WEBVTT - Finally! A Show About a NYC Cat Wrangler 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:06.880 Good morning, though it is actually one two pm. I 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:09.240 am just currently sitting down with my first cup of 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:12.320 coffee for the day, though so feels like the start 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:17.560 of my day. So far today I have fed all 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:21.000 the kittens and cats, scooped everyone's litter box. 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:22.919 And gave everyone their meds. 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:27.319 I need to before we go trap prep all of 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:29.400 the crates for the new kittens we're going to be 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:32.720 bringing in today. Yeah, I'm excited for this trapping today. 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:36.080 It's a location where we've already been trapping on the sidewalk, 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:39.520 but then recently got connected with a feeder next door 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:43.040 and discovered that he's feeding actually a lot more cats 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:47.239 in his backyard. So far, we've trapped six adults and 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:49.240 two kittens from this location. 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:57.240 This is finally a show about a cat wrangler in Brooklyn. 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.680 Heidi Sisto documents her work with a tea that catches 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:04.840 stray cats and kittens on her Instagram Heidi Wrangles Cats. 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:14.880 Hello, So what we're listening to currently is some kittens 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:17.760 that just got brought to me that are confused and 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:18.919 crying when. 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:24.040 They're little crates. Heidi Wrangles Cats is you can call 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:28.280 it an organization, but it's really just me that focuses 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:33.800 on TNR trap new to return fostering adoptions, all with 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:38.440 the big picture goal of reducing the overpopulation crisis that 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:43.200 we currently have in Brooklyn, New York. The overpopulation crisis 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:46.400 is a man made problem. Cats are not native to 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:50.120 the streets of New York. It all started with people 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:53.880 living in a city having pet cats, not having those 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:57.559 cats fixed, and then having those cats then subsequently live outdoors. 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:03.520 From there, those cats bread and then bread with their offspring, 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:07.120 and their offspring breeding with their offspring, and all of 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:11.040 a sudden you have an explosion in the population. The 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:16.040 average female cat can have up to four litters per year, 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:20.560 with litter sizes ranging between three to seven kittens on average. 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:23.760 So if you do the math, that can become hundreds 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:27.240 of cats very quickly. But also built into that there 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:29.919 is a very high mortality rate. Up to seventy five 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:33.360 percent of kittens born outdoors will die before six months 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:37.000 of age, so it's so much suffering, and even with 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:42.079 that high mortality rate, the population is still exploding. But yeah, 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:45.200 I mean most rescuers, though, we're just individual people and 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:49.519 we work together. We share resources, like on this recent 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:54.959 trapping project, the other rescuer I'm working with, Suza has 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.959 like a great basement for holding all of the feral 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.920 cats before and after their Spain eater surgery. I love 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:04.960 kittens and I have a huge, you know, soft spot 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:06.679 for kittens. If I do have any sort of like 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:11.600 quote unquote specialty, it is with kittens specifically. Even though 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:14.520 I do a little bit of everything, the kittens are 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:19.400 really like the thing that I go crazy for. Hid 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:24.400 how did you hear about this particular taste? It was me. 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:29.240 I am an a rescue group with Heidi. We're like 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:32.800 a collective of a bunch of independent rescuers. And someone 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:35.800 contacted me on Instagram. Wow, said, my friend loves on 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:37.560 the Street and they have a prod colony, are front 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:40.400 managed and there are a bunch of kittens and we've 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:43.240 been sitting outside out front for a couple of months 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:46.320 and we would not get to the rest of the kittens. 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:48.520 Wou and wait and they wouldn't show up. And so 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:49.240 we figured. 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:57.920 And this presumably Australian thing, oh Stope was like, you 0:03:57.920 --> 0:03:59.400 should talk to that guy, and so we just. 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.720 Knocked on this started talking to We literally just went 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:04.920 to this man's house at nine thirty at night, and 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:20.840 we're like, do you think cats? Ye? Hello, good Joanna you? 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:22.760 Oh good God? 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:27.039 Do you frequently do count rescue from your home? 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:29.680 Oh? I love you? 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:34.520 Police at the captains. 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:42.240 Colin, have you been speaking and helping strays from the neighborhood? 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.440 I just started if I'm not a pet person before, 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:47.960 actually people, I do my best to help them them 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:48.599 then the best I can't. 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:50.920 I can't do everything, but I just do the best 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:54.720 I can't. My life, I try, I do. Yes, my 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:58.520 pretty babies, oh my next picture, pretty babies the next 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:04.360 or a yeah, A lot of that. 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:08.159 Yeah, Gilbert has seen a lot of you have. 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:11.719 Look at the window. They screaming it, but they can't. 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:13.000 They just stuck together. You know. 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.200 I had to come with my glove in the back. 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:20.920 That's really hard. Someone else told us about pats right 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:22.560 over there. 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:26.279 Get this, like pl one that one thing. 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:33.960 Just started with two cats five six between the all starts. 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:38.160 But they were all going like two plus cats in 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:40.400 a trap. So we're gonna have to after we trap 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:44.440 everyone sort of redistribute and separate adults and kittens. 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:49.440 So we'll put the food in the back of the 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:52.919 traps and then we'll have sardines for something a little 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:55.599 extra extra, we're gonna hold This is like the my 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:57.719 favorite way of traps called the bottle string technique. 0:05:57.960 --> 0:05:59.920 Do you see that? Like bottle with the strings, use 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.880 of bottles to hold the doors open. We thread them 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.320 all to that window, we set them, we run inside. 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:09.000 We watched from the window, and then when as many 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:10.919 cats as possible are all in the traps at the 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:14.599 same time, we pull all the strings and all the 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:18.400 doors close at once. Probably will take more than one 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:20.919 pull obviously to get all the cats because there's a 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:24.720 few full five strings. 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:39.320 Okay, asking me like, how are you going gag the 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:40.440 team effort as you can. 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:44.560 With each other exactly. Yeah, this is my favorite of 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:47.640 trap is with trap training. Get the cats used to 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:51.920 the traps also because they know Gilbert. But they're already 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:54.480 pretty trusting, Like this is where they eat every single day, 0:06:55.440 --> 0:07:03.120 so they're pretty good them. Do you want to When 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:06.080 I was in you know, high school, imagining my passions, 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:10.000 it was always in like fashion and photography. Never thought 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:13.760 that cat rescue would be my future or my profession 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:17.040 by any means. My parents have cats. My dad's a 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:20.200 cat guy. He's a cat dad. He's like done the 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:22.440 thing where he's like turn them into dogs and like 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:25.640 train them to walk on leashes and teaches them to 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:28.680 do tricks and they can like shake and stand for 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:33.280 treats because that's just like my dad's energy. So yeah, 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:35.280 so he's definitely like a cat man. But I was 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:40.960 never like, oh, this crazy cat person at all. So yeah, 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:44.120 so it's all started with me just seeing cats on 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:46.520 the street in my neighborhood and feeling bad about it 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:49.960 and scooping them and bringing them into my house and 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:53.000 then not really knowing what to do but figuring it out. 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:56.760 And then yeah, from there it's grown into what I 0:07:56.840 --> 0:08:00.400 kind of jokingly refer to as a cat empire that 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:14.520 I run o y the traps right now, he's just 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:30.240 staring at us. Don't look at him. I got a bunch, Ok, 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:37.760 we got a few. So right now we're covering the 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:43.280 traps with sheets to keep everybody calm, chills them out, 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:49.480 less stressful for them. So basically, the adults go back 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:53.080 to Susas and we have more spain Ud appointments tomorrow 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:56.000 for them, and then the kittens come back to my place. 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:00.599 Can you grab the one that's nothing. 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:04.400 At any right here, I'm right y, I'm right over 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:11.679 right best ya m I'm daddy, I'm right here, I'm 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:14.360 right here, I'm right here, I'm right here. Go ahead, 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:18.160 I'm right here. I just don't wanna be hurried down. 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:19.640 Say I don't want it. Gonna be safe and things 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:21.600 out the home they eating? Can they gonna eating good? 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.760 You know, how do you feel watching them getting? 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:27.400 I fell so bad? I wanna cry so bad, I say, 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:29.240 I w I really really, I really I feel a couple. 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:30.679 I really do. But I said, fist stop for him, 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:32.880 though you know I full stop from him. I mean no, 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:34.959 I really do. I'm really full side for Soody, full 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:38.120 sick for him. But long needs safe. I'm good, Yeah, 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.440 I can, I got the best good. I'm good. Oh, 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:45.320 I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I'm a best him 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:49.720 dog lo I ship every day I feel every day. 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:49.920 You know. 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:53.520 I'm good, I'm good. 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:56.200 I'm sorry. 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:58.120 I'll be okay. I go up here. You're doing a 0:09:58.520 --> 0:09:59.360 past that you. 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:03.360 Have you thought about keeping one as a pet? 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:05.080 I remember here, it's gonna be Yeah. 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:05.600 You know. 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:11.640 You don't like cats. He basically told me, like what, 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:21.079 we'll come here and take it. Friends, Oh that's a 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:22.040 fat wed Yeah. 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:25.679 Exactly, Red yea. 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:28.200 So do you think the same thing will happen again 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:28.640 next year? 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:33.320 You'll take care of them call have them good, even 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:34.839 though it is a little heartbreaking. 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:39.680 I will. They're just going to have such happy, love 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.080 filled lives and someone's home like that. 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:46.520 Like that good work. So okay, so put me in 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:47.160 the group chat. 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:49.720 I would. I'm totally happy to not go to CAF tomorrow. 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:55.679 The people who feed cats usually get very emotionally attached 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.560 to them, for sure. There's It's interesting the people who 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:00.920 feed cats and the people who do have rescue are 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:03.319 usually not the same and are usually very different. You'd 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:04.800 think it'd be one and the same, right, Like the 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:06.480 people who feed the cats are the people who trap 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:08.840 the cats and the people who rescue cats. But actually 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:15.240 it's really not. But yeah, definitely, the feeders tend to 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:20.160 be a lot more emotionally invested. It does tend to 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:23.520 be that a lot of feeders are just like oftentimes 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.920 lower income people who have lived in the neighborhood for 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:29.000 a really long time, who just see the cats every 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:32.800 single day in their backyards. And then you know, trappers 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:34.439 are just like bored white ladies with a lot of 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:37.360 free time and a lot of you know, dispensable income. 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:42.800 That's like the stereotypes I would say, there's obviously rich 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:47.839 feeders and trappers. Who are you know? I mean, I 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:50.360 do think though, we kind of start from very similar 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:53.480 places of like just seeing a cat on the street 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:58.640 and feeling compassionate about it and you know, feeding it, 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:00.599 wanting to take care of it. So I think we 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:02.959 all start from the same place. And then I think 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:05.000 the people who end up doing cat rescue end up 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:10.600 just like branching out beyond that and you know, doing 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:15.000 tn R doing rescue. And then I just think as 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:16.920 time goes on, the more you do it, the more 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:19.079 you do get like a little bit more calloused, and 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:22.360 and so you kind of like you you veeer in 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:28.920 like different directions a little bit. The people right now, 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:37.880 I just need to be realistic about my strength. I 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:41.040 have a BFA and photography. That's why I moved to 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:45.800 New York to pursue and then after college I worked 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:49.240 for eight years for an independent women's ward designer. So 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:53.400 all of the photography for the website, you know, handling 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:56.560 all of the online sales, the marketing, the social media, 0:12:57.280 --> 0:13:01.160 worked there for eight years and was doing that wall 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:04.679 rescuing cats the entire time, and it definitely got to 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.280 a point where having a full time day job and 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:11.079 rescuing cats was just way too much to do. Four 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:13.959 years ago I really started realizing, like, oh no, I 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.160 just want to be a cat rescuer. It's so it's 0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:20.400 it's very fulfilling to rescue cats. Actually I went part 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:24.120 time for six months before actually quitting, just to see, 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:27.040 you know, to like slowly basically see if financially I 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:30.920 could do it, and I could. Some months obviously have 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:34.680 been leaner than others. But now it's been a little 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:37.120 over two years since I quit my day job. My 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.679 income comes from social media, so that's you know, that's photography, 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:45.199 that's videos, and you know, it's working. It's I'm here, 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:48.680 I'm doing it, I'm paying my bills, and I'm helping cats. 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:53.920 So it scratches the creative side of my brain as 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:56.520 well as like I have a very problem solving brain 0:13:56.640 --> 0:13:59.240 as well. So I'm like very fulfilled and very satisfied. 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:05.400 A critical part of cat rescue is working with your community. 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:10.319 Especially as a white person working in neighborhoods of color, 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:15.160 I can't just go around trapping cats because you know 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:19.120 there are indoor outdoor pets, there are bodega cats, or 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:21.080 even just like people like Gilbert if one day all 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:22.880 of his cats went missing and he didn't know why, 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:27.440 like that would crush him. So doing cat rescue responsibly 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.760 means working with your community and talking to people, like 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:33.680 I'll knock on a door any day. I definitely get 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:37.280 butterflies right before knocking on a stranger's door, and it's 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:41.280 like that exact moment of like walking up the stairs 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:43.960 to someone's front door, I definitely get really nervous, but 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:46.440 then usually the second they open the door, I just like, 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:49.280 I'm like, hey, like I live in the neighborhood and 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:53.000 I rescue cats. And someone told me that, you know 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:54.920 there's cats on this block, and I was wondering if 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:56.400 you do anything about them, if you feed them, And 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:58.800 then I get pretty comfortable once I'm actually like doing 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:02.680 my spiel 's actually because ninety five percent of the 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:07.880 time people are so receptive and so happy for someone 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:11.480 to be interested in helping the cats. I've had a 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:16.760 small percentage of time where people have been really against 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:19.920 the cats being trapped, and that sucks. I have an 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:23.160 aries Moon so though, so I can actually be extremely 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:29.320 combative if I'm in that situation. I don't back down easily, 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:32.040 so for better or worse. So I've definitely had a 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:34.840 couple of times where I've like people have yelled at me, 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:39.640 and I can I hold my ground pretty easily. But 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:41.880 then other times, like you know, like one time, this 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:44.720 woman was feeding a lot of cats and she was 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:49.600 like a very sweet woman, but she was an Orthodox 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:56.160 Jew and she was extremely against taking away their reproductive rights. 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:59.880 And you know, there was no yelling, nothing like we were. 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:02.080 It was a very civilized conversation. She actually started like 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.960 like weeping at the thought of taking away their right 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:08.800 to have children. And she was like crying and very 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:12.680 upset at the idea. And you know, I tried to 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:17.040 explain and at that point, like you just have to 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:22.040 choose your battles. And there are so many cats in 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:26.160 Brooklyn that I can trap somewhere else where there's a 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:28.960 feeder who like is like Gilbert, who's super grateful for 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:33.000 the help. So when I do encounter those situations where 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:36.160 a feeder is really does not want their cats trapped, 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:41.680 you know, you can only do so much because the 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:45.040 people who feed the cats, see the suffering, they see 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.120 them dying, they want the cats to get help. They 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:52.240 care about the cats. Also, there is like the stereotype 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:56.320 that cats help the rats, and cats can help the 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:59.120 rat situation a little bit, but cats are not. That's 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:01.160 like another kind of like news thing where cats are 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:05.800 not decimating entire rat populations. So a lot of times 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:08.320 people will be like, don't we don't want the cats fix. 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:11.879 We want more cats because they control the rats and 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:13.520 you know, but and I say, like, okay, well, the 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:15.800 faral cats are coming back, but some of them take 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:17.160 it to the next level where they're like they don't 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:18.760 want them fixed because they just want more and more 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:22.760 cats for the rats. But rats that have ingested rat 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:23.840 poison kills cats. 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:24.600 Uh. 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:27.920 And it's really sad. Yeah, it's not, it's all bad news. 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:34.120 It's it's just sort of like a narrow mindset because 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:35.639 then what about the cat's quality of life? You know, 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:37.440 like that matters too, what about all the kittens that 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:43.200 die before adulthood, because it's just not a life. So 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:53.159 that's what I'm trying to do emotionally, one thing that 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:57.359 people don't prepare you for, and also that people don't 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:00.959 really talk about is actually compassion fatigue is a very 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:03.280 real thing with a lot of rescues, where because we 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:08.280 see so much suffering on a daily basis, we become 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:11.120 a little bit numb to it, and I would say 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:16.240 a little bit calloused. We see so many suffering sick 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:20.080 cats and kittens all the time, and it makes you, unfortunately, 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:23.280 you know, a lot less compassionate towards humans. I would say, 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:28.080 because you can only there's only so much that you 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:33.280 can care about. And also in cat rescue, we see 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:38.680 the way humans fail cats, both indirectly and also very directly. 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:42.200 We have a big problem in York with cats getting 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:46.920 dumped and abandoned, people just kicking them out, people moving 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:52.440 and leaving them behind. It's very very common. So seeing 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:57.320 that like direct neglect and cruelty on a daily basis 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:15.080 makes it hard to like people question. Most feral cats 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:18.399 will be like paper weights in the trap, will just 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:22.520 be these scared, little silent rocks. And if you ever 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:25.040 have a cat that's like yowing a bunch and like 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:29.320 thrashing around and being really vocal, that is almost a 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:34.320 guarantee it's a friendly cat, because friendly cats meow. Humans 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:41.600 and feral ones will just be a little paperweights. I 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:45.360 had a roommate for a while who I like asked. 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:47.119 I was like, there's a cat outside, Can I bring 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:49.080 him in? And she was like no. And then when 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:50.800 I moved into the apartment I'm in now because I've 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:52.760 been in my current place for like eleven years or so. 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:55.240 And then the next cat I saw outside, I just 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:58.000 picked it up and carried it home in my arms. 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:00.720 And that actually ended up being someone's lost and it 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:03.600 was Microchip and we well, we were able to reunite 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:07.080 it with its owner, so that was yeah, that was 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:09.040 like my gateway. It was like this long, beautiful, long 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:10.879 haired Calico cat and it was like in the pouring rain, 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:12.960 and it was like yeah, and then it like was 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:14.520 like following us, like up the block and then I 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:15.960 was like, okay, you come with me, and I just 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:18.000 like pitched up and carried it home. And that's how 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:20.360 I rescued my first few cats. Actually, when I would 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:22.399 be in the neighborhood like walking home from like a 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:25.320 party drunk, and I would just like chase cats around 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:27.560 and like grab them in my arms and carry them home. 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:30.800 And then I like reached out to her rescue group 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:32.399 and I was like, I got this cat, what do 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:34.480 I do? Like, can you guys help me get it adopted? 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:37.160 And so then they kind of like took me under 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:39.560 their wing and like taught me about n R. And 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:43.960 so then I just slowly overtimed just sort of like 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:47.280 grew and grew, and then I fostered for for that 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:49.400 rescue that I reached out to, like once the cats 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:53.520 that I had myself found God adopted. But then over 0:20:53.640 --> 0:20:55.879 time I kind of grew to the point of now 0:20:56.040 --> 0:21:00.879 people foster for me. I'm over the bad mentor though 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:03.480 don't tell anyone that. Like, everyone has their skill sets 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:05.960 in this life, and I'm so grateful to the people 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:08.680 the rescuers who you know, taught me everything that I 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:10.840 know and like mentored me. But when it comes to 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:12.600 like one on one, I'm not good at that. It's 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:17.440 not my skill set. Do you feel like maybe you're 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:19.840 like a cat and you like to operate alone a 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:22.440 little bit? Definitely? I would say it's that's actually a 0:21:22.520 --> 0:21:26.800 really common personality trait of cat rescuers. None of us 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:31.040 have social skills, Like we're all definitely like a little 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:35.440 bit introverted. There's exceptions, of course, but a lot of us, yeah, 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:39.159 are like weird introverts who don't have social skills, and 0:21:39.280 --> 0:21:42.359 I definitely fit that stereotype of like I, yeah, we 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:45.000 we like animals, and a lot of us don't, like 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:55.159 don't necessarily aren't good with people. That's ups you know, 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:56.200 I appreciate it. 0:21:59.400 --> 0:21:59.800 Thank you. 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:05.120 This is this book is like eight hundred dollars worth 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:10.000 of can mets. What medicine is it. It's for FIP treatment. 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:15.280 It is the mutation of the feeling coronavirus and it 0:22:15.880 --> 0:22:18.440 kills cats, and for a long time it was a 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:24.440 death sentence. But thanks to a new groundbreaking treatment is 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:27.440 eighty four days and it's really expensive. And I have 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:30.960 two cats currently getting FIP treatment, so it's like easily 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:32.760 probably like between the two of them, like five grand 0:22:32.840 --> 0:22:34.960 or something. So yeah, so this box of meds alone 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:36.520 is eight hundred bucks and I've been waiting for I 0:22:36.640 --> 0:22:38.760 need it, so I'm really glad I got it. But 0:22:39.119 --> 0:22:42.840 the thing also about this med is that it's not 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:47.680 like legal in the United States. That's cannot prescribe it. 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:51.000 That's will recommend the treatment, but they cannot prescribe it, 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:53.760 so you have to get it from like the there's 0:22:53.800 --> 0:22:55.359 like a Facebook group where you can get like these 0:22:55.400 --> 0:22:59.840 black market FIP drugs that are really expensive. So we're like, 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:02.960 I got this box, I got to carry those six kids. 0:23:03.640 --> 0:23:05.120 Oh my god, there's something. 0:23:09.960 --> 0:23:10.160 Yeah. 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:14.600 My life definitely revolves around cats, and my schedule revolves 0:23:14.640 --> 0:23:17.119 around cats. I don't have a nine to five by 0:23:17.160 --> 0:23:20.760 any means. And I would say especially, I mean, I 0:23:20.760 --> 0:23:23.879 would say my life mainly revolves around like vet appointments, 0:23:23.920 --> 0:23:26.879 and I will say when it comes to vet appointments, 0:23:26.960 --> 0:23:30.480 I am never late. I am always fifteen minutes early 0:23:30.880 --> 0:23:34.040 because I care so much about that, But when it 0:23:34.119 --> 0:23:38.440 comes to social things, I am always late. And really 0:23:38.440 --> 0:23:40.600 it's to the cats. The cats always just come first, 0:23:40.720 --> 0:23:42.720 So I can appairently. I can be on time for cats, 0:23:42.800 --> 0:23:45.240 I just can't be on time for anything else. I 0:23:45.359 --> 0:23:48.600 have more than usual because I just have taken on 0:23:49.640 --> 0:23:53.159 ten kittens in a matter of like forty eight hours, 0:23:53.920 --> 0:23:57.840 so we're a little bit more than normal. Hopefully soon 0:23:58.320 --> 0:24:05.159 we'll get them ushered out into foster. So I have 0:24:05.200 --> 0:24:07.560 a three bedroom apartment, but I only have one roommate, 0:24:08.040 --> 0:24:10.440 so I have a cat room. So we're gonna set 0:24:10.480 --> 0:24:13.200 everyone up in the cat room right now, which you 0:24:13.240 --> 0:24:15.720 will see. I have a roommate for a really long time. 0:24:15.800 --> 0:24:18.560 It's only been a cat room for like a year 0:24:18.600 --> 0:24:21.200 and a half, and it's been like the best thing ever. 0:24:22.960 --> 0:24:25.000