Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt

Monday, July 7, 2014

It's Official

... I'm the crazy cat lady.
The latest count in 19, eight of them are kittens.
What happened? 
We discovered this lovely lady with four of her own kittens. But before we could trap them we were trying to get my other four kitties tame and to their forever homes. 
But nature isn't always kind. 
Friday night we found new mama cat (whom we were calling Raggedy Ann) under the house with a serious eye problem. 
We immediately set out the traps and caught this family of five. 
At the same time I started constructing a cage made from wire cube shelving and zip-ties. We had to get creative! We are even using an old bird aviary. 17 feral cats is all we can handle and we need to nip this in the bud!
Unfortunately mama cat ended up having to have surgery to remove her eye. So sad because she was a gorgeous cat as you an see in the top photos. She had beautiful peridot green eyes.
After this tragedy, she will be an inside cat. I can't seriously let this poor cat fend for herself with only one eye! Not to mention all the $$$$ it cost to help her. I'm pretty sure the emergency vet saw us coming and thought they needed to fund a luxury vacation! 
If you are looking for a new career that makes lots of cash, might I recommend going into the vet business?
I'm just a bit hot under the collar after this experience. I still feel I did the right thing by this poor cat but my future of luxury vacations isn't anywhere near the horizon. I'm not saying they shouldn't be paid for their services.  I'm saying don't charge double what my local vet does and don't play on people's emotions and inflate your estimate.
Anyway, these are Raggedy Ann's kitties and now they are in queue for taming. Step one is getting use to people being near and feeding them. 
Step two is handling them as much as possible. 
Raggedy Ann (who may become Leela, like from Futurama) is allowing us to pet her. In fact we suspect that she was once someone's kitty. 
She's severely malnourished but loves moist food. Anything to get her healthy again even if that stuff stinks and makes me want to vomit!
These four are my littlest ones and they are almost ready to find homes. I'm hoping someone will love them and give them safe forever homes.
This little sweetie came wandering into the yard a couple of weeks ago. She was trying to get into my kitties mamas cage. She wanted so much to be part of a family. Little Nala is a sweetheart! She hasn't taken long to tame. She's a quick convert, it's that stinky moist food!
Speaking of my kitties mama, she won't leave! We planned on letting her go back to her corner of our yard but she doesn't seem to want to leave her cage. It's the moist food! 

So there is my story of how I've become the crazy cat lady. I'm just a push over and our yard attracts cats. But boy am I hoping this is it!  19 it enough!
This is where I should put in a service announcement about spaying and nurturing your animals. Please do,there isn't  any more room in my yard or pocketbook. 

Take care, Brandie

11 comments:

Janet said...

You're a hero in my book! I always say I'm putting my vet's kids through college. The emergency vet loves me, too ... I think Mama cat wanting to stay when given a choice is a clear indicator!

Good for you. Applause ...

Jo said...

Brandie, you have a heart of gold. Thank you for taking such good care of these creatures. Hugs

Carla said...

You're a better woman than I am. I think I would have taken kitty to a shelter and let their vet look after her. Glad she is ok. You're a saint

Lynette said...

You are so awesome for helping Raggedy-Ann/Leela so much! She's a beauty.

glassbylindi.blogspot.com said...

OH M(EOW)Y! We have a neighborhood one like your Ann I call Blinky...
wish people would take care of their animals or NOT HAVE THEM!
Honestly, if another one would come knocking on your door...you would open the door and let it in...
D.G. L

Shay said...

You're good folks Brandie. 19 cats is a big ask for anyone unless you're running an animal shelter (and it appears that you now are doing just that)

Love the name Leela.

I've funded my vet's new cars and overseas holidays three years running. I am totally in the wrong business- money wise. Should have been a vet!

paulette said...

You are AMAZING!! Good for you!!You
win my GOOD SAMARITAN AWARD for this year!! These cats KNOW that a kind lady (with moist food)lives here!!
P

Anonymous said...


Wow, Brandie! You are a Good Samaritan for Cats. You have an amazingly huge heart of gold!
Kerry

Lynn said...

There's a special place in heaven for you Brandie. Your kitties will be forever grateful.

Dee said...

My parents are having the same problem. Five years ago someone dropped off a pregnant cat and it has snowballed from there. They currently have 11 new kittens. They feed all of them (wet and dry food). Their food bills are horrendous. They've tried catching them and fixed the ones they can. You're a very special person to do so much to help them. Thank you.

Heartsdesire said...

How sad that beautiful kitty had to lose her eye. I don't understand how people can just abandon their pets when they don't want them. We rescued a gorgeous orange tabby from the local shelter because the people that owned him wanted to go on vacation and didn't want to take the cat with them. He was with us for 16 wonderful years. We also rescued a sweet kitten that was found on the street, and she is still with us 20 years later. What a selfless person you are to take on these feral cats. They are so lucky to have someone like you looking out for them.