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A feel-good story ♥

5/22/2024

One of our volunteers saw a post from Pawboost on Facebook, about a three-legged kitty named Triskelion who had gone missing from a hotel in Walterboro. His family was driving (moving) from Florida to New York when he escaped out of the room and ran into the woods. How horrifying! The family was leaving the next day to finish their drive, and they were absolutely frantic. Our founder and president took it upon herself to drive to the hotel, stake out the woods and the area, pass out flyers about the missing kitty, and just wait. After many days of back-and-forth, of searching and waiting, she was finally able to catch the little guy! Wahoo!!! She took him back to her house and contacted the family. Triskelion's mother came down the next weekend and flew with him to New York. Poor little guy, we know he's so glad to be back with his family, and they are so glad to have him back.

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Sometimes, everybody wins!

11/14/2022

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Every now and then, a kitty lucks out. Sometimes, it happens to be siblings that luck out! In this case, it happened to be TWO sets of siblings who lucked out!

One of our volunteers happened upon two dumped kittens at a colony. Lucky for those kittens that she happened to be feeding that day, as she was doing a favor for a local feeder who was out of town. Also lucky for those sad kittens, our volunteer happened to pull up and see/hear the little tabby male, and knew that there were no kittens or unfixed cats in this colony. She went back home to get a trap, but when she came back, the kitten had moved through the woods to the hotel area next door. She went to the hotel and set the trap. After sitting there all day long, she finally caught him! Imagine her surprise when she saw a tiny black kitten dart back under the shed beside the trap! She took the tabby home and transferred him into a larger trap, and then went back for the black one. Took her three days to catch the black girl, but she was successful. She didn't want to take the kittens back to where they came from, as it was a known traveling route for coyotes, so she contacted her sister- her sister would take the two kittens! They were fixed, vaccinated, and microchipped, and then went to their new home. Everybody, meet Morticia and Gomez (pictured here in route to the sister's house):

Fast forward to summertime. This same volunteer was contacted by the Master Trapper (Mary) about four kittens who had been dumped off in a trailer park. Mary had already TNR'd them, and there was a nice lady feeding them. She had found homes for 3 of the kittens, but the last one was all by herself. The volunteer contacted her sister again, and the sister said she'd take the last remaining kitten. Then the home for one of the other kittens fell through, so the sister said she would take that one, also. Everyone, meet Selene (grey) and Solana:

All four babies are doing well in their new home. Thanks to everyone who made it happen, including our donors! It's all about people who care, working together ♥

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Veterinarian appointments hard to get

8/18/2022

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Getting an appointment for spay/neuter surgery is not getting any easier. Since the pandemic, fewer veterinarians are graduating, leaving a shortage for all clinics. This makes it difficult for groups like ours to help the communities we serve. At this writing we are scheduling trappings for six weeks ahead. It's hard for the general public to accept that their colony won't be picked up right away. We are at the mercy of the vets, who are already stressed by the work load. We hope those who call us will be patient. It's tough on us too, having to wait for an appointment date--and then it rains that day! We make the most of every appointment we can get. Few are left unfilled.

We are grateful for the doctors that do all of the spays and neuters for us. All of the trappers in the area are putting them under pressure every day and every week.

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We are still here!

4/5/2022

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The pandemic sent everyone for a loop, but we never slowed down with our TNR efforts.

In March of 2021, a lady contacted us about an elderly kitty we had previously TNR'd. She said the kitty had been limping, but she wouldn't let anyone come near her. Off we went, where we "coaxed" the sad girl into a trap, and whisked her off to the vet. She had a massively infected leg, and the vet 1. wasn't sure how it happened (dog bite, perhaps?) and 2. wasn't sure if the kitty would live... One of our volunteers stepped up and took the kitty home for rest and recuperation. After several weeks of cage rest and antibiotics, the newly-named Hazel was healed and feeling pretty good! Dr. Verbrick at The Cat Clinic was amazed at the transformation. A few months later, Hazel had a much-needed dental where most of her teeth (that were left) were removed.

Hazel is probably about 15 now, and is still living with our volunteer. Although she has the run of the house, she does still like to hang out in the cage (that stays set up), because there's a heating pad under the cat bed. Here's hoping she has many more years left ♥

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Sad baby :-(

8/5/2020

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On Wednesday, July 29, someone left an injured kitten in front of a house on our street. We know this kitten was left there on purpose, because he was ear-tipped and microchipped. In June, he and his family members had been TNR'd by us in a local trailer park. We don't know why he was dumped in front of this particular house, when all the person had to do was call us for help. The kid who found this little guy named him "Moose", and he was rushed to a local vet clinic. It was discovered that Moose's pelvis was broken in three places. Moose and the vets and techs fought hard, but it was just too much for little Moose's body to take. He passed away around 8:15 PM on Friday, July 31. We are thankful that one of the vet techs had taken him home that evening, and she held him as he took his last breath. Fly free, little Moose, and save us a warm spot......

For future reference, DO NOT DUMP any animals, anywhere, for any reason- especially injured animals! If you accidentally injure an animal that we have TNR'd, and cannot afford vet care, then CALL US. Do not dump the kitten or cat in front of somebody's house, in hopes that "someone" might see them "at some point". Moose was lucky that someone came home and found him before he perished on the street (because he was on the actual street).

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Nearing 2500!!!

5/7/2019

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Folks, we are nearing the 2500 mark for cats TNR'ed! That is absolutely amazing!

We've been helping with more than TNR, too. A few cats that we've picked up have had some health problems. Two of them have a condition called "pododermatitis", which is either hypersensitivity or an auto-immune disorder resulting in swollen pads. It can get quite severe, but medications do help. Here's a .pdf to read more about it, and see some examples:
https://mckeevervetderm.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/543/2016/06/Feline-Plasma-Cell-Pododermatitis.pdf

Some of the cats and kittens we have trapped have been quite friendly, and were put up for adoption through our partner, Pawmetto Lifeline. We love it when that happens!

One super friendly little girl (Kiki) was taken into a volunteer's home, as the strip mall where she was dumped has had coyotes roaming around- she now lives the life of Riley. Another sad little kitten was found by some concerned neighbors, who contacted Safe Cats Coalition. It was thought that the kitten had a broken jaw, but the vet said it was a degloved jaw. Her jaw has healed nicely, and she (Martha) lives and plays with Kiki. Here are Kiki and Martha:

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We have hit the 1700 mark!

2/5/2018

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That's right, folks- we have fixed and vaccinated 1700 community cats as of February 1, 2018. Marvelous!

One of these little kitties had a horrible eye infection. She and her kinfolk were being fed by a nice family, but they were unable to provide vet care. They named this gorgeous girl "Sandy", and a kindly neighbor put out a plea on Facebook for help. Several of our volunteers teamed up to trap this kitty, and not only were successful in trapping her, but they also got 4 of her family members. While the other ones were at Pawmetto Lifeline getting fixed, Sandy was taken to The Cat Clinic, where Dr. Verbrick successfully removed her eye and spayed her. She is now recuperating at a volunteer's house, where she is expected to make a full recovery and hopefully be put up for adoption! Before and after pictures to follow.

UPDATE: Sandy was taken to Pawmetto Lifeline and put up for adoption. After only a few days there, a nice family came by and fell in love with her- as they've already got a one-eyed cat at home and were looking for a playmate for him! Yay!!! Way to go, Sandy! ♥

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Been a long time!

9/20/2017

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Sorry for the long delay in posting! We've been very busy. As of September 1, 2017, we have trapped, spayed/neutered, and vaccinated a total of 1516 cats. Just think about how many more cats would have been born, if we had not gotten to these. It boggles the mind.

Our good friend and SCC volunteer Joe has been diagnosed with cancer. A HUGE shout-out to him, for all that he has done for SCC, the cats, and the volunteers here. We could not have gotten this far without you, Joe! ♥

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April 18th, 2016

4/18/2016

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News

In March, Safe Cats Coalition trapped and neutered 35 community cats in West Columbia, 19 males and 16 females. Left unattended, in one year these cats could have produced as many as a hundred kittens. So instead of a hundred plus kittens left trying to survive, we have just 35 community cats.
...

One of these cats had a dislocated hip! Try to imagine how painful that would be, while living on the street! It could be fixed, but only with major--and expensive--surgery. We had to make a decision: pay that big vet bill or have this unlucky baby put down. Fortunately, one of our kind-hearted supporters volunteered to take in this poor kitty, vet bill and all, so what could have been painfully tragic instead had a happy ending!

These are the kinds of problems Safe Cats Coalition deals with every day, and the kind of everyday heroism from the residents of West Columbia that keeps us all going.

Please help us stop the production of unwanted kittens, and to keep free-roaming cats healthy and the people they live close to happy. If you have free-roaming cats in your neighborhood, call us. We will arrange a time to trap them, have them spayed or neutered and vaccinated, and return them to their neighborhood.

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