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| Our guest blogger is Kim Stell, Animal Rescuer for a large feral cat colony |
Something that I do as an animal rescuer is care for a large feral cat colony. I am lucky that I have a great place to house and feed them in my horse barn with hay loft and 16 acres with woods, fields, lots of equipment and out buildings to play around on. Some feral colonies aren’t lucky to have what we have dubbed my barn the cat Hilton, now that I no longer raise horses it is pretty much just for the cats with a tack room for the horse feed and hay loft with hay that they like to sleep in until the horses eat it and sometimes they lay in it while the horses are eating it too, just to annoy them. I have 20 or more at any given time but because I leave numerous pans out with food at all times in the center aisle they come and go as they please to eat or hang out. I have several that actually like to come just at feeding time, I think they kind of like me but then again they may just like fresh food and don’t want leftovers, it is hard to tell with my crew.
The most important thing about helping feral cats is to do Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) with an existing colony or a new one for that matter, they can get completely out of hand and defeat the purpose of helping them if they multiply rapidly. It is hard for most feral cats out there because people don’t understand the benefits of having them and only focus on anything that is negative. I understand that apartments and neighborhoods will probably never be open to helping them because they get on cars or get in flower beds because that is all they have there, so I have been happy to see so many others who live out in the sticks like me take the time to help these cats. It isn’t their fault they were born when people didn’t spay and neuter their cats and because they were unwanted then dumped in the streets to become feral and unadoptable to a home. FOR helps with these feral momma cats and their kittens when they end up in shelters too. The kittens don’t have to become feral and with a feral momma in the shelter their chances of getting out are slim without our help. FOR will pull feral mothers and their kittens, then once the kittens can be weaned, I can take the feral mom and place her in my colony so everyone is safe, happy, and they have someone to care for them. It is as rewarding for me to help these cats as it is when I foster them in my home because I know they are cared for and safely out of the shelter with a chance at life. It also makes for great conversation at the grocery store when I have 4 or more 20 lb. bags of cat food on the bottom of my cart, after they get over the initial shock most people actually want to learn about what I do with the ferals and animal rescue in general.
Mimi is a small senior poodle with a story to tell, if she
could only talk. Mimi was picked up in someone’s yard and brought to an area
shelter, where she could barely eat, see or hear. Her mouth, right ear and eye
were all terribly infected. Her fur was filthy and her skin had open sores. She
has tumors on her tummy. She was almost lethargic and not eating.
The shelter staff realized she could not eat hard kibble so
they tried other things. Success! She would eat wet cat food. But she was still
sad and somewhat lost at the shelter and was not eating well.
A plea from Dana Brown alerted me to Mimi’s sad story. I
talked to my husband and he agreed that we could foster little Mimi. I went to
the FOR studio and picked her up – she had just gotten a bath in the FOR
bathtub, and was wet and shivering. They wrapped her in a thick towel and gave
her to me. I held her until she warmed up and it was then I realized what
terrible shape she was really in. We weren’t even really sure there was still
an eye underneath all that awful matting.
The next day, the vet said her ear was horribly infected.
Dana and the vet decided to hold off on addressing the dental decay and the
skin tumors until Mimi was more settled down in our home. She was given
ointment for her eye, a dewormer, and some oral antibiotics to help clear up
the ear and oral infections.
Her first night at our home, we put her in a small crate
because we were afraid she’d get lost during the night. Well, she started
singing! She made a noise like aaarrrROOOO! She sang so much that my husband
said, “This is breaking my heart,” so we let her out. Every night since she’s
slept in one of her three beds around the house.
Then sweet Joy Westphal donated a grooming appointment to the
little girl, who finally had her new name, Mimi. Joy gave her a medicated bath,
trimmed up her fur and shaped it – she really looked like a poodle!
We finished the antibiotics and the eye ointment, and Mimi
was fine. Then three days after ending the meds, she refused her supper. She
lay around listlessly that night. Usually Mimi eats, sleeps, and walks – walks
around and around the house, gently bumping into things, greeting my dogs with
a wagging tail, and taking naps when she’s done walking. But that night, she
just lay in her bed without even raising her head when I patted her.
In the morning, she was unconscious on the floor – not even
on her bed. She refused breakfast and I knew something was wrong. A trip to the
vet that afternoon revealed a badly infected uterus, which the previous
antibiotics had probably held at bay. Emergency surgery was done that very day.
Mimi was unhappy at the clinic the next morning and refused
her food. The vet watched her all day and then decided that Mimi just needed to
be back home. So I brought her home, where she ate her supper, drank a bunch of
water, and started her normal walking around, greeting the dogs and cats,
napping and then walking some more. Just like old times!!
Mimi is a little survivor. She has had some tough times
lately, but she seems to have an optimistic outlook. She can’t see very well,
and can only hear really loud noises, but she just keeps on trucking. She bumps
into things while she’s walking, but she just backs up and tries a different
direction. When she bumps into a person or another animal, she stops, wags her
tail, and waits to see if she’s going to get some friendly interaction.
Little Mimi is such a sweet girl and I am very hopeful that
her worst days are behind her now.
Erin Keniston, foster mom
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