Well, I was off the farm lots today, I had one of those days that homesteaders and farmers rarely talk about on the blog.. those days were we run all over the country it seems trying to get all kinds of ducks in rows and there is always something waddling off this way and that.. LOL
I got up at normal time and did get some morning chores but thankfully I had checked my calender the night before, I thought I had to get there at 9:30..nope 8:45.. ok that’s a bit faster.
Marble and River Kitten’s had been caught at 6pm last night and crated up till this morning where they were driven to the vets to get their spays and required by law vaccines. Marble cost me a pretty penny more because she was not done before she was an adult.. timing on things just didn’t work out and now I have to pay more.
Thankfully River is still under a year in age and so she did get the kitten discount.. still all said and done, its pretty much 300 per cat.. better than other places in cost but still a huge! chunk of cash for an outdoor barn cat that tomorrow could be gone.
Its something that needs to be done as I do not want kittens on the farm, I want an altered only group of cats. It’s not hard to find farm cats or kittens in need of a new home if I want to add a new cat to our little farm pride. There is a new program called Barn Buddies that does farm cat clinics for altering, Its my understanding that they are 120 per female cat, but nothing else is done.. no checks, no rabies, no overnight after care and no working relationship with the vet afterwards.
It’s a mixed thing to me.. on one hand even with the gas driving to the pick up and drop off point, it’s still a savings of about a 160 per cat but then none of the above.. so I paid more and left the spots (which were totally filled) on the Barn Buddy spaying slots for someone else in the area that needed it just a touch more.
Then I was off to doctors for follow-up on a few things and renewals and I need to mail something.. well that was just not meant to be, first post office system was down and so no go, I took the time to drive over to a different town afterwards and arrived five minutes after 12 and they were closed for an hour for lunch.. I know they all close for an hour for lunch from noon till 1.. Small town living at its finest 🙂
However at the point I gave up and came back to the farm. It was a busy morning in a very different way but still productive in its own way. Did my 3:30 check call to confirm that the girls were recovering well and all is looking good.
Then I did some outside chores and started working in the gardens, I needed to do some looking here and some looking there to figure out what I am doing next and I have got it pretty figured out at this point.. I will take photos as I go, but I do instead to get at least one or two beds ready and planted this weekend.
So much raking to do in regards to picking up tiny and not so tiny branches do to the ice storm and I need to figure out if I want to burn than or if I want to use them in a new Hugel bed. We will see, I need to have a good look at the other beds and see if I need to top them up more then I need a brand new bed.
The weather today has been outstanding, plus 7 with little wind and sunshine.. you need a coat on but who cares.. LOL It finally feels a bit like spring!
Just another Day on the Farm 
We too get frustrated with how high the cost of spaying and neutering is getting. Especially when you are talking about a barn cat that can either have a zillion kittens and overpopulate or can be dead tomorrow. Of course we don’t want unnecessary kittens, but spending that type of money on a cat that can disappear tomorrow is really hard to swallow. In fact we did pay for a spay once, kept her closed in for healing for 10 days, let her back out and she never came back. Don’t know what happened, but it was quite a loss after those spay fees. We have found some programs that offer discounts and we are very grateful for them, but it is still a pretty penny.
Hi Willow Creek, I truly do understand, I lost three cats in the past two years that I had altered at great cost. It truly is a gamble when it comes to barn cats but on the other hand.. unaltered females means kittens and males means spraying an fighting. I am very hopeful that these will stay on the farm and around for many years to come but you just never know. Glad you have a few programs in your area, I think its far to easy to get overwhelmed with even a few females on the farm that are breeding and birthing. Farm cats are working cats, they have a job and I am grateful for it, I would always rather have four to eight farm cats at work then have poison’s on the farm. Its a balance act for sure.
Enjoy that sun! Sounds like we’re in for SEVERAL DAYS IN A ROW, can you believe it??
I am enjoying it, I so enjoyed getting the first garden bed done tonight! It felt so good to be working outside, in the soil and looking forward to planting the seeds tomorrow.. if we have the heat they say, I might even need to take off the glass or prop it up 🙂
And zero chance of Black Flies yet; )
Same here. I think I’m in shock! 😀
I’m a city kid but spend summer weekends at a campground where my travel trailer is permanently set up. We have feral cats there and with another resident we try to live trap all the kittens we can once we know they are weaned. She took the first two, the next two went to a local no kill shelter. I took the next two we got two years ago and brought them home. A visit to the vet resulted in $1200 US for a year’s worth of well kitten checkups, spaying (both females), all shotsand nail clip. Last summer I brought home two more. Same mother cat, Father(s) of all 3 unknown so attempting to collect kitten support was not an option. But, I heard about a program our local humane society offers called the Spay and Neuter Clinic and that’s all they do there.. Kittens and cats up to 6 years old can be spayed/neutered for $75 each. There are very small fees for all shots, chipping, nail clipping if you want. They are taken to the clinic in the morning and ready to come home that evening with any necessary medications required, very detailed instruction for diet and care. My two youngest firbabies cost a total of under $200 for both of them!
They also have a vaccination clinic where all annual shots are offered at a very low fee. I understand there is also a service for spaying/neutering any feral cats that are to be released where they were found. This is free. The cat’s ear is notched so that others will know it has been “fixed” and not responsible for any kittens in the area. On the down side, we have never been able to trap the mother cat. We do feed her and she will come almost close enough to touch but not quite. She is about 5-6 years old (that’s old for a feral) and apparently on to every trick in the book to catch her. We have named her Magic.
Magic sounds like a very street or camp wise momma cat and that she has very nice kittens, glad you and your friend has taken the time to do all that work with them. Bless you for it! Nice that you were able to find a much! more reasonable costs on the second set of two.. that was indeed a lot of money spent on the first two. I am finding that there are good programs for feral’s in the city for very low cost alter but that when it comes to farmers barn cats, its more limited here yet. The Barn Buddy program has only been in place for two years so far but its done great work in that time. I just hope that the ladies working it do not get burned out. its such a needed program.