It has been a pretty busy 10 days since my last update! We have been concentrating on getting more of our semi-feral cats sterilised, whilst continuing to look after our foster cats and get them ready to travel to Germany.
Jos and Miguel at the dog rescue have organised their week now so that Friday is going to be effectively ‘cat day’, and we have agreed with Gisela at the cat rescue that she will take our females in for 2-3 days after their operations and keep them in comfy cages until they are ready to be let out again.
Last Friday we caught 2 more, one male and one female, but actually ended up with only one patient. The female Miguel decided had already been spayed, because she had the uniform clip in her ear, which is the vet’s sign. We were left feeling a little sheepish, but we have still done well. In the last 2 weeks we have ensured that 4 female and 1 male of the semi-ferals will not be breeding, and we plan to take 2 more next week.
Also on the organisation front, we have been given 2 regular monthly slots in the transport to Germany, which is a good focus, and means that once we have bought 4 cat boxes of our own, then Almerimar Strays will have all it needs to be pretty independent. It has taken close to a year for me to get all the pieces in place, but I now feel we have a good way forward for this year. We will continue to try and catch and seterilise the wild ones, and with more foster carers, will aim to re-home at least 2 tame cats or kittens each money, funds permitting.
Last night was slightly frantic at the vet, as in total we took 8 cats. 4 kittens and big Charlie just needed one more injection, and Felix, Bono and Oscar kittens went for their test, chip and first injections.
Charlie caused a few problems, as having been totally freaked by all the kittens in the car, he proceeded to hide under our vet Begona’s desk and hiss and growl at us. The solution was to bring his foster Mum to the vet but even then he was a bad cat, and I got to see the catch cage in full operation, with the central panel being used to push him into a VERY small space. I had the job of pushing VERY hard and realised how strong a large frightened cat is (or how weak I am). Even with all our efforts we didn’t avoid a broken needle, but thankfully the injection went in and the needle stayed out. Charlie is now ready to go to Germany in March, where he has a home with other cats and a brand new scratch post waiting for him.
Of the kittens, who were struggling with flu symptoms, all seem to be doing well now and little Felix, after all Tracy’s efforts was pronounced well enough to start his vaccinations, which was great news as he too has a home waiting for him in Germany, as does his sister Bonny and lovely gentle Tabitha, who is officially ‘the laziest cat’ ever.
Poor little Oscar however is now struggling and has a temperature, so he ended up with anti-biotics instead of vaccinations! Other not such great news is that Simba the lovely, gentle ginger Tomcat, whom we have been helping to treat for an injured mouth and eye ulcer, has disappeared. Julie had decided to keep him, and had started to let him wander outside, and the silly cat appears to have done a runner. We are wondering if he is feeling well enough to chase females, or if he may be trying to find his previous home. Anyway at least he had just been given a clean bill of health by Begona, and we will all be looking out for him.
Ok that’s about it, and quite enough for this week, apart from the news that Lisa and Salva are going to take another kitten in April, and have a friend who may also be interested. This means that 2 of our Almerimar 5 may get to stay in sunny Spain.
And finally you may have been reading some of my ‘tweets’ that appear at the top of the blog. My new software now generates a post each Sunday of What I Tweeted This Week which is a fun summary of all my, Mori’s and Saidi’s tweets for the past week. Enjoy!!!
Hi, my name is Chris. I am your husband!!!! Remember me?
Tuesday was an extremely hectic day as we only had 1 car between us and 4 pick ups at different locations.Bono was a very good little pussycat and was chipped,vaccinated and blood taken plus rabies jab.The next morning he wasnt his usual chirrupy self and didnt run out of his bed to greet me and wasnt interested in eating.However as the day went on he was back to normal and wolfed down almost a 175 gram tin of rice and tuna and had plenty of milk and played with my three cats and dog.Rufus my dog loves him and keeps licking his little face and the cat plays with the pom pom on the end of his tail.Bono is a most affectionate cat and purrs the moment he is picked up.We will all be very sorry to say goodbye to him in April but know that he will go to a good home, hopefully in Switzerland.I think Begonia our local marvellous vet had quite a day with our 8 cats plus my friend Jean had taken 3 of hers down for injections and 2 were difficult and scratched her and their owner.
A satisfactory conclusion to a fraught day with all the cats.
Good news yesterday about Charlie. He calmed down as soon as he got back to his foster home, and slept overnight on Angelique’s bed! He is such a ovely friendly cat but really doesn’t like the vet, and I think the 7 kittens really stressed him out. Anyway he is fine now and no more nasty trips to the vet needed before he goes to Germany.
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