A message to irresponsible people who abandon their cats (or give them away) without getting them fixed

I'm doing this post for anyone who abandons a cat (or gives it away) without seeing the importance in getting him or her fixed. I really hope you read this and can let the message sink in. This is "Twinkles," a stray cat from my neighborhood, whom I was finally able to trap and take to 9 lives, to be fixed. I would have trapped him sooner but I was either too busy, too broke, or too overwhelmed by my own daily life, to trap him. But as much of an imperfect candidate as I was, to trap this guy, I seem to have been the only person in my neighborhood who was willing to do this. Twinkles has been roaming along my street for several years. He's never had a real home (though a few years ago, a very kind woman who lived a block away, was feeding him, along with several other cats in the neighborhood). 

I just trapped Twinkles, got him fixed at the Nine Lives Foundation, and this poor guy is totally freaked out. He is very bruised up, has multiple scars and cuts all over, got into fights all the time (waking up the neighborhood), and he is FIV+. I have recently re-arranged my life and schedule for this cat in ways that people (who don't do cat rescue) might never think about... so I want to give you a peek into what it is actually like to trap and house a feral cat.

While this is a temporary situation, this is really throwing a wrench into my daily schedule and I'm not getting a lot of things done, that I normally would be able to. But as much as I am not enjoying this situation, I know it sucks 100x more for this poor cat, and the amount of work I am doing is LESS THAN ONE PERCENT of what many women in the Homeless Cat Network and other rescue organizations, have done. But for those who carelessly abandon cats, I want to paint a picture of what it is like for the person who ends up having to do your dirty work, and get a cat fixed, when, if you had taken the time to do it yourselves, you could have spared this cat a lot of frustration, and you probably would have spared him from contracting FIV, and getting into a lot of fights, because neutered cats tend not to get into a lot of fights.

Our shower is un-usealbe right now, since we have a stray cat in it (but this is the only space that will work). I had to move ALL the stuff out of the bathroom, including my electric toothbrush and hair dryer, and haven't been using either because they were boxed up. I had just scrubbed the hell out of the bathroom, by the way, on Monday. Now it is totally dirty from actual dirt, cat hair, cat pee, cat dander, cat blood, and cat feces (because he was so scared when he was in the cat trap, he got diarrhea, which got all over the trap and him, when he tried all night to get out). In addition, now my husband and my other cats have to deal with the fact that the whole bathroom smells like cat pee (and the scent is starting to waft under the door). Not to mention the fact that my husband is going to be a little wigged out knowing how dirty it got in there. He is going to freak out or want to divorce me when he finds out there are about 3 more cats in the neighborhood I am planning to trap! Over the last month, I was finally starting to get back into an exercise program, which was NOT easy for me to do since it had been so long and I was so out of shape. I was finally getting my exercise groove back... but now I feel like I can't even go running because after I am drenched in sweat, I can't shower or it will freak this poor kitty out (so am going to have to look into the cost of a membership to the YMCA for a week or more). Again... with all my bitching, I know that what I have done, to trap and fix this cat is FREEKIN NOTHING compared to what women I know, who work for the Homeless Cat Network and other rescue groups, go through. There are SO many women who have basically given up their lives, trying to fix all the cats that irresponsible people have discarded!!! These women never feel like they can take a break, never can take vacations, and can't have people over to their houses because they are so full of cats, cat carriers, cat supplies, cat climbers, etc.and "rescue supplies." They could literally spend 16 hours a day working to take care of abandoned cats in the bay area and it still wouldn't be enough. I want to point this out because I'm finding myself feeling extremely annoyed and resentful of people who don't see the importance of getting their cats fixed. Did I WANT to devote several days this week, to getting this cat trapped, fixed and nurtured back to health. HELL FREEKING NO, I did not. I have about 500 other things that I need to be doing right now. But I didn't see anyone else trying to do it, and it had to be done. This poor cat was abandoned at a very young age, because some irresponsible person along the way (whoever "owned" his parents, or his parents' parents) didn't do the right thing. People never think it's their problem, and somehow they don't seem to see themselves as being irresponsible. They don't seem to look down the road to what's going to happen if they keep feeding the cat (making it more fertile) but never get it fixed. 
This is what happens. The cat has babies, and then they give the kittens away without getting them fixed, and then those cats have babies (which can turn into literally thousands of babies over a decade), and the one irresponsible person never finds out about all the cats down the line that end up becoming feral and sick like this one (and they also transmit FIV and FELV to other cats in the neighborhood). 

It is SO IRRESPONSIBLE to give cats and 

kittens away without getting them fixed!!!!!

This poor cat has really been suffering. His jaw was swollen, he has problems with his eyesight and hearing, and he had to have teeth pulled, he's skinny and dirty as hell, covered in fleas, he has FIV, ear mites, an upper respiratory infection, and is terrified of humans. He's so traumatized, he's refused to eat since I brought him home a day and a half ago. He wouldn't even eat KFC (something I do not even like buying because the poor chickens are raised in such horrible conditions, but KFC is one of the few things cats will eat when you are having a hard time getting them to eat).

Please consider the fact that cat food is made from animals, like chicken and cows raised in horribly inhumane factory conditions. The chicken farming industry routinely grinds up baby chicks in a grinder, and as for the mother hens, they have to be confined in small, dark cages their whole lives, are fed antibiotics and get so fat they can barely move, they produce tons of eggs for people to eat, and then as a way to say "thank you," they are strung upside down on a conveyor belt, beheaded (sometimes partially), boiled to death, and sometimes electrocuted. If you don't believe this to be true, have a look at this video Pamela Anderson created for PETA. Keep in mind that many cats in shelters are being fed cat food that is created with this kind of abuse. It would be a lot better for everyone if we didn't have so many unwanted cats and kittens in shelters, and that starts with GETTING YOUR CATS FIXED.

I took these pictures when I was in my car on Friday, and he jumped on it. He seemed oblivious to the fact that I was there, talking on my cell to someone (and my voice is LOUD). So it was obvious that he has issues with his eyesight and/or hearing. I had seen Twinkles in the neighborhood many times over the past few years, but this was the first time I'd seen him so close up, and when I did, it just became so apparent that he needed medical attention. There were several times in the last month when he'd come into my yard and start meowing, and I can't help thinking he might be in pain (like maybe his teeth were bothering him). He was also limping really badly, probably either from a bad cat fight, or getting hit by a car.

Does this poor cat look healthy to you???

This is what poor Twinkles looked like when I brought him in to Nine Lives. There was diarrhea all over the cage, all over him, and right next to his face. Not a great scenario for him, but he was so petrified I guess it didn't matter.

As much as it sucked for me to have to drive him to 9 lives with that smell in my car, I know it was a hell of a lot worse for HIM since he had it all over himself. He was trying so hard to get out of the trap while he was (understandably) afraid for his life. All this to say.... seriously, people...

GET YOUR CATS FIXED

AND DO IT ASAP

BECAUSE THEY CAN (AND WILL)

START BREEDING AT SIX MONTHS!!!

Twinkles is very lucky because there are some very caring women who stepped in to help him. An extremely kind woman named Tanya, who was feeding him (and many other cats) before she had to move out of state, offered to help pay for his expenses. Tanya had actually gone so far as to do a craigslist post, asking people in her old neighborhood if they had seen him, to please help look out for him, because she had to move and couldn't bring him along (he was never "her" cat to begin with, he just showed up when some irresponsible person discarded him). 

Not many people would go that far. Tanya had lots of her own cats (all abandoned cats) to worry about and care for! She has also offered to come and get Twinkles (driving all the way back to California from Arizona) but then he would have to be confined to a single room in her house, and I don't think he'd be happy that way. Yet, I hate that he is on the street right now. 

 There was also a very caring woman named Jolynn, who generously offered to help pay for his expenses. And Kay from HCN was kind enough to give me a spay/neuter voucher, and HCN covered $200 of the costs. Not to mention the women from 9 lives who had to perform all the work (at a huge discount). Some poor person had to clean up the trap (and Twinkles) after he got diarrhea all over him and the trap. 

Not getting your cats fixed makes people like me (and the rest of the village it takes to clean up the mess), EXTREMELY resentful of you. And don't even get me started on what our husbands think about the fact that their lives are always affected by their wives' inabilities to look away from a situation like this. The men in our lives would sure prefer for us to NOT be doing ANY of this at all. We haven't taken a vacation in over 8 years. So much of my life changed once I started fostering cats, but I didn't have the heart to look away and let them go to the pound where they likely would have been put to sleep!!! Taking one cat to the pound means one cat who is already there is not going to get adopted. As much as I absolutely love my cats, I know that my life would have been a hell of a lot easier if they had never been born. And most other "cat ladies" I know feel the same way.

Don't even think for a SECOND that we become cat ladies because we loooove cats so much. Most of us would rather NOT be taking care of cats, but we can't bear to see these poor creatures sent to the pound and euthanized. It's not their fault that they were born to a cat that was "owned" by an irresponsible pet guardian. If you are *that* irresponsible person who let your cat breed, and then they gave the kittens away without getting them fixed, you damn well better hide any public twitter or facebook pics you've got of yourself lounging on a beach sipping margaritas while the rest of us cat ladies have to do your dirty work and we haven't taken a real vacation for over a decade. Because seeing those pictures will make us want to get all up in your face. If you need resources on how to get a cat fixed, or if you are someone who HAS resources that you'd like to share, please get in touch with me via the contact form on this page. I'm going to try to put together some sort of a resource guide. Ualani