Seven Kittens Admitted into PAWS Chicago’s Adoption Program

The five KFC Colony kittens that we rescued in October were finally admitted into PAWS Chicago last Thursday.

They’ve come a long way since we first saw them in their junkyard home. backyardcats

Check out how big they’ve gotten since! OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

This was from their last ride to PAWS after a few vet visits. While they were being fostered their vet bills totaled $796.76

Thanks to Robin T. and Joann S. for fostering them this whole time! In addition, we were excited to find Shannon C. who is interested in adopting two of the kittens. Fingers crossed Shannon will be able to adopt the kittens through PAWS.

That same day, the other two kittens at Gertrude’s house were also admitted into PAWS. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Check out their last ride to the shelter. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

All of the kittens were spayed and neutered yesterday and will be available for adoption there shortly.

It was a great day overall!

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Helping Neighbors Through EveryBlock

Gertrude is 85 years old, has Parkinson’s Disease, and cares for the cats outside at her home in Portage Park.

Her neighbors help watch and care for her, and posted on Everyblock.com about two months ago looking for additional help with the cats. There were kittens born outside. I have found a lot of neighbors caring for cats in the past through EveryBlock. I highly recommend utilizing that site.

Since then, the adult feral cats were TNR’d. Joann answered the EveryBlock post and has been going to Gertrude’s home ever since to help socialize, care for and transport the kittens back and forth to PAWS Chicago for their vet appointments. Their initial admission date was delayed twice for a month now because the kittens were sick.

Today the kittens are going for what we are hoping will be their final admission date at PAWS and will be ready for adoption soon. Today is also the day that the five kittens from the KFC Colony will also hopefully be admitted.

Here is beautiful Gertrude with the kittens! Joann took these photos. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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Kitten Costs

The kittens from the KFC Colony are adorable and doing well.

Whenever you are starting to TNR a new colony, usually kittens are involved. Vetting costs are almost always necessary and expensive when you are dealing with kittens.

When we first trapped and brought them inside, Tigger, the alpha male orange kitten’s eye looked like a problem. Joann brought him to her vet at Animal Medical Center. At the time we called him Mr. Orange because we were just trying to figure out which kitten was which, and their color was the easiest to distinguish them with. His eye was completely healed with the medication. The total cost was $116.78. Joann has insisted on paying all year out of pocket for any costs for the cats we are trying to help. Thank you, Joann!

Robin T. has been fostering these kittens ever since. This week, one of the tabby female kittens, Tabitha, started sneezing and then coughing. Today she had nasal discharge. Robin took Tabitha to her vet, who determined she most likely had a cold, and put her on oral antibiotics. Total cost was an additional $71, covered by your donations. Since the other kittens were already exposed, and still are not sick, we’re hoping that they are immune and will not also get sick.

Here’s Tabitha and her siblings listening to Robin’s daughter reading them a bed time story. This is one of the most precious photos I have ever seen. 12096405_10206753458329144_4432203286917100953_n In the meantime, PAWS Chicago has agreed to cover their vaccination and surgery costs, and will admit them into their program next week if they are all healthy and fully socialized. Doing TNR like this would not be possible without the help of fosters like Robin and people like Joann and local no-kill shelters like PAWS and donations from people like you. Thank you all!

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Reaching Out to Everyblock to Help a Kitten and her Mama Cat

Joann responded again to a plea on Everyblock looking for help with a mama cat and kitten.

We’re no strangers to Everyblock – we’ve met a lot of neighbors and helped a lot of cats by networking on that site throughout the years. It’s a great way to connect with your community and to find colonies of cats.

In this case, this wasn’t a colony, although the location was very close to the Central Park Colony that Kim and I also just TNR’d a few weeks ago that another neighbor, Karen K., directly reached out to us about in Logan Square. So I guess for now I’ll consider it the Central Park II Colony. This was a single mama cat and her single kitten that a man named Jon was feeding and posted his plea.

Joann trapped the mama cat, Loretta, for her TNR surgery. After a few days of observation and recovery in Kim’s house, they determined Loretta was feral and returned her back to the original location. They also provided her with an outdoor cat shelter and Jon will call us if he sees any more cats.

Loretta’s kitten, Dolly, was young enough to be socialized. Here is the photo of her that Jon initially posted.

Dolly is hysterical – she always has those same startled eyes, but she quickly turned friendly and socialized to humans. She acclimated into indoor life almost immediately and enjoy free reign in Kim’s home. Isn’t she gorgeous? This girl knows how to pose. After her vet appointments for vaccinations, Dolly had her final admission appointment to PAWS Chicago for their adoption program today. We are so happy for our most recent kitten adoption graduate! We can’t wait to see the lucky family who gets to take Dolly home.

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Three Kittens Available for Adoption at PAWS

Three kittens from the junkyard, Tabitha, Tater and Tilly, are already available for adoption at PAWS Chicago. 3kittens

Just before we admitted them to PAWS last week, a woman named Shannon saw our Facebook posts and came to meet the kittens. She fell in love with Tigger and Tori. Since they’re not listed on PAWS’ site, we’re hoping that means she will be able to adopt them.

We’re hoping that ALL of these cats will go home for the holidays!

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Ruby Is Now Available for Adoption at Harmony House

When we started helping with TNR on the Kitchen Colony in October, Ruby was there to greet us every time we visited. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

She would rub up on our legs and beg for pets. Patrice, the colony caregiver, said Ruby showed up this past July and she wanted to find her an indoor home since she was so friendly. The other colony cats would also bully Ruby when she came to feed. It was not a great situation for her.

We have no idea where she came from but she was already ear tipped. When we trapped her, Joann took her to Roscoe Village Animal Hospital to scan for a microchip but she did not have one. Joann never put her back outside. Instead, she fully vetted her. Ruby was estimated to be about eighteen months old, tested negative for FIV/FeLV, and was updated on all vaccinations and parasite treatments. Her vet bills totaled $640. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Ruby stayed in Joann’s place as a foster. She acclimated into Joann’s home almost immediately. We believe she used to be an indoor cat. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We looked for an adopter and reached out to shelters.

When we reached out to Harmony House, a cageless no-kill shelter, they agreed to almost immediately admit Ruby into their adoption program. Because the process was so quick and seamless Joann made a donation. We are so grateful for their help with Ruby!

If you’d like to donate to help us cover Ruby’s vet care, you can do so through Paypal at [email protected]

Since we started TNR on the Kitchen and KFC Colonies in September our total vet bills went up to around $4000. Joann and Patrice paid for the majority of these costs out of their pockets, and a $1000 so far was covered with your donations.

Fingers crossed that Ruby will find her new home through Harmony House very soon!

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Rockstar Pets to the Rescue!

Elissa, owner of Rockstar Pets – a doggy daycare, has been fostering and socializing Clara and Darren, two kittens we trapped in mid-October.

They were very scared when we first got them and needed human interaction immediately so that they could eventually be adopted out. Elissa has lots of socialization experience and started immediately. I don’t know what we would have done without her. Elissa, you rock!

Patrice took them to her vet a few times because initially they had bloody stool that needed to be taken care of. They also received vaccinations, parasite treatments, tested negative for FIV/FeLV, thorough exams, and boarding until we found Elissa to foster. Clara didn’t gain weight as fast as Darren did at first so there was some concern about that. She is currently on compounded metronidazole. But at this point both of these kittens are doing well and are loving being indoors. As of now Patrice has spent $796 on their vet bills.

The kittens are bonded and love spending time together.

And they have their own unique personalities. Darren is in full-on kitten mode and loves to play and explore. Clara will pose for you on her terms, and then roll over for belly rubs.

If you would like to meet these kittens and help socialize, please contact me at [email protected]

If you would like to donate to their vetting costs and for other cats that we are currently vetting, you can donate through Paypal at [email protected]