Kittens!

The kittens of Raza's are doing great--they look like tiny kittens with ping pong bellies now! Raza herself is also doing great and is eating alot. Ziva, the long hair calico mama, is feeling pretty spunky now--they licked the cold virus! She & I have been sharing feeding the 3 kittens, but I'm only doing it twice a day, she's filling in the rest. They are so people-oriented, that when the door opens, out they come at a wobbly pace to be picked up! Murka's sore paw seems to be better, at least he's running around on all 4's now. Not planning on removing Zander's sutures till Saturday, but he's plucking them out himself one at a time--told him don't be in such a hurry. He shared an Angel bed with Asha this morning--so sweet of both. Roadie was out investigating the far side of the rescue center this morning--his self confidence is building. He loves a good back scratch. After an evaluation of Grommit's tail, it was decided to bob it up shorter, so he doesn't have any potty problems. We'll work him into the surgery schedule when there's an opening. From 3/4's down, it's a "useless" tail, no feeling in it. Many thanks to KyWildCats for the various rugs--they're wonderful. I'd love to use them in Cat's Cove--would be great for their cement floor & when they lay in the sunshine on the floor. Also, thanks to Felinetoyz for the kitty milk replacement. We've already started dipping into our KMR for Ziva's kittens. It'll be well used. Have heard from Aza's new mom--she's adjusting, was a little lonely, but I believe Aza will bond very nicely with her new mom. She's getting lots of TLC.

Christmas in March!

Wow--what alot of fun we had last night. Had ALOT of boxes to open. So many "thank yous" to give. Canton-bunny toys, bunny ears (for Putter) & special treats for the Kitty City cats.  Mary2u--friskies, litter, fancy feast, cat treats, catnip toys, eye care pads, kong kickaroos.   Kywildcat--post it notes, banana catnip toys, fancy feast, KMR, tape, plates, huge rolls of paper towels, Reeces Pieces, friskies.   Quayside--fancy feast, friskie packets, cat treats, candy & pop chips for the volunteers.  We will also be receiving an awesome cat tree from Amber H. (adopted 2 cats from us recently). This is just incredible to me--the support we receive from the webcam viewers. You all have such huge hearts. I'm hugely appreciative. Putter has already worn his bunny ears, Octavia has "stolen" a food packet, the catnip toys are already being slobbered on, food is shelved, everything will be used!  Another big happening: Raza had her kitties! 6 little tiny bundles of cuteness! They're all doing well. We have 5 gold varieties & 1 torti (4 boys/2 girls). Asha walked twice on the floor yesterday a major achievement. Ziva & her 3 kittens are all feeling better and are now eating with gusto! 
-Jacci


Just wanted to add a quick reminder about our logo contest. You still have about 3 weeks left to design and submit your ideas! You can now find the contest information here at the blog (in the menu bar near the top of the page) as well as in the note on Facebook. Thanks!
-Kurt

Program for Oakwood Arbor

Last night I attended the meeting of the Oakwood Arbor Gleaners organization to give info about the rescue center and our spay/neuter clinic. At the end, they presented the rescue center with a gift card from Wal-Mart and then I showed them the star guest--Magentta! I've taken her before and she always behaves beautifully. The meeting was at a nursing home, so at the end of the Gleaners meeting, I showed Magentta to a few of the residents there. I do believe Magentta enjoys these outings. Raza is enjoying making us be in huge anticipation of the birth of her kitties. Ziva is doing much better after a bout of a cold. She's now eating on her own & her 3 babies are looking good. They are toddling around. Paddys got the fur shaved around their toesies yesterday. Bantry is a super busy cat--making cat friends & always into something. Peterson was napping with Pocus yesterday--maybe would be a good combo together. Zander has already gained 1/3 of a pound! Von Meow is learning to be a "jack of all trades"--he constantly follows Paul around watching what he's doing! I didn't realize till very late last night that the rescue center received 4 BOXES! We will open them later tonight. The cats have already tried opening them themselves--they were told to wait until this evening! The cats & I always appreciate boxes.

Cats on hold!

We had an adoption yesterday! AZA went to her new home--a home I think, is probably perfect for Aza! Her new mama will keep us posted. As you all know, Sensi continues to adjust beautifully! We now have a few cats on hold. This Saturday, Chat & Koori will be leaving together--what a fun pair to adopt! Also have Peterson & a friend (not sure who yet) will probably be leaving this weekend as well. Four wonderful cats! No kitties yet for Raza--she's still strolling around, but sure is big. Roadie has made some new friends which is very nice to see. Zander, the very thin tiger/white boy, who had to have a rear leg removed last week, is dong awesome. He's walking, half running already, and is eating everything in site. What a loverbug Zander is. Asha & Emaline were sleeping together for a while today in the purple flower. The cats had another Bonito flake treat last night! What fun--Octavia goes berserk for those treats--even catches them in mid-air. Have a program tonight to give to a group in Paulding.

March 26 Saturday

We received 2 boxes yesterday! Have I said before that we LOVE BOXES?!! The first was from Angelkitty. She sent 6 bags of Whiskas of indoor dry cat food. Thanks Angel! We put a plate of this food on the floor & they gobbled it right up! The 2nd box was from Dawn Schmucker & Bill Meyer. It was the extra tantalizing cat treats--dried bonito flakes. Top notch smelly treats--the cats goes nuts with it! Each & every cat got a little. Octavia spent a long time trying to retrieve the container out of it's storage spot--with success. She got it, bit holes in it & tried her best to get the lid off, which was also a success. What a girl. Had to give her a tad bit more, then put the container in the refrig. Thanks Dawn & Bill. We had a visit from Speedy & her sister. They brought a wonderful assortment of items that we needed. They also stayed and petted/brushed/scooped and dished out lots of TLC! All these donators are also webcam viewers. As you know, our Sensi girl was adopted yesterday--will miss her. Today is the first of 10 Meet & Greets for A Labor of Love (dogs) and FFRC. They will all be held here from 9 to 1:00. No kittens yet from Raza. Ziva's kittens have their eyes open & starting to waddle around. Asha finally made a decision on her own--she sat in my lap (instead of crouching down) and she also went from my lap, into a basket with Tumble. First time that she's done something like this! Progress for Asha.

Yeah for volunteers!

I've said it over and over again. This rescue center has the best volunteers in the world! We have approximately 35 people that help make the rescue center and our clinic, Earth Angels, work. Some of the volunteers have been here from the beginning--11 years ago. Many come 1-2 times a week, some come every other week. They help clean, scoop litterboxes, feed "the gang", feed specialized meals to the youngsters and oldsters, help me with treatments, laundry, dishes, passing out tons of TLC--these are just a few of the things they do. We could not possibly do what we do here without their help. Our newest arrival--Zander, a tiger/white young cat, has recovered very nicely from surgery. He arrived with a horrible fracture in his rear leg. Because of the pain and inability to correct this fracture with pins, splint, etc., the decision was made to amputate this leg. He is already feeling much better. Zander is also so very thin, but his appetite is huge! I imagine he'll be out Saturday after the hustle/bustle of the morning.
Today, someone is coming to visit Sensi, around 10:30 ish. Sensi is such a joy--she has so much fun & is always making me laugh. Grommit has now mastered climbing up the cat furniture. He is just awesome. Bantry--who has been back with us for a few days now--is doing good. She's just fit right back in.
Paul is storing alot of the wall material and tools in the Cat's Corner Room & since we will be needing this room soon for babies, we're trying to hurry up getting all the wall fiber board up so that project is done. We have 5 more panels to put up, so we're taking a leap, and will go ahead and get the supplies to finish. That way our room will be ready when it's needed.
FYI--granddaughter Kellen, is doing good after her surgery in Philly at the CHOP hospital. They've been there all week & will be heading home Monday. Thanks for all your support in this ordeal. Special thanks to mary2u for your goodie bag for Kellen & Caryn/Chad when you met them. How so very nice of you.

Changes and Improvements

Hello everyone, I just wanted to take a minute to go over some of things I have been working on to improve the internet presence and fundraising capabilities of the rescue center. I will just list each site and the relevant changes/improvements:

Facebook – The only noticeable change to Facebook you should see is that you will no longer be getting 3-4 messages in a row every morning. The reason for the multiple messages was that Facebook only allows a status update to be 420 characters long, and that wasn't nearly enough space to relay all the daily news from the rescue. In order to help cleanup your news feed (as well as provide a platform for additional changes) I have started up a blog. This way Jacci can take as much space as she needs to tell you all the rescue center news from the previous day, as well as let you in on any upcoming events. You might be saying “Great, now I have to remember to check a blog everyday too?”. Well, don't worry. The blog is configured to automatically post links to the daily updates to the FFRC Facebook page, so you will still see a daily update post from the rescue in your news feed, but it will be a link to the blog (you might have noticed these already). This is done using the NetworkedBlogs Facebook app, so nothing should need to be changed to your own Facebook settings.

Blog – In addition to providing the daily updates, the blog will also host general information on the rescue center. Along the top you will find links to our list of needed supplies (see the Amazon entry below for more on this!), a page explaining our adoption policies and what you can do to make your new cats transition to your home smooth and easy, and some general information on our facilities as well as a floor plan of the main rescue building (to help those of you who watch the webcam). The blog will also provide links to various fundraising programs and partnerships set up to benefit the rescue, such as:

• Petfinder - a link to our list of currently adoptable pets.
• PayPal - donate directly to the rescue center.
• Gazelle - donate used electronics to benefit the rescue (more on that below).
• Amazon - our Amazon Associates program link and aStore (more on that below as well).

Ustream – The design of the page has been changed to better match the blog, and linked to the rescue centers Google AdSense account. Now, I know people hate ads. I hate ads. But Ustream has always served ads on the rescue centers cam page as well as occasionally showing video overlay ads. By setting the rescue center up with an AdSense account, 50% of all advertising revenue will now be deposited directly into the rescue centers bank account (Ustream keeps the other 50%). This has the potential to make a decent amount of money for the rescue center, since on average our webcam has over 2,000 unique viewers a day, and some days it goes as high as 7,000. Now each time a visitor clicks on one of the ads, FFRC will get its share of the revenue. (You might also notice a small ad along the side of the blog, this is also tied to our AdSense account). Other changes to the blog are the information in the "Show Info" box has been updated and new links added (all of which will now open in a new tab so as not to cause you to lose the chat box).

Gazelle Fundraising – Gazelle is a company that pays you to recycle used electronics such as laptops, cameras, cellphones, etc. You simply go to our Gazelle fundraiser page, select the type of item you would like to donate, and Gazelle will send you a box and shipping label. By using our fundraising page, the money for the recycled item is sent to FFRC. It's a great way to get rid of your old devices in a way that is environmentally friendly and at the same time supports the rescue center.

Amazon Associates Program – This program is a way for you to help out the rescue center every time you shop at amazon! By using the link on our blog to go to amazon each time you need to make a purchase, FFRC will receive a referral fee. Around 6% (on average) of your total purchase price will be paid directly to the rescue center. This doesn't cost you anything extra, as the money is an advertising fee paid for sending business to amazon. In addition to the amazon link near the top of our blog, you will notice there is an amazon storefront (aStore) at the bottom of the blog. This store is set up for those of you who like to directly support the rescue by sending us much needed supplies. Each item in the store is something the rescue center is always in need of, and all the items selected are sold by or fulfilled by Amazon, and eligible for their FREE SuperSaver Shipping program. You can use this link to quickly and easily donate goods, and it also pays the referral fee mentioned above. Keep in mind that this link does not automatically send your order to the rescue center. You still need to specify where you want it shipped.

I think that about covers the various changes I have made over the last week. If you have any questions or suggestions (or see that I have missed something), please let me know in the comments section of this post. Thanks!