Collecting 2 pregnant cats from different places tomorrow - UPDATE CAT found

[Mark]

But she was already a stray in Canterbury when I picked her up in Feb so we never got as far as scanning her then. She is a beauty so will get snapped up. Tabby with a white chest 

[Millys Mum]

If shes chipped you should be 100% its her  so pleased shes been found after such a horrible experience 

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

What a result! 

It just goes to prove my theory that they don't go far if they can find food and shelter within easy distance. 

[Mark]

Sorry I didn't have the camera with me. If she can go on the list to come in, we can easily catch her and take one then. I know you said yesterday there was a chance she was the one.

7 months later and she is still fine 

PS - Don't forget I had already named her Hayley back in Feb! 

[Canterbury_cats (Sharon)]

Wow what a success... I had an inkling it was and she has travelled far and right next to a main rd. Mark when you get home (did you take a photo) can you email everyone.. As this one needs our attention asap.

[Mark]

I went to scan a stray near the vets in Herne Bay this morning and it was the one that escaped in February. An old man is feeding her and is happy to continue doing so until we have a space. 

She seems to be in really good condition and none the worse for her adventure. She was a stray before so she was used to living on her wits and scrounging 

I am 99.9% sure it is the same cat. I had forgotten about the previous feeders calling her gummy. This will be one way of finding out for sure.

btw - I don't think she ever was pregnant.

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

It was quite amusing with this large tabby we found. Mark couldn't decide whether it looked with the one we were after or not. The only thing we knew is that our one had no teeth, so the only way to find out was to open the sardines and watch it eat. But we then found this puss had the most enormous set of gnashers and he just lurved the sardines! I had a new best friend.  After that, I was walked around with an opened tin in my hand and you could see cat's noses twitching across the street. I felt like the Pied Piper. 

I'm pretty sure this puss will eventually turn herself in. The situation we took her from was that she'd been actually going into this student house to beg, so she's pretty friendly. With her being virtually on top of the vets, and people looking out for her, its only a matter of time in my view. She may even try to nick the vet nurse's sarnies. 

The good news on the other one, who we've called Kiera, is that she's due for blood tests today and if it's all clear, she will be spayed today. The vet we're using for this case is really good and thorough. They seem to do some teaching and have students there, so probably are grateful for the chance to teach them how to spay a cat in season. 

[Dawn F]

every time I say to oh that a particular bed is going to Ron at Brighton you can bet the next day one of them will be in it!

[Mark]

She would too!

Yesterday I threw the ikea tent in a spare room as she hasn't been in in since before xmas. I couldn't find her last night - guess where she was? 

[Dawn F]

take Kylie next time, she'll protect you!

[Mark]

Thanks Dawn,

I'm glad Julie met me as before Julie arrived, I saw a woman get out of her car and asked her if she lived in the street. You would think I was going to attack her or something the way she reacted - and she had a staffy or something  - I only had little old me with my bag of cat food 

I will go back again but life goes on and it's 1/2 day gone every time - I am having to let it go as I'm not doing anything else - It's my day on the phones today and already there is another stray to come in - I feel bad but have accepted that I didn't do it intentionally - there are loads of cats thereabouts so I sure she hang out there. As she was a stray already there is nothing we can even leave out to attract her.

btw - When & if she is found, her name is Hayley - named by me before she escaped.

[Dawn F]

don't beat yourself up about this Mark, sounds like you've given it a good shot

[Mark]

No luck - Julie & I spent the morning raking round gardens & alleys, asking neighbours etc etc. The builders are keeping an eye out as well as the vets. We thought we had found her but it was a false alarm so a neighbourhood cat was had-fed pilchards by Pinkbear    There are a lot of cats in the vicinity as there are alleyways at the backs of gardens - really common here. We saw loads of cats but noe the one we wanted 

[Desley (booktigger)]

Fingers crossed you can catch her today, and that the other one is fine.

[Mark]

Thanks Pav 

There is no way she could find her way back as it's 12 miles away. We are just hoping she is hiding out close to where she escaped. Julie is bringing sardines etc and we are hoping we can nab her. I just can't believe what happened. I am only going to use wire carriers from now as I can't trust any other kind. I almost lost another cat last year using a PAH carrier with a zip that busted.

[pappilon]

Oh Mark, i am sorry about the first cat, but she might even find her way back to where you picked her first ! It may take her a while but its worth going back in few days if you dont find her tomorrow. Please dont upset yourself, if only they knew whats good for them.

[blackcat]

Didn't I read about vets not doing females when they are in season?  

They'll do it but prefer not too. It is a more complicated op as the ovaries are less discrete, and tend to crumble a bit. So if you are not particularly pernickety about it you can have a cat who is technically spayed but who still comes into season because a wee bit of ovary tissue remains inside ...

[Mark]

Pinkbear and I are going armed with a trap, basket, rattly biscuits sardines etc tomorrow morning - hopefully she will be around, hungry and co-operative

[Mark]

Corn fed chicken at that!

She had drill holes in her metal door as her dad had started to put a flap in when the Toms started and she changed her mind. She said she had heard that if the cat was spayed, the Toms would leave her alone but she didn't want to take the chance 
Also, she goes away most weekends so there would have been nobody to feed.

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

Maybe we can sneek the toms in for the snip as well?  

Didn't I read about vets not doing females when they are in season?   I do hope I got that wrong.   At any rate, she's much better off safe and sound at the vets now.   What a strange woman, though. First kicking puss out at night to fend for herself, then force-feeding her with chicken.   Maybe she just fancied you and didn't want you to go?  

Gizza shout if you need any help. It's dead quiet on the phones today...  

[Mark]

Margaret our Lost & found lady sent me a nice email which helped but I Still can't help thinking "what if" - The cage was a £12 one from PAH that I won't be using any more - I will only use wire cages. Ironically, It was the wire one I was worried about as I lost the bar and used a car aerial to secure it. It has rubber at one end and was really secure. The PAH one had 4 clips - I guess 2 hours of battering had loosened it.

[Mark]

You know the area Julie, Probably best if I go early tomorrow morning. I drop Dennis off at the station 7 or 7.30 so can go straight on from there.

I'm trying to focus on the one we got in. The woman called her and she came running from round the corner with 3 ginger toms in pursuit - it was like a film. The woman insisted on feeding her a bowl of chicken. Then she went to give her more but I said no as she might be sick. The woman insisted she had it. She was sick and pooed in the cage and some has got on the suede seat - OH will kill me  - I have used simple on it. The woman showed me her garden she has covered it in neat jeyes fluid "as a neighbour said it's the best way to keep toms out"  - I told her it was highly toxic to cats and to people 

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

Oh, Mark.   As the others have said, it's rare to find anyone who hasn't lost grip of a pud just yards from the finishing post.  

I do have a kind of gipsy's hunch that this puss will turn up pretty quickly.   And I'm more than happy to come with you next time.  

Tilly suggests waving a sardine or 2 in the area. It worked for her.  

[Mark]

I can't go out again tonight - it's a rough area and I can't go into the gardens. - I will go back in the morning when I can see - The vet is on a busy road. I will take biscuits etc.

[Dawn (DiddyDawn)]

Try not to beat yourself up    What I would do is go out later and look for her, start by looking near to where she got out and work outwards calling all the time, take some food with you and give the box a shake or tap the tin.  She won't have gone far, they usually lie low and suss out the area before venturing further afield.  I'm keeping everything crossed that you find her.

[Mark]

The worst part is and I hadn't told anyone yet is I collected her at 1pm and got to the 2nd collection place before 1.30pm. The other woman said she would be home from work at 2.05pm - The 1st cat (I had called Hayley  ) didn't stop crying the whole time. It was 2 minutes away from PAH so I bought her a dish and some Sheba as I thought she must be starving. After I fed her, I was sure the catches were closed and I checked again at the other end   

[Mark]

aaah see the problem I thought it was local to you, was she obviously pregnant, will people recognise her is what I mean to stop you getting loads of fasle alarms?

She wasn't local to me. She was a stray on an estate on the outskirts of Canterbury and now in Herne Bay. She wasn't pregnant as fat as we know - They pnly told me after I had her in the carrier that the pregnant one waan't around so they had kindly given ne another one instead they called Gummy 

[Dawn (DiddyDawn)]

Big hugs Mark      I think this is everyone's worse nightmare and I'm sure at some stage, it's happened to most of us.  I remember last year trapping the last of some ginger kittens from a paper mill.  I'd used an RSPCA trap which had a clip on one end to release it, I'd got kitten in trap and arrived home. on getting out of the car, I saw something wizz past me and it was this wild kitten.  I was heartbroken to say the least, strange place, away from his siblings and I was in tears.  After about 3 weeks of day and night searches, and traps in the woods at the back of me, I got a phone call to say a kitten had appeared in someones garden and they'd managed to get her into their kitchen    Don't give up hope, I'm sure she'll turn up safe and sound 

[LesleyW]

The location may work in her favour, if it is not residential she will stand out more and people will notice her more than in a residential area with lots of cats and if there are Old Peoples Homes around, worth letting them know, old peeps can spend alot of time looking out of windows, perfect cat watchers.

Don't get disheartened Mark, if cat rescue was perfectly easy all the time, everyone would be doing it.   We all go through mishaps and sometimes the cats are not as co-operative as we would wish.  Try to keep positive that she will be found and don't spend all the time worrying.  If you want evidence of the good you have done, go and give Alice a cuddle  .

[caledonia]

Oh dear - please don't let that dishearten you - there may still be a positive outcome. She may well appear. 

[Dawn F]

aaah see the problem I thought it was local to you, was she obviously pregnant, will people recognise her is what I mean to stop you getting loads of fasle alarms?

[Mark]

Will do something but it's 6 miles from here. They are mostly offices and old people homes there - I have spoken to some of the people.

[Dawn F]

could you do a quick leaflet drop?

[Mark]

The thing is, she is in a totally strange area now with busy roads. Although where I picked her up from was a council estate, the roads were much quieter. She was better off where she was 

[Millys Mum]

 
dont give up, you have helped many get on the road to recovery and theres plenty more that need a chauffeur

[Dawn F]

oh Mark you poor thing, I'm sure she will turn up, it happened with Sam's rossi

[Mark]

It didn't go well at all. I got them both but one escaped from the carrier right next door to the vet at the other end. I have spent ages looking and the workmen working on the house next door are keeping an eye. I also spoke to some neighbours. I feel so guilty that I'm not sure if I can do it any more 

[caledonia]

How did it go? I hope all went well and you were able to get them both!

[Mark]

Will do 

The plan (best laid plans etc) is the first one at 1pm and the other at 2pm then to the vet which will be another 12 miles - hopefully they won't get too stressed (especially the first one  ) I am taking a feliway spray so hopefully that will help.

I'm hoping to get back by 4pm as that is Alice cuddle time 

[madkittyrescue]

fingers crossed mark that all goes well.     let us know how you get on.