OT: the Emma Jane cat colony project

[CraginS]

Hmm... what are you referring to, Cragin?
<sigh> on Terry. Miss him.

The last time Ellis was campaigning for a bunch of cat & kitten adoptions (a true "cat lady" was in danger of eviction), Terry joined in the thread with a single line post:

"are they plump?"

[markc]

That precise line of Terry's was in my head when I asked garyd "Was the deer ok?",
in response to his post about mixing it up with a deer and laying down his bike.

(sorry if the humorous/ironic tone didn't come through gary; no intention to
make light of what could of been a serious crash)

Ok, so who's collecting the $$ for taking care of these cats? Ellis, should I send a
check/cash direct to you?

MarkC

PS: Anyone remember that jingle, "They plump when you cook 'em" ? But I guess this
would be for hot cats instead of hot dogs.

[deveil]

I asked garyd "Was the deer ok?", in response to his post about mixing it up with a deer and laying down his bike.

(sorry if the humorous/ironic tone didn't come through gary; no intention to
make light of what could of been a serious crash)

mark-you-ignorant-sensitive-paranoid-slut,

puh-LEEze
but if you really need me to find something to scrunch up my eyes and hang my lower lip about. . .it would be the implication that i would scrunch up my eyes and hang my lower lip over such a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" line. now That's insulting!

. . . hmmmm. . .you Did use a smiley face with your quip and now maybe you're trying to nail me for not having used a smiley face in my response to your response! i'm shocked at such weasiliness. Shocked i tell you!

i'm outta here!

going for a cup of coffee




. . . okay i'm back.
where was i? oh yeah, Shocked I Tell You!

garyD

sorry, but that's the best i can do without referring to my "How To Be Nauseatingly PC and Find Offense In Normal Everyday Conversation" manual.

[these guys really have your head spinning don't they? ]

[pink_albatross]

THANKS mucho, Mark!
and everybody else of course who has contributed!

You can send money to me or Karen.
I'll send an email with my address in a PM
-- ellis

[deveil]

ah what the heck. . .' want a good story about PCishness or the lack thereof?

this is a true story. really.
neighbor had a dog ('was a shaggy dog but this ain't no 'shaggy dog story'- or is it? was never sure about the meaning of that phrase.). anyhow, the neighbor was sort of 'old school' and he wasn't much concerned that the dog routinely got out of the fenced back yard and was always wondering the neighbor hood (yeah, how non-yuppie of him right?).
so this other neighbor was good friends with them and this dog would routinely pop into her house through the cat door and eat the food left in cat's bowl. it was a routine non-event.
except this one time the dog apparently wasn't satisfied with the left overs and found the rather large bag of cat food.
she came home and found the dog in the kitchen with the bag stuck on his head - dead!
yeah, i know, how weird is that, right? but i swear, this is a true story.

so we see her shortly after this, the neighbor with the cat door/food, and she relates the story to us in a mildly incredulous but rather matter-of-fact manner. my wife expresses appropriate shock and dismay, as most normal people would.
me? i drolly ask, "did he leave a note?". ('leave a note'. suicide note. get it?).
she laughed, well it was more like a snort/laugh actually.
yeah, i was sort of holding my breath there during the pause til my line sunk in (my wife nearly beat me once we got out of sight), but i had a pretty good sense of who/what this person was. now she thinks i'm witty- there's no accounting for taste(!)

garyDangerous

[pink_albatross]

Update:

another batch of cats is recuperating from their surgery today.
Karen and Matthew picked up SEVEN cats from Emma Jane Saturday evening. One of the female cats is highly pregnant, so she's hanging out at Rickie's cat rescue's maternity ward, probably dropping a litter soon. Once the kittens are weaned, she'll return to Emma Jane's colony, spayed and vaccinated. The rescue will find homes for the kittens.

One of the male cats was already neutered. The clinic gave him a rabies vaccination gratis.
Three males and two females were neutered and spayed. Both of those females were pregnant.

If anybody can help with transport back to Emma Jane, that would be much appreciated. We would like to return the males tomorrow, Monday, and the females on Tuesday.

Many thanks to everybody who has helped so far, adopting cats, picking up cats, dropping of cats, providing funds. You are a great bunch of people! This whole thing would not be possible without you.

-- ellis
p.s. we could use a few more funds (11 cats are paid for now). There are a few more cats to take care of. We think four. Almost there!
Also, would anybody like to adopt a young female, very sweet, all black cat with a deformed (congenital) foot? Gets around fine.

[brianvh]

"Two of the three females were pregnant..."

"One of the female cats is highly pregnant..."

" Both of those females were pregnant. "

Might it be more efficient to invest in a kitty television set or some toys? I'm thinking these animals are sorely lacking in alternative forms of entertainment.

[Dave Proctor]

Ellis,

Thanks for spearheading this effort. I didn't think to give you some $ last Saturday. Remind me next time, or PM your address and I will send a check.

Thanks again,

DaveP

[Paul Tjaden]

I'll help out with what Craigin was referring too. Someone (Ellis?) was trying to find a home for a cat and she gave the cat a long and flattering description. Terry's very short reply was "Is it plump?"
Thought I was gonna die!

Paul

P.S. Lauren and I took on a similar but slightly smaller scale project at a local restaurant here in Groveland. After spending a small fortune on the first one, we found an inexpensive spay and neuter clinic about 30 minutes away and took care of 4 or 5 more and then released them back at the restaurant that had been feeding them. Getting the big Tom who was only slightly tamed into the crate was quite an experience. Unfortunately, a couple of the younger ones were killed by cars but it's fun to go see our kitties when we eat at this place. After taking care of the first group, there have not been any more strays joining them.

It's a great thing you are doing.

[pink_albatross]

Update: We just got fully funded!

Well, that is assuming that the cat count is accurate and we really only have 4 cats left to catch and get fixed.

Anyway, if you were still going to contribute, hold off for now. If we need more funds, I won't hesitate to post

A BIG HUGE thank you to everybody who's helped either with funds or with transport or donation of items!!!
Now for the last push...
Keep your fingers crossed that we get the rest of the cats before they produce more kittens!

-- ellis

[pink_albatross]

Update: picked up two barely weaned kittens this afternoon and one cat. Age estimate: 7 weeks.
Anybody want two supercute (grey tabby and totally black) kittens? Have to take both.
Let me know soon or they'll go to the cat rescue, where I was going to initially drop them off tonight.

-- ellis
703-five three six - 3209

[mcelrah]

Ellis reports that the kittens are going to the rescue place as of this (Sunday) morning so act fast if you are interested... - Hugh

[pink_albatross]

next batch:
got a new trap and was able to get the big new tomcat (the old one died) and 5 kittens. Supercute kittens.
They were all fixed on Sunday, got their shots, got a flea treatment and their ears tipped.

Well... if any of you are looking for a kitten or know of someone who might: There is one female dark grey/brown tabby who is friendly and would be adoptable, best for her to go to a place with other cats, because she loves other cats. And then there is the long haired brown kitten, a bit on the shy side, but can be handled. Looks like a Maine Coon kitten, but is most likely a mix. This is one of the kittens which got dumped at Emma Jane's. Both of these are 2 lbs, but the short haired one is probably a little older. The Maine Coon is probably about 3 months, while the other one is probably more like 4 months old.

Btw, if anybody wants to help return kittens to the colony that would help out a lot. Even if you can only do one run. Usually the males get returned on Monday and the females get returned on Wednesday or Thursday. There are at least four cats and kittens left. The next run will be the weekend of the 10th of October, meaning the males need to be returned to EJ on Monday, the 12th and the females on Wednesday or Thursday, the 14th or 15th.

Also, I am out of funds now. Her colony grew a little since earlier this year, because I just couldn't get to all of the cats in time (and are people now starting to dump cats at her place? grrrrrr). Thank you to all of you who have contributed! Couldn't have been done without you (22 cats now!!!). If those of you who were going to contribute but whose funds I didn't think I need, could send me your check now, that would be much appreciated. I won't turn away anybody. I learned my lesson. If I get more funds than there are cats, I can give the rest of the money at the end of the year to the club or I can return it to you. Let me know what you want me to do in that case when you send me your check. Thanks!

-- ellis

[pink_albatross]

While not every cat has been caught and neutered, unless we find some volunteers to help with the project, the Emma Jane cat colony project has now been concluded.

A big THANK YOU for all of you who have helped with either funds or with ferrying cats back to Emma Jane after their fix. This could not have been done without you. We managed to take care of 22 cats, fixing them, and even finding homes for some! That's 22 cats who can now lead a healthier life. Being pregnant and nursing non-stop takes quite a toll on a body. Also kittens in a colony like that don't have an easy life. Foxes prey on them. They are often inbred and one litter had neurological problems (we actually found homes for that litter - these are not included in the 22 count, as the litter was born after momma cat was turned over to rescue) and those kittens would have had no chance at outside survival. Being an intact male also is not easy. It means fights and spats, being kicked out of the colony maybe or dieing from a slow death due to infections of minor wounds.

Unfortunately there are still a handful of cats left. But after a year of devoting a whole weekend per month to Emma Jane's cats when I thought it would take two weekends at most (ha ha ha), I'm burned out. And missing out on some prime flying didn't help my morale. I'll be happy to continue assisting with the cat project if someone else wants to take over. At the very least I would need to have someone willing to trap the cats on the Saturday before the monthly cat neuter clinic and get the cats to my house in Arlington. Also we are out of funds now and more fund raising would be needed.

But hey, we got 22 (!!!) cats taken care of. That's quite an effort, I'd say!

So, a BIG THANK YOU to all of you who have contributed, I hope the universe will smile on you and provide you with happy holidays and a wonderful new year!

-- ellis

[kcarra]

The thanks really need to go to Ellis. A few of us came up with the idea but Ellis really took over and ran with it, despite being allergic to cats (!) and one of the air hungriest pilots around!

Karen

[Matthew]

...one of the air hungriest pilots around!

****

I believe the expression is "air HORNIEST pilot".

BIG BIG THANKS TO ELLIS!!!! You deserve some sort of medal for your incredible effort.

Or maybe a trophy????

I've got a great big trophy for you over at my house--- a big wooden one with a large round head -- for the air HORNIEST pilot.

I'm talking about the CHGA Distinguished Service Award (of course).

Matthew

[pink_albatross]

I am cleaning out my basement on this rainy weekend and I found two cat traps.
I *think* they belong to the cat rescue, but if I owe anybody a cat trap, please let me know?
I can't get at my files (hard drive hosed) where I've been keeping track of this sort of thing, so if these are yours, please let me know, before I return them to the cat rescue!

and thanks again to everybody who so graciously helped with time, with donations and with adopting some of the kittens!
-- ellis