Kringle with my library copy of the book Fascinating memoir where the cats are stars. Andrew opens up about his struggles searching for career success in Los Angeles, while finding his true calling as a feral cat caregiver. I hope he found another calling in writing this story. He is a marvellous writer. Feral cats were discovered in the backyard of the home Andrew shared with two single women. Violent losses of kittens and cats to predators were devastating. When one lovely kitten lay dead at his feet, Andrew had a surprising moment with the furtive ferals. “I was stunned that they were out in the open and not fleeing from my presence. More significantly, each cat stared me dead in the eye…. Something big was happening here.” He felt that they were asking for his help. “I looked down at the carcass, and their eyes followed mine; and then I looked back at them, and they held my gaze again. Are you sure you have the right guy? I wondered.” He tearfully agreed to help the cats and kept his commitment, not an easy feat. He devoted nights outdoors with the cats, getting to know their routines and chasing away predators.
When he learned about Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs, Andrew began neutering the colony. He was convinced that TNR was the way forward, but had mixed feelings about the practice of ear-tipping, where one ear tip is snipped off during surgery to identify the cat as having been neutered. (Our local cat rescue, VOKRA, does not find it necessary to follow this practice.) Andrew asked for a sign from the universe that he was making the right choice. The next morning, Baby Grey sauntered in the back door at feeding time. “In all the years prior and since, no feral cat from the colony has ever entered the house, except for the ones we saved from predators and hand-raised.” When he got the cage from the garage, Baby Grey walked into it nonchalantly. “My first customer. What could be a better sign than that?“ These are just two examples of Andrew’s strong intuition and attunement to the cats. Another remarkable cat communication occurred when Cozy the kitten escaped outside. He pleaded with the kitten's feral mother, Snow White, to bring the kitten back. “I’d heard that cats respond better to images than words, so I tried sending the mental image of her daughter being back inside our house.” Brilliant! Later that evening, Snow White was back. She made the first and last vocalization ever heard from her, with the kitten at her feet. “Mother stared at me moving her head down to her kitten, gesturing.” It wasn’t an isolated event. “At least a dozen times since, whenever a cat we cared for escaped or was missing from the colony, we would ask the others for help. Usually within hours, they would bring us the missing cat, though sometimes it took as long as a day.” Andrew bonded most closely with Tiny, a needy newborn kitten found crying on the ground. Her mother finally showed up and moved the kitten, so they didn’t intervene immediately. After crucial days of neglect, Tiny survived, with intense loving care, veterinary care and the kitten’s own determined spirit. Tiny's remarkable story will stay with you for a long time. A few feral kittens were brought indoors to protect them from predators. The three sister kittens never grew comfortable with human handling. One reason may be that they were allowed to run around and hide in a large space. VOKRA uses small confined areas to socialize kittens. Some kittens who became incredibly friendly in this way are the six grey kittens of The Kits Kats, featured in the viral video, A Den of Purring Kittens. Andrew sensed that his somewhat tamed kittens needed time outdoors, and trained them to accept body harnesses. He doesn’t dwell on the benefits of the outdoors, but shares a striking anecdote about a friend’s cat. When dying with cancerous tumours, the formerly indoor cat was allowed out. Within months, the tumours disappeared, and the cat lived another eight years. I read the same claim of a cat healed from cancer by time spent in the garden, in Amelia Kinkade’s Straight From the Horse’s Mouth. There is something healing in having the earth under your feet, leafy garden plants shading you while the many scents of fresh air waft through your hair. Amelia made an exception for cats like my elderly Kringle, traumatized when abandoned outdoors and content to stay inside. But I had a bad feeling about Andrew’s cats roaming in trees and bushes while attached to their body harness. I could picture the long lead getting tangled. Bandy mangled her caregiver during her rescue when that happened, requiring hospital treatment for his wounds. Andrew learned from time spent in Nepal and India to self-treat, and happened to have the best antibiotic on hand. But he doesn’t recommend waiting for treatment, as he did, until his condition worsened. He explains why cat bites are serious: “When [puncture wounds] happen, bacteria is deposited quickly and deeply into the host. Then, almost immediately, the wound closes up, trapping the bacteria inside.” I had my own run-in with a feral kitten bite. Lesson learned. Andrew used Borax to treat for fleas, a practice that may not be safe. In 2016, the same year the book came out, Health Canada warned that Borax may be harmful to human health and that of some organisms. I imagine our pets may be included. Children and pregnant women are especially cautioned. Our cat rescue uses Revolution (selamectin) to treat for fleas and other parasites at the same time. It was fascinating to learn about the life-saving role of cats in shipwrecks, keeping up the spirits of survivors while guarding any food stores from rodents. That information is included in occasional dips into ancient cat lore, which are well sourced in endnotes. An artful stylized black and white photograph of one or more of the cats completes each chapter. I loved getting to know Andrew and his cats in this beautifully-written memoir. I believe that any cat lover would enjoy it too. - Irene Plett Details: Andrew Bloomfield, Call of the Cats: What I Learned About Live and Love From a Feral Colony (2016, New World Library, ISBN 9781608683987) Topics: Feral cats, Trap-Neuter-Return, ear-tipping, infant cats, cat rescue, cat communication, Andrew Bloomfield, Amelia Kinkade, cat writers, cat bites, Borax, Revolution flea treatment, selamectin, cat health, VOKRA, The Kits Kats, A Den of Purring Kittens
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