Yes, It's the Cat Lady

yes. she reminds me of my grandma. made me emotional. lol! how can people be so mean to such a sweet woman? in some ways i wish i could pick up all the stray animals on the street but its just not healthy for you or them. thats why everyone should spay or neuter their animals!!! big hug to the cat lady.

I'm with you -- this woman is amazing in what she does. Yes, 50 cats in one apartment is way too much, but she's to be commended for trying, at least, for doing, something that many people don't consider when they laugh about "cat ladies."

A lot of people believe the myths about cats -- for example, that whole 9 lives thing. One time, the neighbors were watching me as I picked up a poor kitty that met its end in the street, having been hit by a car. A little boy who was watching me said, "Why doesn't it get up? Doesn't it have 9 lives?" Sad to say, a lot of people believe this myth, and many others. So they see no need to take cats inside and off the streets.

Well, it's our job to educate where we can, when we can. Tha's my take on it!

Chat with you later!

a.

Oh my god, this is absolutely amazing. How anyone could give this woman a hard time about trying to care for creatures that everyone else has given up on is beyond me. I have eight cats myself, all but one taken because they were going to go to the pound if I didn't take them (the newest one I found by my college with a hurt paw and, after taking her to a vet and having no luck finding an owner, decided to keep her). I agree with a previous post that fifty cats in one apartment is probably too much, but I commend her efforts and grealty admire her intentions. Too many don't take notice of the problem of feral cats when such beautiful, sweet, -domestic- animals deserve the best home possible. I'm actually trying to start a PSA-type thing because many people in my neighborhood and those surrounding it let there cats run around outside on busy roads. Cats do fine indoors and it's a lot safer, so why can't people just keep their cats inside? D: Where there are no cars or raccoons or coyotes to hurt them?
Anyway, I kind of got off topic. -laughs- This is absolutely amazing and inspirational. I hope she outlives all these cats so they always have a loving caretaker.

Hey, Bonnie, you have my complete admiration for your efforts! Since we've had some bad snowstorms this year, I ended up fixing a shelter on our front porch -- it consisted of some of those heavy-duty trash bags (for 50-gallon drums) -- I cut some of those and duct-taped them to the adirondack chairs on the porch; then I covered that with a tarp that I could tie down around the chairs. Underneath, I had the kitties' beds that they curl up in. I bought a bunch of hand warmers and put those around in the beds, beneath the blankets in there. The cats seemed to appreciate this -- all they had to do was go to one end of this shelter where I placed their food and water bowls. When the sun finally came out, I would see them outside of the shelter sunning themselves and doing their grooming routines! But at night, they would all pile in the beds and curl up together. Some of them come to greet me when I get home from work at night. One of the younger ones tries to emulate the first one who started doing this, but the little thing goes out to the edge of the driveway to plop down and start flopping back and forth on its back! Then it'll come up and rub around the other cat, who has been doing figure 8's around our legs for some time now. It's very touching that they do this because they're considered "semi-feral!"

You're so right about how they can bring you so much joy and help you through tough times. I'm sure you looked forward to coming home to your crew after chemo, or after going through some tough treatments.

Way to go! My neighbors find this whole thing intriguing, and they don't complain -- I guess because we don't have any rats in the neighborhood! tee-hee-hee!

Anyway, thanks for reaching out to me. It's always good to hear from a fellow "Cat Lady" who understands that we do this out of a sense of passion and compassion!

;-)

This pod was on this morning, Feb 24, 2010. Thank God for cat ladies. Cats are amazing creatures that deserve to have someone give them any comfort they possibly can. If people call them names, it's because the cat ladies make them feel guilty they aren't helping strays themselves.
i'm a cat lady and I used to take care of a colony behind a Petco store. I would park in the lot and go to buy cat food for my kitties and see all these strays behind the store. I started feeding them which turned into buying a big igloo and a doghouse which I put up on pallets, filled with blankets and covered the whole thing with tarps so the cats would have warm places to sleep. I and a friend would go EVERY day to feed our charges. My friend would trap them and take them to be neutered and find homes for them. I would pay for the neutering & vet bills.
I got breast cancer right as the last cat was captured and rescued. My treatment did not keep me from taking care of the nine cats I had at home. I shopped for their food and litter and emptied their litter pans. They in turn gave me tremendous comfort and a reason to keep going on.
I get angry that cat ladies are portrayed so negatively. Some of us are good looking too and we certainly are not crazy. Compassionate is a much better word to use. We see suffering and have to act. How about some praise for our efforts? Keep your scorn and help strays yourself.

As long as the cats are well cared for...

Very sweet story, great ending. A personal look at the life of someone most people overlook.

I loved this story -- it's very touching. Of course, I'm not an impartial observer -- I'm the "cat lady" in my neighborhood. I started when a neighbor's family took him to live with them -- but not his cats, many of them non-spayed/neutered. I saw them in the neighborhood, and started feeding/watering them because it was so sad seeing them just abandoned.

My husband and I also have 8 indoor cats now. Some were rescued from the outdoor colony and we fell in love with them -- plus, they were happy to become domesticated.

Our vet's helps us to adopt some of the "semi ferals" out to interested clients. They give us a special rate on spaying/neutering. We've also gotten help with trap-spay/neuter-return, from a great group, Alley Cat Allies.

We've even had a Good Samaritan neighbor who saw what we were doing and would leave bags of food on our front porch.

And wonder of wonders, we also found that several other neighbors were also feeding and bonding with these cats. They don't look semi-feral at all -- they have nice, thick coats (in the winter, that is), and the colony size is rather stable right now, although there are a couple of males that we want to try and trap. They get rather ... active, shall we say ... around this time of year!

I love doing this because these animals don't ask for much -- and they give so much in return -- even the ones that seem the wildest come around eventually. If I had a farm, I would love to help cats that are abandoned, etc. I don't know how much the rats would love this concept, though!

this is inspirational and touching...
at least this neighborhood isn't like the esteemed host of the Olympics...
as Laura Ling
http://current.com/items/76291202_wild_animal_market

inspiration.

This is actually a common problem. People who want to take care of so many animals but too often the animals end up being in terrible conditions because of the person's inability to provide for them. Fifty cats in one apartment sounds like way too much to me. I don't doubt her intentions, but good intentions dn't always translate to good outcomes.

As for feeding the strays, I applaud her for that. I just hope she's making some effort to get them fixed. Trap/Neuter/Release programs have the potential to make a huge impact on feral cat populations.

let the lady do what she wants.
its her life.

At first glance, I thought she was completely out of it. But towards the end of this pod, I realized that she needs these cats as much as they need her. She's an older lady, she needs the company, but this struck me in a way that the stereotypical "cat lady" story couldn't: this is real. She has a mission. No person can go on living their life without a mission, a passion, or the need to fulfill this passion. After all, the cats are good to her, and she's good to them. This was an absolutely beautiful pod.

So I do not think that this lady is crazy. I think if you have a passion in life a passion to do good for humans or animals in this case go for it. Everyone was put on earth to do something good and I think this lady is doing very very well. It's so nice to hear of other people helping those poor stray animals!!! Thank you cat lady!

i thin kmore people should be like her there are so many homeless cats and cats in the pound its sad

that was nice

Vincylicious, cats need a lot of space/territory - 50 cats in a two-room apartment is definitely too much.

When I lived in the country and had a huge garden, I had on average 30 cats of my own - they lived outside 24/7 but all had their moment inside for bonding and for grooming, etc., and of course, if any of them were ill or hurt, I would keep them inside my house to nurse and treat them. I became something of a cat lady in spite of myself because strangers would dump unwanted or sick cats in my garden...

Now that I live in a small apartment, I only have 3 cats, sometimes 4, but no more.

This is so touching.