Moose

By Monica on October 31st, 2008

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On Monday afternoon, cancer took the best friend, and best teacher I’ve ever had.  Ray adopted Moose as my Valentine’s Day present when we had only been dating for 5 months, so it’s fair to say that neither of us can easily remember a time in our lives when Moose wasn’t with us, and that the void left behind is enormous.  But in his ten years, Moose taught me more than anyone I’ve ever met about compassion, joy, and the meaning of unconditional love.

Anyone who ever met Moose immediately fell in love with him - he was a ham who loved having his photo taken.  He was a flirt and would flop over for belly rubs if you dared to make eye contact.  He was the boss of the pack, the nurse and cleaner of infant kittens who needed a surrogate mama.  He loved to dig nests in blankets, and to howl on lazy Sunday mornings, so pleased that all his family was still in bed with him.  He was a lover of sugar cookies, and a dignified gentleman always.

The world is a better place because of him, and it was my honor to know and love him.

National Feral Cat Day

By Monica on October 16th, 2008

Today is National Feral Cat Day which highlights an issue very near and dear to my heart.  So today, in lieu of food or more whining, I’ll share my adventure into the world of feral cats and TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return):

When we moved to this rural area several years ago, a single black and white cat showed up on our doorstep. This is Mama Cat - I assure you that she earned that name.

We couldn’t get near her but she would gladly scarf down any food we put out. In a matter of days she learned what time dinner was and would be waiting, and also that she could squeeze into one of our outbuildings for shelter. Truth be told, I thought this was great! I was feeding this vagabond cat, giving her a place to live, how “country”! But as you can guess, Mama Cat told all her kitty friends about this great place with free chow and a warm place to sleep at night. One cat turned into many - strange new cats would show up daily as if I had a beacon light out!  Where were these cats coming from and why hadn’t I seen them before?  It was about then I learned what a ‘feral cat’ is, how they differ from housecats, and why they need our help so badly.

As it turns out, there were cats all around us. But just because a cat lives outside doesn’t mean she is homeless. These alley cats, barn cats, or street cats - feral cats - are undomesticated and unsocialized, and call the outside their home, just as squirrels, raccoons, and birds do. Feral cats live together in colonies, and unless spayed or neutered, their numbers grow. Because they are unsocialized and thus unadoptable, their euthanasia rate in shelters is nearly 100%. However, just because they don’t live inside, they still deserve to live and can do so quite safely and comfortably!

Today marks National Feral Cat Day, the kickoff to a yearlong awareness campaign sponsored by Alley Cat Allies. They want everyone to know the truth about feral cats and Trap, Neuter, and Return or TNR. This sensible method of population control returns spayed and neutered cats to their outdoor homes, improves their lives and health, and brings their numbers down. It is the proven best method for dealing with feral cats, is humane, economical, and absolutely necessary if we envision a no-kill society.

Everyone in the country, no matter if you are urban or rural, can do TNR - and there are resources to help you!  Whether you trap cats and bring them to your nearest low cost or free spay/neuter clinic, place shelters outdoors for cold months (as LindyLoo and Urban Vegan have done), or care for an entire colony, there are feral cats in your area that need any help you can give them.

Since Mama Cat showed up years ago, I have ’speutered’ a crazy amount of local cats. I take note when I see them behind restaurants, in fields, wandering streets.  Once a month I trek into Chicago with as many of these cats as I can nab, and PAWS Chicago snips and clips ‘em.  It is an ongoing process because almost no one in my area sterilizes their outdoor/barn cats and often people dump cats in the country. There is never a shortage of cats for me to take. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the nearest low cost spay/neuter clinic is 75 miles away and local vets refuse to discount sterilizations to help combat this issue, if they accept ferals at all.

The colony Mama Cat introduced me to is now healthy and thriving. Everyone is sterilized. Everyone has been vaccinated, is supplied with food, given shelter, and receives veterinary care when necessary. Any kittens I come across are socialized and adopted out when quality homes can be found - this year I’ve placed 6 into permanent, indoor homes.

Few things bring me as much joy as these cats, so with the generous help of PAWS Chicago, I started a local non-for-profit program to transport anyone’s feral, stray, or barn cats to the spay/neuter clinic with me once per month. So far it’s been a great success - 30 cats in 2 months and I’m booked with 40 more in November!  When you consider that just two breeding cats can make millions in a matter of years, it’s easy to see how rewarding it is to bring a truckload into the clinic each month! Literally millions of lives can be spared by one single, easy, affordable action.

If you would like information on how to help feral cats living in your area, please visit Alley Cat Allies - it is easier than you think, there is an enormous grassroots network in place to help you, and right now a furry creature needs your help.  Happy National Feral Cat Day!

A Meme & More

By Monica on October 14th, 2008

Thanks to those of you who’ve emailed and left comments asking if I was still alive, or if perhaps I’d gotten lost inside a corn field.  Without sounding too much like a whiner, it’s been a rough time lately.  My amazing rescued Pointer, Berlin, was diagnosed with a rare, painful auto-immune disease that causes her body to attack her own toenails.  A shelter volunteer ‘lost’ one of my cats that was on his way home from the vet; 6 weeks of searching fields and abandoned buildings proved fruitless.  Because last month I complained about 6″ of rain, we just got 10″ that left 14″ in my basement.  And last week my beloved basset hound, Moose, began radiation and chemotherapy for metastasized lung cancer, a diagnosis that we were not anticipating.  With this aggressive treatment, we are told to expect about 6 months.

Eventually I came around to see that those 6 months are a gift to have, and I intend to cherish them.  Each day we do something special with Moose and it’s given Ray and I a chance to re-evaluate our priorities.  So I know you’ll all understand if I can’t comment as often at your blogs or post as much right now.

In the meantime, a photo of Berlin, a photo of Moose, and a meme that reveals the horrors of my freezer!

Berlin at the Montrose Beach Dog park:

Moose enjoying a carrot he dug up in the garden:

Last, and definitely least, my freezer:

Billy from Vegan Talk (who is also a rural vegan now after his relocation to Prince Edward Island) tagged me to show you what’s in my vegan freezer.  If anyone would like to come clean my vegan freezer, please step right up…

The top shelf is devoted to non-vegan items for the critters.  I have some cats that eat raw so we’ll call this the “obligate carnivore” shelf.

On the shelf below that, we have your customary Trader Joe’s extra firm tofu, which always goes directly into the freezer when it comes home.  We have some TJ banana waffles, some frozen dill, and I’m pretty sure there’s left over soup lurking in the back.

The two bins on the bottom hold an assortment of fruits and veggies: rhubarb, cranberries, bell peppers, corn, spinach, etc.  The usual suspects.  There is also a 1 pound bag of catnip from the SF Herb Co. stored in here, 9 out of 10 cats agree it’s ‘the good stuff’.

On the door, from the top down, we have milk replacer for kittens, frozen chopped cilantro and basil from TJ, frozen peas (I honestly don’t know why there are so many, it’s a little weird!), a bag of frozen fruit for ice cream, pineapple chunks, and more frozen spinach.  Not terribly exciting, is it?

So now I’m supposed to tag 5 more bloggers but since I rarely follow rules, I am only tagging 3. Enjoy!

1. Happyveganface
2. Seitan is my Motor
3. It’s Animal Friendly!