Re: September 26, 10

     My wonderful 'Blogmaster' Stephanie has reminded me of the importance of keeping current. The truth is I have been so busy with cat related activities that I have not had time to write. So I will try to correct that.

      Last night I left 4 kitten traps up at the Mesa, the same area where Plush, Little Squeak, and Little Dude were found. A homeowner had reported to me that numerous kittens and cats had been seen around her patio, so I decided to trap. Around 9 pm, however, I got a call from another Feline Network volunteer informing me that there was 'nowhere for anymore kittens to go"--that is, all the foster home options were full and I might actually have to release any kittens I trapped. I thought about going up there to the Mesa and pulling the traps, but it's a rural area with no light and I didn't relish the thought of blundering around in the dark with a flashlight outside these peoples' home. I was up at the house at 6 a.m., though, and all 4 traps were empty. On the one hand, that is very sad yet given that I would have had nowhere to take the kittens, I suppose it was good, too.

       I am learning so much through all this work with cats. Not so much about cats, but tons about people. A few people are concerned and proactive; they want to help me in any way possible, they ask intelligent questions and are clearly compassionate individuals. Others, however, seem utterly indifferent. Not only do they not seem to care at all about the welfare of the feral cats on their property, they also seem oblivious to the consequences of reproduction--that whether they like cats or not, if somebody doesn't spay/neuter them there are very quickly going to be vast numbers of them around. Of course one can observe the same thing with the human population. The simple, sobering mathematics of overpopulation, be it our own species or the feline one, seems to escape many of us who dwell here on the planet.

       Beyond that, I am also learning a lot about myself--how quickly I get discouraged, how fast I am to panic when I can't be assured of the outcome of a particular situation. I try to remind myself that rescue organizations like the Feline Network with volunteers like myself have saved many many animals--including two of my own cats who are Feline Network adoptions--but sometimes this pales in comparison to the overwhelming amount of need out there. I practice Buddhism, a Path in which the virtue of equanimity is highly valued and believe me, I have been trying to practice equanimity--the middle ground where one remains unperturbed regardless of outside events.

      As far as today, my plan is to trap at a location closer to home tonight, at a home in Arroyo Grande where I've already caught two kittens and a third has been spotted. But again, the same problem. If the kitten is old enough I can just get it spay/neutered tomorrow and then return it to where I trapped it. This is surely not an ideal solution but sometimes the only one.

       Often it is not so much about reducing the suffering of existing ferals as it is about preventing further suffering in the kittens they would produce if allowed to.

       I look at my own seven cats and wish I could communicate to them how incredibly fortunate they are--that as long as I am around, they are guaranteed a constant source of food, shelter, and access to medical care. There are so many many who don't have that.

       In the meantime, my work with cats offers me a great ongoing opportunity to stay in the Now and to practice taking action while letting go of the results of that action.

The Little Dude And His Sibling Plush

     As a volunteer for The Feline Network here on the Central Coast, I have been especially busy this kitten season. It's late now--early September--but the little ones just keep coming.

     A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from a woman who lives up on the Mesa in Arroyo Grande. She said she'd spotted two feral kittens and had caught one, but the other escaped. I drove up there, picked up the little guy, who was huddled miserably in the back of a carrier, and brought him back to my house in Pismo Beach. I set him up in a cage with a bed, litter box, food and water. For the first few days he barely moved, just stayed as far back in the cage as he could. I made him gruel, which is a mixture of kitten chow soaked in water until it gets mushy and SMR kitten milk replacer. Finally after a few days, he started to feel more confident and I began calling him Little Dude.

     One afternoon, I heard him crying and rushed into the bathroom where I was keeping him but couldn't find him anywhere! Finally I looked up and there he was--this tiny little creature--perched on the metal rod of the shower curtain. Apparently he'd climbed up a towel to get there and was stuck. So that was the Little Dude's first adventure!

     Just as Little Dude was starting to warm up to his new surroundings, I was able to trap the other kitten--his sibling, I believe--who had escaped the week before. This kitten, whose gender I still don't know, is grey and long-haired with very sad, soulful eyes. I call him/her Plush, because I'm sure that's how she'll look once she is brushed and combed and puts on some weight. Plush is still very very shy, but she snuggles with Little Dude in their cat bed and has a good appetite.

     And now a third Mesa kitty has arrived--a little gal I'm calling Little Squeak, because of her loud voice. And thank God she has such a voice because it saved her life!

     Three days ago I drove up to the Mesa to put out food for the feral mother (whom I had trapped, had spayed, and released). While I was there, a kitten started to cry. A couple of neighbors came out and we all hunted for this kitten. I had two traps with me, so I baited them and put them out. Later that night, one of the neighbor women called and said we'd caught the cat. I was so happy because I assumed it was the kitten. When I went back to pick it up, though, I saw we had trapped the adult female who was already spayed. And we could still hear the poor kitten crying.

      I released the mom, since she is feral and thus unadoptable, went home and brought back two kitten traps. This time it worked! I caught a tiny black kitten, maybe five weeks old. She was very hungry and dehydrated and was suffering from an infection in both eyes. Another member of The Feline Network, a vet tech, came by with eye ointment and in only two days, her eyes look perfect now. She has a great attitude, loves to play, and has a wonderful outlook on life--especially when you consider she was all alone in the night, hungry and frightened.

     Little Dude, Plush, and Little Squeak will eventually go off to the Adopt-A-Pet and begin new lives--hopefully in loving, forever homes. In the meantime, they'll be hanging out here for at least a couple more weeks; they're a handful but I feel blessed to be able to foster them.

New kitties

    So much has been going on with the addition of another foster kitty to the two I already have! I am calling this kitty Little Squeak because she (I think it is a she) has has a loud cry--which undoubtedly saved this little one's life.