I’m glad you went the “janky”, more effort required way, even though it took more of your time. I’m no fan of AI, call me a Luddite, wrt that.
Twelve? That’s a lot of joeys! Does your center have them all?
Ferals here in farm country keep the rats and snakes in check, they’re a pretty important part of the ecosystem. The field by my house was fallow late, this year, I’d been optimistic it was to be allowed to rest and rejuvenate. No such luck, it was just planted late, so I’m very much keen on keeping rattlers in check. Tbh, the snakes and ferals probably keep each other in check. I’ve no idea how avian flu jumping to cats may affect that, but retain hope. Interestingly, I don’t observe ferals bothering the birds and squirrels. I’m sure it happens, I’ve just never personally seen it.
They were still so tiny, I think I could have held the pile of them in one hand. The rehabber was feeding them with this miniscule tube that looked like a piece of fishing line more than a piece of tubing. I assume we were keeping them. They were very velvety and warm.
I don’t think I’ve even seen a cat fight a snake before! The bird flu stuff makes me nervous how it’s still not really mainstream just how much is being affected by it all. I fear one day everyone is going to act like nobody saw this coming. Between that and the measels stuff going around, it really feels like we’ve rolled back into an age of ignorance.
I’ve never seen such tiny babies as you describe, except squirrels and rabbits, presumably because opposums are largely nocturnal and I’m usually not. The way you describe feeding gives me the sense of a lot of time and experience having gone into the process. Dedication.
A cat fighting a snake is riveting. I’ve seen a twelve pound cat stalking a maybe eight? feet long snake, absolutely positive the snake would win. I should see if there are any videos and post back. Give me a bit.
I’m not able to listen to the audio right now, but this video has the tube feeding process for joeys that looked like what she was doing. The one in the video is much larger than the ones we had. The ones that we got in were more like this:
Omg. That takes me back some 30? years, to when I had a feral that routinely had a litter under my house. One day she didn’t come back, and she’d been killed on the highway. I had my own primary schooler, a full time job and five kittens to feed, massage so they’d eliminate, and clean up, every two hours. One developed an abscess, presumably having been bitten or scratched by a sibling, which required extra care. We thought he was going to pass, but with surgery, he survived and like his siblings, found forever homes.
My neighbor found another kitten and took it to the same mom I gave a kitten. I’m going to have to get her some wet food. She’s working hard.
Oh wow, you have done quite a bit of caring for animals (and people!) yourself!
I never thought I’d spend my free time helping squirrels learn to poop and such, but once you realize the necessity and value of doing the less glamorous jobs in life, they have their own unique value. I don’t focus on the icky or tedious parts for long, the thing that sticks with me is knowing that I’m giving something else the best opportunity that I can.
It’s been an off and on experience, but yes, I’ve done a little caregiving, both more and less successfully. We learn as we go, and hopefully any damage is balanced by the more helpful.
Yes, I’ve dealt with a lot of bodily fluids, in my lifetime, 😂. And we get through it for precisely the reason you mentioned: revisiting the icky stuff is only for reference in similar situations, the successes are so rewarding, both are opportunities for growth; and isn’t that true with most memorable events, after all?
I’m glad you went the “janky”, more effort required way, even though it took more of your time. I’m no fan of AI, call me a Luddite, wrt that.
Twelve? That’s a lot of joeys! Does your center have them all?
Ferals here in farm country keep the rats and snakes in check, they’re a pretty important part of the ecosystem. The field by my house was fallow late, this year, I’d been optimistic it was to be allowed to rest and rejuvenate. No such luck, it was just planted late, so I’m very much keen on keeping rattlers in check. Tbh, the snakes and ferals probably keep each other in check. I’ve no idea how avian flu jumping to cats may affect that, but retain hope. Interestingly, I don’t observe ferals bothering the birds and squirrels. I’m sure it happens, I’ve just never personally seen it.
They were still so tiny, I think I could have held the pile of them in one hand. The rehabber was feeding them with this miniscule tube that looked like a piece of fishing line more than a piece of tubing. I assume we were keeping them. They were very velvety and warm.
I don’t think I’ve even seen a cat fight a snake before! The bird flu stuff makes me nervous how it’s still not really mainstream just how much is being affected by it all. I fear one day everyone is going to act like nobody saw this coming. Between that and the measels stuff going around, it really feels like we’ve rolled back into an age of ignorance.
I’ve never seen such tiny babies as you describe, except squirrels and rabbits, presumably because opposums are largely nocturnal and I’m usually not. The way you describe feeding gives me the sense of a lot of time and experience having gone into the process. Dedication.
A cat fighting a snake is riveting. I’ve seen a twelve pound cat stalking a maybe eight? feet long snake, absolutely positive the snake would win. I should see if there are any videos and post back. Give me a bit.
I’m not able to listen to the audio right now, but this video has the tube feeding process for joeys that looked like what she was doing. The one in the video is much larger than the ones we had. The ones that we got in were more like this:
I am not seeing a video link? The photo shows tiny!
Whoops. I was doing too many things at once! Video Link
No worries, I probably shouldn’t be encouraging your distraction. I’ll watch the video and reserve comment until later. Thanks so much!
Omg. That takes me back some 30? years, to when I had a feral that routinely had a litter under my house. One day she didn’t come back, and she’d been killed on the highway. I had my own primary schooler, a full time job and five kittens to feed, massage so they’d eliminate, and clean up, every two hours. One developed an abscess, presumably having been bitten or scratched by a sibling, which required extra care. We thought he was going to pass, but with surgery, he survived and like his siblings, found forever homes.
My neighbor found another kitten and took it to the same mom I gave a kitten. I’m going to have to get her some wet food. She’s working hard.
Oh wow, you have done quite a bit of caring for animals (and people!) yourself!
I never thought I’d spend my free time helping squirrels learn to poop and such, but once you realize the necessity and value of doing the less glamorous jobs in life, they have their own unique value. I don’t focus on the icky or tedious parts for long, the thing that sticks with me is knowing that I’m giving something else the best opportunity that I can.
It’s been an off and on experience, but yes, I’ve done a little caregiving, both more and less successfully. We learn as we go, and hopefully any damage is balanced by the more helpful.
Yes, I’ve dealt with a lot of bodily fluids, in my lifetime, 😂. And we get through it for precisely the reason you mentioned: revisiting the icky stuff is only for reference in similar situations, the successes are so rewarding, both are opportunities for growth; and isn’t that true with most memorable events, after all?
https://cat-world.com/can-cats-kill-snakes/
It still amazes me just how fast animals are… 😯