A week in Terry’s life

Terry has been desperately trying to rescue 26 cats from a lady in Monroe. Here are the events that have happened in her words.

June 2
I received a call tonight from a lady who has 26 cats of all ages, including three that are pregnant.  She lives off of Rocky River Road between Monroe and Waxhaw.  On Saturday (two days from now) she is moving and having to toss the cats out of the only home they have ever known.  The neighbors are waiting to call animal control when this happens.  She does not want  them to go to the shelter.  There has been NO vetting.
Needless to say, time is of the essence.  Many of the cats are young, a few adults, and the three or four pregnant gals.

June 3 morning
Was at the place all morning.  Rescued 8 of the cats & kittens and delivered to a rescue group in Gastonia.  All have been tested at this point and are negative for feline aids/leukemia.  HOORAY.  A couple of the kittens had a little bit of goop in eyes, but not bad.  They are on antibiotics.  Other adults all look good.  Going back tonight to try to gather up all the rest of the dozen or so kittens.  Will hold those while looking for placement.
That leave 6 adult cats that will be picked up by animal control tomorrow:

one black & white female 8 mos – very friendly
one tuxedo male 1 yr – a little skittish (?)
two VERY large yellow tabby males – about 1 yr –  beautiful – a little skittish (?)
one tortie female – about 1 yr – seems friendly
one calico/tortie – about 1 yr – a little skittish (?)

These cats have been through a lot.  Movers have already come in to remove a lot of the furniture.  We were in there this morning taking cats out & the lady is very hysterical about the whole thing – devastated about losing the cats, etc…….

June 3 evening
Just got home with the kittens.  Have all settled in cages with CLEAN blankees, FRESH water & GOOD food………none of which they have ever seen before!  Poor little things!  Kittens are available if anyone can take……….PLEASE!  Will go on a transport Monday if we cannot find anyone to take them…….have little black ones, one tuxedo one and one white & black one.  They are very sweet, a little scared & confused and all between 10 wks – 14 wks???  (hard to tell…they are SO skinny).

NEW INFORMATION ON ADULTS:
There was one more yellow adult male than I thought.

The tortie female was PREGNANT, so I have taken her for another rescue that has graciously stepped up to take the pregnant ones………thanks LOVING PET RESCUE!!!

What is left to go to ANIMAL CONTROL BY 10:00 A.M. IN THE MORNING:

3 yellow/orange adult males – all DSH VERY SWEET!  I was holding them tonight…….beautiful & very very loving……all about 1 yr old
1 black & white female – 8 months DSH – VERY SWEET & LOVING!!!
1 tuxedo male – a little scared, but BEAUTIFUL DSH
1 small tabby & white female – 8 months – DSH small for her age & a little scared, but really pretty
1 BEAUTIFUL calico with white feet & chest – GORGEOUS DSH…….but scared!

June 6
Thanks to the remarkable folks that stepped up to help me with a HUGE crisis situation for 22 cats rescued from a HORRIBLE hoarding situation in Monroe.  The original number was thought to be 26 cats, but it turned out to be 22 cats.  I was able to make several trips over there and rescue ALL the cats!!!  Jackie @ Loving Pet Rescue has taken the pregnant cats and the kittens……….thank you SO much Jackie!  Jackie took 5 (yes, FIVE!!!) pregnant mama cats and 7 (yes SEVEN!!!) kittens and even TWO adults from this situation.  He NEEDS MONEY for all the babies coming!!!  One of the cats has already given birth to FIVE babies yesterday……..3 orange ones and 2 black ones!!!  Please let me know if you would like to offer some assistance to Loving Pet Rescue!

Thank you Misty in Greensboro!  Misty is taking SEVEN adult cats that are beautiful, healthy cats, but are SCARED to death!  We have had some WONDERFUL fosters step up at a moment’s notice to help keep these cats from being euthanized at animal control!  Thank you Mari for taking 3 kitties!  Thank you Huanita for taking 2 kitties and thank you Judy for taking 2 kitties!

I will be working hard tomorrow to schedule the complete vetting, testing, shots and spay/neuters of these seven adults to occur within the next couple of days.  Then, Misty will be taking possession when I transport them to her in Greensboro.

Cindy spent an entire afternoon helping me go over to this AWFUL apartment building to catch the kittens and one pregnant cat.  She then went to my house with me and assisted in helping me set up all the cages, litter boxes, clean bedding, water & food bowls, etc.  It was no small task!  Thank you Cindy for playing a part in helping with this rescue!!!

The cats all look pretty good.  The kittens look pretty bad.  They are all emaciated, extremely thin for their age, all have diarrhea, runny eyes and have had no socialization.  It has been a miracle to watch them progress in just TWO days with deworming medicine, anti-diarrhea medicine, eye ointment and GOOD food!  They are perky, playing and actually look like little kittens now!  How wonderful is that???

One little kitten was injured.  A little black one had severe bite wounds on the underside of his neck.  He is looking a little more bright eyed today and did eat a little bit…….hooray!  This has been a tough thing to imagine that this one would have died if even one more day had passed without care!  The woman did not even know he was hurt!!!  When  you are a hoarder, you don’t know your individual cats……..it’s awful and so very sad for the animals.  I plan to keep this little fellow and will be dropping him off at the vet first thing in the morning.  I am assuming they will need to lance the wound, let it drain, and put a tube in it so it can continue to drain………..poor little baby!!!

June 7
BAD NEWS!
Just spent 3 hours with one of the little kittens that had a swollen neck (?).  Looked like some sort of puncture wound underneath his throat.  I was concerned when I picked him up this evening, but after examining closer, looked really bad……..I held hot compresses on it for an hour or so, changing them out every 10 minutes or so, and my gosh!  Two HOLES burst open underneath his little neck and yellow yucky puss came pouring out……..oh my!  Never had this happen before and wasn’t sure what to do?  Just kept draining for the last 3 hours, so I kept working on it with the hot compresses……….never did stop coming out.  YUCK!  Poor little guy!!!

Will do this again in the morning & I started him on antibiotics!

June 8 morning
Little sick kitty with the injured neck went straight to the doctor this morning (Mixed Pets) and was found to be POSITIVE for feline leukemia.  My heart just sank as I have been caring for him for 4 straight days, putting compresses on his neck, giving him antibiotics, anti-dirrarehia medicine, worm medicine and LOTS of encouragement.  However, I knew he wasn’t getting any better.  The vet wanted to do surgery on him to lance the neck and put in a drainage tube.  Before doing all of that, I decided to combo test him first.  Sadly enough, he came up with a strong positive reading for feline leukemia.  As we all know the outcome of feline leukemia….we had to say goodbye to the little fellow.

Then, after that horrible ordeal, I was advised to test the other kittens as well.  I had to drive all the way home to pick them up and take the other remaining four kittens to be combo tested as well.  To my horror, all but one tested POSITIVE for feline leukemia.  They had to all be euthanized except the one smallest little black boy kitten.  I really don’t know how he made it, but after a boat load of tears, I delivered the last little survivor to his destination in Gastonia today and Jackie (Loving Pet Rescue) took him and the 2 pregnant moms I had in my garage.  I did have the mom’s tested as well, and both were negative.  Jackie will put little Blackie with the other 3 kittens he had taken on Friday (those 3 tested NEGATIVE) and now Jackie has taken in 4 kittens and FIVE pregnant mama kitties……….one of which has already had her kittens as of yesterday!

Tomorrow an early day starts with taking 3 of the male kitties that are being  fostering to the S/N clinic for surgery, etc. and then pick up in the afternoon.  Wednesday the remaining 5 adults will be transported to the S/N clinic in the a.m. and back home in the evening.  Then, on Thursday, these adults will be transported to the rescue in Greensboro (thank you Misty!) who has agreed to foster all of them.

Say a prayer for the remaining cats that they all make it through surgery successfully in the next couple of days.  Also, say a prayer for those who are giving up their houses, bathrooms, garages, basements and lives to help save these cats!

June 8 evening
Another tiring day and just now getting to my emails………its 1:48 a.m. and have to get up at 4:30 a.m. to take remaining adults to the S/N clinic……(have to go to each foster home and pick all of them up to be at S/N clinic by 7:30)

Had to do some tiring emails before writing this, but was a much better day today with the cats.  Three adults were spayed/neutered today and got all of their shots!  They were combo tested NEGATIVE and we were all thrilled about that!

Thanks so much to Mari for transporting these cats today, TWO TRIPS, with me to the S/N clinic and then back to her house for recovery.  Another long long day, but happy ending!

Tomorrow taking 5 adults in my car in the morning to be done.  Wish me luck!

Thanks again for all your thoughts, prayers and, if possible, donations!

To be continued……

June 9

Went over to Mari’s house to help her with her 3 adult fosters.  VERY sweet kitties, but all in cages waiting for transport to this rescue in Greensboro that we really don’t know…someone named “Misty”.  Cats are being SUPER good and patient as they wait their turn to a better life.  Gave them all dewormer, flea treatment & pain meds after their surgery.  Mari, and husband Dale, are being WONDERFUL to house these babies.  The kitties lost themselves in the basement room right after arriving and I had to go over and pull them out from some pretty tight hiding places, but after we caged them, they settled in and became very loving and affectionate.  Thank goodness we have saved these beautiful cats!

My house was a little different story.  I had the other 3 adult cats.  These cats had been housed elsewhere temporarily, but it did not work out.  I went over to put the cats into cages for surgery and you would have thought WWIII had broken out!  These kitties were having NO part of going BACK into a cage!  They proceeded to tear up the foster mom’s bathroom while I stood by and watched (waiting for them to settle down) and foster mom screamed for dear life!  It was AWFUL!  Anyway, cats finally settled down and I got them scruffed and into their proper places!  After surgery, these “less than tame” kitties, came back to my house!

Last night when cleaning the cages, litter boxes, etc., the BIG YELLOW boy, jumped out of his cage, right over my head & escaped into the garage!  Boy was he fast!  I consider myself to be an experienced trapper & work with feral cats all the time, but this one was teaching me some new tricks of the trade!  Well, I was able to net him and get him safely back into his large cage.  Same thing had happened 2 days ago at Huanita’s house (another foster) and I had to net one of the cats to return it to the cage!

June 10

Have not talked to the rescue person from Greensboro in 2 days!  Got a text that she had a death in the family & was pushing the delivery date of the cats back.  RED FLAG!  OMG……….this is panic time!  Mari  and I worried sick, literally for 2 days, praying that Misty was not going to set us up!

Sure enough, she finally called us today and explained about the death in her family.  We were on the road after that.  This girl appears to really love the cats, she knows what she is doing as I interview her about her intentions for adoption and she was quite impressive………all good news.  On the road we go with all 6 adults.  Thanks Mari, for doing all of the driving!!!

RED FLAG:   After about 2 hours of driving we arrive at her grooming shop.  She is not there, but the gutters are falling off of the roof, and there is enough junk around the place to give Sanford & Son a run for their money……Finally she showed up and we went inside the shop…  I spent about an hour talking with her about what she was going to do with the cats and how she was going to take care of them.

Well, needless to say, we left there without any cats!  She totally convinced me that she will take excellent care of the cats and adopt them out really soon & told me how she screens folks.  I was extremely excited about her whole process.  I was happy with all that she was telling me.

Therefore…………we left the cats!  I cried as we pulled away as I felt like we were abandoning them!  I did know in my heart of hearts that it felt “right” with this rescue girl, Misty.   She has already emailed me tonight to say that all is well.

Please say a prayer for the kitties.  They have been unjustly moved around over and over again and they need some peace and stability in their little lives!

Terry