking about keeping Bettie (see previous post). I was wanted to take the kitten round in the cage in the van. I was mad. I thought it was totally unsuitable. I f she didn't wear gloves, it would rip her hands to pieces. If it got out of the cage it would extremely difficult to get it back and it wasn't (obviously) house trained. Madness.
I went to pick up the three now ball-less young toms and took them back to Carol's. Then I went to see Andrea at the shop and reluctantly changed my mind. It was a small black kitten, obviously nervous, but it let me stroke it without attempting to remove flesh from my hands, without evening growling or spitting. It let me pick it up, not happy, but it didn't really react. Okay, okay, we'll go with it. I took it round and we set it up in Lynn's living room. I picked it up again just to check and again no clawing, biting, growling, spitting.
A promising start. I'll keep you informed. The other feral kitten (the one which shredded my left hand) which John took in is, he told me over the phone, doing quite well and responding to him but is still frightened of other people.
And that was Thursday. I woke at 3.30 this morning, cleaned up cat shit from the living room tray -the smell being quite strong- let cats out, went back to bed and actually did get back to sleep, and woke again, and slept.
Hettie (top) is a cat I've written about before. I rescued her as a stray from Hetton, a village on the outskirts of the city boundary. She was given tablets to treat her for thyroid problems but showed no sign of improvement. Honour of Vets4Pets was convinced that Carol wasn't dealing with her properly and wanted her taken away from Carol. This I duly did, despite Carol insisting she was getting the tablets and was kept in isolation away from other cats. I picked her and Bettie up on the same day, Bettie coming from deep in Durham, and took them both to Lynn who had agreed to look after them.
That was four weeks ago. Hettie's tablets had just about run out and it was time to take her back to see Honour. I picked that cat up a couple of hours early due to scheduling problems and took her home where she had a quick look round but mostly sat on the couch when she wasn't trying to get into the kitchen. I did give a small amount to eat just before we set off. She was friendly but it seemed to me that she'd lost weight and got to the state that she really was just skin and bone and I was seriously considering asking Honour to put her to sleep.
Bettie, in the meantime, had settled in well at Lynn's. She's a healthy, friendly young cat with a lovely soft coat and not pregnant as was first feared. She's been outside a few times and returned quite quickly. I'm going to put her photo up on the website and see if we get any takers.
Honour took Hettie through the back to weigh her, returned, checked it against the last time she'd been here -and she had lost weight- and then said that she probably had a tumour and it would be best if she was put to sleep. I'm glad Honour said that because it meant I didn't. It also vindicated Carol but I didn't say that either.
I stroked her and talked to her until her tiny heart finally stopped.
In the evening I went to the pub with Barry for the first time in over three months since he was hospitalised for heart surgery. While walking through town to the pub I saw a young woman awkwardly getting to her feet after an obvious fall. As she was up and walking when I reached her, I didn't stop. Then I noticed she'd dropped her phone and what looked like a house key. I picked them up and went after her. When I handed them over I asked her if she was okay which she said she was. She did look shakey, mind, but I didn't pursue it and Barry was waiting for me so I went on my way.
I'm still wondering if I should have offered more help. I suspect not; she could have been drunk or on drugs. But I don't know. Barry thought I'd done what I could and should, yet still...
The current view from my window partly obscured by Max.
Turnip a six month old currently being fostered with Lynn.
Post script.
No he isn't. This is my cold getting to me. Turnip was rehomed a few weeks ago and the lady who adopted him has just been here for a neutering voucher (7th Jan). Lynn is currently fostering the oldie from Carol's and the stray I picked up in from somewhere is Durham.
