For those who could not make it yesterday...
Here is a virtual tour of our small feral cat facility in the barn. Welcome to Wildrun!
The cage room where new cats and feral cats are confined. To the left you can see the door to the vestibule. The facility is heated, and usually is about 68 degrees F at standing height, which is why the cages are elevated to take advantage of the fact that heat rises. Elevated cages also make it easy to tame cats and clean cages, by bringing them up to human level.
The runs (on the right) off the vestibule.
The cabinets (previously college book lockers) for supplies:
The cat room for long term resident cats:
Plushy says: "Thanks for the bed! And the toys. They are mine, all mine."
Taking us at our word, people brought turkey baby food, which we use to tame kittens, who just can't seem to resist this stuff.
There is a small radiator heater in the cat room, which I keep under a tall cage to prevent it from being tipped. The cats love to sleep on top of the cage in the warmth. Here are Fluffy and Kid sleeping off yesterday's excitment.
The cage room where new cats and feral cats are confined. To the left you can see the door to the vestibule. The facility is heated, and usually is about 68 degrees F at standing height, which is why the cages are elevated to take advantage of the fact that heat rises. Elevated cages also make it easy to tame cats and clean cages, by bringing them up to human level.
The runs (on the right) off the vestibule.
The cabinets (previously college book lockers) for supplies:
The cat room for long term resident cats:
Plushy says: "Thanks for the bed! And the toys. They are mine, all mine."
Taking us at our word, people brought turkey baby food, which we use to tame kittens, who just can't seem to resist this stuff.
There is a small radiator heater in the cat room, which I keep under a tall cage to prevent it from being tipped. The cats love to sleep on top of the cage in the warmth. Here are Fluffy and Kid sleeping off yesterday's excitment.
posted by Wildrun at 3:25 PM
14 Comments:
How many cats do you currently have?
We have eighteen. Three of those have been adopted and are being altered etc. before going home. Two others have tentative homes. We have three additional cats in foster homes, so that would be 21 total.
wow that's a lot of setup and maintenance. lovely place though. lucky cats :)
Do your cats stay in the barn or is there a cat door for them to move in and out?
The cat facility is for adult ferals who are recovering from spay/neuter (and are going back to their landowners), and tame cats and feral kittens who will be placed in homes, so none of them go in and out of the barn. The tamed cats are adopted into indoor-only homes.
Wow. I applaud your dedication. Good work.
I guess it helps if your COTC post is actually linked! Sorry, I missed the obvious! Hosting was a loooong process, very fun, but with a lot of too-ing and fro-ing between pages, sites, trackbacks and my interface.
I think it's right now. ;^)
BJ
Nice place! In the longterm cat room, is that a heat lamp hanging over the cat beds there?
You do an awesome job. As a fellow cat lover, I just wanted to you know that you are appreciated!
Yup! It's a heat lamp. There is heat throughout the entire facility. But when the wind blows it can get chilly toward the floor (therefore the elevated beds, etc.) I added the heat lamps one bitter cold winter, and the cats loved it so much I keep one up all the time except when it is really hot out. Sometimes I fall asleep in there with them myself under that lamp.
So neat! Thank you for posting these photos. It's great to be able to see what the place looks like.
Cornell email is down and this was the only way I thought to get this to you. Go to http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/06/mississippi_floodwaters_in_iow.html and scroll through the pix to see the man rescuing his kitties from the floodwaters in Iowa!
Alice
Wildrun....I think you are just wonderful for helping those precious critters!
If I die and return as a cat, this is where i'm going
Wildrun, I am a huge cat lover and I applaud what you are doing for these beautiful and very lucky cats. Keep up the good work! Lots of cuddles and hugs to all the cats and kittens.
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