Another Due Any Minute!And RANTING! GRR!

I FINALLY was able to trap this (heavy with kittens to be) feral today. Groan. :rolleyes: I suspect there will be another family in a day or two here. This is it for me for a while....next very pregnant one goes elsewhere! :D Already lining up foster homes for others I encounter in my travels. I'm dealing with way too many areas right now and am getting overwhelmed at the enormity of the problem out there. The jerks where I got this one have yet to offer to sponser spays/neuters etc. thinking I have endless wealth. I was very blunt a while ago when I started dealing with a few from there, that it all comes out of my pocket. :mad:I am self employed and work very few hours right now, so I'm chronically broke! I had to get tranqs. from the vets a few days ago in order to catch a badly injured feral from the same yard. Paid for by yes....me! Poor cat had a severely broken leg and probably other injuries as well. This cat was hit by a car almost 3 weeks ago and these people never bothered to call anyone (they had my # though not given to them by me grrr) but they were too stupid to pick up the phone and get help for this cat!:mad: :mad: :mad: After an aggravating three days I finally netted this cat and sent her to the Rainbow Bridge as she was in horrible pain and it showed. I didn't have the vast amounts of $$$ it would have taken to patch this cat up. Yet they have $$$ to buy crystal knicknacks from Cash's Of Ireland! Big buck items. I'm done. I'll help the cats that are still out there and that's it for this family. :mad: Done ranting too....:rolleyes: Jan

The situation there sounds totally overwhelming! Thank you for helping the kittens you have already helped. It's hard to accepot, but sometimes there is only SO MUCH one person can do! Are there no rescue organisations in your area who will help with the costs? I have a wonderful vet here who drops his prices really low for my TNRs, although it still costs me a bit, it's not as much as if it was a pet.

It sounds like you have done as much as you can - you need to remember the words of this poem by Jim Willis:

If you consider that we cannot save them all,
and what difference does one make?
you ought to know the joy of the one who is saved.
Mourne those we cannot save, it is a eulogy to their being.
Do not let their loss be in vain.

Be kind to yourself, remember your needs
and those of your family and friends of every species.
If you give everything, what will you have left for yourself, or for them?
Srtive to be happy and healthy. You are needed.
Achieving balance in life is a lifelong struggle.
We who help those who do not have all that they need
should be among the most grateful for what we have.

If anger wells up within you, because people are the problem,
remember your humanity, and that people are also the solution.

(((HUGS))) to you for all you have done, and are doing, for these precious kitties.

Jan,

Sounds like it's time for you to take a step back, take a deep breath and keep telling yourself, "I can't save them all, I can't save them all."

What you have done is miraculous!! Burn out comes VERY quickly in any animal rescue. Sometimes you just gotta take a break.

You rock!

Ally Cat& Moo's Mom, I have a discount at my local vets, and my own account (Rascal's Rescue) but I don't have the funding to pay for these cats that this couple don't want back anyway. I took about 15 kittens from there, at the end of last year, and housed, fed, socialized and then placed them all. I don't adopt them myself, but bring them to shelters who do the screening and most of the medical work. I do the initial FVRCP vacs myself as I've had panleuk. hit here a few times. It just aggravates me that these people can't shell out $20.00 here and there to defray my expenses. I'm certainly not looking to make any money from this, but it helps when people out there realise that it takes even a small donation of food or litter or whatever in order for me to avoid the poor farm! I have my own cats, dogs etc. to care for as well. I have to keep chanting my little mantra to myself...Blessed are those who expect nothing......And then carry on right? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: I know that I can't save them all, that's not rational thinking by any means, but if I can keep a queen or two from birthing in the streets, it's a big plus for the kittens. ;)

I don't know if you have one close by there we have a clinic that does spay and neuters for low cost of free for rescuers. I is not part of our shelter(kill) We have been given land and mobles to make it and voluter vets. If not mabe you could help these animals by setting up one. we started by having a rotating place mostly the armorys in the area and a lot of the service men and women helped out.

For what little it helps, I know just how you feel! Our credit cards are all maxed out now, and our cash is running very low... so needless to say, rescuing any further is out of the question. I just pray from day to day that none of the ones we are currently housing, have any major medical issues come up any time soon!:rolleyes: :(

I'm earning my halo is the way I have to look at things! I tell people that St. Peter's going to meet me at The Pearly Gates and hand me hip waders and a giant gold plated litter scoop. :D :rolleyes: :D

Quote:

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I tell people that St. Peter's going to meet me at The Pearly Gates and hand me hip waders and a giant gold plated litter scoop.

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ROFLMAO!!!!! What no DIAMOND STUDDED litter scoop???

But Donna, The treasures are in the litterbox! Can't have diamonds encrusted in the scoop or they may fall off and get buried. I'll go with platinum though! :D ;) :D Jan

Who are these horrible cretins that live so close to you Jan? Maybe I've missed something here but isn't there an organization like a human society that they can be reported to? That's animal cruelty and should be reported as such. In most places all animals need to have shots and be licensed, even cats. Bless you for trying to help but you need some official support here I'd say. Where on the East Coast are you? Maybe I can find some help with my mid-Atlantic contacts :(
Laurie

Laurie, Been down that path before of reporting people to ASPCA etc. They won't do anything if the animal is being fed, and don't deal with ferals except to pick up trapped ones and snuff them. Animal Control around here is a joke. I think I've picked up more HBC (hit by car) than he has. I'll get whatever cats can be placed from this couple, and then they can go you know where. ;) P.S I'm near "Bahsten" as it's pronounced here.

Animal control around here is a joke also. Basically, if they get involved, the animal is put to sleep. I talked to some pure breed rescue groups and they said that Animal Control has no interest in saving the animals -- they won't even pick up the phone to call the rescue group if they think they have a pure breed there.

Thank you for all that you do to help these babies.

Also useless is MSPCA. Jan and I tumbled upon a severly injured yellow tabby young male while investiging a different problem in Dorchester sev. years ago. Noticed on someone's back porch was a dirty litter box and other evidence of once having had a cat but not anymore..
Just as we got inside the apt. building to the apt. door to knock or prowl (i don't remember) the cat came up some cellar stairs limping and mewing. We scooped him up and brought him right to the vets. And, oddly enough, on the apt. door was a business card from the law enforcement office of MSPCA. But we didn't know there would be a connection between the apt. and the cat.
The next day, we were out there on the original mission (2 females abandoned by owners- find them was the assignment per the rescue group we were then volunteering with and that's a whole other too long story!). We saw the MSPCA van and the guy knocking on the apt door and laid low. When he was getting in his van, we got out of the car and asked him why he was there. Turned out he was responding to an animal abuse case re: the cat we had!
He was very pleased that we had him (Benji) and asked for copies of the medical record so he could place charges against the owner. Benji had a ruptured spleen and multiple other injuries. He was fixed up and the paperwork sent to MSPCA. The court judge saw the medical paperwork and placed no charges (that I remember-jan, correct me if i'm wrong). I think the owner was told "no new pets for 2 years" and I remember being informed that there is not enough employees with MSPCA to make sure this is honored!

Leslie, I seem to recall with that poor injured kitten that the MSPCA investigator said they couldn't do much without having the cat in their posession. They would have done the bare minimum as far as treating his multiple fractures, ruptured diaphragm, ruptured spleen, and injuries to his legs. One old fracture, and one newer one. In other words they would have made sure he was stabilized and nothing more. Held as evidence and not an animal in critical need of emergency care. Yup...that's how things are around here. And this boy was sweet as could be after all that abuse.

I suppose that makes sense- I thought the vet paperwork was enough... so had we given MSPCA the cat, charges would have been carried out? But cat would have not gotten full treatment? What a screwed up system!
I remember too that he was adopted very quickly. Wonder if he's still alive and how he is doing? Sigh......Was that the same day we found Bogie in the abandoned house full of bug spray and boarded up tight?

moosmom- I giggled in my head when you reminded QS. that she can't save the world! Because she is hell-bent on it! she has gotten over 200 cats out of an area in lynn, (behind a dairy factory here where they were dumped and breeding and sick, sick, sick..- it took several years) let alone Chelsea, E. boston, Revere, etc.... She has helped so many elderly "feeders" and people that are poor and care but need help because of the breeding..
She was on a local news channel a few years ago for the work she does on her own.. she was dubbed "Trapper Jan". Sorry if this embarresses you jan but it's a good thing!
She picks up sick birds, physically abused pups, turtles and most recently an Iguana that was not being taken care of properly (Carmen). She's a true gem to the animal world.

Thanks for all the reminders of all the cats etc. I've caught. Someday I'll have to tally up the total from all my calendars and you may be attending my funeral after I do that! Thanks Leslie for making my head swell too! :) And yes...Hell bent is a good term! Or is it more PC to call it heck bent? :confused:

Yes Bennie was the same day we got Bogie from that insect bombed boarded up house, where neighbors had watched this one cat left behind by who else...(Animal Control) scratch frantically at the filthy windows for almost two weeks. No food, but he must have had access to water or he would have been dead. That was fun risking arrest while kicking in a panel in the back door in order to prop a trap on cinder blocks, and sit back and pray!And Bennie went to a terrific home that (Miss AMT) said "no" to as the woman had 5 other cats. Grrr! I got the womans # through Marcia and called her and she took Ben home. AMT forgot all about telling her NO!:rolleyes: But I took the picture I think that the sweet new owner sent of Bennie in her arms. So there!:p

I'm curious as to how many you've saved! you were doing it long before i met you 10 years ago (?).
Poor Bogie... that's why when i heard the murder/suicide story from Jen that I worried. ARL is very unthorough and cats get boarded up, probably everytime in these situations. What about the chelsea article with 40 cats? Do we know for a fact that they are all accounted for? (the bathtub that fell through the floor from cat urine supposedly...)

QSA and Leslie,

You two remind me of the Thelma & Louise of the cat rescue community!!! But in a good way. I admire your tenacity and spunk at rescuing SO many unwanted and abandoned cats out there. You epitaphs should read "So MANY cats, so little time!!" You guys have my utmost respect. Just remember to watch your backs and stay safe!!

(((hugs))))

Donna, Good one...Thelma & Louise! I have to admit trapping can be addictive especially when the one you REALLY want is going into the trap! Then the adrenaline starts pumping until YES the cat is caught. Alway's watching over the shoulders too ;) Jan