Safam

Yesterday afternoon I received an email from Sarah of Frankie the Library Cat. She had sighted a possibly pregnant cat in an alley between Hyde Park and Cornell at 54th. Sarah reported that this young tuxedo with green eyes "came up to me in the alley and was very very sweet and sociable and very dirty with an abscess under her chin. I did not have a means of picking her up and carrying her home with me, though she began to follow me before getting spooked. I went back to try to find her, but she was hiding." The call went out to our list and within hours Mireille had sighted this cat as well. She had no carrier with her but kept kitty occupied until Ruth could swing by with the carrier. In kitty went, and then to fostermom Ainat's house, where she has been named Safam (Hebrew for whiskers, or moustache).

Achilles and Istria

As a mom, all I can say about this picture is I don't want to know.

homeward bounding

An update on adoptions ... in the past week Minette has gone home with Forevermom Elizabeth. Rainbow and Poe went home with their Forever Family, which includes two children. Dharma's kittens will all go to forever homes after their spay/neuter surgery on Thursday. And Kobi went home too ... to a couple who already have a black male FIV+ kitty. Good luck Kobi! Good luck Rainbow! Good luck Poe! Good luck Hurley! Good luck Eko and Sawyer! Good luck Minette! We love you all and wish you wonderful lives.

Pictured here is Tucker, formerly Lemon (Lennon), one of the ACC orphans, in his new home with Forevermom Martha and his new brother. We love it when adoptive families send us their happy ending updates!

sooo tired

Amos, a former alley kitten, is so exhausted. Play play play, sleep sleep sleep. What a life!

Thanks to Rob S. and Laurie K. for the recent in-kind donations.

church cats

Hyde Park Cats: now with interfaith service! Recently we made a short trip to Marquette Park, a neighborhood to our west. Father Tony at the NBVM (Lithuanian) Church had been feeding and caring for feral group, but needed to remove the cats as he himself has now moved to serve a new parish. With the help of Indiana's GB Rescue, Father Tony had managed to get most of his cats and kittens all tidily into traps! And a very professional job he did, too. By the time we arrived, there was little to do other than load the cats into cars and get them to PAWS (and also to eat cake, courtesy of the church ladies), where they were spay/neutered, thanks to Susan R., who met us and got the cats all set up. The two adult cats went with GB Rescue to a barn in Indiana. The kittens came back to Hyde Park, where they have been fostered and socialized by superkittensocializer extraordinaire Megg. Father Tony was very happy to know his cats were going to be OK and will take his information about TNR to the next parish, on the west side. Good luck, Father Tony! Thanks for helping the cats.

Istria and Achilles

Istria with her fosterbrother Achilles. The two are getting along famously and fostermom Mireille does think Achilles is moving more and better now that he has a little sister to chase around.

Achilles has improved his mobility somewhat with the physical therapy and the chasing of the sisters (Martha is also at Mireille's romper room now). He needs a low litterbox and may not be able to manage stairs. But he gets himself on the couch, under the furniture, and definitely onto your lap. He will lie on his back in your lap for ... ever.

Rainbow attacks!

No! Not the yellow pennant! Not the yellow pennant! Rainbow standing in for a fire-breathing dragon.

kids and kittens

Kids like kittens. Get your kids some kittens. We have multiple kittens available for immediate adoption!

Pictured here are our special cat-mauling cat-socializing volunteers, Lilah and Sølje, loving up Istria and Achilles.

Antonio y Luis

Alexis C., she of saving Lazarus, has reported a new colony. Meet Antonio and Luis, two of maybe five or six cats in this location. They appear to be living under a porch and Alexis can only get within ten feet of them. This requires old-school trapping! These are two of the toms who were courting Tashma (and the names of person-Tashma's two husbands).

Bear

Bear passed away yesterday after seventeen years on Earth. He was the beloved dog of Aimee, one of our colony caretakers and most active volunteers, and her husband. Rest in peace, Bear, and we at Hyde Park Cats send your family our love.

Tashma

Tashma, a six- or seven-month-old 5.5 lb little lady, is named after Lola Montes, as she (Tashma the cat) feels very strongly that she is a flamenco dancer. Fostermom Katherine says Tashma loves love and has promised a detailed description of "the thing she does wherein she puts her face on your face and rubs it around for a long time." Tashma feels strongly that she should never be more than one foot away from a human.

Tashma was saved from dishonor at the paws of some disreputable tomcats at a new colony. More on them tomorrow.

Istria Cafe

Sometimes cats find you, like when you're having a coffee with someone at the cafe, and then somebody else comes along and takes a tiny kitten out of a backpack and it turns out somebody gave her this kitten at a busstop, and she was about to go online and find out how to contact Hyde Park Cats, and there you are, just having a coffee, and suddenly there is a tiny kitten lapping milk out of a saucer on your table ...

Fostering Martha

Sometimes fostering one of our kittehs can entail extraordinary measures ... of cuteness. But also of work. Voila Martha, of Minette et trois bebehs, who came to use from Animal Care and Control. Her brothers died of a respiratory illness but Martha survived, thanks to the determination of her fosterparents Olivier and Claire. They have fought over time (see chart) to get teeny tiny Martha up to a healthy weight. She is almost ready to go to her forever home with her forevermom, the patiently waiting Kirsten! So, no, this fluffy cutie is not available for adoption, but we have lots of other cats and kittens who are. Thanks to Claire and Olivier for fostering Martha. If you are interested in learning more about fostering, email hydeparkcatsadoptions@gmail.com.

Bridgeport kittens and mama

Daniel, a former resident of Hyde Park, now in Bridgeport, emailed HPC for help with a rescue operation. He had been feeding a cat in a nearby used car lot / repair shop. When she gave birth to a litter of kittens, Daniel decided to bring them inside. He emailed HPC for help. One Saturday morning in early July, Ruth and Mireille went to Bridgeport, armed with trap, food, gloves and (most importantly) freshly baked challah bread from Terren. Daniel and his friend Bess had trapped the mother that morning, so it was just a matter of getting the kittens. But after an hour of carefully combing the car yard -- looking under the seats and engines of banged-up vehicles - the HPC contingent decided that the best plan was to set the trap and leave Daniel to watch. The kittens needed peace and quiet before they would show their 4 week old faces. Readers, the scheme worked! By the end of the weekend, all six were with their mother and safely ensconced in Daniel's pantry. He is now socializing them and looking for forever homes once they have been spayed/neutered at PAWS. Daniel plans to keep the mother, who with any luck will become friends with resident feline Kat Mandoo. Congratulations to Daniel and Bess for all their hard work and patience in trapping this family.

Amos and Alfredo

Cue "The Odd Couple" music and meet Amos and Alfredo. Amos is a three-month-old kitten from Tanya's Tribe, and Alfredo is an adult male from the Parkview Katz colony. Fredo, a bully to most cats, is completely taken with his new little brother. They would make a great pets for a family with children: Amos is as cute and rambunctious as any kitten, and Fredo is great with kids too. Fredo is deaf and FIV+ ... and a little on the chunky side. Do a mitzvah (good deed) by adopting a hard-to-place cat and reward yourself simultaneously with a scrumptious little kitten! It's a win-win.

Thanks to James M. for the donation!

Sophie

Sophie is a beautiful and affectionate young female cat looking for a forever home. She is spayed, neg/neg, and up-to-date on routine shots. She has a face like a beauty queen and a long expressive tail. She wants your love. Sophie is only about eight months old -- still a kitten. Sophie came to us from ACC, where she was caged with her six tiny kittens. Sophie got pregnant too young and without a steady food source, and as a result she is still very skinny. She needs lots of delicious noms.

Fostermom (also named Sophie) writes "Sophie is a very people-centric cat. Whenever she hears the doorbell ring, she runs to the front door so she can be the first one to greet the newcomer. When I am at home, she follows me around the house, then sits next to me while I work. At night, she's curled up at the foot of the bed purring. Her favorite spots are high-traffic areas (like my kitchen/laundry room), so she can be sure to see lots of people and attract plenty of attention."

More pix of Sophie (and her six!!!! kittens

Pym Rescue!

Received an email Saturday morning about a scared and dirty little kitten meowing under a bush. This turned out to be the same kitten volunteers Laura and Melissa had been stalking previously, so together with Katherine (the emailer) and Ruth, one scairt dirty and hungry orange kitten was captured -- with stinky, stinky sardines -- and is now in our protective custody.

His name is Pym.

Depicted here are three stages of Hyde Park Catdom: Needing rescue. Getting care. Being loved. And for Pym, it was all in a day!

Fun with Kittens

Rainbow making herself at home.


Superpoe appears to be wearing a cape.

Come on, readers! Why won't you adopt these kittens! Look how adorable they are! Rainbow and Poe-poe are spayed, neg/neg, cuddly, purring, cat-friendly, curious, child-friendly, wonderful little kittens.

Wags

Dog Day.

The neighbor of one of our most active volunteers passed away very unexpectedly this week. She left her best friend and companion of twelve years, Wags. Wags is a collie mix of and weighs in at around 40 pounds. She is incredibly sweet and very low-key, just happy to sit next to someone, be brushed, have her tummy rubbed, take walks or just sit outside in the sun. She appears to be in good health but is a little chubby and is now on weight-control food. She's been incredibly well cared for (except for getting spoiled by her mom in the past with food) and is a very quiet dog. She gets along fine with cats. Wags would be a perfect dog for anyone who would like a low-maintenance sweet, quiet, happy dog (with a perpetually wagging tail, thus the name her mom gave her).

Fawn

Fawn was recently rescued from the MJK alley. We believe she was dumped there; she is confused and a little angry right now. Here she is pictured listening to Mahler and making biscuits. She was spayed this weekend and sent to Camp Love-em-up at Fostermom Kristen's.

Thanks so much for recent donations: from Nicolas M. in memory of Nadia), from our chaver Martha B., and from Erica, who found Dharma and her kittens under a car.

A Day in the Life of Hyde Park Cats

10:30am: Kitten rescue (more tomorrow).


11:30am: Kitten rescue success! Volunteers at the local vet.


1pm: Adoption Event (Kittenpalooza)!


3pm Fosterkitten Achilles getting physical therapy at home.


5:45pm: Pick up of multiple spayed cats at Treehouse Clinic.


8pm: Feeding in the alley.

This snapshot of a day shows the work of a lot of different people, from fostermoms and dads who all got their cats and kittens where they needed to be today, to the people who worked the adoption event (and to Anna, who coordinates our events), to our stalwart feeders in the alleys, to the people who drove the cats and picked them up from the clinic, to those who got up and answered an email plea of "kitten needs help right now!" ... plus plenty of behind-the-scenes administrative action!

Together we can do so much! Thanks to all the Hyde Park Cats volunteers who give their time, energy, money, and most importantly love to helping the cats.

KITTENPALOOZA

KITTENS! FRESH WARM TASTY KITTENS! GET 'EM WHILE THEY'RE HOT! I mean, please come to KITTENPALOOZA this Saturday on July 10th from 12-3 at our local independent pet store, Parkers Pets. Please support Parkers; they've been great supporters of us. And adopt some of our fabulous funny furry miniature felines!







Pictured:
Roo (next to the vacuum tube): A wrestler and a cuddler, Roo is a very bright kitten and the perfect in-between cat. He knows when it's time to demand attention and when it's time to do his own thing.

Mouse (dark tabby next to vacuum body): Mouse is all about play time. He will run up and say hello to you in the morning, when you get home, and whenever it's time to eat. He'd love to sleep by your pillow at night.

Tigger (tabby asleep on bed): Tigger is a sweet tabby girl who is all about cuddles. She will curl up in your lap and snooze all day if she could. She loves human interaction and is the world's biggest sweetie.

Tux (tuxedo kitty): Tux will find a quiet place to curl up for the day and then come sleep with you at night. She wouldn't do well in a rambunctious household.