Sunday, April 20, 2014



Blog 04/14/14 to 04/20/14 

HAPPY EASTER

            Barn Cat Bash, June 1st
Bistecca (formerly Grotto) in Highland Village
            Reservations Required (info@barncats.org)
           
Relocations and In Take
Our Cats after Release
Bad Calls/Emails:   Crying on the Phone
BMG (Bitch/Moan/Groan):  Couple of Hoarders
OMG (Oh My God):  WEIRD Home Visit
Question:  Why is gasoline always cheaper in Sherman?    

Relocations and In Take:   Placed 19 this week with intake at 23.  Slow week for placements because of the Easter weekend.  People are thinking of holiday plans – not cats for their barn.  Hope things pick up soon!   Have 36 waiting for placement.     
3          Garage in Blue Ridge (Murphy, Connor, Abby)
4          Barn in Whitewright (Bandit, Tabitha, Peanut, Red)
1          Reunite with his siblings at Grand Prairie riding stable (Tiger)
1          Owner found and cat returned (Bailey)
2          TNR in Fort Worth
3          Adoption Group (Rosie, Addie, Cindy)
5          Bonham Rescue (cats from Wills Point)        

Our Cats after Release:      Picked up equipment in 3 locations this week.    
1.      Whitewright:  Speckles, Patch, Sammy, Target Tess, Four Paws, and Dusty went to this location where the owner will be doing Great Pyrenees Rescue.  There is not a safer place in the country than one protected by 10 Great Pyrenees dogs!    One got into a drawer and scared a worker when he opened it.  We saw two of the cats who ran from us.  They are all feral so that is not surprising. She also took Bandit, Tabitha, Peanut, and Red – all from the home of a veterinarian who passed away in the Dallas area.    
2.      Blue Ridge:  Sally, Harry, Tom (3 from Sanger), Tori, Terri, Tammy, and Nacho went to this barn/workshop.  Nacho is living in the stallion barn with a relative of the great race horse Secretariat.  The family came home about midnight one evening and saw MANY bright eyes under their front deck.  So – all is well in Blue Ridge.   
3.      Justin:  Chris and Charles went to this barn.  They had come from Burleson and we reunited with their other pals from that location.  I did see them but there was a little black face peering around the corner when I was preparing to leave.  Tried to get a picture but was not face enough.  Love those ferals! 

Bad Calls/EMAILS:  Crying on the Phone
A family has sold their house in a DFW suburb and is moving near Weatherford.  She called me on Thursday crying because she is worried about the feral cats in her backyard.  The new owner does not want the cats.  The final walk-through is TOMORROW!   Well – no time to help.  Talking to her there is a new litter of kittens under the deck and several other roaming around.  GEEZ – She is crying with me but SHE LET THIS HAPPEN.  Spay/neuter is the answer here, folks.  There are 4 spay/neuter clinics around her and she took advantage of none of them.  Now she wants this to be my problem.  I said I could go to the new location and set up caging in the garage for the cats.  BUT – they have to be spayed/neutered between the two locations.  Ethically, I cannot be part of the movement of non-sterilized cats.  PLUS – those kittens will be carried off by a hawk or an owl when/if they are moving to a more rural location.  Her answer:  “I will have to talk to my husband.”  -- cop-out!  The cat over-population problem is a human-generated problem.

BMG:  Couple of Hoarders
1.      Dallas:  Numerous cats went to Dallas Animal Services from a local hoarder.  5 were deemed “not adoptable”.  Received them after spay/neuter on Friday.
2.      Addison:  Received 4 from Addison Animal Services (they do not have their own shelter – uses the Farmer’s Branch City Shelter) from a guy who was living in his van.  This story was in last week’s BLOG.  One of them bit him so it is in quarantine.  They got the vet work done and I received them on Wednesday. 
                                                                                                            
  
OMG:  Weird Home Visit
This one is hard to explain.  I tried to help out a lady in Fort Worth by taking 2 cats for TNR (Trap/Neuter/Return) at the Feral Friends Outreach Clinic on Friday.  She brought the cats to me on Thursday.  It was a 4-hour ordeal to get her here because she was waiting for a mom to pick up her kids from her because she does in-home day care.  She brought two of them with here when she finally arrived.  One screamed the entire time he was in my house.  Not even Charlotte, the hugger cat, could calm him down.  So – I took the cats on Friday for spay/neuter and called her about 2:30 that I was headed home with them and she can come at any time.  She said she was waiting for the kids to be picked up – mom got off at 12:30 that day but she had not heard from her.

COMMENT:  There is a reason people use private in-home day care so they can come and go as they please.  A business location will charge folks when they are late picking up their kids.  She is being taken advantage of BUT she is allowing it to happen.   ???                                                      

Back to the story:  2 ½ hours later – NO WORK – so I called her.  Now a guy has come to work on her car and it is taken apart in the DRIVEWAY!   Why did not you tell this to me 2 ½ hours ago?  Now it is rush hour on a Friday in Dallas/Fort Worth.  DANGER – DANGER!  Now she want to pick up the cats on Saturday – ruin a third day for me waiting for her.  NO – have other plans and will not be home.  The only answer is to return these two cats to her home in the south part of Fort Worth.  I look it up on MapQuest and take off.  That area looked familiar on the map but I had been to a city meeting in that area at a local church and really did not think about it.  WELL – It turned out to be the SAME STREET and the SAME HOUSE I had been to many times working with another lady – taking traps, delivering cats, etc, etc. because HER CAR was always broken.  The first lady had been an in-home caregiver for the owner of the home.  The marathon with her went on for about 8 months several years ago.  How the house has been sold to another person with cat and car problems.  BAD KARMA!   What are the odds that I had been to this location before…EXACT SAME HOUSE!     

Question:  Why is gasoline always cheaper in Sherman?
When Nancy started going on relocations in 2009, she started me watching gas prices in these various cities.  I almost always fill up at Sam’s Club or Quick Trip before I leave my home area.  I do not want to be counties far away and looking for gas!   BUT – Gasoline is always cheaper in the Sherman area.   When it is $3.59 a gallon here, it is $3.26 in Sherman! 

The blood-moon has come and gone.  Hope things calm down…need to work on the auction. 

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

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