Shelter me!

Out of 61 placements 

51 seem to be doing very well

6 have disappeared

4 do not appear to be good hunters

*******************************

#1-7 are the Gardner Animal Control cats - safe and sound after 9 months;

#8-13 came from Second Chance Fund working with Worcester Animal Rescue League;

#14-17 are the siblings our friend Lori rescued from the Malden Diner basement;

#18-19 were two unrelated feral strays from Billerica Cat Care Coalition and MRFRS that we added to a barn we had previously worked with in Upton;

#20-28 were ‘unadoptable’ cats from MRFRS in Salisbury;

#29-31  were cats that were returned to MSPCA Methuen because of litter box problems;

#32-34 were kittens that our president Sara Carlisle rescued and paid to neuter;

#35 was a feral kitten that Morene took home from her vet;

#36 was a stray cat who ended up at the MSPCA in Methuen after Shelter Me paid to neuter him;

#37-38 were two black female kittens that Kitty Kats rescued from the streets of Brighton, MA;

#39-40 were two orange male kittens that Kitty Kats rescued from a dumpster in Rosalindale, MA.

#41-42 were a grey and a black male kitten that KittyKats rescued from the dumpster in Rosalindale.

#43 was a tortie female that Billerica Cat Care Coalition rescued - we placed her with the grey and black male kitten.

#44-45 were a black & white male named Don and a calico female named Butterfly that were trapped in Acton, an area we cover, and brought in by a neighbor.

#46-47-48 were an orange female and her two orange female kittens rescued by KittyKats from a DPW site south of Dorchester, MA

#49 - a male black and white cat rescued from the streets of Charlestown by KittyKats  and placed on the farm that has Tiny, Felix and the Calico.

#50-51 - a male orange cat named Marmalade and a black cat named Nira trapped by KittyKats in the South End and Dorchester.Renamed Sonny and Buddy by their new owners.

#52-53 - Found a barn for two cats,  a grey male and a black female, both long-hair and 1 year old. Trapped by Standish Humane Society in Plympton after the barn they were living in was closed down and cleaned out.

#54-55 - Placed Petunia, a 5 yr old Calico with Kiki, a 1 yr old black cat, both females picked up by Animal Rescue League. They had been in the shelter for more than 2 months and were not likely to be adopted for behavioral reasons.

#56 - placed a 1 yr old black cat Violet. She has been in the shelter at ARL and was returned once for attacking her owner. We attempted to place her with Petunia and Kiki but she growled so much, we took her back and on the way home to pick up  a cage, another barn owner took pity on her and gave her a home. We had a heck of a time getting Violet out of the carrier and finally gave up and put it (with her in it) inside the cage.

#57-58 - Placed two orange male cats, both named Garfield, unrelated but very fond of one another. They were not being adopted at the Animal Rescue League for behavioral reasons.

#59-60 - Placed a white cat and a tortie cat,  captured on the streets of Everett by Cindy Dever of Charles River Alley.

#61 -Placed a black & white female cat named Shasta in a barn that houses two very friendly goats and a couple horses. She had been at the Animal Rescue League in Boston since early March when we placed her on June 6th in a barn in West Bridgewater. We understand that she did not like to be petted for very long and became unadoptable for that reason. We were thrilled to be able to pick her up and put her in an acclimation cage in her new barn home– that has a great view of the outdoors.

#62 - Placed a grey cat named Elmo in the barn next door to Shasta’s place. She also had been at Animal Rescue League for several months. She lucked out big-time in her new home.

 

 

 ___________________61  Shelter Me Barn Cats____________________

Here are one-by-one updates by name and locale:

 

1. Mushy - Very happy at a barn in Littleton. When we went to pick up our cage, the barn owner was at a horse show; we saw a cat that looked an awful lot like Mushy looking out a window in the house. 

2. Tiger aka Tigress - Living the good life at a barn in W Newbury. She drove an vole family out of the barn; she has the run of the loft and the tack room. They don’t let her out because they are afraid the coyotes will get her. You can see her video in our Cat Rescue section. We heard recently that she was not doing a good job at chasing out birds. 

3, 4. Sketter & Mittens - Very settled at a barn in Ipswich. Their owners are a small animal veterinarian and her husband. The cats are not skittish anymore; they are pet-able.

10/1/08 - from the barn owner

The cats continue to do very well. Mittens has now decided that being held is just fine!
5. Max - Happy at a barn in Boxford, although he was missing for two weeks recently and in the interim, we brought the barn owner 2 kittens that KittyKats had rescued from a dumpster. The day after the kittens turned up, Max returned. We are glad to report he is a good mouser. More on the kittens later.

11/26/2008 - from the barn owner

Just an update on Max- he is spending more time out of the loft and we are making progress on friendship.  Tonight he jumped up on the bench next to me then let me hold him in my lap for quite awhile.  He is still very wary of people but he has become much more comfortable with me.  He will let me hold him if I am sitting close to the floor, if I stand up he gets very nervous.  Max is so soft, has a beautiful coat and seems happy-constantly purrs when I rub his head and pat him.  It is a very long process, but he is a sweetheart.  Still very elusive when I have the camera but one of these days I will surprise him and send you his picture.

Have a happy Thanksgiving,

6, 7. Tiny & Felix  - Settled at a barn in Upton. They rarely leave the loft. We are pretty sure they catch mice.

8. Mino aka Milo - Very happy at a farm in Mason, NH. His new owners installed a screen door in their tack room so Milo could see into the stable. They changed his name to Milo because they thought Mino sounded like a fish.

5/31/2009 Update from the barn owner

Hey Sandy, I have to get together some pics of “Milo” (formerly Mino) that you brought to us last year. If you remember he had numerous hot spots and was pretty untouchable. Well, he LOVES his new home, seems VERY healthy, NO more skin issues and LOVES to be petted for as long as we’ll give. He lays ever night by our stream and plays security guard while we bring our horses in. Too cute. Thanks for finding us for him. He’s an invaluable member of our ever growing family!

9, 10, 11, Samantha & Elle & Gretchen - Elle & Gretchen are doing great at a farm in Fairhaven. Samantha appears to have run off. Although there is a feral colony in the neighborhood, we cannot be sure that she has taken refuge there. We have to count Samantha as a loss.

12, 13. Juliet & Romeo - Living happily in Orleans. When they first moved in, Juliet was the friendly one and Romeo was very timid. But after they were released from their acclimation cage, Juliet started running around the farm and Romeo became the friendly one.

14, 15. Guinivere & Rosalyn. We settled these girls at a barn in Mendon. They were not friendly during the acclimation period, which was not surprising because they didn’t have a relationship with humans when they were living in the basement of a diner in Malden. We received this message from the barn owner about a month after we dropped them off…

They do seem to be getting a little better. They don’t “run and hide” when I feed them or clean the litter box now. They kind of look at me with complete disdain.  Not great but better. A woman who volunteers for Purrrfect Cat Shelter in Medway told me she’s had 2 ferals in her house with her for 9 mths and still can’t touch them so I figure I’m making some progress. Hopefully the barn will be finished by next week and I can start letting them out. I know you probably need the cage but I don’t want to rush it and spoil everything.

After the barn owner opened the cage, one of the cats moved into the new barn and the other stayed in the old one. We thought that was a little odd. Not too long after, the cat in the new barn started leaving dead mice around for the owner to see. The barn owner thinks that this is a demonstration of the cat’s affection for her.

16, 17. Jake & Jim. These are siblings of Guinivere and Rosalyn.We settled them in a large barn in North Easton with an enormous hayhoft. They were so standoffish during the acclimation period that the barn owner kept them in the acclimation cage for 6 weeks. When she let them out, they disappeared for four days. Then they came back, began eating their food regularly and are frequently seen running around the barn. There are no longer mice in the feed room.  We posted a video about the these little guys on our youtube channel called, Rescuing Cats from a diner in Malden.

18, 19. Rhonda & Carla. We placed these two feral, unrelated cats in the barn with Felix and Tiny. These cats were not adoptable; they had no place to go and we thought that we would be able to create a small colony. It didn’t work. Both of them ran off not long after they were released. Since most of the cats we have placed successfully were ‘bonded pairs’ (e.g., siblings or at least well-acquainted because they lived together in the same shelter) we tend to think that we made a mistake trying to settle unrelated cats. Many other rescue groups say that shouldn’t matter. But we cannot help but think that resettling unrelated adult cats in a barn is difficult to do successfully.

20, 21 Jewel & Clementine. We shot quite a bit of video of these girls.  You can see them in Barn Cat Journeys.

They live in a beautiful barn in Groton.  Jewel never, ever came out of a black carrying case that we placed in her acclimation cage. When her new owner opened the door, Jewel promptly moved out of the barn and into a pasture next door. She did not have a very positive influence on Clementine, either, who became increasingly skittish after she was released from the acclimation cage. In fact, neither Jewel nor Clem caught any mice at all in their barn; they much preferred to chase chipmunks in the fields.  So, they were healthy and happy but initially ignored the job they were hired to do. After we brought in three young male cats that turned out to be great hunters, Clementine joined in. Last we heard, Jewel was still aloof.

22. Samoya. He is a beautiful, huge orange cat  -  part Maine Coone - who did not get along with any other cats at his shelter. At the cage-free MRFRS shelter in Salisbury where he resided, he shared an office with Stacy Lebaron, the president of the organization. While he got along fine with Stacy, he had to be separated from the rest of the population to ensure their safety. We settled him into a barn in Northfield, Conn. His new owners renamed him, Chester. He is much loved and oddly, is no longer a threat to other cats. We received this email from his owners…(They love him a lot.)

Sandy
He is really funny, no mice, but you will never believe this… He has a friend, I have no idea where this cat came from but I have seen a tiger cat that “hangs out” with him. As soon as the cat sees me it bolts, but Chester does not chase him, and it seems as though they sit near each other. He is like a little dog, always right there with me, no matter where I am, he finds me. He really is a great cat.

23, 24. Daisy & Inky.  Inky is Jewel’s daughter and they are a lot alike. Inky takes off the moment anybody spots her. But she is healthy and hanging around the barn. Daisy has become friendly enough for the barn owners to pet.She seems really happy. They appear in their own video in the Cat Rescue section of our site and make a special appearance in Barn Cat Journeys (at the very end). We love their barn; it has the coolest guinea hens we have ever seen. Three of them move together as if they were connected. It’s a riot and very noisy.

25, 26. Taz & Salem. This guy and gal came from MRFRS in Salisbury. Taz was one of those cats that never, ever came out of the house we placed in his acclimation cage. Salem was a lot friendlier and even got to the stage where the barn owner could pet her. After the cats were released, they did their job, caught mice, and the barn owners sometimes saw them playing in the fields. Then Salem went missing and everybody was heartbroken.  Salem has been gone more than a month and we have to call her a loss. But the barn owner was worried about Taz. She didn’t want him to be alone and when we posted a notice about two feral kittens that needed a home, she took them in to keep Taz company. More on them below.  Unfortunately, Taz has also disappeared. There appears to be predators - a coyote was seen chasing a fox in the area. 

3/24/09 - This is a great barn owner. Not always good news to share but important to share the good and the bad because predators are always a threat for cats in a barn program.

 The kitties are doing well.  I’m sorry to say that Taz recently went missing.  It’s particularly frustrating because he made it thru the harsh winter happy and fat, snuggling the three of them together etc. and since Salem went missing he didn’t seem to wander as much.  Once the weather broke however and the snow melted and the days started getting longer, I noticed less and less of him.  He was just starting to become more social.  So so big and pretty, and the caretaker of the “girls”.  Perhaps his feral instincts have taken over and he’s gone “walkabout”, we can only hope.  I’ve checked with the neighbors and the local highway dept. and there’s been no sign of him.  The “sisters” are still well in the loft (Gidget and Gadget) and are trying to be social with us. The larger of the two (Gadget) more than the runt (Gidget). Still no petting, but they like to watch us and the horses from the loft window.  Now that the days are warmer I can leave the large loft window open for sunlight and they sit there regularly watching over the farm.

27, 28.  Gypsy & Birdie. These two came from MRFRS; they were just terrified of people. We took them to a fabulous barn with a heated tack room in New Hampshire. A calico was already in residence as were a couple dogs. They get along fine with the other animals. The last we heard the cats were still too freaked out to leave the tack room when anyone was looking. 2009 Update: Their owner moved to Tennessee and took them with her.

29 Pumpkin aka Mr. Peabells. Pumpkin was a day away from being euthanized when we took him. He was unadoptable because of a litter box problem. We counted ourselves very lucky to have found him a lovely barn in New Hampshire with a young couple that kept goats and chickens and a beagle that became Pumpkin’s best friend. They renamed him, Mr. Peabells, and told us he had a habit of visiting nearby neighbors and hanging on their screen door until they let him into the house. Everybody loved him until the day he disappeared. We have to count him as a loss.

30, 31. Molly & George. They were not adoptable because of litter box issues. We placed them in a great barn in Sturbridge with a very friendly horse and a donkey as Barn mates. There is a video of them in our Cat Rescue section. During the acclimation period, George loved to sit in his owner’s lap. Molly was a little braver. But once the cage door was opened, George took to the fields. Molly was so beloved that they moved her into the house to sleep at night, but returned to the barn every morning. Then an unexpected thing happened: Molly refused to come into the house anymore, spent her days catching chipmunks in the field and dropping them on the front steps of the house. Neither one catches mice in the barn. Sightings of George are few and far between. Molly remains personally elusive. 

32, 33, 34.  Cheddar, Cody, Blue. They are living happily in Groton; Clementine is a full member of their little tribe. The mices and birds have left the barn building. Jewel is starting to come into the barn after 9 months but does not appear to be a hunter. See Barn Cat Journeys for a video report.

35. Stripe.  He was a beautiful calico kitten that bit quite a few people, including three people at his first foster home, Sara, the president of our group, when he got loose in her tack room just before she took him to be neutered, a barn owner that returned him about 2 weeks after we delivered him, and me (when I went to pick him up). We took him home for a couple weeks, set him up in an acclimation cage on a very nice porch, and wished we could keep him. But we couldn’t. We also couldn’t pet him. We took him to live with Felix and Tiny and asked the barn owner to keep him in an acclimation cage in her garage. She petted him the day he arrived, struck up a great friendship with the little guy, and last we heard, he was a great, great barn cat.

36 Sylvester aka Mr. Kitty aka Mr. Smitty-Living happily at a farm in Abingdon. He was a stray whom we neutered as a favor to the woman who was feeding him. He got into fights with her other cats so she gave him to a friend. He got into fights again and the friend turned him into the MSPCA. We were sort of flabbergasted that a cat we saved could end up in a shelter. We found him a barn home and they fell in love with him. This includes the husband/wife owners, a horse named Centauro and three little dogs that he plays with very nicely. See him in Barn Cat Journeys.

37, 38 Gidget & Gadget- These twin black kitties were as cute as could be but they were not friendly, and a barn seemed like a lot better place for them to live than the streets of Brighton, MA. We posted pleas for a barn for them and were happily surprised when Taz’s owner called to say that she thought he needed company and would take them in.  We received this email from her some weeks after we dropped off the kittens…(You can see them in Barn Cat Journeys.)

Hi Sandy,
Just wanted to drop a note and let you know that Taz and the “sisters” (Gidget & Gadget) are doing VERY well together. We closed up the barn and opened their cage on Thanksgiving Day. It was a nice warm day and they were happy to be out. They remained close & stayed in the tack room for almost a week before they found their way to the loft with Taz. Now the 3 of them are living up there together and seem very content. The kittens are soooo happy to be out of their cage. They run around like crazy in the barn and have found their way into every nook and peak down to spy on us from the eaves. The larger black one (Gadget) walks the rails over the horses stalls. She’s very curious. When they run around upstairs they sound like a herd of elephants. When it’s feeding time, they come & sit on the steps to wait, or I find them curled up together perched on the highest hay bales in the loft. They’re all very shiny and look fat & healthy. Taz especially, he’s very fat & fluffy now.
Sadly, no Salem.

39, 40 Rockie & Tucky two orange cats for Max - Just settled in Boxford. When we brought them, Max had gone missing for two weeks, but returned a day after they were settled in. The kittens are currently (as of 12/08) in an acclimation cage in a heated tack room. Last we heard, Max sits on his owner’s lap when she is visiting the kittens.

update email received on 1/22/09 -

Rockie and Tucky are doing so well.  I took the cage down last weekend, they were so determind to get out of the tack room that with Max’s help they kept escaping…so now they have free run of the barn.  They hang around and watch me, I know they are so curious about what is outside the barn doors!  But for now I am keeping them inside. They spend alot of their time in the hayloft but always come to see me when I go into the barn.  They are building a close friendship with Max, eat and sleep with them.  He still is not too happy when they start playing with his tail!  I can pet them both when eating, otherwisw they are very skittish-but we are making progress.  Will send photos soon…and let em know about when you want the cage back.

#41, 42, 43 We placed an unrelated female tortie with  grey and black kitten siblings. The tortie didn’t have anyplace else to go; the kittens came from a dumpster in Roslindale and we hoped the elder cat would look after the young ones.

update via email on Jan 23:

Their first night of relative freedom went well I think. I watched the mother cat jump up on the boxes and go into the next stall within an hour of the cage being open. I was a little concerned she might vanish, but this morning she came out to greet me. She wouldn’t come right up to me for food or anything, but she made herself known and perched on the railing above the stall while I cleaned out the litter boxes. She seems happy to me. The grey kitten was in the house, and I finally found the black kitten in a little nook behind the boxes in the stall. I’m hoping the kittens will stay in the stall for awhile and that they will be happier with more room to play, etc., but we haven’t fully barricaded it so we’ll see.

update via email on Jan 27th:

The tortie sleeps on the Snuggle Safes, which are just to the right of the house. She did this even when the cage was closed. I haven’t seen the kittens in the house since Fri/Sat. When the house was empty (which it never was when the cage was closed), I was able to put the thermal cat blanket in there thinking that would keep them even warmer. Since I didn’t see them in the house after that, I thought it might have scared them so I took it back out again!

Night before last I gave the tortie a catnip mouse to play with when she was across the barn from the stall. The following morning I found it in the stall looking the worse for wear. I put it in the house last night and it was gone this morning. I’ve been thinking of hooking up a video camera to see what goes on when I’m not there – I’d love to know what those kitties do. But to make a long story short, I don’t think the kittens have been sleeping in the house for the past few nights. Not sure why, unless they associate it with captivity – or perhaps they don’t like to hang out with the tortie?

#44-45. These were two completely feral cats that we settled in a barn in the winter. They made it through the acclimation period in fine enough spirits and when they were released, moved into a space above a heated tack room. One of the cats is still very shy and rarely seen while the other comes out to watch the riders every day.

#46, 47, 48. This was a family of orange cats, a mother and two offspring. The youngest cat became so friendly, the barn owner took her into the house. But the mother cat cried unremittingly, so they placed her back in the barn. Last we heard, her regular playmate in the barn is the owner’s pet rabbit.

#49 - a male black and white cat rescued from the streets of Charlestown by KittyKats  and placed on the farm that has Tiny, Felix and the Calico.

#50-51 - a male orange cat named Marmalade and a black cat named Nira trapped by KittyKats in the South End and Dorchester.Renamed Sonny and Buddy by their new owners.

#52-53 - Found a barn for two cats,  a grey male and a black female, both long-hair and 1 year old. Trapped by Standish Humane Society in Plympton after the barn they were living in was closed down and cleaned out.

#54-55 - Placed Petunia, a 5 yr old Calico with Kiki, a 1 yr old black cat, both females picked up by Animal Rescue League. They had been in the shelter for more than 2 months and were not likely to be adopted for behavioral reasons.

 Updates from the owner of Petunia and Kiki

6/12/09

They’re mousers!…Petunia had one in her mouth this morning waiting to greet me, what a good girl!…And Kiki was batting one around on the floor last night as I did night check acting so proud to show off her kill to Mommy…By the way Kiki has turned into this total love bug, as soon as she sees you she comes running over for her lovins’!…

 

5/15/09

Thank you so much for Petunia & Kiki…Petunia threw up all her wet food last night so we cleaned her up, gave her a new bed and cuddled with her, she loves affection!…We let her roam the tack room and she settled right in on the couch, she is such a little love bug…Kiki was a little reserved on how she was feeling towards her new humans so she stayed in the cage all night, but happily came out this morning and cuddled right up with Petunia…

I really appreciate you taking Violet back and I’m sorry for the inconvenience but I feel it was the best decision for Petunia & Kiki…I’m just thrilled with them!

#56 - placed a 1 yr old black cat Violet. She has been in the shelter at ARL and was returned once for attacking her owner. We attempted to place her with Petunia and Kiki but she growled so much, we took her back and on the way home to pick up  a cage, another barn owner took pity on her and gave her a home. We had a heck of a time getting Violet out of the carrier and finally gave up and put it (with her in it) inside the cage. 

Great updates on Violet from the barn owner. Frankie is the male feral cat that lives in the barn  now. This is a wonderful farm - with a horse, lamas, goats, chickens. Really fun place.

5/29

Frankie does come to stall door and most of the time they just look at each other - she has also stoppedgrowling at the goats who seem to want to be friends. The llamas have
taken to spending the rainy days in stall with her also….

5/28

has begun to purr when we pet her (we can only pet her head) and meows
at us when we walk away

#57-58 - Placed two orange male cats, both named Garfield, unrelated but very fond of one another. They were not being adopted at the Animal Rescue League for behavioral reasons. An unbelievably hilarious message from the Garfields’ new owner (see the earlier missives as well; great correspondence):

We had a close encounter of a country kind on Monday — a skunk invaded the barn.  The cats had the good sense to stay away from it, but out dog (who usually is not out without a leash), ran out ahead of a guest, headed to the barn in started after the skunk.  BOTH CATS ATTACKED THE DOG TO TRY TO STOP HER!!!!  They didn’t succeed.  Mocha broke the back or leg of the skunk, but managed not the get sprayed.  So the barn smelled terrible for a couple of days.  The skunk limped out into the road.  Our vet told us to get a booster rabies shot for the cats, just in case because it had been more than a month since their vaccination.  Mocha’s vaccination was just 2 weeks ago, so she stayed at home while we took the cats in.  On the way out, I intentionally ran over the skunk — to put it out of its misery and to be sure it didn’t limp back into the barn (this, after calling the animal control officer, with no success).  By the time we got back from the vet, the skunk was gone.  I think a neighbor disposed of it.  So a little adventure.  We learned that we have very smart cats, definitely smarter than our dog!

 6/9/09

Dundee (the one with the white spot on his chest) is still Dundee, but as of today, Keilor is McDougle.  So it is Dundee and Dougle.  Do you know T.S. Eliot’s poem, “The Naming of Cats”?  The naming of cats is a very difficult matter, It isn’t just one of your holiday games; You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter   When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES…..  Well, Garfield, Keilor, McDougle……is there!

5/23/09

Today we put harnesses on them and let them walk around and explore the barn.  They did not want to go far from their crate and as soon as I cleaned it out and put their food in, they wanted to get back in!  That might have been different if they had not been harnessed.  

5/16/09

Thank you so much for bringing these beautiful, sweet, cats to us today.  We already love them.  Tonight, about a half hour ago, we went out to say goodnight to them.  We took them shrimp-flavored treats.  They were not interested in those, but then kept rubbing up against our fingers.  We think we’ll name them Dundee (as in marmalade) and Dustin (as in Pedroia).  But we’ll think about it a little more.  They will tell us their real names.

Thanks again. We’re very happy.  They are still checking us out.  They give no indication of being unhappy,  but we think they will give definite indication of being happy soon.  We did take Mocha out with us tonight — tied her some distance away from their crate so they could see her, but not be bothered by her.  We walked Mocha past them on the way out.  She ignored them (scared? Jealous?  We don’t know).  They growled and hissed a little, but didn’t seem to be really worried.  We think it is good for them to see Mocha and vice versa each day so that when they are running free and Mocha is out, they know each other.  We’ll keep you posted.

 

#59-60 - Placed a white cat and a tortie cat,  captured on the streets of Everett by Cindy Dever of Charles River Alley.

#61 -Placed a black & white female cat named Shasta in a barn that houses two very friendly goats and a couple horses. She had been at the Animal Rescue League in Boston since early March when we placed her on June 6th in a barn in West Bridgewater. We understand that she did not like to be petted for very long and became unadoptable for that reason. We were thrilled to be able to pick her up and put her in an acclimation cage in her new barn home– that has a great view of the outdoors.

great response from Shasta’s new owner:

I ended up bringing Shasta in the house, she seemed like she needed interaction with people or other animals.  She gets along great with the other cats and the dogs and she’s very talkative.  If you talk to her she meows back at you.  I had her in the spare bedroom for a couple of days then opened the door.  She goes almost all the way downstairs but likes to stop at the landing and stick her head through the railing and meow.  She also runs from the spare bedroom into mine then out again, all you see is a black streak.  Very funny.  She’s definitely happy.

 

Medford, MA

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

This time last year, we were just figuring out how to run a barn cat program. The following video is about saving the Gardner cats, our very first foray into finding barn homes for cats that were considered ‘unadoptable.’ It was an eye-opening experience.

 

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Now, we have 51 placements under our belt (so to speak).  If you scroll beyond this message in Blogtails, we have chronicled the doings of the cats and have occasionally posted comments from the barn owners (minus their names to preserve their privacy).

The message below came from a really sweet email that we received last Saturday. The cats being described are featured in a video on our site titled, Barn Cat Accomodations. They are three orange cats that open the video. Our friend Cindy at Charles River Alley Cats rescued them from a life of dumpster diving in Roslindale. The amazing aspect of reports like this one is that the cats were quite wild when they were captured. After 10 weeks of age or so, it is very unlikely that a wild cat will become tame, so the events this barn owner is experiencing tend to defy conventional expectations about wild cat behavior. We are seeing this occur more and more with the barn cat placements.

Hi Sandy,

Just wanted to give you an update on the mom and 2 kittens here at my farm in West Newbury. 

I released them to the loft last week and they are soooooo happy.  It sounds like there are horses up there as they run around, jumping all over the hay bales, hiding and pouncing on each other, it’s hysterical to watch.  I tried bringing the smallest kitty, Zena, into the house but the Mom was frantic and was crying out to her which broke my heart so I brought Zena back out.  I will freak if anything happens to her though!  Zena is very curious about everything and is such a love bug, she has to be on my back or across my shoulders purring when I’m in the barn.  She also taught her mom and sister to use the wheelbarrow instead of the litterbox…so smart and makes things way too easy for me.  I feed them in the loft and have a gate across the stairs so my dogs can’t get up there, although Zena chases the dogs out of the barn. I close the barn completely when I’m not around and also at night.  So far so good.

May 22, 2009

We were posting on equinesite.net recently in an effort to find homes for eight cats whose time as running out at Animal Rescue League and were delighted to read these encomiums about our barn program in general and our cats in particular :

Posted on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - 11:06 am:

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I will tell you that we got a cat from Sandy (shelter me inc.) last summer and he is the best cat we have ever had! He was supposed to be a barn cat but managed to make his way into our house almost full time now. I can’t say enough good things about my experience with Shelter Me Inc.! Posted on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - 07:33 pm:   

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I have two wonderful kitties from Sandy. Besides being entertaining, the rat patrol has definitely thinned out the rodent population. And Sandy is so dedicated to these otherwise unadoptable felines. I’m sure there are plenty of you out there who could live with a few less mice/rats.

February 9th, 2009

“Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want.”
Joseph Wood Krutch

I believe in fate. I believe in it so strongly it is tattooed on my arm and this morning it has come into my life smiling. About a month ago a friend started telling me about these cats that had been abandoned in a house here in town. He is one of those people who try to be so hardy on the outside but inside he has a heart of gold. He talked about how he had been feeding them everyday, leaving the porch door ajar so they had some shelter in the ice storms and 2 foot snow and he talked about the conditions they had been living in. He was so devoted to these feral cats he would feed them even when he himself had no power or water yet found time to make sure they had water and food.

These cats belonged to a family torn apart in some hauntingly horrible ways. The remaining animals were adopted by a neighbor and only the cats were left. The former owner did not believe in spaying or neutering and routinely there would be free kitten signs in front of the house. The bank was taking over the house soon and the days for these cats were numbered. Bad things happen to good animals.

For the first time in 7 years we had rats in the barn this winter. Talking to some other barn owners it seems to have been universal this winter due to the packed down snow that happened so early around here. This coupled with ice storms and more snow makes it hard for them to borrow so barns become favorite targets. I would never dream of using a sticky trap - nothing but cruelty , a slow agonizing death (in my opinion). Poison wasn’t the answer, the thought of a poisoned rat in my hay loft rotting away in a hay bale wouldn’t do. We had some Have-a heart traps on the ready but these rats had an arsenal of grain hidden away, why bother with a few grain pieces when you have a seasons supply in your nest? I am sure you now see where this story is going

After Nancy and the triplets death I was in a cloud - I still had so many questions in my head. What if I had done this, what if the vet had tried this, yet there were no answers to be found. It was what it was. After all the pleading with Nancy to hold on, seeing the lamb began to walk all I had was a spot of earth fresh from the graveside showing like a sore in the snow.. This morning my friend called to say he was going out of town and if I would please consider these cats for adoption and enlist them as barn cats. Of course looking back know I know he asked me because he knows me better than I know myself - he of course knew I would say yes. What he didn’t know is he couldn’t have picked a better time. I had just lost 4 lives - now I had the chance to save lives (and of course control my rat problem the way Mother Nature intended.) He and his wife had adopted barn cats from Sandy at Shelter Me Inc., I was about to meet 3 not only inspiring but devoted people - Sandy Bodner from Shelter Me, Inc. along with our town dog officer and her right hand man (husband) Mary and Keith Letourneau. With my friend out of town I called his wife to say yes.

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Ricky joined Shelter Me to produce a series of programs about animal rescue.  For the first installment in his new series, “CATASTROPHES,” he visits Dotty Luff and meets the half dozen cats that she and Purr-fect Cat Shelter and the Animal Control Officer of Franklin look after.  The cats’ feeding station is built on land that belongs to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; it is situated next to the Highwood Condomium in Franklin, MA, and has become a flashpoint for controversy. See this situation from Ricky’s vantage point. He has a great hip hop sensibility.

Marina F, who owns one of the Highwood  condos shared photos of  the cats with us.