One of the feral cats on the feeding route, enjoying a new shelter box

Volunteers needed for Feral Cat Team

People for Animals' Feral Cat Program is a fundamental part of the work that we do in Regina. Our team works in the inner city, doing daily visits to feeding stations and cat colonies that we have maintained for many years. We also practice trap/neuter/release at these locations, so that numbers of street cats don't continue to rise. The need continues to grow, and the number of feeding stations that are now established has prompted the need to divide them up and create a second route, so that we have two teams of people going out to feed,water, and check shelters on a daily basis. Can you help? We are looking for volunteers to staff this second team feeding in North Central Regina.

Requirements:

*Volunteers need to have a reliable vehicle.

*Must be able to pay for medium to high quality cat food when there are no donations available.

*Volunteers must be dedicated and committed to their feeding night, regardless of weather conditions.

*Volunteers must ensure that, if they can't go on their designated day of the week, they switch with another team member so that the day is covered.

*The route has about 8 stops on it, and would take about an hour on the assigned day of the week to check the shelters, feed, and water the cats.

We need cat loving people with big hearts with a desire to help these poor street cats who have no one else. It is no fault of their own that their home is on the streets living in a run down garage, eating frozen food from the dumpster and having no warm cozy spot to sleep or someone to pet them. They deserve so much more and if anything we can only be there for them to bring them food, water and perhaps a shelter so that they can survive this brutal Saskatchewan cold weather. When you see cats just waiting for you to bring them food and water it is heart breaking and you must think of them and how they will feel if you aren't there for them.

The need is urgent. Can you help us in this gratifying work?

Please respond to Leanne Toth, Director, Feral Cat Team at leanne.toth@accesscomm.ca

Thank you, and Happy Holidays.

People for Animals

A happy before and after

Patch was rescued by PFA as a very sick and orphaned kitten, along with his sibling. Sadly, his sibling was too sick to make it, but with foster mom Tina's loving care (and his Golden Retriever nanny), Patch thrived. He was adopted to a wonderful home, and is now a sleek, gorgeous grown up cat.

Interesting reading

Click HERE to read about a successful volunteer run animal rescue operation in the US.

As of this morning...

People for Animals has 84 rescued cats and 4 rescued dogs in foster care.
And, we are feeding many more at our feeding stations out on the street!
-Sarah

A busy week of rescues

This week has been a very busy one, both for the Feral Cat Team and the Pet Rescue Team of PFA. When the weather is -40, we can't delay rescues of tame cats on the street until we know that we can afford the vet bills, and that we have lots of foster home space. We have to just act.

Below are some of the stories of the cats we have taken into foster care this week. Many of them would not have lived through the winter without intervention.

*Zack and Cody: These two big gorgeous grey boys were trapped, quite by accident, by Tammy when she was trying to trap another tame cat in distress. (Zack is the long haired one, Cody the short haired one with the white spot on his neck)Although these were not the specific cat we were aiming for, we couldn't put them back out on the street, as they were clearly homeless, hungry, and in distress. Both boys are tame and friendly. We have had each of them neutered, and they are living the high life with their foster mom Michelle now. No more digging in dumpsters and sleeping under North Central garages for these two.

*Georgina: Georgina was found by Sandra, one of the members of the feral cat team, sheltering in a styrofoam cooler under a deck. She was clearly ill, and shivered continuously. Sandra took her to the vet, where Georgina was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection and given antibiotics. She is a beautiful grey and white tabby, about 5 years old. Georgina was spayed, but when we reported her as found, no one was looking for her... She is in loving foster care now, and loves her bed up against the heat register. Georgina will be available for adoption after the holidays.

*Biggles: Biggles had been surviving for some time on Quebec St, being fed by a kind lady who takes pity on the strays in her alley. He is a small neutered male, with long black fur. Biggles is just skin and bones, but his foster mom Paulette is already resolved to make him healthy and happy again. He is all matted, and has a nasty eye infection, but he is already a lap cat, and is letting Paulette's big dog lick him! Biggles was found by Pat of the Pet Rescue team, just screaming for help. He approached her, mewling in distress, and making it quite clear that he needed a warm space. This sweet guy couldn't be more pleased that Pat heard his plea.

*Shadow: Shadow was seen a few weeks ago by Leanne on her regular feeding route for the feral cat team. She had been watching for him ever since, as it was obvious that he was a tame cat in distress. Earlier this week, she was out feeding again, and found Shadow, dehydrated and disoriented. He was frozen and hungry. Leanne and her sister Angie bundled Shadow up and brought him to my house, where we warmed him up and fed him. He is tattooed, although it is illegible, and neutered. Shadow is incredibly loving and gentle, with a meow like a foghorn. Shadow will be available for adoption after the holidays.

*Spaz: Spaz was found in the hallway of a foster home's apartment building. The door of the building was propped open, and he had wandered in seeking shelter and food. Spaz is about 7 months old, and is a three legged cat. It appears that he was born this way, and he gets around quite well. Spaz was hungry and cold, and is now in foster care. Spaz is incredibly friendly and playful. He will be neutered shortly, and will be available for adoption after the holidays.

We know that there are so many more out there who need help. Our hope is that we can find new forever homes for these wonderful cats quickly, so that we have the foster home space to save even more of them.

-Sarah

Thank you Regina

This weekend has been a tremendous one for donations to People for Animals! Some donors are responding to the call that we sent out on our email list, asking people for help as we deal with all of the homeless cats at risk of dying from the cold on the street. Others were in the holiday spirit and wanted to share with animals in need.

A big thank you to Mary, who donated four heated water bowls that our feral team can use at their feeding stations. So many of the cats we rescue in this weather are dehydrated.
Another thank you to Louise, who delivered a wonderful selection of hard and soft cat food that will be welcome by our foster homes. And Christine, who went shopping at Metro Pet Mart, and is spoiling some of our foster cats with her donations. Denise thoughtfully brought blankets and towels that we can use at our outdoor shelters, and food as well. Carmen, a member who is always there when we need extra help, brought food and litter. And, cash donations of many sizes! The girl guides of Fort Qu'Appelle did a change drive for us, and brought the results in to the city this weekend.

Finally, we were blown away by the generosity of the Mental Health and Addictions Team of the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region, who raised $525 for PFA. They used part of the funds to purchase a great supply of food and treats, and then put the balance on our account at one of the local vet clinics.

We feel truly blessed and supported by Reginans. Thank you.

Bugsy's surgery has finally happened!

Some readers might recall the story of Coconut, her boyfriend Bugsy, and their four kittens. All were saved from a life on the street in North Central Regina in the fall. Coconut is still in foster care, their four kittens were all adopted out to wonderful homes, and I fostered and then adopted Bugsy.

At first, we thought that Bugsy was totally wild, and that he only had one eye. However, once he was trapped and at the vet it was apparent that he was tame, and that he actually did have two beautiful blue eyes, one was just terribly infected and irritated.

After multiple vet visits, we concluded that Bugsy had scar tissue that was forcing his lower lid to turn inwards, irritating his eye, and would need surgery to correct it. Bugsy also had a growth on his cheek that was also likely due to the scars he bore from street fighting.

Last Friday, Bugsy had surgery to correct his lower lid and remove the growth. He is back home and doing incredibly well. He can already open his bad eye wider than he ever has before, and he is more mobile, since he can see better!

Bugsy is an incredibly loving and laid back cat who gets along well with every other cat in the house. I am so glad that he isn't spending another horrible winter on the street.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the cost of Bugsy's surgery. The vet bills will be close to $700 once it's all done, but it will have been well worth it!

-Sarah

A PFA success story: Sterling the swimmer

Sterling the silver tabby was rescued along with his siblings as orphaned kittens. They were bottle fed by Tina, one of our amazing foster homes. Sterling's siblings all found great homes, but Tina couldn't bear to part with him. Sterling is now "part dog" according to Tina, as he hangs out with her Golden Retriever. Today, she sent me the photo above, and the following:

"Thought you'd like to see this. Sunday morning while I was in the tub Sterling decided to go swimming. He was in the water like this for about 10 min. but was playing in the water while draped over my leg for about 15 min before that. He was putting his face under the water and blowing bubbles so he could catch them."

-Sarah

Freezing temperatures in Regina

It is unseasonably cold here, and homeless cats are suffering.

Click HERE to read about the weather.

Last night we brought two cats in from the cold. They were both in rough shape. One, Georgie, a lovely spayed grey and white tabby female, had been trying to shelter in a styrofoam cooler under a deck. She is now at the veterinary clinic being assessed, and will be moved into foster care today. Shadow, an older long haired grey neutered male, was found by our feral cat team wandering in a back alley, freezing, disoriented and dehydrated. They brought him to my house, and he is already improving - eating, drinking, sleeping a ton, and washing himself. This poor bedraggled boy will hopefully be moved into a foster home space in a few days so that my fostering room can remain empty for those emergency last minute cases that our feral team comes across so regularly in the cold.

Both of these cats are tattooed, although Shadow's tattoo is illegible. Someone once cared enough about them to have them sterilized. However, it's clear that they have both been on the street quite a while. We will call them in to the lost and found dept of the Humane society today, and see if anyone has reported them missing.

Please, keep your pets indoors during this weather!

And, we are in even greater need for foster homes at this time of year. If you have a spare room that you could offer to a cat that will die on the street without help, please contact us.
-Sarah

Guest Blogger: A friend of the downtown cats

I used to live at the corner of 15Th ave and Scarth St downtown, I was in a cat colony of 32 friends. There was all sort of cats and kittens. I am only 4 months old. In our area where I was born there was a restaurant when open, people would feed us through the fence or if the food dropped the owners would leave it for us to sneak in and run away with the leftovers. The other four houses that people lived in was our playground, a storage shed our shelter.



After the restaurant closed and people moved from the houses, some humans would come everyday. They would feed us cat food, water and most of all played with us 10 kittens. We had a great time! That spider with bells I would catch it and try to take in my cubby hole but it always got away. When the leaves started dropping it was fun chasing those around. Trying to catch birds in a pack didn't always work. Some us little guys were just learning. One day a feather got stuck to my friends mouth no matter which way he turned or moved that darn feather would follow. Caught it with my paw it stuck there too. I tried to remove it with my mouth but again it got stuck. Dumb feather. All my friends laughed at me.



The first sign of snow in October, that was a rude awakening for us little people. Never saw that stuff before. The wind was howling, the rain so cold. We tried to hide in our shed but it wasn't heated and the holes up top didn't keep that wet stuff off us. Slowly my friends started disappearing to people what had these traps that caught us. They were sneaky, put food in the back, good food mind you, tuna, sardines, salmon, anything that got our attention. When caught they would be taken to a better place. I heard four of my friends stayed together and wee given a warm bed, good food and some loving to tame them. The new humans played with them.


In the end it was just me and some adult cats left. I just wanted to be stubborn. I wasn't going if I could help it. My mom was still around. I would hear my name, it got kind of confusing cause one day I would be "blue eyes", Houdini, Who's That!, I heard other names but little people can't say that. I hid pretty good because another person called me "Wiley".


In the end I was caught by these people. They came into my shed, set up this play maze or so I thought, put some food in the trap, it was so good, I hadn't eaten for a few days and in I went. OH NO Tricked again!



So now I'm in a foster home too. My life is so much better, I get a warm bed, blankets, all the food I want and a warm body to cuddle against. I don't know if I would've made it through the winter. It took along time to catch me but to the people who caught us and to the people that look after me I THANK YOU. Please come see me again.


Special thanks go out to Wilfred, Ken and Leanne, Diana and Mauri these are the people who worked thru warmth, cold, rain and snow to help these poor cats.
-Lillian

Guest Blogger: Foster Home

I decided to become a foster family for animals recently. I looked at the People for Animals website and applied. Within a short time a momma cat and a kitten had been rescued from an abandoned house and needed foster care. I picked them up from the vet's where the vet gave me a lecture on how wild they were and to be careful.

I got them home and set them up in a room in the basement. I left them in the carrier for a bit then opened the door. I laid on the floor beside them and talked with them for an hour. They just sat and stared with wide eyes. I then left the room. When I returned the momma cat was out of the carrier. Within a few hours both cats decided to come out and check out their new home. My girls and I named the momma cat Izzy and the kitten Sam. Within a week momma cat Izzy would come to greet us and purr and with a little coaxing we could pick up Sam too. 2 weeks with us we decided to let them roam the basement and meet our 4 cats. A lot of hissing and growling but no fighting. I was happy.

Then came the day that little Sam began to purr. I was so excited. This scared little kitten began to trust us and play and purr. Sarah from PFA informed me of Izzy's other 3 kittens, rescued a day prior to Izzy and Sam who were in another foster home. The 3 little kittens were not doing so well and stopped eating. The decision was made to bring them to my house to be with their mom and hopefully they would come around like Sam had. The 3 little kittens came over and were identical to their mom and brother. Same wide eyed look that Izzy and Sam had when they first arrived. I was optimistic that they too would come around.

The next morning when I went to check on them, I found one of the new kittens laying limp on the floor barely breathing. I was so worried. I rushed the little guy to the vet where they determined it was most likely to be Distemper. The little kitten then died shortly afterwards. The 2 other kittens were then taken to the vet where the heart breaking decision was made to put them down. Sad and worried, I came home to tell my 2 girls, ages 9 and 3, that the new kittens were sick and had passed on.

Then came the task of cleaning the room. The only thing to kill the virus of Distemper is Bleach. The whole room had to be cleaned from top to bottom with bleach, then aired out then Izzy and Sam returned to their room. At this time Izzy and Sam showed no signs of the virus. A few days later I decided to let them upstairs in our home. Izzy made herself at home, perching on top of the couch and watching everyone. Sam played around, feeling at home. I still kept them in their room at night.

On that Friday I went to check on the cats, armed with soft food for their breakfast. I opened the door to find little Sam laying limp on the floor barely breathing. I scooped him up and rushed him to the vet. I received the same bad news. Distemper. While the vet was on the phone with PFA I laid my head in my arms, gently petting Sam on the examination table. I spoke quietly and loving to Sam as he struggled to breath. He was in rough shape. I told him that if he was in so much pain it was ok to pass on and I promised to take good care of his momma. Sam took his last breath. I cried and pet his limp little body.

I returned home, saddened to tell Izzy little Sam was gone. Then I had to begin the task of cleaning the entire house with Bleach. During the morning of Sam's death I received many comforting phone calls from the People for Animals. When asked what I needed, I asked for help bleaching out the house. Help came. I was so relieved. I also received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from People for Animals board with comforting words.

A week has passed and momma cat Izzy has still showed no signs of this horrible virus. She is still confined to the basement room. She is eating fine and purrs whenever I come in to visit. It's so sad to see her trying to get out of the room to look for Sam. Breaks my heart. Hopefully Izzy is strong and healthy enough to not have any signs of distemper. We carefully watch her everyday and hopefully soon she can come back out of the room and join our family upstairs and be a normal cat.

Rest in Peace Sammy, We miss and love you! Loving remembered byMichelle, Tianna and Meadow Bieber and momma cat Izzy.

*Editor's note: Distemper is a horrible virus that is common on the streets of Regina. It is almost always fatal to kittens. Please vaccinate your animals.*

Amazing donation

A kind elderly man named Winston called People for Animals at the beginning of the week and told us that he had paid for ten forty pound bags of high quality cat food at a local pet store as a gift for our cats. Here is a photo of them in my living room, with my cat Oscar trying to figure out a way in...

Safe and sound

Here are photos of the momma cat (now named Girly) and her 6 babies, whose rescue is described in the post below.

Gone fishing

This weekend, we sent a trapping team out to try and rescue a momma cat and her six kittens, estimated to be about 6 weeks old.
Carley and Paulette headed out, and met up with Dick, the kind man who had found this family, and Dan, the "landlord" of the felines.
Momma had raised her babies underneath Dan's house, in the foundation, where residual heat kept things cosy, and they were protected from the elements. Dick had been feeding her, so she was in pretty good shape.
Our intrepid volunteers had to climb on their bellies underneath the house, trying to grab kittens (who had never seen people up close before) as they went. Dick had great luck with an old fishing net, scooping three of the kittens in it.
Our team succeeded in grabbing all of the kittens in a short amount of time, but momma cat was scared off. The kittens were taken to Sandy's for fostering, and we arranged for a humane trap to be dropped off at Dick's so that he could try to get momma.
This morning, he did.
Momma cat is now safely ensconced in Sandy's basement, happily reunited with her babies. She knew them, and they knew her, and they all started nursing right away.
As soon as the kittens are weaned, we will have this lovely female spayed, and the kittens will be adopted out to screened and approved homes and will be spayed or neutered.

And we have decided to get a fishing net to help with future kitten catching.

Finally, photos of the "Paintball" kittens!

Beatrix - the more timid little girl. She had a pronounced limp when we rescued her, but it is almost gone now. She loves to have her belly rubbed, and is "talking" more to her foster mom now.
Bella - little miss personality. She won't stop moving long enough to get a good photo! She's too busy jumping on laps, riding on shoulders, talking up a storm, and rubbing against legs.

Buster - the sole boy kitty. He is built like a wrestler, and is going to be a very big cat. He purrs as soon as you talk to him or touch him.

Winter is here

It's really cold outside now, and we are continuing to receive calls and emails asking for help for cats and kittens who are homeless and hungry.
Right now, we need to make some room in our current foster homes before we can bring any more desperate situations out of the cold.
Adoptions are the solution!
Can you help us?
Please consider adopting one of our wonderful rescued felines, or spreading the word amongst your friends, family, workmates, fellow gym members, and email lists.
All of the animals available for adoption are listed on our website at www.people4animals.ca
-Sarah

Wil-E Coyote is not a friend to kitties

We rescued three more kittens this weekend. A community member had alerted us to the plight of a wild momma cat and her four kittens at an outdoor paintball facility outside of Regina. They had no food source, no shelter, and were prey to coyotes. We sent a team to go and assess the situation, and sadly, they were only able to locate three of the kittens. We have visited the location multiple times since then, and there is no sign of the other two. We can only conclude that they were hunted and killed.

Despite being raised outside by a wild mother, the three remaining kittens are very tame. Reports indicate that the child of the owners of the paintball facility would play with them.

On our visit last week, the team left food and constructed an insulated shelter for the kittens, as we had no foster homes to place them in. We are still so very full, and getting more calls all of the time. This week, despite some adoptions, nothing opened up. We knew that time was growing short for these babies, so Pat and Bob went out on Saturday and picked them up, and brought them to my house for fostering, even though I already have four other foster cats.

I am so glad that these kittens are safe now. They are about four months old. One female is all black (Bella), one female is a lovely striped tabby (Beatrix), and the male (Buster) is a robust striped tabby as well. Bella is a little social butterfly, Buster is so loving, and Beatrix is extremely gentle, albeit still a little timid. They sleep in one big heap in the papasan chair in their room, eat like maniacs, and have already litter trained themselves.

Beatrix is the most fragile one, with a bad leg. I have the vet coming out to see her this week. She is very skinny, and sleeps a lot. I hope that she is able to thrive now. So far, so good.

Once they have all been seen by the vet, dewormed, and vaccinated, these three survivors will be available for adoption. Photos coming soon!
-Sarah