Hello Everyone:

Time for another update on some of what PAF has been doing in the last few months. Time flies by and here it is April already! We are constantly busy feeding feral cats, trapping, making and maintaining feral shelters, going to and from veterinary clinics for appointments, giving advice and, of course, making sure that all the cats in our care receive the very best help we can give them.

Here are some of our stories . . .

KUJI

In early December we received a call from someone who told us that an elderly fellow in an assisted living apartment had passed away and there was no one to take his kitty which he had rescued a little more than a year earlier. Seems the little cat had been abandoned when her first owner moved and left her behind, so she had found her way to this elderly fellow's ground floor apartment. Since he passed away, a friend had been coming to the apartment daily for about 3 weeks to feed the kitty but the apartment was soon to be re-rented and kitty had to go.

Her name was Kuji (like Coochie – coo, we think) and she was a dear little brown and white, short haired friendly tabby, but a bit on the thin side. She kept her coat immaculate and was a fierce little player with toys!

We didn't have any history on her medical past and, as there was no tattoo or microchip, we couldn't be absolutely certain she was spayed. So, we put her under anaesthetic at the vet clinic to see if she was actually spayed (she was!) and we had a tattoo imprinted as well, along with a deworming and flea meds. She spent Christmas holidays and early January in a loving foster home and slept, ate, played, and fattened up a tiny bit.

She was used to having companionship all day so we looked for a similar home and, in late January, we were contacted by Suzanne. She and her husband had adopted from us before and their last little cat had passed away a year earlier. Suzanne said it was time to share their home with another furry little feline and, as they are retired and have a lovely garden, it was the 'purrfect' home for our little girl. They re-named her Pippa and it didn't take long before Pippa was very relaxed and comfortable in her new home.

See photos of Pippa

SABRINA

One morning after leaving food at one of our feral stations, we spotted an absolutely beautiful long haired cat who came to sit on top of the station. We had not seen this cat before so the feeders started watching to see if it turned up on a regular basis. It did, but it wasn't friendly and no one could get close to it so we figured it was a feral needing a meal. On a bright Monday morning in early March, Willow and I set the trap and Willow agreed to monitor it. It wasn't long before Willow called to say our kitty was in the trap. What a spectacular looking cat – a smoke tabby meaning, although the top coat was a lush dark black, the undercoat was a whitish grey fluff, and the kitty had a gorgeous light grey ruff all around the neck! Poor kitty was very scared in the trap but we got a few good photos. And it was a good thing we trapped her – she was an unspayed female, about 10 months old ! The vet clinic also tattooed, vaccinated, dewormed, and defleaed her while she was under anaesthetic. Willow named this beautiful little creature 'Sabrina' and released her, after recovery, exactly where she caught Sabrina at the feeding station. She scampered away into the bushes. There are feral feeders who leave food and fresh water at that station every day of the year so little Sabrina will have a meal waiting for her if she wants it!. Thank goodness, Sabrina won't be having kittens out in those bushes.

Trap/Neuter/Return works ! Sabrina will live a healthier life now and there won't be new cycle of kittens in the area.

See photos of Sabrina

MISHKA

Many of you already know of our recent rescue of Mishka which was so very urgent. He was critically injured in a fight with a raccoon during the middle of the night on March 22nd. His stomach area was torn out by either the claws or teeth of the raccoon and the injuries were about the worst we've ever seen. Everything that should have been 'inside' was pretty much 'outside' of his body. A concerned homeowner heard the fight and found the injured little guy cowering in her garden shed. She knew it was an emergency and contacted PAF.

Taylor and I met at the home and assessed the situation as we didn't know whether he was tame or feral. Even tame cats, when injured, can put up a fight or try to escape being handled. The homeowner, Liz, and two of her friends helped us by moving garden furniture out and holding up blankets to form a barrier over top of the shed railing which was waist high. Even with horrible injuries he still tried to run from us and we had to trap him in a blanket in the shed. We rushed him to Dr. Janice Crook at Mosquito Creek Veterinary Hospital. He underwent immediate surgery and several days later, a blood transfusion to help him. It has been touch and go for him but Dr. Crook felt we should give him a chance to see if he could recover as he was young, barely a year old.

We have searched hard for an owner but no one has come forward. Little Mishka was unneutered and had no tattoo, microchip or collar so he may have recently been abandoned.

UPDATE ON MISHKA – APRIL 3^rd

He is still with us and we are seeing some improvements so we are cautiously optimistic that he is going to make it.

Thank you so much to ALL the people who have so generously donated to help with Mishka's vet bills since the little guy was rescued on March 23rd!

Three days after his initial life-saving surgery, Mishka's blood count was really low from all the blood loss and trauma. He needed help so the vet decided on a blood transfusion to boost his level. Taylor 'asked' her cat, Lawrence, if he would volunteer his blood and Taylor thought he said 'sure' so fuzzy, healthy Mr. Lawrence was brought to the clinic. We have included in the link below, some wonderful photos of the whole process of Lawrence helping Mishka! All went extremely well and Mishka's blood count shot up from 15 to 22 almost overnight. Mishka's own little body then started producing more red blood cells and he was at 30 a few days after that.

However, we hit a speed bump with Mishka last weekend as, although he was being fed only small syringes of pureed food, he couldn't keep it down for very long and we knew there must be a blockage somewhere in his colon.

On Monday morning (March 30^th) he was back in surgery for a 'look-see' and there was some good news and some bad news. The bad news was that a small section of his colon had kinked a tiny bit and wouldn't let food through but the good news was that other areas of the colon that had been resected and repaired in the initial surgery were healing well. So, Mishka had to have a bit more repair work done to unkink.

He was definitely brighter and more alert on Tuesday morning but he couldn't be fed just yet as his colon needed another few hours to heal. By late Tuesday night the vet clinic was slipping him small syringes of pureed food and we all hoped he would keep that down.

By Wednesday night he had not vomitted and had started to groom himself a little which is always a wonderful sign. 

Because there was no food at all in the colon it will take a couple of days to make it's way through so now we are all on edge waiting for . . . . poop! We will update you early next week!

Thank you all again, SO MUCH, for helping little Mishka. He is fighting hard to recover and heal himself and we are all right there helping him. A sincere and heartfelt 'thank you' to Dr. Janice Crook and all the wonderful, supporting staff of Mosquito Creek Veterinary Hospital for their tremendous skill and care of our little guy! This is a long journey but we have our fingers crossed . . . .

Click on this link for a few photos – MISHKA

UPDATE ON MISHKA – APRIL 8th

He is holding his own.  He is being offered little meals at frequent intervals and he has been keeping them down which is excellent.  We have all been concerned about whether there was another blockage but, so far, he has not vomitted since his second operation.  There has been some runny bowel movement that is darkish in colour which may be internal blood cells sloughing off from the colon resection but this is to be expected and not really a surprise.  His parts have to heal and that takes time.  He is a little more alert since the weekend and is grooming himself more so those are good signs.  It's been a miracle to get him this far so we just have to be patient and wait for him to get stronger each day.   

Click on this link for a few photos from Apr 8th

On a lighter vein, we have included a link below with some cute photos of past rescues and other stuff for some smiles to end our newsletter!

Click here for happy photos

Thank you again, to those who recently donated to help us with Mishka's veterinary care and also, a very grateful thanks to those who continue to donate to our general fund which allows us to take care of little cats like Kuji and Sabrina who have no owners to cover their costs.

We appreciate your support and couldn't do this work . . . without you !