Just wanted to say hello

[hissy]

I have been rescuing ferals for over 10 years now. My husband and I recently moved from alaska to a lower 48 state, and I have for the first time, had to shut my door on taking in anymore cats. I tnr on our property, but right now we are full up and this is the first time I have seen so many cats in one place! Where are they coming from? We live in a rural area and I know most of the people on our road, and I know their cats. One lady has 62 cats she has rescued- she has an ideal place for them, more acreage than I can count 250 acres- a beautiful cattery, nursery, and her and her husband are building a new cattery which will have quaranteen rooms for the sickly and the newcomers. I have over 20 that I maintain, plus a colony of 12 at my husband's workplace. It makes me crazy to see such casual disregard for these beautiful creatures. If people would spay and neuter, it would be so much less overwhelming.

I was just surfing for another board to go to- as the one I usually post at, has erupted in yet another war. Totally dumb and not worth my time.

 

[donna]

Welcome Hissy,

I commend you for the rescue work you do. I know what it's like to rescue ferals. I get SO angry at irresponsible people who think that if they just leave their pets when they move that they will either fend for themselves or someone will find them and take them in. This is SO not true. I have been feeding a feral cat that has been on the streets of Hartford for over 10 years (my miracle kitty Shadow). He and I had a special bond even though he stayed his distance. He lived in an abandoned building with a bunch of crack addicts. I have not seen Shadow in almost 3 months and my heart is broken. I still go everyday and put food out even though deep down inside I know that he's probably not alive (I hate the "D" word).

I did a rescue a while back of two mothers and two sets of kittens in a man's house whose cats (all 10 of them) were not spayed or neutered. I brought all 8 of them to my apartment and set them up in my back bedroom. They were terrified as they had no socialization or interaction with people (this guy basically HAD them in his house and let them in-breed). I found someone to take on mother and her litter and I kept the other. Well, it turns out that they all had distemper. My mother's three kittens died pretty quickly (within a week). The mama, who bit me (it wasn't her fault as I had cornered her in a cat box to take her to the vet) had to be quarantined for two weeks. She was very traumatized by the whole ordeal and is just now coming out of her shell (it's been over a year). To make matters worse, after that whole ordeal (the other mother and set of kittens also didn't make it, all because this man refused to get the cats vaccinated - UGH!!!) I had brought in two more kittens quite a while later, not realizing that the distemper virus stays airborne for up to one year. They died within 3 days of each other. I tell ya, it's a crap shoot sometimes. And all at the expense of irresponsible pet owners.

Welcome to our forum! I hope you plan on staying in oiur forums. I can use the help.