Sunday, April 29, 2012

Maestro photos snitched from Facebook

More grown-up shots of Maestro.




Food fears

I realize this is not cat related, however I have more readers here than on Feral By Nature and this is important. It was also something I was unware of.

Do you know that when you go out for a Sunday buffet, and decide to splurge on that filet mignon special, what you are eating could just be cheap meat glued together...with a glue that is NOT a food.

Check this out. I know I'll never be tempted into eating steak again. I was just talking to a friend a few weeks ago about how I had given in to my memory of a really good steak, and ordered one while traveling for work, with the "justification" that I could take part back to my hotel room for Molly-the-dog. I had about two bites and put it aside, because it just didn't taste all that good. I told my friend that I likely would never order steak again. I figured I'd lost my taste for it, which was, I thought, a good thing. Now I wonder if what I had been eating at the hotel restaurant wasn't even steak. And who did eat it? My poor little mutt back in the hotel room.



And did you know those "natural" Kashi-brand cereals and other products aren't so natural?

“You might be wondering where your favorite Kashi cereals have gone. It has recently come to our attention that 100% of the soy used in Kashi products is Genetically Modified, and that when the USDA tested the grains used there were found to be pesticides that are known carcinogens and hormone disruptors.”

That’s the sign posted in the cereal aisle of a Portsmouth, Rhode Island grocery store called the Green Grocer. It’s been hanging there for a few months, but earlier this week, someone snapped a photo and posted it to online—and then it went viral.

Let’s back up for a minute. John Wood, who owns the store, actually removed the Kashi products from his store back in February, after reading a 2011 report from a group called the Cornucopia Institute, an advocacy group that supports organic farmers. The report states that only four of Kashi’s 24 cereal products are actually certified organic and that Kellogg, the umbrella company that owns Kashi, “purchases genetically engineered ingredients for its ‘natural’ Kashi products,” including chemically processed soy.

When Wood got wind of this, he pulled most of the Kashi products from his shelves and posted the sign. Photos of the sign were posted online this week—and now people are pissed. (ed: at Kashi/Kelloggs)

Here is Kashi's response.

And then there is the wonder store Whole Foods. Someone finally looked at their labels and noted that some of their packaged organic vegetables come from China. With China's poor track record of food oversight...really? Organic vegetables from China in one of the supposed highest tier food stores in the United States? What's up with that?



Here is the response from Whole Foods.

Now I realize trusting the media is a lot like trusting food marketers. Just as food marketers are trying to sell food and make a profit, the media sells stories.

Nonetheless...

Looking in my cupboard, I wonder how many foods I buy that I think are healthy, and that I might in fact be paying more for, specifically to eat better, that are in fact poisoning me (us).


I have been struggling over what to feed my cats so I'm not killing them with melamine and low-grade pesticide-aided corn and other grains. (I don't even want to think about the so-called meat in there, and the animal suffering involved in obtaining it). Now it appears that I need to have the same fears about what I eat...not just when I knowingly purchase junk food, but even when I try to purchase food that is supposed to be "good for me."

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Seven cats, one night

I'm finishing up the Lisle farm colony. There appears to be just a few tom cat stragglers, that will require setting a bunch of traps all weekend, letting out the cats who have already been altered, until the stragglers are all captured.

I went by Tuesday night to return a cute little orange tom and the Mom Cat, bearer of many beautiful litters of kittens. Well, she will bear no more, and hopefully she can concentrate on enjoying the sun and hunting mousies in the field.





However, as the farmer was coming out to greet me, she was being followed by a little black cat I had not yet trapped, who was limping badly. I was sure I had not altered the black cat; the farmer was sure I had. I had her scoop the little guy up and stuff him in one of the vacated crates from the cats I had just released. I reached in and copped a feel. Testicles. My memory was correct (a few of the cats had missed being eartipped by the clinic they are going to). I figured I would have the veterinarian take a peek at his paw while he was getting altered, and maybe keep him an extra few weeks for cage rest. No biggee.

Then the farmer mentioned one of the house cats, Billie, had been hit by a car almost two weeks ago. This was a pet cat she had gotten altered herself last year. I went in the house, and Billie was carrying one paw (there appears to be some nerve damage, but he can move the leg back and forth, and he does use it when running). However, he had a broken lower canine that was cutting his upper lip. The farmer could not afford the many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dollars she knew she would pay at the vet, so she had given him antibiotics and let him be. He probably could have limped by this way permanently, but the tooth definitely had to go. So we chased poor Billie around until we could get him in a crate, too.

Two cats coming, two cats going. So much for empty cages.

At this point, I really wanted some human contact, but it was nearly nine pm, and in this area, the world shuts down at 9 on a Tuesday night. Worse yet, all the places that closed at 9 looked happy and warm inside with people who were finishing up their meals, mocking me with what I had missed out on. So I headed home. As I drove down 17C I noticed the neon sign at the small wine store was blinking "Open." Huh. I stopped, and the owner and clerk were breaking down boxes. They had forgotten the light was on. The owner smiled at the clerk. "She's too short to reach it," he said as he let me in. "Go ahead and buy." It wasn't the wine so much as human conversation I needed. I bought a bottle of NYS white, laughed with them for a bit, and headed home.

But then, on Halsey Valley Road, I saw eyes on the left and slowed down. One of the nearby farmer's cats, I figured.

Then the cat launched herself into the road, straight in front of my car. I yelled "NO" and hit the brakes, but I felt the *thump* as I hit her. I immediately pulled over into the dirt entry to the dry gas well, grabbed my flashlight, and jumped out.

There was no cat in the road. DAMN! I would have preferred a dead cat to a missing injured cat. Some readers may find that heartless, but I knew how hard I had hit that cat, and she didn't escape that without serious injury.

Suddenly I heard "MEOW! MEOW! MEOW!" and thought I had found my victim. The cry was coming up by my ear, though? I shown my flashlight around, and there, only an arm's reach away by my face, was a small calico longhaired kitten, perched on top of a fence post, squalling her heart out.

She wasn't near where I had hit the cat, and she seemed much smaller than the cat I hit. I knew how a kitten ran, and I hadn't hit a kitten.

Where there was one kitten and a mom cat, there were more kittens. I scooped this trembling little kitten up and put her in my jacket. She didn't stop yelling, which I figured was a good thing. Maybe her siblings would answer. It was clear what I had here wasn't just a farm cat. It was a mother cat and kittens abandoned at the dry gas well where it was easy for someone to pull off. No one would question an idling car here. Everyone stopped here because it was the last place into the valley where you could catch a cell signal. People sat here all the time.

I realized suddenly I had no crates. They were all full of injured barn cats.

As I swung my flashlight, I caught a little movement down the road toward the dry well. I walked down and looked into the grass, and saw two little faces staring back at me. Two kittens were burrowed down tight into the grass, not moving an inch.

Well, crap! What was I going to put them in? I went back in the car and poked around. I knew better than to let them loose in the car. I'd end up with kittens up in the dashboard. Finally I pulled out an empty Friskies bag. I figured the crackling would scare the kittens, but they were terrified into stillness. I put my little friend in first, and then went back to the kittens. They let me scruff them and pull them from the grass, and lower them into the bag.



I looked and looked with the flashlight, but didn't see any more kittens. I dumped a can of tuna out on a paper plate and left it where I had found them. I took one last walk up and down the road, hoping to find the cat I hit. No dice.

Once I was home, I cleaned cages and set the new cats and kittens up. Terrified eyes stared at me all around. What a sad sight. I had taken two cats home, and came back with five!





The next morning I got up and went back out into the frost and sun. The tuna was missing from the plate, and another set of eyes and a tiny nose gleamed from the grass. This kitten was burrowed down as far as she could get, trying to stay warm all night on her own. I pulled her out and crated her, then carefully pressed down on all of the old grass, not wanting to leave anyone behind.

Eight curious heifers came over to see what I was doing. They followed me all up and down the fence line on the gas road, and then all up and down the paved road as I looked again for the cat.

No one stopped to ask me how I was the night before. No one stopped today. Ten years ago, three or four people would have stopped.

No one stops any more.

(This is not true, of course. Last summer I stopped when I notice a pulled-over car with a man fallen on the shoulder. Another woman stopped at the same time I did. An older couple had been changing drivers when the man fell. He just needed help getting up. The woman and I each got an elbow and lifted him up. We exchanged long looks when we all parted. You could see that "Thank God it wasn't a heart attack because I don't know if I remember my CPR" look in both our glances, I'm sure. I always wish I'd asked that woman's name. I'm sure we could have been friends).



The kittens and Billie have a veterinarian's appointment Friday. The black cat will go to the clinic next week. I may be transferring the kittens to another shelter. At the moment, one shelter has no kittens at all, and needs kittens to keep people visiting (to hopefully fall in love with an adult!) but that could change by next week when these little girls are ready to go. I have two inquiries via a rant I left on Craigslist (more on that later) however if another shelter will take on the spay/neuter of these little girls, that would be a huge help to me. There will be plenty more kittens later this year when the shelters are totally full.

A big "thank you" to my friends on Facebook who expressed support when I ranted there after getting the cats all set up in cages.

So spring begins.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

I finally have all of the screen secured on the front porch, so today was the Big Day. I opened the front door....and left it open.


Senior cat Cricket immediately found something to climb on. Nellie, my shy girl, was more hesitant.

Bear, who is the only indoor/outdoor cat, preferred to stay inside while the others explored the screened porch.

Ivan was out as well, but his photos all came out fuzzy.


After awhile, as I got darker, I noticed I was all alone except for Molly.

They were all back in the house, asleep on the couch.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Thank goodness for humans, because computers drive me crazy



I spend most of my day with my laptop for work. I use a variety of tools that need to be opened up (in a certain order, so it's easy to find them when I switch back and forth throughout the day. In my personal life I'm also on the computer, managing my Petfinder account, blogging, answering email, etc. I've chosen my tools for my personal life based on ease of use. Sadly, Blogger, which use to be like a great big friendly dog who wanted only to lead you home, has been turned by Google into a perfectly uninspiring virtual room. I made the mistake of clicking on "upgrade" and now I'm in a blogging editor with teeny tiny icons instead of Bloggers great big friendly buttons. I tried to experiment with changing my template, and the template examples are now weenie little thumbnails (wth?). Google has also decided that both of my Blogger blogs MUST be linked to a gmail account. The Owl House was already linked to my Wildrun gmail account, but Google decided to link Feral By Nature to an obscure gmail account I opened for special event. If I have my Wildrun gmail account open, and log in blogger to work on Feral By Nature, if I go back to gmail, either it logs me into the unused gmail account, or when I go back to my blog, I'm in The Owl House, and my post for Feral By Nature is destroyed (because it doesn't know where to save). Humph. So if you wonder why I have not been blogging, it is because Google has taken something that was once very enjoyable to me, and turned it into one more thing that makes my life just a little more of a pain in the ass. BUT on a better note, it is spring, and with spring come People. No one ventures out here after the Christmas rush (except Christy!). People would come out if I would invite them, but mostly I'm gearing up for spring work travel (all done!).However people do come in the spring--in fact, boatloads of them are showing up this weekend. So I will be thumping the Google demon into submission in order to post again. I'll be looking at other blogging options. Maybe Google will come up with something to make their meddling worth it, or I'll go get glasses, one or the other. Whine, whine, whine. To rouse myself up out of my morning annoyance, I have posted a photo of Jack and the Leewit that Mary sent earlier this winter. Now it's out to the cat facility to visit cats and clean!

Post note: where the hell are the paragraph breaks? PLEASE don't tell me I have to use html now to have breaks in my text?

I do. I freaking have to use html now. Google, what the heck are you thinking?

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Beans gets his new home

He looks happy, don't you think?




Tortellini's new home also checked in, and she's doing great. Now we just have to get Bounder a place of his own. His awfully lonely with just these stodgy old cats for company. It's a good thing Molly the dog plays with him.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Beans gets a visitor.

A couple from Rochester is coming to visit Beans late this afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed for him! Let's hope they can provide him with new amusement rides, if they don't have a wood carrier.



Yes, another change of color on the blog. I discovered that what looked like a nice calm deep burgundy on my screen(s) could be a real eye-bleeder on others. I'll mess around with a new template soon, since I need to change the banner from winter to summer anyway.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Some of you have been clamoring for a grown-up photo of Hope for two years now...


Here is Hope's baby photo And her mom, Faith, was just adopted this past winter.

Her pet-parent Cary is looking for a job and I snitched Hope's photo from there. So if you know of someone who is hiring, Cary is here on her professional web site.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Toxoplasmosis in cats. Not as common as anti-cat folk would have you believe?

Your morning science reading is here.

Vox Felina will gladly sum it up for you here.

I'll add a graphic later. My computer needs a re-start.

Bees in the family.

For some reason, the young men in my family are beekeepers. And I think it is the greatest thing.

My nephew Joshua began working with bees a number of years ago. I didn't realize my nephew-by-marriage Kagan in NH was also a beekeeper until he posted his Kickstarter fundraising program on Facebook.

Here's an article that I'm not sure everyone in my family has seen.

Of course, they are both so far away it's hard as hell for me to get my honey from them (I must stock up the next time I see Josh). Nonetheless, it's nice to think of family anytime I see a bee in my yard.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Monday, March 5, 2012

Firefighter saves...and adopts!...a cat from a fire

The story is here.

I always enjoy going over to Google Images and googling "firefighter cats" for photos of firefighters who have saved cats and other animals from fires.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Sigh.

I wish that we could say in the United States that we had a rescued shelter pet on guard at The White House.

Double sigh. Canada, too.

Returned "Luther" to the barn. More kitties to go...

The farm owners weren't home, so Tigger the house cat came back with me. At least Tigger uses the litterbox. Luther peed on top of his feral cat den and pooped inside it. In fact, not a single tiger/white cat from this barn will use a litterbox when caged. They all use their towels, which has made clean-up extremely unpleasant.

Lots more kitties to go. These cats still need to be caught.



The cows are always curious as to what I'm up to.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

And we're off!

"damned SoftPaws. why did you put these on me?"

Because you are going to your new home, Tortellini!

On animal shelters, tornadoes, and national groups


Tornadoes have once again swept across the midwest and south. I know we'd like to believe the increased disasters (along with our frighteningly snowless winter her in central NYS) are just a passing thing.

I think we need to get used to it. I expect we'll see more tornadoes here in NY this summer as well. That said, there are a number of groups who have stepped forward into the ever-increasing need for disaster relief. It is frightening how well-organized the response has had to become.

Leading the way is the ASPCA, who is already on-site in Taney County and Branson, MO. ASPCA has not one, but several, regional response teams.. IFAW also has a response trailer, co-funded by the Petfinder.com Foundation. In addition, Petsmart Charities has their Emergency Relief Waggin. There are also countless regional and local County/Disaster Animal Response Teams (CARTS or DARTS) across the United States.

I'm sure I've missed a few and I'll plug them in as the day goes on.

National groups have been getting a lot of flack lately for stumping for donations by advertising that they "help shelter pets," as if they run a physical shelter network. However, in the area of disaster response, national groups have stepped up to the plate, and more will be needed of them in the future.

Hurricane Katrina was a huge wake-up call, where way too many "suits" from too many national groups were bumping into one another being inefficient. It was the first huge disaster that required organizations to work in close proximity, and even on top of one another. Even Petfinder, which is a "virtual" web-based adoption portal (for whom I work) sent staff to take photos of the pets in emergency shelters, because there simply wasn't anyone else to do it. There was no power, so there were no computers. Organizations who normally did not do this type of response found themselves in a whole new world.

After Katrina it became clear that national groups needed to train and trust competent field personnel to respond and run disaster response. National groups needed to be more willing to work together, to be able to cover the many disasters occurring sometimes simultaneously across the U.S.

I have been to several of the ASPCA training programs on disaster mitigation that they give for the sheltering community, and they are practical and excellent.

When donating to national groups, if you are uncertain where your money is going, feel free to earmark it for US disaster relief, and you can be fairly certain it's being used properly.

You can always feel comfortable clicking that little button on checkout for Petsmart Charities, and in giving to the Petco Foundation as well. Both of those charities are generous to the max, and their administrators are on the road responding or teaching, in addition to assessing needs and distributing funds. There are no slackers at either of those charities, I can assure you.

You can also sign up to get trained to be a part of your local CART/DART. Call your county government to be directed properly.

On Facebook, here is the link to a Tornado pets page to keep updated nationally on animal shelter/tornado impacts: https://www.facebook.com/USTornadoPets

You can always give directly to shelters who have been impacted by a disaster. If you are the skeptical sort and want to be sure 100% of your money goes to supplies, gift cards to Walmart or Tractor Supply go a long, long way. If you are going to give a gift card, be as generous as you can. If someone has to go to a store, $100 makes the trip far more worthwhile than $25.

One sad heads-up when giving gift cards during disasters: make a phone call to be sure the store hasn't been flattened, too.

Inevitably I hear people say "How can you worry about animals when there are people who need help." I cannot say enough:

HELPING ANIMALS HELPS PEOPLE.

Look at the gentleman in the top photo. Don't you think he wants to be able to go somewhere, now, where both he and his dog will be accepted? Lacking that, don't you think he wants to know there is a place where his dog can temporarily be cared for? If his dog were missing, would he not be able to more easily concentrate on himself or his family if he knew there were others out there looking for lost pets, and an emergency shelter where he could check for his lost pet?

When cops and firemen are working the debris, don't you think they appreciate being able to hand off found kittens, cats, and dogs, not to mention cage-pets and other critters, off to animal services people, rather than having to figure out what to do with them while they are trying to help people?

Suck it up, "dissers". People who provide animal services are serving people, and communities as well, and people who give to those organizations are supporting disaster areas just as surely as people who give to human services.


Via CNN

Friday, March 2, 2012

Picking away at the farm cats

Two at a time:



It's bonus time at work, so I'm going to spring for a handful of new traps, because that's going to be the only way I'm going to get all these kids. Some are just too friendly and keep going in the traps.

Tortellini was adopted (again!). She will go to her new home this weekend.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Simon checks in

Cary sent in a photo of Simon tending to a foster kitten. Like Elsa, Simon was from the streets of Waverly. Hopefully Elsa will find a home just as full of safety and love.