Beans gets his new home

He looks happy, don't you think?

Tortellini's new home also checked in, and she's doing great. Now we just have to get Bounder a place of his own. His awfully lonely with just these stodgy old cats for company. It's a good thing Molly the dog plays with him.

Beans gets a visitor.

A couple from Rochester is coming to visit Beans late this afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed for him! Let's hope they can provide him with new amusement rides, if they don't have a wood carrier.



Yes, another change of color on the blog. I discovered that what looked like a nice calm deep burgundy on my screen(s) could be a real eye-bleeder on others. I'll mess around with a new template soon, since I need to change the banner from winter to summer anyway.

Some of you have been clamoring for a grown-up photo of Hope for two years now...

Here is Hope's baby photo And her mom, Faith, was just adopted this past winter.

Her pet-parent Cary is looking for a job and I snitched Hope's photo from there. So if you know of someone who is hiring, Cary is here on her professional web site.

The cat and the dolphins

Definitely worth checking out!

Toxoplasmosis in cats. Not as common as anti-cat folk would have you believe?

Your morning science reading is here.

Vox Felina will gladly sum it up for you here.

I'll add a graphic later. My computer needs a re-start.

Bees in the family.

For some reason, the young men in my family are beekeepers. And I think it is the greatest thing.

My nephew Joshua began working with bees a number of years ago. I didn't realize my nephew-by-marriage Kagan in NH was also a beekeeper until he posted his Kickstarter fundraising program on Facebook.

Here's an article that I'm not sure everyone in my family has seen.

Of course, they are both so far away it's hard as hell for me to get my honey from them (I must stock up the next time I see Josh). Nonetheless, it's nice to think of family anytime I see a bee in my yard.

Big black hole...

Go to Opinionated Pussycat and start mousing around, and you could lose a few hours.

Firefighter saves...and adopts!...a cat from a fire

The story is here.

I always enjoy going over to Google Images and googling "firefighter cats" for photos of firefighters who have saved cats and other animals from fires.

Sigh.

I wish that we could say in the United States that we had a rescued shelter pet on guard at The White House.

Double sigh. Canada, too.

Returned "Luther" to the barn. More kitties to go...

The farm owners weren't home, so Tigger the house cat came back with me. At least Tigger uses the litterbox. Luther peed on top of his feral cat den and pooped inside it. In fact, not a single tiger/white cat from this barn will use a litterbox when caged. They all use their towels, which has made clean-up extremely unpleasant.

Lots more kitties to go. These cats still need to be caught.

The cows are always curious as to what I'm up to.

And we're off!

"damned SoftPaws. why did you put these on me?"

Because you are going to your new home, Tortellini!

On animal shelters, tornadoes, and national groups

Tornadoes have once again swept across the midwest and south. I know we'd like to believe the increased disasters (along with our frighteningly snowless winter her in central NYS) are just a passing thing.

I think we need to get used to it. I expect we'll see more tornadoes here in NY this summer as well. That said, there are a number of groups who have stepped forward into the ever-increasing need for disaster relief. It is frightening how well-organized the response has had to become.

Leading the way is the ASPCA, who is already on-site in Taney County and Branson, MO. ASPCA has not one, but several, regional response teams.. IFAW also has a response trailer, co-funded by the Petfinder.com Foundation. In addition, Petsmart Charities has their Emergency Relief Waggin. There are also countless regional and local County/Disaster Animal Response Teams (CARTS or DARTS) across the United States.

I'm sure I've missed a few and I'll plug them in as the day goes on.

National groups have been getting a lot of flack lately for stumping for donations by advertising that they "help shelter pets," as if they run a physical shelter network. However, in the area of disaster response, national groups have stepped up to the plate, and more will be needed of them in the future.

Hurricane Katrina was a huge wake-up call, where way too many "suits" from too many national groups were bumping into one another being inefficient. It was the first huge disaster that required organizations to work in close proximity, and even on top of one another. Even Petfinder, which is a "virtual" web-based adoption portal (for whom I work) sent staff to take photos of the pets in emergency shelters, because there simply wasn't anyone else to do it. There was no power, so there were no computers. Organizations who normally did not do this type of response found themselves in a whole new world.

After Katrina it became clear that national groups needed to train and trust competent field personnel to respond and run disaster response. National groups needed to be more willing to work together, to be able to cover the many disasters occurring sometimes simultaneously across the U.S.

I have been to several of the ASPCA training programs on disaster mitigation that they give for the sheltering community, and they are practical and excellent.

When donating to national groups, if you are uncertain where your money is going, feel free to earmark it for US disaster relief, and you can be fairly certain it's being used properly.

You can always feel comfortable clicking that little button on checkout for Petsmart Charities, and in giving to the Petco Foundation as well. Both of those charities are generous to the max, and their administrators are on the road responding or teaching, in addition to assessing needs and distributing funds. There are no slackers at either of those charities, I can assure you.

You can also sign up to get trained to be a part of your local CART/DART. Call your county government to be directed properly.

On Facebook, here is the link to a Tornado pets page to keep updated nationally on animal shelter/tornado impacts: https://www.facebook.com/USTornadoPets

You can always give directly to shelters who have been impacted by a disaster. If you are the skeptical sort and want to be sure 100% of your money goes to supplies, gift cards to Walmart or Tractor Supply go a long, long way. If you are going to give a gift card, be as generous as you can. If someone has to go to a store, $100 makes the trip far more worthwhile than $25.

One sad heads-up when giving gift cards during disasters: make a phone call to be sure the store hasn't been flattened, too.

Inevitably I hear people say "How can you worry about animals when there are people who need help." I cannot say enough:

HELPING ANIMALS HELPS PEOPLE.

Look at the gentleman in the top photo. Don't you think he wants to be able to go somewhere, now, where both he and his dog will be accepted? Lacking that, don't you think he wants to know there is a place where his dog can temporarily be cared for? If his dog were missing, would he not be able to more easily concentrate on himself or his family if he knew there were others out there looking for lost pets, and an emergency shelter where he could check for his lost pet?

When cops and firemen are working the debris, don't you think they appreciate being able to hand off found kittens, cats, and dogs, not to mention cage-pets and other critters, off to animal services people, rather than having to figure out what to do with them while they are trying to help people?

Suck it up, "dissers". People who provide animal services are serving people, and communities as well, and people who give to those organizations are supporting disaster areas just as surely as people who give to human services.

Via CNN

Picking away at the farm cats

Two at a time:

It's bonus time at work, so I'm going to spring for a handful of new traps, because that's going to be the only way I'm going to get all these kids. Some are just too friendly and keep going in the traps.

Tortellini was adopted (again!). She will go to her new home this weekend.

Simon checks in

Cary sent in a photo of Simon tending to a foster kitten. Like Elsa, Simon was from the streets of Waverly. Hopefully Elsa will find a home just as full of safety and love.

Little Elsa -- you might never know she is blind

Cat updates -- Tommy

Tommy has been living in the lap of luxury, having taken over the great room. However he would far prefer to be living in someone's lap and sleeping in someone's bed.

His mouth has healed from his dental, but recently I noticed sore spots on his gums, so I'm switching him entirely over to wet food and I will take him back to the veterinarian for another check-up. I was hoping he was ready to go out the door, but apparently not.

Here we go again. Sheldon Silver can overrule the chair of the Codes Committee on A05449

NOTE: You can email this post to a friend by clicking on the envelope icon at the very bottom!

Here we go again. It's not over yet. Sheldon Silver has the power to overrule the chairperson of the Codes Committee who halted progress on NY Assembly Bill A05449.

Here is the actual bill again. Do a "find" (control+F) for "psychological" and "redemption period" to find the pertinent passages.

You can use the email link below (and edit your input if you wish) or you can email or write a direct letter. Letters and faxes are great--they are physical. However please also email in some manner to get the message out ASAP. Please distribute this to CAT OWNERS not just rescuers. Cat owners deserve to know that this bill would permit a shelter to kill scared/aggressive or even just terrified/huddled cats on intake. Many cats that appear feral on intake turn out to be pet-friendly in a few days. And many so-called feral cats are owned spay/neutered porch or barn cats. How would your cat act on intake if she were lost for weeks, then trapped, transported, and placed on the floor of a loud shelter to be evaluated?

You can go to Nathan Winograd's auto-mailer, here. You can edit your input and I suggest you do.

Here is the link to Sheldon Silver's own page. I think this probably is a better route if you wish to be seen as an individual voter and not part of the animal welfare machine.

Please also consider printing out your comments and sending as a postal mailed letter.

My concerns:

a) permitting animals to be killed before the 5-day holding period is up, for "psychological trauma." The very act of being lost, captured, and housed in a shelter is emotionally overwhelming to many house cats. Many "feral-acting" cats are lost pets, or are outdoor cats or barn cats that have been spay/neutered at considerable cost to landowners.

b) the section requiring a description or photo of the pet to be available to the public specifically omits these pets by requiring this only "when practical" and "at least during the redemption period." There is no redemption period for a pet killed on intake. Will it be considered "practical" for there to be photos and descriptions of killed pets for the public to view? I'll bet not.

c) this will erode the trust the public as in shelters. Right now they can count on their pet having five days at the shelter for the pet owner to find their pet. However now they will never know if perhaps their scared or headstrong cat was killed before the owner got to the shelter two days later. People who spay/neuter feral cats will now hound their shelter as soon as a cat disappears, instead of calmly and rationally checking the shelter's new cats, out of fear that their missing cats came in and were killed. This section will destroy the partnership between shelters and the community.

In my own personal opinion, one of the back-door purposes of this "psychological trauma" statement, is simply to reduce the work on shelters, to reduce the support for shelter TNR programs (why alter a cat you can kill instead?), and to enable intially hard-to-handle cats to be killed on the front end, so they do not have to be killed later when space becomes limited. If a shelter kills for space after a pet is put up for adoption, they are not seen as "no kill."

I don't think shelter staff would have thought to ask for this "permission." But absolutely there are shelters that would use it if they felt overwhelmed.

We need to be doing MORE for our shelters, and this is not MORE. This destroys the public trust in our shelters. Even a shelter that chooses to keep every pet for 5 days would be regarded with suspicion because the option is there.

I look forward to a "no kill" future, but if shelters are not at that point (and most of them are not), we should not be passing shifty legislation to help make "no kill" supposedly come true...while killing more pets. This permission to kill cats up front will catch a lot of cats that would be adoptable if held for five days. By using this excuse to kill cats, a shelter can look like they are doing a better job of live-release, when in fact they aren't.

Please email and/or write Sheldon Silver immediately.

Thank you again!

"I feel it's a responsibility"

The bad news and good news on Assembly Bill A5449A

UPDATE: Please go here to this new post for information on reaching out to Sheldon Silver. The bill passed, but was stopped by the chair of the Codes Committee. Sheldon Silver has the authority to over-rule the chair, however.

The bad news: A5449A passed and was moved onto the Codes Committee.

The good news: The Chairperson of the Codes Committee, Joseph Lentol, stopped it cold. He also set up a Facebook page announcing this.

A note regarding NYS Assembly Bill A5449A
by Joseph Lentol on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 5:09pm ·

On Wednesday, February 15th, the NYS Assembly Committee on Agriculture reported this bill to the NYS Assembly Codes Committee. I am the Chairperson of the Codes Committee. I have received many calls and messages from individuals opposed to this legislation.

I am not a sponsor of this bill and have not had any part in its drafting. Those who have voiced their opposition against this bill have raised legitimate questions and I, too, am concerned. Therefore, I do not intend to report this legislation at this time. I believe a great deal more study and work must be done on this issue before legislation can be moved to the floor.

If you are on Facebook, please be sure to stop by at tell him thank-you, as over 500 others have.

This is not over, of course. But at least there is breathing room. And maybe now the many cat advocacy groups can work together to stay updated and involved in this issue.

To those of you who took the time to email your dismay with this legislation, I send a huge "Thank you." It is of extreme concern that this bill made it as far as it did, even after people pointed out that this would destroy the 5-day safety net for lost cats and s/n ferals, as well as frightened dogs. It also ruins the trust the public has in their shelters---even shelters that chose to continue to honor the 5-day holding period.

I know I have focused only on the "psychological trauma" wording, but there are larger problems with this legislation.

That said, something needs to be done to assist shelters. The public insists shelters become "no-kill" which means more and more shelters are turning away stray or owner surrendered cats when they are full. My mother reports her local shelter is now turning away cats. The Tompkins County SPCA has done a great job of adopting themselves into space again for their county and recently put out a call to their county for kittens-in-need. In my county, I still receive calls for help from people who state they have been turned away by our local shelter.

More on this difficult issue later.

EMAIL NOW! If NYS Assembly bill A05449 passes, your lost cat could be killed on arrival at your local shelter

UPDATE: Please go here to this new post for information on reaching out to Sheldon Silver. The bill passed, but was stopped by the chair of the Codes Committee. Sheldon Silver has the authority to over-rule the chair, however.

photo borrowed from the Facebook page of Tenth Life for NYC Cats.

ACT NOW!

NYS Assembly Bill A05449 will destroy the currently mandated 5-day holding period for stray pets at animal shelters, by permitting them to be killed on intake for exhibiting "psychological trauma."

(The bill is at that link above. Search for "psychological" and "at least during" to find pertinent passages)

While shelters will be required to make descriptions of found pets available to the public, the bill adds "AT LEAST DURING THE REDEMPTION PERIOD."

There is no REDEMPTION PERIOD for a cat that was killed at intake.

Feral cats and scared pet cats will disappear into a big black hole. You may be putting up posters for months for a lost shy cat that could have been killed on Day One of being taken to a shelter by an angry neighbor, or well-meaning good Samaritan who assumed that would be the best way to get the stray cat they trapped back to her owner.

Just a few groups who oppose this bill:
Best Friends Animal Society
Neighborhood Cats Note: that article contains email addresses to contact NOW.
Nathan Winograd

Those who know me very well will do a double take and say "Wait, is Susan really linking an article by Nathan Winograd?"

I am indeed. Nathan has included these links where you can immediately email legislators. You need to email all four. Text is already included and you can edit your response (delete what you don't want included, and personalize). Be sure to copy your first email, so you can just paste into the remaining three:

Alert #1 of 4: http://bit.ly/y1qO2q
Alert #2 of 4: http://bit.ly/wF1cw2
Alert #3 of 4: http://bit.ly/zLUZuh
Alert #4 of 4: http://bit.ly/AcnrMT


At the very least, please post your opinion to Assemblywoman Amy Paulin's Facebook page here.

But emails are needed. Even if you just go to the above links and send the provided text verbatim if you are short on time, your opposition will be counted.

PLEASE help NYS cats. If this passes, it could be used as a template for other states.

The vote is today. Please comment now!