Jennie's Sharebook 

I’m sensing the time is close now for my cat Red. I instinctively felt it early this morning that Red could possibly be in the early stages of the dying process, which could takes days or weeks. He is getting weaker, slower, more feeble, and appearing more gaunt and fragile.

He came to me in bed this morning seeking to be close—very close, nosing to get under the covers for warmth and safety. He gently plows his head into mine messaging me he wants to lie next to me. I cuddle him, hold him, embrace his frail, skeletal body. As he lies stretched out along the length of my body, I spoon him. I gently run my hand over his thin remains feeling his thin sheath. He purrs loudly, strongly, breathing and purring. I can’t sleep to his constant machine of a purr, but somehow it comforts me. I will miss this purr, this beautiful soul, this survivor, this brave cat that has endured so much.

Every morning—early, Red climbs up on the bed and waits for us to awake, to show signs of life again. He watches me intently; his eyes open wide, staring into my face—I can feel his warm breath, patiently waiting for my eyes to show any sign of life. He nudges my face, my chin, in an effort to wake me. Failing, he climbs inside my sheets for warmth, comfort, and closeness. I hold him tight, knowing that these moments will eventually pass and I want to hold onto them. This is our routine every morning, faithfully, never failing.

As Red has aged in the past few years he has sought more and more comfort and closeness from us. He wants to be with us, near us, lying beside us. His fear of people, of feet, shoes approaching him—has all dissipated. His fear of us is long gone. In the autumn of his life, he’s slowed down, lost his robust muscular body and strength, but he has gained a beautiful grace, wisdom, confidence, and above all trust—something that took him years to gain.

Red lived at the Oakland Airport before he was trapped by a wonderful rescue group called Feral Cat Foundation (FCF) in the San Francisco East Bay. Red was originally a domestic cat that had been dumped at the Oakland Airport at a very young age. He learned to survive there with the horrific noise of planes arriving and departing. He had being chased constantly by workers, because he had developed a profound, deep, consuming and overwhelming fear of people and feet. Shoes were the enemy. The fear was so overpowering that when he was finally held in human arms—ours—he shook; buried his tail deeply between his legs and buried his head so that no one could see him. He wrapped himself in a ball to protect his body, but didn’t fight to get away from us. He curled onto my shoulder and held on for dear life. Scared beyond belief, he was a cat that had been abused, before being abandoned. We learned later from our vet, that his hind leg joints had been pulled out of the hip sockets, by humans, and painfully healed to allow him to walk with a stiff gait.

While house hunting in the Oakland hills with my fiancé at the time, we encountered Feral Cat Foundation who was holding their weekly cat adoptions outside a local pet store. My fiancé and I had been thinking about adopting a cat for our only cat Pumpkin, who was showing signs of being lonely with our very long work hours and commute. As we approached the adoption site, we saw Red curled in a ball, then climb the cage walls as we approached. Our hearts broke. His stress was palpable. The woman managing the site gave us his history and said he was on his way to the “cat sanctuary” if he wasn’t adopted in the next week, because he had already been up for adoption for nine months. Immediately we felt deep compassion for Big Red, and though he wasn’t the cat we imagined adopting, we knew our fate was sealed. For the next week, we could not stop thinking about him. We really knew he was ours really from the moment we held him. We knew this was a kitty that needed a second chance at life. He deserved this chance. He deserved so much better than he had experienced. We wanted to give this to him—for the rest of his life—one full of love, dignity, trust, peace, safety, comfort and healing.

So Red became ours. Ours to see the magical transformation of a cat that had been abandoned and tormented, into the beautiful soul he has become today and always was.

Red may you live many more weeks or even months with us, we will be with you to the last moment, loving you as you have loved us. Bless you my beloved boy.

From my blog: Homeless to Housecats
Website: http://www.homelesstohousecats.com 

My desire to blog my cat stories has been ruminating for a couple of years now. It seems daily that I learn something new about my cats, how to care for them, improve their health, improve the quality of their food, and understand them better, and I feel so grateful for them each and everyday. My cats have taught me so much over these last 15 years, that I wanted a way to share what I have learned. I love my cats so much, that I'm constantly on the quest to provide them with the best--veterinary care, nutrition, comfort, contentment, safety--and yet with a multi-cat household, this can be challenging, but I have found, it is also very doable, but you have to be willing to spend the time and make the commitment.

Looking back, I never set out to have more than a couple cats. So when I reflect, it's interesting how life led me on this path and how one experience led to other experiences, that brought me here today. Of course, my decisions and choices have all brought me to this place, but also my deep compassion for animals and my desire to alleviate their suffering, homelessness, abandonment--did as well. I found that as soon as I entered the world of cat rescue, my eyes were opened to a new world and the reality of how people carelessly discard their cats outside, abandon them when they move, decide they no longer want to care for them or have a pet and take them to the shelter, or get frustrated with their behavior or a habit and just give them up. I came to see the problem of overpopulation of cats, the need to spay and neuter to reduce the population, and the high rate of euthanasia throughout the country. Everywhere I went, I came to realize that many cats were living a life of quiet suffering and starvation, outside, somewhere, in every community. That was the point that there was no going back for me. My eyes were opened, my life was changed, and I had to try to do something about it, and reduce the suffering and overpopulation, as well as raise awareness about these problems.

So today, along with caring for my own rescue cats, I work for the county's largest cat rescue group; work to trap and spay/neuter homeless cats; work our shelter's spay/neuter clinics; help manage our adoption site; produce and manage our cat rescue website (great site!); feed feral cats in my neighborhood, and help the community trap-neuter-return cats to their own communities, all as a volunteer. I advocate for cats, will always advocate for them, and help them to get the help they need.

This blog is my effort to share my stories and experiences, but also to raise awareness about what I've learned about cats along the way. It's a journey that I'm so incredibly grateful for, would never change if I could do it all over again, and one that has given me profound respect for animals in general--and cats in particular. I cherish every day that I am blessed to share with these amazing, smart, loving, connected, sensitive, emotional creatures.

There's a beautiful black and white homeless cat that has lived outside our house for several years now. I named him "Alex." He wanders between several neighbors' homes, but he has two specific homes that he actually calls "home"--ours and our neighbors.

I had trapped Alex about three years ago, and learned that he had already been neutered when I took him to the vet. So I knew that he was a domestic cat who had been abandoned outside. Now, scared, shy, and extremely cautious around humans, he doesn't allow people to come too close, but he trusts me enough to let me within about five feet. He watches me intently, eyeing my every move--seeing if I'm going to betray his trust. But over time, Alex has come to know that I'm not a threat, but his friend. Nonetheless, he just can't let go of his fear--it probably keeps him alive.

I feed Alex and another feral cat on our backyard patio doorstep every morning and night. I love seeing Alex (and opossums and raccoons!) appear in our French door windows eating his breakfast and dinner. As soon as I see his lithe black silhouette at the doormat, I come to the window and talk to him through the glass and let him know how happy I am to see his sweet face and inquiring eyes.

With the recent heavy rains, coupled with the homecoming of one of our neighbors from long-term convalescent care (the other house that Alex shares his time), I seized the opportunity to tell our neighbor about possibly providing Alex warm shelter under her back patio doorstep. He spends considerable time in her back yard, as it has provided a safe haven for him over the years. At our house, I have provided Alex a "dog house" and several cat beds on the patio chair cushions under the dining table tarp, so he can sleep and keep warm. So while talking with Dorothy, I mentioned that we would be happy to build Alex a cat house out of a large plastic box and bring it over. She welcomed the idea (she's as fond of Alex as we are), so we went to work that night on building a simple cat house and delivered it.

I got this simple and inexpensive idea from a feral cat Website. For $10-15 dollars you can buy a large plastic container from Home Depot, Target or any home-building store. Then simply cut a cat door at one end of the plastic for an entrance. You can take the cut-out and make a roof from the rain. Add warm, soft blankets inside, cover it, and you're set! It's that simple. Then put it in a place out of the sun as plastic degrades and off-gasses. We recommend under a tarp, roof, eve, or where it's shady all day.

Now Alex will have a house that keeps him warm and dry from the rain. Hopefully, his little life will be just a little bit better now!