Skye, My Slightly Cross Eyed Feral Cat

Number seven in the lineup of my furry family members is Skye, a Lynx Point. Where do I start with her? Skye is a complicated one, the most feral of my cats, followed by Mango, another of my skitty kitties. Both are afraid of their own shadow, which is one reason I had to keep them. Let’s take Skye today.

I actually didn’t remember where I trapped Skye because I’ve trapped hundreds of cats so I had to look her up. I’m not like my co-worker, Leanne, who has a memory like an elephant whereas mine is in the hamster realm, purported to be three seconds long. As it turns out, Skye and her siblings were trapped as kittens in the Mt. Shasta area and brought to Marin Humane where I fostered her.

Leanne
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An Unusual Gift

I received the most unusual and unexpected gift last week from someone I’ve never met. She knows me from the work I do with feral cats and is a friend of a friend. So why did she give me a gift? Be patient, I’m getting there…

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Hold your horses

In this line of work, meaning TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return), I meet some interesting folks. Let’s just say not all of them particularly like cats. Some downright hate ’em. But then not everyone is perfect, right? Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying if you don’t like cats you’re a sociopath. But my guess is you’re probably close.

Anyway, my friend was telling this gift-giving person about my encounters with these as yet undiagnosed sociopaths. They’re the characters who not only make this work interesting, unpredictable, and a little bit scary, but have taught me I should learn self defense. Like yesterday already. I’ve intended to take classes for about 10 years now but have I done it? Intended is the operative word there.

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Take THAT you cat hater

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Call Me Insane

Last week I admitted I’ve added yet another cat to my furry four-legged menagerie. Crazy? Let’s go with no. Insane? Possibly. I’ll let you be the judge, even though last week I asked you not to judge me. So I guess what I actually am is a hypocrite.

I had hoped my feeble attempt to tug at your heartstrings would win you over so you’d see I’m a regular person who happens to love animals sometimes more than people. Now don’t get me wrong; mostly I think people are fine and dandy. In fact, I’m quite fond of many of them.

But with my cats and dogs, I love pretty much everything about them — how trusting they are, how excited they get greeting me at the door when I’ve only been gone an hour, how they love me unconditionally and follow me around the house like ducklings trailing their mom. I could go on but I’ll spare you.

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Uh Oh. I Did It Again

Okay, I ask just one thing…

On second thought, you have every right to judge me, or anyone else for that matter. But I hope you’ll be gentle. Just remember, my intentions were good. I had no desire to have a seventh cat. That’s right. I have another cat.

Call me a crazy cat lady because only one part of that sentence is accurate. I AM a cat lady, that’s true. And for that matter, a dog lady with four dogs. But by definition, I’m not actually crazy. Trust me here. But have you noticed people with a bunch of dogs aren’t considered loony?

I’ll get back to you on that. Anyway, as you know, I run a nonprofit feral cat rescue. As you can imagine, we come across a ton of cats needing vet care, fostering, spay/neuter, and on and on. It’s a never ending challenge providing humane care and management for these felines, but it’s also incredibly rewarding to positively impact a life in need.

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When I Was Stupid

Okay, so here’s what happened.

Three weeks ago Marin Humane asked me to foster a couple feral kittens. Naturally, I said yes to Trinity and Sturgill. You can foster domestic kittens all you want, I don’t blame you. Domestic kittens are like baby Pandas. What’s not to love?

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