Julia Hilder, one of the amazing feral cat trappers in the Austin area, has made this short video about the miracle of birth (click the link to view the video):
Please, please, spay and neuter your pets, and support spay and neuter programs for feral cats. One litter at a time, it does make a difference.
Jennifer and Tuvak might seem like an odd couple, but here at Thundering Paws they are the best of friends.
Tuvak and Jennifer sitting by the screen door, side by side
Tuvak is one of our largest cats, a big beautiful black kitty with prominent teeth and a solid build. Jennifer is one of our smallest cats, often mistaken for a kitten. She's full grown, she's just little, and a real sweetie when you get to know her.
These two have become very close and spend a lot of time hanging out together. Tuvak loves his little Jennifer, and you can tell that she feels very secure by the side of her big handsome friend.
Billy is a handsome, robust, brown tabby, and one of the friendliest cats at Thundering Paws.
Billy
He came to us from a volunteer with Shadow Cats. She trapped him in Thrall, Texas. When she realized he was very friendly, she put out "Found" posters in the neighborhood, and at the only store in Thrall. The only call she got was from a man who said he would shoot him or any other strays that came into his yard. Meanwhile, because Billy was staying in her house, and she has many other cats, she had him tested for FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) and FeLV (Feline Leukemia Virus).
Billy's test results were positive for FIV. It's a slow-acting virus that can, over several years, cause a gradual decline in the immune system, making the cat more vulnerable to a variety of infections. It is not curable. On the other hand, many cats with the virus live long, healthy lives with no symptoms. Billy shows no signs of illness.
It's possible that Billy's FIV test was a false positive. We are considering whether to try a more expensive test.
The virus is normally transmitted by a deep bite wound from an infected cat. That's why free-roaming, unaltered males, who tend to get in fights, are the ones who usually get FIV. Humans don't get FIV, only cats do. Even people that have been bitten by an FIV-positive cat or accidentally injected with the virus (in a laboratory) have not gotten the disease.
At Thundering Paws, we've had three other cats that tested positive for FIV, and all of them were stray or feral males, unneutered when trapped. Two of them, Fabio and Vincent, are calm and very friendly like Billy. Fabio is an exceptionally cuddly cat, and has been adopted by our friend Melinda. She also took in Billy for a short time. Billy was happy, but Fabio wanted to remain an only cat, so Billy is back at Thundering Paws. Vincent was with us for one day, before transfer to another sanctuary. At that time he was tattered from recent fights, but had charming manners.
Vincent
Both Billy and Vincent are available for adoption. Contact us to make an appointment to see Billy, or to ask about Vincent.
Dexter napping
Dreyfus, now called Dexter, came from a feral colony managed by Thundering Paws. He let us know that he thought he might want to be a tame kitty, so he was brought to the Sanctuary. We guessed he was less than 2 years old.
At first he was skittish, but over several weeks became more and more tame, and approached volunteers to rub against their legs and to be petted. He had an inquisitive personality, and was sometimes playful as a kitten when not lounging with a satisfied look on his face. He was one of our most charismatic residents, but still easily startled by people.
Thankfully, he was adopted by a patient woman. He spent many days under her couch, accepting food and affection, but not venturing out. She named him Dexter.
Dexter under the couch
Today he's out and about all the time, and greets everyone who comes to the apartment, and they all love him. He really enjoys looking out the window to see what's going on outside, and he's still a huge flirt and mooch for pets and belly rubs.
Dexter exploring the closet
Thanks to volunteers from the UT chapter of Gamma Beta Phi. With your help, we painted two rooms at Thundering Paws. Thanks also to regular volunteers Kay, Dave, Stephanie, Samantha, and Jennifer who helped with the painting work. It looks great!
Cat room cats enjoy sunny weather on the run while their room is painted
Thanks to Kathy Lucas, Elizabeth Whitehead, and the Girls Scouts who volunteered on March 1.
At one point Anne looked out the kitchen window, and saw Sweet Pea the dog and three girls jumping up and down happily in Sweet Pea's kennel. Someone suggested that those girls could be folding laundry, and Anne said, "No, I want them right where they are!" Sweet Pea was so happy!
Austin Cat Fanciers provided a booth for us at their Feb 28-March 1 show, a great opportunity to connect with animal lovers. And they gave us loads of food and litter! Many thanks to ACF!
Thundering Paws relies on volunteers and donors. If you would like to help, please contact us.
Charlotte has used up several of her lives. She lived with a woman and her little boy until they had to move into a motel that wouldn't take cats. She had just had five kittens and the woman, over the little boy's protests, took her and the kittens to a high kill shelter. Sometimes that is the best a person can do. I appreciate that she did not leave her on the streets. The shelter contacted Thundering Paws and we took them out. All the kittens got adopted, and Charlotte was spayed. She grew into a large, healthy, black cat with a lot of energy. She had successfully gotten pregnant and had kittens without developing feline leukemia or FIV. That's one life. Then she was rescued from a kill shelter. That's two lives.
Sometimes I think about what a cat would be like if he or she were a member of our species. Charlotte would have been an athlete: on the softball team, the swimming team, running track, playing volleyball. Most of our cats sleep away the day. Not Charlotte, she was always on the move.
A family with a young son came over and fell in love with Charlotte, and adopted her. Unfortunately, they didn't realize what trouble Charlotte was getting into before it was almost too late. She stopped eating. I believe that the son, while not mean, was too young for her and too loud. She pined away and, before they knew it, Charlotte was very ill.
If a cat quits eating, she can, depending on her bulk, quite rapidly develop a condition called hepatic lipidosis, also knows as fatty liver disease. When the liver is not working on food, it produces fat cells, an abundance of which cause nausea in the cat. The main symptom of hepatic lipidosis: cat refuses to eat. The cure: eating. This means that we have to force feed the cat until she wants to eat on her own. I have used Charlotte as an example, so I used female pronouns, but males can develop this condition also. Without treatment it is always fatal. Usually treatment is successful if begun early enough.
The woman who adopted Charlotte called me and told me that she stopped eating. I said, "Bring her back," which they did. I took one look at her and rushed her to the vet. They put a feeding tube into her and force fed her for a week. It cost over a thousand dollars but was successful and it was well worth it! Charlotte returned to her healthy self. Three lives down.Because I didn't know if she would be happy anywhere else, I told Charlotte that she could stay at Thundering Paws the rest of her life if she wanted to, and that I wouldn't adopt her out again until I was absolutely sure she wanted to go.
Charlotte stayed at Thundering Paws for two more years after her escape from hepatic lipidosis, galloping all over, racing other kitties around, in constant motion. Thundering Paws is not small, but it is also divided up so some cats can stay in a quiet room and others can go out of the screened porch. She did the best she could, but I knew she needed more space.
Tom and Kristen e-mailed us that they wanted to adopt Camille. They had seen her on a website other than ours and didn't realize that she could not be separated from her mother, Felicidad. They only wanted one cat. But they came over to Thundering Paws anyway, just to see who was here. They went to every room and talked to the adoptable kitties. There were a few that they considered but no one stood out. Finally -- duh -- I figured out that they were most interested in black or mostly black cats. On a whim, I said, "Come meet Charlotte." It was love for all three of them.
I told them her story and they agreed to work with us to be sure she was eating. The best part, besides that they loved her so much, was that they have a 2600 sq. ft., two story house and she gets the run of the entire place! When we delivered her to her new home, I remarked that this house would make a fine "gym" for this particular kitty.
She's home, she's eating, she's happy, she's loved. Her new name is "Nabi," which means "butterfly" in Korean, a perfect fit for her!
Nabi at home
Jackie, a black-and-white cat, was homeless for at least 5 years. She lived outside, with a group of cats not socialized to humans. At Thundering Paws, we often assist in caring for feral cats, helping with trapping, spaying and neutering.
Jackie acted like she wanted to be friendly, coming near to us and "talking," but was just a little too afraid to be petted. Being afraid is not always a bad thing -- it kept Jackie out of trouble all those years!
Enter Tomás and D'andra, two Thundering Paws volunteers who found us online (at volunteermatch.org). Over time, they befriended Jackie, and wanted to adopt her. And it worked! We took Jackie to the vet, to have her re-tested for feline leukemia and FIV (both negative), and she went home.
Jackie and Tomás
D'andra sent this note a few days later: "Jackie is doing great. At first she was a little skeptical about us. She lived in the sink for 2 1/2 days. When we went into the bathroom, she would hiss at us. I felt like a mom with a sullen teenage daughter. Now she follows me where ever I go. We love her!!"
Jackie, very comfortable in her new home
The Austin Cat Fanciers cat show is taking place in just a couple weeks.
Thundering Paws will have a booth at the event, so please stop by to say hello and to meet some of our adoptable kitties.
Saturday, Feb 28 11:30am - 7:00pm
Sunday, Mar 1 9:00am - 5:00pm
Palmer Events Center
Adults $5, Seniors $4, Teens 13 -17 $4, Children 6 - 12 $2, Family of 4 or more $12.
(Click here to read "Marilyn Lost and Found, Part 1.")
As I said earlier, Marilyn went missing on Sunday, January 11.
Marilyn
Monday night, I started setting live traps. That night I caught a fluffy black cat, whom we call Robin. We've seen him on the property before, and have had him neutered. During the week, we caught opossums and raccoons, but no other cats. One cold night I set four traps, including two at a neighbor's house (the one with a small gap that would allow a cat to crawl under). All four traps went untouched.
Some animal, probably a raccoon, learned to drag even the heaviest traps and tip them over, to spill the bait out.
We have several styles of live traps. The ones I like best are the MSI Tru-Catch traps (trucatchtraps.com). They're easy to use, relatively light in weight, and I haven't seen any signs of animals being injured in them. They close with less noise than other traps. They have a door on the "bait" end, which allows the bait to be set easily, and which is easier to open than the trap door at the other end.
For bait, I tried tuna, sardines, and the dry cat food that Marilyn usually ate. The cat Robin had been caught with dry food, so I decided to keep using it.
After a brief sighting of Marilyn on the driveway late Saturday night, I set a trap on the front porch, secured in place with heavy cinder blocks -- and caught a big raccoon.
Tuesday morning, January 20th, about 4:30 a.m., I followed my week long routine of dressing warmly and going outside to check the traps. I could hardly believe my eyes when the one on the front porch contained -- MARILYN!
I brought the trap inside, with Marilyn chirping in distress. Not knowing how she would react to being back in her familiar digs after being gone for 8 1/2 days, I opened the trap into a hastily vacated cage. She vocalized less in the cage, but was still agitated. I petted her and she allowed me to do so. While being petted, she hopped out of the cage. She walked around the room, talking a little, and darted under the bed, where she stayed for several hours. When I awoke the next morning, she was curled in the crook of my knees, where she had enjoyed sleeping before she escaped.
I believe she knows how hard I tried to get her home. We have a more special bond than ever. To anyone who has lost a cat: Your pet might be nearby; keep trying.
[Editor's note: Marilyn is available for adoption. She's a soft, sweet girl who is a little shy at first but loves gentle attention. To adopt Marilyn, start by filling out our online adoption form.]
Baby Picture: Marilyn as a kitten in 2005
Marilyn got out and ran away, the afternoon of Sunday January 11th, after I inadvertently left a door open. She was gone for more than a week.
Marilyn
I believed she would stay nearby. That's what the "experts" say: an indoor cat that gets out, often goes into hiding very close to home. I once found a missing cat in a dark culvert 100 feet from its home. The confidence that Marilyn was nearby was a strong motivation to keep trying to get her back.
That first Sunday night, we searched the property, and left food and water out. Often, an escaped cat doesn't respond to a familiar voice, but we called for her anyway.
We searched again Monday morning. That week we kept food and water out: 3 food stations and 5 water stations. We searched the properties of the nearest neighbors, with their permission. I felt that her most likely hiding place would be under a house or other building. One house had a small gap, so that a cat could crawl under, but it was impossible to see all of the space underneath, and calling produced no response.
Volunteer Dave H. came over and sat outside for several hours with an open can of tuna, hoping that she would make an appearance. He'd used that technique successfully to recover a friend's cat.
We posted pictures of Marilyn around the neighborhood, with our phone number, and talked to neighbors.
I read several websites for expert advice: lostapet.org, petrescue.com, fetch-my-pet.com, meowhoo.com, tabbytracker.com, and especially catsinthebag.org. This reaffirmed my belief that Marilyn was probably nearby.
We considered hiring a team with a search-and-rescue dog (doggonedetectives.com) to track down Marilyn. The team would attempt to follow a scent trail. We decided it wouldn't work in this case: we didn't have anything with just Marilyn's scent, and there are neighborhood cats who frequently travel through our yard.
Driving back after dark Saturday night, we finally had a glimpse of Marilyn: just her tail end as she left the driveway. We stayed out Sunday night, hoping to see her again. We heard a Great Horned Owl, very near the house. Great Horned Owls are potential predators of outdoor cats.
In my next blog entry, I will explain how we finally got Marilyn back home. So check back in a couple of days, or contact us if you've lost a cat and want to know right away.
