Update on Scarlet, the mama cat

I received the results of the blood work and stool sample for Scarlet. She has hookworms and coccidia. We started her on medication this morning.  She has been eating for the past two days-although not as much as we would like.  We gave her sub-Q fluids last night and we are instructed to do that everyday for at least a week.  I think the fluids are helping her feel better.  Of course, the medicine is too.  She is still being a good mama despite not feeling her best.    

I have 7 day old kittens!!!

A good samaritan called the shelter and said that a mother kitty had kittens in their garage.  We found out about it on Thursday and I said I could take them but asked if I could wait until Tuesday since I was trapping this weekend.  So, I picked up the mama and kittens last night.  They are sooooo sweet!  The mama is very friendly and thankfully tested negative for FIV and Feline Leukemia.

I will post regular updates on these sweet little kittens!

A new kitty...

I have a new kitty coming to stay with us.  She is a young, very small Siamese who was stuck in a fence near the railroad tracks.  A city employee found her and brought her to a nearby vet.  This poor kitty is really scratched up and has severely scraped paw pads.  We do not know if she is feral yet but we do know she is pregnant!  She is in a lot of pain and is understandably totally freaked out.  Basically, she is acting feral but she might just be scared to death and in a lot of pain.  We will just have to give her time to feel better and see if she is feral or not.

We don't know how long she was stuck in the fence but we know she was terrified.  The fence is near the railroad tracks which means the train went by her (loudly) and it shook the ground as it went by.  She nearly ripped off her paw pads while trying to escape.

I will know more on Monday.  She is going to come stay with us after she is feeling better.

Kitten who had his face reattached (graphic pic)-please consider donating for his treatment

I am posting on behalf of Harley.  Harley is a a 4 month old Grey tabby kitten who was rescued from a large TNR project in the KC metro area.  Harley was found severely injured and sick.  The vet thinks he was attacked by a another animal (perhaps a raccoon).  The skin on his right side of his face was ripped away exposing the bone and tissue underneath.  The skin had to be stretched and reattached to his little face. He had to recover from a severe upper respiratory infection which delayed his surgeries.  His right right eye is ruptured, causing pressure and will probably have to be removed at some point.  Today, Harley is scheduled at the vet clinic and needs to have $280 to pay off his most current vet bill.  If you can make a contribution of even $5, it would really help Harley!  His rescuer is an independent, on a fixed income and she has already spent well over $200.  Per Dana the clinic:  Contributions can be made directly to the vet's office either by:  Calling the clinic at 913-268-3797...just  ask for Dana and tell her your contribution is for:  Harley on Barb's account or you can mail a check payable to:  Quivira Road ANimal Clinic to the address below.  Please, put in the memo section of your check:  'For:  Barb D's account for Harley' 

Address is:
Dr Luke Fry
Attention:  Dana
Quivira Road Animal Clinic
7856 Quivira Road
Lenexa, KS  66216

Harley is a very loving, friendly boy who could really use our help right right now.  Barbara does not have a computer or access to one.  I f you would like to be kept updated on Harley's progress or know more about Harley...Please, contact Cindy Jacobs at: Cindy.Jacobs@USONCOLOGY.COM  


Click here to donate online!


Thank you for anything you can give!!

DNA Links Teens to Fatally Burning Cat

NEW YORK -- Two Brooklyn teenagers could spend up to 25 years in jail for setting a cat aflame in October, causing the severely injured tabby to eventually be euthanized.

Angelo Monderoy, 18, and Mathew Cooper, 17, were indicted last week by the King's County District's Attorney's Office; they now face multiple charges, including arson in the second degree, burglary in the second degree, aggravated animal cruelty and animal cruelty. In New York, aggravated animal cruelty is classified as a felony.

The 5-month-old case may well have remained unsolved had the New York ASPCA not utilized advanced forensics, one of its investigators says.

It's the first time the New York City cruelty investigative team relied on DNA testing, which is commonly used in human cases, but not animal-related incidents.

"This type of testing is becoming more and more accessible for our field," said Joseph Pentangelo, a special agent for humane law enforcement at the ASPCA. "In this case, what was done to the cat certainly cried out for a resolution. We figured that it was certainly an appropriate case to try it on."

Cooper and Monderoy are being charged for stalking Scruffy, a young male tabby, inside one of the men's Crown Heights apartment building. The cat was technically a stray, but had befriended some of the building's tenants, who would regularly supply him with food and care.

After catching the cat, the pair allegedly broke into a vacant apartment unit on Oct. 7, 2008, doused him with a flammable liquid and set him on fire. One person appeared to hold the cat down on his left side, as the right portion ofScruffy's body showed the most severe burns.

Later that morning, according to the King County's District Attorney's Office, "the cat was found outside crying, unable to move, but still alive. It was taken to an animal hospital, where it was euthanized, due to the severe burns it had suffered."

Identifying a culprit in an animal abuse case is frequently challenging, according to Deputy District Attorney Carol Moran, since "animals, much like a victim in a young child abuse case, cannot identify the attacker."

"Even if this cat had lived, it couldn't identify its attacker, even if it did know who did it," Moran said. "That means that we are always going to rely on some combination of investigative work, and in this case, forensics."

Elements of the crime were sloppy, Pentangelo said, and revealed several clues.

"The flames not only damaged the cat, but the floor and part of the walls of the apartment as well," he said. "This was a reckless act, which could have resulted in people being harmed, as well."

Investigators' survey of the area led them to the defendants, "who made some admissions to their involvement in burning a cat," Moran said.

Yet questions of Scruffy being the actual cat who was burned remained unanswered. Hoping to connect the pieces, the ASPCA investigative team looked to DNA testing as a viable option.

"To make sure we could prove that the animal, whose horrible injuries had caused this death, was the same animal these young men set on fire, the ASPCA really did something unique here," Moran said. "They used the scrapings of charred flesh from the apartment and then samples from the cat's body and sent it away."

The DNA matched.

Read more... 

A rabid cat was found! Hide your cats, the witch hunt is on!

A woman and her friend were jogging somewhere in Manhattan, NY, and a cat jumped on one of their backs. This cat attacked 4 people in all and 1 dog. Animal control was able to catch it and kill it. They are trying to notify one of the people attacked because she needs treatment within 10 days or she could die. Read more about the story here.

Maybe I am just paranoid because I feed outdoor cats (and have to hide it!) but I feel a witch hunt coming on! One rabid cat in a city of millions of stray cats and now all of these so-called "educated" officials will call for all the heads of the strays. I tried to find the incidence rate of rabies but I am finding all kinds of "rates" depending on how the person who wrote the findings wants to sway it. (Why can't we just have the facts!?) Someone who loves birds (and thinks that cats are responsible for the bird decline instead of human destruction *sigh*) will say that there is a high incidence of rabies so allferal/stray cats should be killed. Someone who feeds ferals might say that there is a low incidence. I don't think there are any accurate findings that we can really rely on.

I have personally known of hundreds of stray or feral cats that come into the shelter and none of them have had rabies. That's not much but it at least tells me that it is not common-in my area anyway. For comparison, the incidence of FIV is anywhere from 1-3%, depending on who is telling you the stats. We have had quite a few FIV+ cats come through the shelter. We have 5 at the shelter right now! So, I have to assume that the rabies risk is pretty low, since we have had NO cats with rabies. We do NOT kill cats with FIV because they can live a very normal life with no problems. Click here to read about FIV.

This is why Trap Neuter Release (TNR) is so important. If you trap or catch a free roaming or feral cat they are vaccinated against rabies when they are fixed! So, when they go back outside, they are not vulnerable to the disease if they happen to get into a squabble with a wild animal.

Cat survives 3 weeks on roof!

A stray cat in South Carolina climbed a tree near some apartments and walked down a limb onto the roof.  Then the cat was too scared to climb down the way he came up.  A concerned resident was feeding the cat with a pole and a bucket.  She had called many people to help, and the fire department came out twice but couldn't get the scared, skittish cat.

Finally, somehow the local news station came out and called a tree service company.  The man said this cat rescue made his 1, 010th!  Yes, that's one thousand and ten!

The cat was rescued but only because it was cornered.

Click on read more to watch a video of the rescue.

Read more....

Karma is recovering from surgery.

Karma had a Femoral Head Ostectomy (FHO) Tuesday on her femur and hip.  She had an elevated white blood cell count before surgery but the vet attributed it to stress.  While shaving Karma to prepare for surgery, the vet found a small mass in her groin and she . I never touched her belly or legs for fear of hurting her-so I never noticed it.  For her story, click here.

She is recovering well and is back home now.
During the surgery, the vet saw that her hip had dislocated more.  She had an x-ray last Friday and since then, her hip has dislocated more.  So, she fixed her hip as well.

She will need another surgery for her other hip once she recovers from this first surgery.

Today, she is limping slightly and is a little hissy.  I am concerned a little that she is hissing because she is quite possibly the sweetest, most loving cat I have ever met.  She was purring when I met her and basically never stopped.  She loves being with us and purrs while on our lap.  Even though her little body was fractured in many different spots and she was on pain medication, she was still purring.  I am going to call the vet when they open.

Karma has surgery tomorrow...

Karma has surgery tomorrow and I am nervous.  She is getting her femur repaired.  She has at least one more surgery after she recuperates from this one tomorrow.
For those who don't know, she was a stray and was hit by a car until a good samaritan called us.  Now, she is under our care and will be adopted after she is healed.

Our newest foster kittens...one was hit by a car.

We have two new foster kittens:

Gracie, is 3 months old, weighs a little over 2 pounds and is a little shy.  She is black with a little white patch on her chest.  She was in another foster home with her sister but we decided to separate them because they were not making progress.  They were both trapped outside with their two brothers.  (There is a 4 in the litter, 1 black male, 1 black female, 1 grey male, 1 grey female)  Because they are a little feral, we need to tame them so they can be adopted.  Sometimes when litter mates are together, they do not bond with humans as well as they do when they are alone.  The other two of the litter are doing well together but Gracie and her sister were not.  So, we separated them.  All 4 of them are available for adoption.



Karma is 6 months old and weighs 4 pounds 3 ounces.  She is slightly emaciated.  She was hit by a car two weeks ago and a woman who has been feeding her decided to call our shelter to get her help.

I am not sure why this woman waited 2 weeks to get Karma medical attention but we have her now and she is getting the help she needs.  She went to the vet yesterday and today.  Yesterday, she had x-rays taken and was given a powerful painkiller.

Today, she was examined and another vet looked at her x-rays to determine what surgeries she needs.  She has 3 fractures in her pelvis, one through her hip socket and one in her femur.

She is scheduled to have surgery on her femur on Tuesday.  Surprisingly, she is able to walk.  I am not sure how she can physically stand but she gets around fairly well.  She is confined to a cage to prevent her from running and jumping which may cause her more damage.  I do let her out periodically because she likes laying next to me and getting some pets behind the ears.  When she is out, I have to constantly supervise her to make sure none of the other kittens try to play with her, which could hurt her.

After she heals from this first surgery, she will have another surgery to fix her pelvis and hip.

As you can see in the picture to the right, sometimes, she doesn't want to use her legs.  Here she is eating some wet food. She does not appear to be in any pain because she is on pain medication.  I am watching her very closely for any changes.

She is such a sweet, loving kitty.  I am surprised that even in her condition, she is so loving. She wants to lay next to us and purr.  She is such a sweet girl.

After she heals from all of her surgeries, she will be available for adoption.

Did you know they eat cats?

Although most of the country of China no longer sees cats as food, there are certain areas where they do.  They catch and kill cats to eat them.  Also, for some reason, they believe that if an animal is tortured while they are being killed, the meat tastes better.  Which makes for some horrific deaths.  


I am a vegetarian and I cannot see why anyone would want to eat any animal.  I feel sick thinking about cats being skinned alive and other inhumane practices.  There are some  more "westernized" citizens who feel that killing cats and eating them is a barbaric practice that should be stopped.  Recently, there have been some protests that are causing a culture clash.


The changing opinion is partially responsible to a more prosperous country where a middle class is emerging.  Those in the middle class have some extra money to feed a pet.  In China there are limits on dogs and size restrictions on dogs so having a cat is easier.  It is becoming socially unacceptable to eat cats.


Cat meat is not illegal to eat or sell.  It is perfectly legal to catch a cat, kill it and eat it.  You can even serve it in restaurants!  Many in China and other eastern countries see cats as food- comparable to how our society sees a cow or pig.  


“We are very angry because the cats are being skinned and then cooked alive. We must make them correct this uncivilized behavior,” said Wang Hongyao, who represented the group, China Small Animal Protection .

The newspaper, Chengdu Business Daily, recently reported people in Guangdong eat 10,000 cats a day.  The "cat snatchers" are typically formerly unemployed people who use large fishing nets and are paid $1.50 per cat.   Thousands are transported by train from other parts of the country-where they do not eat cats.  

Police are reluctant to charge the cat catchers with theft because many of the cats involved live outside and are not technically owned by humans, merely fed and nurtured. 

According to an online survey conducted by the website of Southern Metropolis Daily yesterday, 661 out of the 886 citizens who voted considered dining on cats "ruthless", while 207 said it was okay.

Almost 400 said they have never eaten cats, while 170 said they have or want to try.

Sources:
www.baltimoresun.com

www.chinasmack.com

www.chinapost.com

www.animalsasia.org 

www.china.org 

I found a cat/kitten outside...now what?

This story has been moved to www.examiner.com

$10,000 of veterinarian bills-Can You Help Out?

The Humane Society of North Central Iowa is asking for the community's help.

The recent outbreak of parvovirus with the dogs and the e. coli outbreak among the cats have generated almost $10,000 of veterinarian bills.
Volunteers will be making calls from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. today to local residents who have donated in the past or who have been identified as animal lovers to ask for help to cover the costs to save the animals.
"The local vets have been very helpful providing discounts for the shelter animals and providing antibiotics," said Laurie Hagey, interim executive director for the shelter. "But when you think about how much it costs to provide one cat with medication and then you times that by 70 cats, it can get very expensive very fast."

All the cats housed at the shelter are being treated with antibiotics as a precaution, but only 20 cats have shown symptoms of an e. coli infection, she said. Of the cats who have been infected, five have died, and three of those were feral cats.

Hagey said the feral cats may have been cause of the outbreak and attempts to isolate the new animals for seven to 10 days were not successful.

"We don't have the ability to restrict air circulation at the shelter, so it's hard to completely isolate any animal," Hagey said.

Dr. Culley Holm, veterinarian at Holm Animal Hospital, said e. coli is a common virus found on just about every surface but is normally not deadly or even associated with respiratory symptoms much like the symptoms shown by the animals.

He said he suspects there is another virus at work and the culture that was grown at Iowa State University to determine the disease may have been contaminated with e.coli.

E. coli causes severe diarrhea that can turn deadly when not treated with antibiotics. The cats may not have e. coli, Holm said, but they are getting better with the prescribed antibiotics.

The facility housing the cats has been closed to the public while the cats recover, Hagey said. The cat shelter is expected to reopen Friday.
The dogs at the shelter suffered an outbreak earlier and nine dogs were infected with parvo. Of the nine dogs, four died, but the rest have recovered and adoption has continued in that facility, she said.

It was believed that the outbreak started when a stray dog was brought to the facility and isolation efforts didn't stop the infection.

A new shelter is being planned, and construction should begin in the spring, Hagey said. The new shelter will have separate isolation and quarantine wards for recently arrived or sick animals, and airlocks will reduce the opportunity for contamination between groups of animals.

People who would like to donate to the shelter can send their gift to the Humane Society of North Central Iowa , P.O. Box 3013, Fort Dodge. People can also call 570-6471 or 570-4106 between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Consumed by thoughts of cats

I am becoming increasingly consumed by the thought of cats and chained dogs outside in the cold. I live in Kansas City and it is starting to freeze at night. During the day, I am able to push the thoughts of shivering kitties from my mind. As the clock ticks by and evening comes, I become anxious that I can't save all of them.

I already do a lot for cats the that are near me. I live in a third floor apartment. Each night I go downstairs and feed some strays and ferals that I only see evidence of. Usually, there are people getting home or going out for the night and I feel nervous. I don't want them to see what I am doing. If they see and disagree with it, they might tell the landlord. I already know that the landlord doesn't care for cats too much. The maintenance man has thrown away numerous makeshift feeding stations and styrofoam houses. People think that feeding cats somehow attracts wild animals or something. The cats eat all the food-there is nothing left. I do get them first thing in the morning, but I guess the risk of wild animals getting the food goes down once the sun is up.  I probably should go back down after an hour or so to get the bowls, but I am already doing my inside cat work at that point.  I have 3 cats of my own and 6 fosters. It takes a lot of energy to feed all of them and change their 10 litter boxes-twice a day.  I have 4 kittens of various ages with the youngest being 4 months. I have a feral kitten I am working with daily and it requires lots of patience. 

Outside, there is only one cat that actually comes up to me only occasionally, but I see numerous glowing eyes hidden among the brush and under cars and quick movements from between trees. The one cat that comes up to me isn't too thin, I think it's a girl, she is some kind of Siamese cat. She has a bob tail, too. I am not sure what happened there...hopefully it is a characteristic of her breed.

Two nights ago, it was raining. When she came up to me her fur was wet and she was shivering. I felt deeply saddened that I had to leave her outside. I am trying to lure her up to my little house I made for them. I have to keep it by my door, which is on the (inconvenient) third floor. Although I do have one feral cat who comes up for food every night.

I wish I did not have to deal with this problem. It would be so much easier on me-and my pocketbook-if I just ignored them all. I wish that people would be responsible and take care of the animals they have so that they are not having babies and not running around outside. It isn't safe for them. I just can't know they are out there and not do something to help them.

I can tell that it is weighing on my mind, I feel the stress in my body.  I can feel my anger building inside when I think of the chained dogs who have no house or are too thin and have no body fat to keep them warm.  Dogs who have frozen water and no hay to burrow in.  Cats who are left to go into hoods of cars to try to keep warm and meet a terrible fate in the morning.  I know I can't save them all but I just might die trying to do it.  

$4000 Worth of Supplies Stolen From Animal Shelter!

To those that care about the homeless pets in Kansas City:

There has been a small tragedy at The Pet Connection (TPC). On 11/19/08, TPC was the victim of a crime that will have grave costs to their shelter animals and for those that they are not able to rescue. A trailer and all the supplies needed for building 8 new dog and cat rooms was stolen. It is so sad, disappointing, and everyone at the facility is feeling a little defeated. Jason Huff and another volunteer got most of the supplies donated and spent 2 days loading it all for TPC so that the cost would be minimal. Replacement value of our loss: $4000.

They were going to start construction over Thanksgiving. The Executive Director & Operations Director had cancelled holiday plans with their families so that they could build these much needed life savers. Their Christmas gift to the homeless pets was an important one. They estimate that these rooms will help successfully house and rescue 15-40 additional pets each month. Almost 70 percent of the rescued dogs at their facility were scheduled to be euthanized in area shelters simply because of space constraints.

If anyone can send additional funding for this project, they would really appreciate. If everyone they have helped this month, would send $5......that would be about $3000. We need help. Please send your pledge today. I know that together, we can make this horrible turn of events seem small.


If they do not receive a rally from their friends, they will not be able to complete the project until much later. They are turning away about a hundred animals a month, please help them! They need these resources to be available as soon as possible-to start from scratch again.

If you would like to donate, you can donate online by visiting their Donate Page. Or you can mail or drop donations by the facility at 5918 Broadmoor, Mission KS 66202.

Visit their website at thepetconnection.net

Low cost spay neuter in Toledo, Ohio

Cat overpopulation is an enormous problem in the Toledo area. That's why a local organization is hoping to fix more than 1,000 cats in one of the biggest problem spots.
Humane Ohio is a low cost spay neuter clinic that fixes dozens of cats and dogs every day. Right now, they have a special program for cats from the city's east side. If you live in the 43605 zip code, you can save yourself a lot of money and prevent unwanted litters at the same time.
Cat overpopulation is a growing problem in the Toledo area. "A female cat can have multiple litters every year and when you think about those kittens go on in five or six months to have litters of their own. The cat population grows so quickly and there just aren't enough homes for all these cats," says Dr. Laura Mather.
The east side is home to one of the biggest stray cat populations in the city. "The reason we are focusing this grant money on the 43605 zip code is because we felt like we could make an immediate impact in that neighborhood if we went into one concentrated area and fixed 14-hundred cats," says Jill Borkowski of Humane Ohio.
The grant money allows the low cost spay neuter clinic to fix cats in the 43605 zip code at a low cost and in some cases no cost. And the help doesn't end there. There's even a free ride to the clinic for cats from the east side throughout the month of December. "We go to the East Toledo Family Center and we'll pick the cats up. We bring them back here to the clinic, do the surgery, they will spend the night with us and then we return them the next morning to them," says Lisa Hochrade of Humane Ohio. Starr Lucius has taken advantage of Humane Ohio's low cost spay neuter clinic. She feeds a number of stray cats in her east side neighborhood.
The free transports from the east Toledo family center will also be offered again early next year. Call Humane Ohio to schedule a spot on the van. The number is (419) 266-5607 or visit the Humane Ohio website.

**If you read this after the date listed, contact the organization/clinic.  Often times, they offer these services on a regular basis.  If not, these clinics may offer the low cost clinics once a month.  You can use the same contact information listed above.**

I haven't seen the Siamese cat for three days!

I am a little concerned because I haven't seen the Siamese cat that I was feeding for only a few days. It has been three days since I saw it and I am concerned that something might have happened to it. It could be someone's pet and they let it in but I really don't think so. It was out all night once and it was walking around meowing like it was starving. I hope it didn't get run over by a car.

My "feral" cat dilemma part 3

This cat is definitely not feral. She has let me pet her twice today. She is eating and drinking but has not used the litter box yet.

I am going to find her a home. I don't think it is ethical to put her back outside knowing she is not feral. She would crave human companionship which she could not really get if she lived outside.