Saturday, October 23, 2010

This week in Barn Cats - 10/18/2010 - 10/24/2010

WOW – What a week!

20 placements!  There are only 4 cages full in the cat rooms. 

Nancy Kuntz was with me on most of the relocations this week and it was a very busy week. 
  • Tuesday  -  We were off to Farmersville in the eastern part of Collin County. We set up 5 cats at a great barn. The 5 cats are all gray tabbies from the SPCA.
  • Thursday  -  Sanger was the destination for 5 additional cats today. Ellie, Emerson, Rita, Tamara, and Brooklyn went there. They were set up in a large workshop with great ventilation. When I went there last Friday, a beautiful, young gray tabby came out of the hay stack. The barn owner did not know her and she was not spay. When I called her, she came right to me – what a beautiful, little girl. The barn owner wanted feral cats, so “Penny” went with me (immediately) to All Care for testing and spaying plus rabies and distemper shots. She was traded to New Beginnings Cat Rescue on Thursday evening. That makes 6 cats placed on Thursday.
  • Friday  -  We prepared today for a LONG trip to Paris, TX. At least the 121 toll road and the new fly-over from 121 to 75 North saved us 40 minutes from what we used to do going that direction. We made it to Powderly (that is north of Paris) in just 2 hours. 2 hours from Dallas/Fort Worth is the limit of our service area. We placed 5 cats there, tool…Preston, Baby, Gerka, Tally, and Miranda. The folks were nice and the barn clean.  
  • Saturday  -  As volunteers, Linny and Chris, cleaned the cat rooms, I left to place “Silver” in McKinney as a backyard cat in a very nice neighborhood. They back up to a golf course…which means there are many rodents to control. Silver came from Decatur a little over a week ago. He just “showed up” at a barn where we placed 3 ferals several years ago. His presence upset the others and the barn owner asked Barn Cats to take him. Silver is a big, Russian Blue looking cat….very handsome. I think he will do well in McKinney.
  • Sunday  -   (Since it is just Saturday now). Three friendly cats will be going to Cat Matchers tomorrow…a big, polydactyl brown tabby, a wonderful orange classic tabby from the Tri-City Shelter, and a Siamese mix. 
Well – that makes 20 for the week. Strangely enough we were not in that many counties this week (Denton, Dallas, Tarrant, Wise, Grayson, Lamar, Collin, and Fannin). Some DAYS we are in that many counties. BUT – Lamar is a new county for us which makes 37 Texas counties and 5 southern Oklahoma counties.   

Thanks to Linny Heagy and Chris Johnston for cleaning up and to Nancy for the 3 big trips this week to place 15 of the cats and for weekday cleanups.  It takes a lot of cleaning to maintain both cat rooms, all the equipment (comes from the barn dirty/dusty and smelling nasty), and the room full of “older than dirt” cats. I will feature them one by one in my “Cat Tales” entries. 

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Last week at Barn Cats - 10/10/10 - 10/17/10

Well the folks keep calling to release cats but the barn calls are coming in slowly this fall. We placed only 4 cats this week in two barns. September was good with 58 total. October traditionally has been good – the weather cools off and the rats start running! But just today I added 18 cats on the waiting list! Geez! 

There are now 28 people on the list – most with multiple cats. The feral cat problem in our area is getting worse with the worsening economy. When an opening comes, I am now taking folks from the August list. 

Hopefully this week will be better. 6 cats for 2 barns on Tuesday and the potential for 4 others later in the week. Any week in double digits is good. 

This too will resolve itself but I certainly enjoy delivering cats instead of telling folks I cannot take their cats for about 2 months.

If you know of anyone with a barn or other safe, outside area, please pass along our info!  

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Cat Tails - Tess

Cat Tales will be stories about individual cats or groups like the Katrina cats. Here is our first installation!!!



Tess came to Barn Cats in 2009.  Her family had to give up the cat and 2 dogs due to the illness of their daughters. The girls were coming home after 5 months in the hospital! The twin girls were born 5 month premature! Imagine that! Tess had lived her entire life with the family.

Tess had been found as a tiny kitten in the middle of Hwy 287 in Tarrant County. The owner bottle fed her and she grew steadily. This was the only home she had ever known. The family was devastated but the girls had respiratory problems and the pets had to go. Everybody was crying including me. 

Tess is still here. She had never been around other cats and is not too happy about them. She is also BLACK – usually a slower placement. OH WELL – Tess will continue to sleep with me until some adoption groups and/or individual agrees to take her. She is sweet on her own terms. 

I have learned to understand that over the last year  – I just need someone else with the same sensibilities to take her home with them.  She is a cutie with very silky fur and is declawed in front.   

Sunday, October 17, 2010

A new day for Barn Cats!!! (Lewisville, TX)

Well, today begins a new day for Barn Cats....www.barncats.org.... from Lewisville, TX.

Today, we are going to start a blog so everyone can hear what we are doing.

Over the next few days, we will share some stories about us so you can get to know us and our mission better.

Before we go too far, we will introduce ourselves (in case you don't know us)!!!

In the DFW area, it is estimated there are over 250,000 free-roaming (feral) cats. These are not lost pets that have wandered and been lost. These are the 'forgotten' cats. Some of them are more than two generations away from ever having been part of a human family.

Barn Cats, Inc. is an all-volunteer group that is devoted to saving the lives of the "forgotten" cats in our society. We work to locate rural situations where the cats can live out their lives in as safe an environment as possible. The organization was incorporated in September of 2003 and received 501C3 classification from the IRS in October of 2003.

All the cats are spay/neutered, have had Rabies and FVRCP vaccinations, tested negative for feline leukemia and have their left ear tipped (notched), the universal sign that a feral cat has been spay/neutered. They come from all over the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex. The organization places an average of seven to ten cats each week. Only cats old enough to be sterilized are received into the program. All expenses attached to the veterinary care are incurred by the original caregiver or group that has trapped the cats.

Barn homes are found all around North Texas. The barn owners agree to continue to care for the cats (food, water, and medical care) for the remainder of their lives. There is no charge to the barn owner to receive a cat. Cats have been placed in big barns, small barns, sheds with a cat door, riding and boarding stables, garages, offices, nurseries, and guest houses.