Last night was quite a warm & humid evening at home, so I contemplated what I was going to do with myself. I thought about going to sit out the front where the slight breeze was much cooler, but as I was walking down the hallway I had a quick thought of just putting myself to bed with my Mcleouds Daughters Dvd’s I got for Christmas from Duff (Series 1 Boxset). Something made me decide that indeed it was best to go outdoors where it was much cooler. So I set about the task of taking a doona to lay upon the ground & a couple of pillows to make us comfortable. Duff & I grabbed mosquito repelling weapons, being Citronella oil to refill the Burners, Citronella tealights which we placed 4 of - 1 at each corner of the doona & the Repellant spray ‘Off!’. As SK watered & fertalised the plants the 3 of us sat & discussed near future plans for a trip down the coast to celebrate my mum’s forthccoming 70th Birthday in February. As we were nearing the end of our conversation, I heard a faint cry which sounded very much like a tiny Kitten. Upon enquiring, others heard it too but as we wern’t ssure of it actually being anything specific, we kept on chatting. After a few moments it was heard again by all of us. So off I went to investigate. Those of you who know me well enough know how emotional I can get about things very easily. So in the back of my mind I was hoping that everything would be ok & that knowing there are several pregnant cats next door, that indeed it may have come from that side of the fence. However I wasn’t going to give up until I knew for sure. So with torch in hand, I started searching around our carport area. Looking under the house in certain spots with close inspection & a careful eye came up with zilch. Poking around a covered & boxed Outdoor Setting on a pallet resulted in nada. As I looked, every few minutes I could hear the little cry. It could clearly be identified as the cry of a tiny kitten. A few times I heard a gentle rustle of leaves coming from above me. This I kept dismissing as possible wind, however it played on my nerves after a while. It didn’t take me long to retreat from the carport to report of nothing to the others though I hastly made a dash to the loungeroom to peer out of the window with the torch onto the carport. You would not believe what I found. In the light of the torch, there was a  tiny little kitten all by itself crying out for help. It broke my heart to see it & I immediately called in fear to SK to please  help me get this little kitten some help! Immediately I picked up the phone & called Yagoona RSPCA After Hours. I was given another phone number to call a St George After Hours emergency number. Once this call was made I was upset at how the situation was delat with. Once given the cat owners address, the information given to me was along the lines of: “We have removed over 30 cats from that property. The woman has Dimentia & they are all strays anyway”. I do not believe this has anything to do with us nor should it. The situation at hand had involved us for yet the 6th or 7th time in the 2.5 yrs we have resided here. We have not made any complaints until recently & to me seems everyone just likes to pass the buck & say “I don’t have authority to do anything about it” etc. Besides all of this, these people are removed from the actual daily occurances & obviously don’t realise that some of these cats have actually ben GIVEN to the elderly lady next door & most are now also litters from those that do reside there as well as the strays that enter the property on a one way visit. Anyway, I was told to actually call back once I got the kitten down from the roof. I asked why indeed did I need to make yet another phone call when I was already on the phone to them. I didn’t get a straight answer except “just call us back when you have it down”. But as asked, I climbed up on Dad’s old wooden ladder to the side of the carport trembling with fear. Duff handed me a broom as it was clearly unsafe to actually climb onto the roof. With a gentnle pulling motion I managed (almost in tears) to roll & slide the kitten closer towards me. Once it was in arms stretch, I grabbed it close & held onto it for dear life. We brought it inside & gave it a torn towel to snuggle up to inside a small box. The second phone call was made to come & collect the animal. I was informed someone would be directly on their way. After waiting well over 1.5 hours out the front for someone to arrive, we started speaking of many scenarios of why we were waiting so long. I realised only our address was given & no return number left with them so we decided to call them yet again. Duff spoke with the “gentleman” who I found to be fairly rude to begin with, who told her that indeed someone was on their way & he could not give a clear E.T.A. However when Duff thanked him in a firm & inpatient tone as she was about to hang up, he actually then informed us that the guy who was coming has been called out to a Dog injury & then also to a Dog attacking & therefore as it has been a busy night will make it to us when he can. We informed him of our concern at how hungry the kitten was at it was trying to suckle from the towel in it’s makeshift housing. We were informed to just try to keep it warm & offer some water. We understand that most of these people are either volunteers or have been through all this kind of thing before. However a little compassion goes a long way. Considering this was at 11pm on a Sunday evening I believe we had cause to be concerned. by the time we actually made the call we had lost count of how long had realy passed since our first plee of help. Basically, around midnight the guy finally poked his head at our window to call out to us. i took the box out to him & obviously to his surprise too as he held a cage in his hand expecting a large cat. He made motions to leave & headed towards his car so I asked a few questions like Who are we meant to get help from regarding these cats? What do we do about a cage to catch the strays? etc. He has offerred to return during the week with a cage so hopefully we have the ball rolling. It’s such a shame it takes so long to get help & in the meantime watch all of these animals suffer. Over the past we have seen a lot which hurts me to no end.

*I orginally ran over what seemed to be a Blind & Deaf cat in our driveway who was asleep under the car, which we disposed of.

*We found a litter of 4 kittens (4 weeks of age) at the side of our house under some old cardboard which I deleivered in tears to the local pound.

*SK picked up a kitten (2-3 mnths old) off of the road which had passed with no signs of injury & had to dispose of it.

*Duff removed a kitten (2-3 months old) which again we had to dispose of which died of malnutrition in our driveway under our trailer. this one was reported to the RSPCA just prior to Christmas & not a word of response have we received. Also this kitten’s passing realy broke my heart as during the week prior to this I began offering leftover foods to try to help mainly this kitten survive. It did benefit all cats on the property, however this kitten in particular was always sleeping by the gate or on the driveway & every single day I would see it & know that it was too suffering. Too little too late I guess in the long run.

*Now to find a newborn kitten with eyes still closed on our CARPORT roof & again have to deal with it.

This is all getting to be beyond the joke. I understand this elderly lady is on her own & the cats are her ownly family etc. I understand it would break her heart to see them all removed. but SOMETHING has to be done to help her maintain the life of these creatures. None of these cats/kittens ever asked to be put here & yet they are being left to suffer until death. I can only assume past tenants of this house had also had their fair share of problems. We have been good neighbours & put up with the pests over the time we have been here. But it is sad that when we do ask for help, there is either none available or simply no compassion. What is it going to take, I ask? I have been nothing but an emotional wreck with each of these situations & I know that moving away will help us greatly, however what about these cats & any future feline to reside in that house? Everyone in this street seems to close their eyes to the siuation or if they do take an interest tend to point the finger at us.

If anyone has ANY ideas or suggestions please feel free to offer it to us. We are pleeding for help!

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