The Cats of Rockhouse Mountain Farm

This is a story I wrote about the spay neuter clinic I help with PR. It ran in the local paper. There are lots of photos which follow. These are the folks who do the difficult work of helping lower the number of homeless animals and seeing they get medical care. These barn cats will live out their lives at their farm in peace. They are fed and sheltered. I didn't post the photo of the vet because I wasn't sure if he would want me to. But he is a wonderful guy who loves cats. He has three but would like six (his wife says three is the limit). We talked about how these wild cats are every bit as deserving of care and respect as our spoiled pets. And we agreed that every single one is an individual.
Here's the story. Lots of photos below.

Once there was a farm. It was a large farm, with fields and woods, a bed and breakfast and a barn. In the barn were cows. And cats.

Twice a day the farmer milked the cows and the cats gathered around the pans of milk. The cats lived a wild, free and dangerous life. They caught the mice eating the farmer's grain. They slept in the hay. They roamed the woods. Every spring there were kittens.

People came to stay at the farm in the summer time. They tamed the kittens and took them home, to live safe lives as family pets. And so the number of cats in the barn stayed about the same.

Then the bed and breakfast closed. The cows were sold. There were kittens born with no one to tame and adopt them. Suddenly there were more cats, the cats were growing feral, and some of them were pregnant.

"I've got a gang for you," John Edge said to Roz Manwaring at the Eaton Village Store while they discussed the Rozzie May Animal Alliance and the low cost spay/neuter services it was offering to the community.There were over twenty cats in the barn at Rockhjouse Mountain Farm. By the time the next breeding season came around there would be more kittens. Edge was getting concerned about the expanding population and wanted to do something about it. He trapped eight male cats and brought them to the Rozzie May Animal Alliance clinic for Tom Cat Day in April. But the travel and strange environment of the clinic was very stressful for these wild and semi wild felines, who would hurt themselves frantically trying to get out of their carriers. Edge brought three more to another clinic. But there were still more in the barn.

The RMAA came up with a plan to help the cats and the farm. If it was difficult to bring the cats to the clinic, the RMAA would bring the clinic to the cats. With Edge's willingness to sponsor the clinic and trap the cats, a clinic was planned for on location at the farm.

First, Roz and John met at the farm and looked over spaces where a clinic could be held. They chose the basement of the Inn. Next, Roz had to find a doctor willing to do this kind of clinic. Dr. Steve Caffrey of Fryeburg Veterinary Hospital said he would love to help and December 10th was on the calendar. Then Roz decided on the RMAA team for the clinic. Head RMAA Tech Stephanie Macomber, and experienced vet techs Kim Zulker and Kristy McNulty were available. It was especially important to have a knowledgeable team running this clinic as these were not going to be easy cats to handle, ranging from almost tame, curious kittens, to the queen of the barn, known as the Tasmanian Devil.

Two days before the clinic,(because of approaching bad weather) Roz and Stephanie delivered the RMAA surgical equipment to Rock House Mountain Farm. The next day Roz delivered 11 cat carriers to the barn.

On the day of the clinic the team arrived in the early morning and set up a day surgery. John Edge started even earlier, offering canned food to entice the cats into crates and carriers. After four hours of surgery altering six females and seven males, with all felines safely on the way to recovery, the team packed up and carried everything back out to the van. Roz and Stephanie returned the equipment back to Albany Town Hall, the RMAA's winter "home."

The next day Roz returned to collect the cat carriers from the barn. The surgical laundry had been washed, dried, fluffed and folded by Edge.

A clinic like this could not happen without the veterinarians and others who offer their skills. Dr. Steve Caffrey, Dr. Scott Johnson and Dr. Kate Battenfelder from Fryeburg Vet Hospital, Dr. Julie Dolan of the Sandwich Vet Hospital, Dr. Kjersten Morrison and Dr, Monique Kramer, from Maine, are on board for future planned clinics.

Also crucial was the support from John Edge, who cared about his barn cats at the farm, was instrumental in supporting the clinic, and who spent hours trapping the cats and assisting the vet techs handling them.

And the RMAA team who volunteered their skills and time for no other reason than to help lower the numbers of homeless cats arriving in shelters.

Why it is necessary to spay and neuter cats? Because cats have an incredible capacity for reproduction. A female kitten will be ready to breed sometime between four and nine months of age. The gestation period is around nine weeks and one female can have up to five litters a year with the average number of kittens in a litter being three. A cat can get pregnant while still nursing kittens and can continue to have litters all during her life. Litter mates will then breed with each other. One breeding pair can quickly overwhelm any living situation. And spaying and neutering lowers the chances for diseases such as Feline Leukemia and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus.

What does the future hold for the cats of Rockhouse Mountain Farm? They will continue to live their lives the way they always have, in the barn at the farm. There may still be a litter of kittens next spring. With a total of 24 cats altered there are still a possible three that eluded capture. If a litter of kittens appears in the spring, they can be tamed and adopted, and the mother spayed and returned to the barn. Over the next few years, the numbers will go down because outdoor cats have a much shorter lifespan than family pets. At some point the farm will have the three or four mousers it needs.

And if you are in need of a good barn cat or two or three, call John Edge. He can help you out.

Kim and Kirsty, vet techs.

Kim with a sleepy barn man cat. You couldn't hold him like this if he were awake.

The farmer was thrilled to be taking care of his cats and he was there every minute helping out.

Here they are getting a feline into position for a sleepy shot. Otherwise, you could not handle them. 

He trapped all the cats for the clinic. Here he is waiting with a rope attached to a crate door, waiting for a cat to go in for the tuna inside.

Stephanie, the vet tech for the Rozzie May Animal Alliance.

And Roz herself, who got the whole thing started and whose dedication keeps it going. She is organizing the surgical kits in preparation for sterilizing later.

There is a lot of stuff to be moved in and out for these mobile clinics.

I wanted to pack up this little guy and his twin and take them right home. John (the farmer) asked ," So which one is your car?". Sigh. I wish I could take Dancer home too and give him the attention he needs.

I promise more posting on winter activities soon. Today, a new year and a new president in 19 days. It is 0 degrees out and windy so freeeeeeezing. Harper is under the blankets right now and Ramona down by the wood stove. They got a Fling a String for Christmas.

Ramona Sleeps In

The cats are no fools. They spend most of their day sleeping by the woodstove or under it. And sometimes Ramona doesn't get up for breakfast until 11am. Lazy Girl.

We are amazed and dazed that the huge ice storm passed south of us and left us with power. Southern NH is a disaster with power out to almost half the population of the state. And it's cold. If you don't have some kind of back up heat up here, well, let's just say it is a good idea. In a long power outage we can manage with just the wood stove and I can light my gas stove with a match.

It was about 15F outside this morning and the driveway is a skating rink. Olof put down some of the sand we collected from Town Hall a few days ago, knowing this mess was on the way. One thing about winter here, overnight your secure footing gives way to slippery patches. You develop a new way of walking, place foot, wait, place next foot, wait. I also have crampons that go onto my boots and I often wear them walking to the studio. Especially if I am carrying my new MacBookPro which has my life's work on it.

Today I'll be sorting through the photo shoot of the clinic held in the barn and writing up the story for, hopefully, the local papers. And I'll post it here when I finish. I was thinking of the barn cats last night when the temperature dipped. They have bales of hay to make nests in and I'm sure they did it.

Winter in the North Country is an adjustment. I have learned that daily exercise is important to keep your circulation up and we have winter outfits consisting of polar fleece, lined jeans and smart wool socks. Thank you whoever invented the smart wool sock and cured me of wet winter feet for ever. Dressed right and in good shape, it feels good to be outside in the cold. Otherwise, we'd be huddling by the stove with the cats all winter.

But it's not great snow to get out in yet. Frozen slush. Or what we call New England Hardpack. We take advantage of bad weather to get indoor work done. If we get ahead there will be time to ski when the good stuff arrives.

Changing of the Season

So it is winter, really and truly. Where have we been? Nowhere but here, busy. Getting as much contented nothingness as possible as the snow begins. It is covered in white outside and on clear mornings we see alpen glow on Mt. Washington, otherwise know as the Rockpile. It can turn a shocking pink with our late sunrises. Everyone who can sleeps in, Miss Ramona has been known to be up for breakfast around 11AM. The human beans are, of course, up long before that, hitting the exercise bike and the computers. Gotta keep the tuna coming in, yanno.

I've got projects, good ones. I am finishing up a marketing video for our local scenic railroad and starting on a full length video for them about their winter operations. There's a 1921 steam locomotive and it is spectacular when it comes out of the engine house in clouds of steam. There will be a spay/neuter mission to a barn full of, well, barn cats, next week which I hope to get some photos of. Spay/neuter clinics are going on but I don't need to get photos of all of them. However the barn cat story will illustrate how the group (rozziemay.org) is willing to go out and help people with expanding cat populations. This farm for years managed the cat numbers because it was a bed and breakfast. Guests would come, see the kittens and take them home. That kept the numbers to a suitable level. Once the b and b shut down, well, you can imagine how a few breeding pairs can take over. It's going to be a challenging day. We'll see if the farmer manages to catch them all for us.



This little guy was at the shelter on my last visit. The kitten season seems to have slowed down and as many kittens as possible stay in foster care so I don't always know if the ones listed on Petfinder will be there if I go in to take photos. Foster care is better for the young ones. But I will have to make a visit soon since they have a cat listed named Tonka and he is the first one I've ever seen marked XL for extra large. I'll report back after my visit!

Yes, Dancer is still there as far as I know right now. I am sorry that he has not been adopted yet and I check PF all the time, hoping he has been found by someone who will care for him. He needs a special person, he needs attention and understanding, and he needs to get out and play. I have not been able to spend time with him to gauge his personality now but I will try to talk with someone there about him. He was napping during my last visit.

I also have Rosetta Stone for learning French and if I get any free time I can disappear into that quite happily for hours. And I picked up Libba Bray's trilogy, the one that start with A Great and Terrible Beauty. I just love young adult fantasy books and this one is really delicious so I am gliding through the last, huge volume in the series and believe me, I could spend today in front of the wood stove and never look up except for the other things I plan to do today. I can't believe I never picked her books up because I thought they were historical romances. It's the cover with a photo of a young girl in white lace and the title. Because of the title I thought the books were about the Irish revolution in 1920, yanno, Yeats and the Post Office and all that. Or the potato famine. That's it, I really thought the book was about the potato famine, not a wonderful gothic Victorian fantasy complete with a magic country and plots thickening everywhere.

Winter is a lovely peaceful time for us. Everything slows down in the North Country because it has to. You can't go at such a fast pace because the days are shorter, there is no gardening to do and you've got to consider staying warm. We have a lot of indoor computer work to do and the days stick to a plan of get up, drink coffee, exercise, work, lunch, work,dinner, movie, sleep with cats. And as soon as the snow is skiiable, which it is already in some places, we'll be outside in between the work hours on our skis.

So that's it and there isn't much to write about most days except that. Harper and Ramona have adjusted to winter, they sleep more though they still want the door open and they entertain themselves running in and out and yelling that their paws are cold. Olof carried Harper over next door so he could visit Grampa and he liked that, so I will try to do it more often and keep him amused.

If there is anything interesting to write about, I will, but otherwise, stay in touch ya'll. And please excuse me if by the winter fire I lie dreaming.

Winter Morning

New Mac powerbook, new software (Aperature), new camera card and new stuff to get used to. I can actually work on editing video on this lovely machine, though currently I have to have two hard drives hooked up to it to get my media files. Still, why does it feel more like a game than work if you can do it on a lap top? The touch pad on this is kind of slippery and does things I don't intend but the keyboard is lovely and the screen is fantastic, illuminated and clear. It's one of those one piece Mac's carved out of aluminum. Olof decided I should have it. Another thing I love is that it doesn't cook my legs if I am lying down.

As I was this chilly morning with tiny bits of white floating down. You couldn't call it snow, not really. Looked more like hail. I was guarded on either side by my feline protectors....

Resting on their wonderful heat pads, no electric, these things just reflect their body heat and as soon as I offered them they were happily adopted. Now we wake up most mornings, as the house gets colder, with a feline to each. I had bought one of these for Brendan to ease his elder bones and at that time neither kitten ever dared to trespass. But now they each have their own. I recommend these for any northern cats to make a long winter cozy. Harper and Ramona agree.

Here we are

Where have we been? Oh,not far. A couple of days at a lovely inn by the sea with the Finnish cousins and the end of autumn around here. Putting the garden to bed, drying apples. I have a new powerbook which means figuring out new things like how the heck do I get my photos from the camera to this one and do I have to use Aperture now and why isn't Photoshop working and why can't I email out a photo from iPhoto. Olof is on a video shoot in Texas which shows you how far I would get with computers on my own.

Roz has run a very successful pet food drive up here and I will post about that too. She came up with a great way to help people keep their pets when they are having a hard time. I think this would work for animal groups everywhere.

For today I will show you some of the latest residences at the shelter and promise to go back to our regular programming.

BTW, Dancer is still at the shelter. He is not happy about it and yes, this complicated and wonderful feline really needs a home with someone who wants to give him attention. He still chirps but you out there, he needs you. You can check the CAHS Petfinder page to see who is in. I will try to get down there today and fill in those missing pages.

Teddy (I have to go back and get a better photo of him if he is still there. A moving target!)

Rascal

Pishi (she is a senior and had to be surrendered. Along with Celia, below)

Ping

Gandolf

Fitz

Essence (she was found wandering around downtown)

Celia 

Alice (she has a cold and I will take another photo if her eyes have cleared up)

Aden

Border Patrol

Every morning someone has to do border patrol. The felines have learned to wait and watch until the first quadrant is secure.

Olof does the back yard in front of the house and then makes his way around the fence while they watch him.

He's heading up the hill and at this point they go out, knowing the back section of the yard is safe for cats.

In hunting news, Harper brought in a poor little chipmunk one day and I rescued it. The next day he caught it again and sorry, killed it. I guess it didn't learn the lesson to stay on the other side of the fence like many of them do. Ramona then brought in another which she managed to get up to the bedroom and let it go. I still haven't found it so I think it got out, since we still have the door to the yard open most days. The cats are out from about 8 AM to 5 PM when they come running in to my whistle for dinner and crash out. It's a busy day here at Caturday.

September

September is my favorite month. Before global warming September was beautiful even though we would have had a killing frost by now and the garden would have been over. But now it's like a gift of another month of summer. The tourists are gone, the kids are back in school and the days are filled with golden light. Except for today when we're getting rain from the storm. The grey sky only makes the brillant reds and yellows stand out more. July was rain soaked this year (maybe another warming trend change) August went by too quickly with work but September has been a month to savor.

I stopped by the shelter but things are calming down a bit there and the six kittens I thought I needed to photograph are already spoken for. I took a few shots because they are the most beautiful family I have seen since the Cheddars but I didn't want to spend a lot of time in the room with them since they have all had URI's and were getting more medication that day. The little grey one is the smallest kitten I have ever seen for that age. You can judge her size by her littermate cuddled up to her. And her eyes are a bit mucky from the cold. But she is a feisty little creature and should do well as she grows.

I should go back and get more photos of this gang just because they are so gorgeous. They were playful and curious, rolling around their room like a gang of kids. These photos were taken through a glass door and I was surprised at how well they turned out. This guy is staring at me through the door with his paws resting on the frame.

And this one stopped for a second before running off to join the games.

If you're a kitten anything will do for a cave or a fort or a castle to climb on.

This is a photo of Little One when the family first arrived. Her eyes are half closed because of her cold. But she is as spunky as the rest. I wish I had a matchbox to put next to her so you could see how tiny she is. About the size of a chipmunk at that time. She is bigger now and has filled out some. Then she was just the scrawniest thing.

This handsome fellow is Starsky. He has been waiting at the shelter for quite a while for a special person because he is FIV positive. He is a sweet friendly fellow who has been feeling a bit low because of a problem in one ear. That seems to be healing up and he's been more chipper lately. He badly needs someone to come take him home. He loves attention and cuddling, even though he looks a bit stern in this photo.

Some good shelter news: the wonderful Hercules, who is also FIV positive, has found a home with a kind elder man near me. This man had adopted another FIV positive cat who died. He was a bit concerned about Hercules being so young (2) and himself being 80 but it is a good situation for the amiable Herc who really just wanted someone to care for.

I have been reading an excellent book on being a vet. It's called Tell Me Where It Hurts and is written by Dr. Nick Trout who is a vet at Angell Memorial in Boston, Mass. It's hard for me to tell you how good it is, but I highly recommend it because of how he writes about our relationships with our beloved animal companions. My favorite line was when he called the communication between an old man and his dog "contented nothingness". That is so perfect a description of how I feel cuddled up to Harper and Ramona. As soon as I touch them a soft rumble begins and either one of them just exudes happiness and peacefulness when we are close together. Dr. Trout understands how much animals give us.

Words do fail me here so again, get this book if you can. Ask your local library to get it.

Patient Mona

Ramona has been spending hours and hours sitting in one small area of the yard just behind the house. We thought maybe it was just a nice place for a cat to sit, protected, shady. But no, there is more on her mind....

It is probably hard to see but there is a snug little home dug out of the stone wall. And on further examination, there are quite a few more.

This explains the Patient Ones endless vigil. These photos were taken starting at 9 AM and the last ones at 6 PM. In the same spot.

I know you're in there. I can hear you.

Sigh, time for a bath.

Whattsat?

I am listening.

I get into attack position.

Gosh, where'd you go?

Sonar down.

Sigh, no banana.

There it is! I hear it! I'm gonna getcha.

Or was it over there?

No, it is in that direction.

Really really this time.

Focus, Mona, focus. Move slow. Silent.

Don't make a noise.

Ready position.

Closer, closer.

Hmmm, think I'm losing it.

Ah well, tomorrow is another day. Time for dinner.