After such good news – that all the remaining kitties could be released or placed – we quickly jumped into action. All remaining cats were spayed or neutered, vaccinated and held for additional quarantine to ensure that they did not break with any new symptoms or diseases.
Through a fantastic network driven by our volunteer coordinator, Jeannie, we were able to find 6 farms that agreed to take groups of the feral cats that we knew we would not be able to socialized to people. With tremendous help from volunteers, each of the cats were transferred to their new locations and all were socialized to their environment prior to release. Since that time we have checked in with each of the locations regularly and are happy to report that all of the cats are accounted for and seen on a regular basis.
We still struggled with the decision of release and what was best for each individual cat but nothing has made us happier than great reports from our rescuers. I love stories such as Martini’s, who was by far our most ferocious of the kitties, he is now regularly seen stretching out in the sun and grooming in his favorite location — the picnic table. He is so happy and content and these stories help us know that we did exactly the right thing.
Ultimately, we ended up with five cats (other than the bottle feeding kittens) that we felt were able to be socialized for adoption. We are happy to report that Lukey, a big fat siamese kitty, has found his forever home already. We are currently looking for homes for Duffy, Ringo, One Eye, Snarf and Petie. One Eye, Snarf and Petie are still kittens. Unfortunately because of injury (likely fights with other cats in the home) One Eye and Snarf did have to have an eye removed but, honestly, they don’t know the difference as they have been living with limited vision anyway. If you know anyone who might be interested in these sweet kitties please let us know. Duffy is by far the most social, in fact, we made the decision to move him into an adoption center at one of our Petsmart locations. He has kept us all entertained. As soon as you open his cage he seeks your affection but his favorite place is on your shoulder. You can literally walk around with him like a parrot. Again, if you know anyone who is interested in this little guy – he is quite the charmer.
Ringo is still needing a little socialization and confidence. Up until today, he would shake like a leaf if you held him; today, however, there was great joy when he was at the front of the cage meowing like crazy to come out and when we picked him up he actually started purring….success!!
So, exactly 28 days later, though we are not finished with this project the end is in sight and what a fabulous end it is turning out to be. We know that we did the right thing in helping these babies and their misguided owner, and we know that these animals are healthy and happy in their new surroundings.
We cannot begin to thank all of those who have been involved, those that have given their time, energy, donations of goods and money and everyone’s prayers and good will. Thank you all for your support and we look forward to keeping you posted on all the babies as they are adopted.
