Aunty House Update--Help Needed
Well, so far so good. At the latest count, Animal Rescue Connections (ARC) is dealing with 59 cats at a house in Spring Branch.
o 22 cats were trapped Sunday and fixed Monday. Of those, 8 adults were returned to the house Wednesday. BAHS took in 3 kittens although the shelter already was full, 2 cats were taken to a feral colony, 1 cat is in quarantine for ear mites and failure to thrive, and 8 kittens (3-6 months old) are being cared for while we try to find them new homes.
o 13 more cats were trapped Wednesday and fixed Thursday. They are in recovery for two nights. Two of the young females were ID'd as “postpartum/lactating” so they are two of the mothers of the 11 newborns we were shown Wednesday. A surrogate mama cat has been valiantly feeding them all. We presume the young mothers didn’t know what to do.
o There may be another 6 adults in the main house so we are taking traps today so the homeowner can try to trap them on her own by Monday, ready for transport to HCAL on Tuesday. Hill Country Animal League has been a kingpin in this – so supportive, making a difficult job as easy as possible for us.
o We will take some carriers today so the nursing mamas and all nursing kittens can be rounded up (about 20 kittens ranging from newborns to about 4 weeks). We will take them all into ARC’s safety on Saturday. I don’t know how Beth has done it but she has worked a minor miracle (yet again) juggling kittens in foster homes to find a solution for these weenies. Beth and her foster volunteers are gold dust to this organization. We can’t thank you enough.
So, now for the support of these cats…
TODAY (Friday 8/11/17)
Rosemary and Willie met me this morning to tend to those in recovery. Some of the kittens need medicating for upper respiratory infections and tummy troubles; others are recovering from surgery. All need cleaning and feeding. We are running low of newspapers so please save any you have (get rid of the slicks, they are not absorbent).
o Need 1 person to help transport traps and carriers to Spring Branch this afternoon.
TOMORROW (Saturday 8/12/17)
o Need volunteers to feed and clean (team of 2 or 3) around 9 a.m.
o Beth and I will be collecting the kittens and nursing mamas to evaluate and place them in a foster home. The cats that have recovered from Thursday’s spay/neuter surgeries will be returned on that trip.
Sunday (8/13/17)
o Need volunteers to feed and clean (team of 2 or 3) around 9 a.m.
Monday (8/14/17)
o Need volunteers to feed and clean (team of 2 or 3) around 9 a.m.
o Jenny to collect cats in traps for transport to HCAL on Tuesday
Tuesday (8/15/17)
o Need volunteer to transport to HCAL (7:30 a.m.) and another to transport back to Bulverde at about 3-4 p.m.
o Need volunteers to feed and clean (team of 2 or 3) around 9 a.m.
o Need 1-2 volunteers to help unload at BAHS (around 4 p.m.) and set up the cats after their surgeries
Wednesday (8/16/17)
o Need volunteers to feed and clean (team of 2 or 3) around 9 a.m.
…and so on until the project is complete

Please let me know what, if any, of these jobs you can volunteer to do. Projects like this take a toll on all of us, especially as we are also working several other trap projects at the same time.
Our volunteers are small in number but my gosh, we have the most dedicated, selfless, big-hearted volunteers anyone could be privileged to know.
We even have the youngest volunteers, too. Jessica’s two girls came and helped us the other day. They washed dishes, replenished food and water for the kittens and helped take photos for our records. They are a credit to you Jessica. Two little stars!