To you from me……

I thought that August was supposed to be the hottest month of the year.  With June and July having temperatures in the high 90’s and the heat index in the hundreds, I’m beginning to get worried about August.  All of the animals have had to acclimate to this heat….each in his own way.  The tigers go into their cement houses (15 – 20 degrees cooler than the outside) as soon as they eat in the mornings and sleep most of the day.  I will sometimes see them going down to their swimming pools; jump in, get real wet, and go back to their houses to go back to sleep until the sun goes down.  The laziest creature that God made was the lion.  These cats make a supreme effort to make it in to eat… walk, rest, walk, rest…maybe come in to eat, maybe not.  Then they get a drink, rest, walk, rest, walk until they can get in the shade of their house. That’s it for the day for the lions.  The domestic cats are the one’s who surprised me.  At the beginning, the kitten house was the only house with an air conditioner. We walked in there that first really hot afternoon and there was at least 80 cats in their enjoying the air conditioning.  So, we scrounged around the sanctuary and my house and came up with small window units for the rest of the houses.  We turn the air conditioners off at night, but in the daytime, you don’t see a cat out in the yard.

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My new nighttime friend…

I received several letters regarding my possum story in the last newsletter.  I could never say that were possums are pretty, but it seems my retribution was given to me by another possum.  A possum started coming in my cat door to my office and eating cat food at night.  Sometimes he lingers after he eats and uses the office floor instead of a litter box.  I hook up to dialysis at 8:30 pm and don’t finish until 8:00 am, so I have no way to catch a picture of him.  I know it is a possum because I caught him waiting under the church pew on my front porch one evening waiting for me to go to bed. As someone suggested to me…”are possums really shy cats in disguise?”

The frogs are about to take over……

I have no idea where these thousands of frogs came from, but they are everywhere.  This is the first time in 25 years that I have seen these phenomena.  At any rate, the frogs have started eating cat food…I have a frog on the front porch who jumps in the bowl to eat as soon as I set the bowl down.  On my back porch, there is an army of about 15-30 frogs who do the same thing.  My outside birdhouse has hundreds of frogs waiting for one of the birds to drop food on the floor. The other evening I went to change into my rubber mucks to hose out the bird pen and what do you think was in one of my shoes? Help!  What to I feed frogs?

Animal Planet came to Cedarhill on June 6…..

 In January or February 2011, Animal Planet will air a feature called, “Must Love Cats” and Cedarhill was selected to be in section four.  Their crew is traveling all over the United States to capture footage of cats.  Their objective with Cedarhill was to compare the likeness and differences of exotics and domestic cats…other than the obvious.  What we came to the realization was that both exotic and domestic cats play alike….they hide behind trees and jump on each other; they stretch and yawn alike.  They both play with a ball and chase it endlessly.  I think one of Animal Planet’s best stories will be in a section called “Klepto Cat”.  This cat goes out at night and steals towels and drags them home. He has brought home over 300 towels and I don’t know how many shoes.  I will keep you posted as to the Animal Planet airing of the section on Cedarhill.

Rocky the raccoon….

In Mississippi, it is illegal to have a raccoon without a license, so I want to make it perfectly clear that Rocky will be released on Cedarhill grounds.  Rocky was found by animal control in Columbus when he was a couple of days old.  He was taken to the shelter and was kept by shelter members for three weeks and then turned over to a foster situation that kept Rocky until he was 10 weeks old.  We were contacted to see if we could keep Rocky until he was old enough to be released here in the woods around the sanctuary.  Rocky has never seen another raccoon, nor has he been outside.  We started him out in the senior house where he is allowed to play in the kitchen during the daytime, and then he is returned to his wire kennel at night.  By the time I have the new animal care house completed, we hope to teach him to live with the feral cats.  The new animal care house has a 10x15 room with an outside cat door.  We will move him in there and he will be able to go off into the woods, but can return to eat in the feral room if he wants to.  It’s the best we can do to return him to a normal life in the woods.  Many rehab places were contacted, but no one would take Rocky, as they themselves were all full. 

We found a rehab place near Oxford, MS. and he was moved after the newsletter went to press.  He will be released in the wild by this fall.

Norman is doing much better….

We took Norman to Starkville to have him x-rayed to accurately assess what could be done for him.  It turns out that he has some nerve damage.  I asked Dr. Barbara Allen in Brandon, MS if she could do acupuncture on Norman.  She can’t make it to Cedarhill for a while, but instead, put him on several holistic and natural remedies.  After two weeks, Norman is standing on his own and taking a few steps….hooray!!  Here’s hoping that Norman continues to do well.

Reemus & Hobbs…..

Reemus is a small black cat that was raised in the senior house.  We have tried several times to put him out in the main cat compound, but he is terrified.  He hides up on a shelf and refuses to come down.  We agreed to take Hobbs from a cat rescuer in Louisiana.  Hobbs had been trapped in an apartment complex, neutered and released.  Then someone became very abusive to these cats and Hobbs was caught again and subsequently came to Cedarhill.  When new cats come to the senior house, they go upstairs to the open office where they can watch what goes on down below.  One morning, shortly after Hobbs came, the staff saw Reemus take three toys up to Hobbs and offered them to him.  Hobbs and Reemus have become close pals and play and sleep together.

The new animal care facility…

                                                                  Roxie and her cement box

Last week the animal care building was framed up ready to put the roof on.  It has been a very slow process, but between the heat and the intermittent rain, progress has been very slow.  I’m hoping that by the end of August or the middle of September, we will be able to move in. We have to be in by the time the weather cools off.   I have commitments for the building, so construction will go on while I work on the operating capital.

Until next time…

So many of you stepped forward and are helping us get through this difficult financial time.  Several sanctuaries are failing across the country and we sure don’t want to be among them.  Donations are down for Cedarhill approximately 40% and I guess it is due to the economy. These past few months have been very difficult financially, but with your help we will persevere.

Frankie Loves half her bed

I saved a human today….

Her eyes met mine as she walked down the corridor peering apprehensively into the kennels. I felt her need instantly and knew I had to help her.  I wagged my tail, not too exuberantly, so she wouldn’t be afraid.

As she stopped at my kennel I blocked her view from a little accident I had in the back of my cage.  I didn’t want her to know that I hadn’t been walked today.  Sometimes the shelter keepers get too busy and I didn’t want her to think poorly of them.

As she read my kennel card I hoped that she wouldn’t feel sad about my past.  I only have the future to look forward to and want to make a difference in someone’s life.

She got down on her knees and made little kissy sounds at me.  I shoved my shoulder and the side of my head up against the bars to comfort her.  Gentle fingertips caressed my neck; she was desperate for companionship.

A tear fell down her cheek and I raised my paw to assure her that all would be well.  Soon my kennel door opened and her smile was so bright that I instantly jumped into her arms.  I would promise to keep her safe.  I would promise to always be by her side.  I would promise to do everything I could to see that radiant smile and sparkle in her eyes.  I was so fortunate that she came down my corridor.  So many more are out there who haven’t walked the corridors.  So many more to be saved.  At least I could save one.  Yes, I could save one.

I rescued a human today.

I thank each and every one of you who help the animals.  There just needs to be more of us.  Please continue to help the animals of Cedarhill.

For the love of the animals,

C. Kay McElroy

Executive Director

WEBCAM

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