Bywater Paws

Course Books have arrived!

2011-09-02T06:55:00.000-07:00

I do love getting interesting post.

I got 6 books from the Open Univeristy for my first 60 credit course with them. Journeys Through a Changing World.

The course starts 1st October and I can't wait!

Roll on Bachelors degree.

-Sabrina

Plan R

2011-04-07T23:32:00.000-07:00

As Bishop Burton cannot guarantee the Foundation Degree course I'm interested in will run at any point I have decided to go another route.

The Open University.

I start a bachelors degree in Environmental Studies next month. It will probably take me about 5 years to complete it but they have a lovely pay as you go system.

Once that's completed I will probably take another cat course or two before applying at Bishop Burton for their Masters Degree.

It may seem a around about way and what does Environmental anything have to do with animals? Well a big part Animal conservation is knowing the environment, and animal behaviour.

I plan to combine the two for a PHD.

Looking foward to starting, I know it will be a lot of hard work but I do enjoy learning new things.

-S

There is a plan B

2010-08-05T08:34:00.001-07:00

After a few emails and phone calls with Bishop Burton trying to find out the details of when my course starts in September, enrolment date and when the tuition is due. I’ve found out that they may not have enough applicants to actually run the course!

I’m guessing the cut back in student loans and the fact this is a part time course (no funding available at all now) has effected how many people want to enrol.

So I’m looking at plan B.

Take my other two financial administration exams (free) and my bookkeeping exams (£50) for 2010. Low cost, low fuss and I’ll manage certificates in both which will look very good on a CV.

Then in 2011 reapply for the Bishop Burton course or go forward with a diploma in Animal Behaviour.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Feral Cats in England

2010-06-29T03:13:00.000-07:00

Below is the last essay I did for COAPE, I received a very good grade on it and I’m very proud of the way it turned out. The rescues involved in helping where amazing to take the time out to do the survey.

Feral Cats in the United Kingdom and the Rescues Who Work Towards Controlling the Feral Cat Population

Wherever humans have travelled or inhabited they have left behind something, often cats, which has led to cats inhabiting the four corners of the world. For better or worse these animals have been let loose in every country, in some cases causing a feral cat problem. Australia is a good example of this where feral cats are accused of obliterating certain native species. The United States of America also has a very large feral problem and deals with it in various ways. Here in the United Kingdom, however, feral cats have more than a few helping hands. Cat welfare groups and rescues all over England and Scotland work tirelessly to help the feral cat population. Not only do they practice trap neuter and release programs and feed these cats but they also attempt to tame as many as they can. On occasion they also move feral colonies to safer locations when necessary. All these rescues are non profit, and very few receive any funds other than donations from the public.

Feral cats are cats who were once domestic cats or the descendants of domestic cats who are now living in the wild. These cats may have once been loved pets that were discarded or (possibly un-neutered) cats who wondered off away from home. Feral cats will form colonies wherever there is food and water supply and shelter available; these places can be farms, industrial estates, hospitals, markets, or landfills. Where there is one feral cat there are sure to be others as most of these animals are un-neutered and will breed until either they are captured or die. The life span of a feral cat is measured in a mere few years whereas a domestic cat’s life span is roughly 15 years, though with today’s veterinarian medicine this can be extended. In contrast, it is estimated that 80% of feral kittens die from accident or disease in their first year. These cats are seen as pests by some and poor creatures that need our help by others. Those who do wish to help have various ways to do so.

There is a common misconception that cats can look after themselves without human intervention. This is dead wrong; all cats need certain things to survive. All cats need a food supply, water supply, and shelter at the very least. Domestic cats receive more than this: toys, beds, gourmet food, and if they are very lucky a loving caring owner. Feral cats on the other hand are not so lucky and must scavenge for themselves. Rescues are not the only ones who help feral cats; animal lovers everywhere will notice animals wondering and some will even feed these animals. The internet is a good place to start for anyone who thinks they have a feral cat or colony in their area. Cat Action Trust (http://www.catactiontrust.org.uk/) is a great place to get information on feeding feral cats and taming feral kittens.

England is said to be a nation of animal lovers; however, like any other country where there is love for animals there is also cruelty to animals. Some people believe these feral cats to be pests who open rubbish bags, attack beloved pets, mess in gardens and generally causing havoc. There are others, however, who are sometimes known as crazy cat ladies (and occasionally crazy cat men) who will go out of their way to look after feral cats providing them with shelter, food and water to keep the animals as looked after as they are able. However as with domestic cats there comes a time when the animals get sick or have kittens; this is when these helpers call on cat rescues. They contact rescues to get advice on how to deal with the various problems that come along with feral cats. If they are lucky the rescue will provide a trap to catch the feral cat and help to ensure that the animal gets the care needed. Not all rescues however are so helpful when it comes to feral cats. Unfortunately even with all the good intentions by rescues and feeders there are still people in the United Kingdom who instead of contacting a rescue will put down poison or drown feral cats. Research has shown that killing these animals does not work in the long run, but this fact does not seem to stop certain people.

The Ceclia Hammond website says that there are over 2 million feral cats in the United Kingdom and that this number could be higher. A study was done by J.L. Dards in Portsmouth back in 1975 regarding the feral cat colony located in the dockyard area. Around 300 feral cats lived in an area where they were at a ratio of 2 cats per hectare. The study took into account habitat, territory, social behaviour, population dynamics, activity patters and genetics. Feral colonies in the United Kingdom however are not limited to the Portsmouth area; many others exist. Some are under the watchful eye of a rescue whereas others have yet to be discovered.

Every rescue deals with cats differently. Some will not take FIV positive cats and will either find them a different rescue to go into or put them to sleep. Feral cats are no different; some rescues will not deal with them at all. RSPCA is notorious for telling people who report a feral to leave it alone and not to feed it as the cat will move on (this also applies to stray cats now). Whereas rescues like Cecilia Hammond, Cat Action Trust 1977, Paws Inn, and various others will attempt to find a place for the feral cats or on occasion attempt to tame them, all these rescues will neuter the cat when they are involved. Although the current economic climate is difficult and rescues are closing their doors a few have opened. In Leeds, West Yorkshire the Feral Cat Welfare Group has just started to take up where the Adel Cats Protection left off. Having just opened in March 2010, their goal is to help as many feral cats in the area, and when they come across feral kittens to tame them and find homes. They are currently recruiting volunteers for fostering, photographing, and various other roles as volunteers are crucial to any rescue.

Leeds, West Yorkshire has lost three rescues in the past year. Cats Protection Adel was one of these rescues who closed their doors in January 2010; they were one of the few in the area who dealt with feral cats as well as the more homeable cats. This is happening all over at the moment, rescues that are not getting the help they deserve are closing down and the cats are left to fend for themselves. On the other hand, Cats Protection are proposing to open a new rescue centre in which cats will have one month in there to be shown off with the goal being adoption. This might seem harsher than the fostering option; very few rescues have an actual centre and use volunteers to keep the animals in their own homes until a new home is found. However it is their hope that putting the more homeable cats into the centre will produce a quicker turn around time and leave the fosterer’s time to work with the more skittish cats. Whether this process will succeed is up for debate.

Wharfe Valley Cats Protection (North Yorkshire) has been running for 25 years this year and covers mainly the North West of Leeds including Rawdon, Yeadon and Burley in Wharfedale. The rescue works heavily with feral cats and colonies in the Yorkshire area. They have links with Leeds City Council and attend meetings with them to give a rescue’s perspective on what the rescue has to deal with and how they can work with the council. They also work closely with the housing associations and council tenants to try and stop the problem of out of control breeding that usually leads to feral colonies. With the demise of the Adel Cats Protection, Wharfe Valley has started working with another independent rescue in Bradford to offer neutering vouchers in the area as there is no Cats Protection or RSPCA in the Bradford area.

Sunny Harbour Rescue in Scotland has been open for about a year and has only recently delved into the world of feral cats. They discovered a feral cat colony in an industrial area they cover and instead of ignoring it they contacted all the local rescues to find out if this was a managed feral colony. This was not a managed colony and Sunny Harbour started a trap neuter and release program. For two months they struggled to not only scope out the area to discover how many cats they were dealing with but also to set a feeding regime so that when it was time to start trapping, the cats would have a routine. They ran into one problem where an elderly couple were dumping bags of cat food when the weather was tolerable which meant the cats were not sticking to the routine the rescue had set. Eventually after speaking to various people in the area they discovered who the elderly couple were and discussed the problem with them. Once that stopped they were able to start trapping the cats. They originally thought that there were around ten cats with a few kittens; in the end they discovered that there were over twenty adult cats and a plethora of kittens. Mom and kittens were trapped first, which posed various problems for the trappers. Kittens do not always all go into the trap or the mother cat will leave the kittens in the trap. However, in the end they were able to catch both kittens and mothers. Mothers were neutered once the kittens were weaned and returned to the colony. Kittens where all tamed and homed. The rest of the adult cats were slowly trapped neutered and released. Sunny Harbour will continue to look after this feral colony in the years to come.

Even with the best intentions fostering feral kittens is never an easy task. Teresa at Paws Inn rescue in Cheshire says that it is a special thing when a feral cat allows you to own them and she is not wrong. I myself have fostered feral kittens. Sadly they were caught later than optimal for taming. They were twelve weeks old, a fluffy female black and white and a short haired female who was all black. They were born in someone’s garden in the Leeds area, three kittens. One was kept by the home owners and the other two given to the Cat Action Trust 1977 Leeds branch as they were not people friendly. Any kitten over six or seven weeks of age you have a 50/50 chance of taming. Oddly it worked out exactly 50/50 with Harley and Quinn. With Harley I was able to tame her completely. It took weeks and months and every step forward was hard won. Quinn however never took to being handled; however she would come and sniff your fingers and play with fishing rod like toys. When re-homed two years ago, Quinn disappeared after five days the new owners thought she had escaped outside. However a throughout search of the inside of the house and the surrounding area (including laying traps) was unsuccessful. It wasn’t until seven weeks later she was found under the kitchen cabinets yowling. Sadly she was too far gone and had to be put to sleep, I was there to hold her as the vets put her to sleep. It’s one of the hardest things for a fosterer, to lose one of their charges. Even though the owners were devastated they still had Harley who has continually come on leaps and bounds from the wide-eyed feral kitten to a bossy, loving adult cat. To this day when they take Harley to the veterinarians for her yearly jabs the staff cannot believe that this lovely cat started life as a feral cat.

Sadly not every rescue works with feral cats. It all depends on the rescue itself and in some cases the branch in question. Cats Protection and the RSPCA are prime examples of each branch working differently. Some will help feral cats whereas others will have nothing to do with them at all. There are various reasons for this; a main reason is finances available. Each rescue only has so much money to work with and if all that money goes into working with feral cats then there is nothing left to help unwanted domestic or stray cats in the area. It works both ways; some rescues are better at balancing and can deal with all three types of cats, and other rescues choose what type they will work with. And then there are some rescues who deal only with pedigree cats. The RSPCA have recently announced that they will no longer be taking in stray or unwanted pet cats putting a further strain on smaller rescues around the United Kingdom. This could affect as many as 75,000 unwanted cats across England and Wales.

Although there are many rescues who do work directly with feral cats there is always room for improvement. Unfortunately the two things that would vastly increase a rescue’s work are not always available. Good volunteers are hard to come by in many rescues. People who will willingly go out into any kind of weather conditions to feed and look after feral cats are extremely hard to come by. Money is the other hard to come by resource. Rescues are not government-supported in the United Kingdom and therefore they work off donations alone. Feral cats need not only to be neutered but also health checked, which can cost into the hundreds of pounds depending on how rough the cat has been living.

Sadly even in the year 2010 a lot of misinformation about cats. Many people still believe that a female cat has to have at least one litter, or that a male cat does not have to be neutered. And though the internet has many accessible websites to explain proper care and health of cats not everyone cares or has internet access. Various rescues run local and nationwide campaigns for adopting cats and neutering but these still do not reach everyone. Even people with full knowledge still let un-neutered cats outside to breed. Education is one way forward to help those who do not know or understand how to take care of their cat. Female cats who are allowed to have litter upon litter have a higher risk of certain cancers. Male cats who are un-neutered have a higher risk of cystitis, which in a male cat can be life threatening. Even the most caring owner may not have full knowledge on cat care; my own in-laws recently let their cat lick a chocolate wrapper. They were mortified when I informed them how deadly this could be for cats.

Another way to help stem the tide of the feral cat population, though controversial in the United Kingdom is to lower the neutering age. In the United States of America cats can be neutered as soon as eight weeks of age; here in the United Kingdom the age is six months. Not every owner will remember, care, or be able to take their cat to the veterinarians for this, even when most adopted cats come with instructions that the owner will neuter their cat and occasionally even a voucher is given. There are some risks with a younger neutering age, however there are always risks in every surgical procedure. Lowering the neutering age would help cut down on unwanted or unplanned litters and help to control the feral cat population. It’s not a perfect solution nor will it stop feral colonies from starting up but it could decrease the numbers.

The above are my own opinions which though valid aren’t necessarily what rescues believe. To find out exactly what some of the rescues who work with cats thought, I put together a survey (full survey can be seen in Appendix B) using an online survey website called Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com) to find out more. I posted on a forum where various cat rescues work together to help cats, Purrs In Our Hearts Forum. This site not only has rescue workers posting about cats for adoption and information on cats but also raises money to help rescues by selling calendars, holding online auctions and raffles. I received 10 responses to my survey from the following rescues (showing their locations):-

Feral Cat Welfare – Leeds, West Yorkshire
Sunny Harbour Cat and Kitten Rescue – Fife, Scotland
Wharfe Valley Cats Protection - Yorkshire
Adel Cats Protection – Leeds, West Yorkshire
Canterbury Cats Protection – Canterbury, Kent
Eight Lives Left Kitten and Cat Rescue – Gosport, Hampshire
Canterbury and District Cat Rescue – Kent area
Coventry Cat Group - Coventry
Clan Cats – Aberdeenshire
Paws Inn – Cheshire

The first few questions in my survey were basic, to find out the names and locations of each rescue which can be seen above. Surprisingly the rescues are based all over England and Scotland. I also asked how long each rescue had been running. Four are newer and have only been around for between one and five years, three had been running for between five and ten years and a whopping three have been around for fifteen years plus. This shows that though there are some young and brand new (Feral Cat Welfare – Leeds) rescues starting out there are still ones who have been working for years and though the recession has hit everyone hard these rescues are going strong.

I wanted to find out how many volunteers each rescue had because volunteers are the ones who keep rescues running. These are the people who are on the front lines, whether answering phones, fostering cats in their own homes or trapping cats. Six of the rescues answered that they only had between one and five volunteers, two of the rescues showed having between five and ten, one rescue shows between ten and fifteen, and the final rescue answered having fifteen plus volunteers. Based on these results, most rescues only have a handful of volunteers to handle the amount of work that the rescues have.

Having asked whether or not the rescues receive any funding other than donations, only three of the rescues do receive other funding. The other seven receive no other funding at all and live completely off donations received.

When asking how many feral cats the rescue helps per year the answers were very surprising indeed.

Feral Cat Welfare – 12 (however the rescue only started earlier this year)
Sunny Harbour Cat and Kitten Rescue – maintains a colony of around 30
Wharfe Valley Cats Protection – 100+
Adel Cats Protection – around 100 in previous years; rescue now closed
Canterbury Cats Protection – 30 to 50
Eight Lives Left Kitten and Cat Rescue – 20
Canterbury and District Cat Rescue – 10 so far in 2010; more in previous years
Coventry Cat Group - 5
Clan Cats – 30+
Paws Inn – 50+

If we take into account that some of these rescues have been around for fifteen years and rescue fifty cats a year that equates to helping seven hundred and fifty feral cats. Even some of the younger rescues have helped many feral cats and will continue their work. This is only a very small fraction of the rescues in the United Kingdom; there are hundreds of rescues (http://www.catchat.org/adoption/index.html for listing by area). Not all of these rescues help feral cats but many do in one way or another.

Eight out of the ten rescues surveyed run a trap neuter and return program. This means the volunteers go out and trap feral cats take them into the veterinarian to be neutered and checked over. Once that is done and the cats are given the all clear they are returned to the site they were trapped from after a day or so recovery from their neutering operations. This in theory is to reduce the population of feral cats. If you take into account how many litters of kitten’s one female cat can produce per year (roughly three) and the female kittens of those litters will go onto produce even more it is a cycle that if not caught early can quickly turn into feral colonies. When running a trap, neuter and return program, one thing that rescues run into are feral kittens. All ten rescues tame and re-home these kittens. However, due to the short span of time that kittens can be tamed not all rescues attempt to tame feral kittens after seven to twelve weeks. However, four of the rescues say that they will tame and re-home feral cats at one year old and older. The process to tame older feral cats can take months to years, whereas with kittens it is much easier. To tame either takes time and resources that not all rescues have available. Paws Inn is one of the rescues who will attempt to tame a feral cat at any age. Their most recent tamed feral is named Ginga Ninja and was caught at two years old. The picture below shows just how tamed he is.

The most important question I asked was what the rescues thought would help slow down the increase of feral cats. I gave the options of:-

Lower neutering age
Education
More funding for rescues
More rescues working with feral cats
All of the above
None of the above
Other (the survey allowed them to add their own comments here)

Not one of them chose the none of the above option. Seven however agreed that all of the above would be helpful to slow down the increase of feral cats. Two specifically agreed that lowering the neutering age was the way forward. One rescue believes that both education and stronger penalties for cat abandonment (currently a fine or up to six months imprisonment on conviction according to the Abandonment of Animals Act 1960) would help slow the increase of feral cats. Two other rescues both mentioned more rescues working with feral cats or more rescue spaces would help. This shows that the rescues agree with what I have said earlier and that lowering the neutering age, education, funding and more rescues are the way to slow down the growth of feral cats. This is with the understanding that there will always be feral cats, just as there will always be stray and unwanted cats.

Nearly all of the rescues surveyed have advertising in veterinarians, online, and other cat related publications/forums. Most however do not run any advertising outside cat related areas such as veterinarians and cat related forums/websites. More than half of the rescues however run education programs to further educate the public in regards to feral cats.

Though I only asked fourteen questions in my survey I felt that given the limited amount of time rescues have available these were the best questions to ask. The survey showed that these ten rescues are doing nearly everything they can to help feral cats, particularly through trap, neuter and return programs, taming feral cats and education. Each rescue has helped so many feral cats without anything more than donations received from the public. The hard work involved alone is taxing not only on the financial aspect but also on the volunteers physically and mentally. Teresa, who runs Paws Inn out of her home in Cheshire, is on oxygen and still manages to help cats (feral, stray and unwanted) even with being in the hospital for months due to pneumonia.

On a small side note, my original idea was to go out and observe the work rescues do first hand by speaking with Wharfe Valley CP in Yorkshire. However, due to my own bout of pneumonia I was unable to do so. I thanked each rescue profusely for completing the survey as it was my plan b.

Beyond information on the Portsmouth Dockyard feral colony finding further information on feral colonies proved to be a bit more tricky than what I assumed. There are many reference books and websites for the United States of America and as I previously discovered for Australia. This did not prove to be the same for the United Kingdom. However I discovered a fascinating book called The Fate of Controlled Feral Cat Colonies by Warner C. Passanisi and David W. Macdonald. Not only does this book contain information on how feral colonies form but also case histories of feral cat colonies and the Neutering & Returning control schemes in London, Hertfordshire, and Buckinghamshire. The conclusions that these studies came to are much the same as what has been mentioned above: running trap, neuter and release programs, education and funding. However there are a few differences in this study an idea for a national centre for the control of feral cats (again funding is the one thing holding this endeavour back) as well as a national licensing program that would involve tattooing a cat’s ear. However, I assume this was the idea before microchip implants became the popular way of identifying animals and their owners. This book was written in 1990 and it would be great to find out exactly how the feral colonies are fairing today to see if the trap, neuter and release scheme has continued to work.

Feral cats will always be a problem in every country where cats are located (which is nearly everywhere on the planet). However, the United Kingdom and various other countries on different scales are working toward slowing the increase of feral cats. Rescues in the United Kingdom work tirelessly to ensure these cats are looked after whether it is a full colony or a lone feral cat. Today’s economic climate has not improved the work rescues are doing, but one can hope it does not hinder too many of these in the battle to care for these animals. As I’ve said above, not every rescue in the United Kingdom helps feral cats, but those who do have a duty to care for these cats as much as possible and from all that I have read these rescues will continue to do so for as long as they can. Cats Protection are one of the few rescues located all over the United Kingdom and are very well known. Sadly, not all of their branches work with feral cats but they do run a national neutering campaign which does pertain to feral cats as well as domestic cats. Hopefully in the future more rescues will help with feral cats and maybe one day the feral cat population will slow down and be easier to handle and maintain. Trap neuter and return programs, education, funding and most importantly rescues willing to help are the way forward to tackle the problem of feral cats. Feral cats will always be around and it is the duty of everyone to look after these animals, as it is our fault they are here.

Appendix A

References

Websites:-

http://www.messybeast.com/ukferal.htm - FERAL CAT CONTROL IN THE UK
Copyright 1993, revised 2002 Sarah Hartwell

http://www.celiahammond.org/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=29&MMN_position=50:50 – Celia Hammond rescue Olympic site feral project

http://www.catchat.org/feralcats.html - Basic information on feral cats

http://www.catactiontrust.org.uk/ - Information on taming feral kittens and TNR programs

http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th12.htm - Information on feral cats including reproduction

http://www.haws-animals.org.uk/howcanihelp/feral/feral.htm - Information on relocating feral cats

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7102322.ece - RSPCA article regarding no longer taking in strays

http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php?PHPSESSID=5dl1u2jfl7h2pge61vdu8nscp2; - Rescue forum that helps cats in the UK

http://www.sunnyharbour.org.uk/ - Rescue newly involved with a feral colony – I was given permission to use all information and pictures on website by the owner

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Cats-1606/2009/2/feral-cat-colony.htm - Very informative information on feral cats and all aspects of TNR programs

http://www.cats.org.uk/ - Cats Protection’s main website

Books:-

The Fate of Controlled Feral Cat Colonies by Warner C. Passanisi and David W. Macdonald

This artical is copyrighted by Sabrina Peyton and BywaterPaws.com

May Stuff

2010-05-12T04:42:00.001-07:00

I received my certificate from COAPE in regards to completing their Think Cat course, that and the email confirmation are off to Bishop Burton College which will guarantee my space for September.

I’m very much looking forward to it thought it is very daunting. Still, it will be amazing to have a degree when this is all said and done and be able to move onwards to a Bachelors degree.

Even my aunt is now asking me about cats. Not that they own cats her and my uncle are both allergic however the neighbourhood cats like to visit.

Looking to go to the Hope Pastures open day on 23rd May where the Feral Cat Welfare group of Leeds will have a stall. They’ll be selling home made jam which I look forward to buying.

Pictures will follow!

-Sabrina

The end for now

2010-04-29T12:09:00.001-07:00

I've completed my Think Cat course through COAPE. My last essay was on feral cats in the UK. I received a 93% grade on it, which is the highest grade I've gotten. My overall grade was 89.83% so I've passed with distinction.

Next I forward on the docuementation to Bishop Burton College to show I've completed this course which means I will be attending in the fall.

So far my education is moving forward. Until September I'll be taking a break from animal studies and do a bit of financial administration studying.

I very much enjoyed doing the feline behaviour course and hope to do more in that vein later on. I will say however, I knew a lot of the information going in as I've read up on cats so it wasn't a complete challenge. I did however gain a bit of confidence in my writing skills and proved that I can write 5,000 words on a topic.

I also proved that a 9 month course can be done in 4 months.

Furthering Education

2010-03-25T08:57:00.001-07:00

After a lot of research and deliberation I decided to apply to Bishop Burton College for a Foundation Degree in Animal Therapy and Rehabilitation. After getting transcripts and details of my Think Cat course I’ve been conditionally accepted. Once I finish the Think Cat course I have to send them confirmation of completion and then I am fully accepted.

So for three years I’ll be studying with Bishop Burton for the foundation degree. Then onto a bachelors which will take a further two years.

My main goal is to have a master’s degree in Animal Behaviour before I’m forty, so that’s 8 years.

Completely doable.

Taking a leap!

2010-03-09T03:05:00.001-08:00

I’ve made the leap, I have applied for a place at Bishop Burton College in Beverley East Yorkshire. The course is a Foundation Degree in Animal Therapy and Rehabilitation; it is also a distance learning course which works out for me.

I have sent in my application and copies of ID and hope to get my school transcripts from my high school and college asap.

I’ve also asked my tutor for a letter of reference as my course with COAPE doesn’t finish till the end of May so I won’t have anything to show my grades etc.

My last three essays have been very well received, graded at 90%, 88% and 92% respectively. The favourite out of those was writing about kittens first 6 weeks, so I wrote it from the point of view of the kitten. Not sure that was completely proper for the assignment but the tutor liked the idea very much even if I glossed over a few points. Below is the essay, hope you enjoy!

Copyright Sabrina Peyton 2010

The Joy of kitten hood

My name is Joy and I am a cat, okay I’m really just a kitten but I’m growing up fast. I have a mom, two sisters and a brother. My sisters are called Amber and Mia and my brother’s name is Bruiser which fits him perfectly. Out of all of my siblings I resemble my mom the most, she’s something called a tortie and I look a lot like her. Bruiser says I should be called patches because I’m all different colours but I like my name a lot better and everyone says how pretty I am. I have just celebrated my 6 weeks old birthday which seems like a long time to me since I do not want to forget it mom suggested that I tell our parents of the human variety about it so she can write it down. I wasn’t so sure about this but our parents seem to think it was a good idea and I get to chase something called a pencil around a bit while I tell them my story. I’m not allowed to keep the pencil though, they tell me it’s got stuff in it that’s harmful to kittens and will give me a straw to keep instead! I’m not sure what a straw is but I look forward to finding out. Anyway here is what my life has been like so far.

I was born six weeks ago today, it was so very cold at first and dark. That is what I remember the most from that day. The first few moments I was so scared and then I felt something wonderful. My mom was cleaning the goo off me with her tongue, it was a bit rough but I wasn’t alone. I slowly started pushing myself forward as best I could seek mom’s warmth so I could snuggle in. When you are a few minutes old you can’t see, hear or move well but I knew mom was there and that I wanted to be near her. Once I found her I started snuggling and trying to find food, which after a few failed attempts I found one of her teats and got lovely warm milk. It didn’t last long though, my brother Bruiser pushed me out of the way. Even then I knew he was the biggest of us so I had to readjust myself to find more milk. A few days went by like this, mom looked after us what seemed like every second. And then something wonderful happened, my eyes opened and I could start to see the world. I was the first out of my siblings to open my eyes, mom says I’m the first at everything! It wasn’t completely in focus but there was light and dark and I could make out my mom and siblings enough to know who was who. Every day my eyes got a little better and I was able to see more and more. When things looked to scary we all curled up together with mom who made sure nothing happened to any of us.

As I learned more about getting milk from mom I found out that I have two sisters, and a brother. Mom told us our names Amber, Mia, Bruiser and I’m Joy. Apparently mom had to wait a bit as she wasn’t sure who was a girl and who was a boy but mom’s so smart she figured it out. Yesterday the most amazing thing happened, I found out about ears. See I had these flap things on my head and I didn’t know what they were, I’m still learning see. Today they moved! All by their selves and I can hear noises, mom made this funny grumble noise today. I wasn’t sure at all why she made it until I saw the hand. I’d not seen then hand before, but my mom wasn’t scared at all. She must have seen the hand before and knew it wasn’t bad. The hand reached out and touched my mom’s head, moved down her body and mom made this grumble sound. I thought if mom made this sound maybe I should too. So I tried and tried but I couldn’t figure it out and then the hand touched me! I tried to be brave but it was so big. And then all of a sudden I made the grumble noise too. Mom told me that it’s called purring and that we do it when we get milk from mom (which she’s complained we are starting to hurt her a bit as something called our teeth are coming in, whatever that means) or if we are happy. So mom calls me a purr box now because I purr so much.

I have Feet! Well, technically paws but I’ve got four of them and I can stand up on them now. Just about, I keep falling over and Bruiser likes to knock into me which sends me tumbling. Yesterday I ventured out of our nest to have a look around. I got pretty far too there was a wall and some wood things and dust bunnies and a ball. Then mom came over and ruined it all by picking me up in her mouth and taking me back to our nest. And then to make matters worse she gave me a bath, only because I rolled in the dust bunnies. While mom was cleaning me Mia and Amber ambled off out of the nest so she had to chase them which meant she only cleaned my head. Bruiser was too busy sleeping though and didn’t have nearly as much fun as us girls. I also found out that the hand well it’s attached to something called a human. We have two a boy and a girl and they come and visit us a lot. I purr a lot for them and I got to sit in their laps and climb over their legs, they don’t have paws but they seem to get around okay.

Today I discovered that not only do I have eyes, ears, teeth, and paws but I have a tail! I hadn’t noticed it before this morning. I was laying down next to mom and all of a sudden I felt this thing hit one of my back paws. At first I couldn’t figure out what it was and kept slowly circling to see what this thing was but I couldn’t see it. After a few times I finally caught it, it only took a few times rolling around in the blanket and trying to look at things upside down that I got it and you know what, it’s attached! My tail is apart of me and everyone in the family has one. You can chase them and bite them and I did something that our human calls wiggle butt (mom calls it pouncing). Our humans visit us a few times a day and make sure we are all right and do something called weighing in which requires us to sit still for a second (which is forever) so they can make sure we are growing right. Today once they finished the weighing in we all got a small bit of something called mushed chicken which was the most amazing tasting thing! I didn’t say it in front of mom but it was better tasting than milk! Now we all want to try the food mom eats as she gets all sorts to eat.

We’ve started eating something called kitten food, which doesn’t taste as nice as the chicken we had but it is still good. And when you don’t eat it you can push it around the floor and pounce on it. Amber started trying to be like mom today, she said I was dirty and needed a bath and cleaned me! I was so shocked I fell over and I didn’t tell her but it felt nice. Though I wasn’t dirty at all. Mom has said that we’re all nearly big kittens now and need to learn about something called the litter box. Mom goes in there a few times a day and we have all be interested in what she does in there so the last time she went to the litter tray we all followed her in! Bruiser thought it was brilliant and rolled in the litter. But I was the first to use it like mom. She was so proud of me, she even gave me something new to play with. A toy mouse and she’s teaching me to use it. Even our human attempts to play with it. Mom says we have to learn about hunting and that soon we will be running all over the place and she has to teach us while we can still sit still for a few minutes.

Well that’s my story so far, like I said six weeks is a long time for me but I have a feeling I have a long way to go. I’ve learned so much, I can walk on things, climb a bit, pounce and chew on humans. Bruiser keeps telling me that I’m too small to do the things he does but mom says I’ll catch up and be as big as she is all too soon. She sounds sad when she says that but I can’t wait.

Busy Busy Busy

2010-02-15T07:47:00.001-08:00

Unit two has been turned in as of Friday. As always I panic a bit once I’ve turned in homework, have I edited enough, are the essays written well enough on the subject and I’m going to fail completely.

I did very well on the first unit and I was proud of that even though I had the same worries as above.

So instead of making myself ill waiting for my grades I’ve started researching my next essay which is about feral cats and their impact on the wildlife in Australia. There is a lot of information on web so this shouldn’t be difficult to research.

I’ve given myself two weeks for this essay to keep on schedule.

While I’ve been looking this up today I’ve also put together a cat relationship survey for another essay where I have to compare two cat owner’s views.

Busy Busy Busy

Writing and more writing

2010-02-06T11:51:00.000-08:00

I'm on my fourth essay, feral vs domestic cat hunting. So far I'm at 500 words, only 1000 more to write.

My essay on Lirael went pretty well. I got confused on times and ended up doing nearly 36 hours instead of the 24 I was asked. Still, she's a lovely cat who showed me that she is just as mental as I suspected.

I plan to finish essays four and five this month which will mean I've completed 3 units out of 6. And partially completed Unit 4 as well so I'm doing pretty good.

Once I'm finished my work on this course I'll be moving onto Bookkeeping and Financial Administration. 2011 will see me taking a further cat course through COAPE as well as learning to drive in England.

At that point I'll open Bywater Paws officially and start doing cat behaviour in the area.

Momentum

2010-01-07T03:18:00.001-08:00

It’s been very chaotic since September, gearing up for the comic book convention which went okay. Then Thanksgiving which I celebrated with a fellow American down in Nottingham. And then of course Christmas.

In that time I managed to do the research for two of my essays, however by Christmas I had the full list of my coursework and started panicking.

However I did have a week off after Christmas and used it to my full advantage, not only exercising (my yearly New Years resolution) but completing not one but two of my essays.

I can happily say Unit 1 is fully complete and graded. I got 87% on Unit one, which is brilliant. I was so nervous not having done anything remotely like an essay in 9+ years.

Unit 1 consisted of speaking to someone about their cat and getting a good overview of their feelings etc along with cats in a society or culture. So I interviewed a friend of ours Tamisn in regards to their cat Helo. And I wrote about cats in modern day USA.

Unit 2 involves comparing feral and domestic cats hunting and watching a cat for 24 hours. I chose Lirael for that one which has proved very difficult.

The new plan is to complete this course and then in 2011 take the Study Cat course offered by COAPE and then in 2012 take the diploma course on Companion Animals.

Update!

2009-08-26T07:07:00.001-07:00

The past few months have been full of ups and downs.

On June 1st I was told my job was being made redundant and I would cease work at the end of the month. However there was one job going in the office.

Thankfully by the end of the month I was given this position and have since started this job.

Of course the whole thing threw everything into chaos and it took a month to calm down. I was betting on my aunt and uncle helping out with most of the payment for my Think Cat! Course however they couldn’t afford to pay the whole thing but paid it in full and I paid them back half.

On 1st September I start my course! I’m very excited.

Our cats are doing well, with a few new issues.

Smoke has decided that drawers are meant to be opened and the contents dumped on the floor. She also likes to sleep in the one drawer on top of all the clothes.

Penguin however has issues with Bread. Normally bread is kept in the freezer as it goes funny if left out. Twice this month for one reason or another I’ve had a loaf of bread on our kitchen counter, both times I came down in the morning to find out that Penguin had peed on the bread.

I believe this is because he loves bread and we used to hide all bread from him, now that he’s found it like his issues with catnip he just gets so excited that he pees on the item in question.

Gizmo is getting a bit more confident in his wanting fuss and Lirael is her normal self, loves me but will happily attack anyone else.

Immigration Day

2009-05-19T05:22:00.001-07:00

Today marks the second anniversary of Penguins arrival in the UK from the USA. We’ve merged it with his birthday (which we don’t actually know) and he will be 12 years old!

Originally I thought it would be easy to bring an animal into another country and by rights it should have been. However we were given a time limit by my family who were looking after my animals. Understandably not their fault as my grandparents where helping my mom recover from an operation that removed her ovarian cancer tumour. She wouldn’t be able to look after herself for months and there was just no way they could care for the cats, ferret and her.

Thankfully my Aunt Nancy discovered someone to foster Penguin and Little Girl (they adopted my ferret Kaos who was too old I felt to deal with the trip), sadly Little Girl died after a month battle with liver failure while at the fosterers but Penguin made the trip over (and so did Little Girl just not how I wanted).

I used two great companies, http://www.animailers.com/ who picked Penguin up from the fosterers and got him to the vets for all last minute treatments (worming etc) and then through customs and onto the plane to Heathrow airport.

And also www.jets4pets.com they picked up Penguin at Heathrow airport and got him through customs and drove him up to Leeds. The gentleman who delivered him was very excited to see the end result (he normally shipped pets and didn’t get to see them come home!). Penguin walked out of the shipping crate like he owned the place and had lived there all his life!

Both companies provided excellent service and went out of their way to help someone who had to do this in a short period of time.

The total costs were as follows:-

$2290 for Animailers
£200 for Jets4Pets

And lastly for Annapolis Cat Hospital (http://www.bayridgeanimal.com/) for all they did for Little Girl.

Pet Insurance

2009-05-12T07:15:00.001-07:00

Whether you adopt, rescue, inherit or buy a pet the best thing you can do for them is purchase Pet Insurance (sadly the USA doesn’t have a good plan for this however most vets will let you pay a pre arranged amount on monthly basis to pay for a high bill). Here in the UK there is a wide range of companies who offer this service.

I learned the hard way that it is far better to have pet insurance then have to take out a emergency loan to cover vet fees.

When Little Girl was diagnosed with liver failure two days after Christmas 2007 I had no idea what to do, the vets told me that she had a chance to survive but it wasn’t a good chance. I did what I thought was right and opted for treatment no matter the cost. 30 days, many vet visits and phone calls later the vet had to make a decision to put her to sleep and out of the pain she was obviously in.

We had been on our way home and didn’t get the call until afterwards the poor vet called me in tears to tell me that Little Girl was gone.

I couldn’t tell you the actual vet bills that mounted up, I remember one was $600+ and I know there were quite a few other ones that I paid or had to reimburse others who had paid.

I remember calling to pay for the final bill and having to explain to the receptionist that I could not come in to pay as I was in England and not Maryland – they did take my card details and I later sent them a thank you card for all they did.

However this taught me a valuable lesson, if money isn’t set aside one way or another and an animal falls ill how will the bills be paid for? Well for me the easiest way is pet insurance, it doesn’t cover neutering, yearly vaccinations or some dental work but it would cover those emergency unforeseen problems that can happen.

Other ways to prepare for any unforeseen problems is to either invest money in an ISA or cash account or have a credit card that has a decent limit put to one side.

Thankfully with Little Girl at the time I could get a loan that would cover her vet bills, it finally finishes in two months and I would do the same again for her.

Traveling Cats!

2009-04-15T06:49:00.001-07:00

We took all four cats over to my husband’s parents for the Easter holiday, it was tiring but always worth it.

Cats can vary on how they handle travel. We have 3 carriers for our four so the seating ends up thus:-

Gizmo alone in carrier on the back seat
Lirael alone in carrier on my lap
Penguin & Smoke sharing the large carrier on the back seat

And oddly enough this works, going anywhere they are normally a little vocal but do calm down. Penguin works out how to lay down around Smoke and Smoke just plops where ever she feels comfortable and goes to sleep. Gizmo and Lirael tend to be the vocal ones and will meow (more on the trip back, a lot more).

This past year Mark’s folks have had their cat, Harley. She’s very placid but will growl and hiss when she feels threatened. She adored Penguin when she was little and still remembers him even after months of being apart.

However, Lirael is a grouch and loves nothing more than tormenting Harley. Lirael was there first (even though she was only over there for a handful of days per year) so she thinks the house is hers.

Poor Gizmo just wants to play and no one would so instead he played the where can I jump to game which included bookcases and wardrobes. He did calm down and found a lovely chair to sit on.

For Easter they were given a very squishy bed, over their Smoke and Penguin owned the bed however on our return home it seems Gizmo has claimed it and will chase of poor Penguin when he tries to lay in it.

In the end it’s up to each owner to decide whether to take their cats with them when visiting relatives or friends. What sort of house will the cats be introduced to, other animals, kids, foods, plants and just about every situation you can think of comes into play for deciding if its worth the stress.

We’ve had Lirael end up on the front porch because someone left a door open, Lirael locked in a room because she wasn’t allowed in there anyway, Lirael…. Maybe it’s just Lirael who causes all the problems and stress!

However if you do decide to take your cats with you on trips, remember they aren’t children and accidents can happen. Have everything you would at home for food and litter facilities and remember a quiet room for them to hide in is important even for the most outgoing animals!

Penguin’s Problem

2009-04-02T01:40:00.001-07:00

Penguin is our 11 year old (12 in May!) tuxedo cat. He’s also our only American import. It cost a pretty penny to ship him from Dulles Airport – which you might know from the film Die Hard 2 but it was worth it.

When he arrived he was completely at home. Smoke and Lirael had no problems with him and never hissed or growled at him.

However even though he is a great cat and has come a long way from that 6 month old abused kitten I rescued he has one problem.

He pee’s on things.

Now we’ve narrowed it down to a few triggers of this behaviour.

Cat Nip!

A year ago I splurged and purchased a few new toys and a scratching post for the cats, some of the toys had cat nip and some didn’t. I had Penguin on my lap when I was showing him one of the new toys and he proceeded to pee on me. We assume (he has no medical problems) it is because he gets so excited that he can’t control his bladder, and that this is probably due to his age. He used to get catnip toys and not pee so again, probably age.

Smelly Box

When the litter box isn’t up to his standards causes Penguin to pee on things. The last time he peed on the red bowl that is on the kitchen table. I have since cleaned and emptied this bowl and he hasn’t had a relapse (I empty waste out of the litter box once a day).

Annoyance/Stress

When Mark (my husband) went away for 6 days Penguin showed his displeasure by peeing on my kitchen counter on some hot cross buns. Litter box was clean and no cat nip (unless Sainsbury’s make their hot cross buns with it!) and/or catnip toys.

Since we know what triggers this problem we can keep an eye out and attempt to stop any of situations from happening. I have a feeling all of the above are actually due to age but as long as we can identify the problem we can keep it under control.

BoBo the Baby Brown Bear

2009-03-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

When I was 10 we moved out to Arizona for a year, it didn’t quite work out how my parents wanted. So we moved back to Maryland and doing so we lived with my Dad’s mom – Nana for a year. However at this point my parent’s were not getting along, mostly because if you put two women in any house there will be a fight especially when a kid is involved. My mom and I moved out into an apartment that she could barely afford (it wasn’t unusual to have the phone service turned off). Still, mom attempted to keep most of this from me and she continued working at the Navel Academe in Annapolis Maryland.

Once or twice co-workers came home with her, my Dad was seeing other women and even moved out of his mom’s for a short time. Eventually – I don’t know when exactly as I was never told they divorced. Mom ended up with a guy named Glenn, who was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread.

Granted I was only a kid, but I hated him from day one. And I made sure that everyone else knew it too.

He was from rural Pennsylvania a place where the main thing was farming, completely different to my suburban home. However a few trips to the farm and I could almost put up with him. There were loads of animals and a lot of land to walk – I really enjoyed that.

Mom decided we would move to PA with him, onto the farm (a cabin had been built). However from the end of school that year I started asking when we would move, and Mom kept saying soon.

She decided that the week before the new school year started would be a good time to move, however it very much wasn’t the best time for me.

I had a choice, stay at my current school and with 1,000 other kids in my year or go to the school there which included 9 other people in my grade. It wasn’t a hard decision for me, I would stay. If my Dad would have me (he had moved back in with his mom by this point).

So I lived with Dad and Nana for 3 years. It wasn’t great as I couldn’t stand living with either of them, Dad didn’t have a job and was lazy and Nana couldn’t understand I wasn’t like my Dad – I could wake up using an alarm clock and didn’t need constant pestering to get up and dressed.

It came down to my Dad to take me to visit mom, a 3 hour drive up into the PA mountains. Mom hated driving and wouldn’t do it often so she never made the trip (not when I was that age –she came to Maryland three times I think before she moved back in 2001).

On one trip up I got two surprises, there were kittens on the farm which I adored but wasn’t allowed to keep (I don’t know what happened to them – nor my dog they had either) and a Bear.

Yes, a three month old baby black bear they had named BoBo. I’m all for having pets, and even exotic ones (I’ve had hedgehogs, ferrets, cats, dogs, guinea pigs, fish, lizards, rabbits, hamsters etc) but having a bear is pushing it even for someone like me.

BoBo’s paws were larger than my hands (even at 16) and was very cute and nearly cuddly. Until he was hungry and attempted to climb your leg, anyone who has had a cat knows this isn’t pleasant even when wearing jeans. Now add about 5 extra pounds weight and claws that could take your face off.

There is a picture somewhere of me holding BoBo, he looked like a children’s stuffed toy.

Eventually the gaming warden caught upto Glenn and BoBo, there was rule in PA that you had to have a concrete/fenced enclosure for Bears and they were transporting him somewhere to be held unit this could be built, he escaped on the way.

I still hope BoBo is alive somewhere in the woods of PA enjoying his life and fathering a few more bears.

Some animals just do not belong in your home! At a year old I doubt BoBo would have fit through the doorway.

Mom eventually realised what I had been telling her for years, he wasn’t worth it and moved back to Maryland to deal with my ferret and two cats. Glenn came to visit occasionally and I ignored him as I always did.

When Mom died, I did attempt to get in touch with Glenn however I never found a phone number that worked. He deserved to know what had happened even if I never liked him (maybe that’s what being an adult is about!).

Hating School

2009-03-16T07:44:00.000-07:00

All of my course books have arrived for Think Cat! starting in September. It’s a few months off and I can’t wait, so I’ll be reading all of the books before September even starts.

I’ve never been one for sitting in a class room, even from a young age I hated it. So last year when I took Feline First Aid via an online college I wasn’t 100% sure I could do it. Was it the actual learning I found difficult or just sitting in a room with 25+ other people (of any age). Having done the course I firmly believe that I have problems in a classroom. When I was growing up this aversion to being in a classroom manifested itself by me freaking out, I would get to school and then burst into tears, I would play sick, hide car keys, run away or that one attempt to walk home (thank you to the woman who lent me 25 cents to make the phone call to my parents from the garden center) I was under 10 years old.

When I turned 15 I realised that if I went to class (I skipped a lot) I could do the class work and home work and get a decent grade, either As or Bs. So I went to class and got very good grades for two years.

Not that there weren’t problem classes, I attempted to understand Algebra 2 and after telling the teacher that I had my own way of getting to the answer and told I had to do it her way I stopped paying attention I got through the class with a D. That was good enough for me to go onto Geometry, a month or so into the class while sat at a table with two other girls with the same failing grade we had a test. One of the girls asked me if I understood the test and I responded No, I only understood where to put my name. The teacher (name forgotten) asked for my test paper and accused me of cheating. At 15 I wasn’t very polite and told her I was not cheating since I would have to be very stupid indeed to cheat off someone getting the same grades as I was. She again demanded the paper and I crumpled it up walked to the door and threw it out into the hall telling her to go fetch.

I then went to the councillors and requested to be removed from the class, I had to take a math course so it was Math Applications this class was run by a woman who told us she never gave out As. I took that as a challenge, the class itself combined different maths – Geometry, Calculus and Trigonometry. The last day we received our grades I got 89.9 (e.g. B+). I went up to the teacher and told her that if I didn’t deserve the 0.01 point then that was okay, but I wanted her to know that in my entire history of schooling her class was the only one where I actually tried. The rest were either not doing work or doing what I felt was minimal, in her class I actually studied – previously unheard of for me (I was the kid who did home work in the next class so I didn’t have anything by the end of the day).

When I graduated I was given a certificate from my aunt and uncle for the amount to go to community college. It was a very good offer however it would have included living with my Nana and Dad for 2 more years. I took a different route and though I don’t regret it I wish I had asked them to hold onto the money instead of using it to pay off someone else’s debt. At age 17 I still did not know what I wanted to do, History appealed to me but only ancient history, Business or computers seemed good but it didn’t really suit me and Veterinarian wasn’t something I wanted to do, though I love animals was I ready to cope with 7 years of school plus dealing with uncaring people?

At age 22 I decided that I wanted to go the route of Anthropologist and started weekend courses, since I never took the SAT tests I had to take various tests to get into the college. Math was low, English I had to take 3 tests then eventually write a report to prove that I could understand the English Language. The first class I took was English 101. I had been looking forward to the class as I had been told by various people that College was very different from high school. That first class proved however that it doesn’t matter the age of the students or the knowledge of the teacher – any class room is just like high school. There were various people in the class ranging from teenage new moms to a lady in her 40’s who’s mom was also in the class. All it took for me to hate the class however came from the teacher, your grade is made up of 90% participation.

That sentence made me hate every moment in the class, participation is something associated with grade school. College should include handing in work, listening, taking notes and turning in homework not raising your hand to earn a gold star.

And that was the end of my college education.

Taking the online course last year was a lot easier, I could work at my own pace (which helped as I had issues with my tennis elbow and eventual surgery/3month recovery) and the very best part I had no classmates. No one to be annoying, no one to be the best of the best or anything else to put me off the course. The only downfall I could find was trying to type up my work on a lap top computer with a very annoyed Burmese who demanded to sit in my lap with or without the computer (not recommended for many as it’s not DSE approved).

When I got the results I was very happy, B isn’t anything to be sad about, however I felt that I could do better. So what better way to prove I can do better by taking Think Cat!

Goal 1 Achieved

2009-03-12T09:07:00.000-07:00

I have officially enrolled into the Think Cat! Course from COAPE. Deposit has been paid and all but one of my reading list has been purchased.

Most of the books I purchased used and will have to wait a few days until I receive them but I have another book to keep me happy.

Dewey: The small-town library cat who touched the world.

http://www.amazon.com/Dewey-Small-Town-Library-Touched-World/dp/0446407410

The book was released this month here in the UK and with over 279 reviews on Amazon.com I’m sure it will be a very good book, though I know how it ends and there will be tissues available.

A movie is rumoured to follow (in the vein of Marley & Me which is currently in the cinema).

I have also purchased the Domain name, BywaterPaws.com. At the moment it will only show this blog but in the future it will become a full fledged website.

Cats

2009-03-01T06:38:00.000-08:00

Here is a bit of history on the cats I’ve dealt with in the past 6 years, most are my own but there are two that I only helped raise.

Smoke
Age 3 years
Rescue cat from kennels
Grey and white moggie
Female

Smoke was rescued from a Dog & Cat rescue down the road from where we live two days after Little Girl passed away. It was very difficult to lose a cat who I helped rear and was such a great soul, so to help mitigate the pain the decision was taken to look at adopting another cat. Knowing Penguin would be making the trip from the US it was decided that a younger cat would be good as a companion for Lirael. However this companion would need to be able to handle a Burmese.

My husband and I walked down the road and asked to view the cats, I walked down the row of enclosures and only looked at the ages given on each card. A grey and white cat named Megan was alleged to be 18 months old. I asked to see her. The volunteer took her out and held her, it was obvious she didn’t enjoy being held but she looked in okay health. I asked about their adoption procedures to which I was told that you filed out a form and paid £49 and could leave with the cat (much to my surprise). A walk up the hill to get our cat carrier and the car and we returned to fill out the form, pay and take home our new bundle of joy.

Poor Lirael had no idea and was horrified at the sight of this new cat. We took Smoke (her name was decided while we walked home) into the bedroom and let her down. Unfortunately this wasn’t going to work, Smoke was terrified, she had just come from the rescue into a totally new environment and to make matters even worse there was another cat there already. Smoke decided the best course of action was to hide under our wardrobe, she would only come out if I sat down on the floor right next to the wardrobe. The next day we had to go to work and when we returned home Smoke was still under the wardrobe but had decided that the litter box I put next to it wasn’t good enough and eliminated under the wardrobe. A quick walk down to the shop to get a litter box and extra bowls and a bit of rearranging our library Smoke was settled. It took a week of her being in the library on her own (with a lot of visits from my husband and I) to trust us and to calm down. Finally the library door was opened and Smoke and Lirael started being friends.

Two years later Smoke is probably the perfect cat, she had a few problems to start with (not being spayed – which is extremely annoying and eliminating in the bath tub) but after those were fixed she has turned into a lap cat and enjoys fuss from us and Lirael. However she has never tolerated cats younger than her (Harley, Quinn or Gizmo).

The rescue we adopted Smoke from gave us no information on her previous history, only a card showing she had been vaccinated. She had not been spayed, wormed or treated for fleas. It also looked as though she had been pregnant – her nipples were red and huge. We took her to the vets a few days after adoption to get her completely checked out.

Lirael
Age: 4 years
Pure breed Burmese – rescued from breeder
Red (I swear she’s actually cream)
Female

Having left my two cats Little Girl & Penguin in the US until we could purchase a home and import them my husband finally caved and agreed to have another cat. However finding an indoor only cat 4 years ago wasn’t exactly easy. I didn’t know how England worked for adopting a cat and the RSPCA in Leeds had closed down only the month before. Thankfully I remembered seeing a sign for Cats Protection and emailed them. Unfortunately we lived on a very busy road and wanted indoor only so we were refused without even a home check. I was very disappointed and started posting on sites that I was looking for a younger cat – it didn’t have to be a kitten I wanted under 5. A few days later I received an email about a 6 month old Burmese kitten who apparently had cat flu and the breeder wanted rid of her.

Originally I was told the kitten had reacted badly to a vaccination, later the story changed and the vet had seen her and given her medications for the cat flu and it should clear up in a few days upon her arrival. I emailed the picture to my husband and asked if it was possible to go get her after work, he agreed and off we went.

The Burmese kitten was lively but sneezed again I was assured that this would clear up. My husband asked if I did want to take her home and with tears welling up in my eyes I said yes.

On the way home she fell asleep in the carrier and didn’t wake up until we stopped to get fish and chips (a treat for her and an easy dinner for us). Once we arrived at home we had our dinner and I proceeded to show her around the house so she would know where her litter box, food and water were. I will never forget the sheer delight on her face as we went up the steps together (both on four legs). Once she had a good idea of things we all sat down in the living room she curled up in my lap and we came to realise we hadn’t named her yet. I’m completely rubbish at naming anything so we started looking at the bookshelves for inspiration. My first thought was Crisis but my husband had a better idea, Sabriel. However we decided that it was too similar to my name and went for the second Garth Nix book in the series and thus she was named Lirael.

However her sneezing didn’t stop after a week so we had to take her to the vets who confirmed it was cat flu and conjunctivitis. A shot and some eye cream were given to us and within a week the green discharge from her nose stopped, her eyes cleared up and she was a terror on four paws.

Lirael craves attention and will do anything to receive it. She favours chewing on furniture, tearing books and magazines apart and stealing my poor husbands miniatures while he is trying to paint. She would bite hard when playing and basically drove us crazy. I swore she would calm down, but I had sworn that cats in general were calm soothing animals (oops!).

It wasn’t until we brought Smoke home that Lirael finally started to calm down. After Smoke settled in Lirael took a huge interest in her and they became fast friends. Smoke also taught Lirael not to bite so hard and to be easy when playing. Lirael has taken this to heart and now lets everyone else play before she will!

Gizmo
Age: 1 year
Direct Homing rescue cat
Tabby Brown/Black
Male

Gizmo came along because a lady who works at the Cats Protection Leeds branch posted on a forum about a young kitten who needed to be taken in and fostered as the owners dog was going to eat it.

Being in Leeds and having transport available I thought I would help out and come to this kittens rescue.

I arrived at the home to find a married couple with their two mid teen children, they had a Rottweiler who was still a puppy (though they would probably have argued this with me). They had the kitten for their daughter but didn’t feel it was right to contain the kitten to the upstairs part of their house to keep it safe from the dog. So being in a position I never thought I would be in I let the girl say goodbye to her kitten and asked his name, Gizmo. I swore he would keep the name and find a good home for him whether it would be with me or someone else.

He arrived home very annoyed at being put into an A4 box with holes and we settled him into our library fully prepared to foster him. However it only took a few days for this little guy to settle in.

It took those few days to realise that there was no way I was letting him go, it may not have been the right decision but after losing Quinn only days before I couldn’t handle letting go of another cat.

Two weeks later my husband asked if I would like to keep him and of course I said yes.

However I will admit that having one kitten on its own made things harder, he never seemed to stop moving and could be a little aggressive when it came to playing. Thankfully most of this is gone after a year though Smoke still isn’t happy with him trying to play with her (they do smell each other and on occasion she will clean him so hope is not lost).

Penguin
Age: 11 (May will be 12)
Rescue Cat from US
Tuxedo (i.e. Black & White)
Male

I had been shopping for cat food in the US one day and realised they had an adoption area and there was this little black and white cat who was adorable. The lady who was running it took my name and number, I got a call back but this cat had to be taken with his sister. After a few seconds thought I agreed. Paid my $80 for the two cats and brought them home.

My resident cat Ashlynn didn’t seem to mind the new arrivals. When we moved house 3 years later my now ex-husband gave me an ultimatum, I could only take two of my cats and I wasn’t allowed to take Ashlynn or Mary. So Penguin and Little Girl went with us into the new house and I never had the nerve to ask what happened to the other two to my own shame. I still think about these two and miss them dearly.

I was told Penguin had been abused as a kitten and his head bashed against a wall, this caused him to be extremely shy and it took years and years for him to come out of his shell.

Part of the problem was my own fault living with someone who caused a lot of tension and for all I know wasn’t very nice to the cats.

I left that life behind, and took Penguin and Little Girl with me, Penguin came out of his shell bit by bit and became a very loving cat and adored Little Girl. Then came my husband and it was decided that I would move to England, which would require someone to watch the cats as I immigrated. Mom was happy to do it, until she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer which left her weighing 80lbs and unable to take care of herself. A flight out to get her through surgery and sort out the animals was a false hope, and I was told they had to be moved or they would be taken to a shelter. Thankfully my Aunt took up my plight and found a fosterer to care for the cats for 6 months provided I paid for care and any vet bills that came up. Sadly, Little Girl didn’t make the transition well and was diagnosed with Fatty Liver and passed away 4 weeks after diagnosis.

Penguin however made the flight to Heathrow airport and was then driven up to Leeds by a company who deal solely with transporting animals. We had no idea what state he would be on upon arrival so we set up the library yet again as a temporary safe area for him to recover if needed.

He arrived 4 hours later and once the front door was shut we opened the crate to see how he was. We watched with tears in our eyes as he walked out like he owned the place, sniffed for a few minutes then settled on a step upstairs in his new home. The guy who drove him up was thrilled to see him arrive home as he normally just took them to the airport.

Penguin was home and Lirael & Smoke instantly accepted him.

Little Girl
Passed away 2 years ago due to Fatty liver – she was 7
Rescue cat who I helped hand rear
All Black
Female

I met Little Girl when I worked at a shelter in Phoenix Maryland, it was my first animal associated job and I was young and inexperienced. Part of my job was looking after this little 4 week old kitten and making sure she got the food she needed and got cleaned up after her feedings (she enjoyed sitting in the food). She had been found by a passerby near some rail tracks by herself so she needed a little bit of care until she was 8 weeks. At which time she would be vaccinated and spayed.

Those 4 weeks past very quickly and every one of my co-workers told me to adopt her but I held firm that I had 3 cats and that was enough. Until she was put in the adoption room, that’s when I caved and had to adopt her. It was also my last day working at the rescue, I had discovered that I could not work in a place where I would be so emotional.

She was my constant companion always with me when I was at home, she loved nothing more than curling up behind my legs when I was reading or sleeping. She loved being brushed and just enjoyed company.

I thought I lost her once when we had a doggie door installed – my own stupidity thinking that only dogs would go through it, she was outside for a month and I was a wreck. Eventually she came home and the doggie door was closed thereafter. She made the trip with me to my moms and then back to Baltimore where she passed away.

Having lost Ashlynn and Mary and then to be away from Little Girl in her time of need nearly broke me, which is why we ended up with Smoke.

Little Girls ashes arrived home at the 2 year anniversary of her death, I was finally able to morn this little wonder of a cat.

Harley & Quinn
Age: Harley 2 years old, Quinn 1 year at age of death
Rescue cats – found in someones garden at age 10 weeks (i.e. ferals)
Harley – Black & White semi long hair, Quinn – black
Both Female

Harley & Quinn were my first foster cats (Gizmo was the second), I had spoken to a local rescue and they offered to bring them over and left it up to me to socialise them. Having read on the internet everything I could find regarding feral kittens I knew I had a 50/50 chance of taming these two. Unfortunately the branch runner did not follow any of the guidance I had learned, his thoughts were to grab each kitten and stroke them. Harley & Quinn came over in a white cage that we moved to the living room so they could get used to people noises and I handled them 2 to 4 times a day. Handling included a terrified kitten sat in my lap while I stroked it. I began to realise that following his instructions weren’t helping. We moved these two into our famous library and they soon settled and adored being in there. They were introduced to Penguin, Harley hissed at him once after that they adored Mr P as we called him. Harley especially adored him and wanted nothing more than to head butt him and lay near him. Eventually after treats of sardines which were ate off my fingers and play sessions it was time to try more stroking, and it paid off with Harley – she gave her first purr which also gave her, her name. I cried my eyes out and dubbed her Harley as she sounded like a Harley Davidson I decided that I should name the other kitten as well and as I was stood amongst hundreds of comic books she was named Quinn after a Batman villain (it wasn’t until much later when we got Gizmo that I realised I had a Batman theme as I wanted to name him Raz). Harley started to enjoy being handled by people and Quinn would slowly sneak up an touch her nose to your fingers. It was such an improvement from the two fluff balls with large eyes. Quinn was still hard to handle and would eliminate if picked up.

A year later it was decided that they would attempt a new home, after a few false starts my in laws decided that they would take them for a short time to see if they would feel comfortable in adopting them.

My husband took them over and unfortunately did not follow the booklet I had put in their goodie bag. Still, we were told they settled in okay in the spare room. Three days later we received a call saying they could not find Quinn, two days after that we went over to help tear the house apart. Every nook, cranny and unlikely spot was check with no sign or noise from Quinn. It was assumed that she had gotten out the front door and run off. Having spotted a black cat crossing the road a few weeks later seemed to confirm this but the trap I had sent over to catch her wasn’t having any luck.

Harley however was enjoying her new home and was wrapping the family firmly around her paws.

June 15th arrived with a phone call, Quinn had been found. Not outside like we originally thought but under the skirting board in the kitchen. She was malnourished and meowing constantly as if she didn’t know where she was. Quinn was whisked off to the vets. Two days later my father in law called saying he had spoke to the vets, they didn’t think Quinn would make it through recovery and he wanted to put her at peace. I refused on the basis that I didn’t take the vets word for it and wanted to see her.

I was picked up and driven to the vets, where I heard a cat meowing – it never occurred to me it was Quinn. I didn’t know until I saw the thin black cat with wide open eyes, meowing that it was Quinn. One look at her and I knew the vet was right, she wasn’t going to make it. Physically she could have recovered but mentally there was nothing there any more and she did not respond to anything touch, noise etc.

I said goodbye to this lovely cat who may not have enjoyed being touched but she was a character who enjoyed her life.

The decision was made shortly after adopting Gizmo that I would not foster for a while, not only did I feel that I wasn’t supported by the local rescue but I couldn’t let go of another cat, not so soon.

OKO Cats Best Litter v/s Sainsbury’s Clumping, the Pink Stuff & Corn Based

2009-02-27T06:36:00.001-08:00

Like many other cat owners I’ve tried many different types of cat litter, clumping, non clumping, crystals, chick feed, wood based etc each have different pros and cons but this time I thought I’d do a bit of a journal on trying OKO Cats Best which is a wood based clumping litter.

Day 1

Received my PetsAtHome.co.uk order which contained 3 boxes of Purely cat food dry, 1 box of 48 Whiskas sachets and 2 10kg bags of OKO.

My husband complained that the box was very heavy and I thought this was due to the cat litter, well upon opening the box and removing the items I discovered how wrong I was. The OKO 10kg bags weigh roughly the same as the Sainsbury’s Ultra Clumping. So far so good as I’m not allowed to lift anything heavy with my left arm (tennis elbow!).

I cleaned out both litter boxes from the Sainsbury’s Ultra Clumping and put in 5kg per box. Time would tell if they like it.

Day 2

Time for cleaning! I remembered to empty the soiled bits out and realised that because this litter is eco friendly I could flush it. So off I went to do this. Even the soiled clumps are light and easy to flush. The cats seemed to have used it pretty well and not a whole lot of problem with the clean up. Okay my first time I did manage to spill quite a bit on the bathroom floor.

The tracking isn’t bad, and it doesn’t hurt when you step on it either.

It does have a colour to it and I wonder if it like the Pink Stuff will change Smoke’s paw colour – we called her Miss Pink Paws last time.

Day 14

I’ve skipped a few days as I didn’t want keep repeating myself. Day 14 was change the cat litter day and to be honest I could have left it a few days longer.

Every day I had sifted out the soiled litter without a problem on 14 though it was time just to empty the boxes and instead of putting it all in the toilet I did use a black bin bag. I don’t trust our toilet in the best of times and I don’t remember where the plunger is though I’m sure we own one.

At this point yes you can smell the litter a bit, if you’ve ever dealt with white wood chips then you know the damp smell that goes along with that. It’s not a bad smell bit you can smell it.

Tracking is an issue, because the litter is so light the cats are able to kick it across the room (and down the steps) so vacuuming is a must each week at least and I have been using the dust pan every other day to minimise the tracking.

However if you can get past that then it is a brilliant product.

1 Month on

I’ve been continuing to sift out both litter boxes every day and emptying them every 14 days and it has been great. No more dust in my face when it comes time to empty the old stuff, no pink paws (OKO does not tint white paws) and no horrible smells.

This product may not be for everyone but out of all the litters I’ve tried over the many years OKO has been the easiest to use.

I really need to buy a new litter scoop though.

A brief introduction

2009-02-27T06:17:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Bywater Paws Blog. Here you’ll find stories of my feline horde and stories of the previous animals I’ve had the privilege to handle.

In 2007 I discovered that there are people who work with animals to discover what is wrong with them emotionally and mentally called Animal Behaviourists and it is my goal in the next few years to become one.

Last year I took my first online course through the Animal Care College called Feline First Aid with a minor set back (tennis elbow surgery) I completed the course and feel able to help cats in emergency situations whether it be accidental poisoning, hypothermia or broken limbs. I’ve also read almost all of the books by Vicky Hall a renowned cat councillor.

Next month I’ll be celebrating my 5 year wedding anniversary by registering for the COAPE course Think Cat which I hope to help me in my understanding of all things cat.