The River Kitten
Cat in the Cap
Mike was walking to town to do some shopping, and while crossing the bridge, he heard a kitten meowing frantically down by the river bank. After shopping, Mike crossed the bridge to go home, and heard the kitten crying out even louder. Being a lover of animals, Mike simply could not bear to leave a kitten in distress. He went down to the river bank under the bridge, called out to the kitten, and it came running out of the blackberries. After looking around for the kittens’ mother and not finder her, or any other kittens, Mike brought the kitten home, it was very hungry.
Sleeping after eating
I woke up to the cries of a kitten, but all of our cats have been fixed, I was puzzled. Mike explained how he found the hungry kitten at the river bank under the bridge. “Cows milk is not good for kittens” I said, “but we don’t have any kitten milk, try feeding it tuna”. Well, the kitten was too young to eat on its’ own, but did drink tuna juice from an eye dropper. Later that day I bought skim milk to feed the kitten until we could purchase some kitten milk (some years ago, my vet told me if you have to feed cows milk to a cat, use non-fat as the butterfat is what is difficult for cats to digest). Mike bought kitten milk the next day, it drank very heartily from the eye dropper.
Hi, my name is “River”
We guestimated the kitten at four weeks old, and was probably someone’s pet as it was too well groomed. Mike posted the kittens picture on FaceBook resulting in many “likes”. After receiving many suggestions for names, Mike settled on “River”, as that was where he found her. We’ve had River almost a week now, and we are all falling in love her. Look for updates on River and we will watch her grow together (I think it is a “her”, hard to tell this early).
Once Upon A Time A Couple Loved Cats
Once upon a time there was a man and woman who loved animals. Oh, how they loved animals, especially cats! Every time they would see a stray animal, they vowed they would not bring it home. But alas, they both knew that neither would ever honor this vow. A stray cat begs for food at the local restaurant. The couple pulled out a few morsels of food from their doggie bag. The cat devoured the food and the couple knew they had done a good deed. After a week, the man said “I’m bringing this cat home”. “Oh good!” exclaimed the woman, “I was going to tell you the same thing”. All the friends and family in the land knew how much the couple loved animals and would bring their unwanted pets, especially cats, which the couple never turned away.
A waitress heard of the marvelous hearts the couple had for animals and asked if they would consider taking a goat. “A goat, we don’t know anything about goats!” the woman said, “we can’t take care of a goat”. The waitress told the couple if they didn’t take the goat, it would have to be destroyed. “Oh, don’t kill it!” exclaimed the woman, “we’ll take it if you can’t find a home”. So the goat joined the happy family. A second waitress heard about the goat and convinced the couple to take another goat “or it will be destroyed”, and of course, they took that goat home too. Both goats lived happily ever after with the couple and all their animals, cows, horses, dogs, and cats, especially cats!
Of course, this is not the end of the story, it’s just the beginning. The couple lived on a small farm next to a river. Homeless people would set up camp in the woods next to the river on the couple’s farm. The cops would run the homeless people off, but they always left their cats behind. The abandoned cats would smell the wonderful cat food in the couple’s barn and come to eat. The barn cats did not want the new cats to move in, so the abandoned cats would wait in the shadows until the barn cats finished eating, sneak in and eat the leftovers. Eventually, the barn cats accepted the abandoned cats into the family. The couple always had lots of cat food in the barn. Oh, how they loved animals, especially cats, even the abandoned cats!
Scooter and Kittens
“I think people are dumping cats on our farm” said the man. “I know” said the woman, “if they make it to the barn, there is always cat food out, so they will not starve”. The cats had many lovely hiding places to have their kittens, many, many kittens. Sometimes the couple would hear kittens meowing, locate their nest, and pick them up to “humanize” them as their mothers were quite often untouchable. But alas, not all of the kittens were found until they were grown and ventured out of the mothers hiding places. Oh, how they loved animals, especially cats and kittens, but more cats were becoming untouchable!
Seeing that the numbers of cats were growing very fast, the couple would take a few cats a month to their vet and get them fixed. The couple could only afford $25 – $50 a month, but the bill was growing by hundreds of dollars every month. Even though the couple paid a little on the bill every month, the bill soon became thousands of dollars. The couple had to stop fixing the cats and just pay the bill. Oh, how the couple loved animals, especially cats, many, many, cats!
Each time the couple would find a new batch of kittens, if the mother was friendly, they would bring them in the house and raise them. When the kittens were grown, they would put the male kittens outside. “If we can keep the females separated from the males, they can’t mate and have kittens” said the woman. The man agreed, and the number of cats indoors grew, and grew, and grew. Oh, how they loved animals, especially cats, so very many cats, and kittens too!
One day, the woman received a call from the Oregon Humane Society (OHS); someone had turned them in for having sick kitties, so many kitties. Even though the couple had taken some of the cats to the vet when they got sick, and were treating many more cats at their farm with antibiotics, the couple could not catch all of the sick cats to treat them. You see, there were so many cats, and quite a few were untouchable, they were now feral. The couple had seen stories on the news about other folks with many animals, and sometimes the folks would go to jail. The couple was scared, very scared. They did not want to be on the news, and most of all, they did not want to go to jail. Oh, how they loved animals, especially cats, even the sick cats.
The lady from the OHS insisted that the couple to bring four cats into the OHS right away, and the fees would be waived. “An officer (animal cop) will be following up on with you” said the lady from the OHS. The couple picked out four of their “teen-age” male cats from inside the house and took them to the OHS. They waited in fear, for the animal cop to contact them. Their crime was they loved animals, especially cats, so very many cats, and didn’t know what to do.
Playing With Kittens in Barn
The animal cop stopped at the couple’s farm to see the crime. The couple was scared, so very scared, they did not want to go to jail. The couple showed the animal cop how they were treating as many cats as they could catch with antibiotics, but they couldn’t keep up. The woman said “I do not want to be on TV, and don’t want to go to jail”! The animal cop smiled and in a gentle reassuring voice said “I have been doing this job for many years, and can see you are good people that just got overwhelmed”. The woman was relieved and listened intently as the animal cop told them “there are too many cats here, and too many in the house, you have to reduce the numbers of cats”. The couple agreed. The animal cop explained that they don’t kill unwanted cats anymore, and that they have a new state-of-the-art animal hospital, where the sick cats will be treated and then adopted. The animal cop made arrangements for the couple to take cats to the OHS in two carloads, at least twelve in each carload, and all of the fees would be waived. The couple was glad the cats would be treated and not killed, but was still sad to see them go. They loved animals, especially cats, every single one of them.
Well, the couple took thirteen cats from inside the house to the OHS. This was a total of seventeen from inside the house counting the first four they took in earlier. Another fourteen cats from outside were also taken to the OHS. The couple loved animals, especially cats, and was secretly happy they had been turned in.
The animal cop made a follow-up visit and was very pleased that the couple had voluntarily surrendered so many cats, thirty-one all together! The animal cop said “you still have too many cats outside, and will get back into the same situation if you don’t do something to prevent it”. The couple agreed, but told the animal cop they tried to get them fixed, but couldn’t catch them all, and couldn’t afford so many neuter/spays. The animal cop replied “here is the number for the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon (FCCO). Call them, and they will help you”. The couple had never heard of the FCCO, but would call them. You see, they loved animals, especially cats, even the feral cats.
The woman called the FCCO and explained that they once had many, many cats, and how the animal cop helped them surrender thirty-one cats to the OHS. The woman said “we need to fix the remaining feral cats, or we will wind up in the same situation, and have too many cats again”. “How many feral cats do you have?” asked the FCCO volunteer. The woman wasn’t sure and replied “I think I have ten or twelve left outside”. The FCCO volunteer scheduled ten cats for the couple to bring in to the FCCO center to be spay/neutered. Information where to get traps, how to set traps, catch the cats, and safely transport the cats, were sent to the couple’s email. The couple had never done anything like this before, but they loved animals, especially cats, and wanted to save their feral cats.
The woman picked up eleven traps (inadvertently picked up an extra trap) from an FCCO volunteer on her way home from work. In just a few hours, the woman caught eleven cats, but there were three or four more that she could see running through the barn! The woman called another FCCO volunteer near her home and picked up four more traps, which she quickly filled, but there were still more cats in the barn! Panicked, the woman called the FCCO volunteer near her work, and exclaimed “I’ve caught a total of fifteen cats, but there are still more cats left in the barn! I’m afraid if I don’t catch them all, I will not be able to catch the remaining skittish feral cats! All this work will be for naught and I will be right back in the same situation that I have worked so hard to get out of!” The FCCO volunteer reassured her that if all the cats were not caught, there are ways to catch un-fixed feral cats. The FCCO volunteer asked the woman if she had any cat carriers of her own. The woman said she did, and the volunteer calmed the woman’s fears and instructed her to go to a secure place (a bathroom with the door closed), transfer one of the friendlier cats to her personal carrier, and set the FCCO trap to capture the remaining feral cat. Well, the woman caught three more cats, and took a grand total of eighteen cats in one carload, an extremely full carload, to the FCCO center. When the couple got home, much to their dismay, they discovered that one more cat was still in the barn. Oh my! They loved animals, especially cats, but didn’t want to leave one feral cat un-fixed!
The woman frantically called the FCCO volunteer and exclaimed “there is still one more cat here, what am I going to do”? The FCCO volunteer explained how to feed the fixed feral cats while standing nearby, shoo away the un-fixed feral cat, pick up the food when the fixed feral cats were done eating, and set the trap to catch the last un-fixed feral cat. The FCCO volunteer explained how the fixed feral cats had their right ear “tipped” so I could be sure to catch and bring in the up-fixed feral cat. It took several tries, but a day later the woman called the FCCO volunteer and proudly exclaimed “I have a very fluffy, very mad, but very trapped feral cat”! “Good work” said the FCCO volunteer, “I knew you could do it, let’s make arrangements to get it fixed”. The couple loved animals, especially cats, and were pleased to finally get all of their feral cats fixed, so they could keep and love them all, forever and ever.
Nanette Chapman (left), Rae Chapman (right)
I know this story to be true, for I am the woman, and my husband is the man in this story. The last fluffy feral cat we caught has turned out to be the friendliest one we have. He begs to be petted every time we feed him! We were told the cats would be much happier after they were fixed, and this has turned out to be true. We love animals, especially cats, even feral cats, and thank the FCCO and OHS from the bottom of our hearts, for their guidance and assistance.
Please don’t let this be you. Don’t be scared, ask for help. There are many volunteers to assist and guide you. I love all my animals, especially cats, and most especially, my happy, “fixed” feral cats.
For assistance outside of Oregon, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) for tame pets, and Alley Cat Allies for feral cats are good resources.
Written by Nanette R. Chapman
Introduction
Nanette Chapman
I want to introduce myself, my name is Nanette Chapman. I cannot remember a day in my life without animals, we always had animals, generally cats. My first memories were when I was in kindergarten, we had a cat named “Sneaky”. She would hide in the house and could not find, her unless she chose to present herself. I would take a piece of paper towel, tie a string to it, then drag it through the house. I never saw where she came from (hence the name “Squeeky”), but would soon feel her pounce on the paper towel I was dragging. I would keep dragging it throughout the house and squeal with delight every time she attacked paper towel. What fun we had!
Hi There!
I love animals, but most of all, I Love Helping Animals! I look forward to sharing my experiences. I invite you to share your experiences as well.
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