Animal Tales: Animal abandonment is a crime and Plumas County needs to step up
Rose Buzzetta, Executive Director
Friends of Plumas County Animals
Thank you to everyone in the community who responded to our distress call a month ago. Your donations of food, litter and supplements got our rescue over the initial hump of being inundated with so many sick and weak kittens from a hoarding situation. We lost 2 babies unfortunately, but it is a testament to the dedication of our volunteers that the rest of the 20 we took in care did survive.
One of the feral/community cats from the horde we took to the vet for a spay/neuter surgery was found to be lactating and the local veterinarian would not spay her. Tiny day old kittens were found at the hoarder house and we put them with the female at the site. The thinking was even if they aren’t hers, she might feed them as she gets more uncomfortably engorged with milk. It did work, but she is not comfortable and needs to be isolated in the back room to ensure the safety and survival of these tiny kittens. When they turn 4-5 weeks old we will pull them from her, wait 2 weeks for her milk to subside and then spay her and turn her loose again. The kittens will be tamed down and offered for adoption when they are ready.
The situation this year with abandoned and unwanted animals is the most extreme I have experienced in the 13 years of doing rescue work. The lack of a County funded trap, neuter and return program (TNR) , the inability of the County Animal Shelter to assist and to house homeless felines, the pressures of the Dixie Fire and the financial and housing crises that are present from that tragedy have turned the animal rescue world into a nightmare.
It is so frustrating to see and her about all these animals that need to come into rescue and know we simply cannot offer refuge to so many. I have a long waiting list of pet cats who have been abandoned by previous owners and, in most cases their kittens along with them, who have no where to go –nowhere to live out a full life. One cat in Chester kept running into an apartment she had shared with humans — they moved and left her behind. She, luckily found a foster home. Animal abandonment is a crime and Plumas County needs to step up and take responsibility for how our community deals with the issues of feral/community cats and pets that are dropped off in the woods, put into dumpsters, left in empty homes and apartments.
I have gone before the Board of Supervisors to address the County’s lack of consideration for our animals and the local rescue groups and will be back at the Board to offer possible solutions to the issues on June 13. Support is always appreciated.
Meantime, Friends is still housing and caring for 24 kittens and their mamas and all our lovely adults so we are still in need of your donations. We are feeding about 5 cases of wet kitten food weekly, using the World’s Best litter for the kittens freely and have vet bills for TNR surgeries and illnesses to be paid.
Please be aware your pet dog or cat can be spayed and neutered through a grant received by the County. Simpy make a vet appointment for the surgery and then go to the Animal Shelter at 201 Mill Creek Rd in Quincy and pick up and voucher for $360. That will cover the cost of the surgery, vaccinations, nail trim, etc. PLEASE get your animals spayed and neutered. Thank you.
Friends of PC Animals is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation and all donations are tax deductible. All monies donated go directly to the care and comfort of the shelter animals, no money goes towards salaries or administrative fees. Friends is not a county entity. Donations can be sent to Friends, PO Box 182 or brought to the site at 1093 Lee Rd, Quincy 95971. Thank you
Compassion is a beautiful thing.
Now that TNR is legally protected in Texas, you guys are going to get more cat abandonment cases. Every Joe, John, and Jane is going to use the TNR excuse to dump cats all over the state.