In Memory of Tigey

I've been rescuing animals since I was a kid, but Tigey is the one who will always persist in my heart. She was nothing but skin and bones lying in the street when I found her in Hornerstown. The person I was present with told me not to touch her; that she could be diseased and was filthy. Of course I couldn't leave her to die. She had severe malnutrition, dwarfism and chronic breathing problems from her disorder. Eventually her respiratory issues caused her to pass away (not even two surgeries could correct her developmental problems!) and although I only enjoyed her company for four years, I am so grateful for that time. If I do this for any cat in particular, it’s for Tigey. Dr. Chris Dahlin from Dr. Dahlin Talks Animals

The Story of Patches

Patches showed up in the 8th Ward neighborhood and proved very difficult too wily to trap! Her 2nd neighborhood litter was discovered in a filthy bucket by contractors tearing down a shed. I used the opportunity to use the kittens as bait to trap Mama; kittens were placed behind a trap (warm and cozy in a blanket now) and lo and behold, Mama was finally trapped a short time later when she tried to reach her babies! The entire family received fur-ever homes. Once Mama Patches opened up to people, she ended up having the silliest personality, with a great love of fetching toys and bringing them to her favorite humans. Dr. Chris Dahlin from Dr. Dahlin Talks Animals

Mystic's Miracle

Mystic lived in the 8th Ward and had been giving birth at least once or twice a year to kittens since before I moved to Johnstown. When I started trapping in my neighborhood, one of my first goals was to trap her and stop the cycle of reproduction. I figured out where she fed regularly, and set out baited traps. Over time I discovered she had been trapped previously and let go, and thus she was now "trap-shy", hence my utter failure to trap her again. I switched to using a box trap and tried to get a neighbor to help "trap-train" her. Unfortunately, whenever I showed up, she would run the heck away. I gave up for awhile, but a new opportunity arose when she moved to a new "home" where she developed a little trust for her new feeder. I trained that feeder to bait my box trap every night, for two weeks, until she ate under it regularly. Finally, her feeder was ultimately the one to trap while I hid in the house! Meanwhile, I also trapped her very last litter of kittens. All of her babies that I rescued received happy homes. Mystic herself was too feral to be adopted but she continues to live happily on her porch, is now spayed and vaccinated, and has an insulated cat house I provided. Dr. Chris Dahlin from Dr. Dahlin Talks Animals

A JAWS Success Story

JAWS received a call about a mother a kittens on the train tracks in Johnstown. Charlene and Fran from C&F Community Cat Tails and Chris from Dr. Dahlin Talk Animals headed out to investigate. Sharon, our current Treasurer also showed up to help and later became a dedicated member of JAWS. We found a mother cat and kittens living on the rock slide area against the train tracks. This was a terrible spot to try and trap, since there was nothing but rocks where the cats and kitten could hide, and sucking mud in front! Charlene and Fran built a bridge so that we could even have something on which to trap. Using baited traps, we caught our first couple of kittens. We then used those kittens as bait to eventually catch Mom. The last kitten proved so difficult. We used bait, Mama cat as bait, and played kitten calls. It took an additional two days of trapping to finally catch the last, very stubborn kitten! The entire family eventually received happy homes. C&F Community Cats with Dr. Dahlin Talks Animals

TNR

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TNR

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