Outdoor Kiddie Pools Keep Cats Hydrated

 This summer the heat has been extreme with creeks and lakes drying up.  Due to the water shortages, the neighborhood and feral cats were desperately in need of water.

Normally we have bowls of water for the cats, but the intense heat was causing the water to become very hot and evaporate.  I was filling the water bowls several times a day and found that not only cats were drinking the water, but songbirds, groundhogs, raccoons, and deer were also staying hydrated by drinking out of the small animal bowls.

We bought outdoor kiddie pools to provide both cats and wildlife with a reliable water source.  Filling the outdoor dog and kiddie pools daily was the best thing that we could do to provide cats and wildlife the water that they needed.   We filled daily a hard plastic kiddie pool and an outdoor dog pool by Top-Paw.  

All pools were set up under a shade tree.  The shade prevented the sun from evaporating the water from the pools and also from the water getting too hot.  We would clean the pools daily to prevent bacteria.  Once the water was removed we would wash down the pool with dawn dish soap, rinse and refill.  Throughout the day the pools would be filled to the top so that they were never empty and cats and smaller animals could drink from them without physically getting into the pool. 

The kiddie pools were a great way to provide water to the animals and to keep them hydrated during the extremely hot summer months.

Here are a few of my photos.

Abandoned Kitten Rescued

 A gray kitten came to our feeding station a week ago, we thought it was abandoned due to its appearance. The cat is very thin and on closer observation, it looks like a 5-month-old anoxia cat, the poor thing is skin and bones.

I picked up the cat to remove the huckleberries from it, then fed it and gave it water, and decided to take it in to be checked for a microchip and for medical care.

This cat was so thin that I thought it had Feline Leukemia. I talked to my husband and we brought the frail cat inside and made it comfortable on our enclosed porch.

Two days later my husband took the kitty to the veterinarian and thought that he was taking it to be put down. I have never seen such a thin cat. We learned that it's about a year old, and that it has had kittens, that it is not diseased just suffering from malnutrition.

The cat is 3 lbs and approximately a year old.  It's a very sweet gray kitty, that needs to put on weight to be spayed.

We decided to keep the cat indoors.  The kitty will be safe from outdoor predators, and we will provide quality food, fresh water, toys, a bed, and air conditioning.  While indoors we will work to socialize this kitten to trust humans.

We have a tentative appointment in a month for this cat to be spayed. Know it breaks my heart to see this frail kitty that was abused and abandoned by her people.

Know that my husband and I are not affiliated with any charity we are people who love cats and help any injured, abandoned or hungry cat that we find in our yard.  Paying for all medical costs and food from royalties earned at our online store. 

Here are some photos of the kitten, we call her Gabi.

Grow Catnip for Neighborhood Cats

The neighborhood cats all seem to enjoy the catnip that is growing in my yard.  The cats come throughout the day and all have the same daily catnip routine.

Here are a few of my photographs of the catnip that grows in my yard and a cat that visits me daily to enjoy this plant. 

 

They eat and drink at the feeding station and then meander down to the garden where the catnip plants grow.   The cats will rub on the plant, and nibble on a few leaves. Some will lie on top of the plant and go to sleep. Other cats will eat a few leaves, and roll around in the grass, before going to sleep in the back wildflower garden. When they awake they go back to where they came from.

Know that when cats ingest/eat catnip this herb acts as a sedative as it reduces anxiety, stress, and all behavior conditions such as not getting along with other cats.

I grow the WalkersLow catnip plants in well-drained (although the plant is not fussy about the soil it's grown in). Catnip prefers full sun and this particular catnip is drought tolerant. The plant has green leaves, pretty purple flowers, and a soft mint fragrance that attracts neighborhood cats from blocks.   

Photos of my neighbor's cat.  His cat loves to roll around in the catnip garden.

 

 

My husband and I are delighted to see the cats and enjoy them visiting the gardens. We like to think of the gardens as their “safe place”. Even if there are a few cats in the yard, they do not fight, instead, they wait patiently for their turn at the catnip plant. 

TNR Cats Milestone

This month we are celebrating the milestone of trapping 102 cats in our neighborhood for the TNR program. Know that the woods by our home is a dumping ground for abandoned cats. So my husband and I along with two neighbors worked together in trapping the cats, taking them to the veterinarian for cat disease tests, vaccines (rabies, cat respiratory, and Feline Leukemia), and sterilization. 

A feral cat in the trap 

 We did not return or release all of the cats. There were many strays that we tried to socialize so that they could be adopted into forever homes. The feral or stray cats that could not be socialized were released to a private property colony with daily caretakers. 

 It took us 7 years to reach 102 trapped and rescued feral and stray cats and we are all proud of our accomplishment. Learn more about our cat cause here. 

Know that we are not affiliated with any charity and pay for all cat medical expenses, food, and outdoor cat houses, out of our own pocket or from donations given to us by cat-loving neighbors.  Cat rescue and adoption is our cause because we love cats.

Here are some photos of the cats that we have trapped, picked up, or rescued over the years. 

two cats recuperating after TNR

The cat in the box was found in the woods. 

Feral cat Lucy first cat in TNR resides at Colony

Rescued cat when people moved and abandoned cat

TNR cat recuperating after nueter

Feral kitten learning to play with toys

A TNR cat that we feed daily 

We paid for medical care for this cat when he was injured.
A 2nd chance kitty that was adopted by one of my friends

We found these cats when they were kittens, they were in a trash bag and left on the side of the road.   Sickly kittens that we nursed back to health.  Both were adopted and found their forever home

Feral kitten recuperating after her spay 

Feral TNR cat.  She is alive today and resides
in a colony of cats.

Kittens we rescued and took care of them until they could be adopted

White Tomcat Gets Rescued and Forever Home

A month ago a stray aggressive white cat showed up in my yard. This tomcat was chasing my cats from their yard and fighting with other cats. At first I thought the cat might be sick, abandoned or a feral tomcat. I learned rather quickly that the cat was nuisance because there was a feral queen cat that was hanging out close to my home and this is what was instigating the cat brawls and the mating calls at all hours day and night.

Abandoned white tomcat looking sad after the neuter

I inquired to find out if any neighbors knew the cat owner. It was unanimous all said that the cat just showed up one day and was a fighter. Another neighbor said that “he has to be neutered as I saw him trying to stand up to a raccoon over a food bowl” My guess was that the cat was abandoned and was acting out due to that and because he was not neutered and that he was hungry and didn’t understand that a raccoon was danger.

Stray tomcat eating at the feeding station

When tomcats are abandoned, they are really lost, they don’t know how to find a safe shelter to sleep, food to eat, or clean water...all they know is that they need to fight off anything that gets in their way to find a queen cat to mate with.

Know that I watched this cat one day crying because it was raining, he did not have the good sense to go into one of my insulated and waterproof cat houses. This of course confirmed that he was an abandoned housecat. Of course, I tried to help the cat but it ran from me, but the poor thing never got out of the rain.

White cat trapped and going to the veterinarians for medical care

I let everyone know that I would trap the cat and take it in for neutering and vaccines and that I would try to find it a forever home. Trapping was not successful as the cat didn’t go into the trap. So my husband grabbed the cat carrier and set it on our patio with an open door and cat food in the back. The tomcat walked into the carrier and sat down.

The tomcat was tested for Feline Leukemia and Feline Immunodeficiency and both were negative. I was told that he was five years old, that he had ear mites, and that he needed to be wormed. The cat was neutered, received all of his vaccines, and treatment for mites and worms, and needed to stay 2 extra days at the animal hospital. Upon release, his paperwork said that he was vomiting dead worms and that he should be kept calm for the next 7 days.

The garage shelter has everything cats need even indoor/outdoor carpet

We released the white cat to our heated garage. The garage is carpeted, has cat beds, houses toys, and fresh food and water. Once the cat was in a home setting he calmed down and became a sweetheart.

The white cat is no longer aggressive and gets along with another cat in the shelter

The garage is cozy and warm for the stray cats this winter thanks to the many customers who bought from my Zazzle store.  I used the royalties from the product sales
to buy this window heater. 

(Pure white cats are fairly rare in the general cat population, as they require a gene that hides every other possible coat color and pattern in a cat's genetic makeup.)

The cat loves blankets, rolling around on the carpet, playing with toys and he accepted the other cats in the garage without any aggression. He has been recuperating for the last five days and in that time I have made contact with two pet adopters. 

This once abandoned tomcat will be adopted and will get another chance at being a housecat at his forever home.

Taming Feral Kitten for TNR

 The stray queen cat that took refuge in my garage had one small kitten. That kitten was orphaned at a young age and I took up the care of it and worked to tame it for TNR.

The kitten hid from me and meowed loudly. Clearly, it was traumatized at being abandoned. It took some time to corner the kitten but was able to grab it by the scruff to examine and since it had teeth my husband and I decided to feed it kitten kibble mixed with KMR replacement milk for kittens.

The kitten was very hungry and ate the food. So for the next 6 weeks, I fed the kitten daily at the same time and weaned it off the replacement milk.   I also read a book while sitting in a chair in the garage for several hours daily.

I wasn't sure if I could use the Feliway diffuser for such a young kitten so bought a boombox radio at a garage sale which enabled me to play low-volume classical music in the garage.   In the past, I have found that low-volume background classical music is soothing to feral cats.

Then one day the kitten jumped up on my lap and I knew that I had successfully tamed it and that it was dependant upon me.  However, I didn't immediately trap it for veterinarian care.  Instead, I waited until that kitten played with its toys on my lap. The feral kitten was tamed and would not be released after sterilization.  

Today I was able to pick up the kitten and put it in a cat carrier.  No problems picking up by the scruff, but once in the carrier, the kitten regressed into a wild feral cat.

The kitten was taken to the veterinarian's office immediately and they will do the combo test, give vaccines, worm, and spay. The veterinarian will keep it two days after the spay so the kitten will heal in comfort.

I am certain the kitten will need a refresher course on socialization and will need to learn to trust me again. If the kitten can be tamed again we will not release it but instead, seek adopters for a forever home.

Found White and Gray Tabby Kitten

 Today when I went out to the shed to check to see if any cats had entered through the kitty door I discovered that food was eaten from the food bowl.  I looked to see if a cat was there but could not find one. That didn't mean that there was no cat in the shed as it could be that it had a really good hiding spot.

I took steps to set up an overnight feeding station of wet and dry food plus a fresh bowl of water. I then set a self-warming cat bed on the floor along with catnip toys.

Before turning the lights out I heard movement in the back of the shed, it sounded like it was coming from behind a storage container, so I took my flashlight to look behind the container, and there in the corner I found a gray and white tabby kitten.

The kitten appears to be approximately three months old.  It looks healthy however there was no collar and it wasn't sterilized.   From the way the cat is hissing and spitting at me, I assume that it is feral or maybe just afraid of me. 

We provided the kitten with a safe and warm space with food, water, toys, and a litter box.  Tomorrow we will look for lost cat flyers, and also put the word out that we found a white and gray tabby kitten. 

I stayed with the kitten and took a few photographs. It's afraid of me but doesn't appear to be feral.  Here are a few photographs of the kitten that came into our shed.

Pet Owner Relinquishes Rights to Cat

Many times I think that the cats that come into my yard are stray due to their matted fur and they are usually hungry or thirsty. If the cat meows and is friendly and spends the entire day and night in my yard. I assume that it may be an indoor/outdoor cat, a neglected cat or that the pet owner has moved away.

What happens if you know of a pet owner who isn't being responsible and Do you know the cat needs care? Do you call animal control and report the neglect or do you visit with the person to find out if they still want the cat? 

Sometimes they aren't intentionally irresponsible as maybe they are sick, maybe there is a reason for the lack of care, and maybe they would prefer to relinquish their rights to the cat. Many times pet owners who never let their cats indoors and provide no outdoor shelter for the cat do not want the cat anymore and are eager to surrender their rights to someone who likes and wants to adopt the cat.

A cat that pet owner didn't want 

A few weeks ago my neighbor's cat decided to live in my yard. If would spend the entire day in my garden, drinking from the pond, hunting grasshoppers and salamanders and I found that it was sleeping in my dogs house at night. As soon as the dog was brought inside the cat went into the house in the kennel. The cat did not go home and I knew that it was at one time a housecat and needed to be cared for especially since my area has coyotes and other animals that would enjoy a cat snack.

Since I knew the woman who owned the cat I did go to visit with her. She told me to release the cat that it was outdoors now because she was ill and could not take care of it anymore.

I told her that the coyote was in the neighborhood at night and that it really was not safe for a housecat to be outdoors. But the neighbor was stern saying that the cat is not coming in here. She went on to say that the cat was too much trouble, always wanting to sit on her lap and that the cat kicked the litter all over the place.

I learned that the cat in question was approximately 15 years old and was not spayed and was taken to the veterinarian for vaccines when it was a kitten, but other than that no routine vaccines, wormer, or veterinarian care for approximately 14 years. Clearly, the cat was neglected and my neighbor was not being a responsible pet owner so I offered to adopt the cat if she would relinquish her rights of owning the cat to me. 

She was glad to do that but I didn’t take her word for it. I went home and printed out a cat surrender of ownership where the pet owner relinquished her rights. We both signed and dated the document and we both had a copy of the agreement.

 So now I have a 15-year-old cat that will be going to the veterinarian for a spay, vaccines, and wellness check-ups. If the cat is healthy with no serious health concerns I will then seek adopters in my neighborhood.

***If you love cats then you want to view my cat-designed products. Many products were created from the photographs of feral and stray cats that we care for. ***