Drowning In Cats: June 2010

Monday, June 21, 2010

News Reel - Cat prices cut at shelter

Any time a shelter lowers the cost of adoption fees, there are arguments on both sides. Such is the case in response to this article: Cat prices cut at Fort Garry shelter. The gist of it is that the shelter is overwhelmed by cats (they have 490 at the time the article was written), so to increase adoptions, they have reduced the adoption fee to $25.

There are those who argue that if the person really wanted a cat, they would pay the full amount. That those who adopt at a lower rate either don't want the cat as much or can't afford a cat in the first place.

Then there are those who promote the reduced rates, claiming that it increases adoptions and reduces the need for euthanasia due to space restrictions.

What do you think?

Thursday, June 17, 2010

New Barn Cat - Part 2

So you know how I said I was going to be picking up a new barn cat? Well, the cat still hasn't shown up. The "owner" (who I'm now thinking is more accurately named the "trapper") keeps telling me that he needs "another week". Well, we had settled on a pickup of this week (it's now been almost 5 weeks since I offered to take this cat) and I have yet to hear from the guy.

I told the guy that I was going to spay/vaccinate the cats and he told me not to worry about it because he would have that done. I told him I wanted vet records. No response.

Check out this email that he sent me on May 28th:

Hi Emily,

I want to let you know I mistakenly sent you the wrong email which contained information on socializing and a picture of a cat. I meant to send that to someone else. The socializing piece really isn't that critical for you since they will be barn cats. I I still hope to have them ready for you by the week of the 7th. My apologies!!

Jon

Then I get this one on the 7th of June ...

Hi Emily,

I was just wondering if we could possibly postpone the delivery of the 2 cats for another week or two? We've had some unexpected rescues come up and this would just buy me a little more time. The cats should be okay until then.
Thanks
Jonathan

Ok, so first off, I agreed to take one cat, not two. Not sure how it ended up that I was taking two but it doesn't really matter much. Two is fine. Then on June 8th, I asked what rescue he works with. Who does he volunteer with?? No answer. I have received NO emails since.

Don't you think that if he worked with a LEGIT rescue that he would accept the offer of money to help pay for vet bills??

Also, don't you think that if he's "had some unexpected rescues" come in that he would be more than happy to off-load some cats?

So, I have decided he is a creeper. I won't be taking any cats from him unless he emails me the name of the rescue so I can check it out (and check him out too!). Let me tell you, I sure am glad I didn't give the guy my phone number!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Black Kitten Update!

Do you remember the feral black kitten I took in over the winter?? It took us 2 weeks before we could touch her. She hissed and growled a lot. We were told that she probably had FIP because she was bloated. I blogged a bit about her and we weren't sure if we would have to put her to sleep or not. I did not update about her earlier sincen we were in a holding pattern and I didn't have anything factual to offer. The constant "will we euthanize or not" was getting a bit depressing to write about so I stopped updating.

I am super happy to let you know that we did not euthanize her. We kept her around, did blood work like crazy but could not find any other evidence of FIP. The vet told us she would probably die in a few weeks and she never did. We waited and waited but each time we did the FIP blood work, it came back negative.

After a few months having her quarantined and having blood work come back "all clean" we decided that there must be a mis-diagnosis going on. We took her in for vaccinations and then in for spay (ovario-hysterectomy). They still could not find anything wrong with her.

So, rather than adopting her out (since she's not really "healthy"), we kept her. We integrated her with our perma-cat and they get along well together. She has been living outside of the bathroom for a month or more now and things seem to be going ok. It will take a few months before she is totally settled in - she's still skittish and frightened of a lot (people, sounds, dogs that aren't ours).

She is also still super heavy and bloated. I have discussed this with the vet and they suggest that perhaps she does not do well on kibble - that it might be causing the bloat. Who knows, perhaps she will be the first cat we have on RAW! Anyone have any experience feeding cats RAW?

I will have some updated pictures of her soon. We named her Princess Jasmine (she came with the name Jazz but she's a snob so we thought we would add a bit to the name! It suits her more this way).