Drowning in the rain

We had torrential rain here on Saturday. During the course of the day, a lady in our town looked out of her window and noticed a bucket in the middle of the garden next door.

Some time later the bucket caught her eye again, but this time she noticed some movement in it. Thinking that perhaps a bird or mouse had fallen in, she went to have a look and rescue it.

Instead of wildlife, imagine her horror when she found 8 tiny kittens in there. The bucket was rapidly filling with water, and two of the kittens had already drowned.

She was able to remove the remaining six, but one had become too cold and despite all attempts to save her, she too died shortly afterwards.

The five surviving kittens, who are about 5 weeks old, are friendly and used to being handled, so there is very little likelihood that the kittens were the offspring of a feral cat and put in the bucket by their mum. It seems to us that they were deliberately put in the bucket in the hope that they would drown.

This is such an act of unspeakable cruelty that it has left us almost speechless.

Double Trouble

Despite the current economic crisis, the credit crunch and the downturn in the economy, there are an increasing number of people who think that they can make a fast buck by getting a pedigree cat and breeding from her.

Nothing could be further from the truth. To a breeder, the money earned from this will rarely cover the costs incurred.

Let's look at some of the expenses:

• the cost of the cat - this could be anything from a few hundred pounds to a few thousand, depending on the breed
• medical costs - most owners of stud cats will not allow their cats to mate with other cats who do not have a clean bill of health, verified by a vet.
• stud fees - again these will depend on the breed and on the pedigree ancestry
• light, heat and food for the cats and her kittens
• vaccinations for the kittens
• advertising costs
• registration costs with the GCCF (to get their pedigree paperwork)
• emergency vet bills - few litters get to a rehomeable age without having needed veterinary care, and they should be medically checked too
• costs of keeping the queen in between litters - she should not be allowed to breed every year, and she should be kept indoors, or in an enclosed run, so that she doesn't pick up any viruses etc from other cats or worse, become pregnant by a passing tomcat!

And what if she only has two kittens in her litter? Or maybe only one, or she miscarries, or doesn't conceive? The income you might get for this situation is very low, or nil!

And of course, as people tighten their belts in the current crisis, there are going to be fewer willing to pay large sums of money for a pet that might cost them a lot of money.

Bianca and Carly, pictured above, are the result of someone getting a siamese cat to breed from. Instead of taking the necessary precautions to ensure that she could not get out, they allowed her free range and of course when she came into season she mated with a stray tom.

To add to the list of errors, her owner then left her and the kits in a quiet bedroom, well fed no doubt, but not handled, so that the kittens became wary of being handled and are now very timid.

When unable to sell them for £50 each, they were passed to us for rehoming. Sadly he has not heeded our advice to have her spayed and will no doubt let her breed again, although we very much doubt that he will find anyone willing to allow their stud cat to mate with her.

Carly and Bianca have both been rehomed. Luckly, Bianca wasn't too scared and once she'd gone Carly realised that she actually quite liked being stroked and gained confidence quickly, but this amateurish and irresponsible approach to breeding is one of the reasons that there are so many unwanted cats - even pedigrees and part-pedigrees - out there.

Tinkle tinkle

We are often asked to take in cats because they are urinating or defecating away from their litter tray. Ginger is a typical example. She has been messing where she shouldn't and her owner can cope with it no longer.

Cats usually do this for one of three reasons;

1. They are unwell.
2. There has been a change in the household/environment which is causing them ongoing stress.
3. There was a circumstance in the (recent) past which caused them stress, and although the circumstance may have gone or changed, the cat has got into the habit of marking or messing.

To resolve this, we suggest:

1. First of all, have the cat checked over by a vet. Some cats display anti-social behaviour, including inappropriate marking, when they are feeling unwell, even though the cause of the illness may have nothing to do with the behaviour. Your vet should be able to give the cat a full health check, and if s/he rules out any illness, we suggest you follow the suggestions below.

2 & 3. The first thing to do is to establish (if possible) the reason that the cat has felt the need to mark. Have there been any changes in the house? It could be something as significant as the arrival of a new baby or new pet, or something as apparently insignificant as a new suite. If you cannot establish any changes, it could be an external change - such as a new or stray cat in the area, a new dog nearby, building works on a neighbouring property.

Most spraying habits can be broken. We suggest the following course of action, together with the list of other ideas below:

If the behaviour is due to another cat or even a dog,
1. we suggest you completely separate them, one in one room and the other in another room. Give them specific bedding and swap the bedding every day so that they get the sense of each other's odour.
2. after a few days allow them to meet on neutral territory. If it is two cats, allow them to hiss at each other and even to engage in gentle fight - only separate them if they are really tearing into each other. It is normal for them to yowl and hiss and to fluff up and display aggressive behaviour. Try not to intervene as they are beginning to establish a hierarchy. Once they separate, put them back in their separate rooms. If it is a cat/dog situation, allow the cat to jump away from the dog, and if the cat hisses or swipes at the dog try not to intervene - the cat is just establishing boundaries.
3. Continue this pattern and gradually increase the amount of time and the places they spend together. Allow them back to their safe rooms and their own litter trays.
4. Once the animals are less stressed with each other, start to feed them in the neutral room, on separate plates at some distance from each other but on the same level if cats. You might consider feeding a cat high up if the other animal is a dog. Don't give them full meals, just give them treats or small snacks.
Gradually the animals may tolerate each other and the marking should stop. Do not let the animals into each other's safe place. Don't rush it!

If the behaviour is a habit, the best way to break the habit is to crate the cat.
1. Put the cat in a large cage with room for a bed and litter tray, and food if possible.
2. Regularly take the cat out, and cuddle or play with him, but don't let him free-roam. Put him back in after playtime/cuddle time.
3. If/when he uses the litter tray, give him a small treat, if possible as soon as he has used it.
5. After a few days, extend his territory, but don't remove the crate if possible, and certainly don't move the litter tray. Extend the territory by only one room at a time.
6. If he regresses and spray, start again. Don't rush it.

The following may also be helpful:

1. try using Feliway - a plug-in which you can get online or from vets and some petshops. This releases pheromones into the atmosphere which in many cases calm the cat(s) and reduce the stress they are feeling.
2. Try using Bach Flower remedies - available from a health store - they too may reduce the amount of stress the cat is feeling (Bach Flower Practitioners at the Health shop will advise which is the best to buy).
3. Make sure you clean up any messes with mild products which DO NOT CONTAIN AMMONIA. If you use an ammonia based product, the cat will believe that another cat has been there and will mark the place to reassert his/her own scent. If the mess is cleaned up quite soon after the cat has left it, you are unlikely to catch anything and you don't need strong disinfectant for reassurance. Bleach and Dettol are commonly used, but not only are they likely to cause the cat to re-spray, they are also poisonous.
4. Any odour can be masked by burning oil such as rose flavoured oil. Try not to use anything "chemical" as the cat may respond to the chemical odours by spraying again.
5. If the cat is regularly using a particular place to mess, try putting fresh citrus there - orange or lemon peel. Cats do not like this odour. Another suggestion is to put the litter tray in the place where the cat is messing. It may remove the habit in a different way.
6. Water spray - keep a water spray to hand (the sort you use to mist plants). As soon as you see the cat messing/spraying, squirt it full face once with the water and walk away, no eye contact, no verbal. It is imperative that this is done whilst the cat is misbehaving. S/he will soon associate the behaviour with the water and it may well break the habit.

As for Ginger, not a drop out of place since she came to our shelter. Her previous owners thought it was due to the stress of another cat, and we have to agree!

Whoops a daisy

Most of the cats who come into our small shelter follow a routine pattern of neuter, microchip and then rehome.

Sometimes, however, we get a case that is slightly unusual. Such is the case with Smudge.

The lady who brought her in had originally found her as a pregnant stray, had then taken her in and found homes for the kittens when they were old enough to go and very responsibly had her spayed.

Shortly after her operation, her owner noticed that she was very unsteady on her legs and fell over if she tried to jump. Smudge continued to be her usual friendly happy self, but just couldn't balance.

Her owner felt that she could no longer cope with Smudge's disability and asked us to rehome her. The first thing we did when she came into our care was to have her checked over by the vets. Blood samples were taken, tests were run and we watched her carefully to monitor any improvement or deterioration.

All came back clear! Her condition - whatever caused it - is stable and all the tests showed that she had no diseases or medical conditions such as epilepsy.

So she is a mystery! The vets suggested that it might be a case of poisoning or an allergic reaction to something, or that she'd had a mild stroke, but feel that she is unlikely to get any worse.

She has very poor balance and often falls over when squatting on the litter tray. We've pretty much solved that by giving her a covered litter tray so that there is less mess if she does fall over, and she sometimes needs to have her back legs and bottom cleaned after she's been to the loo. On the bright side, she is not going to wander far and because she can't jump she won't go over a garden wall and won't jump onto kitchen work tops.

We feel that Smudge, a young friendly cat, deserves a home despite her disability, and we hope that a caring new owner will come along soon, fall in love with her and live happily ever after!

Spending my Nine Lives far too fast....

Hello Bloggers,

My name is Charlie, and I'm a right Charlie. I came into Haworth Cat Rescue about 10 days ago after I was found wandering along the side of the road in a quiet village. The people who found me made enquiries and discovered that several other kittens had been found in and around the same area in the preceding days. But no-one knows where we all came from. So that was one life gone!

When I arrived at Haworth Cat Rescue I had terrible diarrhoea and my bottom and back legs were very very dirty. Whilst I was being bathed, it was discovered that I had a swelling on my lower abdomen which was very very bruised, but the folks at the rescue didn't know what it was. They took me to the vets who decided to deal with the diarrhoea first and gave me lots of different medicines to take.

But after a few days, the lump under my tummy began to swell and I was taken back to the vets for a check-up. They decided to operate on my lump and the next day I had a major operation. All my insides had been moved around and were in the wrong place, probably due to a trauma! Another life gone!

I was allowed to come home the next day and I did really well for a few days, then my lump started to swell again, so back to the vets I went, for another op! Another life gone! This time it was a simple repair and I was back home again the next day.

We've no idea why I had such traumatic injuries - the folks at HCR think I might have been thrown from a vehicle, or maybe kicked, but because I'm very friendly they think that I must have had a home at some time in the past.

If you have kittens you don't want, dumping them in a remote village isn't the answer - try and find them good responsible homes. Better still, get your girl-cats neutered so that they don't have unwanted litters in the first place.

As for me, I'm doing my best to hang on to the lives I still haven't spent. You never know, I might need them in the future.

Love Charlie Kitten

Let Nature Take its Course

Although The Moggie Blog was created to tell you about some of the cats who pass through our shelter, we were told about Gus by another organisation and felt that his story should not go unnoticed. Our friends, another charity operating in a town near us, were notified about Gus, who was living as a stray on premises privately owned but open to the public, at some distance from their base. No charities nearer the premises were prepared to help. Advice given to the finder by the nearest organisation was to "let nature take its course". Our friends were told about Gus about 4 weeks after it had been noticed that he had sustained an injury to his neck. Employees of the premises were told not to feed Gus and the other cats living on the site in the hope that they would go away. Our friends took a trap and tried to catch Gus on several occassions. They were unsuccessful, but managed to catch and neuter two female cats and to remove their kittens for rehoming, and to catch and neuter a further three toms. All the adults were returned to the site. Gus proved to be more elusive and showed his contempt for the way humans had treated him by repeatedly spraying on the trap and walking away. Eventually our friends located an employee who - contrary to his instructions - had fed Gus and the other cats. He was able to simply pick Gus up and put him in a cat basket. Now neutered, Gus has had lots of dead skin removed from around the wound site, the wound has been cleaned, and is healing, but he is still very wary of humans and will try to bite when his wound is dressed.

The story of Gus raises several points. Firstly, and most obviously, it is nothing but cruelty to leave an animal, any animal, with such a dreadful wound. At best the wound might heal badly, but more likely, at worst, the wound would become infected and could cause the animal to suffer a long period of pain and distress, culminating in a painful and protracted death. At this time of year, open wounds such as this would attract flies, and maybe larger vermin.

Secondly, not feeding the cats won't cause them to simply go away. They will look for food sources and safe places to nest, and set about the business of starting a colony. A single un-neutered female cat can multiply very quickly and it would not be beyond the bounds of possibility for there to be 20 cats a year or so later.

The best approach is to work with local rescue centres, to try and neuter the cats. If there are too many for the rescue centre to handle, maybe you could assist by allowing several of the older cats to return once they've been neutered. Given a safe place to eat and a regular supply of food, they will provide an effective and safe rodent control. If you are the manager or owner of a location or site which has a fledgling colony, encourage your employees to start a food rota, the cats can be fed daily in a safe place and it is unlikely they will be seen much around your premises during the day. They will come out at night and earn their keep by ratting etc. Most charities will take any kittens as they are easier to tame, and there may even be some tame adult strays in the colony who can be rehomed. If you act quickly, there shouldn't be too many feral cats who are unable to be tamed.

The worst thing you can do is to "let nature take its course". Apart from the suffering that the injured and sick cats will endure, they will breed and nature taking its course will result in many many more unwanted cats.

Such locations, including farms and factories inevitably end up 'supplying' small kittens to employees or nearby houses and distant relatives - many of whom take on the kitten without considering the long term. By doing this they add to the cat population. This means we struggle to find homes for our cats and thus cannot admit needy animals. Sadly many of the kittens 'handed out' to the community are never blood tested nor neutered. That spreads, further afield, diseases and breeding cats. At the end of the chain somewhere another litter is denied admission by hard-pressed rescues or put to sleep, drowned or dumped. Last year, the charity who took Gus, a small local charity, neutered over 1200 cats, many located a long way from their "patch". And still the excess of unwanted cats continues.

As for Gus, he is on the path to a happier future. His wound will take some time to heal, but whilst his physical wounds are recovering, his carers will begin work on his psychological wounds. They will start the long process of teaching him that humans can be trusted. That he can learn to live alongside people, relying on them for food and warmth, and maybe one day he will be confident enough to be rehomed as a domestic pet. If not, we believe our friends will try and find a home for him on a stables or farm, or maybe return him to the original site. Had they let nature take its course, he would by now be dead or dying, alone, unloved and unwanted.

Is this really what Mother Nature intended for her purry furry little guests?

Stand down Red Alert

You may remember our recent blog about Tia, our little nervous chintz lady.

Shortly after we told you about her, we began working with a pet behaviourist to see if we could improve her confidence.

We started off by making Tia's pen completely "safe". We put towels around the lower half, like curtains, so that she could sit on the floor and not be seen by anyone or any other cats. We placed a table in one corner of her run so that if she chose she could sit on it and watch what was going on, or she could hide underneath it on a soft bed. We also provided several cardboard boxes for her to sit/hide/play in, and we kept her door shut, so people couldn't peer into her shelter, though she could access the outside run by her cat flap should she choose to do so.

All volunteers were instructed not to approach her or look at her and not to talk to her. One volunteer only attended her needs, feeding, cleaning etc, and spent a few minutes each day sitting with her (reading usually) but not talking to her or looking at her.

It was incredibly hard for our volunteers, and many felt that they were abandoning her, and that
Tia would think she had done something wrong if we didn't talk to her.

In fact, the reverse occurred. Tia started off being a constantly alert cat, we never saw her sleep, eat, groom herself or play and we never heard her miouw or purr. We rarely saw her move. The behaviourist described it as a "frozen watching stance".

Within a few days of our new regime Tia was relaxed enough to eat when our volunteer was in her pen reading, and shortly after that she began grooming herself and moving around her pen.

A great breakthrough came after a week or so when Tia sat with her back to our volunteer looking out of her window, and later dozed off when our volunteer was there.

She also began to take an interest in what was happening outside her pen. She often sat on her table looking over the "curtains" particularly at meal times, and quite often she "shouted" at the volunteers when they walked past her with other cats' food.

After a couple of months we decided to allow the other volunteers to go into her pen, and all volunteers were instructed to talk, not at her, but around her. Gradually we allowed some of the more regular volunteers to stroke her if she seemed comfortable, and Tia seemed to enjoy this and occasionally started to purr.

Ten weeks after the behaviourist's first visit, Tia followed one of our volunteers out into the safety run whilst her pen was being cleaned out. That night, we left the door of her pen open so that she had access to the safety passage thinking that Tia would probably be intimidated by it, but to our delight she explored the run completely and settled down to relax in a sunny position.

Now our objective is to find a home for Tia. She has, in just over three months, come on in leaps and bounds and has gone from being a cat constantly on watch, to a cat who although still lacking some confidence, has started to take an interest in what is going on around her. We used to call her stance "Red Alert" - now it is only a pale pink alert.