Monday, November 5, 2012

Stormy

Meet Stormy!

Stormy is the brother of Isis, so he has the exact same story.  My daughter rescued him and Cans For Critters had him neutered.  Same story, just another animal that benefited from Cans For Critters. 

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

This is Feeney:
Feeney was abandoned by his Mother for an unknown reason.  I found him as a tiny kitten, starving to death.  He was starving to the point of climbing up my pant leg in desperation.  A tenant there just had a baby and brought some formula out for him.  He dove in, head first, getting the formula all over him and drank it down like there was no tomorrow. 

I had another tenant who had a cat that looked just like him.  I sent her a pic.  She replied, "Can I have him?"... 

Feeney had to have a bath first.  But he was pretty good about it. 

Here he is now, all grown up and spoiled.  And of course rescued and fixed by Cans For Critters. 

Remember, can contributors are what makes this program work.  Thank you all so very much!  Critters thank you too!  Especially Feeney!

Monday, October 22, 2012

No No

And now meet No No:

As a kitten, No No was pretty rowdy.  Additionally, he is an attention seeker.  This cat will literally throw himself into your arms and flip over like a baby to this day.

No No was passed around to a couple of different homes as a kitten.  No one had time for this demanding boy.  The second owner was going to take him to the pound.  She was a single working lady and in her spare time she had things to do and holding this attention seeker wasn't her priority, though it was his. 

I am not sure why the first owner gave him away but I suspect for the same reason.

However, I know a great lady who loves black cats.  She already had one grown black cat that looks just like this one.  I asked if she would take him if we had him fixed and she agreed. 

Once again we put out a plea for cans and once again our donors came through.  No No went to the clinic and went home with the lady. 

It was she who gave him his name.  She said she was always saying "NO NO, "...  And so his name stuck.  Haha.  He is really a cute, sweet cat. 

No No lives with the other black cat she had along with two large dogs.  He is now full grown and looks identical to her other black cat.  She says she has to roll the cats over to see who is who.  No No has white on his belly. 

So, another happy ending for an animal who may not have escaped the pound and possible/probable euthanasia.  All because people saved cans for us, here is one more animal that was spared from possible death.  THANK YOU ALL!


Sunday, October 21, 2012

Isis

Isis Story:

Isis did not have a great start to life.  As a tiny kitten she and another were dumped out at a store.  My daughter brought them home with plans of finding them both good homes.  As often this happens, there were no takers.  Lindsay couldn't bear the thought of taking them to the pound. 

Again, we cashed in cans and we got Isis spayed first. 

For some odd reason, this cat really loves me.  Maybe she knows I am the Cans For Critters Lady? 

This is me holding Isis.  What a baby!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Felix the Cat

Back in the days of remodeling our apartments another cat showed up.  This cat was very friendly so obviously he was not one of Jacks' cats.  But this cat was and is to this day the most pitiful I have seen yet. 

He laid curled up in a ball on an outside mat.  It was getting pretty cold out.  We pulled up to work and saw him and I thought, "Oh no, not another one!".  Yes, it was another cat.  They just never seemed to end there. 

The skinny, short haired black and white cat stood up to greet us and let me first say he was as thin as any we had seen.  But worse, his mouth looked like it had been burned and his eyes were matted half shut and watery.  Of course we fed him.  Oddly, he ate well, even with his mouth appearing burned. 

When he was finished eating I had my husband hold him upside down like a baby, wrapped in a towel so he couldn't scratch us.  I took a damp cloth and cleaned his eyes.  All he did was purr.  He never fought us once. 

We had our very first load of cans by then.  I cashed them in and took Felix to the vet.  He tolerated the worst test very well.  They checked him for feline leukemia by inserting a long needle into his groin area.  I nearly passed out but Felix didn't fight, just purred. 

That test was negative.  They performed more tests and finally got a diagnosis for Felix.  He had viral herpes, not contagious to humans but contagious to cats.  Therefore, I couldn't take him home.  And his mouth was not burned.  The herpes outbreaks had scarred it was all.  They said the less he was stressed, the less outbreaks he would probably en dour.

I decided to have him neutered anyways in hopes of finding him a home with no other cats.  Even though Buttons lived at the apartments now, I could take Felix back there if I had to.  Buttons had already been exposed to him anyways.  But at the last moment, we found Felix a home! 

The couple had two children and no other pets.  One child was a baby.  Felix couldn't stay indoors because he kept getting in the crib with the baby and it worried the Mother.  But they fixed him up a carrier under an awning with warm blankets, food, water and even his litter box so he didn't have to potty in the snow. 

Felix had a good supply of drops in case of another outbreak.  They cleared up his eyes quickly.  And he always let them treat him without a fuss.  Felix seemed very grateful. 

Unfortunately they moved and I didn't keep track of Felix but they said they were taking him and not to worry.  But I left the door open for Felix by making it clear if they ever had to give him up, call me. 

I never thought to get a picture of Felix because I never thought we would get this far with our Cans For Critters. 

The cans we cashed in for Felix went a long way in providing treatment, neuter, rabies shot and medicine.  Again, we thank our can contributors so very much!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Midnight's Story:

The black cat was a stray and appeared to have been on his own for quite some time.  He showed up on a 5 acre mountain top.  The retired couple put food out for him daily but he would only eat when they were out of sight. 

As a Tom Cat, Midnight came and went.  He was unable to really put on any weight this way.  But eventually he figured out these folks were not going to hurt him and he stopped running from them.  He was constantly coming home beat up too. 

The retired couple lives on a fixed income.  Neutering the cat was not a priority for them.  Priorities were mortgage, food, ect...  So, we decided our priority WAS to neuter him and once again, we cashed in cans and once again we had the funds to do it.  So very thankful to our can donors! 

After Midnight was neutered he left home one last time.  Apparently he did not get the memo!  lol 

Now Midnight no longer leaves home.  His roommate is Bell, AKA scruffy mentioned here in this blog.  He has people who love him, his best friend is the dog, he sleeps indoors if he wants to, even in the bed.  There is a child there he adores.  No one else can hold him but her.  She can do anything she wants to him.  Sweet. 

Here he is today, fat, spoiled and healthy:

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Peaches:

At the time we were busy catching Jack's cats for spays and neuters, a female cat showed up in very bad shape.  She came to our apartments in desperate search of food, much like Jack's cats had done.  And it was obvious she had kittens hidden somewhere.  But she was not a member of the feral colony, though she was semi feral and very timid.  A little food and we were able to pet her.  Like the rest had done, she came every morning for her breakfast.

We noticed her going under a house across from the apartments.  I knew her kittens must be there.  And they were.  We saw them playing one day.  So what was this cat's story?  I had to know. 

After talking to Jack and the neighbors, I learned this cat and another used to belong to someone on the block.  The owner was an elderly woman who had passed away.  Her children came for her belongings but just left the cats behind.  One cat died.  The other learned to survive on her own. 

I also learned this cat always has kittens but sadly, they wander out to the busy road and always get killed.  How devastating for this Mother cat, trying her best to nurse and care for her babies to see this ending every single time.  This had to stop!

I decided to trap her and spay her, then release her back to her kittens.  They were big enough to eat now and I took cat food to the house they were at.  The lady who lived there wasn't exactly thrilled I was feeding them but I assured her I would catch them eventually and find them homes and the Mother would not have anymore. 

I took this cat to a separate vet who was running a special for spays.  I paid for it myself as this was before we started saving cans.  At the end of the day I went back to get her.  The vet mentioned she was a sweet cat.  I told the vet more about the cat and that I was releasing her back where she came from.  The vet said no, there was a mistake.  She thought it was MY personal cat and used metal stitches that had to be surgically removed in two weeks.  She could not continue nursing.  This was not good news...

I took the cat we now called Peaches back to the kittens but I left her in the carrier.  I set a trap next to it with food in hopes she would call them.  There were three kittens.  I was able to catch two. 

The two kittens went to foster care and the people kept them.  I tried to catch the third one but I couldn't.  Then I got a call from Jack.  The desperate kitten had made its way to his house but someone had poured hot liquid on it and it was badly burned.  I have no idea how this could have happened or who could do such a thing.  I cried for the kitten.  The next day I found it dead. 

Meanwhile here was Peaches who had metal stitches.  Of course I took her home.  I had no choice.  She didn't understand to use a litter box so we had to put her outside.  My other cats were really mean to her and she was forced to live down in a ditch pipe.  I have never seen it take so long for a cat to be accepted in a group.  It took a year!  But finally Peaches got a friend and she came up.  It was our latest addition Circles.  He is my good boy!

Here is a picture of Peaches and Circles.  Looks like true love to me!