Blessings in disguise? Fred and CC

Do you believe in fate? Have you ever been in the right place at the right time, to change the life of another? I'm finally starting to believe that somethings are just "meant to be", and that many of my hardships are just blessings in disguise...

It all started when I responded to a Facebook post about a cat who needed a foster ASAP or he would die. I received a phone call soon after I offered to help and was told that the cat was safe, another rescue had pulled him. I was super excited and relived, because I really had no business trying to pull cats from another county when my own county was in such desperate need. The lady I spoke to took it upon herself to tell me that there were 2 other cats that needed commitment with in the next hour, or that they would be killed, she even texted me their photos... I was pretty upset that she put me on the spot like that and I told her that the only reason why I offered to take the other cat was because my mother agreed to foster him for me...  and there was no way that I could take 2 cats. I told her that I usually just deal with feral cats who need to be TNR'd (Trap-Neuter-Return) or relocated, or kittens born to feral moms. She told me that the 2 cats were feral cats, and relocation was what they needed. I agreed to take them, but I made it VERY clear that I could ONLY do so if they were feral cats, because I didn't have a place for 2 friendly indoor cats to go.

When I met her to pick up the cats, she told me how they were both super friendly, and how I shouldn't have a problem adopting them out... I was stunned, and told her that I couldn't take them... they were supposed to be ferals... that was our agreement. She played dumb and acted like she forgot, and told me that if I could just keep them through the weekend, she would take them back, she had another lady that could foster them.

Well, I think you know where I'm going with this... She stuck me with the cats!!! Not only that but the poor female cat (CC) was a bag of bones, full of fleas and ticks, and had diarrhea so bad that she couldn't control it, which meant lots of money out of my pocket and multiple trips to the vet. The male cat (Fred) had a severe yeast infection in his ears and was FIV positive, so it took allot of extra time to find him a home with a person that understood that FIV is not a death sentence, and that he deserves to live just as much as any other kitty out there.

Long story short... another rescue took CC, but even though Fred is a major love muffin and a super awesome cat, it still took me 5 months to get him adopted out because of his FIV. Do I regret saving the lives of these 2 precious souls? No! Absolutely not! I love them to pieces and I'm very grateful to have met them.

Some things are just meant to be! :-)

Fred making "air biscuits" :)

Fred the lover boy!

Loukas and Fred

My favorite pic!

Fred goes up for adoption! :)

He's making biscuits as usual.

CC

Poor baby was so skinny. :(

CC is a sweet girl.

Who could resist that face?

Apparently not me...

Excuses, excuses, excuses...

Check one, check two... Hello? is this mic blog on?

Wow, I don't even know where to begin... Where have I been? Why haven't I blogged?

Alien abduction?

Time Travel?

Zombie Apocalypse?

Nope!

It's all MY fault! I have a very bad habit of overwhelming myself with volunteer work such as animal rescue/activism. I also have a VERY hard time saying no, especially when animals are involved. I took on way too many projects, spread myself out way to thin, and became super stressed out... and unfortunately blogging is the last thing on my mind after a long exhausting drama filled day, so my blog and personal life have suffered because of it. 

Excuses, excuses, excuses... I know, I know... :/

I'm back, I'm trying to become more organized, which equals less stress... right? I'm also trying not to over commit myself... pssh... we shall see how that goes, because I've already committed myself to 3 SWAPS THIS MONTH on top of everything else that I have going on...  Ahhhhh, I need help! How do you do it?... How do you organize yourself to stay on track, and how do you say NO? Please someone, help a sister out.

But for now, Here is a cute kitten!

=^.^=

P.S. Don't worry if you are my swap buddy, you WILL receive your package,

I won't flake out on you. :)

Vegan MoFo, Pre-K Style!

Today I volunteered with the pre-kindergarden kids at a local elementary school as part

of their Community Helpers Program. I made about six dozen pumpkin shaped sugar cookies and four different colors of icing at home, all vegan of course. I also picked up some chocolate chips, gum drops, raisins, and different colored sprinkles to decorate

the cookies with.

There were three tables of children, so I gave each table four different colors of icing in piping bags, a bowl of raisins, chocolate chips, gum drops, and some sprinkles. I gave each child one large pumpkin cookie and three small ones. I showed them a quick example of how to use the piping bag and then let them go to town with their own creativity. The teachers and I supervised the process and help pass the piping bags and sprinkles around. Surprisingly there wasn't any fighting over supplies. The kids shared everything, helped each other out, and had a blast. I was very impressed at how well behaved they were.

I'm not sure about the proper etiquette of posting pictures of children online without their parents permission, so to be safe, I just put black bars to hide their identity. It kinda makes me laugh, like it's a collage of pre-k criminals. ;)

Vegan MoFo Pre-Kindergarden Style!

This little girl told me in great detail what she is going to be for Halloween, a Spider Witch!

In case you are wondering what a Spider Witch is, "she is a very scary witch who has a very scary pet spider that crawls up her arm... very very scary and spooky!"

This kid cracked me up with all the icing on his face.

Vegan Sugar Cookies are kid approved!

Icing... nom, nom, nom

I made a cookie collage of some of their work.

It makes me smile and wonder what my cookies would have looked like at this age, I'm thinking they would have been a beautiful disaster, just like these!

My favorite part of the day was when the kids surprised me with drawings of cats that they made for me for my birthday, which is Sunday. It totally made my day, the drawings are so cute. I can't wait to share them with you, but I need some time to scan them all, so hopefully I'll have them up for yall to see in a day or two.

Today was definitely a day to remember. :)

Have you ever done food projects with children?

And hey, while you're here, why not follow me... I'll follow you back. =D

Spay Day!

The second Sunday of every month in Tampa is ACT's Spay Day. This is where with an appointment, caretakers can bring in feral/stray cats and kittens in humane traps to the Animal Coalition of Tampa (ACT), to get them spayed/neutered, vaccinated, checked out for other health issues, given flea medicine, de-worming medicine, and ear-tipped as part of the TNR program (Trap-Neuter-Return), all for only $10. Each month around 100 cats are spayed/neutered on this day.

ACT's Spay Day is made possible by grants and many volunteers, including the awesome Veterinarians who volunteer their time to do hundreds of surgeries for these poor homeless cats. ACT also excepts feral/stray cats Monday-Saturday without an appointment for spay/neuter surgeries and ear tipping for a discounted rate of $25 per cat.

Spay Day as documented by me! :)

Bright and early the cats arrive in traps.

One by one they make there way through the back door and to the first station.

Since these are feral cats and usually not friendly, they have to be given a shot of anesthesia why still in the trap. A fork is used to confine them to one side so as not to hurt the cat. This is for the safety of the volunteers as well as the cats.

About a minute later they are out like a light. This is when the cats are taken from the trap and put on the table for inspection, tagging, and a shot of penicillin.

This is the room that I volunteer in. :)

Even though he looks awake, Mr. Kitty is out cold.

Penicillin shot.

Weeeeee!

Say good bye to the family jewels! ;)

No more baby making for him. And good thing, this guy, Big Orange, is from my hood. =)

Big Orange looks so happy while he is under. I love his little mouth freckles. 

SMILE!

You are getting neutered!!!

My friend Olya holding Big Orange.

He looks like he is awake, but is not or he would tear her face off.

We gave him lots of hugs and kisses while he was out.

This is me!

 Every cat deserves some lovin... even if it is while under anesthesia.

This guy is from my hood too. He is actually friendly, so wouldn't mind my kisses. It very sad that he doesn't have a home, and since he is friendly he was likely thrown out. :( Finding friendly cats outside that want a loving home is the hardest part of being a TNR volunteer, but it's also why it is sooo necessary that we spay/neuter as many as we can.

With every Spay Day comes kittens... lots and lots of kittens!

Unfortunately with so many kittens being born daily on the streets, there is not enough room for all of them in rescues and at no-kill shelters. :( Many of the kittens brought in on Spay Day have to be released back outside like the adults, but there is a program called the Street Kitten Program, where 15 friendly, healthy kittens are placed with St. Francis Rescue Group each month. This is arranged by appointment only, and there usually is a long waiting list to be considered for this program.

The "Street Kittens" arrive in carriers and are given shots of anesthesia while being held since they are friendly. They then go through the same process as the rest of the cats with the exception of not being ear-tipped and they get a few extras since they are going up for adoption.

Here is Olya putting some drops in the kittens eyes.

This is done to all of the cats, it keeps their eyes from drying out during the surgery.

Here is an example of the tag that each cat receives at our station.

It tells the cats number, so they know which trap to put them back into at the end, their sex, and any obvious health issues that need to be looked at. (ie. nursing mom, worms, fleas, wounds, etc.)

Such a beautiful kitten.

Sadly enough, this kitten is not part of the Street Kitten Program, so she has to go live back outside. :(

This is Purrsilla, Olya's foster kitten. :)

We rescued her off the side of the interstate overpass.

It was a bad situation and we have no idea how long she was there, but luckily she went right into the trap for food, and is friendly. There was no room fro her in the Street Kitten Program, so but luckily she was recently adopted out through the Humane Society of Tampa Bay.

This is Tiggie! aka. Kitten Face!

I rescued her from Hillsborough County Animal Services along with her brothers when they were only 1 week old. I just happened to be up there when a lady brought them up in a box, she said they found them under a truck with no momma. I took her and her brothers and paired them up with a nursing mom and my friend Candace fostered them.

Tiggie was adopted out this past weekend! =)

Kittens waiting for shots.

Kitten getting an ear-tip.

Ear-tipping is a process where about 1/4 inch of the tip of one ear is removed while the cat is under anesthesia. This is the universal sign of an altered feral cat. It lets feral cat trappers such as myself know that they have already been spayed/neutered, that way they are not trapped again and put through the process of being sliced open to only find that they have already been spayed. It is also a potential lifesaver if the cat ever gets brought in to Animal Services. Many counties, including mine let feral colony caretakers know of any ear-tip cat that shows up so we have the option of rescuing them and taking them back to their colony.

Here are some females with shaved bellies waiting their turns for spay surgeries.

More females. Including Purrsilla the kitten. :)

Female going in for surgery.

The Doctors in action!

Thank you so much for donating your time!

Spay surgery in progress.

Close-up of spay surgery.

More spay surgeries.

It's much easier to neuter than it is to spay, for both the doctor and the cat.

Female coming out of surgery and on her way to recovery.

Nursing moms getting extra fluids after their surgeries.  

After all is said and done, the cats are placed back into their traps and are ready for their caretakers to come pick them up.

This is my crew in traps recovering after surgery.

I leave my ferals in traps for no less than 24 hours so they can recover.

I change the paper daily and provide food and water in the traps.

This is the safest way of recovering a feral cat for both the caretaker and the cat, as most feral cats are not friendly, but still need time to recover.

This is Pete!

He was not a happy camper once he woke up.

This is Big Orange.

He was even less happy.

But I'm happy to report that he is back to himself roaming my hood without making babies.

This is the friendly boy in my neighborhood.

He is doing great but I really wish I could find him a proper home.

I didn't get good pictures of the other cats I brought in, but I had 6 total adults and Tiggie the kitten on this Spay Day.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

That concludes Spay Day as documented by me.

I didn't take the greatest pictures, but I'm not a morning person and Spay Day is super duper early. But I hope you now have an idea of what goes on behind the scenes. It's basically like a kitty assembling line with about 100 cats and tons of volunteers. It's pretty amazing to see in action. Hopefully this will encourage you to get active in your local TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) Program.

To find out more about  the TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) Programs for feral cats in your area,

contact Alley Cat Allies, your local shelters, or google TNR or low cost spay/neuter with your city and state.

There is no such thing as a "responsible breeder"!

Every animal BRED = another animal DEAD!

ADOPT! DON'T SHOP!!!

and ALWAYS SPAY/NEUTER!!!