Heavily pregnant cat needs haven

Lady phoned me today regarding a heavily pregnant cat that's been in her garden the last week. She's feeding it but wants it gone.  Right now I only have a small dog pen to put her into, far too small for a cat and litter of kittens to be stuck in for the next 8 weeks minimum while the kittens are reared and old enough to be homed.  I KNOW there are loads of people out there who have space in their homes or sheds where they could easily offer this poor pet a safe haven while she has her kittens and rears them out of this freezing cold weather.  So PLEASE open your heart and home and don't leave it all to the rescues because we are groaning under the strain.  And kitten season hasn't even started yet.

Sweet Sorcha is spayed

Last November, I got a call about a kitten in a alley way in a town, with its mother - who was lying dead in a drain nearby.  When I got there, the kitten was running around obviously frightened, and when anyone approached, ran to its mother and either lay beside her or on top of her, it was one of the most heartbreaking sights I've seem in cat rescue for some time.  The lady who found them said the kitten had been suckling its mum.  Eventually we caught the kitten, a black and white girl, skin and bone, about five weeks old.  I took mum too and she was buried here in the wide open spaces of the countryside near the forest.  I hope she's running free at Rainbow Bridge.

At that time I promised her kitten who I initially named Meadow and later changed to Sorcha that no kitten of hers would ever have to go through what she had and yesterday I fulfilled that promise and brought her to the vet where she was spayed.  Today she is home, delighted with herself, greeting the dogs and the other cats after her day away and proudly displaying her spay site to one and all.

She is a sweetheart and is looking for a furever home now.  She's very affectionate and would be a lovely housepet for someone.  It'll be a heartbreak for me to see her go but so long as she gets a good home where she'll be loved and spoiled for the rest of her life, I'll be happy.   

New arrival!

We have a new arrival, a large black and white "Felix" male.  A stray who's been visiting a friends house for some time, who for family reason can no longer care for him.  Picked him up yesterday and took him straight to the vet for the snip (neuter!) and chip (microchip).  He's here now relaxing in a dog pen which is all I have for him so hoping a home materialises soon.  

Longhaired ginger and white kitten wanted

Family looking for longhaired ginger and white kitten, sounds like nice home, haven't done homecheck but will do when/if kitten becomes available.

These two cats are missing from Castlebar

These two cats are missing from Castlebar since Saturday 20th March, both went missing at the same time which is unusual.  Their owners are very upset and would love to have them back. Any news please let us know.

Ginger/grey tabby kitten wanted

A family are looking for a ginger or grey tabby kitten, sounds like a good home, haven't done a homecheck yet but they have two cats already, one is 13 years and the other is 9 years old, so clearly they know what they're doing.

If anyone has any, leave a comment.

Black cat found in Castlebar

A black cat wearing a collar has been found in Castlebar.  If it's yours please get in touch.

7 cats looking for homes

There are seven cats in Ballyvary looking for new homes.  Three are tame and come into the house and lounge on the couch as cats do! The other four are more outdoor and not 100% tame but with the help of the taming videos on our Youtube channel:  http://www.youtube.com/user/Mayocatrescue the cats should tame eventually or could live outside in a shed.  

All are adult, spayed/neutered and mainly black and white with one all black. One is named Fluffy and is longhaired black and white.

These cats are being cared for by a neighbour of the owner who passed away recently, and can no longer cope with that many cats.  

Please get in touch if you can offer a home to one or more of these cats.

8 cats in Galway looking for homes

Lady phoned today with a typical situation.  A cat came into her garden a year ago and feeling sorry for it began feeding it.  Turned out to be a female cat and she went on to have two kittens, who quickly grew up and had kittens of their own. And now the lady has eight cats in her garden and she's moving soon from Galway to Dublin and her question is:  "What's going to happen to the cats?" We get this all the time.  Often it's 12, 15, 25  cats.  This lady was polite, sometimes people are threatening:  "If you don't come now and take them away, I'm going to poison them/starve them/shoot them".    

If only people would spay that one cat when she arrives, it would save so much heartache not to mention tons of kittens.  This is why we have such a massive number of feral/wild cats in Ireland today, because we are feeding strays but failing to spay/neuter them.

I've asked this lady to send photos of the cats so when she does, I'll upload.  In the meantime two of the cats are tame, three are semi-tame and three are wild. Most are black and white. The two tame ones are neutered and I've suggested she get the rest neutered asap.  

Mayo Cat Rescue on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Mayocatrescue

Mayo Cat Rescue now has it's own channel on YouTube and I've just uploaded three terrific videos on taming and socialising kittens from the Urban Cat League, New York.  This is for anyone who finds themselves with wild/feral kittens on their hands and wants to know how to tame them so they can be homed successfully.  

As you can see, it takes time and patience. Enjoy!

Cats looking for homes

Apart from the gang here looking for homes, the following are also:

White five/six month old friendly female cat in Swinford.

Black neutered eight month old friendly male cat in Louisburgh - HOMED

Black four month old, shy but friendly, female kitten in Ballyheane

Tortie spayed friendly female cat in Castlebar

Please reply if you can offer them a good home. 

Two white cats went to their new home also

On Friday 12th March, I also brought the two gorgeous, but still semi-feral, longhaired white cats to their new home. They too are gone to live in the countryside up a quiet road, in a quiet house with one adoring owner.  So I'm very hopeful it'll work out.  C has a lot of experience of cats (her last cat lived to be 17) and is patient and understanding so will let them do things at their pace rather than hers.  It's so great to find people like that who are willing to give the cats a chance and give them time to settle and come out of their shell instead of expecting the perfect pet immediately.  It really is worth the wait.  

So I set up the dogpen in the very large conservatory and settled them in, they seemed ok with their new surroundings.  C sent me an update during the week (and a pic, above!) to say they are doing well, and beginning to explore their new surroundings. Great!  

Halle is gone to her new home

Friday, 12th March I brought Halle, the cat dumped here at Christmas, to her lovely new home in the countryside near the sea.  She has the run of the house, two dogs, two guinea pigs and some chickens to keep her company and plenty of space to play and hunt outside.  

She did so well.  I wasn't sure how she would react in a new environment with new people, though she had already met them and got on fine with them.  I thought she might hide behind the furniture but after a few minutes out of the carrier and looking around and sniffing a few things, she hopped up on a chair and basked in all the attention and petting she was getting. 

I left a dog pen with the family to use to help introduce her to the dogs and vice versa.  One of the dogs is a Newfoundland, he is HUGE, but gorgeous.

The family sent me a text the following morning to say Halle had a good first night, had used her litter tray and eaten well and they are already very attached to her.  I'm so happy for her, they are a lovely family with two well behaved, well mannered young men aged 9 and 11, so fingers crossed she has a long happy life with them.  We miss her here.

Stevie not improving

So Stevie, the cat with the auto immune disease which affects his skin, had his steroid top up injection today.  His skin was quite broken out so we are going to go with monthly injections from now on rather than every six weeks.  The maritime pine bark he's been on for the past few weeks hasn't made any significant improvement in his skin and so we're discontinuing it.  

But we're not giving up.  This is going to be trail and error.  Good old Cod Liver Oil has been recommended as something which helps calm the immune system so we've started this evening and lets hope it works, it would be so great if the steroid injections could be decreased at the very least and his skin cleared up. Here's hoping. 

And two more have a home too!

On Saturday a friend of a friend came round to have a look at the cats.  Her 17 year old cat passed away some weeks ago and she's looking for two.  I had the longhaired black and white cat and her sister, a shorthaired tortie in mind as they are quite tame with me and I thought they would be ideal for her.  But as it happens she fell in love with the two longhaired white cats, which isn't surprising as they are truly stunning cats.  They are both girls, possibly sisters, and one has blue eyes and one has yellow eyes.  

Only problem is they are not very tame, I've had them for months and they won't let me touch them yet, though if I corner them, they will let me pick them up so I'm really hoping this works out.  It's a quiet house, there's just herself, no kids, no other pets so ideal in that respect as they are not used to much noise or activity.  They'll be living in the countryside which is great for them.  They'll be heading off in a couple of weeks so keeping fingers crossed this works out also.

Halle may have a home!

Well, it's looking like Halle has a home, I'm so happy for her.  Last week a lady got in touch looking for a house cat and as Halle is the tamest cat I have at the moment, I though she would be the best candidate for them.  They called round on Saturday to have a look at her.  It was nerve wracking because Halle went out Saturday morning for a wander around as she usually does now and only returned ten minutes before the people arrived! Phew! 

Anyway she let them pet her and they seemed happy with her.  She's going to live in a house with two dogs, two guinea pigs and some chickens in the countryside so plenty of space for her to wander about and hunt which she seems to like to do.   

They're taking her in a couple of weeks and in the meantime are getting a catflap fitted and buying all the bits and pieces she'll need.  I'm going to loan them a dog pen so she can meet the dogs and get used to them and they her in a calm controlled way. 

Fingers crossed it all goes according to plan.