07/25/13 to 07/21/13

Relocations and In Take

Our Cats after Release

Peanut Butter, the Cat with the Jar on her Head

TNR (Trap/Neuter/Release) for Lewisville

Calls You Don’t Want to Get

BMG (Bitch – Moan - Groan)

OMG (Oh My God)

Relocations and In Take:   This is easy:  Nothing out and nothing in. TOO HOT! 

                                                                                                                                   

It was hot and raining…too hot for placement and too wet to avoid the mud. Yes, we got the Barn Cat truck stuck in the mud. We have AAA for those kinds of emergencies and have used them several times for flat tires, etc. We have been stuck in mud 3 times over the last 10 years: 

·         Twice – trucks of the barn owners pulled us out.

·         Once – Called AAA in East Texas and was told “well you might have to wait until spring.”  Sure, got time to just leave the truck in East Texas!  Barn owner got a neighbor to pull us out with his tractor.        

Our Cats after Release:             

1.      Plano – Mango and Tippi were put in a backyard here. They are roaming but coming back to eat each day…good stuff. Called the family on Friday and did not get a call back…hummm.  Well she called on Saturday and the house NEXT DOOR had a car drive through their living room! Our client was the first on the scene. She called 911 to report the accident. No one was hurt but the house is a wreck!             

2.      Flower Mound – Jenny, Johnny, and Jerry were placed in this barn. Food is disappearing but the cats have not been spotted. The family has a Great Pyrenees dog for predator control.                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Peanut Butter:  I took in a cat last week. I did not put it in the blog last week because I did not have the pictures yet.  SO – take a look here. This calico was found in Argyle with a PEANUT BUTTER JAR stuck on its head! It took two ladies about a week to catch her…imagine no food or water for that time frame! They got it to a vet clinic in Flower Mound where the jar was removed. We now have Peanut Butter who is resting nicely in a cage in our cat room.  

 

           

TNR for Lewisville:  Well it is so hot that I am not expecting anything monumental to happen until the weather breaks in September. But the phone rang on Friday and it was “A Gift from God”. The Upper Trinity River Watershed offices are based in Lewisville. They are ALL ORGANIC. YEAH!   They have always had some cats around but all are gone now. Two things have happened in their area:  The Lewisville ISD ag barn has closed. There were cats there that I am sure migrated down the street to their offices. AND – Animal Services moved from Water Treatment Road. I would be willing to bet that Lewisville residents would come to their locked gate when the location was closed for the day or weekend and just LET THEIR CATS loose there. SO, cats were always in the area.  Now, with the drought, the coyotes are on the move and all the cats have either been run off or eaten.  They are ORGANIC so no poisons. The rats are eating the produce at their community organic garden. It is a perfect location for cats AND there are potentially MULTIPLE LOCATIONS in several Texas counties where the watershed provides water treatment plants. I am salivating! Then it hits me:  Lewisville has a NO STRAY CAT/DOG ORDANIANCE! All animals must be confined to your property and there is no way to provide that here. OK – I call the city and am directed to the head of Animal Services who is out on vacation until July 29^th. PLUS the Animal Services Board meets quarterly and has just had a meeting earlier this month. 

Lewisville has no TNR policy and maybe it is time to get that changed. The return of the Animal Services manager on the 29^th will give me time to “get my ducks in a row” and look at other policies in and around Dallas/Fort Worth. With the Watershed folks behind us, maybe we will have some extra leverage. Barn Cats has a variance from the City Council to do rescue and MAYBE we could get a variance from them to have this colony of feral cats at the Watershed offices. Time will tell…

Calls You Don’t Want to Get:  Well, it has happened again.  I directed a lady to the SPCA of Texas and she went to Dallas Animal Services. SPCA IS A PURPLE BUILDING! DAS is not. I told her the difference and she obviously did not pay attention. WHAT? Is this so hard? She found a kitten that is paralyzed. I told her to go to the SPCA because they could quickly make a determination if the kitten needs to be euthanized. Well – it will be euthanized at DAS for sure. It's understandable why we all get in the mode of thinking the only way to get it done right is to do it ourselves.

BMG:  We currently have one cat in a cage (she came from the Moore tornado area) who throws litter all around her cage, into her neighbor’s cage, and all over the floor. We have tried a small litter box, a medium litter box, a big litter box, two small litter boxes, and now have two medium boxes in there. She even gets poop into her water several times a week. I am tired of cleaning that mess up.  SO – we put in hanging cage cups this week. Hopefully, she will not SLING poop up that high. Now I just have to monitor the amounts of food and water so she does not run out. That is easier that cleaning POOP from the water bowl. GROSS!       

                                                                                                                                               

OMG:   This “adventure” with the Lewisville TNR policy will be an uphill battle. BUT – maybe we can get around that with enough support from the Watershed District folks. I need to speak with each one separately: Barn Cats Lobbyist – HA HA!  

                                                                                                                                                           

Thanks for following the Barn Cats blog.  See you next week!           Peg

07/08/13 to 07/14/13

Relocations and In Take

Our Cats after Release

Phone Calls/Emails You Don’t Want to Get

BMG (Bitch – Moan - Groan)

OMG (Oh My God)

Relocations and In Take:   Placed 16 this week with intake at 6: 

3             To an adoption group (Larry, Spots, Angel)

2              Barn in New Fairview (Glen, Smokey)

2          Barn in Cedar Hill (Maggie, Grace)

1          Barn in Pilot Point (Claudia – 9 years old)

2          Barn in Fairview (Miss Ellie, Jock – “The Ewing’s”)

4          Greenville Rescue and also paid for an eye removal

2          Gave cage for family to move 2 feral cats out of state                                                                                                                

I was very careful this week. Each barn placement was insulated with fans and good air flow.     

Our Cats after Release:             

1.      Denison – Lizzie and Dawn were placed here in a workshop/office. Both are still around but being elusive. The litter box is being used and the food is disappearing. This location is AIR CONDITIONED! Smart Cats!           

2.      Desoto – Spite, Gerri, Manny, and Maury were spotted when first released but have not been seen of a couple of days. The barn manager does hear some scattering around the barn and the food is disappearing.    

3.      Pilot Point – Claudia was placed here on Wednesday. Her barn in Burleson had been closed (death in the family, I think) and her “friend” (a large male cat) had passed away. She is now with another large, male gray tabby can plus Alberta and Two who I placed there in April. All are doing well.                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Phone Calls/Emails You Don’t Want to Get: 

A dog rescuer from a small town in Johnson County called this week. 5 female cats showed up and she has been feeding them for many months. Now that all have had kittens (total 25). She recently saw a tape worm on her bed and even thought all the cats are OUTSIDE, she is convinced that these cats have caused the worms. OH SURE! Tapes are passed via fleas. Your dogs have fleas. All these cats are probably going to die now….because…see BMG.         

BMG: 

1.      I am tired of folks laying a guilt trip on me because I cannot take their cats because I am full.  “I will just have to take them to the Humane Society” is the common statement. Hey, you let these cats breed for months and months and now you want them GONE in an instant. They really mean ANIMAL SERVICES (a death sentence) which leads me to another BMG.

2.      Folks do not know the difference between humane society, SPCA, adoption group, and/or animal services. I will try and explain:

a.      Humane society and SPCA are just “names”. There are humane societies and SPCA locations that are kill shelters and some that are no-kill. YOU NEED TO ASK THE QUESTION…KILL or NO-KILL? When you ask about the No-Kill, you have to pay close attention to the language. Sometimes, you will hear 'subtext'. For example, some SPCA locations advertise they are 'No-Kill', but they accept strays. When you ask for the details of the 'No-Kill' policy, it may only be applicable to owner releases.

b.      Adoption groups can be a humane society, a SPCA, an animal rescue league, or whatever. HSUS (Humane Society of the United States), ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), and Alley Cat Allies are “national” organizations. All the others are local. If you want help, contact a local organization. 

c.       There is no hierarchy…a local Humane Society does not report to HSUS. The SPCA of Texas does not report to the ASPCA in New York.   

d.      Animal Services are organization run at the “city” level. They are there to take in “lost” cats and dogs and re-unite them with their owners. When an owner is not located, they are euthanized. They take in PETS – and feral cats are not pets. Feral cats, for the most part, are soon euthanized because they cannot be moved to clean a cage or enclosure and they do not have “owners”. 

e.      Some cities now have a registration process for feral colonies or groups of community cats. Dallas has implemented such a process.                                         

3.      ALSO – Folks seem to think if they give money to the ASPCA in New York or HSUS in Washington, DC, then I am COMPLELLED to help them. I get no funding from either of those locations (and why should I!). I just tell them to call New York or Washington and maybe they will send someone to Texas to help them with their cats.                                                                                                                                                                               

OMG:    

Fluffy is a 3-year-old orange and white medium-haired neutered male that came from  Garland. He is in a cage by himself and seemed to be doing well – until last Sunday night when I noticed that his jaw was swollen. Took him into All Care and they removed 5 teeth!  GEEZ! He is much better now and is enjoying all the canned food.                                                                                                                                                                                   

Thanks for following the Barn Cats blog.  See you next week!           Peg

07/01/13 to 07/07/13

Relocations and In Take

Our Cats after Release

Phone Calls/Emails You Don’t Want to Get

BMG (Bitch – Moan - Groan)

OMG (Oh My God)

Relocations and In Take:   Placed 2 this week with intake at 11: 

1                    Trade to an adoption group

1                    Kitten to an adoption group

NO PLACEMENTS in barns this week. It has gotten too hot now (like every other July). I did go out on Thursday (July 4^th) with 2 cats to a 25-stall barn and did not leave the cats. Yes – there are 25 stalls but they are in groups of 4 or 5 and all open to the weather. There was no place with good ventilation for a placement this time of the year. BUMMER!     

Our Cats after Release:             

1.      Princeton – This is a group of five siblings that originally came from Feral Friends (Yogi, Vincent, Cheerio, Hanson, Henry). We saw 3 of these cats and the barn folks have seen the other two…so…all good news. 

2.      Melissa – (Eric, Ernie, Linda, Django, Janelle, Jake, Paris) They had all the equipment ready to go and we did not see any of the cats.  However, they have been seen on the property in the evening – which is when you should see them!

3.      Mansfield – Harley, Duffy, Michelle, Mike, Samantha, Patrick, Sithander, Tummus, and Peekaboo were all placed in this barn right behind the owner’s house. I saw 4 cats when I picked up equipment.  =They were all gray tabby cats. Also, there are neighbors just over the fence….so….I am sure they are all around – I just did not see them in the middle of the day.

4.       Southlake – I had two cats that were very bonded – Vinnie and Vicky. I placed them on a back porch in Southlake. Unfortunately, Vinnie had not been seen for several days but Vicky was still around. We did not see her though.

Teddy

 

5.       Rockwall – Teddy is doing GREAT here in Rockwall. He was sitting on top of a stall and I could not get him to turn around. CAMERA SHY! 

         

    6.      Mineral Wells – Great story here:  Aliester and Mr. Moon were placed here – both friendly cats from the Tri-City Shelter. The property owners found Aliester BITTEN BY A RATTLESNAKE over the weekend. They took him to the vet for anti-venom and he is fine.  This picture below was taken 5 days after the treatment. 

               

  

   7.    New Hope – Majesty and Tammy

      were placed here in a playhouse with a ceiling fan! Got a photo of Tammy but Majesty was not around when we were there.                                                             

                                                               

Phone Calls/Emails You Don’t Want to Get: 

I had a call from a shelter in Austin. For those of you that do not know, Austin is about 4 hours from us…and way out of our service area. However, I am going to try and hook them up with a person in Coupland in Williamson County that took some of our cats in April – you never know.

BMG: 

Here we go again – the weather has turned and we are expecting 104 later this week. Placements will be at a standstill unless there are fans, water misters, even maybe air conditioning to keep the cats cool during the time they are caged.                                                                                                                                                                                              

OMG:    

I took a look at an adult cat that had been returned to an adoption group after 4 years and now is aggressive. When adopted, they were a couple and now have 2 kids.  Also, the cat is now declawed. I sent a message to our friend and animal communicator, Barbara Morrison who is in Graham, TX. I asked her to “tune into” that cat and see if she can tell what is bothering it. 

WELL – so, see that you think…

“As I feel it, it was abused many time by the children, I feel using sticks to torment the cat.  It was cornered and then abused to see how it would fight.  It is nuts because they made it nuts.  It feels like they were acting out fighting wild cats in the jungle as a game and with little supervision for the children it went on for a while.  Is this couple fostering children?  Feels like the children are or where not taught how to behave as young children.  Just what I am picking up…I know how the organization has to worry about animals that do not behave properly, and would not be adoptable at this stage, and take up space of adoptable animals.  I had a client a while back that was helping at a human society and there was a cat such as the one you talked about that would attack people who were working there.  So she took it home thinking she could rehab it at her house.  The cat acted not much better and she didn’t know what to do.  At this point her sister, living in a different house took this cat and it does try now and again to be aggressive but has calmed down a lot.”

                        Barbara Morrison   www.animalstalk.com                                                                                                                                                                           

Thanks for following the Barn Cats blog.  See you next week!           Peg