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Rusty 08/1999 - click on thumbnail to see later pic

Jan's Ferals -- A Bag Full 'o Kittens

Written by Jan Cordes

 

Abandoned

On Thursday night, 19 August 1999, Jan went out to the feral colony to feed the cats. This is her posting of what happenned that night.

 Rusty & Echo 09/1999    

(photo taken by Scott Panzer - Silicon Valley Friends of Ferals)  Rusty and sibling Echo    

Our cat count increased by 5 very suddenly tonight. While out feeding the ferals I noticed a green tote bag laying on it's side under the iron fence. It was mostly in the concrete area by a house on the church grounds but the handles were sticking out on the street side of the fence. I thought it was kind of odd but went about the business of feeding cats.

I did the tennis court side first. I'm a little worried about an orange kitten that showed up over there. One of his eyes looks like it has a problem. He's as wild as they come so I don't know how I'm going to cope with him. He wasn't very cooperative tonight so I finished filling bowls and went to the yucca side of the street (by the church).

I put the food and water out and was checking on Lace's eyes (they've been a little watery looking too). I gave up on getting her to cooperate and went to put the food and water jug in the trunk of my car when I noticed there were a few cats hanging around that tote bag. They kept sniffing it. I shined my flashlight over at the bag and thought I saw tiny little eyes looking back at me. I looked again and sure enough there was a little orange kitten head peaking out of a 2-3 inch opening in the zipper part of the bag.

I went over to the bag and started to open the zipper. I was a little afraid of what I might see in there. I felt something wet around the opening and got a little more nervous. I opened the bag and found 5 little kittens in there. They're probably about 5-6 weeks old. They were wet. I figured they either wet themselves or there was water in or on the bag.

I quickly plugged in my cell phone and tried to call Drew. The kittens had figured out how to get out of the bag so as he answered I was running between the bag and the car. The cell was low on power and I had to plug it into the car. I finally grabbed the bag and set it on the floor of the passenger seat of my car.

I asked Drew to bring a cat carrier. There was no way I could get these guys home in the bag. They were desperate to be out and it seemed so hot in the bag that I finally let them crawl all the way out. I had been trying to keep them in the bag (with it open) and just had to give up and let them roam on the floor of the car.

It seemed to take forever for Drew to arrive but I'm sure it wasn't more than about 10-15 minutes. We transferred the kittens to the carrier and then I called my sister to see if they needed a trip to the vet right away or if they could wait until my regular vet was open. Emergency vet fees for 5 kittens who might be perfectly fine were a consideration. I described their condition and their age. She had me check to see if they had teeth and if their gums were pink. I explained that they were all alert and curious and aside from being wet and sticky feeling they seemed okay. She thought they could wait for the regular vet.

We brought them home and I discovered that while I had dry kitten food I was completely out of canned kitten food. I haven't had young kittens in the house for at least 6 months. I decided to give the kittens canned since I wasn't sure how well they were eating. We had to settle for some Fancy Feast Salmon pate variety and some Cod/Shrimp combo. I put the canned in the dish and sprinkled a little kitten dry on it. That dish was completely swarmed by kittens the minute were put them near it.

They're currently in a large dog crate with a small litter box, a dish towel and pillow case bed, a shallow bowl of food and a square water container that normally clips on a cat carrier door. It's not clipped. It's the only container that would fit in there with all that other stuff. There's not a lot of room in there to run free but it will have to do for now. My makeshift Tokyo cage (made of two show cages stacked together and clamped) is not kitten proof. The last kittens we had in there kept finding their way out through the bars.

It appears we have 3 females (2 torties (one with a little white necklace) and 1 dilute tortie) and two males (one orange tabby and one cream tabby). They seem quite people friendly. The one little orange guy hissed at me when i first approached the bag he was in but they've been fine with us since we brought them in.

We'll need kitten homes very soon. We're so very overwhelmed already with cats and this just makes it worse. But, I couldn't leave them out there to find the road or worse. I just couldn't.

I thank the goddess that Drew loves me enough to cope with this latest batch of rescues. I know how stressed he was with the cat count we already had. But, he was holding kittens and cuddling kittens and just generally being the most understanding husband ever. Just the thought of it makes me cry.

The kittens involved are now known as Duet, Echo, Kismet, Rusty and Whisper. Some of the siblings have already been adopted and the others are still available - If you are interested in adopting, please visit Jan's webpage listed below.

Written by Jan Cordes - Visit her webpage by clicking on the link - http://www.couchtigers.com/

Rusty 08/1999           Rusty           Rusty 9/1999

              Rusty 09/1999          

(These Photo's taken by Scott Panzer - Silicon Valley Friends of Ferals)  - Top:   Rusty - Aug 1999   Middle:  Left to Right - Rusty - Sept 1999 -

 

 

 

~ More pictures of Rusty - Click on links below! ~

 

Pictures of Rusty 12/1999

Pictures of Rusty 11/24/00

 

** Click here to read my Diary **

** Click here to download a video of me **

 

Please visit these Links & support your local shelter - Spay & Neuter your pets!

Companion Animal Rescue Effort, cat and kitten adoption site, San Jose

NARF Animal Rescue - Cats for Adoption

Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley

Silicon Valley Friends of Ferals 

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