Monday, May 26, 2014
Celebrate Memorial Day
And the service men and women, past and present, who allow us the freedom to do so. (Give it time to load)
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Cat saves boy from dog attack
Warning: this child gets bitten only once by the dog, but it is a surprisingly aggressive bite on the leg, and will make it clear to you how children can be killed by a dog. It surprised me, so it will surprise you. But the cat is the immediate hero and the child suffers just the one bite.
Many cats are very protective. A long while ago (1986), my young female cat Bramble got a plastic shopping bag caught over her head and went zooming around my then-apartment, making a horrendous racket with her hissing and the bag rattling behind her. I finally cornered her and was getting the bag off her neck (she was squalling and hissing the entire time, but not biting me) and Rastus, my very first cat, who had never shown an aggressive cell in his body, leaped on my head with claws a-blazing, not realizing I was helping Bramble. From all the signs Bramble was giving, I was killing her.
I learned that day that Rastus was going to protect any creature he felt was in danger...even if the woman he appeared to love deeply was the one causing the damage.
I freed Bramble, but suffered a deep gash in my scalp and across my nose and eyebrow--the day before my job interview with Ithaca College Campus Safety. I actually scored points in the interview. The interviewers assumed these were scars from my current job with the SPCA. I got the job.
Interestingly enough, the majority of people who saw the damage on my face expected me to have Rastus put down...not realizing that if someone broke into my house and I was the one screaming, Rastus would likely come to my defense as well. People did not see the incident as a "cat protecting someone who was being hurt" but as "a cat who DARED to attack a human."
It's a good thing that the cat in this video didn't stick to her "stereotype" by avoiding attacking a dog. She reacted to defend a creature in danger. Perhaps if that young boy had been beating the dog, she would have reacted as well...against the boy. Who knows? The fact is, cats are furry little bundles of thought,emotion, and bravery.
Not the vermin some people would like to say they are.
I'm sure the dog has a story as well. He was apparently owned by the neighbor. Clearly the dog initially saw the movement of the child from the other side of the car (you can see him go on the alert--he could not have seen the whole child from his viewpoint under the car), and attacked basically on instinct. This story is not only about a brave cat defending a child, but a dog who was wandering where he should never have been. In a better life, this might have been a story about this very same dog protecting his owner against a robber or another dog.
The cat's story is about her. The dog's story is about us.
Many cats are very protective. A long while ago (1986), my young female cat Bramble got a plastic shopping bag caught over her head and went zooming around my then-apartment, making a horrendous racket with her hissing and the bag rattling behind her. I finally cornered her and was getting the bag off her neck (she was squalling and hissing the entire time, but not biting me) and Rastus, my very first cat, who had never shown an aggressive cell in his body, leaped on my head with claws a-blazing, not realizing I was helping Bramble. From all the signs Bramble was giving, I was killing her.
I learned that day that Rastus was going to protect any creature he felt was in danger...even if the woman he appeared to love deeply was the one causing the damage.
I freed Bramble, but suffered a deep gash in my scalp and across my nose and eyebrow--the day before my job interview with Ithaca College Campus Safety. I actually scored points in the interview. The interviewers assumed these were scars from my current job with the SPCA. I got the job.
Interestingly enough, the majority of people who saw the damage on my face expected me to have Rastus put down...not realizing that if someone broke into my house and I was the one screaming, Rastus would likely come to my defense as well. People did not see the incident as a "cat protecting someone who was being hurt" but as "a cat who DARED to attack a human."
It's a good thing that the cat in this video didn't stick to her "stereotype" by avoiding attacking a dog. She reacted to defend a creature in danger. Perhaps if that young boy had been beating the dog, she would have reacted as well...against the boy. Who knows? The fact is, cats are furry little bundles of thought,emotion, and bravery.
Not the vermin some people would like to say they are.
I'm sure the dog has a story as well. He was apparently owned by the neighbor. Clearly the dog initially saw the movement of the child from the other side of the car (you can see him go on the alert--he could not have seen the whole child from his viewpoint under the car), and attacked basically on instinct. This story is not only about a brave cat defending a child, but a dog who was wandering where he should never have been. In a better life, this might have been a story about this very same dog protecting his owner against a robber or another dog.
The cat's story is about her. The dog's story is about us.
Monday, May 12, 2014
It's mail time!
I hope people who don't have Facebook can view this. I haven't tried this before. I'm a YouTube kind of girl.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Kiddo needs a new home
I posted awhile back about an indoor/outdoor tom cat we assisted. Kiddo's post is here at this link.
Kiddo's mom is in the hospital and may have to stay where she cannot have cats, so Kiddo needs either a foster home (until we know for sure) or a new home where he can go in and out. I'll try to get a photo of him. He's a great big handsome sweet male orange cat, who would need to be kept indoors for awhile until his homing sense realigns with his new place.
Remember...don't always assume your kids will want your cats when you can no longer care for them. In this case the owner did not get a cat on her own. She reached out to help a stray. But now when she should just be taking care of herself, she is worried for her cat.
Photo to come!
Kiddo's mom is in the hospital and may have to stay where she cannot have cats, so Kiddo needs either a foster home (until we know for sure) or a new home where he can go in and out. I'll try to get a photo of him. He's a great big handsome sweet male orange cat, who would need to be kept indoors for awhile until his homing sense realigns with his new place.
Remember...don't always assume your kids will want your cats when you can no longer care for them. In this case the owner did not get a cat on her own. She reached out to help a stray. But now when she should just be taking care of herself, she is worried for her cat.
Photo to come!
Saturday, May 3, 2014
The cats enjoyed the screened porch again. The best thing I ever did was screen that in.
The cold spring has been good to the daffodils. I have more than enough to enjoy outside, and pick for inside.
The side yard is mostly cleaned up. All the old wood is in one pile, the sticks are picked up, the firepit is cleaned, and I keep picking away at the spring weeds in the memory garden.
The cold spring has been good to the daffodils. I have more than enough to enjoy outside, and pick for inside.
The side yard is mostly cleaned up. All the old wood is in one pile, the sticks are picked up, the firepit is cleaned, and I keep picking away at the spring weeds in the memory garden.
Patter ventures onto the enclosed porch and more spring things
I'm trying to get new photos and video of the cats and kittens. Pitter and Patter ventured out onto the porch today with the rest of the house clan.
Well, I guess the other spring things will go in another post, because Blogger won't let me add photos to this one. Sigh.
Well, I guess the other spring things will go in another post, because Blogger won't let me add photos to this one. Sigh.
Our Amazon Wish List
Sometimes people ask us what we need. There is a PayPal donate button at the right, but we also have an Amazon Wish List, which I just realized is not on the blog. I've added it to the right rail above the photo of Cricket and the mandolin. These are the things we need all the time! Many of them are cheaper if you have Amazon Prime. Otherwise they may be cheaper at local stores.
If any crazy people are feeling especially generous, we are definitely in need of cat vaccines, which we purchase for Revival Animal Health, here at this link. Syringes and needles are not needed for this vaccine (so pay no attention to the "do you have needles?" question on that page. However it does have to be shipped to our home address (Not the PO Box 415, Spencer NY 14883 address), and arrives with ice and a cooler. The intranasal vaccine is "modified live", so it provides immunity faster than "killed" vaccine, and is also easier to administer to small kittens. We can also get intranasal at Tractor Supply but they are often out, and it is far more expensive by the individual dose.
I just stepped into the house from working in the cat facility and the yard, for a quick tick-checking break. And yes, I did find one. If you are trekking around outside, be sure to protect yourself from the little buggers, and throw your clothing in the dryer for ten minutes when you come back in!
If any crazy people are feeling especially generous, we are definitely in need of cat vaccines, which we purchase for Revival Animal Health, here at this link. Syringes and needles are not needed for this vaccine (so pay no attention to the "do you have needles?" question on that page. However it does have to be shipped to our home address (Not the PO Box 415, Spencer NY 14883 address), and arrives with ice and a cooler. The intranasal vaccine is "modified live", so it provides immunity faster than "killed" vaccine, and is also easier to administer to small kittens. We can also get intranasal at Tractor Supply but they are often out, and it is far more expensive by the individual dose.
I just stepped into the house from working in the cat facility and the yard, for a quick tick-checking break. And yes, I did find one. If you are trekking around outside, be sure to protect yourself from the little buggers, and throw your clothing in the dryer for ten minutes when you come back in!
Friday, May 2, 2014
It looks like this dog has had plenty of practice nabbing gloves!
The score at the end is cute. Kudos to the woman near the end who is obviously afraid of the dog but immediately overcomes it to get the glove back!
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Getting the grounds cleaned up
In anticipation of kitten-visitors and Coffee and Kitten Sundays this year, I've gotten as early a start as possible on cleaning up the grounds. First off is the cat memorial garden alongside the house. The garden itself has stayed pretty under-control after the work of dedicated volunteers a few years back (Wow, wait, was that really way back in 2007?). But grass and weeds grow, so thing periodically need a heavy-handed clean up, like the small sun-patio near the firepit:
I've got a wedge-shaped sledgehammer to beat the heck out of the old rotted pallets to get them in the dumpster. I want to put an arch through the middle of the woodpile that will lead into the memorial cat garden.
Speaking of which...
The ground was finally warm enough to lay Ivan and Cricket to rest. I don't think I blogged that Cricket, who was older than Ivan, passed away after she stopped eating. Unlike Ivan, she refused to be force-fed. So now they are together in the cat garden. It's hard to have them gone. My remaining personal pets are three sweet cats, Bear, Rose, and Nellie, who are total clowns (in a good way). I need a scholar's cat. So when I'm done with work travel, Fluffy and Storm will come in the house from the sanctuary. They are seniors as well, but they are grand cats, just like Ivan and Cricket, and are also bonded to one another.
But first...homes for these young cats!
I dug out all the bricks, the mill stone, and flagstones, turfed out the grass, shoveled up roadside gravel after the town's road brush went through tossing all the winter gravel to the shoulder, and got it all put back together.
Then the firepit had to have the ashes dug out of it. So it's ready for its first fire, once the open burning restriction is off in late May.
I moved what was left of the woodpile up on the porch. Let's hope we don't have too many cold nights, because I'm out of fuel...oil, almost all my wood, and NYSEG keeps sending those nasty envelopes reminding me about the electric bill that I'm catching up on. I can rest easy that I'm not the only person in that position--I've talked to lots of people who are mulling over filling up their almost empty oil tank for a heating season that could be a week longer...or a month longer.
That leaves this mess that I'm cleaning up so that I can lay down new pallets and start accumulating next years' wood:
I've got a wedge-shaped sledgehammer to beat the heck out of the old rotted pallets to get them in the dumpster. I want to put an arch through the middle of the woodpile that will lead into the memorial cat garden.
Speaking of which...
The ground was finally warm enough to lay Ivan and Cricket to rest. I don't think I blogged that Cricket, who was older than Ivan, passed away after she stopped eating. Unlike Ivan, she refused to be force-fed. So now they are together in the cat garden. It's hard to have them gone. My remaining personal pets are three sweet cats, Bear, Rose, and Nellie, who are total clowns (in a good way). I need a scholar's cat. So when I'm done with work travel, Fluffy and Storm will come in the house from the sanctuary. They are seniors as well, but they are grand cats, just like Ivan and Cricket, and are also bonded to one another.
But first...homes for these young cats!
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Foster photos
They are getting fuzzier and fatter by the day. Their rescuers/foster home, who will be keeping their feral mom, have named them Billy (the fuzzy one) and Agnes. I think Agnes may become "Aggie" when marketed for adoption.
Too cute!
Too cute!
Gray Kitty and Beemer go home
Gray Kitty and Beemer were returned to their territory a week or so ago, after recovering from fight wounds (probably with each other). Beemer was neutered, so they should co-habitate more gently with one another. Gray Kitty was neutered last year, so he also received his booster vaccinations so he's a legal kitty for another three years.
Promoting cats
Spring is always a time for hope and reflection. (Bit of a cliche there!) More than New Years Day, I think spring is a better time for looking at what you've done well, and what you have not. For example...did you make it through the winter without obsessing about fuel or money to pay for fuel? No? Well, I guess we need to do better next year, then don't we?
Or maybe we should just lay back and soak in the sun...
Bo shows that he can be a pretty as any garden statue
.
Every year I am committed to getting all the older cats adopted so we have plenty of room for kittens. Did that happen? Well, I started out on a roll, but other commitments seemed to get in the way of working more online, having booths at local fairs, etc.
I'm happy to report I have fewer cats at one time than I used to. My place will fit forty. I assure you, however, that would be an overwhelming prospect, so I like to keep it well below 20. I currently have 16 adoptables (two in foster homes), which would be great...if only all of them were properly promoted.
Once upon a time, all you had to do to place a cat was put an ad in the local hard-copy newspaper. That was more than the local shelters were doing. But it's a new age, people. There is Petfinder, plus other adoption portals, Facebook, off-site adoption venues, Twitter, Pinterest, and shelters are doing a really, really good job of promoting their pets, in many areas (although not all). However, that does mean that independent rescuers can't sit just throw an ad in the paper and say "no cats in cages" and have people beat a path to their door.
Luckily with all these great social media tools, there are even OTHER tools that help you manage them. So I'm going to be spreading my wings into that area.
Bo and Davis need to shine their beautiful selves in a new home
I plan to experiment with management tools for Twitter and Facebook, as well as Google Analytics. If anyone has a great tool that has helped them manage social media, please feel free to share in comments!
Or maybe we should just lay back and soak in the sun...
.
Every year I am committed to getting all the older cats adopted so we have plenty of room for kittens. Did that happen? Well, I started out on a roll, but other commitments seemed to get in the way of working more online, having booths at local fairs, etc.
I'm happy to report I have fewer cats at one time than I used to. My place will fit forty. I assure you, however, that would be an overwhelming prospect, so I like to keep it well below 20. I currently have 16 adoptables (two in foster homes), which would be great...if only all of them were properly promoted.
Once upon a time, all you had to do to place a cat was put an ad in the local hard-copy newspaper. That was more than the local shelters were doing. But it's a new age, people. There is Petfinder, plus other adoption portals, Facebook, off-site adoption venues, Twitter, Pinterest, and shelters are doing a really, really good job of promoting their pets, in many areas (although not all). However, that does mean that independent rescuers can't sit just throw an ad in the paper and say "no cats in cages" and have people beat a path to their door.
Luckily with all these great social media tools, there are even OTHER tools that help you manage them. So I'm going to be spreading my wings into that area.
I plan to experiment with management tools for Twitter and Facebook, as well as Google Analytics. If anyone has a great tool that has helped them manage social media, please feel free to share in comments!
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Kittens grow up!
Aren't they cute? They'll be ready for homes soon! If you know anyone looking for a kitten, send them my way!
The gray and white one is full of it! She's afraid of nothing.
The fluffy one is male. He's more laid back and a tiny bit shy.
The gray and white one is full of it! She's afraid of nothing.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
The busy season begins
So we have a feral kitty in Van Etten nursing two kittens, two shy female cats that we just spayed that came to us from a nearby trailer park, and two boys (one neutered and one not) who are a little worse for wear this harsh winter. Beemer here is a newbie at a nearby neutered colony and he has a Thursday appointment to be neutered.
Here they are in their traps, donated to us by the Petco Foundation via their Cat Trap Depot workshops and Susan Rosenberg (who is now with Greater Good) and caught in just a few moments at feeding time by Valarie, their caretaker extraordinaire:
Gray Kitty, who was neutered last year, has a bite in his ear, probably dealt by Beemer, and needs his vaccinations updated.
Gray Kitty, while shy outdoors, likes having his chin scritched. I think he's on his way to being a friendly fellow and he'll likely worm his way into his caretaker's home soon. ;)
Saturday, April 5, 2014
BlogPaws
Are any readers here going to the BlogPaws conference in Las Vegas? Please leave a comment if you are!
Bo fetches
I've been allowing Bo to come downstairs. He's a sweet cat who never picks on anyone, unlike his brother Davis, who will stalk poor Nellie. He doesn't touch her, but just the staring makes my home a House of Hisses which spikes my blood pressure.
I discovered Bo likes to carry a particular toy around. I would turn around and find the toy was often near me, even though I had moved from spot to spot with my laptop to work. Today I discovered he will fetch.
Sort of.
He's such a sweet boy. This weekend is "promotion weekend." I've been lax about getting these cats on all the different adoption portals. It's time to take some photos!
I discovered Bo likes to carry a particular toy around. I would turn around and find the toy was often near me, even though I had moved from spot to spot with my laptop to work. Today I discovered he will fetch.
Sort of.
He's such a sweet boy. This weekend is "promotion weekend." I've been lax about getting these cats on all the different adoption portals. It's time to take some photos!
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