We try to take the week after a big event "off." After the Kitten Shower I had no intention of working on any cats. Of course some came along anyway! We had been trying to get several injured cats and one was trapped and taken to GEAH on the 9th. With a severely injured leg, often the only answer is euthanasia, but in Chin-Chin's case it seemed to only be a severe puncture wound that had not abscessed yet. An otherwise healthy cat, we neutered him and loaded him up with antibiotic injections. If we had not managed to get him when we did, his story could have been very different. This brings our totals to 19 for April, 44 for 2019, and 11,015 since our beginning.
Another project we took on was helping a resident of Hanover Park. You may have heard of the Cook County Ordinance. It allows feral cat caretakers to maintain their colonies, involving strict criteria and registering with one of the rescue organizations that will do so. Quite often, Hanover Park uses the criteria to harass the caretakers. This resident had done everything correctly but the rescue organization is no longer in existence and records are just about impossible to verify. She has since registered with another group and asked us for help in updating her cats. The TNR group that had neutered these cats 6 years ago had NOT eartipped, nor implanted chips. Patches went on the 13th for rabies vaccination, eartip and microchip. Charlie went on the 14th for rabies vaccination, eartip, microchip and a Convenia shot (touch of icky eyes). Now the caretaker has the paperwork for these two to present at her hearing today. Wishing her all the luck! In researching her situation, I found that there is state legislation halfway to being approved that would remove the necessity for a subsequent rabies vaccination after the initial one given at neutering for feral cats. YEA!!!! On a rough guess, there may be 6,000 ferals out there that have had just their initial rabies vaccination. Can you imagine re-trapping every feral? When SB0131 goes to vote, we will try to get the information out to you in order to inform and influence your representative!