CATS – PART DEUX (NO, STILL NOT THE STAGE PLAY)

And so the saga continues – same cat place, same cat channel – same cat problem…

Below is an actual notice (exactly as is), posted on a website to which I subscribe, and has nothing to do with lost pets but I guess any port in a storm...  

STILL MISSING TAKE TIME TO READ PLEASE “*MORGAN”

UPDATE: MORGAN has been seen , Linden, .Ashwood, Swan and, then Alcona Glen School area and . crossroads parks & ON Nov 7th at 25th side rd and 9th Line on Wallace near Goodfellow school she is trying to get home Please Share this Link to your friends to anyone in ALCONA need another Lead soon ......PLEASE SHARE THIS LINK TO YOUR FRIENDS
"MORGAN" 1 year old Tortoiseshell KITTY, she is spayed, black torty color white tips on paws and white and Gold chest, gold spot over eye and has pink on upper lip and nose
I am sure she is very scared . people say they saw her sleeping on their front porch but we are always a day to late please keep an eye open for her anywhere in Alcona Innisfil we need to get her home before it get real cold out .
OUR FAMILY IS WORRIED SICK ABOUT HER she never left the property before
if you think you have seen her please call day or night as she is quick.  she climbs trees and runs fast so please check your property on porches & decks at night under decks and trees on your property . she is terrified of the garbage truck.
please copy this link and Facebook your friends in Alcona more people looking the faster we can get her home thanks to all that share this link see other ads for more pictures of Morgan
AGAIN I ASK>>>
PLEASE share Link with Facebook Friends In ALCONA PLEASE Help Get Morgan Home

Breaks your heart, doesn’t it, to read about yet another cat who is now on the run because the owners didn’t think their cat would do what comes natural to cats.  Cats like to roam.  Why take the risk that your cat will go out one day and never come home again? 

I learned that lesson the hard way, with the first cat my daughter and I adopted after my marriage went down the tubes.  C.J. was short for Calamity Jane and she was so aptly named for her inclination to get up on all horizontal surfaces.  Far from graceful, she would knock things off or over, including the water glass on my night table onto my head, while I was sleeping.  

First mistake - adopting C.J. from the local SPCA.  She got so sick within the first 48 hours, she almost died.  The SPCA would not pay vet bills - the only option they gave us?  Return the kitten and get another one.  Really?  Who, in their right mind would do that?  We couldn't even get our money back.  We already loved C.J., so we took a hard look at our options.  We found a vet who would try and save her but it would be pricey; or we could bring her back to the SPCA (and a certain death). 

And so, at the tender age of 9, my daughter faced the reality of being the child of a single mom, who could ill afford vet care.  When I told her how much it would cost to try and save C.J. (with no promise that she would live), my daughter said she would pay half, if it meant C.J. would have a chance to get better. That came to about $40.00, (vet care was a lot cheaper back in the early ‘80s).     

C.J. was at the vet's for 2 or 3 days, on intravenous and was also de-wormed, de-loused and de-mited.  I’m sure the vet gave me a huge break on his fees.  C.J. got better and we should have all lived happily ever after but that was not the case.

My second mistake was thinking cats HAVE to go outside.  We were living in an apartment over the garage in a split level house.  It was situated on a huge lot, backing onto green space, and a creek meandering through it.  One night, C.J. went out and never came home again.  We were heart broken.  We put up posters, offering a reward and the word went out to all the kids on the street to be on the look out for her.  But C.J. never came home again.  We had been through so much to keep her alive and now she was gone forever. 

A couple of the neighbourhood kids came knocking one damp evening and brought a shivering, scared-out-of-her-mind kitten to us, thinking it was C.J.  She wasn’t but that’s how Babe came to live with us and she was an indoor cat from then on.
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Why am I upset and disappointed with Sandycove Acres? (see Cats! Part I)  I had a problem with one neighbourhood cat when I lived in The Town down under.  Imagine my horror when I found out about the HUNDREDS of roaming cats here in Sandycove Acres!

The depth of my disenchantment and disillusion is proportionate to the scope of the problem.  Hundreds of roaming cats - ferals, strays and house pets!  I believe SCA should make full disclosure about this problem, instead of the carefully sanitized version I got.  According to *Julie (SCA admin office), they are well aware that there is a problem here in The Park and that it’s been going on for several years.  But, it seems to be a deep, dark secret until after you sign on the dotted line.  It’s been so bad, that SCA made a donation to Furry Friends, a local rescue/no kill shelter to trap the cats and kittens and remove them. 

SCA really doesn't have to do anything about the problem.  If you were living in a sub-division somewhere else and had the same problem, would you expect the builder to do something about it?  So I give SCA credit that they have, at least, done something. 

According to Neal Carr, a volunteer with Furry Friends who handles the trapping, to date he’s taken out 115 cats and kittens from Sandycove and there are approximately 275 more to go.  But the donation has been depleted and trapping is suspended

SCA can use donations they make to Furry Friends to their marketing (and tax deductible) advantage.  They can let potential buyers know, that although there is a problem, which does not fall under their purview, at least they are trying to resolve it.  Complete information enables one to make informed decisions.  Forewarned is forearmed.

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Who are these feline terrorists and where do they come from?  When talking to Neal about trapping a couple of roaming cats who are tormenting my girls, what happens frequently here in SCA, is that when residents die or are moved out of The Park, the decision makers simply open the door, encourage the cats outside, and never let them in again.  How cruel.   

According to another resident, townies come and drop off their no-longer-cute cat in The Park, thinking that the “old people” will take them in and give them a home. 

"Old people" may put out food and water and let the cats live under their houses but most will not take them in.  This exacerbates an already bad problem, as the cats now have food and shelter and no incentive to go elsewhere.

 

Cats breed like mad fools – did you know that female cats can be in heat continuously?  Do you know how many litters they can have in a year?  Do you know how many kittens can be birthed in one female cat’s lifetime?

Some interesting cat facts:

•  During her productive life, one female cat could have more than 100 kittens
•  In 1952, a Texas Tabby named Dusty set the record by having more than 420 kittens before having her last litter at age 18
• The largest known litter (with all surviving) was that of a Persian in South Africa named Bluebell. Bluebell gave birth to 14 kittens in one litter!
•  A cat can live twenty or more years.  The average age for an indoor cat is 15 years, while the average age for an outdoor cat is only 3 to 5 years 

One of my neighbours told me she likes the strays because they keep the rodent population down.  When I mention that they can bring fatal diseases and fleas and mites to my patio door, my cats and me, she said she hadn’t thought about that.  I say, “Get a mousetrap (no, not the play!).” 

According to Neal, professional pest control companies which trap animals, charge about $250.00 per house call.   Because Furry Friends is staffed entirely by volunteers, there is no cost for personnel but the labour and time required is just as consuming in man-hours.  Furry Friends (and similar organizations) deserve support and compensation for the great work that they are doing.

When Furry Friends rescues a cat or kitten, medical care, which is required immediately, costs $120.00.  This includes altering (either spay or neuter) and covers the first set of vaccinations, rabies shot, de-fleaing and de-worming.  That's just basic care for felines who are in pretty good shape.  There are so many, who have so many things wrong with them, they require special care, which costs a whole lot more.  

A couple of weeks ago when *Debra of SCA, informed me of the donation, she also mentioned she didn’t think that it was going to be repeated.  I really hope SCA reconsiders, since I find the next cat fact the scariest –

• A single pair of cats and their kittens can produce as many as 420,000 kittens in just 7 years!

I believe it behooves SCA to continue to deal with the issue.

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Furry Friends is a registered, non-profit shelter, tax-deductible receipts will be issued for any donation $10.00 and above.  Please mail or bring your donation to: 

Furry Friends Animal Shelter Inc.

25 Hart Drive, Unit 15
Barrie, Ontario L4N 5R8

Phone:  705-792-4911

Web site:  www:furryfriendsshelter.org

E-mail:

General information: info@furryfriendsshelter.org
To adopt: adopt@furryfriendsshelter.org
To donate: donate@furryfriendsshelter.org
To volunteer: volunteer@furryfriendsshelter.org

cvcl.mit.edu

The domestic cat is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal. It is often called the housecat when kept as an indoor pet, or simply the cat when there is no need to distinguish it from other felids and felines. Wikipedia

Scientific name: Felis catus Rank: Species Higher classification: Felis

CATS! (BUT NOT THE PLAY)

An ear-bleeding shriek accomplishes the almost impossible - waking me up from a sound (rare) sleep and the most delicious dream I’ve had in a long time (no fair).  An ominous growl fills the space the shriek died in and I’m spurred into action.  Sitting bolt upright in bed, heart pounding, eyes trying to pierce the Stygian darkness (black out blinds are very effective), I switch on the small, cut-glass bedside lamp and scan my bedroom, trying to figure out what in the hell is going on. 

My gaze falls upon the almost motionless cat squatting on my dresser, furry, gray face pressed up against the window screen.  The short, jerky twitch of the last inch of her puffed up tail is the only sign that she’s alive.  Based on the noise which has woken me up, I could have sworn she’d been killed in battle against an intruder but no, the enemy is on the outside and making the same noises as C.C., (short for Crazy Cat).  I’m surprised my neighbours haven’t called the police – it sure sounded like someone was being murdered!

But then, perhaps my neighbours have become inured to these kinds of sounds, as most of them have been living here a lot longer than me.  The problem?    CATS!!!  Feral cats, stray cats, domestic cats on the prowl, almost every kind of cat, except, of course, indoor cats, like mine.  These interlopers seem to make a beeline for my house and, maybe I’m paranoid, but they seem to target my property because they KNOW I have cats who are always inside and, therefore, in their tiny but large-brained cat heads, my cats are the ones they MUST torture.  They do not fear retaliation from their confined counterparts.  Why should they?  They’re on the outside looking in. 

My poor babies are in one of the most luxurious ‘prisons’ known to womankind and are, for the most part, quite content, except when these feline fighters face-off on their home turf and C.C. seems to be determined to protect her territory by going ‘over the wall’ when I open the door, even if the enemies are nowhere nearby at the time.

C.C. is about 4 years old.   I got her from a cat shelter which ran adoption clinics in the pet food store I used to go to, in the Town down under.  Although keeping her indoors was premeditated, I did have her ‘altered’ (today’s word for ‘fixed’), as I wanted to make sure that if she did get out accidentally, she wouldn’t come home with “her belly up under her chin”, as my father used to so delicately describe pregnancy.  Since I moved into my new house here in SCA, C.C. sometimes makes a break for it when I open the front door and darts out.  She gets out a couple of feet (.6 m) or so onto the porch and then stops like she’s run into a brick wall.  Hunkering down, she looks around wildly, various expressions flickering across her gray, furry face, “What in the heck have I done now?  Where am I?  What should I do now?  Why is Mom screaming at me?  Man, what happened to the heat?  It’s friggin’ freezing out here.  Ewwwww, what is that horrible stuff on my feet?  IT’S WET!!!!  My feet are frozen!  Oh, man, how come I didn’t realize I have it so good on the inside?”   The progressive thought process clicks in and with one galvanized jump, C.C. clears my legs, then the threshold and scampers back into the house, no worse for wear from her brief jail break.  I sigh with relief that I don’t have to go chasing her across SCA and slam the door smartly behind her rapidly retreating rump.

Anyhoo, back to the ‘other’ kinds of cats…     

Apparently, there is a cat problem here in SCA.  Really?  No one filled me in on that one before I purchased my house here.  Almost everywhere I look, I can see a skulking cat somewhere close by, especially when the sun starts to go down.  What happened to the RULE?  You know the one in the 12 page lease, Rule #5,629 (yes, a little sarcasm there) that states:   PETS -

a.  A pet is an animal owned by the Tenant for which the tenant has obtained permission from the Landlord to keep on or within the Site. 

c.  Control of Pets:  (i)Care and control of Pets shall be the sole responsibility of the Tenant.  The Tenant shall exercise such proper care and control as the Landlord might expect of a reasonable pet owner.

(iii)  Dogs and cats shall be leashed at all times while outdoors.

(iv)  The Tenant shall restrict pets from entering onto the sits of other Tenants in the Park.

(vi) If the Tenant fails to exercise proper care and control of its pets, as determined solely by the Landlord, then the Landlord shall give notice in writing to require the Tenant to remove the pet from the Park in accordance with the terms of the Notice, and the Tenant shall do so.

Yada, yada, yada. . .

I only hit the high points of the Pet-relevant clauses contained in the Lease and as I feel they relate to this problem and story.  I have to say that I am totally disillusioned by not only having to deal with this huge problem but also that I was not informed that there was this kind of problem, prior to deciding where I would buy my new home.  According to a voice-mail left by Julie, SCA admin office, (name has been changed), SCA is well aware that there is a problem with these fearless felines in The Park and that it’s been going on “for several years in the area.”

And so the saga begins – stay tuned – same cat place, same cat channel – same cat problem…

 

                                                                       Feral cat

 

                                                                      

en.wikipedia.org

A feral cat is a descendant of a domesticated cat that has returned to the wild. It is distinguished from a stray cat, which is a pet cat that has been lost or abandoned, while feral cats are born in the wild. Wikipedia

Scientific name: Felis Catus