11/15/2024
Last night, I promised to post an update today once we picked up our two little patients from the vet and settled them in at the rescue. We picked up one this morning, but sadly, had to leave the other. We continue to trap feral cats and try to catch them on Monday or Tuesday evenings so we can take them to a low cost spay/neuter clinic the next morning. On Tuesday, however, we were completely exhausted and didnāt plan on arming the cage (it has a remote control which I can activate from the house). However, the cage door unexpectedly dropped down when a cat likely bumped it for we found a momma kitten and one of her four kittens in the cage later that night. The kitten had a painful eye injury so we had no other choice but to take both she and her momma to the vet as soon as possible to treat the kittenās eye as well as to get both spayed. When we arrived to the low cost TNR clinic on Wednesday morning, they were at full capacity for the day so we had to take them to another vet in town. When I went to pick them up this am, I only returned home with the kitten whom the veterinary staff lovingly named Eleanor. Sadly, Eleanorās mom bit one of the vet techās. Mom is now in QT for the next 10 days while Eleanor is resting comfortably in a catio.
The mom is still a kitten herself - she was born in April/May of this year but disappeared when she was about 4 months old. A few weeks ago, however, she showed up at the farm with 4 kittens in tow. One kitten was mostly white but we have not seen her for a few weeks. Sadly, white kittens/cats don't seem to do as well here - as they appear to be easy prey for coyotes and birds. Eleanor always sticks close to her mom, while her two other two siblings are more adventurous ā we saw them again tonight (we have cameras set up) and they are thankfully, fine. We will try to catch them in the near future.
This is yet another unexpected expense with which we really need help. Eleanor and her mom were spayed, treated for fleas and received their vaccinations. Sadly, Eleanorās eye had to be removed. If all had gone as planned, we could have had the spays and vaccinations performed at a low cost TNR clinic, but because of availability and the kittenās painful eye injury, we simply couldnāt wait.