Infinite Sadness

Devastated by the loss, I sadly announce the passing of my beloved Gingi. I never expected this day would come so soon, I'd hoped we could enjoy many more years together. He was big, strong, self confident and astonishingly beautiful, it seemed nothing could ever happen to him. Unfortunately, the end was closer than I thought.

Gingi was one of the most handsome tomcats in my shelter. I ran into him a few years ago, while he was crying with fear, a little kitten hidden in a car engine. It took me an hour and a half to catch him. He was incredibly dirty - all covered with grease, tiny, scared and bone skinny. He got sick soon afterwards, but managed to pull though. He was doing great until just a couple of days ago.

I noticed something was wrong. He was too calm, too quiet and kind of indifferent. He stopped eating and simply wasn’t acting like his normal, happy self. I took him to the vet, and to my disbelief and horror, he was diagnosed with FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis), an incurable feline disease. The prognosis was bad. My ginger boy was terminally ill.

We tried everything on that first day. He had been receiving I.V. fluids and antibiotics for hours. The accumulated fluid in his abdomen was drained out. Gingi had to be sedated for the treatment, as he never trusted anyone but me. He was breathing heavily and I feared he would die right there, in an unfamiliar place, scared and confused. In spite of all of the efforts, drugs didn’t do him much good. There was no hope left. And there was no point in any further treatment.

I brought him back to the shelter and continued giving him medicine, in a desperate hope that some sort of miracle would occur. It did not. Gingi passed away peacefully in his sleep a few days later, surrounded by his friends, in a place he knew and loved. So calm, so relaxed…

I simply can't believe he’s gone. Somehow, I still expect to see him walking around, beautiful, flawless and untouchable. One of a kind.

I know I’ll miss him forever.

Sleep tight, my dear boy.

Nothing is ever what it seems...

Well, D-day has finally arrived. The roofing repairs began yesterday morning. There’s obviously something horribly wrong with the roof - as soon as the workers started to fix it, a hole opened in the kitchen ceiling. The entire roof structure is worn out and some of the roof rafters are half rotten. There’s a crack in the major roof support beam which holds up the middle portion of the roof and carries the load. Plus everything needs to be fixed before winter!

The strengthening of the roof structure will be done by installing additional support. There is another problem with the eaves that will need to be replaced entirely. All of the cats from that part of the backyard are now kept indoors and are not really delighted with the idea. If nothing goes wrong, the wire mesh will be attached to the eaves just under the roof by Sunday evening, so my kitties will regain their freedom. Won't you take a look at our project?

However, supporting the existing roof is just a temporary solution. I hope to replace the entire roof next year, thus solving the problem once and for all. Please, help me share my story far and wide! There’s got to be someone out there somewhere who is willing to help us!

The Unwanted Ones - Urgent Help Needed!

This poor mother cat was a stray. When she felt she was ready to give birth, she just rushed into a pizzeria in Belgrade and had her five kittens. All of them were not really welcomed by the owner and his guests. They had been put in a box and temporarily left there, endangered from the beginning. A nice couple of cat lovers brought them food, yet they were all in high risk of being dumped on the street, where their chances of survival would be literally zero. Luckily, a friend of mine provided them with a safe place to be until the next day, when all of them were brought to my shelter.

They now have good food and a clean cage, with all of the necessary equipment, in a separate room. All of the little guys are growing, and their Mom can finally take care of them with no fear and no worries. I still can’t determine their genders, so they’ve been given gender neutral names. You’re welcome to meet my new kitties: Mommy Alethe and her babies Fran, Echo, Ziggy, Ozzie and Zephyr.

We’ve discovered a big problem today- either the mother cat’s milk has dried up, or she just isn’t producing enough. All of the kittens need to be supplemented and kitten milk replacement is necessary! Could you please help? Alethe and her babies cannot speak for themselves, but I’m sure they would be boundlessly grateful!

Nobody cared but us

Willow is a three-legged kitty who has spent her entire life living in a cemetery. Nobody knows exactly how she lost her left back leg, it is suspected that she was attacked and injured by roaming dogs. A couple of months ago she had been trapped and spayed by some animal lovers. But to my total disbelief, she was returned to the cemetery afterwards, in spite of the paid pension being offered. A disabled cat returned to the cemetery??? And I thought I’d seen it all until now…

Anyway, I have been trying to get her for two months, contacting people involved in the story yet nobody was willing to go there and catch her. She was proclaimed to be unapproachable and I was getting desperate. However, her luck has suddenly changed. A friend of a friend did her best to lure the cat and succeeded! Willow is in foster care now, learning to trust people, she is still a bit frightened, but she’s doing well. She will be here as soon as possible and I’m sure she will have a healthy, happy and safe life with us. Her age is unknown.

“When the world says “Give up”, hope whispers “Try it one more time”.

It never gets any easier

Repairs at my shelter are progressing nicely, although the weather is changeable. There’s a new concrete slab under the eaves and you can see my kitties inspecting it here. Support columns are finished and the most important part of the roof repair is scheduled for next weekend. I guess we’ll all breathe easier once it’s done.

We still don’t know exactly how badly the roof is damaged. It might be necessary to cover it with a tarpaulin, so that repairs can continue, even when it’s raining. All of the news and photos will be posted on my betterplace.org project.

However, new problems arise when and where they are least expected. The shelter’s toilet is not connected to a sewage system, everything just empties into a hole. And that hole is full right now. As there is a concrete slab over the septic hole, it cannot be emptied and no matter how hard we try to solve that problem, it seems we've pretty much hit a wall. The only solution is to install a new septic tank, but with funding for the shelter falling short…

Does it ever end?