Learning to Trust

The following story written by Marie one of our fabulous foster caregivers is a perfect example of the dedication and care that Feline Rescue's volunteer foster caregivers devote to the cats and kittens in their care. This story also demonstrates how many cats deemed "feral" just need some time to learn to trust people.

On July 24th we took in the IT Crowd Feline Rescue, Inc. foster kittens: Roy, Jen, and Moss. Roy was affectionate at the get-go. Jen took a little bit of time to warm up. But Moss. Oh, Moss. Moss was hostile. Had this group been at an animal control facility, Moss might have been deemed feral. If you approached her, she freaked out, hissed, hit you, ran away. I wasn't sure what was going to become of her. I tried to be patient and give her space. She made very small steps forward. She would stay out of the kennel when I came in. She would not flinch if I moved my arm toward her. She would smell my fingers but run away if I moved. So, I hate doing this, but I used food as a tool. Instead of leaving dry food out for them to chow on all day, I left nothing out. So after 10 hours, when I get home from work, they're hungry. I would open a can of wet food and Jen and Roy would go at it. Moss would be anxious in a corner. Eventually she started coming to the food if I stayed very still. If I moved at all, she would run away. Then she would stay at the food even if I made movements but still wouldn't tolerate movements towards her direction. Then, finally, I was able to touch her. She was so engrossed in eating that I was able to lightly touch her. She flinched and would run away. I continued to do that day after day. One day, she didn't run away. She still flinched and you could see in her body language that she was irritated but I was able to pet her twice before she would run away. Then one day, she allowed me to pet her repeatedly as she ate. Once she was done eating, though, see ya. Or if she turned her head up and actively saw me petting her, see ya. But then just recently, she has let me pet her while she eats, repeatedly, on her spine, her sides, her neck her head, and that body language isn't there anymore. Just the other day, she started enjoying the petting so much, she fell over to her side to get tummy rubs. It was as if even SHE was surprised she fell over. She quickly jumped up and ran away, shocked at her involuntary show of vulnerability. And then 2 days ago, she broke.

She is all over me now. She loves to be pet. She rubs against my leg. She licks my toes and my fingers. She will take belly rubs for a few scratches. She has really turned a corner. And it only took nearly 2 months. It was really, really, really frustrating, I can tell you that. I wanted to shake her and say, "MOSS! I AM NICE! LET ME BE NICE TO YOU!". But that would be abusive and also cats don't speak English and do have sharp claws. But with patience and food, Moss is turning into a cat who really digs humans. And I feel grateful that we were able to help another living being overcome its fears and allow itself to be loved during the short time it has on this pale blue dot.

Moss and her siblings Roy and Jen are available for adoption. If you'd like to learn more about them, please contact Joan at 651-705-6264 or submit our Adoption Inquiry Form.

Oscar the Grouch Needs Your Help

Oscar the Grouch was found in a trash can earlier today. Not only did he stink to high heaven but his right eye was not in its socket. It's not a recent injury but it's not one that's healed fully or properly. Gangrene is setting in (another reason he stinks). He was rushed to our vet where he is receiving medical attention. The extent of his injuries is not quite fully known yet. He's getting blood work (and a bath!) and will soon have surgery to repair his ocular cavity. He will recuperate in Foster care.

Oscar would like to point out that he's not grouchy. He's actually taking his ordeal in stride. He's being a good little patient and even put up with a bath and being poked and prodded by the vet. He's keeping his spirits up and is particularly happy to not be living in a trash can anymore.

To contribute towards Oscar's vet bills, you can donate online via "Network for Good" or "Pay Pal" or see our Donate Now page for additional options. Please enter "Oscar the Grouch's vet bills" in the Designation field if donating via Network for Good to ensure that the donation is recorded for Oscar's vet bills. Any amount will be thoroughly appreciated.

Donating by credit card via Network for Good Online:

Please enter "Oscar the Grouch's Vet Bills" in the Designation field.

Donating by PayPal or credit card via PayPal Online:

Donating by Personal Check:

Donations by personal check can be mailed to:

Feline Rescue, Inc.
Attn: Donations
593 Fairview Ave N
St. Paul, MN 55104

Help! It's Kitten Season Once Again

Same time each year Feline Rescue is inundated with orphaned kittens, pregnant cats and moms with babies.  Kittens are cute, innocent and happy.  They are so much fun. We love to view photos and videos of their silly antics, but unfortunately there are too many of them being born to homeless or abandoned cats.

Our foster homes are already filling up and Kitten Season has just begun.  The season began with momma cats coming in with their newborn babies and now the urgent pleas from local animal control facilities as orphaned kittens some too young to eat on their own are in need of rescue.

Yesterday a VERY pregnant momma cat was left at our shelter and two six week old kittens were rescued from an animal control facility while just days before a two week old kitten and a four week old kitten were quickly taken into our care from another animal control facility.

VERY pregnant momma, now named Clementyne, shortly after rescue

Before and after photos for recent orphaned kittens rescued from animal control facilities.

Chip

Jumpin' Jack Flash

Bibi and Bibbles

So how can you help?  Not everyone is able to open their home to provide foster care for cats and kittens but Feline Rescue is always in need of supplies and funds to pay for medical care.  Check out our Kitten Supply Wish List or donate to our foster program.

For more information about our foster program read our Foster Program Frequently Asked Questions and if interested in becoming a foster caregiver please fill out our online Foster Volunteer Application.

Please spay and neuter your pets to prevent unwanted litters.

Need a Buddy? Meet Crusher

Volunteering in rescue, every new day and every new cat presents new challenges. Here’s one of our latest challenges: The Crusher.

Crusher was a stray, rescued from impound through Feline Rescue’s outreach program. His kennel card read, “Caution! Will bite” which turned out to be no lie. When picked up from animal control, the Crusher emerged from his carrier very angry—hissing, snorting, and lunging. “Uh oh,” I thought.  This was not one of those scared, shy and predictable feral cats with which we're quite comfortable. Here was a huge, in-your-face, understandably angry cat. We could see in his face that Crusher was really a sweet boy, and we wanted to help him. But honestly, he was big and scary!

While Crusher spent a couple more weeks in a kennel to recover from his neuter and vaccinations, several volunteers helped by talking to him nicely and slipped food dishes and treats through the bars of his cage. Slowly Crush started to trust and relax a little. Eventually he even started to play with us at a distance.

Crush and I worked out an understanding, and he would let me open his door to clean out his kennel and give him fresh water every day. But he still lunged at me if I tried anything fancy. We were not getting along.

So I brought Crusher home to foster. It took Crusher a few days to settle down again. But when he stopped lunging and we were able to safely let him out of his cage, then things really started to change. Crusher was able to see that he could trust us, and then we could trust him too. Turns out, he’s a Lap Crusher, a real snuggler.

Crush likes to receive chin scratches and to give head-butts (and everyone had to take a major leap of faith to find this out). Crush still has some progress to make before he’s a totally comfortable and predictable house cat. But it’s just a matter of spending time with people he can trust. Crush loves his new buddy.

If you too have faith in this big, sweet boy and can offer the Crusher a home and be his next buddy, please call Molly at 651-295-3758 or email outreach@felinerescue.org.

When Compassion and Caring Turn to Tragedy (The Foreclosure Cats Story)

Written by Donna Bolte

(Warning: this article contains difficult subject matter, but we believe it's important to honor all of the duties our volunteers take on, and we hope that by spreading the word about situations like this one, others will be motivated to prevent them.)

The countryside around Cambridge, MN is beautiful, and when you turn down the driveway of this particular address you note the lovely setting and the great set up for horses. There's an arena for training horses, stables with roomy stalls and covered outdoor area with a dove cote on the second story, and that sprawling home with lots of windows.  Then you get closer to the stables and notice the building that looked so great from a distance is boarded and patched and in a room upstairs there's patches of old-looking fur scattered on the floor. Across from the stables, a dead cat is decomposing on top of hay in the hayshed.  Then there's the house.

Again, as you get closer to the house, its appearance deteriorates. Blinds are askew, grass is high, there's junk lying around, and there's a sense of abandonment. And there's the stench. Even though all windows and doors are shut, a nauseating stench exudes from the house.

The real estate agent handling the foreclosure of this house discovered its contents and contacted Vickie Lachelt, head of the Spay-Neuter-Outreach Program at Feline Rescue.

She had worked with Vickie on a similar unfortunate situation last year where 20 kittens, pregnant females, and other adults were rescued from a nice country home when owners walked away.  Luckily outreach volunteers were able to find homes for those 20 cats.  Over the next several weeks, outreach volunteers returned to the Cambridge house again and again, taking bags of dry cat food, cans of soft food, litter boxes and litter, and containers of water.

What outreach volunteers found were almost 60 cats, luckily most still alive but starving and dehydrated, some of whom had been trapped in this house with no opportunity to escape.  The owner accumulated these cats, then locked the door and walked away.

The stench was so overpowering and the filth so pervasive that some volunteers wore masks and surgical booties to enter the house.  Live-trapping the cats to get them out of there and on the road to health and safety began immediately.

Trapping most of the cats wasn't too difficult as hunger drove them into the live-traps to reach food at the end of the traps.  Some of the cats were too scared to enter the traps and volunteers returned time and time again until convinced that all cats had been rescued; untouched food and water was a good indication that no cats remained in the house.  Unfortunately, some cats hadn't made it and several were found in an air vent, obviously attempting to escape, and one was found stretched out on the floor under a shelving unit.

Some of the cats were in pretty good shape, others were terribly thin.  A couple had damaged eyes, only one was spayed or neutered.  Most were young and petite although there were few tiny babies.

You could tell the cats had tried to be good.  Litter boxes scattered throughout the house were mounded with feces.  The excrement radiated from the area around the litter boxes, lined walls, was concentrated in corners, but was pretty much everywhere.  The stench of urine made volunteers gag.

The most heartbreaking aspects of this situation were holes in the screens and ripped wallpaper as cats had presumably tried to claw their way out of windows.  There was no escape as the holes in the screens only led to locked windows and ripping the wallpaper only led to solid walls.

The majority of the cats were scared.  A dozen were hiding in the underside of a sofa.  Trash and remaining furniture had to be overturned in order to locate terrified cats.  Most of the cats are now safely in foster homes or with other no-kill shelters that stepped forward to accept them.  A few have been fortunate enough to find permanent homes.  Most require patience, a quiet environment, and healthy food to overcome their ordeal.  Most remain skittish but in following-up with foster caregivers, they are gradually coming around and accepting human kindness.

Feline Rescue volunteers continue to return to this address to live-trap cats who are living outside the house.  These cats did not have to endure the miserable existence of the cats trapped inside the house, but must be relocated since they were left behind with no food source or caretaker.   Some of these outdoor cats are friendly and can be adopted into homes; others that are not socialized will be relocated to hobby farms or barns where they will be fed and cared for properly.

One more animal hoarding situation resolved; many lives saved that could have ended tragically.  One lesson to learn from this is that animal hoarding situations have to be stopped.  This home owner may have felt compassion for stray cats and wanted to save them.  However, spaying and neutering them would have stopped this situation from spinning out of control.  There are humane solutions to animal over-population but when the problem becomes this huge, even those solutions become more difficult to carry out.

How could one justify the filth, the starvation, the overcrowding these cats were made to endure?  What about those around who knew about this situation and didn't step in to help?  Another lesson is that everyone needs to be aware of situations like this and try to step in to assist.  Thankfully these cats were discovered by the real estate agent before it was too late for most of them.  Thankfully, she was wise enough to contact Feline Rescue's Spay-Neuter Outreach Program for help.

The cats who endured this terrible experience will be available for adoption through Feline Rescue's Spay-Neuter Outreach Program.  After living so closely together, many of these cats are bonded and would do best if adopted together to ensure transition to a loving, patient home is successful.  If you can open your hearts and homes to these deserving cats, please contact Feline Rescue's Spay-Neuter Outreach Program at outreach@felinerescue.org.

If this story has touched you, please consider making a donation to Feline Rescue so that we can continue and expand our work. There are many ways to donate - you can find more about them on our website, felinerescue.org or on this blog's Donate page.

Curious George, The Storm Drain Kitten

From Maria:

A few weeks ago, we noticed an Animal Control officer and some neighbors peering into the storm drain near our house. We learned that someone had spotted a cat down there. The kitty spent his time traveling through the tunnels under the street, and though he had been seen, he never seemed to be around when the animal control officer was in the area and available to remove the heavy metal grate covering the hole. A mother and daughter tried to lure the kitty out with tuna, and one lanky teen even crawled down into the hole below the grate to see if he could catch a glimpse of and rescue this elusive kitty.

We worried about the kitty as the days passed – we thought he must be awfully hungry and frightened. It had been raining heavily, and water was gushing fiercely through the tunnels. One evening, my teenage niece decided to check on the kitty once more before getting ready for bed – first, she heard a meow and then saw the kitty at the bottom of the drain. She reached in as far as she could, and the kitty reached up. Hands and paws interlocked, and she pulled the kitty to safety. Thankfully, he was tiny enough to fit through the opening behind the grate (our vet estimated him to be around 11 months old). We named him “Curious George” (“George” for short) because of his inclination to explore – that could explain how he ended up in the storm drain in the first place!

George spent four days in a bedroom in our home, enjoying room service and a warm place to sleep. He had quite an appetite and seemed very appreciative of the care he was getting. He sometimes had trouble deciding whether he wanted to be held, or whether he should eat something. He tried doing a little of both, going back and forth between us and his food dish.

George is such a loving and affectionate kitty – he loves to snuggle, purrs loudly when being petted, and likes to cuddle right up and fall asleep at night. We wish we could have kept George, but we already have a cat, along with a few dogs. George doesn’t appear to be very fond of dogs and certainly didn’t appreciate the loud barking.

It was very difficult to say goodbye to George, as he is such a sweetheart. We hope that he will be adopted by a caring family who will treat him like royalty and give him the great life he surely deserves.

Many people played a role in rescuing George: the person who first heard the lonely meow coming from the storm drain and notified the police, the diligent animal control officer, the many neighbors who cared about this kitty and wanted to help him, my niece who wanted to “check once more before bed,” and of course, Feline Rescue, who is providing a safe place for George to stay while he awaits a new home. We are grateful that we could play a part in getting George safe and ready to start a new chapter in the rest of his nine lives.

Injured Kitten Needs Surgery

Corky was found outside dirty and hungry this past Monday.  The children who found him took him home and gave him a bath, but when they realized he was not walking and in pain they brought him to Feline Rescue so that he could get medical attention.

Both of Corky's back legs are broken, a simple fracture of the tibia on one leg which is expected to heal nicely, and a compound fracture of the femur which involves the growth plate on the other leg.  He was scheduled for surgery today to repair the compound fracture.  We are hoping for a full recovery but as his leg grows he may need additional medical treatment.

Donations for his surgery would be greatly appreciated. For information on how to donate to Feline Rescue, please see our Donate page or click the Donate button on the right side of our blog.

Once he is well enough to leave the hospital Corky will spend as much time as needed recovering in a Feline Rescue foster home before beginning his search for a special forever home.

Please send good thoughts his way. We hope to have some more photos and an update soon.

Tristan: One More Special Kitty Rescued

Please VOTE DAILY on the Animal Rescue Site for Feline Rescue to help us win $1000 grant. Search for Feline Rescue in MN.

Clicking and voting daily will help Feline Rescue win at least a $1000 grant which will assist in paying for medical care for kitties like Tristan.

Tristan came into rescue from an animal control facility. He ended up at animal control after being confiscated from a home as part of a hoarding case. A horrific situation in which 49 live cats and 29 deceased cats were removed from the home.

After a period of adjustment with an experienced Feline Rescue foster caregiver, he is playful, purring and loves being pet.

Updates from his foster caregiver:

I feel so sad for him. He is so scared but hasn't hissed or made a single noise other then his nose that whistles. He doesn't walk very well and he tried to jump on a shelf and he fell. He has some bald spots and his fur is discolored and very thin in some spots. I feel so sad for him. I wish I could make him feel safe but he is so scared when I'm in there with him.



Something so good happened! A little bit ago I went into the bathroom to try to clean Tristan with waterless bath spray and I put a little of the spray on my hand and rubbed it into his fur and he just rolled over like he wanted to be pet! So I started petting him and he got up and was rubbing all over my hand and purring! I pet him for 40 minutes and he purred the whole time! You would never have known this was the same cat that I got from MACC the other day! I took a really long video (I cut parts out so you didnt have to watch 20 minutes of me petting a cat!) and its bad quality but I'm so happy and proud of him!

I just gave Tristan a bath and he did so well. He just tucked his tail between his legs, while I held him and washed him. But the smell is still there. I think it could be even stronger. Maybe it's because he is wet. When we started washing him there wasn't any visible dirt but it was like smells were being released, he even smelled like cigarettes.

And here is a tongue shot and a after surgery shot! I don't think he knows he had surgery today and he is being so playful! The vet did say that he has a genetic abnormality called a luxating patella. I'm not sure what this means yet, but he has to see a specialist. And he doesn't have ring worm, yay!, but the bald spots on his neck are probably from another male cat biting him to try to mate. :( but he is happy now and that's what is important!

Tristan is now playing!

Mama Bear and Baby "Bears"

Earlier this week we were contacted about Mama Bear, a pregnant cat that was going to end up having her babies outside if she could not get into rescue soon.  Dusty, a fabulous Feline Rescue supporter, saw the plea for help on Facebook and stepped forward to foster.  Mama Bear made it to Dusty's home just in time as she had six beautiful baby "bears" yesterday morning.

Thanks to Denise who drove to get Mama Bear and who temporarily cared for her until she could get to her foster home.

Before and After for PigPen

Peter, affectionately known as PigPen, was in pretty rough shape when he came into rescue on July 18.  Feline Rescue received a plea via email that went out to a number of organizations to please help a kitten get out of an animal control facility.  Peter's before photo, see below, was included in the email.

Before rescue

Peter was extremely thin, dirty and the backs of his legs and tail were sore and raw.  Shortly after going to his foster home he ended up back at the vet clinic for a few days as he had stopped eating and was having severe diarrhea.

PigPen is now doing very well in his foster home and will be going in for his neuter surgery soon.  He is an adorable little guy who loves to play, play, play (now that he is feeling better) and then cuddle.  Peter also has a new friend named Tomika, rescued at 3 weeks of age from another animal control facility.

After lots of love and vet care

If you are interested in adopting Peter aka PigPen, please contact our foster adoption coordinator at 651-705-6264.

Thank you to all who donate to Feline Rescue to make rescues like this possible!

Cuddle Puddles

Cuddles Puddles, perfect description for tired out young kittens borrowed from the following group's foster dad.  We also poached some photos from their foster dad's Facebook page as this group is absolutely adorable and photos definitely need to be shared.

These kittens are most likely a mix of a couple litters of kittens but were found together huddled on and around a momma cat who was found dead outside before the kittens were brought into rescue.

They will be ready to find their forever homes in six to eight weeks.

And then there was one...

Candy found herself pregnant and homeless, so she was very grateful to come into the care of Feline Rescue. After a visit to the vet, she traveled home to a foster babysitter for the weekend.

She chose a special spot beside the toilet in the bathroom/nursery instead of all the lovely beds that were offered. Foster mom and foster babysitter agreed that Candy might not have her kittens for weeks, she just wasn't big enough.

They were wrong. Mom cats are unpredictable. She had five kittens over the course of twelve hours the next day.

Unfortunately, the first two were underdeveloped and stillborn. The other three appeared premature and all had crippled back legs and curly tails. The problem could have been genetic or the result of inbreeding or a toxin or overcrowding in the womb.

Lollipop was the last born, mostly white, precious and very small. She died within a day or so.

Skootch, the fourth born, white with brown tabby spots, was the biggest at birth and his legs were the least twisted but he never managed to nurse. Syringe feedings of formula were not enough and he passed away in his sleep, too.

Skittles, the brown tabby was the first live birth and he is thriving. He is strong and active and nursing well. He has gained weight steadily.

We are gently giving him physical therapy for his legs to move them into the correct position and you can see the improvement in just one week. This has been accomplished successfully by a Feline Rescue foster caregiver for a kitten with the same problem two years ago.

Candy is such a good mom. She LOVES her canned food and lots of attention!!