Was going to be absolutely brilliant today and cover all the history of my family since time began.......or try to get a little on the page anyway....

However (you knew there would be an however didn't you), on Friday's I answer the phone for a local animal rescue organization (United Animal Friends)....got a call from a lady many miles away (Yavapai is huge county) and she has 5 kittens barely a week old that have been orphaned. Their mother was feral and this lady rescued them....she's been feeding them (every 3 hours) since midnight Tuesday and needed help! We have been able to do that, and the kits are being taken to a vet in the morning and have new foster mom all lined up.

The reason I am writing this is to let anyone who reads it about the necessity of getting your pets spayed and neutered. Like I said, Yavapai County Arizona is huge....we are bigger in square miles than the combined states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont! In this county alone there are an estimated 25,000 feral cats! The mother of these kittens was killed by a pack of wild dogs! Dogs that had been abandoned as pups or there parents were. The problem is huge.

I got a lecture from a friend about taking on these kits as my own fosters ( I already have a ton of rescued cats), but like I told her "hey, it's not the babies fault, they at least deserve a chance at a good life". One that there mother never got.

A feral cat on it's own, has a life expectancy of 1 to 2 years. A feral cat fed and "helped" by humans, can expect to live 2 to 3 years. My cats are indoor/outdoor cats, and should expect to live somewhere between 6 and 12 years! My sisters cats are indoor only, and with good care could live to be 30! Quite a difference.... One of my rescues is nuzzling me for loving now.... A friend brought her and her baby to me 11 years ago, her baby is Dolly Kitty, so naturally she is "The Dolly Mama"....sorry....nah, not really..

Have had them these 11 years and she was an adult when we got her.....not a bad life span compared to what could have been.

Vets are expensive, however in just about every town in the country there is a group or several groups of people who devote themselves to helping this situation.... find them and they will try to help with the spay/neuter costs.

So there, a real live lecture, brought to you by an old softy.

More later, so stay tuned