Life 9 Rescue

10/13/2023

We recently trapped four hungry kittens and a young mama cat in an office building parking lot off of Gateway in Springfield. The mama is friendly and young, the kittens are less friendly and have clearly been born and raised entirely outside away from people. All will be fixed soon, the mom and a little boy and a little girl have been fixed, given shots, tested negative to FELV/FIV, flea/worm treated, and microchipped. Hopefully the last two kittens will be fixed tomorrow at WAG. 🤞We are looking for a barn home for the three most feral kittens, and a loving patient home for the mama and one boy kitten who is most friendly to people, meowing and starting to come up for human pets. He is also her mini-me and is very attached to her. Please message Life 9 if you are interested in meeting these sweet cats who had a rough start to life. (Located in Eugene/Springfield, OR)

12/30/2022

12/15/2022

This handsome boy is looking for a new home! He is currently located in Eugene/Springfield, OR. He is fully vetted and healthy, with a microchip. He is about 1.5 years old. He loves dogs but not other cats. He would prefer to be indoor/outdoor and LOVES playing. He was abandoned, found unneutered and very skinny over the summer. He has been brought up to full health and in foster homes since he was found, and he is ready for his forever home! Please message us on Facebook if you are interested, a home visit and an application are necessary to adopt this boy. We are calling him Tommy (tomcat). Share widely!

12/10/2022

These beautiful Bengal kitties have asked Santa to find them loving forever homes. You can help make their wish come true by sharing this post! ❤️

Available for adoption in Eugene, OR through our friend Toni Ray with CCATS 🐱

These gorgeous Bengal siblings are waiting for their forever families ..
please private message the page to meet them.
Fill out the adoption application here to start the process!

https://www.cognitoforms.com/CommunityCatAdvocacyTeamSpringfieldCCATS/CCATSAdoptionApplication

10/13/2022

10/06/2022

Cats in Traps – are they Feral?

There’s a cat in your trap! Yikes! He’s thrashing around, growling, hissing, slapping at you as you approach the trap - he’s feral, right???

One of the BIGGEST misconceptions in trapping is the one that promotes the belief ANYONE can tell that a cat is feral in a trap. We don’t care if you are the Cat Whisperer of all time – we won’t believe you if you say “that cat in the trap is feral”. Now – many TAME cats are obviously tame in the trap, but that one is easy. He’s meowing and head butting the trap, and purring and kneading the air as he talks to you – yes, that cat in the trap is tame :) But feral? Not so easy.

How many people do you know who have a lap cat, a sweetheart who just LOVES his people – yet if a stranger comes in, will bolt and act like the monster of all time has appeared? Or is your fur-baby scared of his own shadow, hides under the bed? What would these cats do if trapped outside?

Some time ago we encountered 2 examples of this that made us think “how do we get this message across?” The first was with a homeowner who had trapped a cat and “boy is he FERAL! He’s sticking his arms through the bars trying to get me, just throwing himself at me – he’s a mean one boy!” The second was the opposite “this cat is not feral, he meowed at me and didn’t move when I touched him through the trap”.

The first cat? The human had left a trap outside, uncovered, all day long – this cat had been caught and exposed to the elements AND visual terror all day – then, at the end of it a human walks up and stands over him to see “if he’s feral”. We’d like to put that human in a trap… oh, excuse me! 😊 I meant, we kindly offered to take this cat, promising we would not return him. And that cat went into a very large cage with a “safe” hiding spot, was eating his canned food, using his litter box, hiding but not acting aggressive. That cat was terrified – there is NO way you can assess any cat in a trap after an ordeal like that. He was given a minimum of 2 weeks to relax and adjust, and guess what? Totally tame. And went into a home.

The second cat? He has lived in a colony all his life – born and raised feral, but fed by a caregiver every day. He knows people are the source of good things, and has been partially socialized. While it is true that a true feral does not meow at you in a trap, there are MANY stages of socialization between true feral and tame. This cat is not tame, and he was released to live in that managed colony. Thankfully, that meow may have saved his life, because cats in traps who land in a shelter and are deemed to be feral may be killed.

We as rescuers have often asked others how they are assessing a cat as “feral”. One horrifying example was “if you poke him with a pencil in the trap and he bites it or growls/slaps at you, he’s feral”. We’ve heard “he is frozen in the back of the trap, he hissed at me, he slapped at me, his ears are flattened, he’s growling…” all of these observations need to be part of the assessment of a cat, but NOT WHEN HE’S IN A TRAP! We’ve even had people shocked when their own pet cat was trapped, to have that cat growl and slap at them. Cats in traps are animals in danger – they know they are trapped, and their self-preservation kicks in. Until that cat can be in a “safe” spot where he is no longer feeling threatened, he’s likely to be “feral”.

Rescuers who do a lot of trapping DO develop a sense of “feral”, but they know you cannot always tell. We share this message in the hopes that it circulates to those who might buy/borrow a trap to get that “feral” in their backyard –please, look for experienced rescuers to help you assess the cat, and please know if you take that “feral” to a shelter they may have to kill him. Shelters don’t WANT to kill healthy cats – but there are not enough cells to hold all the unwanted cats. Shelters nationwide are embracing TNR, knowing this is a way they can promote saving lives, not ending them. Don’t trap and take cats to shelters; TNR – trap/neuter/return them. And if you plan to assess them, know you must give them time. Time to relax, to feel safe, to trust. Time to know you care 😊

(PS - the cat in the picture was feral)

06/16/2022

Awwww….

05/24/2022

A fluffy black kitten named Binx was found attempting to care for three younger kittens "as best he could."

05/20/2022

We took this little cutie to Willamette Animal Guild on Wednesday to be spayed… no babies for this gal!

05/19/2022

I didn’t grow up with a lot of pets around because I’m first generation Nigerian American and Nigerian moms don’t do animals. In our culture, animals belong outside. So naturally, when I became an adult I became an amateur zookeeper and invite all manner of mammals to reside in my dwelling.

When my mom visits, I take a great joy watching her physically recoil as one of my animals gets too close to her. She’ll be visiting again soon and has yet to meet our two newest additions, a pair of Guinea pigs that I will place on her lap as soon as she sits down (it’s the little things in life).

I love most animals but while I have two cats, I have to say we don’t really have a relationship, it’s more of an agreement. It’s an agreement they violate often but I can’t do anything about at this point because unlike dogs, cats really don’t care how you feel about them.

Despite their problematic attitude, I do find cats very interesting and have decided to write a guide for those of you considering acquiring one of these small beasts.

How to Know if You Should Get a Cat

1. You like being disrespected

If you want a cat, on some level you have to either love or feel amused by being regularly disrespected. Cats don’t operate by the regular give and take of relationships. They are inconsiderate by nature. Cat people, don’t get mad, we have to start being more honest with the outside world.

A cat will know something bothers you or is wrong and do it while maintaining eye contact. They’re like toddlers but more elegant.

For instance, if a cat sees that you have a particular attachment to something they might p*e on it. Why? To let you know they’re not worried about you or the future.

Cats have very high expectations for living and will let you know when you’ve violated their sensibilities. If their litter hasn’t been cleaned in the last 14 minutes, they’ll go adjacent to the box, for example as a message to you.

Cat urine is one of the most potent biological weapons science has discovered and they will not hesitate to use it. One of mine did this when I switched to a diet brand of cat food. I switched it back and he stopped. Communication.

2. You like surprise barf

When you have a cat you get to play a 24/7 game of Surprise Vomit. Could be fresh, could be old, you could step on it at 5:45am on the way to the bathroom in your socks…you never know, that’s the surprise.

Throwing up for cats isn’t a big deal. It’s how they autograph their living environment. “I stay here.” Don’t try to figure it out just stock up on the paper towel.

Oh, they like to watch you clean it, too.

3. You don’t mind occasional violence

Dogs enjoy attention. They want to be rubbed, pet, played with constantly, etc.

If you pet a cat for .2 seconds longer than they’re comfortable with, they’ll bite you. First a small warning usually, then an all out clamp down by the flesh slicers.

Inside of their paws, cats conceal 15-28 switch blades always sharpened to a razor’s edge and they are reckless with them.

A cat doesn’t think, “This person takes care of me, maybe I shouldn’t draw blood.”

A cat will be sitting in your lap, hear a loud noise from across the street and *fight mode activated* perforate your thighs through jeans trying to escape.

Just something to think about.

4. You like waking up early

Cats like to eat in the am between 4:45 and 4:47am. They’ll let you know by meowing loudly for as long as it takes. You can yell, hiss, throw shoes, beg and call the police on them but nothing will change and the police won’t even take a statement.

5. Cats are nocturnal

Cats like to sleep much of the day in preparation for living room parkour between the hours of midnight at 3am. If you have more than one, those will also be their Fight Club hours.

6. They like to break rules

I have spent $400 in devices, sprays, and gadgets trying to keep my cats off of the counters. Aluminum foil. Plastic netting designed for birds. It’s embarrassing to admit you’re losing a battle to a one pound animal but being regularly bested in your own home is part of owning a cat.

You have to like the dance.

7. They are inexplicably endearing

Something about living with an animal that you know would 100% take your life in a moment of anger if they could physically manage it but also is so soft to pet, is enjoyable. There has to be something a little off inside of you if you Iike this combination in a pet but for most of us, it’s too late to get help.

Enjoy your kitty friend. I would like to see a photo and know their name, age and last time they hurt you/your home if possible.

Love,

Bunmi 🐈 🧡

05/18/2022

Of course they do!!!

A study conducted by Kyoto University found that pet cats may have the ability to recognize the names of felines that live with them