Declawing a cat

Today I started the Cat FAQ section to my blog, I have a small amount of information on declawing cats, I will add more to this information in the future.

Two More Cats Find a Home

As you know Saturday’s are the days I volunteer at the Cat Corner cat shelter. So today I get to get up early and leave Will sleeping instead of him getting up for work and leaving me sleeping.

We spend the first two and a half hours scrubbing cages, cleaning litter pans, refreshing food and water bowls and mopping the floors, after that we spend time with the cats, trying to increase their sociability and take pictures and videos for the website.

This is six year old Sunshine, she came to the Cat Corner after her owner was hospitalised, she was left with her sister in an apartment, both her and her sister are small skinny cats.  They are so small they look like kittens, it isn’t until you touch them and feel there bones you realise they should be bigger than they are. You can tell she and her sister were well loved, although they are timid, they are very loving, talking to them has them purring and rubbing against you for attention. The move to the Cat Corner has left them a bit unsettled.

Two of the cats were adopted today, Platinum who was one of the older cats at almost 9 years and Bobbie, a young black and white kitten, who hadn’t been at the Cat Corner very long. Its a good feeling when cats get the home they deserve.

My favorite cat pictures from the shelter

Many of you who read my blog know I volunteer every Saturday at a non profit, non kill, cat shelter called The Cat Corner I spend every Saturday cleaning out cages, liter boxes and cleaning the floor, then we get to spend time socializing the cats, I also help take pictures of the cats for the web site.

One of the things that bothered me while taking pictures was the photographs looked scruffy and unprofessional, this was due to the fact the pictures were normally taken in the cages, and the cages look a little bit tatty, so after a few attempts at trying to hang material in the cages to cover the bars,which didn’t work to well. So one of the other volunteers made an excellent contraption for us to use, I like to call it the ‘goal post’ its constructed with plastic piping and joiners and looks like a football (soccer) goal post, the material hangs perfectly over the frame giving us a mini studio to take our pictures. We set up in the sun room which gave us plenty of natural light and started taking pictures.

The picture above is Martina she is almost 6 months old and is still quite shy, she had been rescued from some woods with her 2 sisters, she is very inquisitive and loves to see what is going on, she had to have a good look when we were taking pictures of the other cats.

This next picture is Bear she was abandoned when her new owner purchased a kitten, because she was unfriendly towards it, however Bear seems to be quite friendly with the other shelter cats, and even shares her bed with some of them, she is a beautiful Main Coon Mix so she is very fluffy.

Madeline is about 18 months old, she is a friendly playful cat, that loves to jump on your back if you are down low cleaning cages, she likes to try and rule the roost with the other cats at the shelter, and she certainly has allot of personality

The Ferals

On Tuesday I was lucky enough to go and visit a feral cat colony, it was great to see how these cats were surviving with the help of countless volunteers who work hard to trap the cats to spay or neuter them and then release them back to the colony, it keeps the cats from being put to sleep and provides a safe place for them to live. the majority of these cats are absolutly wild and have no trust in humans, there are a couple that are more friendly and will come close to you, but these are the ones that have likely been abandoned by there owners.

Here are a selection of some of the photographs I took:

Once we were finished at the colony I headed for a full on crafting session which I thoroughly enjoyed, so a big thank you to Jana and Ember who let me into their home and let me use thier craft supplies!

The Cat Corner

For the last month I have been volunteering at The Cat Corner Shelter in Hampton, Its a non kill cat shelter and they have over 60 cats that they are trying to find new homes for.

The majority of the cats are ready to be taken to their perfect home, however there are a handful of cats that are semi permanent residents at the Cat Corner, these cats have very little trust in Humans, I cant imagine the horrible things these poor cats endured before finding a safe place at the cat corner.

I volunteer on Saturdays, starting at eight in the morning we wash the cages and clean the litter boxes, we refresh water and food bowls, sweep and mop the floor. While the cages are being cleaned the cats have the run of the shelter, which you can tell they love, they all seem to have their favorite sleeping spots, the kittens however were intent in ‘helping’ with the cleaning, jumping in the trash bags and chasing the brooms around the floor! After everything is clean, its time to give the cats some attention, making them more comfortable with humans, and just trying to make them happy cats.

Saturday 17th November the Cat Corner is having a bazaar to raise money to help keep the shelter running smoothly, They will be selling a large verity of items, there will be hand crafted items, brand new items such as toys, house hold items and Christmas decorations, so if you are local to the Hampton /Newport News make sure you drop by, between 11 and 4 to see all the goodies for sale!