I’m so sorry @BatCoach about Artie. Rest easy sweet boy. Your BIL sounds a little heartless and douchey. I understand that his views are out of your control and highly stressful to your kind caring efforts. He should understand the incredible impact you’re trying to make against a growing problem … but I Know it’s difficult to convince people who aren’t cut from the same animal loving cloth. Whatever happens know this …. You have been a HERO to these cats. And for that I applaud you. Best wishes always.
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I am so sorry about Artie. And the BIL with the bad timing.
Know that you’ve spread joy via this thread by not only sharing the photos and journey, but are also responsible for Dice’s new acquisition.
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ahh this made me smile! Dice looks like a very capable taco-truck proprietor, and I love the name! perfect for his pattern and color. Thanks for sharing 
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I’m so sorry about Artie. Hugs to you.
Bad timing from your BIL for sure.
Hang in there.
So sorry about Artie and about the issue with the kittens.
I am so sorry about poor Artie. Poor kitty. It’s never easy to let go of your furry friend. RIP Artie good kitty.
I am glad you took care of the kittens. You made their lives better and their moms’, too. And our lives are made better by all the fun pictures of happy babies.
Tell your BIL that when the kitties are gone you will be happy to take an interest in supervising his life and activities. mwa ha ha
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He looks so pleased with himself. And what a handsome boy.
I really am going to have to get one of those. I will have to reinforce otherwise I will have a “crash,” too. Baler is rather tubby and he would be all over this. And once he climbed on it, it would all over for the toy.
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So sorry about Artie. RIP furry friend.
UGH to heartless, hard BIL. Pretend you hear him and tune him out. you’ve worked hard to make these cats and kitties have a better life. Well done, very well done.
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I’m so sorry about Artie and that your brother in law is being a jackass. (((Hugs)))
I’m very sorry about Artie. I know how hard it is and how much it hurts.
about your brother-in-law. Some people are just like that. Agree that you should ignore him as much as possible. You should feel great that you helped these 10 kitties and made their lives so much better.
I saw the taco truck at Target the other day. I thought about buying it but I’m not sure if my kitties would be interested.
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Thanks everyone for the kind words. Its never easy to lose a pet, especially for us crazy animal people!
BIL definitely had a douchebag moment. We are actually really close, but sometimes I forget that he lacks the communication skills that my hubby has (which we have painstakingly built up over 15 years of marriage). I think he lost his patience when he saw both mama cats back in the garage after thinking they had been evicted, and one of his pals made an offhand comment that you could tell which house was ours in the complex by the fact that there was feral cat hanging out on the doorstep.
He kind of just let his frustrations build and boiled over. Something I am certainly guilty of time to time as well. I laid everything out in an email to him today about the status of progress on getting the kittens lined up for their spay/neuter surgeries, the adoption process and how I plan on listing/advertising them in addition to what the rescue will do.
I also promised to stop feeding the ferals by our house (he was concerned since the HoA notice addressed to us warning to stop feeding the ferals) and taking a hard line on not letting mamas in the garage anymore.
Due to the fact we are on vacation soon, the empty garage would be enforced anyway. I hope that the mamas’ milk dries up quickly and their hormones regulate so they can drop some of the motherly instinct that is making them meow outside the garage door to get back to their babies (4 of whom are already in their vacay foster home).
The hardest part is having to turn Daisy away. She’s confused as to why I’m not her friend anymore. I’ve had to go from giving her belly and cheek rubs to shooing her away from the garage door and making her stay outside. As much as I don’t want to deal with FB or CL groups, maybe I can list her as an indoor/outdoor cat? She would need a very patient and understanding adopter since she still has those feral protective instincts. Maybe I can focus on getting her a home after all the kittens are adopted out.
After cluing him in on my plans, and installing a portable air filter in the garage to help with the litterbox smell, he is much more understanding. He’s never going to be a crazy animal person, but he now understands that I need to see this through and he wants the kittens to find happy homes. If the shoe was on the other foot and he moved in with 3 pet turtles, but within 2 months of living in the house had 10 additional turtles in the garage (with accompanying turtle smell) for 5 weeks longer than we had agreed on having temporary additional turtles, I’d probably be itchy to get them out too.
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Would she be a good barn cat? I know those are a dime a dozen, but it’d probably be the best of both worlds for her.
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Do you belong to any horse groups. Put her up as a barn cat. Then pick the home that will give her all the attention she needs (and actually feeds their barn cats and provides them housing).
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So…. Someone lives inside now. Followed what another member advised so many posts ago about introducing cats to keen dogs. (Was it @Marla_100 or @moonlitoaksranch… sorry can’t remember) The suspect female dog looooves Chester. They play like nuts. Chester makes my older dog a little nervous. So I monitor. So much jumping and running and hiding in boxes. This cat is more doglike than you can imagine. Hope you’re doing well @BatCoach. But … a very happy ending to my story.
Now I’m rightly sure this cat is technically mine. Thanks COTH! For all your wisdom.
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Yes, Yes, SUCCESS!!!
I figured if ‘I’ could do it with a wild 'n wooly rescue GSD, you could do it also.
What a great outcome.
PS/ my latest cat-dog pair even console each other during our crazy thunderstorms. They really do get on the same emotional plane after a while.
Thanks for a great update.
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Thanks so much ! I thought it was you. Followed what you advised to a T and it WORKED! Again. Thank you. So enjoying this dog & cat house.
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Chester appears to appreciate the finer things in life. Blankets, couches, and climate control!!! 
I am so glad it’s working with your dogs and Chester. Wonderful news!!
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They sure do, we keep getting the neighborhood Tom’s moving in. Two really nice ones decided this place was the bees knees. One belonged to a little girl down the road. We kept taking him back. I will give them credit as they wanted to neuter him, but they couldn’t get an appointment in the early COVID days. The second one was a beautiful fuzzball ginger kitty. I love him, but he belongs to the 8 year old at the farm kitty corner to us. His owner said she wouldn’t neuter him because they lose all their cats anyway, so why waste the money… grrrrrr. I wish I had a DEA license, so I could order the appropriate drugs, I’d do it myself. But I’m not going through that hassle just to be neutering the neighbor cats… I tried to return him a few times too, but he spent all of the polar vortex here, but went wandering when the weather turned nice. I figured if he showed up again, I’d just take him in and pay. Poor guy. Super sweet! I don’t think the owners would even notice, but I did ask her anyway if she would be offended if he came home without balls.
One of my old cats was a repeat offender by his record. We got him from the humane society. He had a long record of moving into places he thought were a better deal and being brought back to the pound. I had him for about 8 years until old age and kidney disease took him away.
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I want to cry - he looks so happy. And he sounds like he is having a lovely time. Thank you for loving him and giving him the home he deserved.
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