Calling All Cats....
There's the sweetest calico kitty who doesn't whine or call, but who shows up on the neighbor's porch from time to time, trying to eke out an existence eating fallen pidgeon eggs and droppings from the eaves. I've fed her for a few weeks, and she's impossible to approach. I discovered her in the back yard once, when Cal leaped from the top step onto the weeds, having seen her before I did. Of course, he wasn't aggressive, but enjoyed the brief moment it took for her to scamper under the house, out of reach.
These feral cats, almost every one, seem too frail and thin to have a family. I usually don't notice a pregnant kitty, just one who appears to be nursing. Each time I see one of them I'm sad about the fate of these street-dwellers if they should bear kittens. Of course it's overdramatization, but I tear up thinking of little mamas not able to provide enough for the babes.
Last Sunday I had a wonderful opportunity to do something about the state of hopeless fertility among the 'ghost cats' in the area. Some of the biggest hearts around prompt people to go to the trouble of obtaining a trap from local groups, trapping one or more cats from a feral colony (one couple from Lafayette carried over a dozen, all in clean traps, with drapes, and waterproof tarps separating the 'stories' of crates and traps in the rear of their van) and transporting them to a spay/neuter program, this time sponsored by Ally Cat Allies at the local SPCA facility in Algiers. The kitties are carefuly transferred from the vehicle in their traps (covered all the while by a drape, to minimize stress) to an air-conditioned room while volunteers or staff do careful paperwork to identify the animals and trapper/caretaker. Next the kitty (still in its trap) is carried to a mobile surgery unit where it is anesthesized, carefully shaved, prepped and neutered/spayed. If any injuries are apparent, appropriate treatment is given at that time.
The trap is passed back outside for washing, disinfection, if needed, and fresh paper and drape. The trap goes back inside, kitty is replaced in its trap, and is watched carefully for 5-20 minutes until it is 'awake' or beginning to come out of anesthesia. From that point, traps and cats are carried back into the air-conditioned room, placed on the recovery side and monitored throughout the day until evening, when trappers return to pick up the kitties, complete more paperwork, and load them up for an overnight stay in the trap before being released into the colony.
During the time I was in and out of the room, bringing them back and forth, checking on their post-surgery condition, I came to identify 'crazy cat' an orange, tattered tom who hissed and menaced anyone who harbored a thought of touching (or looking too long) at him or the trap; little, grey whiney -- a grey seal point? kitten who cried whenever I came into the room, so much so that I took him back to be rechecked. He was fine (except for having his balls cut off) and if you stopped talking to him and messing with him, he howled an angry cry as you walked away. He was one of the kittens who was 'transferred', meaning he was later driven to an adoption center in the east where he was certain to be adopted. Then there was the family of momma and four kittens. She was past nursing, but one of those dopes kept burrowing into her and she accommodatingly rolled over, probably savoring the remnants of motherhood. I can relate. Calicoes, tuxedos, tabbies, greys, seal points, orange toms...each had impressed us with his own personality by day's end.
More than 50 kitties were 'fixed' on Sunday, with the help of two volunteer vets from Houma, two area techs, a staffer from Ally Cats, another volunteer from New York and myself. All free.
These old bones needed a talking to going into the late afternoon, since lifting and moving and bending over numerous traps containing, sometimes, heavy toms extracted a toll on hips, knees, etc. I felt a tired determination to finish the job, and when I finally collapsed in the car to drive home, sweaty and hungry, elation set in. It was that old-fashioned feeling of having made a difference.
So this isn't a session about 'gee, mom did good.' It's just an attempt to keep the volunteer fires burning under my kids and people I love. Way too seldom do I carve out the hours to participate in 'spare time' good deeds. It's times like this weekend that reinforce the knowledge that, really, I do it for me.
These feral cats, almost every one, seem too frail and thin to have a family. I usually don't notice a pregnant kitty, just one who appears to be nursing. Each time I see one of them I'm sad about the fate of these street-dwellers if they should bear kittens. Of course it's overdramatization, but I tear up thinking of little mamas not able to provide enough for the babes.
Last Sunday I had a wonderful opportunity to do something about the state of hopeless fertility among the 'ghost cats' in the area. Some of the biggest hearts around prompt people to go to the trouble of obtaining a trap from local groups, trapping one or more cats from a feral colony (one couple from Lafayette carried over a dozen, all in clean traps, with drapes, and waterproof tarps separating the 'stories' of crates and traps in the rear of their van) and transporting them to a spay/neuter program, this time sponsored by Ally Cat Allies at the local SPCA facility in Algiers. The kitties are carefuly transferred from the vehicle in their traps (covered all the while by a drape, to minimize stress) to an air-conditioned room while volunteers or staff do careful paperwork to identify the animals and trapper/caretaker. Next the kitty (still in its trap) is carried to a mobile surgery unit where it is anesthesized, carefully shaved, prepped and neutered/spayed. If any injuries are apparent, appropriate treatment is given at that time.
The trap is passed back outside for washing, disinfection, if needed, and fresh paper and drape. The trap goes back inside, kitty is replaced in its trap, and is watched carefully for 5-20 minutes until it is 'awake' or beginning to come out of anesthesia. From that point, traps and cats are carried back into the air-conditioned room, placed on the recovery side and monitored throughout the day until evening, when trappers return to pick up the kitties, complete more paperwork, and load them up for an overnight stay in the trap before being released into the colony.
During the time I was in and out of the room, bringing them back and forth, checking on their post-surgery condition, I came to identify 'crazy cat' an orange, tattered tom who hissed and menaced anyone who harbored a thought of touching (or looking too long) at him or the trap; little, grey whiney -- a grey seal point? kitten who cried whenever I came into the room, so much so that I took him back to be rechecked. He was fine (except for having his balls cut off) and if you stopped talking to him and messing with him, he howled an angry cry as you walked away. He was one of the kittens who was 'transferred', meaning he was later driven to an adoption center in the east where he was certain to be adopted. Then there was the family of momma and four kittens. She was past nursing, but one of those dopes kept burrowing into her and she accommodatingly rolled over, probably savoring the remnants of motherhood. I can relate. Calicoes, tuxedos, tabbies, greys, seal points, orange toms...each had impressed us with his own personality by day's end.
More than 50 kitties were 'fixed' on Sunday, with the help of two volunteer vets from Houma, two area techs, a staffer from Ally Cats, another volunteer from New York and myself. All free.
These old bones needed a talking to going into the late afternoon, since lifting and moving and bending over numerous traps containing, sometimes, heavy toms extracted a toll on hips, knees, etc. I felt a tired determination to finish the job, and when I finally collapsed in the car to drive home, sweaty and hungry, elation set in. It was that old-fashioned feeling of having made a difference.
So this isn't a session about 'gee, mom did good.' It's just an attempt to keep the volunteer fires burning under my kids and people I love. Way too seldom do I carve out the hours to participate in 'spare time' good deeds. It's times like this weekend that reinforce the knowledge that, really, I do it for me.
posted by Pelican Stories at 5:38 PM
1 Comments:
I am so glad you did that! I am hoping that soon I will be able to devote the 6 hours a month needed to volunteer at the Animal Shelter here. It is so important! Good for you and the kitties! By the way -- you said "balls"!
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