Wood4Good

07/11/2025

07/08/2025

Wood4Good is a charity that supports groups that rescue and care for cats. We also adopt disabled and unadoptable kittens. We harvest, package, and deliver locally seasoned firewood. We have bags of 32lbs. $15 or 2 $25, 170 lb. Racks $40, or 700lbs. for $80. Here is a video of our Tumbalina, our cerebellar hypoplasia cat. This is also known as wobbly cat syndrome. She is not in any pain; she rules the house! If you need any wood or just wish to donate, message us at 860-326-1660

06/30/2025

The next cat in the Wood 4 Good menagerie is Miley. She is definitely the most challenging of all of our special fur babies. About June, eleven years ago, we went to Kitty Harbor and noticed a litter of young kittens. One kitten caught my eye. The first thing I thought was that I didn't want that kitten because it looked too much like my old cat that had just passed. Right before Christmas, my husband Bill started wondering if all the kittens in that litter had been adopted. They told us that there was one left, but no one wanted to adopt it as it had too many problems. Bill is a big softy and couldn't let a kitten languish in a cage, especially over Christmas, so up we went to see what the problem was. The shelter people handed us a half-grown tuxedo kitten that at first glance seemed normal until she sneezed blood all over us. Upon further examination, we discovered she was an achondroplastic dwarf. Just like human dwarfs, she had short limbs, a large head with a short, thick neck, a flattened face, and a slight cleft lip. Miley's first of innumerable trips to the vets was to treat the most obvious problem-her sinuses. Due to her flattened face, her sinuses got easily infected. Regular courses of antibiotics and steroids kept these in check. Then came the problems with the claws. Her claws grew curved and soon grew into her pads, giving them a nasty infection. Another visit to our long-suffering vet revealed that when Miley is in pain, she is not a happy cat. That resulted in a hard bite through the webbing between the thumb and forefinger for the vet. Did you know that you can bleed a lot from that area? Since nails grow quickly, that meant regular vet visits, under sedation. Now we get to the short neck problem. A short neck means you can't groom yourself, and boy, can you get smelly fast. Quick baths at home just don't cut it, so it's back to the vets to get a "lion cut". More troubles? teeth and gums. A pushed-in face leaves no room for proper teeth growth. Infected teeth soon lead to infected gums. That finally led to oral surgery. Did you know that oral surgery on a cat costs about the same as oral surgery on a human? It's been a long, expensive, eleven years. We have finally learned how to take care of her problems. The sinus infections are gone, and we have learned how to clip her claws ourselves before they dig into her pads. I have bought my own hair clippers, and she seems to like her baths, and although it seems extreme, her last tooth extraction made all the difference in her attitude. Now out of pain, she has become the snuggly, loving kitty she was born to be-and the vet is no longer afraid of her.

06/26/2025

Today I will be highlighting sweet Clover, sometimes referred to as “Pretty face long tail.” She was a BOGO cat. We were conned into taking her along with her brother Poppy, when I went to pick up the ginger tabby I had promised Bill for his birthday. Like Poppy, she was part of the very sick litter that was found on the streets of Norwich. Other than the litter mate who died I believe that Clover was the sickest. Once she was nursed back to health along with her brother she became what we called, “ The Perfect Cat”. She was pretty, always clean, ( I don’t think in ten years she has ever needed a bath or nail trim, she takes care of herself). She is healthy, never needing a vet visit except for routine visits. She is sweet natured and most especially she is the most empathetic cat I have ever met. If anyone or any thing is in trouble or in pain, she is the first one there trying to help or comfort. She is the first cat to welcome a new kitten in the house, often letting them nurse on her if they need some extra momma-ing. If two cats start to tussle too roughly she will throw herself in the middle and stop it. If a cat is stuck in a room and wants out she will sit outside the door and cry loudly to alert me. Even if a human was not well she is right there to comfort them. When Bills mother had cancer she came to our house to live her last months with us. Bills mom never had a cat, they were dog people, but Clover took one look and jumped up into bed with her. Clover stayed the entire time with Maureen, at night when I checked on her I would always find her asleep, holding on to Clovers tail. Clover never seemed to mind, she would stay motionless as long as needed.

06/25/2025

With each post I will give you the story of each of our special needs / unadoptable shelter kittens that are currently living with us. I will start with our 11 year old siblings, Poppy and Clover. They were adopted from Kitty Harbor in Jewett City. They had been rescued from the streets of Norwich. A group of very sick kittens. One of the kittens passed soon after rescue and the other were fostered by an angel of a woman, Dottie Tracey. When my husband Bills’ birthday came along I told him that he had to have a ginger tabby. There is nothing like a ginger tabby cat. We went to pick up Poppy but were told, “ he has a sister, they never have been separated, they were so sick, 😿😿😿”. Likely story. We went home with two tiny kittens, best decision ever. Today I will show you Poppy, tomorrow Clover.

06/25/2025

We are a charity organization that sells local firewood to support various local and national organizations that rescue and care for cats in the US. We also have our own rescues that were either special needs or considered unadoptable. We harvest, package, and deliver seasoned firewood in the Niantic, Rocky Neck area. Currently we have bags of approx. 32 lbs. for $15 or 2 for $25. We also have small racks, approx. 170 lbs. for $40 or large racks at 700 lbs for $80-pickup only. If you don’t need the wood but would like to donate, we would appreciate any help.