Meet Napoleon Maximilian

Or "Max" to his friends.

In other words, the Kitten Hatchery is unexpectedly open...

Two nights ago Beatrice's Mom came over to watch some television. When I opened the door, however, and said "Hi," she responded with, "Kitten." Uh, kitten? Sure enough, there by the food dish was a kitten I'd never seen before. A bit of chasing later and hey, there's an angry, angry kitten in my bathroom. (And a lot of blood from a kitten bite on my thumb, and a trip to the doctor for a tetanus shot in my very near future.)

He seems to be about 3months old or so and very, very dirty. He spent most of yesterday growling and huddling in the bathtub. But by last night he let me pet him a little (while hissing.) This morning he let me pet him, and leaned into the pets. Then, breakthrough! This afternoon he stretched up into the pets and started purring! I was able to pick him up (and discover that he is, in fact, a he) and plop him my lap-- where he promptly started rolling about and asking for me to pet his belly!!
We still have a ways to go-- I can't get him to play, for example. And he starts to growl whenever he sees me, but stops when I start petting him. He's eating well, and using the litter box with no trouble. He let me clean out his very dirty, very gross ears, although I suspect there'll be more of that to come, too. He clearly has worms (ew!) because he has the roundest belly ever.

So here's the thing. Fuzzy funny face, aka Angry Kitty (who is no longer so angry), aka Napoleon Maximilian, aka Max, needs a few things. First, he needs vet visits. Second, he needs a home. Should you wish to, you can help me with either of those...

I'm hoping to take him to the vet on Tuesday for his first kitten check up/vaccinations, etc. (De-worming.) If you'd like to help this poor, poor graduate student afford said vet visit, you can kick a few dollars my way via that PayPal button over there....

(Tomorrow he gets a bath... I'll try to take pictures.)

Holy Carp! An update!

I know, I know... I'm well aware that I have been pretty much the worst blogger ever. The good news is that I have been keeping a close eye on our colony and everyone is doing pretty well. Okay, so Mistoffolees looks like he's molting, which is weird but doesn't seem too problematic. Tuxie is a bit pushy-- alternately mewing and hissing when I feed her. And everyone else is, well, everyone else.

See? I still take pictures! To the right, Agatha says hi (from between a set of stairs, if you're wondering).

As long as the colony is its usual self-- just requiring food and water-- we're good. I don't mind finding the cash for the food (and while they do go through a lot, some of my neighbors feed them, too), and I've got friends around here who have been lovely in helping to take care of the colony when I've had to frequently go out of town.

More pictures:






Lovely Daphne wondering why I'm bothering her with that flashy, clicky thing....


And Tuxie playing at being shy. (She's not really.)






However, two things have come up. First, I really do need to get the last of the colony TNRed, both for the sake of not wanting any more kittens, and for their own health. Remember that Pigpen, Tuxie and Barnaby all escaped TNR the first time around. And since then we've been joined by Tuxie and Paint.

And then there's Tigger, but he's better left to his own entry.

So I need to raise some monies to TNR these guys. Fortunately, it's not quite the undertaking that getting the first THIRTEEN was, but still. So if you're feeling in the mood, please feel free to hit the donate button over there on the left. (My birthday's in about two weeks-- you can make it a gift!)

I can't run another raffle-- well, I could, and I'd be happy to, but as it turns out they're illegal... So any other thoughts on how we can raise the moolah for these guys' TNR?

Drive By Posting!

This summer has been... well, let's just say not my best summer ever. The cats, however, have been doing well. I've been seeing more of the group every day (this is partly because of how early in the morning I've been having to leave...) and everyone looks healthy and well. Tuxie, Aloysius, Bessie and Pigpen are generally eating as soon as I put down food. Barnaby stops by frequently, as does Agatha and Walsingham and Gremlin. I see Daisy nearly every afternoon as she likes to sleep on the cement floor of the building where it's coolest (it's been about 110degrees every day for the past ... forever). Daphne is a frequent sight as well. No kittens have been spotted this spring or summer, which is great. And I hvae taken some pictures and want to take more and as soon as I can, I'll get back to posting.

'Til then, I really hope you know about the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee. If you do, then I'm probably preaching to the choir, and you know about how they're trying to use 40squillion (that's thousands) dollars for the Tacoma Humane Society. If you're considering donating, I hope you'll do so today because not only are they only 3 days away from the end of their 'thon, but also because all donations today go directly to their spay/neuter fund, which helps ferals and free-roaming cats, like the ones in this colony. So if you have a few dollars to spare (every bit helps!!) consider sending it their way today.

Pictures!

We haven't moved forward, alas. I haven't heard back from TNR Group #2 yet, you see. So we'll try again in June. Why not May, you ask? Because I am going out of town. No need to worry about our Colony-- people I trust very much will be taking care of the fuzzies for me, stopping by every day.

Come back in June when things will gear up, one way or another. :)

'Til then, enjoy these pictures...

Below, Daphne contemplates me with uncertainty, while Bessie tries to do a photobomb. Okay, Bessie probably was just wondering whether to run, but still...

Tuxie in the sunset. She's usually within earshot of my front door.

Streeeeeetch and yawn, wee Agatha, stretch!

Agatha, aka Crooked Kitty, close up. I'm always so happy to see this little girl.

It's Daisy! I have no idea why she looks so cranky here...

And finally, Beatrice, the not-feral, though you wouldn't know it to pet her, says you'd better come back in June for more updates and pictures!!!

It's Never Easy-- So Thank Goodness for Help

::Sigh:: Another water bowl gone. (The one in the above picture, in fact, with Bessie-the-Former-Tomcat.) I think I may need to go to a big box store and purchase a dozen cheap dishes. I have no idea if it's gone thanks to neighbors or thanks to management...

I spoke with the wonderful person from AZCats who helped me last time (2008), and it turns out that there's been some kinds of machinations in animal groups in the past two years. I didn't get details, but suffice it to say that due to distance (Phoenix is a big city, especially for transporting angry caged animals in) I have been referred to a different group. I'll update more as I know it. She also referred me to some online resources which may help in the on-going communications with the management here.

'Til I know more, I leave you with pictures. Everyone likes pictures! These are the fuzzies you are directly helping when you donate to Project-Cat.


Mr Mistoffolees from above-- He seems to be saying, "I can see you up there. But I know the food is up there. How do I get to the latter, and not the former..."


Tuxie, being her adorable self. Behind her, however, is one of the two Problem Tiger Tabbies. These are two gray tabbies that belong to a neighbor. They are not, however, neutered.

Walsingham, lounging in the desert.

Feeding time at the zoo. This is by no means an ideal place to feed a number of cats, as you can see by the congestion in the next two photos. But since DNL is fearful of my feeding them in the old spot (seen in the photo following these two), I don't know what else to do...

Cats in photo directly below: Tuxie, Pigpen, Aloysius and Barnaby.

Cats in photo directly below: Walsingham, Agatha, Mistoffolees, Aloysius (I think), Tuxie and Pigpen.

The old feeding spot-- much bigger, much more secure for cats (in that they can run from people easier. Note the water dish-- it's also gone. Cats in the picture include: Daphne, Mistoffolees, Athos, Tuxie, Daisy, Walsingham, and one of the Terrible Tiger Tabbies (who is really friendly and affectionate and I call him Tigger, but he is also very, very clearly not neutered.)
This is Paint. She's cute, no? But she's very shy. She'll get her own post-- just as soon as I get some more pictures of her!!

Walsingham and Agatha. They're always together, which warms my heart.

No updates, 'cause no news...

The ferals are chillin', doing their feral thing. It's getting warm here in AZ-land (82 today and 91 tomorrow! Yikes.) I'm finding occasional tufts of fur around the feeding area as they blow coat. I imagine that Tuxie is not enjoying the return of the hot weather, what with her long fur.

Another neighbor-- though I'm not sure who-- has started occasionally leaving food for the fuzzies, which I appreciate greatly. (Food's expensive! Well, it gets expensive when you're feeding so many.)

The TNR Fund for this go-round is at $125, and I'm exceptionally grateful to my two donors. (I don't know if they want to be named at all here in the blog, so I shan't for now. But if you're reading this, know that you have my thanks!!)

I've just gotten in touch with Altered Tails, the fabulous people who helped last time, to see what the upcoming schedule is like for high volume spay/neuter days. I suspect that we shan't be able to TNR 'til June, which I regret as we'll be deep into kitten season by then. But alas, April is rapidly running out and I, lucky me, will be leaving town for May. (I'll try to get a guest blogger-- perhaps she'll be better at updating than I am!)

I do have pictures, I promise... but I also have a list of things to do a mile long, so ... um... sorry. (I know, I'm a terrible blogger. But at least when I do post pictures they're of cute, cute kitties.)

GOOD NEWS!

I spoke with the office people today, and pointed out that it is Spring. It is warm, and it has been warm. There are two (2!!!) unneutered male cats belonging to my neighbor, and there are several cats in the colony who are either new or whom I couldn't catch last time. There will soon be kittens. Can I, I asked, TNR? Please? Or would you like some kittens?

They said yes! I haven't made any arrangements yet (I didn't want to start any balls rolling, so to speak 'til I'd gotten a feel for where management/owners stood), so watch this space for more news.

I have to let the office know when *I* (and you) know more, so that they can leave notes on people's doors about what's going on. The office person I spoke with said that people had come and asked what they could do to help about the cats, so that's a good sign.

And, uh, if you have a few dollars to chip into the TNR-fund, now might be a fantastic time to do so. The fund is empty (I've been paying for cat chow out of my own pocket, which I don't mind, but at $50/cat for speutering, even if I only catch a few, it becomes costly for one person. ) Even just a few dollars helps a lot.

(More updates -- and cat pictures-- next week. Maybe sooner. But life has gotten crazy 'round here...)

In Memory

I haven't updated P-C in a few days partly because I've been busy (as always), partly because there's no news on the Office Management front (still), and a lot because every time I sat down to write this post I didn't know how to write what I need to write... So I've been putting it off.

Being a feral cat is hard. It's not the worst life, I imagine. It's better than many other kinds of wild animals. It gets a lot easier once you've in a managed community-- getting food and water, and, once you're speutered, free of the dangers of territorial fights and the unhealthy effects of near-constant pregnancies.But still, there's no way of knowing how old the cats in the colony are, with the exception of Paint (who I have yet to introduce to you all because I can't get a good picture of her) and Tuxie, both of whom showed up as kittens this past summer. And there are dangers, mostly from humans. So it's no surprise, although it is sad, when one of the ferals doesn't show up for a long time. Gremlin, for example, has not been seen in a long time. Even more worrisome, Little Grey (Amaranth) hasn't been seen for months now, either.

(Then again, sometimes they just aren't seen for months and months and months and magically reappear, the way Creamsicle did a few weeks ago...)

But it's more surprising, and more definite, when something happens to cats who've been adopted.

Last week I got a phone message from the woman who adopted Dolce, the littlest of the last litter. She'd gotten very, very sick. The vet's best guess was that she was poisoned by something, although she was an indoor cat, and her constant companion (a Chihuahua) is fine. It's hard to process this news, knowing so little, and knowing how young Dolce was, and thinking about her as a tiny bottle-fed kitten. There was little to be done, and what there was was astronomically costly and unlikely to work, and so little Dolce was euthanized.

Then, a few days ago, AZMum wrote to let me know about Gandolf aka Skinny Kitty. You may recall that Gandolf was not actually feral-- in fact, once he started getting regularly fed gooshy food by AZMum, he was quite a lover. AZMum had also been giving him daily insulin shots to take care of his diabetes. When AZMum and her family moved away from the apartment complex, they took Gandolf with them to be their outdoor kitty. Unfortunately, this past weekend Gandolf was attacked and killed by either coyotes or a neighboring dog. I'm grateful that Gandolf got so much more time, thanks to AZMum's care, but of course I'm also very sad to think of him gone.

I don't know how to end this update. I wish I had some cute pictures of kittens or cheerful news about being allowed to TNR, but I don't at the moment.

As for the rest of the colony, life continues, I'm glad to say. I've been feeding them up on the second floor, as per DNL's wishes. No one has taken away the new water bowl. Tuxie seems to live by the food dish, meowing to get my attention whenever I leave my flat. Mistoffolees can be counted on to be around most of the time too. Other regular vistors include Pigpen, Barnaby, Agatha, Walsingham, Bessie, Athos and Aloysius. I'm still regularly seeing Daisy, but not up by the food dish. Paint comes and goes, and again, not usually up by the food. Creamiscle is ghostlike, disappearing into the wood work just as soon as you've come to expect him.

I'll try to update again soon, with something more cheery.

Not Looking Good

I spoke with someone in the office on Monday and she said there'd been no word (yes or no) regarding the cats, feeding them, TNR, etc.

I spoke with DNL on Sunday. She has decided she will no longer feed or water the cats. She thinks that management is trying to push her out of the complex and that's part of it. She doesn't care if I still feed/water them, but she wants me to do it somewhere other than in front of her flat/beneath the stairs, where the cats have always been fed/watered.

This, of course, puts more responsibility (time and finances) on me. Great.

For the lack of a better place to feed the cats, I started feeding them on the landing between the second and third floors. (The stairwells are open air.) I moved the water dish upstairs, and put out dry food. Because some of the cats are too skittish to come upstairs, I've also started pouring out a bit of food closer to the drainage bolt holes.

When I left today, Pigpen and Agatha were going for the food downstairs and Tuxie for the food upstairs. There was a water dish there.

Today when I came home, about 8 hours later, the water dish is gone. Just like the food dish was gone two years ago. But this water dish had been in use for almost two years, and today they decide to get rid of it?

Mind you, there were maintenance people in my flat today, so they may have noticed it up on the second floor for the first time and that's why it's gone. I don't know.

But now I have no water dish.

Should anyone like to donate a water dish, please feel free. :( See, I use the kind where you have a reservoir so that I only had to refill it every other day. This is ARIZONA. The desert part! It's hot! Even today, in early March, it's 75 degrees (Fahrenheit.) The cats deserve freshwater.

I am so angry. And so frustrated. And sad. Who steals water from cats?!

ARG.

Typical

I was on my way out the door to meet some friends for dinner, but as I was locking up, I saw Barnaby out in the grass. Clearly I had to run back inside and grab my camera as pictures of Barnaby are on the scarce side.


So I had my camera and was locking up when Tuxie came bounding up the stairs, squeaking.


Clearly I had to run back inside and grab some food since Tuxie seemed hungry.

So I had the food and my camera and was locking up when Mr Mistoffolees came peeking up the stairs.

I poured out the food and stepped back and Tuxie came on up and started chowing down. Knowing that pretty much any other kitty would be too nervous with me there, I went down the second set of stairs, ready to head for my car.

And found Walsingham bounding towards me.



Then Athos showed up, but he's a spooky kitty and not so sure.


Walsingham led the way up the stairs.




Tuxie showed him where the food was.


The others weren't so sure 'til I was farther away.


Barnaby even finally joined the party.


Need I mention I was late for *my* dinner?


-----


In other news, two things:

1. Still no word from management. I'm playing it a bit coy, for now. When I pay my rent this week, I'll ask. As a professor of mine just put it, I want to be the squeaky wheel who gets the grease, not the wheel that squeaks so much it gets replaced.

2. It seems that DNL is no longer feeding the kitties. I think that's why Tuxie was so brave to come so close, squeaking for food, and the other cats all came running when they heard me pour out the fuds. I haven't seen any food out near DNL's usual feeding spot. Worse, the water dish-- one of those deals where you fill up a reservoir and gravity does the rest-- was completely empty. DNL always took care of that. I haven't yet spoken with DNL, so I don't know if this is a temporary lapse, if she's away, or if she's abiding by the rules that appeared on our doors last week, but it means more responsibility (and more financial issues) for me. I'm not pushing for donations just now 'cause I haven't heard anything yet about being allowed to TNR, but if you wanted to put a few dollars in to go towards buying food, I'd appreciate it. (And sooper special thanks to Duckierose for her recent donation! Pigpen and all the others thank you.)