What's New at Haven House

It's been a busy week here at Haven House Cats. We have new kitties and dogs in our care, a pregnant mama cat who may not be pregnant after all (we think the vet was wrong!), and two of our kitties are very ill. Here's what the week has looked like:

Last weekend, we picked up three kittens from a woman in Dunkirk who has a colony of feral cats living in her yard, and we set a trap to catch the other three but so far she has had no luck. She keeps catching the adults (of course!) but refuses to get them fixed so the colony is going to continue to grow. Unfortunately, as a rescue in Cheektowaga, we can only do so much. She lives an hour away from us so it would be impossible to go out and trap, neuter and release them all on our own.

On Monday, Mischa, a super sweet torti mama cat, and her 4 babies arrived! Mischa was very friendly and the woman who found her as a stray took her to the vet for an examination. The vet said she was pregnant and due in about 10-15 days. If this had been correct, there was no way the 5 week old kittens she was mothering could possibly be her own! It's been a week and Mischa is thinning out now. She is lactating and we placed her kittens in foster care because we thought she was pregnant again! We will hopefully be reuniting them early this week. Poor Mischa is in pain; she needs her kittens to nurse. I feel awful for separating them but it was what the vet had suggested. I know she misses her babies. When the woman who surrendered her returned home to Rochester, she found two more of Mischa's kittens on the porch. Thankfully, she is going to foster them and has already found good homes for them once they are fixed. Mischa's other kittens, Milo, Twilight, Snickers and Twixie, are in foster care with a wonderful family that is helping to socialize them.

Tuesday was a day of picking up donations of much needed food, litter and supplies.

Wednesday brought us two new 5 year old female kitties, Bindi and Smudge. Bindi is a beautiful longhaired brown and white female who simply loves to love. She gives little love bites when she wants attention and is so affectionate. Smudge is mostly white with black-spots, like a cow! She has a very unique look and is also very sweet, like her sister. Both cats were living outside at a home that was no longer inhabited. The owner had decided to sell the home and wanted to find somewhere for these girls to go rather than have them euthanized. Thank goodness he found Haven House, because these female kitties certainly deserve a second chance at a forever home. Both girls are fixed and vaccinated and are awaiting forever homes. If interested in either of these beauties, please contact us at havenhousecats@aol.com. Pictures coming soon.

Thursday brought an emergency vet visit for little Losson, a 10 week old kitten who was found in Losson Park with his sister and another deceased sibling. Poor Losson has been vomiting in his foster home and has an eye infection. The vet suspected a foreign body in his stomach and recommended x-rays if the vomiting does not subside. We are trying to raise money to fund Losson's x-rays and treatment. If you would like to donate to help Losson, you can do so by clicking here http://havenhousecats.chipin.com/help-little-losson

Darla, a 2 year old calico with the sweetest personality, is also ill. We picked up a new antibiotic for her on Thursday. This is her third round of antibiotics for a chronic Upper Respiratory Infection. She hasn't improved at all and we are praying this round of medication will help her. If you would like to donate to Darla's medical fund, you can do so by clicking here: http://havenhousecats.chipin.com/sponsor-sweet-darla

And Saturday brought a new dog into our care. Buddy is a 10 year old dachshund whose owner could no longer keep him. She's had Buddy since he was 6 weeks old, so this is a very difficult adjustment for him. He was quite sad last night and didn't want any of the food I gave him. He turned his nose up to canned food, dry food, even chicken nuggets! Poor Buddy! We took him for a walk with our dachshund, Millie, and the two of them got along great. Buddy slept in bed with me last night curled up at my feet. When I woke this morning he was under the covers with his head peeking out. He seems to be doing a bit better this morning and hopefully he will adjust a little more each day.

Never a dull day in the life of an animal rescue!

Another day, another rescue

I have a confession to make: when I get bored I scan Craigslist for animals to save, furniture to buy, and free stuff to sweep up. So I was bored last night and found myself on the free section of Craigslist when I came across a post for a "Free Cat". This kind of post title always makes me cringe. I mean, think of all the idiots who might sweep this free animal up for God knows what reason. This poor creature is at the mercy of owners who don't give a damn who takes the cat; if they did care, this cat wouldn't be free. So I click on the title and open the post.

In short, the post says this: "I have a 1 1/2 year old un-neutered male cat, it was a friend's cat but he dumped him on me when he lost his job, can't keep the cat anymore, my friend said he's help with food and litter but he hasn't and I am going to put the cat in a cardboard box and leave him on the steps of the SPCA if someone does not come for him by Monday morning. If they euthanize him, it will be out of my hands at that point. Call or text for pics. "

Appalled as I am, I text my rescue partner. Read this now, I tell her. Go online.

I already know I can't let this happen. Even if this person is lying to provoke pity and persuade someone to take this cat off their hands, I still feel that this person should NOT have an animal in their care. What a sick, twisted way to rehome an animal! It's apparent that they don't care who takes the cat, where he goes to live, or what happens to him, as long as the author of the post no longer has to deal with him. I text the number in the post, waiting impatiently for the Craigslist poster to reply. Yes, still have the cat, the poster answers. He's a Maine Coon.

 Like Noah!!! Now I REALLY can't let this cat go.

I offer to come get him right away and they forward their address. Hey honey, we're going for a little drive! My fiance and I hop in the car and drive to the scumhole apartment building to rescue this poor kitty. He turns out to be a gorgeous guy, all gray and super sweet. His name is Gibson, The person tells me. I'm gonna miss him. Yeah, right. I don't believe a word you say.

Gibson comes home reeking of cigarette smoke and possibly some other substance. We treat him for fleas, set up a nice warm cage for him (he has to be fixed, vaccinated and tested for FIV/FeLV) and give him some canned cat food. Gibson is safe now, and my day has been worthwhile.

UPDATE: Gibson was adopted!