Winnipeg Lost Cat Assistance

14/12/2024

AMAZING! ALL FIVE "ESP PROJECT" CATS ARE INDOORS!

The quick-witted, cat whisperer strikes again! All five cats are out of the garage and in the basement in kennels waiting for their spay and neuter appointments. Thanks to careful planning and quick thinking, no humane trap was needed to get these kids indoors.

The very astute teenager who spearheaded this initiative set up the wire dog crates in the breezeway and placed food inside. The first two to walk in were the two remaining orange cats, who are quite timid. Rather than getting frustrated that two went in to eat at the same time, she just shut the door on both of them and carried the kennel into the basement with help from mom. She quickly decided it was more important to get them indoors than to ensure they were in separate kennels - and she was right. The last one to be caught was the smaller of the two torties. She was evasive, but eventually went to eat and now she's with the rest of the crew.

Meet (clockwise starting top left):

Berlioz, Spooks, O'Mally, Toulouse and Oliver!

Although I had a conversation with Intake today, we are still waiting on word from WHS about the cat we believe to be the mother of this group of young cats - if we can reunite her with her family. Any cat brought to WHS has a three day hold, so we may not know until Monday.

Congratulations on a job well done! Couldn't have gone smoother than that!

Huge thank you to Craig Street Cats for lending the kennels and cat carriers!

13/12/2024

OH MY GOODNESS! What's one more?

I just received a photo from WMFCW that asked if the family who has the five cats is missing someone?

Another tortie found on the same street the other five are from! I don't know how she got separated from her family, but she is now safe at WHS and I will be in touch with them in the morning.

This AMAZING family wants to reunite her with the other five. They feel bad she was left out. WHS would spay her before she leaves if we are granted the request to have her transferred to WLCA and she was friendly enough that someone just picked her up and put her in a carrier, so she may be able to help the others become less timid.

I will keep everyone posted on this latest development!

Related post:
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=980557584108440&set=a.461497786014425

11/12/2024

UPDATE

We have reached our spay and neuter goal! Thanks to all of you, these cats will get the vet care they need and won't be adding to the cat and kitten population no matter where they wind up living! Amazing teamwork everyone! Thank you, thank you!

------------------------------------

EAST ST PAUL, Y'ALL!

Beautiful cats, right? If not for an amazing family who didn't kick these five beauties out when they took up residence in their garage, East St Paul would have had a brand new feral colony complete with, potentially, 600 cats/kittens in a year if they all survived. That's what two intact female cats can do to a community when they can have five kittens every two months, and although we used six months of age for their kittens to get pregnant with five kittens each, four times for the rest of the year, the reality is they can get pregnant at FOUR months of age.

This family's daughter, with the help of the whole family, was the catalyst for the project they are embarking on. This teenager is a cat-whisperer in-the-making and WLCA is thrilled to be helping!

One-by-one, cats trickled onto a property over Halloween (I mean, black and orange cats, right?). Being animal lovers, the family put food and water out for them, and two weeks ago, the entire cat family had moved into the garage. They're no dummies. They know where they feel safe. So now, they have shelter, food, water and people caring for them. They are friendly, but timid and wary and not very old. I believe one of the torties is the mother and the rest are her offspring as they seem smaller than she is - possibly 8-12 months. They are social and won't take long to trust their caregiver. It's only been two weeks and they are making strides.

Now for the bigger picture and where you all come in, especially you East St Paul folks who will be missing out on cats on rooftops and in trees when the kitten explosion would have happened. These cats need to be fixed, treated for parasites and vaccinated, and this family cannot afford to do that on their own. They can afford to feed them and buy litter, but they need help for the vet care. WLCA can't extend funding for this because we already have six cats/kittens in care with various states of loose p**p and other related mysteries trying to be resolved with vet intervention, trial and error, special diets and supplements. That, and the cost of regular food and litter until they're adopted will be draining the bank account.

The two torties have a spay date with Machray Animal Hospital Dec 18, so we can ensure they don't have kittens. The cost for those spays total about $800 and include spay, health exam, rabies vaccine, FVRCP vaccine, Nexgard Combo and tattoo. The total cost for all five cats is around $1800 if they are all done in a private clinic. The wait times for Care-to-Adopt surgeries runs into mid-January and that might work for the males, but in case it doesn't, we will have to go with a private clinic. Can't let the boys start spraying and trying to mate with the spayed females or having them trying to get out of the garage. After their surgery, they will recover in a room in the basement and will not be going outside again.

The GOAL, for this 16 year old and her family, is to teach the cats to live in a home with people and eventually find them homes of their own. With some guidance, I know she can do it. And maybe she embarks on a journey to become a vet, or an animal health technologist. Who knows?

What I'm hoping for here is sponsorship. It breaks down like this:

Sponsor an FVRCP vaccine: $20 x 5: COMPLETE!
Sponsor the Rabies vaccine: $20 x 5: COMPLETE!
Sponsor a dose of Nexgard: $20 x 5: COMPLETE!
Sponsor a health exam: $87 x 5: COMPLETE!
Sponsor half a spay: $100 x 4: COMPLETE!
Sponsor half a neuter $50 x 6: COMPLETE!

I, personally, have sprung for winter shelter kits for the garage and will be donating my time and gas getting the cats to their surgeries and boarding, if needed.

If you would like to contribute to this family's project, please etransfer donations to [email protected] and specify ESP Project in the subject area.

PLEASE SEND A SEPARATE EMAIL with your security response as WLCA does not do auto-deposit and Facebook messages are not displaying properly at this time.

Sponsorship amounts will be updated as donations come in. (quantities needed last updated 7 pm (Dec 13)

And SHARE, SHARE, SHARE!

08/12/2024

EXTORTION and HARASSMENT CALLS WARNING

If you live in Southdale or St Vital, please be advised there is/are an older, male-sounding teen/young adult(s) who are calling people with missing cats via their lost posters and either telling them their cats are dead, or asking for ransom to have the cat returned and then harassing them several more times by calling back with other messages and then a final call with a meow. Numbers are usually blocked.

So, what we recommend is ONLY putting flyers in mailboxes, not on the street, recording the addresses where you delivered the flyers to, so if you get a call like this, you can narrow down the homes that may be involved. The callers sound like people who have little to do in life but this.

08/12/2024

RAINBOW BRIDGE

Today, we pay tribute to a sweet and loving former WLCA rescue kitty.

Beautiful Thai has crossed the bridge at the age of around 18 years.

She was found abandoned in the north end in 2016 at the age of around 10 (estimated by her tattoo). She had taken up residence in someone’s yard and just wouldn’t leave. Because she was a senior, she would have been at risk for declining health, so we took her in.

She found a wonderful, and loving home with a mom and son duo. Thai spent her days being loved and hanging out with her favorite human (son) in his man-cave. She had two kitty friends who she wasn’t particularly close to, but they were family just the same.

Many thanks to her loving family who gave her the best years of her life and condolences to them on their loss of their wonderful girl.

07/12/2024

SNOWSTORM WARNING

Sunday early morning to Monday early morning.

I hate this place. The thaw and sudden plummeting of temperatures a few days from now wasn't enough. 10-20 cm of snow is expected in southern MB in the course of 24 hours. Please be prepared to shovel out access holes from under decks, sheds, stairs, porches and foundations where there are accessible crawlspaces. Cats trying to survive the winter can get snowed in and won't have food or water. Shovel out feeding stations and winter shelters.

If you know you have kittens under any of these structures, do your best to get them out and indoors.

Fingers crossed for Winnipeg cats. Again.

07/12/2024

Do YOU know what to do if you find a cat suffering from hypothermia (low body temperature)?

With our deranged winter weather, rain one day, sub-zero temps the next, we are finding kittens and cats suffering/dying from hypothermia from being wet and then frozen. This can also happen even if a cat or kitten isn’t wet.

This poster is from the US, but the information is the same anywhere. The body temperature noted in Fahrenheit (

06/12/2024

CAT SAFETY TIP #2

Kitchen Appliances

You'd think it was common sense to keep cats out of, and off, kitchen appliances, but even if one tries their best to get them off counters and cooktops, you know when you're gone, they're going to do whatever they want.

One day, one of my cats jumped on top of my smooth cooktop soon after I had finished cooking a meal. He burned his paw and that was the last time he jumped up onto the stove. This isn't the way we want cats to learn they shouldn't be up there.

Now, even though they may still get up there when I'm not around, once I'm done cooking, I leave a cool pot on top of the burner I was using just in case. I remove it when my stove tells me the burner is cool. Even if you have an induction cooktop, the spot where the pot was can still be hot. You can put an upside-down aluminum strainer on the element until it cools completely.

Cats should also not be allowed to play in refrigerators, ovens and dishwashers. I can't count the number of photos I've seen over the years with captions that are cutesy. This practice sets them up for injury or death, depending on the situation. It's best to ensure they don't get into any of them at all.

If your cats won't leave you alone when you're cooking, put them in another room until you're done dinner and have cleaned up. It's not being cruel, it's allowing you to do what you need to do without annoyance and it keeps them safe.

Internet photo: Cat Time

05/12/2024

Early morning scrolling got me this. Sad and beautiful. Thank you Noelle McIvor.

05/12/2024

Looking ahead to the new year...

This time of year is very busy for most people - going out of town to visit family, making plans to get together with friends and coworkers, cooking for large, and small, gatherings and doing these things usually more than once between Dec 20 and Jan 1.

For this reason, WLCA cats who are available for adoption will continue to be in foster care until after Jan 1. This gives everyone the opportunity to celebrate the holidays without having to add an extra responsibility to their already busy schedule.

Once everyone has settled back into their usual work, and home, routine, our cats will be available for adoption once again.

Looking for homes in the new year will be:

Hygge (Hue-ga):
Two year old male cat (pictured). No pet home or home with calm, cat-savvy dog. Canned food only diet. No small children.

Lucky:
Our remaining cat from Tami's three who needed new homes when she passed away. Lucky would like a home with no other pets, no small children and where she will be the queen of everything.

Dot:
Seven month old (white and tabby patches) kitten. Wants a home with other cats who like to interact but also take a hint when she wants to be the one to have the wand toy to herself.

Blue:
Five month old black, male kitten who loves to play, play, play! Wants a home with other cats who want to play, play, play! Can be adopted with Acana and/or Halo.

Acana:
Gentle, female, four month old brown tabby kitten who likes quiet play, or cuddling up with her sister. Wants a home with her sister or a brother/sister from another mister. Can also be adopted with Blue.

Halo:
Gentle female, four month old, grey and white kitten who loves to purr up a storm and either play or cuddle up with her sister or other cats. Wants a home with Acana or a brother/sister from another mister. Can also be adopted with Blue.

We may also need another foster or two for Dot and Blue (separately, or together) if they are not adopted early in the new year as their current foster home will be too limiting for the needs of these two kittens.

If you are interested in becoming a foster home for WLCA, or if you are interested in adopting one of our cats or kittens, please message the page to discuss and/or request a foster or adoption application!

Photo: Hygge taking an opportunity to promote dental health, laser therapy and arthritis pain management. What a ham.

03/12/2024

UPDATE

Thank you to the awesome people who donated on Giving Tuesday! You have provided $498 to help care for cats and kittens we have already rescued, and those that may need to get off the streets this winter!

——————-

GIVING TUESDAY

Today is the day when non-profits and charities are the focus of the great holiday money-spend. Created in 2012, the fifth day after US Thanksgiving is a "global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world."

So, I am resurrecting the $1 challenge for today! I hope to get $1 from all of the 19k followers of this page. I know, hope in one hand and p**p in the other and see which fills up faster. But hey, can't blame a girl for trying.

If this post is shared 19,000 times, we might get our wish.

Anyone interested in donating today can do so via etransfer to [email protected].

NOTE: Please message WLCA your security response as we do not have autodeposit enabled so there are no financial mishaps.

03/12/2024

COMMUNITY EFFORT PAYS OFF

Thank you to the River Heights community members who headed out tonight to rescue several kittens who were seen in the Mathers Bay area. An area resident saw two kittens on top of each other huddled in the snow and managed to capture one of them. However, the other kitten ran off and they couldn't find them. The first kitten went to WHS.

This individual had the presence of mind to post the situation on the River Heights community page and residents responded by heading out to find the others. Because of their efforts, the other kittens were rescued and are now safe and warm. Sadly, one of the kittens had already passed away.

Do not ignore the myriad pawprints that go under decks, sheds and stairs as those living underneath aren't always as warm as you might think. They may be little ones fending for themselves who won't make the winter.

Congratulations on a job will done, Carla and company!

03/12/2024

GIFTS THAT MISSED THE MARK - SPRING AUCTION!

With all the workplace Secret Santa games, pick a name out of a hat and buy for your co-worker, family gift-giving celebrations and purchase mishaps, there are bound to be some items you receive this holiday season that you just can't use, don't like, don't need, already have one of, don't have room for, is the wrong color, won't be caught dead wearing, etc, etc.

Please set any new, or almost new, unwanted items aside and consider donating them to our spring auction to support the cats in WLCA's care. Donation dates and drop off location will be announced in February for our March auction.

Send us a message along with a photo of the item(s), so we can determine if we can use it in the auction. If your item(s) are accepted for the auction, we'll ask you to take a "pro" photo of the item before dropping it off at the specified location.

Food and litter for our current cats/kittens in care costs us $300-$400/month as we do have a couple on special diets and kittens eat a LOT of food. These auctions help with those costs and for any new cats we may take on over the winter.

Thanks, everyone!

03/12/2024

Apparently, if there are three comments, or less, FB doesn't show them at all on this page. I had to go in and force the comments to show by adding my own test comments in. As soon as they hit over three under any post, the ones that had been posted by the public showed up. What kind of garbage is this, Facebook? I could miss someone who wants to adopt. Booo.

Send a message to learn more

29/11/2024

AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION!

Our sweet Hygge (Hue-ga) is available for adoption again. This sweetheart of a cat was returned to WLCA because he was very stressed at his adoptive home with a dog that chased him relentlessly. He wound up retaliating when the dog was sleeping and Hygge developed stress diarrhea. He has since been placed in a wonderful foster home with no pets and is doing much better. He is very relaxed, playing and his p**p has greatly improved.

He is looking for a home with no other pets (definitely no cats) OR with a cat-savvy dog that will ignore him or one that is happy to share his space without being in his face (or butt).

He would be fine with an all adult household, retired people or a home with older children (8+) that will interact and play with him. He needs people who do not work away from home for more than 8 hours a day. He is independent, but prefers not to be alone for too long.

Hygge is 2 years old, currently doing well on a Fancy Feast diet (3 cans/day), no dry food (carbohydrate intolerance) and he is being transitioned to softwood pellet litter as that is very inexpensive ($7.99/40 lb bag).

If you are interested in discussing Hygge or for an adoption application, please message the page!

29/11/2024

COMMENT HIDE AND SEEK

Please be aware Facebook is playing hide and seek with comments. This page is moderated, so comments don't show up automatically. When we receive notification of comments, we go in, read them and make them live, or not.

However, the last couple of weeks have been bad for comment notifications that we cannot see under the post. For instance, Lucky's post has three comments under it that are not showing up. If you commented something important and you've not received a response, please message the page directly. Also, posted comments are randomly disappearing.

Send a message to learn more

29/11/2024

MORE GREAT MEWS!

TinTin, now TimTim, has been ADOPTED!

He has a wonderful family which includes a dog, cat, ten year old human and their parents. Tim's best friend built him a fort with a whole bunch of stuffies to keep him company while they're at school. He is navigating his new home in leaps and bounds (literally) and is making headway with the dog, who is very happy to have a new friend. Now, if he would only stay off the counters and leave everyone alone at mealtime. You will learn, grasshopper.

Congratulations to everyone!

28/11/2024

LUCKY is still looking for her perfect home!

Now that Mimi and Archie have found their new person, we need to find Lucky a home that works for her. She can be sweet, but she can also be spicy. She likes to play, but also likes to do her own thing - watch out windows, mostly.

If you are an adult household with no other pets, no plans to have kids, and no plans to get other pets, this would be her best scenario. She likes interactive play with wand toys, but also likes her solitude. She cannot be handled easily, so whomever adopts would have to be happy with coexisting with her and letting her approach when she wants attention. She is, essentially, low-maintenance on the daily but does like the company of people. She will sit with you if she wants, or sit by the window if she doesn't. She may find a favorite spot on the couch and call it her own.

Her new home has to have zero expectations of her. She's good company once she gets to know you but you have to be prepared to let her be herself. That means leave her alone if she's in a bad mood and pet her and play with her if she's in a good mood.

She is a complicated personality, but deserves a loving home nonetheless.

If you think you fit this description and have been looking for a low-maintenance companion, Lucky may be for you! Please message the page if you are interested in discussing her further or want an adoption application!