06/24/13 to 06/30/13 - BEST JUNE EVER!

Relocations and In Take

June Closeout

Our Cats after Release

Miss Kitty

Phone Calls/Emails You Don’t Want to Get

BMG (Bitch – Moan - Groan)

OMG (Oh My God)

Relocations and In Take:   Placed 9 this week with intake at 10: 

1                    Adoption in Red Oak (Dexter)

2                    Backyard in Plano (Mango, Tippy)

3                    Barn in Flower Mound (Jerry, Johnny, Jenny from Balch Springs)

1                    Spay and return to Barn in New Fairview (Shelley)

2                    Bonham Rescue

June Closeout:  We just had our BEST JUNE EVER with 78 placements! YEAH! That gives us a YTD total of 352. Only YTD June 2009 has been better with a total of 389…but we are “in the hunt” this year for sure. That year we placed 84 in January which got us off to a great start! We placed cats in the following Texas counties in June:

            Collin               Denton            Grayson           Palo Pinto        Rockwall         

            Dallas              Ellis                  Johnson           Parker             Tarrant           

                                                                                   

Our Cats after Release:             

 Palmer – Kelly, Kirby, and Baxter are still around. When the property owner opens the doors in the morning, they are seen scurrying around.

 Burleson – Baby Kitty was all rubs and purrs until she was released. Now he had not seen her but the food disappears and the poop appears!

Lillian – Bev and Bobby were a “couple” – gray tabby and an orange tabby. Bev has a cloudy eye so I was careful where I placed her. The Lillian location is purr-fect!                                                                                                      

Bev and Bobby in their new home

                                                                     

 Pottsboro – Sandy, Butch, Scar, and Simba went to this location 3 weeks ago. Sandy and Butch have been elusive but Scar and Simba are taking care of business in the auto workshop.                                                                                                                               

                               

Miss Kitty: 

I took in a 15-year old cat last year who had both of her caregivers diagnosed with terminal illnesses.  Miss Kitty had lived outside all her life in an insulated feral house. I had her caged in the cat rooms where she had her own window. I had tried letting her out but she peed in the big feeder! GROSS!  So I tried a smaller bowl – she peed in that, too! GROSS AGAIN! She seemed content in that cage with her own food, water and litter box and I put a heating pad in the carrier for the winter months.  She enjoyed her canned food each night and immediately gobbled it down. About a week ago, she seemed to be more unsure on her feet. I moved her into the family room into a bigger cage so she had more room to move around. When I returned home on Friday from picking cats up at the Feral Friends clinic, she was barely breathing. I rushed her to All Care where Dr. Clawson put her to sleep.  Miss Kitty will be missed here at Barn Cats. We had her almost a year. RIP, Miss Kitty! At least she did not go through another cold winter living outside by herself.

        

Miss Kitty

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

 Tuesday, I picked up a cat at All Care in the afternoon then checked messages. A former barn placement in Wise County had captured a cat that had been reproducing under her house for several years. It was 4:30 in the afternoon (RUSH HOUR) and I started out to pick up the cat.  She was in the barn in a cage that was crawling with ants! ALSO, the plastic tray in the bottom of the cage had warped and the bottom caging was exposed…much larger spaces and this small-size cat could potentially get out! We scooted it along the ground and carefully placed it into the Barn Cat truck. NOW – all I have to do is get in into the house! I called Neighbor Nancy and we put a big sheet around the cage, securing the bottom, so she could not get out. We then put the sheet-wrapped cage onto a cart and rolled it into the house. There we put it into the hallway where we ran her out of the cage and into a carrier. Cat Wrangling 101!  “Shelley”, the cat, was tested, spayed, and given her shots on Thursday. We also gave her a Convenia shot (antibiotic) for the ant bites. I will return her to her barn home after she recovers. The other 2 cats that I placed there 5 years ago are still around that barn.   

  I had been trying to connect with a barn owner to pick up our caging  She was not returning my calls on Monday or Tuesday. Wednesday night about 8:50 pm, I received a call from her brother that one of the cats had a swollen, bleeding eye and the skin was just hanging off her bones! WHAT? Why hadn’t they called me! Well, I asked him to get her into the cage and call me back. I was ready to go there THAT NIGHT to south of Fort Worth so I could get her to the vet first thing on Thursday morning. Well, he did not catch her either Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Wednesday night all I did was toss and turn and worry about that cat.  Sometime on Thursday, the sister called and said the cats were fine….so….what is going on?  It appears that the brother is taking some sort of medicine that causes hallucinations. Bottom line:  The cats were fine when I picked up equipment on Friday. The swollen shut, bleeding eye has miraculously healed – a remarkable recovery! GEEZ – What next?                         

BMG: 

You know, it is interesting that folks cannot bring a cat to Lewisville but it is fine for me to travel to where ever they are to pick up that same cat! Hummmmmm! I had someone tell me that Lewisville was “outside her comfort zone” – FROM THE MID-CITIES! WHAT? You know, Barn Cats travels to 37 Texas counties and 5 Oklahoma counties…and she cannot get to Lewisville from Hurst, Euless, or Bedford?                                                                                                                                                                                               

OMG:    

Have you guys noticed how brilliant the Crepe Myrtle trees are this year? The red ones are especially gorgeous. Nancy says it is because the color is so bright against the green of the trees. The pink ones are amazing as well. TAKE A LOOK…from my backyard:

Pink Crepe Myrtle

Red Crepe Myrtle

                                                                                                                                                                          

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