Suckling Kittens Update

Remember the kittens that were so starved that they were sucking on each other's genitals? Well, they are all grown up now and going great! And they are no longer doing any of that sucking behavior...THANK GOD!

I give all the credit to Stephanie Meaney and Amy Townsend. Stephanie and her dear Mama came by after their shift at Crash's Landing to pick up the kittens the morning after I nearly lost my mind doing mid-sleep feedings. I did it one night! I don't know how Stephanie could do it for over a week. But she did! When she was scheduled to go on vacation, she brought them back to me and I took them over to Amy Townsend's house.

Amy Townsend is now...FINALLY...after much schooling, a Vet Tech! Well, she still has to get the results of her test, but all the classwork is over and she is a VET TECH in my mind. She's also crazy for babies....like Stephanie....so I knew I was transferring the kittens from one great kitten mama to another.

Amy not only cared for the kittens, but also has found homes for at least two (maybe three) of them. Last week I picked up the three older kittens and brought them to my place. They currently live in my upstairs bedroom with kittens from thee other litters. They are wonderful!

I'm changing my naming system from individually alphabetical to alphabetical by litter. Since I've already used A for the Alopecia Kittens, and I'm using the B's for Taffy's kittens, and C's for Susan's kittens, so I'm using D's for these suckling kittens. Also it will help me remember them since the woman who dropped them off to me had both her first and last name start with the letter D. Stu named them cuz he was actually giving them some attention (something I have no time to do....which sucks cuz you would think that I would have at least the perk of playing with babies.....but OH NO....NO TIME!) Anyway...Stu thought one an explorer so he named him Daniel (ala Daniel Boone). And another was a warrior so he named him Dwight (after Dwight Eisenhower). And he saw the third one who was kinda laid back but still was unlikely to take any shit kinda like a farmer, so he named him Dell. You know...."The farmer in the Dell".

Stu is very good at coming up with names of kittens. He is responsible for Xerox!!!

Just wanted to update you all. The kittens are doing great. They are now listed on petfinder. They still need a couple weeks before they are weighty enough to be fixed!

Dell

Dwight

Daniel

Rummage Sale Update

The sale was a huge success. I am happy to report that we raised nearly $1,900! I was shooting for 2K so I'm really pleased with the outcome. Much of the money raised was found in the donation jar. Some very generous people would buy stuff totaling $8 or so and hand me a $20 bill and say "give the rest to the kitties". It was very nice to see such an outpouring of generosity.....especially since it was going to pay my vet bill at Langlois' office!

My dear friends Becky and Richard came from Ohio to surprise me. I almost dropped my teeth on the floor (just an expression, I don't wear a plate), when they walked through the door. Becky had the misfortune of taking over my "front of house/information/phone answerer" job when I was leaving the animal shelter in Baton Rogue after Katrina. People said it was one of the most stressful jobs. I second that! Anyway....Becky and I bonded immediately on several levels and both took home black boy cats (my Monkey and her Loui). Lucky for me, she is good at keeping in touch and she reads my blog and came down to watch me pee my pants! It was nice to see my dear friend and her wonderful hubby, Richard!

Thank you all who contributed to the rummage sale be it by donating stuff, shopping or volunteering. RC Kula, Gina's top volunteer was there every single day from the time we set up to ultimate tear down. He donated over a thousand VHS video tapes and never complained even when I was bitchy. Bless you...dear, sweet man!!

Stu Mackenzie did anything I asked and brought me/us lunch and flowers nearly every day! Not to mention he set up the tables, rigged lighting and made the fabulous signs that advertised the sale roadside.

Pat Baxter and Barb Olson were the C-SNIP contingent. Pat Baxter is the queen of rummage sales and was a super duper help (as she was with the C-SNIP sale a year ago January). Sue Carl came and spent money and gave extra to our donation jar (vase). Also, I must take a moment to thank Pam Olsen who donated many of the C-SNIP Garden Sale leftovers to us!

Thank you to my very wonderful and dependable friends Erica Carranco, Erin Wilson and Kim Blount who came and primped and priced and made more-or-less junky stuff look fabulous!

I had volunteers from unlikely places. Nicole and Robin who brought me cats for TNR came and helped set up the first day. Nicole and Robin are also fostering Susan and her kittens for me till early July! Thank you so much girlies!!!

Many people donated stuff to the sale. Much came from my wonderful neighbors after our condo complex sale. Thank you neighbors. Thanks Bev, Ed, Kim and Joel for trucking it all to Lowell and unloading it. Thanks Pam Hove for the great goodies and for bringing them all the way to Lowell as well!

For all of you who came and shopped, and supported Gina and I...THANK YOU! And of course, Thank you, Dr. Bruce Langlois for letting us use the building next door to your office, for advertising the sale on your scrolling marquee and for just being the GREATEST!

PS If I forgot to thank anyone, please forgive me. I'm not myself lately. Wish I was someone who is very rich who could hire people to trap cats and have a feral sanctuary!!!!

OPEN HOUSE - Sunday, June 24th

Come see my TNR Rehab Operation

Sunday - June 24th
11 am - 3 pm

Brooknelle Pet Resort
4600 Knapp NE

Just two miles East of E. Beltline Avenue

See Focus on Ferals' new adoption center too!

Free Spay/Neuter Clinic - June 30th

Free Spay/Neuter Clinic for

Dogs & Cats

For Low Income Families

Sponsored by Vicky’s Pet Connection

Hosted by Remote Area Medical

June 30^th 2007

• Where : 53 Commerce Ave SW , Grand Rapids

• When: Saturday June 30^th, 2007

• Who: Low income families with dogs or cats

• Why: To help stem the unnecessary euthanasia of healthy adoptable pets because of animal over population

• How: Call (616) 897-8865 to make a reservation

• To Volunteer: Email brucelangloisdvm@yahoo.com

Rummage Sale to Benefit Feral Cats

Rummage Sale to benefit
Carol's Ferals & Focus on Ferals
Sponsored & Supported by Vicky's Pet Connection

11650 E. Fulton
Lowell, MI 49331

Thursday - Saturday June 14-16 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Early bird shopping Wednesday 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Early bird admission is $5

Something for everyone! Prices slashed daily!
Lots of everything including an awesome assortment
of vintage/retro housewares and 1500+ movies!

****Donations of goods of value greatly appreciated.
Donations are tax deductible. (no clothing please)
Contact Carol for item drop off: 616 560-0555

If you would like to help publicize the sale,
download and print a flier by going to carolsferals.com
and clicking the "calendar of events" button.
The pdf files to download are at the bottom of the page!

Thank you Erica Carranco for helping out Monday
and snapping these pix of our set up.
Also, thank you to RC Kula, Stu Mackenzie, Lea Palmer,
Kim Blount, Pat Baxter, Nicole and Robin
for your help setting up the sale.
Also, thank you James Lefey for helping Stu
procure and set up the tables.
A very special thank you to Dr. Bruce Langlois for allowing us
to use the building to run the sale!
And thanks to all who donated goods to help us raise
money for our feral friends!

Better News!

Hello Feral Friends-

After learning about my "Kitten Chaos in Wyoming" kittens being killed at the shelter, I nearly shut down. Nancy from Vicky's Pet Connection double checked the shelter on Monday and they were not there, confirming my worse fears. What I have learned from this is, I have to accept that I can not help every cat. I just have to do the best I can. Some things are simply beyond my control and I can only bang my head up against a brick wall for so long. I'm not saying I'm not still sick and bitter about it, but I'm at least accepting it and moving on.

Later on Saturday, my friend Stu and I went to three locations picking up cages and supplies that were used to home the last 6 cats from Agnes' farmhouse. Paula Mol and her husband Dan hadn't seen Tennessee, the old toothless tuxedo cat since releasing him two weeks earlier. But after we left with the cages, I got a call from Paula and she said that she saw him in the garage. She closed him in for the night, made him a nice bed and was sure that there was plenty of food and water inside for him. On the outside, there is an insulated (and soon to be heated) cat house which is a replica of their amazing Tudor home. That was a big relief for me.

Other good news came in the form of a "FREE KITTEN" sign of all things. I saw it on my way to Brooknelle but wasn't able to stop. Whenever I see these signs, I cringe! But when I passed by it on the way out to pick up cages, I stopped to give them a C-SNIP flier and talk to them about getting the mom and kittens fixed with the help of a special fund. Derek and his friend are kinda "hard tail" types if one has to stereotype...but what cool guys! I told Derek that I'd be up and down Knapp at least twice a day and if I saw that sign out, I'd have to come and bug the hell out of him. Two hours later the sign was down! Imagine my happiness with that vision! And yesterday he called me to let me know that he was making an appointment at C-SNIP and that he'd let me set some traps behind his house to try to catch the toms that impregnated his girl cat! Just goes to show, you can drive by the "FREE KITTENS" sign and do nothing, or you can stop and at least try to educate people. We also talked about what a poor idea it is to just simply GIVE AWAY kittens, and the peril that such FREE animals come into, and he agreed to charge something for them when he does adopt them out to people. They will be fixed, and thus a fee for adoption will certainly be relevant.

THEN, Nicole, a sweet girl who Gina and I are helping with her feral situation offered to foster Susan and her kittens until they are ready for adoption. Susan is the black and white kitty that had kittens in a guy's outdoor opening basement about a month or so ago. So Susan (named after my mother) and her 5 babies and one of Taffy's babies (the runt that I had to grab out from under the deck with kitchen tongs) are staying with Nicole's friend Robin on her sun porch. They are great fosters. AND they both came to help me set up the rummage sale on Sunday.

Speaking of which, it's coming along nicely. I got to dig through all my old antique mall stuff and set it up in the corner of the room. It was like Christmas! I haven't seen this stuff since 2002. I had to close my antique mall booth when I was in Detroit caring for my mother and unable to tend it any longer. My wonderful volunteers set up the remainder of the room. Today we will be pricing. Keep the stuff coming in people! We hope to make at least $2K on this sale!

The 12 cats that came from the "Rescue" (and I use the term loosely) in Grand Rapids that was closed down by Animal Control are doing pretty well at Brooknelle. They all have some level of URIs but Gina and I are taking good care of them. They are getting medication and Dr. Wendy Swift of HS is in constant communication with us about them and their health situation. I have to give kudos to HS, taking on these sick cats and putting great resources toward getting them healthy and soon adopted.

Lots of good things are going on right now.

Come to the sale Thursday, Friday or Saturday from 10-2 and buy some stuff, say hi and just hang for a bit!

: ) C

Help Needed with Rummage Sale - ALL THIS WEEK

Hello Feral Friends-

This week is the rummage sale to benefit Carol's Ferals and Focus on Ferals!

Need your help setting up and running the rummage sale STARTING TODAY!!!!

SET UP:

Sunday, June 10 - - - 2pm - 8pm

Monday, June 11 - - - 2pm - 8pm

Tuesday, June 12 - - - 2pm - 8pm

Wednesday, June 13 - - - 2pm - 8pm
(early bird sale begins at 6pm)

SALE:

Thursday, June 14 - - - 9:30am - 2:30pm
"full price sale day"

Friday, June 15 - - - 9:30am - 2:30pm
"half price sale day"

Saturday, June 16 - - - 9:30am - 4:00pm
"stuff a bag for a few buck" day

Meet at the sale location in Lowell

11650 E. Fulton St

Lowell, MI 49331

Next door to Animal Hospital of Lowell, directly across from Goodwill.

Let me know if you can help by either sending an email (dollmouse@aol.com) or calling my cell 616 560-0555.

If you can't commit, just show up. But if you can let me know I can count on you, a nervous breakdown may just be avoided!

Thanks muchly

Carol

PS We have gotten LOTS of donations. But, of course we would love more!

ELATED.....deflated

After all that! All that work with the three moms and 12 kittens from Kitten Chaos in Wyoming....those idiots found kittens under their front porch and what did they do????
They took them to the shelter! So now the kittens have been killed! And there is another breeding female out in that neighborhood! All they had to do was call ME! But they didn't.
I'm sick and disgusted! People are stupid and horrible. Give them solutions. Jump through hoops and they do THIS! Not a good day!!!

Kind Hearted, Well Intentioned, Overwhelmed, Tragic!

After rescuing Agnes' farm house cats, I was contacted by a very nice woman who wanted to help me by taking a few of the cats off my hands. For some reason, it didn't feel right to me. I couldn't understand how a small "start up" rescue who wasn't even registered on petfinder at the time could do any good for my cats. I was on petfinder, so I figured, I had a better chance of finding forever homes for the cats....so I didn't hand them off.

But out of curiosity, I made attempts to see her rescue. I was put off several times. I finally dropped in unannounced and took her by surprise. At that time, there were a few too many cats in the small house, but I really didn't want to think ill of her, so I convinced myself that she was OK. My main problem with this person was that she was not spaying pregnant cats. She was allowing them to have their kittens. This was a major red flag for me. Knowing the plight facing cats in today's world and the problem of feline overpopulation, no responsible rescue should be allowing cats to have kittens. When I asked about the cats in cages and learned that a few were waiting to have their litters, I stated my opinion and urged her to get the cats spayed. I basically insisted that she fix those cats. She made appointments at C-SNIP but didn't keep them. So the cats had kittens.

I had several TNR projects foiled by this woman. On these projects when I was honest with people and told them that the pregnant cat in their backyard would need to be spayed, I was instantly closed out. And when I called them back trying desperately to make them understand that with over 7,000 cats killed yearly in Kent County alone due to lack of homes, a spay/abort was far better than euthanizing an 8 week old kitten. I was met each time with, "Well...we got so and so from blah blah blah Rescue to take them". I was always upset because I knew she would let her emotion get in the way of common sense and allow the cats to birth their litters. And she did. And she did. And she did.

Earlier this week she was turned in to Animal Control. Her rescue was cited for "kittens dying and overcrowding". She was ordered to remove all rescue cats from her home by Monday. She would be allowed to keep her 4 own cats. She complied. Yesterday she began bringing the 64 cats and kittens who were under her care to the Humane Society.

I'm not here to lambaste anyone. I think she is a kind hearted woman who meant well. I think she had good intentions. But I don't think she knew how to say no. And she billed herself as "No-Kill". I think there are people who see organizations like The Humane Society as evil because they euthanize animals. I'm all for no-kill. But no-kill usually means "I'll take in as many as I can and I won't euthanize unless the animal is really sick and it is in their best interest". What must be stressed here is that there are a finite number of spots available in that Rescue. Then there is a waiting list. And animals often have to be turned down. A good Rescue will turn down animals. If not, they turn out like this Rescue. They become overwhelmed and disease breaks out and devastation is the result.

What if there wasn't a Humane Society? What would happen? Last year, 7,000 cats would have been put out of their homes and we would have an even worse stray/feral cat overpopulation problem! Can you even imagine??? It's already completely OFF THE HOOK!

I'm sick of people completely vilifying The Humane Society. While I'm not in complete agreement of how they spend their money (I'd like to see some put toward TNR), I know that they are necessary. Someone has to do the dirty work. Someone has to take in animals without question. Someone has to euthanize them when there are no homes for them. It's not their fault that people are irresponsible and don't fix their pets and allow them to breed year after year and flood this world with unwanted animals!

I'm not a shelter. I don't run a sanctuary. I don't take animals in from the public. I am NOT a no-kill sanctuary. I do TNR. What I do is try to stop this insanity!

The Humane Society of Kent County took these cats in. All but a handful were very sick. I know because I saw them today. Gina and I are taking 12 of the cats with illnesses that are treatable with simple antibiotics. We had to be careful not to take very sick cats as we are housing them at Brooknelle. But we have a completely separate room for these cats which does not share any air return with other parts of the facility, so as long as we use good shelter practices and disinfect everything etc, etc...we will be fine.

I am glad that she won't be taking in any more cats. She is financially unable to take care of them. She is not of the proper mindset to do rescue work. But I do feel sorry for her, because I do believe that she meant to do well, she just got overwhelmed. A soft heart can cause a lot of trouble.

What is most disturbing to me is the fact that people surrendered their long time companion pets to her thinking that she ran a credible rescue. People, so afraid of organizations like The Humane Society, that for a "guarantee" that their cat would not be put to sleep, put their pet in the hands of someone who was unable to care for them, give them proper medical attention, get them vaccinated or fixed. Basically, they were just stock piled. Now, these cats have been allowed to get so sick that euthanasia is the most humane solution. Many of the cats I saw today had colici virus and herpes.

It's almost unfathomable to me, how this can happen. I hear a cat sneeze and my bowels turn to water! I fear URI's like most people fear cancer! I don't think I could allow a kitten to have it's eyes so gooped up that I'd do nothing. If I had sick cats, I hope I'd stop taking in cats. I know I've had to stall TNR for nearly a month when my garage was full of those sick Bamford Farm cats. Gina did my TNR rehab during the time I couldn't mix cats. We have to understand our limitations and do what's best for the animals.

She didn't understand her limitations. And now the cats that were trusted to her and were not given to HS (who might have been able to adopt them out), are being euthanized at that very location. She took in too many cats and put them in harms way.

People need to get their heads out of the sand. HS is not a villian. And no-kill is not a fair label for an organization that turns away animals for lack of space. Until we get people to understand that the solution to the problem is by spaying and neutering, we will continue to beat our head up against a wall.

In the name of all that is holy, let's take this as a lesson and promote and support spay/neuter and TNR!

Thanks for reading!
C

Dizzy Gillespie is on KittenWars

Remember Dizzy Gillespie. He's the only friendly cat from the Bamford Farm TNR Project. You know the one.....the rescue that had me holding 11 really sick cats for over 6 weeks! It was all worth it however. Cuz look at Dizzy. He has been adopted by Erin (aka Mini-Me) and is loving his forever home with her. Who wouldn't, she's amazing.

Anyway....check him out on kittenwar.com. To date, he has won 10 battles.

http://kittenwar.com/kittens/125970/

I have a website!!! I have a website!!!

After much prodding from various feral friends, U NOW have a website! Thanks to Stu Mackenzie, Jack Smith and the beautiful and very talented Erica Carranco, I'm on line in a whole new way. The site is not complete, but it's up and running and I'm thrilled. You can expect to see some changes in the coming weeks as Erica tweaks it for me! Thank you so much E!

Here it is: www.carolsferals.com

Yeah!!!
: ) Carol

Other ways to help with the rummage sale

Hello Feral Friends-

Much help will be needed to make our Rummage Sale a success!

Besides helping with the actual setting up or sale during the week of June 10 - 16th, we need help with publicity and solicitation of goods.

I have some nice fliers in PDF format that I can email to you.
If you print them up and distribute them, we can get lots of ground covered quickly.
If each of you who read this blog, email me for the PDF, print it up and either post it at work, the gym or on a community bulletin board (like the library), then just imagine how many people can learn about the sale!

Also, if you are out & about and stop at a rummage sale, I've created a PDF for solicitation of the left overs from other people's sales.

Print off a couple copies of each and post them as you see fit!

If you are interested in doing any of this printing and posting or solicitation, please visit my new website (www.carolsferals.com) and click the "calendar of events" button. At the bottom are links to the pdf files!


Thanks so much for your help!
: ) Carol

PS WE ALSO ARE IN DESPERATE NEED OF TABLES. IF YOU HAVE CARD TABLES, 6' OR 8' TABLES WE NEED THEM AT THE SITE OF THE SALE. PLEASE CONTACT CAROL IF YOU HAVE ANY THAT WE CAN BORROW. IF YOU CAN DELIVER THEM...EVEN BETTER! THANKS MUCHLY!

ELATED!!!!!

Hello Feral Friends-

I have a very happy update to my ultra stressful kitten caper in Wyoming! If you wish to re-familiarize yourself with this story, read the post from May 20th titled "Kitten Chaos in Wyoming".

Now that you are up to speed, this is what happened following that horrendous weekend!

Last I wrote, I had three nursing mother and two litters of kittens. I had to let the third nursing mother go because her kittens were OUT THERE SOMEWHERE. Or worse, I was very worried that the orange girl that I had caring for three kittens was possibly not their mother. If she wasn't the mother of those kittens who she was nursing, then her kittens were outside somewhere and the tortie girl who I just released wouldn't know where they were and be able to pinch hit for her. But there was a 33% chance that the kittens at large were hers. Turns out that they were.

The day after releasing the torti girl, Katie discovered 4 kittens under her bushes. I baited two traps and set the kittens in a carrier between them. One was a covered brown trap. The other an uncovered silver trap. I wanted to have a mixture of traps/coverings just in case our torti girl was adverse to one or the other. Turns out she was very adverse to any trap (covered or uncovered).

When she didn't come into either trap after several hours, I collected the kittens and took them to be cared for by the orange girl (who is now called Taffy).

Taffy immediately took to the four kittens. For all I know, they are hers. Three of them were orange and one was a torti mix. I'm beginning to think that these girls might all actually be sisters.

Anyway. I had Katie setting traps. I had Kathy setting traps. I had Kathy's son's girlfriend setting traps. We tried every kind of bait. Mackeral only worked to get a raccoon trapped. Katie really appreciated THAT trapping!

This went on and on and on and on for several days. I called Kathy and kept urging her NOT TO GIVE UP. "If we don't catch that girl, next summer you'll be in the same boat", I kept saying. She said she wouldn't give up. But I feared that after not hearing from her for nearly a week, she had just plain "threw in the towel".

I woke up today in a panic! What if she gave up? What if she doesn't want to trap anymore? It's no fun baiting and setting traps day after day with no catch. I lived that misery at Burger King and I know how disappointing it can be.

But at 5pm today I got a call from Kathy. SHE GOT THE TORTI MAMA! Thank you Jesus!!!
After being outsmarted by the cat for nearly two weeks, she outsmarted HER! She quit using wet food in the trap and she put pieces of kibble leading from the outside of the trap to the inside. For a few days she put too many pieces toward the outside of the trap and kitty came, ate those pieces and left without going far enough into the trap. But when she only put one morsel close to the outside, it was too much for the torti girl to resist and she went all the way in! This is a testament to Kathy's diligence! Way to go Kathy!

I was supposed to go downtown to sling souvlaki at festival but I drove to her house instead. A huge storm rolled through and I had to pull over cuz I couldn't see while driving south on the Beltline.

Finally I got there and I had my Mama! What a great feeling. Kathy was elated! I was elated! Katie was elated once I called and told her the good news. The only one who wasn't really thrilled with the situation was torti-mama.

I took her to Brooknelle and set her up in a cage. She ate lots of wet food and seemed to be reasonably happy to be in out of the rain and being fed! No doubt her milk has dried up, so there is no sense in giving her back her kittens. I'm spaying her on Monday.

This was a very harrowing TNR mission. Out of the deal, I'm getting 7 kittens that I'll be adopting out soon. Not what I wanted any more kittens, but what can I do? I'm glad they will have a shot at a good life. I'll be releasing three moms and 4 feral kittens who are too wild to be adoptable.

Is there a lesson in any of this? YES INDEEDY! When you see cats in your backyard, get them fixed immediately. Don't wait for kittens!

That, and it takes a village to get a neighborhood cat problem under control.

God help us!

A photo taken in Martha's Vineyard!
Thankfully this isn't in Grand Rapids.
If I saw cats in a tree like this, I'm sure I'd hang myself from it!

Help & Donations Needed for Rummage Sale

Hello Feral Friends-

Gina Marvin and I are teaming up with Vicky's Pet Connection to have a massive rummage sale in June. The money raised will go toward both Carol's Ferals and Focus On Ferals. We hope to raise some scratch to help keep us in Friskies and Fresh Step! .....and meds, and rent for Brookelle, and gas for running around, and more traps, etc.

We need donations and help running the sale.

Because VPC is a 501c3 organization, any donations will be tax deductible. Forms will be available that can be used for tax purposes.

Items of value can be dropped off at the site of the sale. We will hold it at the building just East of The Animal Hospital of Lowell, where Dr. Langlois practices. If you want to drop off items, contact me either via email at: dollmouse@aol.com or by calling my cell at 616 560-0555.

We will take anything except for clothing. Historically, clothing doesn't go so well at these types of sales. And we don't have means for hanging etc. So anything but clothing is super!

If you can have items in closed boxes that are easily stackable, that would be awesome.

Dig doing rummage sales? I can use your help! It's going to be a big job. I'll need help setting up the sale on Sunday - Wednesday, June 10-13 from 2:00 pm - 8:00 pm daily. Also, we can use your help running the sale on Thursday - Saturday, June 14-16 from 9:30 am - 2:30 pm.
If you can help anytime during those hours, please contact me via email.

Besides running cat rescue, running rummage sales is my favorite thing to do. I dig rooting through boxes of "junk" and turning it into money. Turning "junk" into money for my rescue melds together two things that I'm really good at. The only way it could be better is if there were hunky men dancing in the backround feeding me krispy kreme donuts! But I don't need donuts, and if there are hunky men around, we'll probably need them to move boxes more than dance, so let's just focus on the "junk" and the cats the money raised will help.

Back to business. Here are the details. Please either donate, or help set up, or run the sale with me, or just come and spend money!!!! If nothing else, tell everyone you know about the sale!

Thanks so much!
Carol

Rummage Sale to benefit
Carol's Ferals & Focus on Ferals
Sponsored & Supported by Vicky's Pet Connection

11650 E. Fulton
Lowell, MI 49331

Thursday - Saturday June 14-16 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Early bird shopping Wednesday 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Early bird admission is $5

Something for everyone! Prices slashed daily!
Lots of everything including an awesome assortment of vintage/retro housewares.

****Donations of goods of value greatly appreciated.
Donations are tax deductible. (no clothing please)
Contact Carol for item drop off: 616 560-0555





Please post the sale information on online bulletin boards where appropriate.
If you want to try to solicit some goods, and you are at an area rummage sale,
let them know that they can drop their non-clothing
sale leftovers to the building on
Sunday - Tuesday June 10-12 from 2pm - 8pm.
Any clothing can be dropped off at the Goodwill across the street.
(Thank you Bruce for this great idea)

Kittens take 24 hours out of my week and horrify me!

I think it was Wednesday when I got the call. A frantic woman from Muskegon who called me last month and I was unable to help called with a kitten emergency. Donna originally called me and wanted me to basically take care of her cat problem in her apartment complex. Like many people, she was unable to help in any way what-so-ever and being that I'm already stretched to the max doing cat rescue in Kent County, and VPC is concentrating on this county exclusively, I have to say "I'm sorry, I can't help you....try this...." to lots of people. I'm only one person and even if I could pay for the surgeries for cats in other counties, the driving time, gas, wear and tear on my car, is such a drag on my resources, that I would actually be counter-productive. I can do twice the work in my own area and help more cats. Since a cat, is a cat, is a cat....I have to focus my attention where my efforts can have the biggest impact.

So on Wednesday she called me with the story that a cat was hit by a car leaving a litter of orphaned kittens. She said there were 7, but some lady took two of them and she had 5 left. They would need to be bottle fed.

I told her to bring them to me and I'd try to find someone to bottle feed and keep them till they were old enough to be fixed. Then, the plan was to return them to her where she could try to find homes for them. Simple!!!

I lined up Fern in Cedar Springs. Fern used to do cat rescue for years, but now does bird rescue. She's amazing and has talked me off the ledge several times in the last year. She loves to hand raise baby kittens, so she availed herself to my mission.

So I meet Donna in the parking lot of a strip mall near my house to assess the kittens. Her story is so full of holes that I don't believe a single thing she says and I question her integrity all-together (which will be explained later).

Now, there were SIX kittens, not just five. And they are now miraculously from two different mothers. Where are the mothers? I ask. I am told that they were attacked and killed by pit bulls. Yeah right! I guess it could happen....but again, she's a liar, so I don't believe her. But what can I do? I'm surely not going to turn the kittens away!

I notice when transferring them into my carrier that they all have strangely swollen genitals. I'm like..."what's up with their backsides?" She tells me that they have been suckling each other's genitals since they have no mother. I'm horrified!! I've never heard of this phenomenon. But it makes sense, I guess. They must be very hungry and have latched onto anything. God only knows how much of their siblings waste they have ingested.

I leave Gina a horrified message and race to Cedar Springs to take the kittens to Fern. When I arrive, Fern has KMR mixed up waiting to dropper into the kitten's mouths. But I put down soft food and these 3 and 4 week old kittens devour it! They are so starving that they would probably eat ANYTHING. I asked Donna if she tried to get them to eat soft food and she said they wouldn't touch it! LIAR!!!!!!

LAZY, CARELESS, LIAR!!! I can excuse the fact that she might not have known that you have to express a kitten, but to leave them so starved, it's just inexcusable!

Kittens don't know how to go to urinate and defecate on their own. Mom has to stimulate their bottoms with her tongue to get them to go. And if you have noticed, there is no kitten waste in the beds with mama cat, so you know what she has to do to get rid of the waste, right? Yeah, she eats it!!! So when you hear some idiot wanting to let a pg cat have her kittens, let them know that she will be eating the urine and stool from all those babies for 4-6 weeks!

When you are bottle feeding kittens, you (the human mama) has to rub their genitals and backsides with a paper towel to make them pee and poop! Fern and I fed them and took them into her bathroom to bathe them. They were a mess! While expressing them during bathing, three of them let loose with some very dark liquid stool. It wasn't anything I'd seen before and it scared me....AND FERN....who has basically "seen in all" through all her years in rescue!

I decided NOT to leave them with her but take them to see Dr. Langlois. I dropped some traps at a woman's home who will be trapping up the ferals in her yard and I started back home in hopes that Bruce would return my call and tell me what to do with them. When he called back, he told me that they should be given some good nutrition and have hydrocortisone creme applied to their genitals to relieve the swelling. He thinks the super dark stool might be from ingesting so much of the waste of their litter mates. I started feeding and applying the creme as soon as I go them home. That was around 11:30 pm. I awoke at 5am to feed them again. I should have gotten up earlier than that, but I was so exhausted that I pretty much passed out. I fed them again twice before my saving grace, Stephanie came to pick them up after her long day at work and putting in her time volunteering at Crash's Landing!

Stephanie is a kitten foster! She finds some strange pleasure in getting up every 2-3 hours each night and feeding and expressing kittens. I would rather run all over West Michigan and trap cats day and night than do this kind of work. Just not my bag! Who can live with that type of schedule? I did it one night and I nearly went insane! God bless the kitten fosters! I guess there is a reason I never had children!

Anyway. Steph took the kittens and will keep them for a week. Then she goes on vacation and I'll have to find another kitten foster. Anyone want to take on this project? If you are stone cold crazy....give me a call!

This whole escapade took 24 hours. It turned me on my ear, stressed me out, exhausted, and frustrated me. I want to kill Donna, who I truly believe didn't feed these kittens for at least a day before bringing them to me. I'm sure I won't be hearing from her again. And even if I did, I wouldn't give her back the kittens. I'll find them homes myself!

Here are pictures of the babies. I separated them so that they wouldn't continue to suckle on each other. Hopefully this behavior will be eliminated once they start to get some good nutrition and they are no longer with their fleshy pacifiers!

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Name the kittens! Reply to this blog entry and give me your
name picks for these kittens.
Just click on the little envelope at the bottom, right corner of this post.
I need names that work alphabetically from M - R.
That's where I will be in the alphabet once these kittens are ready
to go to their new homes.
You notice that my last kittens were Ursella and Vanessa.
Yeah, I've got THAT many kittens in the pipe!!!!

A special thank you to Arlene, my neighbor who came over and helped with feeding, expressing and washing of the babies in preparation of their going to be with Stephanie. This after she spent the afternoon at Brooknelle cuddling my soon to be adoptable kittens!

And thanks to Kim (my long time friend and college roommate) who was over when I arrived home with the kittens and helped me with their initial care.

Tonto Sanchez Update

Last week, Jen Petrovich gave me two 8 week old kittens in exchange for Joe, the FIV Positive Siamese from Agnes' farmhouse. Jen doesn't do kittens, and it was time for her to call in a favor. Since Joe WAS the 20th cat of mine that she has taken into her amazing, life saving program at Crash's Landing and Big Sid's Sanctuary.

Along with these two sweet little girls came the names of two people interested in kittens. So, I called the first one. Jay was a sweet guy who was willing to adopt only ONE kitten. Because when I have litter mates, I like to adopt them out in pairs, I proceeded to the next name on the list. And Ursella and Vanessa (I needed U & V names....yeah, I'm that far down the alphabet) went to live with Yvette who actually wanted two kittens!

I was getting ready to forward Jay's name to Gina Marvin when I thought, "Hey, wait a minute, this guy sounds really loving and OPEN, maybe he would consider giving young Tonto Sanchez a home". So I called him. AND HE SAID YES! I took Tonto Sanchez over immediately!

Right away, Tonto Sanchez made himself home in Jay's apartment. He was very interested in Jay and they were soon fast friends.

A few days later, Jay said that he was having problems breathing around Tonto. Well, actually Gideon....that's his new name. So as you know, I've been stressing about it ever since.

But today I called Jay and he said that he's been feeling better since we last talked, so he will continue to foster him. If after 30 days, they agree that they want to continue to be bunkmates, Tonto Sanchez will be officially adopted by Jay. Until then, Jay and "Gideon" will give each other the love that each need and deserve.

Bless you Jay for giving Tonto Sanchez (Gideon) a chance at a happy indoor home!