Thursday, May 22, 2014

Thursday May 22

Want to hear a cat sing and talk back to you?  All you have to do is say "Pania" in a sing-song way and she'll answer you!  Every time!  But then you have to give her a milk ring or a few kibbles of RC babycat dry food! She is such a fun girl! Love her. 

Karula is really doing good. She's progressing her walk-abouts in the back and front Thumper's Room. Nice and easy and slow--that's the way she moves. She loves to eat too! She does this "soft talk" when she walks around and sometimes when just laying in her bed. I wonder if it's a comfort sound she makes. She even strolled about in the Mail Room (oops, don't tell anyone---remember the Mail Room is suppose to be off limits to cats!). 

We truly have LOTS of thank yous to give! 
We had BOXES last night! Such joy to receive these gifts---thank you!
Gill H--3 Monki soft cloth kitty totes (will use as consolation prizes for afghan raffles!)
Tigercat54/Great Aunt Julie from IA--2 cases Fancy Feast Kitten, 2 cases Sheba Pate, case of Iams Kitten
Robotman from CA--plastic bags, 20 laser pointers for adoption bags!
Kikimycat from PA--5 cases of Appetizers
Susan345--6 containers of Gerber Rice Cereal
Judy--2 cases Fancy Feast gravy lovers, 2 cases Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul for kittens, 2 cases Appetizers
Arden & CHarmaine--2 cases FF grilled seafood, Purina One Kitty dry, 4 big bags of Precious Kitty Litter!
Phyllis B/kittiesmom--box tops for Kellen, Spartan Labels, stickers, 4 wonderful sets of votive candle sets, to be used wherever needed!
Henry R Peeps & Oh My Guinness--BD card for Big Al with $5.  Big Al has requested ground turkey to share with everyone!
Alan C from UT--donation for FFRC
Nona S from NY--butterfly card with funds for TEN cases of baby food meat!
Michael/sophieandlucysdad--coupons
Sue M/macncheese from MA--card with donation
Margaret S from Paulding--donation
Debi B--donation in memory of our chatter friend, Lois L
Svcathy/Cathy D--wow--snackers for the volunteers! PB pretzels, caramel popcorn, chocolate covered potato chips, gummy bears, jelly beans, jar of crunchy cookie spread, cookie & cocoa swirl spread, chocolate chip dunkers & oatmeal & cranberry dunkers!   For Catathon: lots of things for the crochet/knit basket--lots of great yarn and in wonderful colors, drum to store yarn, crochet book, spring knitting book, crochet answers book, sock loom, a tote bag filled with knitting needles, scissors, tape measure, double stick tape, etc.  Another great basket coming up!
DeEtte--for Catathon: this is for the Laurel Burch basket--2 purses, 3 cosmetic bags, hand bag, 4 luggage tags, note cards, note pads, magnets, zipper bag, large tote, box of Christmas cards! 
Conii--for the 2nd Williams & Sonoma bsket--5 stainless nesting bowls & a Cuisinart 4 cup chopper grinder.
Gina/catluvr14--tabs for Kellen. For various Catathon baskets: salad tongs, storage containers with frogs, BBQ cutlery, socks for kids, dog toys, kitty toys, Hello Kitty word find, Spiderman dehydrated towel, Yardley lavendar soap
Eric, Carrie & Jimmy--evening visitors: For FFRC: sticky notes, snackers, box tops, pill pouches, mail cutter.  For the Catathon or wherever needed:  lots of awesome items for various needs--there's things for the baby's basket, Mickey Mouse, Kitchen, Kid's Kitchen, Kids, Hello Kitty Basket and the Rainbow Basket. I so appreciate this big help. For the baby's baskets, the two photo albums were made by Carrie--so very nice.  
Alan G--sent a big box of FFRC paper pads that we will use for a new item in our Catathon Store!
Shannon S from OH--donation for FFRC in honor of Leonard and for his care and for his friends!
Sonja M-our visitor this week!--vinegar, bleach, cat can food, pouches, baby food, tuna, sardines, doggy treats, fruit juices, volunteer yummies, cat snackers--so much and we are so greateful! This is also in honor of Pat and Ellen who have taken her to various places to get items! 
Lauraeagle from CA--a donation to FFRC thru PayPal
Jane W from TN--donation for FFRC thru PayPal
Karen C--donation in memory of Lois L

 We have updates from Petfinders! It's been a long time since they've given us these stats, but they're back on track! Last week we had 1,088 total pet views of our FFRC Petfinders! The top 13 cats that were viewed are: Camvi, "CH info page", Wrigley, Canton, Ming, Kerri Kat, Daisy, Tabith, Navi, Preakness, Whisk, Emily and Ratchet! Such wonderful cats!

We have names! Finally, Smallisha's sweet little crew of 4 are named! Oh my goodness, their little tummies are so very round! The two girls are: Tammy and Willow. The two boys are: Scott and Moose. These are names from our Name a Cat.  These 4 will be a bit tricky to identify as they are all black, no white.  Tammy and Scott will have their tips of their tails trimmed to make a "flat tip tail".  Remember--tipped tails==names with T's in them! Get your binoculars out! We'll have to wait till they have any tail fur though to trim! 

Let's talk about something! I've been hearing a few disgruntled comments about FFRC not being able to take in their cats/kittens. I have also come to realize that some people think we never say no to intakes. We need to clarify this. There is no way ONE rescue center can keep up with the need to take in all the homeless cats. Even our county alone is more than we can handle. There is simply no way one rescue could possibly keep up with this. I will be honest with you, as always---we routinely turn away many cats and kittens. We could easily take on 500 cats a MONTH and still the phone would ring. Each incoming cat, on an average, costs us $350. If we took those 500 cats in, that would be $175,000. Then where would we put them all? There's not enough space, energy or people to do this. And that's just ONE month. The answer comes again to the PUBLIC. We all need to pitch in and SPAY and NEUTER.  THAT is the whole key to this. It's so simple. Do it BEFORE the female gets pregnant. Do it BEFORE that male gets a female pregnant. Don't wait until babies are born and then assume we can cover them. And if you find a stray with babies, when they are 6 weeks old, get the mama spayed. Reach out to these cats and help them and in return you are helping us. I learned a long time ago (from many talks to my wonderful friend, Dr. P) that to successfully run a Rescue Center, it has to be done from the heart but just as important with a brain. Know our limitations, know the health/safety value of what we are doing, be compassionate but use the head too as a guideline.  And above all--spay and neuter.  Please, don't criticize us for not being able to take in every cat that needs a home. Instead, reach out to that cat and do something constructive--spay/neuter it!  It'll make you feel good too!

I am in heaven on earth here. Seymour is scooting by happily playing with a catnip toy. Paddy Cake just walked by too with that goofy spring in his mouth. Coralie is happily accepting more kitties in her circle. Kittens and cats have holds on them--means great homes coming up! I don't hear a single sneeze, cough or see a "wet eye"! There are 9 kittens ricocheting off the walls here! Emma Jo is chasing a paper wad. Solee is happy eating a few RC kibbles. Wrigley is zooming around on the catwalks above me. Cozarelii is sitting watching the crazy kitties! And to top it off, we have a spay/neuter date coming up! Makes for a great day!