Tuesday, January 23, 2018

January 21, 2018


January 21, 2018 - Opie's Diary of Daily Doings at Rikki's Refuge
                                                                                                              photo compliments of Doug Deal
Good Morning Rikki's Refuge !!!!   It's going to be another beautiful day in paradise !!!!

                                                                                            photo compliments of Clarence Deal
Rise and shine !!

                                                                                                             photo compliments of Doug Deal
It's going to be a beautiful day !

                                                                                                                                                                    photo compliments of Doug Deal
Our First Responders ... first to honk and gobble at the sound of tires crunching on the gravel ...  they rush to see who's coming even quicker than our fearless guard dogs !!!!

                                                                                                               photo compliments of Doug Deal
Good Morning !!  Says Norman or Batman ...  he's got two names and gets confused sometimes.  Which do you like better?  Think we should call him Norman .... or Batman ?

                                                                                                          photo compliments of Clarence Deal
Ready for duty !!!   Beauty and Buzz will help da hoomans do morning rounds!

                                                                                                     photo compliments of Clarence Deal
Breakfast ....  Rikki's is all about sharing and caring !!

                                                                                                             photo compliments of Paul Erhard
The PROPER way to use chairs !!
                                                                                                           photo compliments of Clarence Deal 
Obie's just not sure.  He knows he not a groundhog ... but is it if you see your shadow ... or if you don't ... or ....  Anyway it sure don't feel like winter no more !!!!

                                                                                                                photo compliments of Doug Deal
Happy kitties taking inventory of the canned cat food delivery.

Ok - you all .... I need some real help .... don't tell HER ... but I gotta get $1,206.72 in the bank before the check she wrote yesterday gets there .... cuz if I don't ... one of us is gonna get rested .... and then WHO's gonna open my fancy feast ...

See all that that food ? Canned food .... to the left and right. Nice color, huh? Well my friends needed it and I sort of made a deal with a store to get it ..... and I just told mom to go pick it up .... she thought it was donated .... but I'd told them I'd buy it ....

It's 144 cases .... so that's ONLY ... $8.38 a case ... I mean that's a good deal right? These are 13.2 oz cans ... it's a real good deal. A lot cheaper than Fancy Feast. Not everybody can afford the good stuff you know. But they gotta eat ..... so the store peeps made HER write a check or go to jail for special ordering and not paying .... so SHE did .... but now there's no money to cover that check .... thank you thank you thank you for not telling HER I did the order ....

I mean as Spokes Cat it IS my responsibility to feed everyone right ? So can you please please please help me out .... if just 144 hoomans would buy ONE case for $8.38 you'll get me out a da dog house .... Please share this round and help me fine 144 people who can spare just $8.38. Thank you so much, Opie


I LOVE YOU for saving my tail !!!!

                                                                                                          photo compliments of Clarence Deal
Two kitties joined us here today ....  this one who says he's real feral and he really hates hoomans ....   settling down in feral quarantine.   I know quarantine is especially hard on ferals.  Not just captivity, but they've lost their home, usually their families, and they're getting ears cleaned and blood drawn and poked and prodded.  It feels like an alien kidnapping.  

I'm sorry .... we really are trying to make you happy.

These kitties lost there home cus it's being bulldozed for development and the cats are being killed.  TNR - which means Trap, Neuter, and RETURN to their own home .... is the right thing to do.  But sometimes the home has been taken from them and they are going to die .....  and then they get to come here. 

I think we should call it TSH ... Trap Speuter HOME !!!
 
                                                                                                  photo compliments of Lauren Todd
This little fluff ball is the other one who came from the same place.  We hope they can save more of the group and real soon.

This wild and crazy little guy looked a lot bigger than he is.  He's like 98 % fluff. 

Since they're supposed to be the same family from the same place, they got to go in the same feral quarantine pen ... it's better when you have friends.  But YIKES ... the big guy was mad at the little guy and started beating him up.  So the hoomans went to intervene ....  and that's when they realized the little guy was all fluff ....  he literally slipped right through the small wiring and was going from temp pen to temp pen.  YIKES ....  the rule is usually kittens under 12 weeks can't be in these pens cus of the size of the fencing ....  2" x 2" .... no way I could fit thru that !! 

But this guy could.  It was an all hands on deck, or to the feral quarantine area, situation.  Get the nets.  We've got to catch this guy before the gets to the outside world.  He'd been here only minutes, wasn't impressed at all and if he got loose and bolted, we'd never see him again. 

Once a kitty, even a feral, is used to being here and has made this their home, if they escape, they come back looking for dinner.  Once upon a time a storm knocked down a tree and tore a hole in the roof of a cat house .....  and there were like 3 cats still there .....   UH OH .....   and then as breakfast went down for them ... one by one here came the other kitties climbing up on the roof and back in thru the hole to get breakfast !!!!!   

Finally they caught this poor baby.  By then, totally terrified, I'm sure you can imagine.  Took him to the quarantine building and ..... he slipped right out the bars in the cage !!!  WHAT ???   He's tiny and just skin and bones, but he's not a baby. 

Now he's resting in a cage with much smaller bars and it seems he's totally terrified, but really wants to be patted and loved.  We'll find out .......   I'll let you know how he's doing in a day or two.  I think Lauren will survive too ....  she'd finally just reached out and grabbed him as he was flying thru the air ....  knowing that if they weren't having success netting him and as fast as he was going and from one pen to the next ... he'd soon be totally out and that might not be so good for him ....  she said what the heck .... save the cat comes first ....  and she gotted chomped up real good .... well real bad I guess you'd say.  
                                                                                             photo compliments of Lauren Todd
Here's Goliath sharing the end of the day with Lauren.  Though he's inflicted many a puncture wound on her too, he's loving when he wants to be on his time, but you tell him to do something he doesn't want to do .... like take medicine, stay inside, come inside, don't mess with that .... well you gonna bleed !!!!

Lauren says, "This is why I love my job.... for all the misunderstood cats that couldn't get a home because they were "mean" or "aggressive"....whether it be paperwork or sharing my lunch, Goliath is never far."

Winning the trust and friendship of the challenging animals is such a special feeling, you can only know it if you're crazy enough to be in the biz of loving them and caring for them. 

                                                                                                               photo compliments of Doug Deal 
Getting ready for bed ......    nobody can see me here, can they ?   Sorry sweetie, the hoomans have to peek at you to make sure you're safe and sound for the night .....  now you can go back to sleep !!
 

                                                                                                                photo compliments of Doug Deal 
Another day in the life of a Refuge .... as the sun sets over Feline Fields.
 

                                                                                                               photo compliments of Doug Deal
and Ramsey Residence ....
that's one awfully big sheep in there ....

All residents of all neighborhoods are safe and sound .....

Good night my friends !

Love, Opie 

thank you for making it all possible !