Her kittens are also altered, and are looking for homes of their own. This past weekend, the kitten who is now named "Buffy" found hers, and has already cuddled in with her new sister/aunt
Here's a shot, taken by Christy, of the boarding room in my house where the kittens are living while they meet their new guardians:
Three more kittens to go! Two of Buffy's brother, and little Gracie.
He is such a beautiful cat. Everyone loves him. He loves everyone. Well, except other cats. Arthur needs to be an only cat. And yet, there are many people who want to have only one cat. So where is his home?
Arthur is very large, and not in a tubby way. He is beautiful, sleek, affectionate. He has simple eating needs, because he has a sensitive stomach, so he should eat all-meat dry cat food, like Evolve. He can free-feed, because he does not over-eat.
He is playful, and loves the laser toy. I'm sure he'll be in bed with you. He is affectionate without being annoying. Sweet without being cloying.
If you are in central NYS or northern PA, won't you share Arthur's post?
He would really love to have a home.
Arthur can be found on Petfinder, here (click) along with contact information.
Back in the cage you go, Arthur. One more time.
(Photography - Christy Stout. Thank you, Christy, for bringing the blog to life).
The photo above is of their Kong iPet room. You can go to the Foothills Animal Shelter page here to play with the cats with toys you can move via your keyboard. I think the current cats have gotten a bit habituated to the internet toys because they are ignoring me this morning, but they surely loved to play while I was there in person!
Here's 15 minutes of fame that I hope spay/neuter advocates take advantage of. Tuxedo Stan is running for mayor of Halifax Canada on the slogan "Because neglect isn't working."
So go...If you are on Facebook say thanks on their FB page. Share a successful TNR story. Share a link to a resource. Forward the story onto your local online paper.
They shoot their neighbor instead.
They shoot a pet cat instead (and this cat was confined to a trap!)
This is why "just shoot them" can't be recommended as a public policy.
So let's just file that "shoot 'em up" advice away for good, as dangerous and irresponsible, along with cruel and illegal.
Shelby County No Kill Mission vs. PETA from No Kill Advocacy Center on Vimeo.
When Friday ebbed away, launching a three-day weekend, I resolved to head out to the local diner for a cheap dinner with a book on my Kindle. I posted on Facebook for suggestions (thanks everyone!). I now have a list of books to read in the future. When I logged into Amazon.com, there was this auto-generated suggestion for me, based on things I'd looked at in the past, online:
A Street Cat Named Bob was a great little book (and in large type via Kindle!). For anyone who has read Jackson Galaxy's bio, "Cat Daddy," the story will sound similar. However, in "A Street Cat Named Bob" the tale has been boiled down to simpler elements. The first thing I did upon finishing the book was to jump online and go look for the YouTube videos it mentioned.
Here is a UK media article about James and Bob. And here are a couple YouTube videos of the pair. A post-book video
And a pre-book video
While James did know that travelers had taken photos and videos of the two of them on the street, he only learned Bob was a bit of an internet sensation until passersby mentioned that they had learned of him via YouTube.
When you see the difference between James' hungry and drug-ravaged face in his pre-book video, and his relaxed and filled-out body at the book signing, it's clear how having Bob, a few dollars in his pocket, a little food, and the taming of two huge devils in his life (separation from his family, and drug recovery), have improved his health. Let's hope he continues to "keep it simple" and doesn't let the larger media monsters (the suggested movie) destroy his life, and his story.
Kudos and blessings to the literary agent and publisher of the British version of "Marley and Me," who stopped and talked to him, and helped to continue to change his life, by encouraging him to write his small book. Certainly The Big Issue, which gave him an legit street job deserves a shout out.
I think the word "inspiring" is overused, sadly. Let me just say that I felt, in all the online hype about cats, both bashing by the negative/cat haters, and the gushing by the promoters of the "overcute" online kitty videos and photos, it was heart-mending to read a story that so clearly illustrated what probably many hundreds of thousands of people have experienced but can't articulate: that indescribable contentment we experience when a cat shows, by the little things he does, that he loves us back.
Shout out to Christy---here's your boy!
The neighbor is allergic, so the kitten was not brought into her house, although they were feeding her. I stopped by later that day, and the sweet little thing was hiding under a car.
No problem finding this cutie a home, right?
Sigh.
Gracie has diarrhea. I figured "no big deal" but a standard worming did not clear it up. While I was traveling, she stayed with Ellen, a vet tech, who ran a fecal on her (negative), put her on a bland diet (no change), tried the kitty Pepto route (no change) and sent me home with FortiFlora. I have her on a chicken and rice diet with FortiFlora, and while there is some small improvement, it's still not a good stool. So if I don't get her straightened out soon, I won't have a kitten for adoption. I'll have a teenager.
Simple things are never simple, it seems.
She is a cutie, though, and Ellen fostered her twice to keep her own shy foster kitten company and help him come out of his shell. It's nice when I can shove animals off on other people, and it's actually not a burden, but a help.
I think I'll have her stool checked for giardia. I'm not sure that was done.
Curious, I went leafing through Ivan's medical records and was shocked to see it has been over five full years since his 2007 urinary tract disaster. Actually--horrified. My two veterinarians had performed that surgery on a Sunday when they were closed, for a huge discount (less than $600 for surgery and at least 6 visits) because I could not afford the university hospital. I hadn't even gone back for a "it's been a year, let's check everything out" visit? I felt like a very ungrateful client and a bad cat mom.
I discovered why when I packed Ivan up for his vet visit today at Cornerstone Veterinary Hospital. I forgot he gets desperately car sick. I think he found the veterinarian's poking and palpating and blood-drawing easier to bear than the drive up and back.
He's safely home and happily sleeping in the sun in the catio. His long-expired rabies vaccination has been updated (1-year Purevax, because after all of this I'd hate to lose him to a vaccinate-site sarcoma), and a vial of his blood is being shipped off for testing, just because he's getting to be an old boy. He had a small nodule on his thyroid, and the blood panel will help see if that could be a problem down the road. Heart: great! Teeth: gorgeous! Weight: very good! His urethrostomy looks great as well, and he seems to have good control over urine flow. My veterinarian was pretty much beaming about how well he was doing. She certainly saved his life, and it can also be a touchy surgery.
So there is one less thing for me to worry about. I've been watching my grand old man become a senior cat, feeling guilty that he was not getting the care he deserved. Now I can look at him and just...love him.
Elsa on her first day in her new home outside of Cortland. She has since made friends with the house bunnies, and the resident cat has decided to tolerate her, so she will be staying!
I recently attended the No Kill Conference in Washington D.C. and had the privilege of hearing bloggers Peter Wolf from Vox Felina and John Sibley from In Dog We Trust speak. I've already been reading "Platform: Get noticed in a noisy world". As a speaker in social networking myself, I already know that pretty much everything I do as a blogger is wrong. Hilarious!
I began blogging twelve years ago with my Cat Out Loud blog (which I forever regret deleting, thinking somehow my "new job" would have concerns about my maverick ways). My flame burned out long ago, and I'd like to revive it. I blog in my head all day long. Clearly that's not a productive way to communicate.
My current job involves long hours on the computer. I cannot emphasize "long," enough. I often roll out of bed, start the coffee, take care of the cats, pour the coffee and crawl onto my chaise lounge with my phone beside me, around 5-7 am (depending on when I made it to bed the night before), and may not get back to my own life until 8pm. Eating dinner, caring for the cats, and then returning to the computer to blog...well, it makes blogging a chore, rather than the a joy.
I'm sure any number of readers have that same experience. Technological access is both a blessing and a curse.
However, I'm very happy when I am blogging regularly. It's like yard work, or exercise. You swear you can't fit it in, and it can't be leisurely or enjoyable because you have to fit in so much work in way too short a time. But when you look around, you are happy with what you see.
I plan on posting at least three times a week from here on out. If you have been clicking forlornly each day, only to find the same old post, you can follow me by email by submitting your address via the "follow by email" box I've added at the top of the right-side column.
If you use G-mail, Twitter, Yahoo mail, AIM, Netlog, or Open ID, you can click the "Google Friends" button at the right, and you'll be notified when there is a new post.
No more apologies! You all have been great friends and supporters. Thanks for hanging in there.
Horse back riding on the beach is now priced out of my range, but I managed to fit it in that first year (when it was $35). I camped and wandered. The last two trips have been for work--just happy chance that SACA likes to hold their conference on that island in high hot summer when no one else cares to go.
I don't mind baking in the sun one week a year. I always find two hours to rent a bike to ride on the hard beach. This year I ended up pushing the bike, because I misjudged the tide. It had just let out and the sand was too soft to ride on. But it was beautiful nonetheless.
I met this cat two years ago and lamented that I hadn't saved him a treat from the restaurant. This time I wrapped up a few shrimp and fed him bits. He's getting old. I hope he's here again next year.
I noted there is a shed nearby, with a white cat sitting by the gaps that go beneath it.
I don't want to get involved in Van Etten when I can't even afford to get involved with my own village (Spencer), but it's hard to look at this poor furless thing when I might easily be able to get her fixed and treated for whatever ails her, if someone nearby is feeding them.
No one at the gas station knew of a local feeder. Checking with the liquor store was a mistake. They told me of two other cats who hang out at their own dumpsters across the road. The church nearby didn't have a name on the notice board. I guess I'll have to go back on one of my days off to see what's up.
On a more positive note, this gentleman was out walking his dog AND his cat. I did stop and ask him if that was his cat taking a stroll with them. The cat looked far too well fed to be another stray, but I felt compelled to ask. He confirmed his cat takes an evening stroll with them when he walks his dog, and called the cat their bodyguard.
They felt that he had gotten skinny, but it appears in fact he's a medium furred cat who gets fluffy in winter, and strips down to guard hairs in the summer. I treated him with Revolution for his fleas, and during his stay, his tom cat scabs were all combed off. He likes to be scritched but doesn't think much of being picked up, and growls and hisses when I come in. However, the way to his heart is through his stomach. How many cats would bury their face in a plate of wet food when the door to freedom is about to be opened?
Grey Kitty is back home again, and now that he's a neutered boy, perhaps he'll show up with fewer scars and a nicer coat this fall.
