Frankie bullies Gemma

Gemma is so used to being picked on when she was living a life on her own, she is pretty afraid of others. Frankie wanted a friend, but now it seems she's annoyed that Gemma won't accept her, so she's becoming more forceful and insistent. The drama is ramping up!

Fender came back to us and Blondie made a friend

My very first litter of cats helping A Second Chance involved 4 orange/fawn tabby kitties and one little black orphan.  The leader of this pack was a cat named Fender, who got his name because he was found hanging from the fender of a volunteer's car, as if to say "take me home with you!!"  The volunteer looked around in the bushes and found the rest of his litter, 2 brothers and a sister, all orange-ish/fawn tabbies and so friendly. They all owed Fender for getting them saved and into loving homes. 

Fender was always the pack leader.  He was the most social, the bravest, the first to get chummy with my cat and dog of all his tabby bretheren.  But when the others all got homes immediately, Fender was left by himself.  When I had to leave him at PetSmart I was so sad and felt so bad that he would be lonely, on my next visit I brought Chug, my little dog, to come hang out with him and keep him company.  Fender ended up going home with one of the volunteers, who later fell out of favor with the organization, but we always assumed that the volunteer who was such a cat lover, would never do something so unfathomable as surrendering a cat to Animal Control.  Sure enough, today we got a call.  That person needed to move out of state and couldn't take 2 of of his 4 cats and instead of calling me or emailing me, knowing how much I cared for Fender, this person surrendered the cat.  Luckily his chip was registered to A Second Chance and today I held him in my arms welcoming him back. 

Fender is such a gentle, loving sweetheart.  He let me hold him for 20 minutes amongst the chaos of the adoption event. He seemed scared and a little in shock, but just as he was when he was a little darling at my home, he was as friendly and sweet as any cat you could meet.  To keep Blondie company, I put them both in a carrier while I cleaned out the display cage we use during events, then moved them to the big cage.   They did great together, as if they knew each other their whole lives.  We all couldn't believe how adorable it was when Blondie cuddled up with him like a big pillow.  This picture was taken less than an hour after them meeting for the very first time.  Not a single hiss or sign of displeasure uttered by either kitty.  I put a couple of the new kids in their too, and still, Fender was as sweet with three little ones as if he was their own daddy (though Fender is only one year old, he would have been a pretty young father).

I hope Fender gets a home asap.  Such a pretty cat with such a sweet disposition shouldn't have trouble being adopted, but I'll pull out all the stops to make sure he gets a good home soon. Fender is currently at Boynton Beach Petco if you would like to visit him.

Four new kittens available this weekend

Two boys and two girls, resting and recovering from surgery today. They passed my "put your face out and see if they come up to kiss you" test.  Very cute and spunky.  We haven't given them names yet, so the vet wrote numbers on their ears.

At the bottom of the photo is a stuffed bear toy. When these guys were rescued they were scared and wouldn't come out of their shell until they were given this bear, who took the place of their missing mother. Apparently their mother was black, because when I put my foster cat, Lucy, next to them and laid her on her back, all 4 immediately started making their way to her belly. Unfortunately Lucy was not interested in playing momma, but it was a fun experiment.

A recorded video of Gemma and the kids

Now that its time for Gemma to get her fur-ever home, I wanted to make some of her recorded videos easy to access. Here is one pre-Blondie and from before Dancer got adopted.

Miss Frankie the cat eats with her hands

Miss Frankie's Story

Miss Frankie Sinatra was named for her pretty blue eyes.  She was rescued by a woman who was rescuing cats in her home until her house caught fire.  It was a pretty serious fire and some cats showed signs of burns, and many were quite traumatized by the event.

Here is a video captured from the local news covering the story of these cats and their rescue and care with Dr Kristy Lund of Lund Animal Hospital.



Frankie came from this home but the woman who had her did not get to socialize her much, though Frankie herself is very well socialized with cats.  Frankie seeks out the companionship of other adult cats, even when those adult cats want nothing to do with her. On Monday night, Frankie took advantage of Gemma's sleepiness and went for a nap next to her.  It would have all been well and good, but Frankie could not resist reaching out to touch Gemma as if to say "Hi. Thanks for being my friend."  Gemma was not happy about that, but tolerated it...the first time.

Gemma expands her family again

Though Gemma slaps Blondie (white) around at times as she gets used to having a stranger play with her kittens (one her own and two she adopted), she has been seen grooming and napping with this newest kitten and showing real signs of acceptance.  Click on the picture for an even better view of her gorgeous eyes (Blondie's blues are pretty great, too)

Gemma getting comfortable with others

This was last night. Gemma, our young momma,has been scared and defensive around dogs, but she's really starting to relax.

Dancer will be at Petco on Sunday

Dancer's personality just continues to blossom.  After I picked him up from the vet on Friday post-surgery, I had to bring him back to my office.  Even when he was a little groggy, he was just the cutest little pistol, dancing around the office, going up to people he had never met before looking for attention, and playing with the puppy Lisa had brought to the office that day  (well, avoiding the puppy's curious determination to play with Dancer).

Dancer has a listing on A Second Chance's website now, and applications can be placed for him:
http://www.asecondchancerescue.org/animals/detail?AnimalID=3513462

To apply, read the adoption info and click on the link at the bottom of this page:
http://www.asecondchancerescue.org/info/adoption

Momma has her own aparment

Momma's Apartment Interior

"Momma" is the feral cat mother of the first kitten cam litter.  We got enough donations to treat her UTI and get her spayed and ear clipped so she can be set free to live the life of a free feral cat, but she went into heat after her kittens left so the surgery was put off until later.  Now that her constant meow's have calmed down I think its a good sign that she's past her "heat" cycle and it is safe to get her fixed, so she will be getting her surgery soon.  For now she is sharing space in the Studio, but keeps clear of Gemma and her babies by hanging out on the windowsill and the little apartment I made for her on a corner cabinet. This cabinet stretches from windowsill to windowsill, giving her easy access to the view but also letting her have her own food and water bowls and litter box, so she doesn't have to cause drama by coming down to the floor where Gemma will try and beat her up, fearing for the safety of her kittens.


Here are pictures of the little habitat I made for Momma.  I hung a sheet in front of the cabinet so she can have privacy, and the screen from the window that she destroyed, hangs down and peeks out from the corners of the sheet, so she can view what is going on in the room while giving her the feeling that she is totally hidden.


Getting her fixed is not going to be an easy task.  She is feral, feral, feral.  Any exposed skin I put near her would certainly be attacked as she does not trust humans, even ones that have been feeding her and keeping her safe for 3 months.  I'm going to have to get her in the carrier, which means I'll have to trap her.  Hard to trap a cat by luring them with food if there are other cats in the room that would take that food and foil your trap, so it will take some strategic thinking and moving the kittens and Gemma into another room while we attempt the capture.  I've caught her once before in a big crate by tying a string to the door and watching from the surveillance camera in the other room, but getting her in a smaller carrier will be tougher.

Here is a video from my last trapping attempt.  Her babies were getting surgery in the morning so I had to separate her from them so that she could not feed them during the night.



I'm not in a hurry to get her released, since she keeps to herself and doesn't bother the others.  Right now Florida is experiencing an extreme drought, so water is scarce so setting her free now would be unnecessary hardship.  I know she isn't happy about being cooped up and wants to be free again, but I will feel a little sad when she finally goes.  I want to keep her safe as long as I can, but eventually she will get back to the life of a wild, free roaming cat.  She always seemed pretty healthy and never showed signs of starvation like many other feral cats, so I will release her back where we found her, which seems to be full of food sources.

Bindy - the last of the 3 B kittens left

Bindy has been eating like a champ and is so much healthier looking now its hard to believe she's the same bony kitten found in the rain.  She still has green eyes, though they may still be changing as she's still so young (she's smaller than even Dancer), so its possible that the'll have a yellow rim with green in the center. She's a devoted sweetheart who loves attention and really likes dogs.  She's even been adapting well to the 2 adult cats in my home.

She'll be at Boynton Beach Petco on Sunday.  SE corner of Old Boynton Blvd and Congress.