First of all, allow me to introduce to you our new addition.

Hello, Marlee!

The poor cat lady was in tears as she passed Marlee on to us. We’ve since been chatting about her history, and my heart just breaks for her. She wasn’t physically abused, quite traumatized. Abandoned by her owners, she watched as her stuff – her cat tower, her litter boxes, everything – was thrown away after her owners kicked her outside. The new owners were “not cat people”, and would chase her away from the drier vent she was trying to keep warm under with a broom. A 90 yr old neighbour with cancer fed her every day for 2 years, before she finally called for help, fearing that no one else would take over if she died. The cat lady trapped her, but was turned away by rescues and vets repeatedly, until her own vet was finally willing to look at her. She was deemed “semi-feral” and would never be a “good” cat. They recommended euthanizing her.

The cat lady kept her, but it was 2 months before she would allow any pets, and she never settled in. She was clearly miserable. When passing Marlee on to us, she said she feared the cat would think she was being abandoned again, but at least she would be safer, outdoors with us on the farm.

Well, we’ll see about that.

When I got home, my brother was here, so after unloading the van, the girls took over while I stayed outside to help him.

Yeah. That’s Marlee, accepting scritches. My daughter had poked her fingers through the baby jail walls. Marlee came right over and head bumped her. So my daughter worked her way to reaching in and petting her, and Marlee was just loving it! She loves head scritches (which make her drool like crazy!), and accepts belly and side pets, but doesn’t like her tail or back touched. She was eating well, too. We’ve got Big Rig in my office/bedroom, too, where she will likely stay while recovering from surgery, and Big Rig is being less friendly than Marlee!

When I told the cat lady about it, she was amazed, and then shared the rest of Marlee’s background story. As she described the people moving out, and the neighbours feeding the abandoned cat, I was picturing some typical urban neighbourhood.

Nope.

That house sold for over a million dollars. And her owners got a house in Toronto, which has some of the most expensive housing in the Canada.

Clearly, lack of funds had nothing to do with the cat being abandoned!

One thing is for sure. We’re going to do everything we can to help this lady settle in to a safe and comfortable forever home. Yes, we still have lots of cats, inside and out, that need to be adopted out, but this one is going to stay.

Which reminds me…

Plushy and Princess (who now have new names) were supposed to go to one family, but two neighbouring households. Well, the two of them get along so well, the family decided not to separate them. They will be in one household, and Grandma will just have to walk over to visit her cat! 😄

On a related note…

When I came out to do my morning rounds, the first thing I saw when I stepped outside was a tiny little tuxedo running around! He quickly dashed under the cat house.

He was a hungry little one! (I’m just using the generic “he” – we have no idea if it’s male or female).

Later on, I spotted the tabby.

Usually, I just see his mostly white face. This is the first time I’ve had a decent look at the markings on the rest of him.

Well. Part of the rest of him.

After I came back from getting Big Rig and Marlee, I spotted the tuxedo again, running around, going in and out of the sun room, and exploring.

Here was have one of the littles, next to one of the oldest kittens!

With all the commotion while the roofers were working, I hardly saw the bitties at all, but I still wasn’t seeing the orange one. This concerned me, so I spent some time trying to see into the cat house, until I spotted what looked like orange fur. One of my daughters was able to come out to give me a hand with opening the cat house to check.

Sadly, the little orange bitty was dead. It’s eyes were crusted shut, and its nose covered with dried mucus. From the looks of it, other cats had been snuggled up to him. It’s possible he had been smothered, or it was a combination of respiratory illness and smothering. It definitely wasn’t the cold. This one did seem smaller and weaker compared to its siblings, so I can’t say I’m surprised, but it was very saddening. We even had someone wanting to adopt him.

As for the other two, we’ve had no luck socializing. I was actually able to catch the tuxedo, but he was NOT happy with that, and I ended up bleeding quite a bit for my efforts! Which, unfortunately, has probably set back our efforts to socialize them.

The cat lady passed on some food donations, including large cans of wet cat food. Tomorrow morning, I think I’ll dump a can into a bowl, break it apart, then spread spoon fulls out all over, making sure the bigger cats are busy with eating before making sure the bitties get their share.

Along with the food donations, she also passed on a couple of cat caves and a bunch of treats, too! She has been able to help us out with the cats so much, we’re more than happy doing what we can to help her back, by taking in Marlee (who I can hear growling at other cats behind me right now, from the safety of her cage). We just did the evening wet cat food feeding in my office, and she was quite happy while she was eating, at least! The grey lady needs some more TLC, I think. 😊

The Re-Farmer