Cat Lady

[Hound dog]

Evidently that is me, although I'm not the biggest cat person.

I have Bruce in the house. A now 3 yr old stray Darrin brought to Nana to "save".

I've always had various strays outside. Some hang around to the point where they've adopted us. Shadow, Henry (passed from old age), Minnie, Mr. Underfoot (whom I think passed away either due to illness or injury), the two kittens perdy and sassy who recently went to a forever home, and now there are 3 new ones; Smoky, Midnight (preggers), and a new one this morning that is the clone of Midnight.

Other than Henry, they come to us quite young, some very very young, others under a year old. Midnight, Smoky, and the new clone of midnight I supect are all from the same litter.....all 3 get along and seem to "know" each other, all are the same age or appear to be. They're not quite a year old although older than perdy and sassy were. The new one is a tad skiddish.

Now he's the deal. Midnight used to cry at me from under my car when I fed Minnie. So I added a bowl for her and kept calling to her kitty style until she got hungry enough to face her fear and come to the porch to eat. The new kitty, omg, she was crying at me from across the street! So, I came back in to refill the bowls (I'm feeding Midnight twice a day due to her pregnancy) and when I came out I called to the kitty and shook the bowl to let her hear the food. She came running.......but is still at the skiddish stage. Midnight is not longer skiddish, she's all over me now and won't leave the yard / porch area for anything.

These are not feral cats. The feral ones show up after the non feral cats have eaten their fill as they won't welcome them onto the porch until they're done eating. These young kittens belonged to someone, was housed inside (because now I literally fight to get back into my house without 3-4 cats trying to come inside as well).

I'm fairly certain we have people who have not "fixed" their cats and when they have litters, once they reach a certain age those that couldn't be given away are dumped outside to fend for themselves. These are some of the most affectionate cats I've ever seen in my life too.

Makes me so mad. I mean, c'mon, husband and I are barely surviving and yet I can find the spare cash to feed a pride of cats that aren't even MINE! So how frimping hard can it be to be responsible for a litter you should've made certain wasn't born to begin with. UGH

Bruce isn't neutered because after the trauma of being tossed out as a young kitten (heck probably by the same people), he wants nothing to do with the outside, so no risk of him mating with anyone.

And our shelter and pound refuse to take cats. So they really are left to fend for themselves completely. I know of one rescue lady that takes cats, she's always full, always.

Just ticks me off that winter is coming and I see new kitties being tossed out with no mercy whatsoever. From the moment they're born they rely on humans to feed and care for them and then suddenly they're tossed out the door like so much garbage. Left to find food any way they can or starve or freeze to death or whatever.

I'm fixing up the spare dog house and hoping Midnight uses it for her kittens so as soon as they're old enough easy child, Nichole and I can work on finding them homes asap. Also will be working on forever homes for Midnight, Smoky, and the new one I've yet to name. If we can't find forever homes for them, I'll continue feeding them, providing them with some sort of shelter.

I may not be a big cat person, but even I'm not that heartless. Makes me so mad.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Talk to the manager at the pet food store.
They might be able to connect you with a volunteer cat rescue society...
What THAT gives you is... access to free food, AND usually a safe way of finding homes for strays.
The way the food works is... pet food manufacturers don't want "returned" goods back. So, the pet food stores are authorized to donate that food to registered charities on their behalf.
There's a dog-rescue here that works this way - one of the volunteers has a mouse-proof shed with the food stored in there - and the other volunteers can drop by and pick up food as needed.
But you have to get "attached" to a rescue society....

IF you have those kinds of things where you are.

 

[AnnieO]

Oh, Lisa... I know...

My parents have adopted 2 cats from SICSA... But...

AngelKitten (Weasel)... was a kitten... Friend had her... Scratched the 6-month-old when baby pulled her tail... I adopted her. 17 years later, I cannot bring myself to scatter her ashes yet.
Possum... Was a wedding gift from the security guard at the hotel I worked at... It was me or a .22... He was the runt AND the only one who survived from that litter...
Squirrel... Belonged to my niece, with her brother, but niece couldn't keep them... Found a home for brother but not Squirrel.

My parents' other cat Blackie appeared one Valentines' Day in the snow... And never left... She's terrified of anyone but my parents and husband.

I don't get to adopt cats from the pound... They show up.

 

[DammitJanet]

I hate what people do with pets. Thankfully I havent seen too many cats out around us lately. Dont know why. Maybe we are too far back and the people closer to the road get them first. I keep bugging tony about wanting an orange kitty. Might have to do that since it looks like I may have to get rid of Buddy if I ever want to see Mackenzie. Mandy is throwing a fit and saying that the baby wont be allowed to come over to the house if we have any dogs in the house...sigh.

Anyone want a purebred, spayed Havenese dog?

 

[AnnieO]

Is Mandy INSANE?!

I'm sorry, she's not a very good "stepmom" to Keyana if K is allowed around the dog but M won't be.

GRRRR.

Also, if she wants the kid's immune system to develop properly, she better get over herself.

 

[Hound dog]

Mandy is throwing a fit and saying that the baby wont be allowed to come over to the house if we have any dogs in the house

WTH?? What crawled up Mandy's fanny that she thinks she can tell you what you can and can't have in your home?? Tell her to get over herself already. Cory would never put up with you not seeing the new baby. sheesh

easy child tried this with smoking. Now I do my best not to smoke around an infant under 6 wks. After that? pht. easy child "thought" she was going to make me smoke on the porch. I laughed at her and told her it's MY house and what I do in it is MY business. If she didn't want the baby around smoke that bad find another sitter. Since I watched Darrin until he was 3, I think she got over it. lol

It's not like you're going to let the dog crawl all over the baby or something for pete's sake.

 

[donna723]

What on earth is wrong with Mandy???? I feel so sorry for children who don't know the love and affection of a friendly animal as they grow up! And if you want your kid to be sick all the time, just try keeping them in that sterile glass bubble where they're not exposed to anything and develop no immunities. My kids had lots of allergies as kids, both of them. They were allergic to everything ... EXCEPT for cats and dogs because they had grown up around them!

My grandson, Ethan, has been around my daughter's two large dogs and their cat since the day they brought him home from the hospital! They're very gentle with him and they are his first friends. Even when he was tiny he loved to be on the patio when they were outside so he could watch them and giggle as they played and chased each other around the yard. The cat is old and a bit of a poot - he ignores Ethan but he would never hurt him. The pets are clean and healthy and well cared for. They're certainly not going to make him sick or give him diseases! He's in a lot more danger of catching something from all those other snotty, germy little kids at his day care than he is from the pets!

And as far as smoking ... they both smoke but they sneak outside to the patio to do it or in the garage if it's raining. They don't smoke around Ethan and don't smoke in the car if he's with them. But the smoke would still be on their clothes, etc. Actually they did this fora long time before Ethan was ever born. Allison has done this for years because one of her aunts is very sensitive to smoke and couldn't visit if she had been smoking in the house. And when I'm in their home, I respect their wishes. But if they came to MY home to visit, I'm not sure what we would do. It gets too cold here to stand around outside to smoke and I don't have a nice patio full of lawn chairs like they do.

 

[DammitJanet]

Well, Mandy has a two fold issue and I can actually see one of her points. Buddy has never been fully house trained even though I have tried valiantly. Its almost like he does it to punish us. I can take him out and make sure he uses the potty but then he will come in poop if he gets mad at someone in the house. Also sometimes he does do it if he knows Keyana has been to the house and we have been paying attention to her, then he will go over and poop right in front of the TV. Now of course, he is a small dog and we go clean it up right away.

He is also not a yappy or snappy dog. We got him when Keyana was less than 2 years old and she has pulled him every which way but loose. She has pulled on his tail, yanked him all over the floor, tried to pick him up like he was a stuffed animal, and just about anything else you can imagine. We have watched him really closely to see if he ever so much as growled or barred his teeth at her and he just kind of sighs...lol. He lets her do anything she wants and when he gets tired of it, he hides.

What Mandy got really upset by is that there was an article in the paper here where a 9 day old baby was mauled and killed by 4 pitbulls and a rottweiler about 2 weeks ago. Seems this young couple (mom 18 and dad 23) went to the dads parents house so the mom could take a shower (?) and the dad and grandparents were watching the baby in the basement and somehow the dogs got in the house and mauled the baby to death. Supposedly the grandparents didnt want the father to have this baby in the first place so I guess Mandy thinks the grandparents and father set this up for some reason. I dont know.

I have had animals around all my kids and grandkids. I havent lost one yet...lol. I wonder if she is gonna say we have to get rid of the iguana? She is scared to death of that thing. She has a whole lot of demands and such when she sure hasnt been the ideal incubator. I swear....Lindsay is still my favorite...lol.

 

[Hound dog]

I'm not familiar with his breed, but I know poodles (some anyway, not all) can get jealous and do stuff like that, or destroy things. And like you said, it's not like you don't clean it up. Easy solution, keep the baby off the floor. duh

Like I said though, no way in hades Cory is gonna let her keep the new baby from you, so I wouldn't worry about it.

I find it amusing she's not worried about the pitbull but is over the havenese. lol (especially considering the article)

Gotta love that new Mom syndrome. Sometimes it's funny to watch, other times you just roll your eyes and wait for it to pass.

 

[DammitJanet]

Donna...Mandy cant say a darned thing about smoking...she smokes. So does Cory. I will be all over them like white on rice if the so much as even say a word about smoking because they both smoke more than my measly cigarettes. I dont want to even hear it. The baby is more in danger from that than from Buddy even pottying in the house once in a while. I mean for heavens sake...Keyana is alive and kicking! Keyana started staying overnight here at 11 days. I wonder who she thinks she is going to get to babysit this kid when she needs one? One of her druggy friends or maybe her alcoholic mother and her abusive boyfriend?

 

[donna723]

Janet, maybe she'll lighten up a bit when she has the baby and the realities of motherhood set in. With my first one, I remember being so terrified that something would happen to her, I really went off the deep end and was frantic with worry most of the time. When she was a little older she ate dirt and played with bugs and kissed the dog on the mouth and we thought it was cute and took her picture.

 

[DammitJanet]

Oh my pitbull is in a pen in the yard and I rarely have her in the house because I cant handle her. I was never able to housebreak her at all because she simply has some form of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). I think she was inbred. Lovely dog, loves me to death and very shy. Wouldnt hurt a fly and thinks she is a very small dog. She would be very afraid of a baby. She is afraid of Keyana. She tries to get behind me or Tony when Keyana is at the house...lol. She also has absolutely no interest in stuffed animals so thinking she would look at a baby as a toy is just not an issue.

 

[donna723]

You know, it's a miracle that we're all still alive and kicking! Most of our mothers smoked and probably still did when they were pregnant. And even though we know better now, a lot of women had the occasional glass of wine or mixed drink while pregnant. We climbed trees and rode bikes all day without helmets or sun screen. There was no hand sanitizer and lots of time we pretended to wash our hands, rather than really doing it. We ate dirt and rolled down hills and shared a bottle of Coke with four other kids and drank out of the hose ...and WE'RE ALL STILL ALIVE!!! Whoopee for us!

 

[AnnieO]

Ya know... When I first started dating husband, I'd already been babysitting for E's sons. So I was over the freak-out-new-mama bit.

But... When & if we do have another one... I wonder.

 

[Hound dog]

Step, the babysitting carries over. Trust me. lol

I never had new mom syndrome. I'd been babysitting since the age of 10, first helping my mom with her daycare, then with my dozens of nieces and nephews.

Nichole was the same way, she never suffered from new mom syndrome. easy child's lasted until about 9 mos when I ignored her and just let Darrin get as dirty as he wanted.

 

[AnnieO]

...If J teaches his potential younger sibling to hate being dirty AND hate showering as much as he does (I know, this makes no sense to me either)... I'll 2x4 some sense into him.

Kid does not like playing in the mud. I DO - and I'm near 40!!!

 

[Hound dog]

Lol!!

 

[hearts and roses]

What is is about cats that people can be so darned heartless to just 'dump' them on the side of the road. Argh - makes me furious!

I wish....WISH...I could have cats instead of dogs. Don't get me wrong, I love love love my pups, but CATS. Sigh, I wish I could have cats!!!! I am severely allergic. God is not fair sometimes.

I like the idea of hooking up with a pet store. Also call all vets in your area and ask them for connections in regards to having certain cats fixed. If you can snag them, some vets will spay or neuter them for free and then they can at least be in the wild without fear of getting preggers and creating more kitties. And I would seriously consider snagging said neighbor's cats. Call the local ASPCA....

You're in good with Saint Frances, caring for all those little kitties!

 

[Hound dog]

There is a van that used to come around that would fix strays for 5.00 ea. I don't think the vet who did it could keep it up, if so, I can't find it now. Otherwise midnight and smoky and minnie would all be fixed. Our vets won't do them for free or even at a discount, neither does our shelter or pound.

Food isn't much of an issue with the couponing. I can get cat food MUCH cheaper than dog food, so they won't starve. Plus if I have chicken or fish scraps they get it.

 

[KTMom91]

I hear you, O Cat Lady.

All of our animals are either "pound or found." The panther boys were born in our side yard. We caught the mama, but she was just too feral to tame. The bunnies hopped into our yard, too.

And just last week, Hubby brought home a cat that someone dumped in the parking lot at work. She'll be getting fixed ASAP.