Goodbye to Queenie

It is one long and heartbreaking week today since I had to say goodbye to my lovely Queenie, just one month off her 21st birthday. She was the only one of my cats who was kind of normal, that’s to say, not a feral, stray or unwanted cat-she was wanted from the second I saw her being born in the middle of the night, several hours after my ex-partner’s little boy cat, ahem, gave birth to two boy kittens! We had met just before Stanley gave birth-a little too late to point out the error!

I have dealt with all sorts of sad and horrendous things during my time in rescue on a daily basis and I have had to have many cats put to sleep when they came to the end of their lives but it never gets easier-it just gets harder. I am absolutely grief stricken-Queenie has been around from the beginning of my years in rescue and has been there as a long serving member of my family. I spent more years altogether with her, day in, day out, than I did with my actual family from birth to leaving home-it is amazing when I think of it in that way! It makes it less surprising that I am finding it so difficult to get used to her not being around and why I miss her so much.

Queenie put up with the resident cats as well as all the other rescues that have passed through-she never really liked any of them much! There were one or two over the years who were so sweet, they forced her to like them and so she did, after a fashion but basically she was the boss who didn’t approve of other cats and everyone knew it…and dogs…she wanted to kill all of them and would ambush them and try. Last Christmas, she was more wobbly and was liable to fall over if she took a lunge at a cat or a dog so Alfie, my mum’s dog who came to stay, got away with receiving just the one swipe-a triumph for him!

She was such a feisty girl but had been getting more and more ailments over the years-she had fought off mammary cancer and had her ear canal removed a couple of years ago-although she was totally deaf, this made her more comfortable. I’m sure she knew that I sang songs to her every day anyway! She also had an ulcer on her eye-none of these things really bothered her-it was me who caused her the trouble as I had to do different procedures/yucky stuff on her each day which meant I had to give her treats each day too. She liked this a lot! Every day, although stone deaf, she ‘heard’ the fridge open at lunchtime and would sidle through for a few blobs of dairy free spread while I had my lunch-she absolutely loved it and this was no exception on her very last day. I always said it was the secret to her longevity and I told her every day, that she was to live to 32! I wish she had.

Because she has made such an impact on my life and been such a massive part of it, I want to commemorate her in some way which will also help Mama Cat Trust. Unlike so many cats living on the streets all over the world, she lived a charmed life from the minute she was born and wanted for nothing and it would ne nice to be able to help other needy cats in her name. I’m not sure just yet how but for now, rest in peace Queenie-you made my life more fantastic and so much fun.

Street cats going hungry in Cambrils

I should be in Spain now on a rescue trip but due to my own old Queenie cat being too frail to leave, I had to cancel. I had recently been getting many reports from Cambrils that some of the street cats were hardly been fed at all as some of the feeders had either left the area or simply couldn’t afford to feed them anymore. The crisis has hit badly there and times are really tough which means street animals are suffering too. Previously, the main priority had been with neutering programmes-the cats always had plenty of food…that is no longer the case. I tried to put many people I had contact with in the area in touch with each other in the hope that they could maybe work together to find a solution but we didn’t really find one yet. We still need to do that but meanwhile, cats are suffering. My mother went on the trip anyway and she tells me that many cats have no food now at all and are crying. As an interim measure, I have arranged for my mum to buy food to give to a feeder tomorrow but this will not last long. If anybody would like to make a donation to the food fund, the Paypal button is on this page. If anyone has any ideas for a long term solution, I would also be grateful.

A Happy New Year from Mama Cat

The New Year has brought all sorts of news, as usual both good and bad but there is always going to be sad news where animals are concerned as our emotions are constantly put to the test.  Fortunately, it is always balanced out by many more happy endings. At the end of 2012, we lost Mama Cat, the real life Mama Cat who started it all. Although I had been in animal rescue for many years when I first visited Cambrils in Spain, it was Mama Cat that inspired me to start up on my own and also help the cats in this area as well as the UK. She made quite an impact on me as she struggled on the street with litter after litter of kittens that disappeared and was the very first cat I had neutered. She was also the first one I took off the streets there and she lived happily in a home until recently when she developed some health problems. I was so terribly upset when I heard the news but her legacy lives on!

With Mama Cat and Sebastian

Just before the new year, I disturbed an injured fox resting in my garden in the daytime-he was so healthy looking with a big bushy tail but as he tried to get away from me, I noticed that he had difficulty walking and was limping badly.  I do a lot of work with foxes usually for mange treatment and advice to people needing help but have never actually caught one in an emergency situation so was not quite sure what to do. I spoke to a few fox rescuers for moral support and tried to think of a plan. Mr Fox went and hid himself at the side of my house behind a lot of the stuff that the builders had left for the holiday and although I could see his fluffy tail sticking out, my arm was not long enough to reach behind to grab his scruff. It took hours as I had tried to barricade him in with various bits and pieces that were in my shed with the only way out being into my cat trap. At one point I moved away so that he could manoeuver himself into a more comfortable position. Suddenly he came hobbling round the garden-even on three legs, he was going at some speed and I could not get near enough to even throw a towel over him. I also noticed that his front leg was broken and flopping about. He then jumped up on my six feet high walls and my heart was in my mouth as I thought I was going to lose him. I called over the wall to a woman with her dog to come nearer so that he would be dissuaded from jumping that way and thankfully that worked. Soon he was back in his original hidey hole and by gently stroking his tail, inch by inch, persuaded him into the trap. I was up real close to his face a lot of the time and although he was obviously afraid, he seemed to trust me and didn’t try to bite me. His face was so beautiful.

My adrenaline level was high by the time I got him into the trap-it had been a long day! I called Enfield Wildlife but they had just closed and suggested I drove him to their local vet which I did.  The journey was a bit stressful for the poor boy and he was making all sorts of noises. It was a good idea that I had put down plastic sheeting in my car too as he had utilised all of his orifices-wow-did it smell foxy! The vets made him comfortable for the night and observed him then although he had a fractured leg,  Enfield Wildlife agreed to take him to see if he could recover enough to be released-it was a long shot as front leg fractures are the worst but we wanted to give him every chance. Foxes are very stressed if confined to a small space which they need to be if bones are to fix and he hurt himself trying to escape. Because of this he would not be able to go to a sanctuary being a wild animal and used to an unrestricted lifestyle. Some foxes can adapt to captivity but usually from a cub therefore they do not have the same fear. After almost two weeks in captivity and after a vet also found nerve damage, we very sadly had to say goodbye to the beautiful boy. We had tried everything to save him but there was nothing else we could do. It is so heartbreaking but sometimes the kind and gentle goodbyes are every bit as important as the dramatic rescues. Thank you so much to Barry Smitherman for giving him the chance he deserved. RIP Rubbernose the fox. Run free.

Now for some fabulous news-the kittens that I rescued from the rocks in Spain are on their way to a wonderful new home in the UK. From the minute I found them squealing in distress and brought them in, I made a commitment to do whatever it took to bring them to the UK and find an amazing home and I am so happy that we have made it. They have been so lucky to have had nothing but the best-it is a real rags to riches story! Alexia and Salvador will be living in luxury in London where they will have everything they could ever want but most of all, loving caring owners who are off to collect them from France this weekend-thank you Meg and Mike! I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the kind help from Alex Salvador and El Jardinet dels Gats in Barcelona and Annika Lahdeniemi in Paris who has looked after them with so much love so thank you again from me on behalf of those happy kittens.

Have Pet Passports-will travel! Bon Voyage!

Any contributions towards the costs of rescuing these two kittens or any of the other animals I deal with in the UK on a daily basis would be most gratefully accepted as would any fundraising ideas. If anybody would like to have a go at fundraising, that would be great be it a fun-run, cake-bake, a stall, sponsored things, anything! Please contact me at mamacattrust@googlemail.com

Merry Christmas from Mama Cat-October 2012 trip to Spain and the saga of the two kittens!

The October trip started out with a big problem-my trap had been  broken so catching any cats was going to be almost impossible as most that need to be sterilised are feral and impossible to handle.

I spent much of the trip feeding cats as it was immediately obvious that there was no food in many of the usual feeding areas. I did some emailing in the internet cafe, (I go lo-tech when I’m there!) and discovered that their usual feeder was away and although they had left somebody to cover, it wasn’t really happening so there were  a lot of very hungry cats.

It was very sad to see them waiting by empty bowls but I soon got into a schedule of feeding and the more brave and amiable ones would be waiting for me. I realised that a lovely ginger was one of the first ones I had ever neutered but he had moved areas slightly and become very friendly indeed. Maybe he remembered me, I don’t know!

One night when I was feeding,  there was a tortoishell cat who was limping so badly and I noticed that her back leg was just dangling. She was so hungry that when I put food down she hobbled along on three legs and I saw that she had an enormous lump on her hip that looked to me like  it could be a tumour. This was terrible-I could not possibly leave her like this but my trap was broken and she was too wild to be picked up-even in her condition, she tried to run and I didn’t want her to hurt herself so had to think quickly. I sped back to get my trap and bits and bobs and managed to botch it together so that I could use a peg and a bit of wire to control it-after a fashion! Luckily she was so hungry that she went in the trap and at lightening speed I had to close the door and capture her before she could bolt back out.  Just as I was crawling around on hands and knees trying to sort her out, some people came along and asked what I was doing. Now, this is difficult enough in English but when I am explaining in my terrible Spanish on all fours, it is a sight to behold! Luckily, they spoke English-Iskra was Bulgarian but living there and had been feeding the cats and Dave who was English-I never meet English people there ever! He kindly offered me a lift to the vets the next day in his camper van so I took her to the apartment and as she was stuck in the trap, I slept on the sofa next to her to reassure her. I suspected that it was going to be her last night and I wanted her to not be afraid. She wasn’t. She just kept looking at me and I kept talking to her. We bonded that night. The next day, even though I knew in my heart that she would probably have to be put to sleep, when my vet confirmed that she was very ill with a massive tumour and there was nothing that could be done, I said goodbye in floods of tears and stroked her until she was gone. She had been really struggling-RIP  brave little cat.

When I went to check on the harbour cats, I was calling Rodrigo and the gang who came running out but I could also hear a high pitched squeal from deep in the rocks. I carried on calling and a tabby kitten came clambering out squealing and looking terrified but hunger had given her the courage to emerge. This is a stable neutered colony that has been there for years-there should not be any kittens there at all! I managed to tempt her with some food and grab her. It was obvious she had been dumped there and again I knew I had to do something but didn’t know what. We left to feed all the others in the town and to decide what to do.

When we returned, we realised that her presence had really upset the harbour cats and although they were normally friends, Rodrigo was trying to fight all the others and also smack the kitten round the head at the same time. He was rolling around fighting with his friend so much that they drew blood-I had to separate them with a broom-it was awful. The kitten was then even more scared and I knew she couldn’t stay there. Suddenly I heard more squealing coming from down some steps and on investigating, I spotted another petrified kitten shaking in a pile of pallets.

This kitten was much more timid than the other. We were trying to figure out what to do and it was starting to get dark. I couldn’t imagine leaving them there for the night so I set off to get the broken trap leaving my poor mum there to make sure they didn’t hide themselves away in the meantime. The round trip on foot took about an hour so it was pitch black by the time I was able to use the cobbled together trap to catch them both at the same time. What a relief when I did and I got them indoors!

I gave them a good check over and plenty of food and knew that now they were in, there was no turning back.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to find a home for them in Spain so turned my mind to bringing them to the UK but knew it wasn’t going to be easy.  For a start, I was due to return to the UK in two days time and there was nowhere for them to go while I sorted pet passports. They needed to be microchipped and vaccinated against rabies then wait for the required 21 days before entry to the UK. I asked my friend who runs El Jardinet dels Gats in Barcelona if she could look after them for 3 weeks and was delighted when she said yes! So, the next day we set off with them on the train hoping that they wouldn’t be stressed but they just cuddled up and slept and a few hours after setting off, we left them with my friend Alex at Jardinet.  I immediately named the kittens Alexia and Salvador in her honour!

As soon as I got back to the UK the next day, I set to work trying to arrange transport to get them to London. It was a long and complicated process but then I happened to be lobbying in parliament against the badger cull and met someone who was there for the same reason who owned an animal transport company.  My friend Annika then offered to look after them in Paris while we waited for the required 21 days to pass from the date of the rabies jabs-they would not be allowed entry until then.

It was while they were here that Salvador tested positive for FELV. This was a real blow and although he may be negative, we must  wait 3 months for a re-test. Annika kindly said that they can stay with her until that time-she has been amazing in caring for them so well-they are very lucky. As you can see, they get on with dogs whether the dog wants to or not!

We are looking for a very special home for these two babies who have been through so much in their short lives. Although they are currently in limbo in Paris, they have their pet passports and can come to the UK at any time.

They are enjoying a French Christmas just now but if you can offer a home to this beautiful pair, please email me mamacattrust@googlemail.com

Merry Christmas from Mama Cat Trust!

Mama Cat Trust presents…..

I’ve been so busy doing animal stuff that I just haven’t been able to catch up with myself-at every turn, something needs to be sorted-be it a cat, a dog, a pigeon or a fox!

Back in April, it was the first ever Mama Cat fundraising night at Cottons where loads of lovely people came and supported all the fab acts who were kind enough to offer their comedy/magic/singing services free of charge.

Adam Hess and Iain Lee

Thank you so much to Iain Lee, Barry from Watford, Luke McQueen,  Sister Mary McArthur, Pete Hathway, Adam Hess and Pete Storm who stepped in at the very last minute when one of the acts couldn’t make it. You were all amazing! See you next time Frank Sanazi!

I really am so grateful-it was a great night. I do have an hour of footage from the night, which I pieced together-thanks to Linda Marric for offering to film it on my little camcorder but I need to get it onto a dvd sometime.

Pete Storm and Barry from Watford

Special thanks to Doug Nuttman who saved the day by arriving early to help and taking charge of the door and to Tony Nuttman for being raffle ticket seller extraordinaire!

Big thanks go to all those who kindly donated raffle prizes, Katia Filipovic, Jackie Lange, Margaret Harvey, Whole Foods Market, Bumblebee, Earth, Sainsburys, Tesco, M&S, Boots, The Co-operative, J and P Pharmacy,  The Book Warehouse, Waterstones and Circa 48.

Pete Hathway

Thanks to Dece at Cottons for giving us the venue and Steve Furst for sorting it out initially.

Finally thanks to all those who bought a ticket even though they knew they couldn’t come-so kind.

Every single penny will go towards animals in the UK and Spain.

Tim McArthur

The acts kept making reference to Spanish cats but of course that is only a small part of what I do-although there has been a focus on neutering campaigns in Spain, I live in London therefore I’m involved in local animal rescue here every day of the year-most of what I do is here in the UK! I seem to spent a lot of my time doing remote rescues, as in advising and trying to save lives, usually cats,  in one country whilst in another-this is difficult but a big relief when it pays off. I am constantly involved in animal campaigns and lobbying. I am also a Trustee of Snip International which is a charity that supplies TNR equipment for animal groups abroad to help in neutering campaigns.

Luke McQueen

Great news!

The little cat has been offered a fantastic home so she will get a touch of the life she deserves after all her traumas. She has been offered a lovely life for however long she has left, with all the love and comfort that she wants. This is such fantastic news-cats like this are so difficult to home-it takes very special people to take on a cat with a terminal illness as it an emotional and tricky path to take. Thank you Clare and Rob-you are amazing! Looking forward to hearing her new name

Urgent home needed for this poppet

Yesterday I was called about a cat who had been stuck in a flat with her owner’s dead body for up to 9 days. The poor man’s body had been removed on Saturday and although the neighbours had told the police that there was definitely a cat inside, they said there wasn’t. The neighbours persevered and eventually the police came back and located the terrified girl today. I went and collected her straight away and took her to the vet to see if there were any ill effects. They discovered that she has a huge tumour. As if the little mite hasn’t been through enough. With buckets of tears, I left her for observation. The prognosis was bad but even though she has been through so much, I still see a brightness in her face and a strong will. Poor little poppet.

Can a kind person offer a calm refuge to this poor girl? She doesn’t even have a name. After all she’s been through, she deserves some love and happiness at the end of her life. I don’t know how much time she has left but would like her to spend it in comfort. If I can’t find anywhere, she will have to be put to sleep because it is not fair or right for her to be stuck in a cage at the vets…..although I will do everything to avoid that, of course. I am at a loss. If you can help, please contact me at mamacattrust@googlemail.com to give her a chance.