Kijiji Ad # 392154507

Good Morning

I have a very unhappy story to share with you today.

This cat lives in Nova Scotia. I doubt very much the place he lives is a cat colony, most of them are registered. He lives on a property that has too many cats and that number is constantly growing because the females are constantly pregnant. A couple of the kittens have been rescued and some of the cats the neighbors have either taken in or at the least, offer food, shelter, a place to heal from their wounds and some love and attention. That is the case with this young adult male. He lives his life alone, wandering from neighbor to neighbor. When he's at the house where he was born he is picked on and abused by the other cats so he is low on the scrapping ladder because he is not a fighter. He will make noises to try and scare other cats away but usually he is the one who gets hurt and driven off. He's had a very hard life and has been injured many times; the neighbor who offers help to him can't afford to take him to a vet, so instead offers him a place to rest and heal as best he can each time he's hurt. He's been an outdoor cat all his life but again, this neighbor brings him inside as often as she can to try and get him used to it. I have had cats exactly like that on the cat colony where I live and have tamed them to the point that they adapt well to being indoors. Abandoned to live out of doors year round, he is driven by loneliness and pain when he's hurt, to visit this neighbor for the only kindness he's ever known.

In spite of the cruel hardship and the abuse from the other cats he gets along with kids and adults; he tries to please so he won't be hurt. He tends to be very timid but warms to people kindness and loves any attention humans can spare for him. He's very affectionate with a gentle personality and although he tries to get along with other cats; he won't fight. He seems to get on well with dogs but will hiss at them if a dog gets too close for comfort.  He has a gorgeous coat and seems to be in good health, he'd adapt well to being an indoor/outdoor cat since he's been an outdoors all his life. One of his known injuries was he had a claw or something stuck around his tail area that must have festered and ruptured. By the time he got to the neighbors, he had a hole about the size of a nickel by his tail. She couldn't afford the vet so gave him children's aspirin for the acute pain he was in and put healing cream on the injury and it finally healed.  He has never been to a vet and has had no vaccinations, nor is he neutered but he looks healthy.  He likely suffers the added torment of ear mites as most of these unwanted, abandoned throw-aways do and he digs, painfully, at his ears. 

I first learned about this cat with the last Kijiji ad I placed to re-home a kitten that had started coming round again since last winter. Since then my contact and I have been emailing back and forth about this abandoned and thrown away animal. She tells me that ' He is just an awesome cat, plain and simple, who deserves to take it easier from now and be loved.  That's all I want to see for him.  If you ever met him, I am confident you or anyone would fall for him. He's never been hit as far as I know, just left alone and without 'the neighbor', he would be completely alone.'

 

My contact lives on PEI and visits friends in Nova Scotia, she says 'I can bring him home (to PEI) anytime I come back from Nova Scotia as long as he's there. Because the cat is not used to being indoors I really do not want to bring him here unless it is to go to his forever home. It would likely be too much for him going from home to home and trying to adapt to being an indoor cat for the first time in his life.'

 

In the place he stays now there is very little chance of finding enough food to sustain his life for much longer. The person only feeds the multitude of cats there by dumping some leftovers and some dry cat food but very likely there is not nearly enough for all of them; the cats that don't fight for dominance and control over the territory and food get pushed out along with the kittens. As is the case with this cat. My contact adds the following, 'He's super sweet, loving, very gentle and loves attention. He's been picked on by many other cats but he doesn't want to fight himself. His fur is super soft and thick; he's an average size.'

Together we decided to place an ad on Kijiji to try and re-home him from Nova Scotia to PEI. I placed an ad for him early this morning: Kijiji Ad # 392154507

'I told my friend about the possibly of finding this cat a home and like me, she's over the moon happy. We put up fliers before but no one wanted a full grown male cat it seemed, especially one who he isn't fixed. Maybe we could put an ad on Kijiji explaining things and if or when we got someone who wanted him, I could go get him within a week or two.' 

Well dear readers, what can I tell you. Between the two of us we are desperately trying to find a 'forever' home for this lost and hurting cat; the only people now who hold his fate in their hands is you. This is what my blog is really all about ~ to get the word out and to help the unwanted and cast aside in our society. The Forgotten. Will someone of you answer my ad and give this animal a new home and a new start in life? Really, is it asking that much to make room in someone's life for him?

I sure hope not. I would take him in a heartbeat but I already have four and live on a registered cat colony. My contact has cats and a dog of her own...  So, we are asking you to give this unfortunate a forever home. 

P~L~E~A~S~E --- go read the ad at Kijiji Ad # 392154507 and contact me, either through Kijiji or through the email address on the upper right of my blog; here it is again:

catspaw04@gmail.com

Catspaw

I have checked the status of the ad, it has been delayed but I am contacting Kijiji concerning it.

More On Feral Cats

The caption on the website reads: 'She Deserves To Live

Feral cats are the descendants of our domesticated cats that have  returned to their wild state. They are distinguished from the local stray cat population ... pet cats that have been lost, abandoned or simply thrown on the side of the road and survive the fling from the car window. Most ferals are born in the wild while the offspring of a stray can also be considered feral by virtue of also being born in the wild. What constitutes wild? The brush at the back of your yard, the small forest across the road in a rural area; the city park is home to more than just pigeons!

Trapped feral for spay or neuter

Feral cats are a growing problem in Australia where they prey on a wide variety of the local wildlife; bird populations of cockatoos and other species suffer at their paws but they are just trying to survive like any other animal. In the arid and semi-arid areas of the country their primary food sources are mostly the introduced European rabbits and house mice that some genius figured was a good idea to bring over. In the forests and urbanized environs they feed mostly on the native marsupial prey that's available, this is based on the 22 studies that were done and summarized in the Dickman report in 1996. Unfortunately, in many of the arid parts of Australia where rabbits don't thrive, the cats take the native rodents which includes bird and reptile populations that form the smaller portion of the cats diets.

Cat with no home, no one to look after him but himself and he's punished for it

Feral cats have become the apex predators in some local ecosystems but in others they are preyed on by feral dogs, dingoes and coyotes. They have become the food sources of much larger animals like wolves, bears, cougars and leopards. Bobcats, the lynx, hyenas, even fishers have taken feral cats as a meal. As have local crocodiles, snakes, foxes and other birds of prey. The overall effects on wildlife vary but the impact of our domestic and feral cats on local wildlife is still a centuries old debate.

Feral Dogs

Australian Dingo

 

Coyote taking refuge in empty bus, as much a victim as the feral cats

 

 

More victims of human inhumanity

 

 

These are the predators of the feral cats that we humans have created in colonies round the globe over the past century. 


No animal deserves this treatment from a humane, civilized society and yet...

In1916 a report was done for the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture entitled The Domestic Cat: Bird Killer, Mouser and Destroyer of Wildlife. In this report, noted Ornithologist Edward Howe Forbush stated in the preface:
"Questions regarding the value or in-utility of the domestic cat and problems connected with limiting its more or less unwelcome outdoor activities are causing much dissension. The discussion has reached an acute stage. Medical men, game protectors and bird lovers call on legislators to enact restrictive laws. Then ardent cat lovers rouse themselves for combat. In the excitement of partisanship many loose and ill-considered statements are made."


This report actually cited Extinct Birds, a book published in 1905 by zoologist Walter Rothschild who stated, "man and his satellites, cats, rats, dogs and pigs are the worst and in fact the only important agents of destruction of the native avifaunas wherever they go."

Stephens Island Wren, extinct bird species

Rothschild went on to give several examples of cats in general causing the extermination of some bird species on islands.

Apparently the man gave equally no thought to how these feral and domesticated cats got there in the first place and that it took some brilliant 'human' to come up with the idiotic idea of populating already populated islands with rabbits and cats in the first place! Really, some people ought to try 'thinking' before they talk out loud!!


Even today there are farmers and gamekeepers that see feral cats as absolute vermin to be exterminated at all cost. Because the feral cat populations catch and eat ground nesting birds like pheasants and partridge that are protected, for no better reason than for people to kill them in flight when they go on their hypocritical bird hunts ~ not unlike the excuses they give for local fox hunting. To protect their birds some gamekeepers have resorted to setting traps and shooting any feral cats they find, on sight, as part of their ongoing, so-called pest control campaigns. Does this sound like a charmed life of freedom to you?


Please, think twice before dumping your unwanted cats on some farm or dairy or by the side of the road, your actions have direct consequences for these animals. Do the more humane thing and at least take the unwanted animal to a shelter or SPCA. Lets not forget that these animals actually 'trust' us to have their best interests at heart. No animal, pet or otherwise, is expendable. If they do become expendable in our world view, which animal is next? Will it be an animal or perhaps an unwanted child. Ask yourself.

Help me, don't hurt me ~ the choice is yours, not mine

Catspaw

Owls ~ The Other Birds Of Prey

What's your favorite bird? I mean, if you had to think about it and choose, which one would you consider your fav.


One of my favorites is the Owl. Just because they are so unique and different from other birds of prey. Check these out and you'll see why.

Aside from looking distinctly different from all the other birds in the world, you have to love that 'head rotation' thing they do to 'hear' you better. I wonder if that occurred to the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood?

With a mighty wing span and near perfectly silent flight, cats and dogs are far safer inside at night, for although they hunt smaller prey, to them your kitten, cat or small dog IS smaller prey. 

From a cat or dog's point of view, this would be terrifying! 

Keep in mind however that, like most animals, they are only fighting to survive and it is a daily fight with the odds not necessarily in their favor. A missed meal is a matter, quite literally, of life and death for him, his mate and their owlets. That could also mean another species on the endangered list as well. 

Its also the reason why I put cat collar with bell on all my cats as a warning to the birds, mice, voles and other smaller animals they hunt ~~ another animal or bird needs them more than my cats need to kill them for sport or to pass the time when they are bored outside and looking for something to do. 

Something to consider when watching your cats and dogs playing at stalking outdoors. We need to take more responsibility and not allow our pets to damage our environment. I realize most people don't even give this a second thought, let alone a first and none of us take into account that maybe we should be more aware of what transpires in our own backyards; instead of taking it for granted that our pets only catch a 'few' small critters ~~ really how much of a dent can it make. Over time, it can mean the decrease in population of these small animals that the birds of prey depend on for their only food source. In the end, what you do does make the difference; are you contributing to something good or something that will help another animal to extinction? 

It always starts small...


Catspaw