Friday, March 29, 2024
Daily Featurerescue storiesTNRTNR Seriestrap neuter returnTuesday

Smokey and Some New Fosters

Cuddlebug having a really good knead on the bed.
Cuddlebug having a really good knead on the bed.

Yesterday I wrote about lovely Lil, who is one of the cats I’m helping find a home, for a friend of mine. There are a total of seven cats, and each is a different case: some need to be spayed or neutered, some have had some vaccines, some only rabies, others none at all. Lil could go to Animal Advocates because she was spayed and had a rabies vaccine, and another kitty, Goose, will go there too, when we can catch her. Lil is very friendly, Goose is a little more timid, but she is not only spayed but had all her shots.

We got Lil settled on Sunday. The others are a mix of males and females, and yesterday, Monday, we got three more into carriers for me to take to foster. Cuddlebug, Cletus and Dale will need all their vetting beginning with spay and neuter in the next week or so. I will advertise them for adoption, but I’m also applying to a few shelters to surrender them so they’ll have greater chances at meeting their new person than I can give them.

Cuddlebug, female, above, and Cletus, male, are about two years old. Cuddlebug is just that, right out of the carrier she is purring and rubbing on you and loving her pets. Cletus is timid and needs some conversation first, and then some pets, but a little uncertain. Dale is an older intact male, about four years old, and he had some cuts on his nose that we weren’t sure about. They were all a little shaken up by cats going into carriers and leaving, and fights can break out among even the nicest cats when that happens.

Cletus safe behind the litterbox.
Cletus safe behind the litterbox.

They were all headed for Amy’s basement, my only option at the moment. I am hoping it’s not a stress for Smokey and he continues to progress, and that he wouldn’t be territorial about more cats being in his space. They would be in the same basement area, but could be across the room from each other and not see each other, but with cats that isn’t always enough. Also, I had only one crate to put them in and I didn’t feel good about Dale being in with the other two smaller, younger cats if he’d been fighting from stress, and Dale had a dominant personality that might set Smokey off into being territorial.

Dale is a little timid, but loves to be petted and carried around.
Dale is a little timid, but loves to be petted and carried around.

I put some thought into it and noticed that a friend who had been a cat foster for another rescue in the past (Pippin’s rescuer) had liked my photo of Lil on Facebook so I sent her a message—did she have space for one intact male so I could split these guys up? Yes she did. So I took Dale out to her house Monday night and set him up, then went to Amy’s, fed Smokey, and set up Cuddlebug and Cletus.

Smokey has been talking a lot since we’ve moved around his crate space, playing, really acting more like a socialized cat all the time. I brought the two cats inside and they were talking a little in their carriers. Smokey’s reaction? A back and forth conversation. Later, as they continued to talk as I set up the crate, Smokey made speeches! He stood up in the crate hammock meowing in complete sentences. Not at all mad, no hisses or growls. Last night and today I let Cuddlebug out to walk around and she was fearless while Cletus hid behind the litterbox. She explored and visited Smokey, and he was really excited to see her and they had a little conversation. I really think this will be good for him.

Smokey making speeches.
Smokey making speeches.

I also visited Dale and he is doing well too, a little timid like Cletus, but there are other cats and dogs in the house, though he is in the basement and can only see a few. But he can get out of his crate for a while to walk around as well. I’m so grateful Melody will be caring for Dale so I don’t have to visit two places to care for fosters. This will keep me busy for a while, and then after these there will be three more. Wish me luck!

Would you like to help?

As always, I love being able to help cats. My goal is not just to go out and trap or accept cats, but also to help people resolve issues or help find affordable services, and be a good example to others who are following. I write my articles to give lots of information so that others learn how to do this too, and if they find a cat in a similar circumstance they have an idea what’s entailed, whether it’s TNR or fostering to adopt. Even more than fostering, bringing a cat in from a perilous life outdoors is so rewarding. Helping a person with their cats, even if it means taking some of them to be adopted by someone else, is difficult but often necessary, and I try to be as kind and compassionate as possible.

Of course, it’s also time-consuming and has its expenses, and I’m on a tight budget. Thanks to those of you who have sent donations that paid for spays and neuters and food for Smokey and the ferals we TNRd. If any of my readers would like to help me with the spays and neuters for these cats, or gas money, no small amount when running back and forth to fosters and transporting to surgery and to surrender appointments, I would really appreciate it. You can always buy something from my website www.PortraitsOfAnimals.net including the Pittsburgh CAT calendar, below. I’m always working on new items for cat lovers to give as gifts to others or to themselves. Donations can go to my Paypal address bernadette (at) bernadette-k (dot) com, or you can go to Portraits of Animals and purchase a gift certificate in amounts of $5.00 or more and let me know it’s for me, or whatever else you’d like to do.

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Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

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