Last Wednesday, we brought in our first batch of cats of 2011 to the PAWS-Chicago Spay/Neuter clinic to 'get the treatment'.
All but one of these cats was a friendly - it's still too cold outside to trap cats - while one was an 'indoors-outdoors' feral (more about Cromwell in a moment). I drove the cats into PAWS in the morning and then picked them up and drove them back to Tammy's in the evening for recovery and 'distribution'.
One of the 14 cats I brought in had already been spayed, so we've started of the year with 'lucky 13'...
The one 'indoor-outdoor' feral cat we brought in had an abscess on one of its rear legs. The PAWS people cleaned it out and gave it a shot of Convenia (Thank You PAWS - you rock). This cat was a big, mottled, grey tabby, with a great disposition. While the cats were waiting to be picked up by me, the Executive Director of PAWS, Rochelle Michalek, saw Cromwell and decided that she would like to try and give it a home. This was serendipity writ large as its caretaker is now undergoing chemo treatment and has been ordered by his doctor not to let in this cat for fear of carrying an infection.
I brought Cromwell in to PAWS this past Monday to be more closely examined by their veterinarian. Cromwell turned out to be FIV positive, but otherwise very healthy and he was accepted into the PAWS adoption program. Thank you again PAWS - this cat needed a new home and you were there to provide one. I'm sure Cromwell will be happy in whatever new home PAWS finds for him - he's really a great cat.
With these 13 cats, we've now done 2,494 overall.