Of hogs and cats E-Book

Bali Kiknadze

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 165

Beschreibung

What makes voluntary work in the animal welfare scene so special? Bali Kiknadze had already written a diary about her passion in 2020. But this time, the diary is in English! Hedgehogs are an endangered species, and we need people who save them. But you don't always win. This book is about the struggle to help animals in need, facing deaths as well as unforgettable moments.

Leseprobe

The fate of animals is of greater importance to me than the fear of appearing ridiculous. It is indissolubly connected with the fate of men. (Émile Zola)

Don‘t breed and buy while shelter pets die. (unknown)

Only beautiful animals or ugly people were fur. (unknown)

You can‘t beat anything into the animals, but you can stroke some things out of them. (Astrid Lindgren)

Preface or “what happened so far“

My name is Bali.

I started animal shelter work in 2010, after having moved from Hamburg to Berlin. My first experience was a cat sanctuary, where I fed the animals and cleaned their enclosures. When moving to the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein (that is the very North of Northern Germany), I decided to continue the voluntary work and found the cat shelter, which Bianca was running. At first, I wasn´t doing much, but as time passed by, I took over more tasks and ended up becoming the deputy of the shelter. Bianca and I have been a very good team ever since, due to our different skills.

For the shelter, I do the financial stuff, check on adopters (home visits and follow-ups), raise awareness and money, sometimes nurse kittens and help Bianca with difficult decisions.

In 2017, I decided to write a book about animal rescue (and rescuers) and did a two-year-research visiting organisations and shelters, doing interviews and taking photos. Unfortunately, the book “Paw Angels“ is only available in German (“Pfotenengel“, published 2019).

Since I wrote a chapter on hedgehogs in that very book, I wanted to learn more about these interesting mammals and met Ursel by chance. She handed me my first hedgehog to care for, Benjamin. He was easy: Treatment had been finished, and I only had to feed and supervise him. After that, in 2020, I got Alfred and had to prepare him for hibernation. That´s how the whole thing took off. Now, I am running a hedgehog foster care myself.

In the same year, I decided to write a diary, in order to show people how time- and money-consuming the voluntary work can be. I left out private life, most of the jobs and still: It sometimes looks like a full-time-job. And other rescue stations have even more animals in need than I do. I often wonder how they survive without collapsing.

One year of writing an animal diary is enough, I thought. However, I felt sorry, that only German speaking people will be able to read it. After all, rescuers with similar thoughts, emotions and problems can be found everywhere on our planet. So I did it again – with the hope that a lot of people will read and like it.

Yours truly,

Bali.

P.S. You will find some snapshots at the end of the book.

P.P.S. There will be grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, though I read the text ten zillion times. Bear in mind, that I am not a native speaker and didn´t want the text to be checked by a professional, since that would raise the cost of this book enormously. Besides, if you understood most things so far, you will have no problems reading the rest of the book. ;-)

Let me introduce the main characters:

Ursel

A 82-year-old hedgehog expert. More than 45 years of experience. Runs a hedgehog foster station. She is very famous in the German hedgehog scene. I am lucky to be her apprentice. We started working together in 2019. Over the time, Ursel became a lot more than my hedgehog teacher. Since I have never really had a Mum (mine died when I was five years old), I have declared her my “second Mum“, which fits perfectly, age-wise. And personality-wise and heart-wise anyway, if you know what I mean. And she, being childless, is more than fine with that!

The hedgehog emergency network

That´s a network with a phone number you can call within Germany, to get immediate assistance when you find a hedgehog and don´t know what to do. Behind that number, there are several hog-experienced people from everywhere within our country. It works with a phone-app that registers the number of the caller, and whoever is available, will call back. And, as you might have already guessed, I am one of them.

Bianca

The head of our cat shelter, where I am second-in-command. Bianca is a vet tech, working for my favorite vet, and she is a true workaholic. She started our cat rescue, that mainly deals with orphaned kittens, in 2012. I am with the shelter since 2013. We bottlefeed, spay/neuter, find adopters, help other rescues and do educational work.

Bianca is always on duty, never sleeps enough and does everything she can for the shelter. Plus, she never complains. A truly fascinating and adorable lady!

And if Ursel is somehow my Mum, then Bianca has – without a doubt – the role of an older sister.

Andreas von Baudissin (“Andi“)

My superskilled graphic designer. We have done two games together so far: The temper of Titus (“Katerstimmung“, a dice game) and A game of spines (“Stachelritter“, a familiy board game). I had the ideas and worked out the concepts, he drew the pictures. Andy is not only skilled - he is terrific to work with. So, that won´t be the end of our work relationship. I assure you, plenty of new ideas already jump up and down in my brain!

2021

January 1, Friday

Used the day off to work on the corrections for the Animal Diary 2020 (original title: Tagebuch eines Tierschützers). In the afternoon, I had Ursel here for tea and cake. Same thing we did last year: Starting the new year together. We were talking about Noel, a hedgehog still being in my house and on medication. When his treatment is over, he can go into “supervised hibernation“. That means, he will sleep in an enclosure on my secured patio, be checked daily and after his long sleep, will be checked and treated for parasites again, before he will be released.

January 2, Saturday

Ursel was here to pick up Noel. He will stay with her until I am back from my short trip (a family funeral in East Germany). Noel had 604 grams today and received his last medicine for lungworms.

In the evening: More work on my book. I need to finish this soon.

January 4, Monday

Ramses is not happy. He is one of my two Bulgarian tomcats and extremely sensitive. He gets mobbed by Piccolo, whom I took over last November. And Pepe, the youngest in my cat group, is not much better!

He used to hang out with Monk (that‘s the other Bulgarian), but has now started to imitate Piccolo, by chasing Ramses around the house.

With Titus (namegiver of the dice game I had invented) dying last October, the whole constellation in my cat household changed. Titus had been the boss and Ramses was protected. Without Titus, he is an easy target, and I have to think of a way to stop that.

January 5, Tuesday

Working with my graphic designer Andi on A game of spines. That´s my hedgehog game, that I will launch this year. Hopefully in spring. We worked on the corrections of the game rules and the event cards. I have been reading this stuff so many times that I start loathing it. Same goes for my books: Proofreading is awful. You can read the text for the umpteenth time and still find mistakes. How‘s that possible, for crying out loud!

Saw this morning that Mozart had been awake last night. He is one of the hedgehogs that are already hibernating in separate enclosures on my patio. The other one is Kandis, but she has been asleep since December. Her enclosure is tidy as hell. Plus, the dry food is untouched. Well, Mozart must have had a party last night. All the newspaper was upside down, and the bowls with food and water were empty. Hedgehogs do wake up every so often and these days, we have night temperatures around two to five degrees.

January 6, Wednesday

A quick drop-in at Ursel´s for some tea and cake and checking on Noel, before I leave. He is doing fine.

January 10, Sunday

Went over to Ursel to pick up Noel. He looked good.

But Ramses didn´t. He was lying in his cat bed the whole day, and I didn‘t see him eating. And what is more, he never came over to me for some intense snuggling. Now that is really weird! What the hell is wrong with him?

Also checked on Mozart and Kandis: They had slept soundly the last days. Their enclosures were neat and shiny.

January 11, Monday

Took Ramses to the vet. Oho, high fever! He got some injections. Later in the evening, he started eating again.

So far, so good.

January 12, Tuesday

Ramses seems a lot better. He is running around the house and also comes up for some cozy moments into my study. Phew!

Moved Noel and his enclosure onto my patio. Let´s hope that he will fall asleep soon. It´s about time for him. His domicile is right between Kandis and Mozart.

January 13, Wednesday

Checking on my hoggies, I saw that Noel had been awake last night, which is not surprising, since hedgehogs do not fall asleep immediately. Besides, he will have to make his nest first, now that the outdoor temperature tells him to do just that. He messed with the newspaper and kicked over his water bowl. Oh, well.

Took Ramses to the vet again. He got another round of antibiotics and that should be it. We will see.

January 14, Thursday

Noel is still eating the whole bowl of food. Seems, he is not thinking of hibernation too soon.

My aunt died today. Therefore, I am glad that Ramses is sleeping (and snoring) right beside my head. He is my soulmate and gives me peace, when my own world is unbalanced.

January 17, Sunday

Ramses had been very quiet since last evening. And this morning the same picture. Piccolo chases and scares him whenever he finds an opportunity. I need a solution soon; Ramses is really stressed, that is obvious.

Was at Ursel´s for tea and cake and our hedgehog talk.

These days, there is not much to do for us, concerning the hoggies. Most of them sleep. And those, that don´t sleep, are preparing for hibernation. Treatment times are over. For now, anyway.

January 19, Tuesday

Somehow last night´s heavy rain got into Noel´s enclosure. Holy shit. At least his sleeping box was dry.

Nevertheless, I cleaned up and relocated his enclosure to a drier spot. Let´s see if that does the trick. The roof on my patio obviously has a leak somewhere. Sigh.

Went to the vet with Ramses and Pepe. Pepe only got vaccinated, but Ramses got another round of antibiotics. He has lost weight, and I am very concerned about him.

In the evening, I got visitors: a couple that had shown interest in Piccolo and Pepe. Yes, I am trying to get them adopted, since, young and fit as they both are, they need more action, such as outdoor activity. With the secured back garden, my residence is rather appropriate for old or disabled cats. The couple were nice and Piccolo was cool with them. Only Pepe wouldn´t show up. He hid behind an armchair and wouldn´t come out until they were gone. Hmm, what do I make of that?

January 20, Wednesday

Went to my cat shelter today. That´s a one-hour-drive, therefore I don´t drive up every day. Bianca and I went through some financial stuff, such as invoices and the donations. Then I went over to the house where the prospective adopters lived. The house needs repair, to say the least. The guy told me, that he was still working on that. Well, obviously I wouldn´t hand my cats over to a building site, so I told him to call me whenever he is ready for the adoption. But to be honest: I am not at all sure that I want my cats to live here. Something is still bugging me. And gut feeling overrules everything!

January 21, Thursday

Slept very bad last night. I have still been contemplating this couple, that might adopt two of my shelter cats. No, I am not gonna do it. Fullstop.

Went to see Ursel and had Octavia with me. She is a hedgehog at 262 grams, that Bianca gave me yesterday.

Octavia was found and brought to my favorite vet.

After the initial treatments, my vet asked me to take over. So, Ursel had a close look, but found nothing apart from some mites. We can handle that, no sweat.

Took Ramses to the vet again. He is satisfied and reckons that Ramses will have fully recovered soon.

Seems that he was right: Back home, Ramses was eating again and behaving quite normal.

Octavia has gained weight and is eating well too. Good girl.

January 22, Friday

Took Octavia´s poo sample, that I had been collecting since Wednesday, to the vet. For an accurate analysis, you should collect poo over two or three days. I got the results in the evening: She has a high burden of lungworm. Okay, starting treatment right now.

January 24, Sunday

Octavia has gained weight rapidly, due to the deworming. She weighed 314 grams today!

Did some home-office work for our cat shelter, such as filling in donation receipts. Same procedure as every year in January.

January 27, Wednesday

I still have an eye on my Ramses. He is not yet eating the amount he should. And he is way too quiet.

Ursel has been here, for tea and cake. She told me that Paddle-Bianca has finally started hibernating. Paddle-Bianca is a female white hedgehog, that was both in my care and in Ursel´s, and not at all easy to treat.

Her strange nickname comes from her iffy hind legs, and last year, Ursel was very worried, whether she will ever be able to use those legs again. She was paddling more than anything! After a very laborious treatment, her legs improved considerably. But she wouldn´t hibernate for a long time, just eating and eating and eating. Ursel found that quite annoying.

January 28, Thursday

Wow! Noel must have slept deeply last night: The bowls were untouched and the enclosure was tidy. Well, with the temperature gradually dropping below zero, this might be it! Or so I hope. With hedgehogs, you never know.

Went to the vet with Ramses. He had lost weight again.

I insisted on a blood sample. I want to know what is wrong with my soulmate.

January 29, Friday

Result of Ramses´ blood sample: Nothing to get excited about. Pretty normal. Hmm.

Kandis, Mozart, Noel: all asleep.

January 31, Sunday

Had a long phone call with Bianca. We were discussing the possible adoption of Piccolo and Pepe. Before we hung up, Bianca told me that her dog was dying.

Probably only a few days left. My heart sank. That dog was with her for so many years and was our “cat shelter dog“, taking care of all the cats and kittens that we nursed, fed and treated. This is really heartbreaking news.

February 1, Monday

Started feeding Ramses in his cat bed, since he was too scared to come down to the kitchen. Poor chap. But at least he eats while I sit next to him. Good.

February 2, Tuesday

Went over to Ursel´s, for tea and cake. Told her about Noel: It seems that he is hibernating now. Well, sort of.

Ramses is a lot more active today. I still bring him his food, wherever I find him, so that he cannot clash with Piccolo or Pepe. Looks like the plan slowly comes together. However, that is only a temporary solution.

February 3, Wednesday

Today is like Christmas! Lars, an old school friend of mine, who knows about my work with hedgehogs, has built a feeding station for my carport. It is handmade and really amazing. I was so thrilled, that I ordered a three-storey winter-enclosure for the hibernation period. His son, who wants to become a carpenter, will deal with this rather complicated project. The thing is this: A person, that is not a hedgehog fosterer, would not exactly know what is important, in terms of space, dryness, ventilation. So, as the “expert“ you have to do a lot of explaining. Anyway, Lars and his son rose to the challenge, and I can´t wait to see it on my patio.

February 6, Saturday

Ramses is feeling and eating better. Octavia weighed 617 grams today, but she coughs sometimes. Quite normal, after lungworm treatment. I will give her expectorants, to ease the coughing.

February 8, Monday

Had a home visit today, for one of the Bulgarian shelters. I do that sometimes, if it is in my area. The shelter wanted to re-home a cat, and I visited the prospective adopter, which was a woman of my age.

She had a cat already and was looking for a second one, so that they could be playmates. The thought is absolutely reasonable, but in this case, her cat is a wild one, and I fear that the cat from Bulgaria might get stressed out. The lady was very understanding, when I tried to explain to her, what kind of cat might fit better.

There were more aspects that made me uneasy, but anyway, we called it off. And I was glad that the Bulgarian shelter agreed with my concerns. Mind you, checking on adopters, whether it is before or after an adoption is not an easy job. Not at all.

February 9, Tuesday

Got a call from the lady I visited yesterday. She wanted to thank me again, for having spent so much time with her and having been so empathic. Wow. It is quite rare that somebody thanks me for having done the opposite of the expected. Chapeau to that lovely lady. I promised her to help finding an appropriate cat, if she wishes.

February 10, Wednesday

What a rollercoaster day: It started with me noticing that Piccolo was very reserved and wouldn´t eat. Jesus, now what? Then I continued proofreading the Animal Diary book, with Ramses on my knees purring and feeling good. Then I got a call from Bianca: Her dog has died today. Oh, what a bummer! I felt so sorry for her.

In the evening I started to create an instagram profile, which was difficult at first, but fun in the end. So far, I have not really dealt with this medium, but my hubby convinced me, that it could be worthwhile to have an account there. You can follow me on instagram now: bali_kiknadze. All in all, that was indeed a very strange day.

February 11, Thursday

Last corrections on the book. That´s it. Now waiting for the second print-out. Also had a long phone chat with Andi about some corrections for A game of spines. That should be it, too. The whole thing will be passed on to the producer now. That´s really exciting. My first big board game, holy cow! Well, holy hedgehog, in fact.

Amira and Lucas, new candidates for Pepe and Piccolo, came over for a visit and get-to-know. Now that was a completely different story to that of the people that had been here some weeks ago. What a lovely couple they were! Even Pepe was around the whole time (and we are talking about sitting and chatting for more than two hours!) and let them cuddle and play with him. Piccolo was as always: Constantly around and collecting cuddles from everybody. It was a fantastic evening, and I pray to God that this couple will be the adopters of my funny duo.

By the way: This very morning, I called the guy from the other couple, that had shown interest and asked him what the situation was. He told me that he was sorry that he never got back to me, and that the renovation was still going on and that he had never expected it to last so long.

Why did he not tell me that in the meantime? For me, not getting in touch is a sign, that there is no real interest. I was polite, but very direct. That is my nature.