Over Memorial Day weekend we got a desperate email from a young lady who had found a kitten whose mother had been hit by a car. She did not know how old the kitten was but did know he was too young to eat on his own. We managed to find a foster - thanks Luna! and got the following report today - “Little kittling is retrieved.. he is a healthy and exuberant little grey tabby and eating like a champ. about three weeks I think, closer to four. I think
he’ll be eating himself within 10 days or so. So one good one for the books.
We hope to have pictures up soon. To help us save more lives, will you consider fostering? If you’d like more information please email us at rescuties@gmail.com
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While reading a friends’ Facebook messages, I found the following comment and wanted to address it:
You’re probably right and please don’t get me wrong on this, I am a HUGE animal lover. Feral cats multiply by the thousands in no time and they cannot be tamed. Not even the kittens. They are probably also posing some kind of threat to the environment. BUT I am NOT for exterminating them. I think they should be spayed/neutered and tagged or micro chipped. But WHO would take on such a huge and costly task 
Well, they do multiply, there is no doubt about that. I think by the thousands “in no time” is a bit of a stretch. I think this misconception comes from the myth that one female cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 cats in seven years. This number has long been used to “encourage” people to spay and neuter their pets - we think there are plenty of reasons to spay and neuter your pets without lying to you about numbers - but as you can see it can backfire when people start to think that TNR (trap, neuter, return) is not going to work due to the numbers.
The real number that 1 female cat and all her kittens can produce in 7 years is 100-400.
The difference, you see, is:
- The original figure was based on one cat delivering 12 kittens a year, with a 20% mortality rate. Dr. Stoskopf ’s studies found six kittens a year, with a 75% mortality rate.
- The original projection assumed 100% survival of all the cats grown to adulthood for the entire seven years, a percentage that should have triggered red flags from the very beginning.
Source is here.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get your cat spayed or neutered. There are plenty of health and behavior benefits without spreading misinformation. A male cats roaming range decreases from 10 miles to 1 mile after neutering, thus leading to less deaths in traffic (better yet, keep them inside). Spraying is decreased or eliminated (if your spayed kitty is spraying, this is likely to indicate a health or behavior problem and a vet visit is warranted). Fighting and the spread of disease is reduced or eliminated (and again better to keep them inside anyway).
As far as “they cannot be tamed, even the kittens” - this is absolutely not the case. The kittens are easy to tame up to about 6 weeks. After that, they become progressively more difficult - BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE - to tame. Our fabulous feral cat coordinator has tamed several adult feral cats. Our South colony is tame to the point that they allow petting by feeders they know. We do concentrate our efforts on TNR and taming kittens rather than adult cats because we feel it is more helpful to the majority of adult feral cats to TNR them rather than trying to tame them.
As far as threats to the environment are concerned, I’m not sure how to directly address that without knowing which specific threats this person was referring to. However, I can’t see how a maintained colony of spayed and neutered cats would be any more threat to the environment than are indoor/outdoor housecats.
As far as who would take on such a huge and costly task, well, we would. We spay/neuter the cats, have them vaccinated against rabies, and return them to their homes, with the help of volunteer trappers.
Please help us with this project today by contributing to our 30 Spays in 30 Days project:
Here are two of our wonderful former feral kittens (now adult cats) ready and waiting for a loving home:
Here’s our Zorro - hard to believe he was once a hissy little bundle of fur in a trap, slated for death at Austin’s pound:
Pillowcase, scissors and ruler not included with adoption of cat:)
We are glad to report that Brook’s paw was not cancer. It is a benign paw growth that is apparently very rare. Our vet has only seen it one other time in 40 years of practice. The treatment is to remove the growth and monitor for regrowth. So now Brook only needs to be neutered and have his teeth cleaned to be ready for his forever home. He’d prefer a forever home with this companion Shiloh, who has been spayed and is ready to go.
Razoo.com is sponsoring a “Month of Goodness” during the month of March.
Or see our fundrasing page directly.
The cool thing about this is that the organizations with the most individual donors, not necessarily donations, win grants. *And* all the money donated comes directly to us - no fees to you or us.
And should you choose to make your own fundraising page for us, you could win an Ipod Touch, Nano, or Shuffle. Pretty cool, huh?
As always, thanks so much for your support:)
Shiloh is Brook’s companion. She was rescued from the same property. She is FELV/FIV negative and very sweet and friendly. She knows what a brush is and loves to be brushed. I’m hoping to go meet her at her foster mom’s tomorrow.
The vet approximates her age at 2-4 years. Like all our kitties, she will receive all vaccinations, be spayed, and be microchipped before being made available for adoption, but you could inquire about her now!
We are still waiting for the biopsy results on Brook.
Oops - I posted the wrong pic of Brook’s paw. I posted the better pic - which is the rear paw - the front paw is the worse paw and looks like a big round rubber ball.
Brook doesn’t like to walk around much (imagine that) and we are still waiting for an update on his biopsy. We hope to have one tomorrow at the latest. We have collected some money for his care but still have a ways to go. Remember that any donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law as we are a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Get on over to Get to the Vet, powered by Bayer and Advantage, to get a voucher good for $20 towards preventative care at your local veterinarian. If you have been putting off vaccinations or other necessary care this would be a good time to get those items taken care of. The way it works is that the vet must fill out the voucher and you must send it in with a copy of the receipt in order to receive your $20 check. They give away the vouchers at the top of the hour every hour between 9 am and 9 pm, EST. I was successful in getting my check by having the form pre-filled out and then hitting submit at exactly 6 pm. This offer is only good through February 28th, so hurry and get your voucher!
We rescued Brook yesterday - one of our board members was looking for property out of town and found two friendly cats living outside there. The property owners had been feeding them but they had not gotten any other care. She asked if the property owners wanted to keep the cats (something that ethically you should always do!) and they said no, so she called me and I brought her two carriers.
Unfortunately, there is something wrong with two of Brook’s paws. We took him to the vet immediately but we are not sure of a diagnosis yet. Our vet believes he is a middle aged kitty and he is underweight. He is at the vet’s receiving needed medical care and will have both paws biopsied.
We have started a fundraiser to help with Brook’s medical expenses.
Ted E Bear (Teddy) for short, is one of our most recent rescues from a high kill Central Texas animal control facility. He had been previously adopted, but when he was brought to the shelter his owners were unable to be located, despite his wearing a collar with current rabies tags. Teddy was not neutered. We took care of that today, as well as having him tested for Feline Leukemia and FIV (he was negative for both), having all necessary shots, and being wormed. He’s now ready to go to his new home and be your best friend. If you have room in your home and heart for Teddy, please let us know.
Tofu is a tuxedo kitty we found outside. She was so friendly and sweet, we were sure we would find an owner, but we listed her with official animal control as found (something you should always do when you find an animal!) and placed ads for her to no avail. Our vet thinks she is about one year old and she had not been spayed, so of course we took her to get spayed. We also had her tested for the common feline diseases Feline Leukemia and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus and to our regret, she was positive for both. For many shelters and rescues, this would have been it - Tofu would have been killed because, although she is healthy now, she may or may not be sick at some point in the future - but we at Rescuties believe that every animal, other than those irredeemably suffering or a true risk to the public - deserves a chance at life. We got a confirmatory IFA test, which is a more accurate feline leukemia test (the blood is drawn at your vet’s office and gets sent off to a lab). Unfortunately, the IFA test was positive as well.
We started to search for a new home for Tofu. Fortunately we found one for her with one of the wonderful members of the Feline Leukemia discussion list . Here’s what her new mom, Emily, has to say about her:
Just wanted to let you know that Tofu and I made it back to Waco and she is settling in well. She’s staying in the bathroom while we work on getting her acquainted with her new feline siblings, but she’s at least gotten a look at most of them now. She really is a sweet girl 
We are so happy for Tofu!
Here is an individual picture of the (as yet unnamed) blue tabby boy.
When we got Taylor home we noticed she was lactating, so we put a harness on her and took her back to look for kittens. She led us right to them like a good girl. We scooped them up and brought them back. We have one brown tabby and white, one blue tabby, and one blue tabby and white - all to be named after “Friday Night Lights” cast members when we decide on names.
I was on the set of the “Friday Night Lights” TV show, where I sometimes works as an extra. I was hanging around waiting for the shooting to start when I noticed one of the principals, Taylor Kitsch, petting a cat and feeding her ice cream off the catering truck. I asked him if he knew anything about the cat and he said, “No, but she’s friendly!” I went and got the kitty some cat food, bowls, and water out of my truck. One of the other principals, Minka Kelly, seemed amazed that I had produced a 20 pound bag of cat food in the middle of the night. I explained to her that I did cat rescue and I always carried these items, and gave her my card in case they ran into any more kitties in need at any of the other shooting locations.
We had to wait to come back and get the kitty until we had the property owner’s permission. So Sunday night we went back and obtained permission. Seems the property owner also has an unaltered male cat on the property named “Hot Sauce.” We shared our dinner with Hot Sauce and found him to be a very lovable kitty. We got permission from the property owner to have him neutered and then return him. We also found that our new kitty (we named her Taylor) had 3 adorable little kittens. One brown tabby and white, one blue tabby, and one blue tabby and white. They are all safe and warm and fed at one of our great foster parents’ homes now. We do not have pictures of the kittens yet, but will soon! They would not hold still long enough for me to take a picture:)
We are seeking donations to help with this little family’s care. The kittens should be altered and ready for adoption in about 2 months, along with their mom, if you are interested in a “Friday Night Lights” kitten!
We had arranged to rescue two special needs kitties from a Central Texas kill shelter. One was blind, and one had a cleft palate. The kitty with the cleft palate was turned in to the shelter by a lady who was going into a nursing home and couldn’t take the kitty with her. (That is one of our areas of focus).
Our volunteer had $150 worth of work done on her car to make sure it was in shape to get the kitties.
Come to find out, the day we were to leave to pick up the kitties, we found they had been killed two days before.
Apparently, it was a “mistake,” and the policy of this shelter to kill all handicapped animals. How can a person mistakenly kill one cat - let alone two - that had somewhere safe to go?
We are so sorry this had to happen, babies. We wish you a gentle journey across the Rainbow Bridge, and we’ll see you when we get there. Know that you were loved and there were people who wanted to help you.
Zorro is our kitty of the month for this month. He’s been waiting very patiently for a home for over a year now. He came to us from the local high kill pound as a 4 week old feral kitten, and our wonderful volunteers socialized him in no time!
Zorro gets along wonderfully with other cats, dogs, and even kids. He’s also a good helper, as you can see in the picture - here he is helping set up an Ebay Auction!
We had an application on him, but they wanted a declawed kitty and Zorro has his claws, so that wasn’t a good match.
We’re looking for someone who will give Zorro (and his claws!) a forever home.
To apply to adopt Zorro or one of our other wonderful kitties, see http://www.rescuties.org
Check it out, and we hope you’ll post it to your social networking sites! (Just use the “Share” button)
Bessie and her brother Georgie came to Rescuties from a local good Samaritan. We met in one of the vets offices we frequent (all too often!) and the owner explained that she had found a stray cat, who had a litter of kittens. She had already had the momcat spayed (yay!) but the kittens were in trouble. A neighborhood bully had already killed one and she was afraid more would die. We are full, always, but had to find a place for these guys. Another of our vets stepped up and offered space in his office for the kittens until they could be adopted. It took less than a week! (Actually they are on a foster to adopt placement until they are old enough to be spayed and neutered, but they are home!)
We’re always looking for great foster homes so we can save more animals. Also, if you know of a business in the Austin area who would allow us to use them as an offsite adoption location, please let us know!
You can reach us at rescuties@gmail.com
Although Georgie and Bessie are now safely in foster care, we are still accepting donations for their and the other kitties’ medical expenses.
thanks to the kind folks at our hosting provider.
Hopefully we will be back to blogging soon.
Our featured kitty from last week went home with his new mom! Look for a new featured kitty this week!
We had a busy weekend, taking a neighbor’s cat in to be spayed (this is not something normally within our scope, but the neighbor is in a wheelchair and has no transportation.
Scoured Austin for more treasures to sell on Ebay, check them out.
We now accept Google checkout. Google checkout is our preferred online payment processing service, as we do not have to pay any fees through 2009! Your *entire* donation will go to helping the kitties!
Tuffy is just about done with her meds, while Toodles goes to the vet tomorrow for a suspected urinary tract infection.
We’ll keep you posted!
Michelle and I went out treasure hunting to get things to sell on Ebay. We had a great time and found some fun and unique things (like the panther earrings pictured above).
To check out our listings, click here.
We then took some pictures of some new kitties that will be up for adoption. Be looking for them here and on our regular site!
We do have some kitties who like to help with taking pictures for Ebay listings, in case anyone needs any help with that::)
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After picking up the very generous donation from Suzanne last night (Thank you so much Suzanne - it is so heartwarming when people have a kitty pass away and are so generous as to donate the kitty’s belongings).
Here is a picture of one of our rescued kitties inspecting the new cat tree!
Rescuties has launched a fundraiser. All monies raised will go towards our kitties ongoing medical expenses.
For $5, less than the cost of a lunch out, you can make a significant difference in the life of a kitty in need. Larger donations are of course also appreciated!
First, I went to Wal-Mart and bought some Fancy Feast (I searched through the flavors to find one without wheat gluten) for Missy to see if it would make her more amenable to taking her Benazepril. She really does not like capsules (she’s fine about taking her chicken flavored Baytril) and I don’t want her getting upset and putting an additional load on her heart. I shook all the powder out of the capsule, added some Fortiflora, the contents of a CoQ10 capsule, and mixed it all into the Fancy Feast. She did eat it, but can’t eat a whole can at once. I just have to make sure the other cats don’t get ahold of what she leaves over since it has heart medication in it.
While I was there I couldn’t resist buying them a new toy - come to find out it cost a dime. I am going to go back to see if there are any left tomorrow.
When I got back, there was an email from a very nice lady whose beloved kitty just recently lost her struggle with renal failure and the lady wants to give us a large in-kind donation, including a cat tree, lots of food, some litter boxes, etc. Thanks so much!:)
Brutus came to us as a 5 week old kitten from the local high kill pound. His foster mom saved him and an 8 week old calico kitten we called Margerine (now named Margarita by her adopter). Even though Brutus was younger, he was the one to tell Margarita everything was ok!
Brutus has now been neutered, had all his vaccinations and been combo tested, and is ready to go home to his new family!
To apply for Brutus or see our other adoptable kitties, please see our webpage.
Missy has been with us since she was 8 weeks old. She came from the local high kill pound with her brother and sister. Her brother was adopted long ago, and her sister, Toodles, is still with us. (See Toodles’ webpage on our main site)
Someone went to get the kittens from the pound for me because I had a cat who had had a mastectomy and was having to get her dressing changed at the vet every day. I still remember the first time we saw each other, Missy and I. She knew I was her mom, and so did I!
Unfortunately, Missy has a congenital heart defect. The particular defect she has is a complete endocardial cushion defect, which is rare in cats. She sees the cardiologist at Texas A&M University, and only a few have been seen there. Feline cardiology isn’t as advanced as human cardiology, or even canine cardiology, and surgical repair is not possible. She takes heart meds every day and gets lots and lots and lots of love - we’re trying to pack a lifetime into a few years.
Missy is the queen of the house, and she knows it! She likes to sit on my shoulder, be held upside down like a baby, and sleep on my head or curled around my neck. She loves company, because of course they all come to see her.
Missy does not like medicine - she says yuck! She does love kitty treats. She is very smart and has a quizzical look that always makes me laugh.
She recently got upper respiratory infection and went to the vet. She had her nasal passages flushed - the vet said she did really well and I did moderately well:). She’s on antibiotics and feeling much better.
Every day she’s with us is a good day. Love her so much.
It makes me understand why many people say “I just want a healthy kitten.” Missy wasn’t diagnosed until about 6 months, though. You just never know what might happen. And I wouldn’t have missed loving Missy for anything.
Our Tuffy, who came to us from a shelter in Ohio, had to go to the vet Saturday. She was having a rather indelicate problem with her intestinal flora.
Tuffy was supposed to be a handicapped kitten. Her eye had never opened before she came to us and the shelter thought the eye had died and would need to be removed. Fortunately, when she got here she was treated and her eye is almost normal. She has a very slight loss of vision in it, perhaps 5%, and runs a slightly increased risk of developing glaucoma as she ages. Tuffy has a pet - a stuffed lion she adores.:)
The vet sold us some Diarsanyl
which we haven’t used before. I will say she doesn’t seem to like it, but we are hoping it works. If it does we will keep it in our medicine chest. We also got Panacur in granules and Fortiflora, which we mix up in canned food for her daily, and she doesn’t mind those at all.
