December, 2014

What an absolute success our fundraiser, so generously organized by Emma Martin, has been! The excited winner was Doris Logie of Port Elizabeth, mother to numerous dogs, cats, birds and fish, and active supporter of Cat Care Port Elizabeth and other welfare organisations. She also dedicates a good portion of her time to sharing lost and found and homeless animals on Facebook. Congratulations Doris - we hope you and your family enjoyed every morsel! Thank you to each and every one of you who took tickets for the cake. We raised a grand total of R5365 and, with the exception of a few expenses which needed to be paid all has been deposited into the vet account.

I realize that I am preaching to the converted here, but PLEASE make sure that your pets are sterilized and encourage family and friends to get their pets sterilized too. One litter of kittens can undo months of hard work on the part of rescue workers, especially if some of those kittens are abandoned and turn feral. If you can’t afford the sterilization fee that your vet charges, please see if they are prepared to discuss terms, or contact a rescue organization who may be able to help in exchange for a donation. This was posted on a Facebook friend’s wall just this week:

So, for those of you that don't know what it's like to be an active rescuer / person that has a Sanctuary, I did some calculations of the last two weeks (and I am sure that other rescuers will also tell similar stories). If I took in the combined amount of phone calls and emails requesting assistance for cats, I would have ended up with 78 cats and 15 dogs in just two weeks! I hope this will help those who ask why we get so angry and frustrated, or why we simply just can't help sometimes: how many of those did and could I help? Two - of which one had to be euthanized. Remember that we are often under immense stress, so please think twice before handing out our numbers assuming that the animals belonging to the people calling us will definitely be able to get taken in by us.
And out of all that - one person looking to adopt.

It is no wonder that rescue workers all dread the phone ringing… and why we get so angry when people can’t/don’t/won’t sterilize their animals or abandon them as soon as they become inconvenient.
December has been a fairly busy month, and we have done a fair amount of trapping and sterilizations although not as many as we would have liked. Mandy got off to a good start with the Beaufort Street colony but then the cats started to get very wily and decided they would prefer to go hungry. 23 December was our last day of trapping until 6 January and we hope that by then the cats will have forgotten what those funny wire cages are for! I must thank Juanita McLean and Sheila Hicks who have been helping with transport of these cats to and from the vet.

Mandy will need food on an ongoing basis for her colony – we are not entirely sure yet how many cats there are – so if anybody would like to donate food or money towards this, it can be dropped off with me at 87 Beaufort Street.

Five females and two males were sterilized this month. Nikki trapped two feral kittens (male and female) at Rhodes University. Unfortunately they were too young to be TNR'd and had to spend a few days at the vet before Caren Lewis kindly agreed to foster them. We hope that she will work her usual magic and that in the new year they will be available for adoption.

I must also thank Donald Clarkson, Lorna’s cousin, for kindly agreeing to once again take on the formatting of the newsletter before it gets emailed. While I can manage to do the compilation, formatting and making it look “nice” is a bit beyond me, both in terms of time and patience!

Last month we mentioned the ginger male who had appeared at a complex where the ferals are fed and cared for by the gardener. We were indeed fortunate that Ian Balchin of Fables was happy to foster him and care for him while he was recovering from biliary. Despite Ian’s care Mr Ginger did not improve so Lorna took him back to the vet where he was sent gently over the Rainbow Bridge. Because he had numerous bite wounds FIV was suspected.

On a very sad note, I was asked to help with sterilising two ferals. The female was duly trapped but the male hanging around appeared to be quite tame, so he was loaded into my cat carrier and taken home to be kept in the garage overnight with his mother. During the night he managed to get out of the carrier and because there is a hole in the roof of my garage, I assumed that he had escaped so did not check my car as thoroughly as I should have. Imagine my horror while driving to the vet to hear a thud and see in the rear-view window this poor cat dashing into a garden, having fallen out of the engine!! This was along Templeton Drive above Graeme College, between Rowley and Miles Streets. Despite sharing frantically on Facebook and personally going round to each house in the area and handing over a flyer with all details and a pic, or putting one in letterboxes where I couldn’t speak to anybody, nobody has seen hide or hair of him. This was just before a long weekend and also at a time of year when many people are taking their annual leave, so I am hoping that he will still turn up in the area, or find his way home. Early in the new year when town is busier I will be walking around with flyers, putting up posters, and sharing these details widely on Facebook and other social media and I hope that he will be found and returned to his rightful place. A very hard lesson has been learnt by me, and I just hope that my neglect has not led to the tragic death of an innocent animal.

ADOPTIONS

Excellent news, not reported in last month’s newsletter, is that both Twiggy and Gandalf have finally found their forever homes! Gandalf in particular was an urgent case as his caregiver was leaving town at the end of November but after urgent networking on Lorna’s part, he was adopted by Michelle Griffith and has settled in well as a farm boy. Twiggy’s new mom is in temporary accommodation for December but once she has settled Twiggy will be moving to live with her. Twiggy has been in foster care since February, first with Kerry Ferrucci and then with Griet Wood, so we are thrilled that she has found her happy ending.

Missy and her brood settled in beautifully at Elaine’s home, and Missy soon realized that Gypsy, Elaine’s rescue dog, was more than happy to share kitten-sitting duties! When we were approached to foster this family, our understanding was that there were six kittens: Missy plus her four plus two younger ones of her mother, but being fed by her. Unfortunately, before the move one of the older kittens was adopted out at only five weeks of age, and we do hope his new family will get him sterilized when the time is right!

This little one will also be ready for adoption from about two weeks into January. She is slightly bigger and bolder than her little darker sister. Both are absolute cuties though!

This little one loves a sunny spot too, and will be ready for adoption from about two weeks into the new year. She is proving to be the quieter, more shy of the two little ones.

Have you considered adopting an adult cat? In addition to Missy we have Cloudy and Gingerwitch who are looking for their forever homes. Jeannie’s new neighbour has ailurophobia and because Jeannie already has Thai and Tiger and is fostering Cloudy, this is a bit much for Gingerwitch, who has taken to visiting the neighbour. She is a 3-year-old spayed girl who is in need of a home in which she is either an only cat, or shares a home with another quiet cat or dog. She's had three foster homes and three "permanent" homes in the 3 years of her life. Is there someone patient, gentle and understanding who can commit to giving her a real forever home? Jeannie is not able to keep her and she may be at threat of being euthanized.

If you are interested in meeting her or would like to know more, please contact Lorna (lornagrant456@gmail.com). There is no adoption fee.

Pukkah - another happy story (not ended yet)

It all started in December 2011 when Cloud (a beautiful feral mommy of 5 little kittens) was trapped, sterilised and released back on her home turf in South Street. Everyone at work (the old RU Estates Division) was following the kittens’ progress with interest... we even set up a roster of who would put out food for them over the Xmas break.

Into the new year, and every evening before I went home, I would put out food, and there the little ones would be, huddled at a safe distance waiting for me to feed them. The one little fella would always look me in the eye, and seem a little less afraid than the others. One day, when they were particularly hungry, he let me touch him briefly as he tucked into the grub. I just knew I had a special connection with this lad... who came to be known as Pukkah!

By March 2012, it was time to start trapping the kittens before they got into breeding mode. Pukkah was the very first to march into the trap, on the evening of 19 March. He was of course furious with me.

Early the next morning, we were off to the vet. When I collected him in the afternoon, once his little snip had been done, I just couldn’t take him back to South Street! So I turned the car homeward and announced to Jim that this little boy needed to be “monitored for the night”. We settled the “little bundle of hiss and spit” in the spare bathroom, with a snug sleeping igloo, food, water and litter box. Later that evening, I went to say good night to him, and gently placed my hand inside his igloo. The spitting rage faltered, and then wonder of wonders, turned into rumbling purrs. That sealed it... I knew he was going to stay forever.

We kept him in his own space for a few days, and then let him explore the wider house area for another week or so. At first, there was a lot of hissing and spluttering from our two adult cats, Fred-bear and Minky, but they soon got used to this assertive and curious kitten. Once, while we were watching a video, Pukkah sneaked over to have a good look at our dog Shinga, who was fast asleep in his bed. Too sweet for words!

By April, Pukkah was doing remarkably well, and was absolutely certain that this was home. He showed courage and confidence, trotting out into the front garden, sniffing around and then trotting back inside. He was sleeping on our bed every night, much to the horror of Fred and Minky - who gave us the cold shoulder for a while. Naturally we took every opportunity to scoop them up and cuddle them and tell them how gorgeous they were... but as soon as the little purring fluff ball appeared, they'd be off! By August 2012, our darling little “furry Pukkah” and Minky - the matriarch cat - were playing together so sweetly. Pukkah even had the temerity to bounce the dog and stalk the parrot… and then gallop off at speed if the parrot lunged at him. What a character!

Pukkah is now a fully-fledged adult cat, very sure of himself and his territory. He still goes into ‘feral mode’ when he sees other humans or feels threatened by anything out of the ordinary. But with Jim and me he is super affectionate and cuddly. We are honoured to have this precious fur-kid in our lives!

DONATIONS
(27 November to 19 December)

Thank you so much to everyone who donated. Your support means so much to us and helps us to continue with our work.

Nikki Kohly
Gillian Rennie
June McDougal
Sheryl Drennan
? Van der Merwe
Carolynn Bruton
Brian Kemp
Viv Botha (for cat food)
Colleen Duffy
Glynis Coombs
Chantel Kirton
Fables Bookshop

And those who have adopted our beautiful babies and paid their adoption fees into the account: Carol Poole, Michael Border, Sparks family, etc.

If making electronic payments please remember to include WILDCAT and your name as a reference so that we can thank you. If possible, email proof of payment to: l.grant@nelm.org.za

ABOUT US

All donations go to sterilization and a small portion to food.
Occasionally there are costs for veterinary care of ferals who are ill or injured.

We appreciate your generosity greatly as it enables us to continue helping the feral cats.
Spays and neuters cost us R500,
plus extra for any complications such as pregnancy or undescended testes.

The adoption fee is R500, which includes first deworming and inoculation and obligatory sterilization.

If you would like to donate any amount, please deposit into our vet account at:

The Grahamstown Veterinary Clinic,
Standard Bank Account No 081991215
Branch Code 050917

Please add the reference "W/CAT" and your name, and please notify us if possible
so that we can follow up donations in case of accidental misallocation

Please do not take any feral/stray cat into the vet for attention and charge it to our Wildcat account without prior approval from Lynne.

The Wildcat account with the vet is meant for sterilization of ferals and will only under certain exceptional circumstances be used for other procedures.

Grahamstown Feral Cat Project uses the TNR (Trap, Neuter & Return) approach - globally recognised as the most humane, least costly and most sustainable way of stabilizing feral cat populations.

Volunteers humanely trap the feral cats; we take them to the vet to be spayed or neutered; the tip of the right ear is snipped off so we can easily identify that they have been sterilized; we return them to their original territory where they live out their lives (adult ferals cannot be tamed). Feral kittens, wherever possible, are fostered, tamed and homed.

The Grahamstown Feral Cat project promotes responsible pet ownership. This includes proper care (feeding, vaccination and preventative treatment against parasites, etc.) and sterilisation to prevent unplanned kittens and reduce the number of homeless animals.

See
http://www.ru.ac.za/environment/action/petwise
and
http://www.ru.ac.za/environment/action/animalwise/feralcats

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Page updated on February 26, 2015