A Message for a Specific Victorville Apartment Complex.... You know who you are

 

Please allow me to vent a little….

This post will be a bit long so please read it ALL before commenting.

For 2 years I have been helping out an apartment complex in Victorville with a feral cat colony. I provided traps, a resident would notify me to pick up when one was caught.

I was told people had threatened to poison the colony. I was told support for the cats would also be provided.

I stopped accepting cats from them, picked up my traps and cages almost a year ago after no support came for them. Sure, gas money would be sent for me to travel to pick up a trapped cat. But to date no food, litter or money for spay / neuter has been provided.

Please understand that I live on a fixed income and try to sell some Amazon stuff to cover surgeries etc. Those sales are also super slow right now.

The absolute hardest thing a rescuer can tell someone is I’m sorry I cannot intake because I am full. Yes, some of the cats from that colony will be permanent residents because they are feral. But simply being feral should not equate a death sentence. One feral cannot ever be free roaming again due to the injury she had at intake, which is fully healed now, but would make her easy prey for larger predators. She served the complex well as a rodent controller and now I give her a space to enjoy and live comfortably.

But each cat came with empty promises, and each one is an amazing kitty who deserved better from the complex that rejected them. This is part of why many local rescuers cannot handle intake, all the empty promises from complexes like I dealt with. I even accepted one female who had been spayed because a family was told if they kept her, they would be charged $1,000 pet deposit. That family promised that if I kept her, they would help with her supplies because they asked that if they moved to a place where they could have her back they would like her back. Of course, those promises were empty as well, but she has become one of the best rodent catchers on the property! Not once have they even asked about her since the day I picked her up.

I even lost a pair of my feral cat gloves to a person in the complex who never returned them when I picked up the traps…… Those are NOT cheap by the way……

So now I am here asking for community help with cats that came from that part of the community, knowing some of the ones who made the empty promises to me will likely see this, may even comment on this.

Yes, I have messaged my contact at the complex and repeatedly asked for the promises to be kept. Mainly they ghost me and I gave up trying. For nearly a year and a half I have supported the cats from that colony alone, on my fixed income and turned 2 of the ferals into amazingly adoptable boys who are still waiting to find their perfect home.

I know spay / neuter for CATS in our area totally sucks. Plenty of programs for dogs, but none for cats. So, I do my best to find the lowest option. Animal Action League is a PITA to get appointments with but is the lowest cost. In the last 2 years I have bore this cost alone after the promises fell through.

I work my behind off to provide for them, give them catios stocked with anything they could imagine, provide solar powered fans for their comfort, automatic litter boxes and so much more. Even the UPS delivery guy takes some time to visit with them when he brings a delivery. So, if your box is late sometimes that could be why. He never forgets to stop and give them some attention.

But now I need some help. I need to catch up on a few bills that I have been struggling with since being naïve enough to believe people might keep their word. I need some help getting the last of the colony kitties spayed / neutered.

I am NOT, I repeat and NOT asking for direct cash donations or gifts. Let me repeat that, I am NOT asking for direct cash donations. Unlike some, I prefer for people to know where their gift goes and provide the receipts. So, how do you help?

1.      Food donations can be done via Barstow WalMart or Tractor Supply, just do a pick up order and let me know when to pick it up. Due to a couple of the kitties having a food allergy they cannot have Special Kitty or Paws and Claws. 3 of them have to use Sensitive Stomach / Gentle Care types food. There are 4 super seniors who need wet food, any wet food is fine them seem partial to Sheba and Temptations though.

2.      Litter donations can be done the same way. A simple pick up order. 2 kitties have kitty asthma and require a special litter which I get from Tractor Supply $7.99 for a 40 lb bag it is called pine pellet bedding. The 3 automatic litter boxes must have scoopable litter, preferably unscented. The waste bags for the litter tray on the automatic boxes are rectangle shaped so most will work.

3.      For those who want to ship something directly to the house, message me. My address for shipping is in the description on any of my YouTube videos (a link to that channel will be at the end of this post). I know some people like Chewy and Amazon so that option is available as well.

4.      Spay / Neuter help can be done by donating directly to Animal Action League under MY name. Message me for those details.

 

Once I get these guys homes my goal is to establish a nonprofit HERE in our community that will help with CATS. The fact that we have such little support in our area for any cats is ridiculous. I would love to eventually sponsor spay / neuter events for CATS only, support a proper TNR program and education on how community cats help their communities. I would like to eventually be in a position to help those who care for the community cats. That is my 5 year goal. The only intake that would be done would be for stray/ ferals who could no longer survive alone.

For now, I am here asking for some community support for the kitties taken in from Victorville after waiting for promises that were never honored.

This is not a post of OMG they are gonna starve post. The cats never go without. I make sure of that, even when it means some of my bills / needs get put on hold. This post is me, being humble and asking for some help after struggling for over a year while listening to empty promises from those who asked me to trap these kitties in the first place.

I have upset some people who did inquire about adoption. They pretty much demanded to adopt BEFORE spay / neuter surgery and once the surgery was done, they were no longer interested. Please understand that once a cat comes to me it will NOT go out the door to contribute to unwanted litters or be used for backyard breeding. Every kitty who comes here will be spayed / neutered before going out for adoption. I will not apologize for this position for making sure I am not adding to the severe cat overpopulation problem.

What I do guarantee though is that I match the right cat with the right home. I take time to ask questions of potential adopters. Just because someone wants a “orange cat”, it may not be the “right” cat for their home. I also make sure these cats are excellent hunters and understand the assignment. I work with them to socialize them with other cats as well as dogs. They could be called my full time job (if I actually got paid for it LOL). I do it because I love working with them and they deserve it. Some of the cats even visit the senior care facility (speaking of which it is time to schedule the next visit there too)…..

I do apologize this has been a long winded post. I have advocated for these kitties since they came to me, but the current state of our world has not been supportive of the smaller rescuers who have little time to network.

Thank you in advance to any who help, even if it is just sharing this post or tagging a friend.

 

This is the reality small rescuers deal with and many will never openly speak of it. I do not want to be the one who says nothing. I want to help our community and establish something that will serve the community long after I am gone. I am 56, so I want to leave something for this community that I love so much.

 

Have a blessed day time for me to do rounds on the furbabes. If you have room in your heart and home for a thoroughly spoiled feline you can message me directly. At present I have only males neutered and ready to go. I have a few females waiting for their spay surgery, once that happens they will be available.

 

Here is the YouTube link…… I will try to do a couple more live videos later in the week. I had facet injections in my cspine today and am resting from that.

 

https://www.youtube.com/@mischievousslave