LOTSASTUFF: IN WHICH YOUR HUMBLE BLOGGER ENDEAVOURS TO RELATE FELINE-INVOLVING INCIDENTS WHICHAVE OCCURRED IN THE FIRST FIVE DAYS OF THE YEAR OF OUR LORD, ANNO DOMINI 2015.

Part the First: adoptions.

On New Years Day, Joanna homed the kitten Frazzle and on Jan 2nd she homed the kitten Sherry. Also on 2nd Jan, three adult cats were adopted at Ferry Farm: Timmy, Minnie, and Ted, all graduates of the Ian Williams School of Feline Deportment. So, five in the first two days of 2015, a good start with promises of more to come (or go) his week.

Part the Second: arrivals.

Some come. some go.

Arrived are: Albert & Victoria, Lightning, Gemma, and Bettie. Only one of them is one I've been fostering.

Part the Third: Rikki and His Friends

Rikki is one of my cats and he's gone through the wars a bit. He's had an operation on his eyelids because of ingrowing hairs. He was pining on his own Ferry Farm so I brought him here. He's got into a habit of over-grooming so he's on his second lot of different pills. Despite this, he's a friendly loveable boy.

Another cat I'm having a problem with his Arya. Now she's a lovely affectionate young girl but... She has a flea allergy and at one time had several large scabs over her body. All of these are gone now and she's flea-free. Well, all but one scab. This keeps healing only for her to scratch it open again. At one time it had completely healed leaving healthy bare skin. Which, a couple of days later, she raked open again. So I took her to the vets again about this where she had a couple of injections and Wendy the vet came some cream for her. This is what the scab looks like.

And then there's Tomas. He's actually a nice boy. With a quirk. This afternoon while I was on the phone after making a fuss of him, he climbed on top of my shoulder so I could continue what I'd started. He is getting quite friendly and isn't as nervous as he used to be. But he doesn't half howl a lot, loudly, and long. I may be imagining it (I hope not) but it didn't seem quite so long a session late this afternoon. I live in hopes.

And here's a photo of Fifi.

Part the Fourth: Animal Krackers on Facebook.

I've been a member of Facebook for a little while but only recently joined the Animal Krackers Facebook page and once there I realised what a good thing it is and wished I'd joined sooner. A perfect example of why it's a good thin happened a couple of days ago.

I got a call from a woman who lived just around the corner from me about a cat which had been hanging around for a week so, as I'd decided Tomas could manage without being in the conservatory, I went round to have a look. I found a big ginger and white intact male sitting on op of the plastic rubbish bin outside her house. It let me stroke it and pick it up so I took it home, took a photo and put it and what details I had up on the AK Facebook page, quickly receiving a number of helpful replies. One reply linked to a post of a missing cat which looked very like this one. Not long after, a guy knocked on my door and said it was his sister's and he'd be round in the morning. I asked him to come in and look at it but he didn't. After that the person who posted the lost similar cat got in touch, sent me a photo, and, to cut a long story short, I took it round that same evening and there was no question that this was her cat. He went into into a small living room where several people came and made a fuss of him without him being phased. This was his home from which he'd been missing for six weeks. Result!

His name is Toffy.

Part the Fifth: There is no Part the Fifth. 

That's yer lot for now.

IF THIS IS YOUR CAT I HOPE YOU'RE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF.

And this photo doesn't show the worst of it.

I got a call late yesterday afternoon asking if I could come and look at an ill cat which was just hanging around a side road not far from me, just off Stratford Avenue at Grangetown. You, dear regular readers, know my situation but I replied that I'd come and have a look at it. No promises, mind.

So I came, looked, and put it immediately in the cat carrier. 

It was sitting on the grass verge by the side of the road, completely vulnerable to a passing dog, just letting anyone come up and stroke it. Some kind person or people had been feeding it. No-one knew who it belonged to. I rang the vets and naturally they just told me to bring it in.

It was seen by Wendy and only when it was on the table in front of me could I fully see what a state he (a neutered male aged about 14-15) was in. Hardly any teeth, great clumps of matted fur hanging off, bald patches where the matted fur had come out, very underweight; all in all, a really dilapidated and sad state.

Wendy and I talked about what to do with it. We agreed on basic blood tests and then, if there was anything clearly and seriously wrong such as kidney failure (a distinct possibility) he'd be put to sleep. If there was nothing wrong other than being in a generally poor condition, she'd treat that until he was well enough to go elsewhere. I wasn't sure where elsewhere would be but I'd take him anyway. I'm being disingenuous, I knew damn well it would be my house because there isn't anywhere else and I wasn't going to put him back on the streets.

We left it at that. Later in the evening I discovered I'd missed a call from Wendy at 6.30 and pretty much convinced myself that he'd given up and died. I thought that he'd picked the spot on the grass verge just to die. Anyway, I rang the vets a couple of hours ago this morning to learn that he had survived the night. He'd been on a drip and had eaten a little food. He'd be observed during the day and I'd be notified on how he was doing. 

Does anyone recognise this cat or know who he belongs to? Is he yours and would you like to claim him? 

He may be in this state because he got lost rather than through neglect -in which case I apologise in advance to the concerned owner. I don't know and I probably never will. I'll let you know how he gets on. But don't be optimistic. I'm not.

This photo makes him look a lot better than he is but maybe more recognisable to someone who knows him.

"HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MARIA?"

Don't know.

Don't care.

This is a cat rescuing blog not a tribute to Julie Andrews blog (though there wouldn't be anything wrong with that if it was as Julie is a marvellous talent and...)

Ahem.

The real title of this post is:

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Edward?

Here's Edward.

Despite my inadequate photos, he's really a very friendly cat, aged between 8 and 10, who loves cuddles. The problem is that he's a stray who hangs around a couple of streets off Villette Road and gets fed by three different families.

He's known to Andrea who got a call a couple of nights ago that he'd possibly broken his leg. She went round and eventually caught him, took him back to the shop and put him in a cage. The leg didn't look broken but he had damaged it.

Next morning around breakfast time when I'd normally be swimming but had slept in, I got a call from Susan asking me to take Edward to the vets which is what I did. This was my first encounter with him and hadn't heard of him before. His rear right leg had been knocked but there was no obvious damage, Louise the vet said. Edward accepted all her manipulations patiently and without trying to claw my face off as I held him still. Louise thought he might be in the early stages of arthritis.

He seemed such a nice cat I thought he might be a candidate for our re-homing centre and had Louise give him the first vaccination against cat flu. Possible Animal Krackers could pay for any arthritis-related vet treatment if someone adopted him. At the very least he'd be out of the cold and monitored in case the arthritis got worse and could then be treated. I said as much to Andrea when I brought him back.

The real problem is that he's used to being on the streets and absolutely hated being stuck in the cage but none of the three families who feed him can take him into their homes. Andrea said that the best option would be if at least one of them had a shed he could shelter in and some bedding he could curl up in.

There no easy answers and I can't help being worried about him especially if it proves to be a harsh winter.

THE THIN OF IT

Tiger before-

Tiger after-

Recent and regular readers will know that Tiger is a stray cat I took in just over a week ago and that I've been very concerned about his lack of appetite. He was checked out soon after and vet Wendy thought it was probably just stress at being in a new place with other cats. But he still kept eating little and I kept being worried. His long fur being full of tats, he needed to be shorn so I booked him in for today and also asked for his blood to be tested.

Last night he actually ate a little more than usual and of regular food -GoCat dried- instead of the meaty strips and the expensive dried stuff from Whiskas in a small cat head shaped box- which was encouraging, but still...

He came back this afternoon, his blood tests were clear, and he tucked in to a small bowl of dried Go-Cat. It's also clear just how close to emaciation he really is. Hopefully he'll keep on eating steadily and start to put weight on.

Molly the nine year old tortoiseshell also went to the vets today where she had her teeth descaled and polished and one removed. She's fine now.

Re-homing.

Two people went to the re-homing centre on Saturday but unfortunately both wanted the same cat, Millie the pretty grey-tortoiseshell who ended up going with a nice young couple for whom it was love at first sight (with Millie, I don't know about them).

Another couple are visiting tomorrow, so fingers crossed.

Kittens.

The two young kittens are getting very adventuresome (sorry no new pics) and beginning to cautiously explore their environment. Earlier today I picked up the black one who, when he saw that his mother and an older half-brother were also trying to get on my knee, settled down and went to sleep. They are currently curled up asleep together in the small space between my computer desk and CD shelving.

The older two are now tearing about all over the place as they investigate and attempt to destroy everything they come across. Quite often they'll hang about on the settee when I'm sitting there and settle down next to me. Here are some more photos of them. The first one guest-stars Aelfric whom they now completely accept.