The downside of kitten season has begun...

Hey Amy....we got in 27 kittens in the last week to our rescue. The craziness is upon us...between now and October I'm going to be wishing more people had spayed their cats. As much as I "love" kittens....it's the cats that suffer every summer. These cats were once cute little kittens but now many of them will be euthanized in shelters. It's heartbreaking.

Katie

The discussions in the Yahoo group about required speutering before adoption are interesting. Most rescue groups refuse to adopt without a speuter, but there are still groups out there that only have the adopter sign a promise to do it with no follow up that it is actually done. These are contributing to the kittens of the world and debate is always hot around this topic.

I'm going to knock on wood, but I am kittenless this year - first in 10 years. Just goes to show you that TNRing anything that wanders my way works!! The h*ll with the vet bills!

Spay/neuter: IT SAVES LIVES!!!

Since I can't TNR...I give money to offset the costs for a group that DOES TNR in Virginia. I do hope all we do will help.

CONGRATS on being kittenless...I really look up to you.

Katie

When I adopted Miura earlier today...from a No Kill Shelter...I couldnt help but think about all of the other places...full of adorable little lives, just like the ones I had spent time with...just like the little one I brought home - makes you reallly want to bring them all home with you.

VWVixen..actually, I don't want to take them all home...I am a realist and more than 2 cats in the condo would be too much. That is why I volunteer...I can help to find good responsible homes for the cats/kittens so that we can rescue more and find more good homes.

I HIGHLY recommend volunteering!!

Katie

I was back at the "cat home" today - 22 more kittens have been taken in since last Saturday (yikes!; seven little "Garfields" are from one litter), and the place is bursting at the seams. The kittens will probably find homes, but some of the older cats, many of whom have been there for 3 or 4 years, won't. There's no money for shots, neutering, or emergencies. My husband (an expert shopper) picked up 160 lbs. of litter he saw on sale yesterday - they probably won't get through the month with that. We live in a small town of under 10,000 people - if the situation is so bad here, what's it like in cities with 10 million inhabitants?(,kmlmkn, JC just typed that!)

Jcat...Holy Toledo...22 kittens since Saturday!

Oh, how I wish we could get more people to spay & neuter their cats!

Katie, you are truly a dream volunteer. You see that while you may not be able to trap or adopt more cats personally, there are lots of roles to be filled that still help a lot! Hugs to you!!

I have to share a little bit of nice news, especially 'cause I know Katie particularly enjoys good news. We had a call come in a week ago or so, someone didn't leave their name, but asked that we contact a person who had placed a "free-to-good-home" ad in a local paper. She said that she contacts such advertisers and tells them about low-cost spay/neuter resources and groups like mine and so on. I couldn't resist -- I researched the phone number, cold-called and explained that someone there voluntarily did these calls, and that I wanted to let her know that we appreciate it. Her husband answered; he said good-humoredly, "I've been putting up with this for 20 years now, that's my wife."

Imagine: this is one individual, who is doing something, completely on her own, and helping people she doesn't know, and mostly, I suspect, she's been doing it with absolutely no recognition or credit being given. AWESOME, isn't it? Gives me shivers.

Best,
Linda -- and yes, I DO wish that every call were THAT sort of news.

Hey Linda....that's wonderful. I've thought about doing that...answering free to a good home ads and taking the kittens to be vetted. What I currently do is simply tell them that they really should charge a small fee and give them other places they can post. Linda..if it helps you...here is my rehome page:

http://www.natewood.net/Rehome.html

Katie

Thanks Katie! (You and I must be on the same crazy schedule this week -- GET YOUR REST GIRL, we want you fresh and energetic at the clinic!!!!!)

A lady named Kat Chaplin turned me on to how to answer free-to-good-home ads. I've printed her (Neuteress of the Night!) article on how to do it kindly and well -- I'll see if I can find a link to share. Tne Neuteress isn't afraid to use lots of humor and yet she's very savvy about how often people who place those ads, are truly trying to be good samaritans. If you've never worked with a rescue or shelter, and you find a kitten in your yard, in many places, it's very hard to figure out what you ought to do. I've done those calls a few times, though mostly I haven't had the time to get into the proper calm frame of mind. I used to try to harvest the ad information and still keep a spreadsheet with the info running, it just gets these huge gaps in it where I don't get to read the ads for months and months (or maybe now, even a year).

HERE's the link from the Neuteress herself (drum roll please!):

http://www.ahimsatx.org/nnl/docs/HowTo.htm
How to Address Free To A Good Home Ads in Your Community

Please give it a try!
Linda

That's really great....I may post that at Petfinder too. I do try to do all I can for the people on Craigslist...have you ever visited?? Here is the one for the DC area:

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/pet/

Katie

There's a woman in KC who looks for free to a good home ads every single day and posts them to the rescue groups to save. There's another who arranges transportation to forever homes. And yet another that visits the high-kill shelters, takes pictures of those whose time is close and posts requests for no-kill groups to pull them. The world is full of wonderful people doing their small part in the world.

That's very good to know Amy.

Katie

That article by Kat is really great! I'm so out of touch with how shelters operate around me that I have no idea whether they are doing this sort of thing already or not, but they really should be!
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Katie,

I am going to try my best this weekend to do my part by adopting two kittens on Sunday from a local shelter and give them a good, warm, loving home that they deserve. Which ever two kittens come home with me, they are going to get so pampered it won't be funny. Food mutliple litter boxes, snacks, toys, scratching posts, cat houses, TLC, etc.

Jason

I had a great idea this week! I've gotten ahold a box full of lost cost spay/neuter clinic cards (the size of a business card). I'm going to start passing them out like candy.

I visited a shelter yesterday and they had 50 kittens, and the 2 volunteers said that they were both overflowing at home with kittens that were waiting for the 50 to be adopted to make room for them at the shelter. As I sat there, someone came in to turn in another litter. They begged her to hang onto them until they were old enough to speuter then adopt them out.

Yup, I'm handing out those cards!

That's a great idea Amy...every bit helps.

Jason...good luck with your kittens...I know they will be well cared for.

Katie

Linda, thank you so much for that link. As I'm over here in Western Australia, I sometimes feel 'out of the loop' when it comes to ferals and spay/neuter. We are so behind the times over here and I felt overwhelmed and powerless with what I could do, being just one person. Unfortunately, our solution to the problem of ferals, strays and orphaned and abandoned kittens is euthanasia. That's it. I feel I have begun a campaign in my own little way, rescuing orphaned and abandoned kittens but now I feel there's more I can do in my own little way, even on a very tight budget.

Tania - how did you start doing this in WA? I would like to consider trying to do something like this - even if I could help 1 orphaned kitten or unwanted cat it would be good - I wouldnt know where to start however. Go to the shelters? Its not that I would be able to give any of these forever homes - but maybe it could be a start... is this making any sense?