save more cats!

Did you know that people save more dogs than cats? :mad:I think people should start saving more cats!!! :D

Hey, some people like dogs, some cats, they save what they want and like, can't help them! Everyones taste is different you know!

Every life is precious and every effort should be made to save them - big or small.

The problem is in the difference between the nature of the dog and the cat.

Actually, there are more cats in homes than dogs (US only statistic, I don't know about the rest of the world). BUT....

Dogs generally go into heat only once or twice a year. Cats generally never go out of heat until spayed or bred.

Although dogs are certainly notorious for getting out, a cat in heat, or a randy tom looking for a cat in heat, can escape confinement much more easily.

Few dogs are left to roam, most are confined in some manner or another. Only strictly indooor cats are confined. (And the type person who would not spay or neuter is not generally the type that would keep the cat indoors only).

Stray dogs are less self-sufficient than cats, and are either captured and euthanized or killed pretty quickly. Cats can roam for years.

So, we are doing our best to keep all those puppers and kitties (and buns etc...) out of the shelters but cats are disadvantaged from the start. The FIRST step is to spay and neuter. Adoption is the clean-up when the first step was not done.

Thanks, L4C, for bringing this to our attention. Even on a petlover's board, it always bears repeating, becuase we never know who may be lurking!

I'm trying to help those (cats & dogs)
that happen to wander into the neighborhood
and are obviously in need of food,shelter
or a kind word from a human being..
A white long haired cat showed up about
1 1/2 weeks ago and I have been feeding him
and trying to get him to trust me enough to
get close so I can check out his general
health.He has several 'marks' across his
nose and generaly acts pretty beat up &
tired of life. I'm pretty sure it is the
same 'pure white ,beautifully clean' cat
that was brought into the neighborhood
about 2 yrs ago by new neighbors.He was once
accepted by my outdoor cat (Momma Kitty)
who sleeps in my garage, but now she does
not allow him into the garage (food & shelter). I've been feeding him on my front porch both dry & wet food and he gobbles it
up. I've put out a 'chair pillow' on a
porch chair where he can sleep in the
afternoon sun and stay somewhat warm but
it's getting very cold at night, and I must
make a decision soon to trap & bring to the
vet for a check up & try to work him into
the garage for shelter or keep feeding him
were he is and hope for the best.
My Momma kitty accepted him once, but he
does not act as confident as he once was
& also needs to be cleaned up.

Well guess what? The long haired white cat
started to answer me with a 'meow' whenever
I talked to him & has stopped running away
from me outside. If fact, he's following
me everywhere I go when I'm outside & he's
just talking up a storm. He's even wanting
to be petted. Definately not a feral!
I can now see clearly that he has several
deep scratches on his chest & one fresh
scratch on his face.He's going to the vets
Monday morning to be neutered & have doc
look at & treat his wounds.
He treats Momma kitty with great deference
& she's relenting a little bit.He's now
out of the weather & sleeps inside the garage overnight. He's picked out a box
that's full of old clothes & spends most of his time just eating or sleeping.
I think I've just got another cat...

Congrats lizbud,

I once saw an all white cat that looked like a twin for Lamoni. I fell for him. Too cute.

What color are your new baby's eyes? Hope everything goes okay at the vets.

Thanks Big Charles,
His eyes seem to change color according to
the light.At first they looked a pale blue color, but this morning they look hazel
colored. The scratches on his chest did not
look quite as red, but I'm sure he needs to
be fully looked over by the vet.I've been
watching Momma Kitty's reactions when I'm around them both, and while she will not
'touch noses' with him, she seems much more
at ease. I would never try to keep another
kitty if it stressed Momma Kitty to much,
no matter how much I loved it.Momma has been
with me now for about six years & I promised
her a home & love for the rest of her life.

Hello Lizbud!I am glad to hear about those good signs. I know it isn´t over yet (Momma Kitty needs to get used to a new pal!!) but I´m sure you´ll manage to make them get on well with each other, with a little patience, of course! And I hope you´ll receive good news from the vet... Will you keep us updated??
I know how sad is to find cats on the streets that you know they once belonged to a household. They´re not prepared for the life in the streets and must suffer a lot, discovering they can´t trust humans anymore and fighting other cats :( Abandoning pets is a most horrible thing to do, I can´t understand how can someone do that, but, anyway, they keep on doing it, so let´s not waste time trying to understand and go for saving all we can instead! Thank you for being so caring!

Nita

Building a cat house in your backyard

In our backyard, we have had several stray cats, one neutered male is still living there. When we moved in 8 years ago, he was sleeping in an old pram someone had left.

A few of us decided to build houses for them. We got some Polystyrene boxes from the grocery which had contained vegetables and we taped two together. We cut a hole in one end (along the lenght of the box, to avoid the wind going through), then we covered the box in thick plastic - also taped on with good strong tape and put some old blankets in. The cats immediately moved in and has been there ever since. As you can imagine, it can get pretty cold in Denmark in the winter, but now, they're not freezing their paws and ears off. It will probably be a good idea to choose some plastic which blend in with the background color.

We also take turns feeding them - about the same time every evening, after the birds have gone to rest, otherwise they will steal the food.

This may be an idea for other catlovers - it´s certainly a cheap solution and quite easy to do- and best of all THE CATS LOVE IT!

Good luck!

:D

Well, I dropped off the white kitty at the Vets yesterday
after work & he had his surgery this morning. The Vet called
me at work after he had been put under to tell me that there
were some complications. Kitty had to have two claws removed,
one from each hind paw. One nail had been broken off at the base & the other was torn away from the paw and had become
infected. The vet is giving him antibiotics & will be keeping him
overnight to recoup a little till I can bring him home tomorrow.
I could clearly see the scratches on the kitty, but had no idea
about his paws. I just called the Vets, and they said he was
resting comfortably. Guess I better start thinking about a name
for the little guy...

I went to pick up my kitty today, but the vet wanted
me to leave him at the clinic overnight again. The vet
was very concerned about the site of the "declawing"
on two toes on his hind feet becoming infected. They
have given Sugar(my name for him), two baths & a flea
treatment He looks Beautiful!! He could be a show cat
he's so handsome. Beautiful ,totally white ,long hair !!
I have a different vet for the cats than I do for my dog.
The Kitty's vet works with local groups who take in both
stray & feral cats, if you pay for their neuter/spay and
FIV/ FLV testing. I get the feeling that this vet has
taken a special interest in this cat b/c he loves white
cats, everyone at the clinic kept saying what a
"Sweetie-pie" he is.... I really want Sugar to be an
indoor only cat so he never has to go through this
again, but I cannot keep him as an indoor cat.(4 is my limit)
for the size house I have. He could stay in my garage with
Momma Kitty & I would feed and care for him , but I fear
for his safty outdoors. If the vet can find him a 'indoor'
home, I would let him go for his own good.

The white kitty, Sugar, came back home with me
on Friday (1-18-02). The vet sent antibiotics home
with him(Amoxicillin) liquid. Sugar already looks a lot
better than he used to. He is very affectionate with
me but was totally freaked out by everything inside
the house.The tv,radio, furnace going on & off. and
of course, my other cats. They are living in separate
areas of the house for now and I really don't think
they all will be happy campers ever. I want to keep him
indoors at least until he finishes his RX. He's shown some
progress getting accustomed to the house noises,
including the DOG.(Hates the DOG). Anyway in refreshing
my memory about how to go about cat introductions. I
found this site called,

http://methuen-mspca.org/petcare/htm/catintro.htm

It is an excellent bit of advice for anyone interested
in thinking about bring in a new addition to a cat household.

{{{Lizbud, Sugar, rest of the fur babies}}},

Thanks for the progress report. Poor guy sounds a little traumatized... Hope things work out for you. Hang in there. I'm sure your goal of keeping him until the medicine takes effect will do him a world of good. (Much luck surviving that long. ;) ) You're a good pet mommy! :D

Congratulations Lizbud! I think you have handled the situation very well. :) I can tell you really care! So, now is the time for patience. It's very difficult to keep an outdoor cat inside, but you will be able to, after a while.

When we first got Fister indoors, he wanted to go out all the time (his mum was still in the backyard) and we let him out, but he kept coming back and stayed for longer and longer at a time and now he hardly ever goes out. It has taken us 4 years and a lot of patience, but we love him!

Had a look a the site - it's sounds like they know what they're talking about You can do it!!

Good luck! Please let us know how you're getting on.

AmberLee,

Thanks for the encouragement !! Yeh I do like to
set (short) attainable goals & take one thing at a
time with kitties. They are Soooo Sensitive !!! . LOL.

Randi,

Thanks for the help & encouragement. I'm going to just
take this one day at a time... I saw a few more good
signs with my four kitties & the "new guy" tonight....

A little update on the white cat Sugar;

1. He has completely recovered from his neutering &
fixing his claws on the hind paws.
2. This cat is by far the most aggressive male cat I've
ever come across. He is very sweet to people, but seems
to have a need to dominate every other cat, male or female.
3. I have relocated him to the garage with" Momma" &
" Baby" Kitties.(both long ago spayed cats) , but "baby"
is scared to death of him & "Momma" wants nothing to
do with him either. He follows them around & acts like
he is "not neutered" if you know what I mean.
4. Sugar had "the operation" on the 15th, does it take
a long time for a mature male to lose "interest" ?
My other four males were all nuetered at a much younger
age, and they are much more friendly & playful
together. If he does not calm down pretty soon, I will
have to consider other arrangements for him.
I'm at my wits end with this aggression thing. Help !!!

Thanks Spencer & Tutone,

Last night when I went to feed & "put to bed" my outdoor
kitties,i.e. close up the garage for the night, Sugar was so "in your face" with Momma cat that I was afraid a fight might
break out. It was a mild night weather wise, so I let Momma and Baby kitty sleep outside and locked Sugar up in the garage
overnight... I guess he still needs a few days to sort out his
place in the group with my two other outdoor cats. I thought
since they were female, he would get along O.K. with them.
We'll see... This morning as I was driving away from the
garage, I glanced back at Sugar and he had the saddest look
on his face, like, "Where are you going?".

Good luck, maybe...

When I came home from work tonight, all three kitties
came running to meet me when they heard the garage door
opener. ( I leave a side door open a little every day for them
to get in out of the weather or have a drink of water or
kibble ). Good news is that the three cats all gathered at
in the same area to welcome me home. Sugar is letting the
"Momma Kitty" enter & greet me first before he comes up
to me. Good sign I think. "Baby Kitty " ,whom I love dearly,
is better, but not totally convinced that Sugar is going to be
O.K. to live with... I think Sugar was just scared & unsure at
first, but I think and hope he will blend in well...

Good news, Liz. I agree that Sugar allowing Mommy Kitty to approach first sounds like a good sign.

Baby steps of progress. Fingers and paws crossed.

I'm so glad to hear about the latest development. In a few weeks they will probably have sorted out their rank and will hopefully be playing together. You have been patient and done a good job with them!

Good luck in the future! :)

Great Job with your new addition Sugar. Sounds like they are going to do well together. Sometimes it seems to take them a little longer to adapt to all the changes but the progress looks great. Thank you for saving another sweety from the streets.

Xena :)

Well, there's nothing like a cold rainy day to bring
peace within a group who share quarters...

I have windows on three sides of my garage
(each equipped with inside window ledges) for the
kitties. When I came home tonight, I could see Sugar
settled into the "lookout post" window. All cats seemed
more at ease with each other, even Baby Kitty..
Maybe a coincidence, but all the other stray toms(4-5)
have suddenly left the area since Sugar has been
ensconced into Momma's house. (garage).
Please keep fingers & paws crossed for this to all
work out for all my furkids. Thanks, Liz.

A small update on Sugar.

He is now ok around Momma & Baby kitty.(They have
sorted things out (not best friends), but they are
showing mutual respect & an easyness around each
other. That's good. However, I came home yesterday
to find Sugar's right ear flap all chewed up & bloody.
It broke my heart. He acted fine with me & the other
two cats, and I think I know who he defended his
food from. ( Big grey/white stray tom ) He must have
been coming into the garage to feed before but never
bothered Momma or Baby kitty. Now Sugar feels he has
to stand guard over the food source.
It's back to the vets tomorrow to check out his ear,
but think I made a mistake in leaving the food down
all day & the door open. There are just to many really
hungry kitties around here. Think maybe I'm making
a problem for Sugar by leaving food out.
Momma & Baby are well fed cats & will be alright
without food until I come home from work, as they
are used to getting their can food only in the evening
before I close up the garage for them.
Any one with advise on a better way to handle this
please tell me. Thanks. Liz.

Sugar, the "hard Luck Furkid" has healed from his
ear wounds.(no sutures required). He was fine when
'put to bed' in the closed garage last night, but this
morning was limping badly and holding up his left
front paw.There is no blood or discharge that I can
see but he will not use the paw or put any pressure
on it. My garage has rafters where Momma & Baby
kitty love to cavort, and I'm thinking maybe Sugar
fell from there.??
He went to the vet's tonight (as Febuary is National
Spay/Neuter month and the vet has been very busy)
Poor kid. seems like he just gets over one thing &
then something else happens to him...

Thanks for sharing the news about Sugar as he adjusts to his new life. I hope he gets past this period of bumps and bruises soon and settles into the good life you are providing!

My cat Murf was not neutered until he was at least 2 1/2 years old. He definitely has the ear scars and notches to prove he was "all male" when he roamed the streets. But now he's a mellow loving cat, having learned to accept both new humans and new kitties. Your patience will pay off and in a few months you'll look back and see the changes clearly.

Best wishes for you and all your fur kids!

Thanks for the kind words & good thoughts for
Sugar. It means a lot .
I called the vet this morning & he told me Sugar
has developed an abcess on his paw.The vet seemed
most concerned that Sugar had a very high fever also.
The vet said Sugar's temp last night was 105; but he
had not yet had his temp checked yet when I called.
Sugar is on antibiotics & will be staying at the vet's
office over the weekend.
Even with all this happening to him, Sugar was still
acting as sweet as ever even thought he must have
been in a lot of pain..I do Love the little guy !!!

I picked up Sugar from the vet's office on Monday
after work. He's looking and acting good.I've never
had a cat that seemed so comfortable riding in a car
before. When we got home & inside the garage I took
him out of the car but left him in the carrier for a few
minutes so Momma & Baby kitty could come over to
sniff him out. He just sat there like an angel and didn't
complain a bit. Put out everyone's food & let him out
of the carrier. He was more interested in re-orienting
himself to the garage than eating, but all went well.
Sugar seems remarkably calmer than I've ever seen
him act before. One day at a time I guess....

Hey Liz,

So far, so good! :D Hope Sugar is feeling well again soon. It sounds like the three in the garage are getting along fairly well now, good sign! Thanks for keeping us posted.

Regards!

Thanks Amber,

Yea, Three (outside) kitties in the garage, four kitties
(inside only) and a GSD/Husky who on first meeting my
the 4 indoors thought they were new squeaky toys. LOL.

Life's never dull with these guys, but I wouldn't trade
them for the world. Liz.

Sugar continues to do well and seems to have blended
in to living with Momma & Baby kitty. On a warmer day
last week they all three rolled in the grass together
and each sought their own individual attention from me,
as I worked in the yard, but there was only the usual
competition usually displayed in a group. My fingers are
really crossed that Sugar will be O.K. outside as a neutered
male, because I've had two other males that didn't survive
living outdoors after being neutered. They usually were
attacked by other neighborhood un-neutered males or
just got sick and wandered off to die or something...
With the cold weather lately, all three spend a lot of
their time inside the garage & the neighborhood stray
toms are not around as much...

Just a short update on Sugar. He is doing very well as
a member of Momma's Gang. LOL. He now "knows the
drill"; when I leave, when I come back home, when he
gets fed, etc...He doen't stray too far from the back yard
and Baby Kitty has started to follow him around.She
finally has someone to pester other than Momma Kitty.
Baby loves to hide in the grass & "attack"(playfully) either
Momma or Sugar as they passby...I'm so glad they've all
gotten to know each other. They all were once alone & on
their own in this big old world & now they have each other
and me and a place to call home. That makes me happy.

{{{Lizbud}}}.

Your update really warms my heart. Thanks for letting us know that Sugar is part of "Momma's pride" so to speak.

Lizbud all I can do is echo Lut - I've just read the whole story and am thrilled at the outcome:) :)
Wonderful work you did - you must feel so proud. Well done.
Just a little note - white cats out in the sun should have sun block applied to their little ears.

Love Lynne

Hello and Thanks Guys,

There are some pictures of Momma & Baby Kitty
at http://community.webshots.com/user/lizbud4


(In Newer Pictures)
None of Sugar taken yet, but soon, as the weather
is starting to warm up now.I'll be taking more
of all my furkids.

Hello,

Sugar seems to have completely blended in with Momma
and Baby Kitty. They all "hang together' around the property.
I know Momma very well and if she were upset with Sugar
being here, she would have displayed some reaction by now.
Not only do all kitties give nose kisses to each other, Sugar
even licks the side of Momma's & Baby's faces after getting
back together after a brief separation. It's so neat.
Sugar eats like a horse, he's going to be a Huge kitty.
The weather's been to cold & rainy to get any good pics,
but this weekend promises to be better for finishing my
roll of film of the furkids. Liz.

Yippee!!! Great news!!! I look forward to seeing shots of them together.

Hello,

Just got the pictures & CD back from the drugstore
tonight. There are some good shots of Sugar . He's
doing really well. I'll upload them to our webshots album
tomorrow on my lunch hour at work. He's a cutie !!!

Hi guys,

I got most of the pictures uploaded now.

http://community.webshots.com/user/lizbud4

The Album is called Furkids 2002. Check out Sugar... Liz.

LizBud,

Your fur-family is adorable! Sugar and Momma Kitty seem very content together. In your 'Baby Kitty doesn't like photos' shot at first I didn't see the cat at all. All are lovely. Sugar seems very happy and healthy these days. Must be a relief.

Why do cat love to rub on cement? Cassy likes it and Livvy loves it. Looks like Sugar loves it, too. Has anyone any suggestions on this?