Finding A Lost Cat Is Easier Than You Think

A few years ago we published a paper on Finding Your Lost Cat and a couple times a year we get great feedback on how effective the tips are – from people who lost their cats and used the information to find them.  We wanted to share some feedback we got from a man in California today:

“I want to thank you for publishing this wonderful page which exactly predicted the behavior of our lost cat and led us right to her.

Not only is she an indoor cat, this is not even her home as she is just staying with us while our son and his wife are on vacation. By the time we realized that she had sneaked out, several hours had elapsed and we thought she could be a considerable distance away — perhaps trying to find her way home as the stories claim.

Only around dusk did I find your page and read that she was most likely much closer than we thought. We searched the garden again with a flashlight, this time looking under plants rather than expecting to see her “exploring”. After a while we got close enough to her hiding place to hear her plaintive replies to our calling her name, just as you had predicted.

Before we read this page we thought that she was probably miles away and we would never see her again.”

So many people think that when cats get outdoors they run away as fast as they can – or get hit by cars or attacked by dogs or taken by well-meaning people who see the cat outdoors and assumed she’s been abandoned.    

In reality cats are home-bodies.  They get out by mistake or design and don’t go anywhere at all – they hide under the first bush they find and stay there while they figure out how to get home.  If you follow the Lost Cat Tips you stand a much better chance of getting your cat back and that will make your cat as happy as can be.  Because once she gets outside she realizes the green grass she saw from the living room window was really only Astro Turf!

Black Cats Rule!

Over the last four years, May has become known as “Adopt a Black Pet Month” at shelters participating in Best Friends’ No More Homeless Pets initiative.    They’re spotlighting them – and even adopting them at reduced fees – because historically they are one of the hardest categories to place.  For black dogs this is somewhat understandable as many that end up at shelters are big and unwieldy –requiring special homes to work with them – and typically are not good choices for apartment living.  For cats the challenge is overcoming the many dark myths attached to them –tying them to bad luck, satanic rituals and witchcraft.  The strength of these myths is so strong that there are shelters who will not adopt out black cats around Halloween to protect them from cult activities and mischief tied into the holiday.

We've gotten to know several black cats through our Foundation’s early focus on Older Cat rescue and our creation of a show-and-tell colony of feral barn cats (2001-2005) at the sanctuary where the older cats lived.   To a T – they were among the gentlest and warmest cats we took in.  Some of them were lucky enough to find permanent homes with loving caregivers – Gus and Molly, Whiskers and Sparkle, and Blackjack.  Others lived out their lives with us after we shifted the Foundation’s focus exclusively to cat spay/neuter.     Of these, Robin passed away last year and – sadly – Larry died last week. 

Larry’s death was particularly sad because it was sudden – for a 17 year-old feral cat he lived a pretty cushy life and showed none of the chronic illnesses cats his age usually develop – kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, cancer and diabetes.  He began life as a feral cat living outside an apartment complex in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Then was live-trapped and brought indoors to socialize when he was about 6 months old – four months too late as the cat’s personality is formed at two months.  This closed the traditional adoption door on him and he was moved to a large feral cat sanctuary near East Lansing where he wasn’t doing well.  We picked him up from there when he was two years old and he became one of our Foundation’s barn cats illustrating to our volunteers and visitors how being an outdoor cat wasn’t a “death sentence”.  Then when he was about 7 years old he transitioned to being an indoor-only house cat.    Although he stayed feral up to the end – on his own terms he enjoyed human companionship and the perks of an indoor cat – 3 squares a day, soft beds and protection from rain and snow.    And his untimely death saved him from the chronic illnesses that -- although easily treatable in companion cats -- would have been difficult to handle with a feral cat who couldn't be handled or given medications.

 

If you're looking for a pet cat this year be color blind -- don't turn a cat away because you heard a scary story at camp about black cats -- as Larry shows -- black cats are every bit as worthy of our care and love as any other cat -- and if you adopt one they will not disappoint.  Black is beautiful!

Zimmer Foundation is now the Zimmer Feline Foundation

Just in case you haven’t noticed -- over the past few months we’ve been using a slightly different name for our foundation – Zimmer Feline Foundation.  It’s a subtle change but one that more depicts who we are and what we do.  And – it also is the last step in transitioning from a Michigan corporation (where we worked with cats from 2000-2009 to a New Mexico corporation where we’ve been working with cats since 2010. 

    

We no longer use Cat Spay of Santa Fe for our spay-neuter program either.  When we first moved to New Mexico we “assumed” we would limit our work to Santa Fe County – but soon understood the need for free-and-local cat spay/neuter for low-income pets here is great – and extends far beyond the boundaries of Santa Fe County.    So – with the help of 27 private and non-profit veterinary clinics – we now locally service north and central New Mexico including most of Bernalillo, Catron, Colfax, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Socorro, Taos, Torrance and Valencia counties – and will add more counties as we find vet clinics to service them.

The Zimmer Feline Foundation vouchers are totally free to qualified applicants – individuals and households with gross incomes under $40K per year can apply for free spay/neuter vouchers – and those who receive food stamps can also apply for acute veterinary vouchers in the event of a treatable medical emergency.  The spay/neuter vouchers cover the complete cost to spay or neuter a cat – and a rabies vaccination given at time of surgery.  The acute care vouchers pay up to $300 toward the cost to treat a medical emergency such as broken bones, infections and fight wounds.

Our spay/neuter focus is expressly on the 15% of pet cats who are not routinely fixed when they are adopted –those in low-income homes who find the cost of sterilization even at low-cost clinics a burden that is easily put off.  Our experience (10 years working with both pet and feral cat caregivers in Michigan and 4 years working with pet caregivers in New Mexico), finds these unfixed pet cats are the root source of most of the feral colonies formed each year and most of the cats and kittens delivered to animal control shelters and often euthanized.

We no longer provide spay/neuter vouchers for feral cats (ie, cats you cannot handle) because we rely on our Participants making (and keeping) pre-arranged veterinary appointments so that the clinics we work with are not faced with last-minute cancellations because the feral cat didn’t show (or couldn’t be trapped) the morning of the appointment.

But – we can now selectively provide financial assistance to cat groups who work in situations our vouchers wouldn’t normally cover – outside our service area or special situations or events – provided the cat caregivers are not charged any co-pay and the project is well-defined and furthers our mission.

Many adoption and TNR (trap-neuter-return) programs are active in New Mexico to deal with the problem caused by leaving this 15% of pet cats intact – and we support and applaud their efforts.  But – we’ve come to the conclusion that the cat population cannot stabilize unless and until that 15% of unfixed pet cats is significantly reduced – and in our opinion that can happen only when cat sterilization services are free and local for all cats – that is our program focus.  To date we’ve helped 2,800 New Mexico caregivers sterilize – and keep – 5,200 cats.  

If you know anyone in our service area that could use our help, please ask them to call – applications are taken over the phone and vouchers are mailed within a day or two of approval.     Keeping a cat in its original homes is well worth it!

Helping The Cats of the Night

We wanted to share an e-mail we received recently about stray cat behavior written by someone who knows it well.  The author, Jeremy, works at night and on his walk home sees the cats most of us daytime people never know exist – the feral and stray cats that hide from humans during the day and then come out in the dark to look for food.  Jeremy’s one of the many unsung heroes of community cat care that -- after seeing these homeless cats -- helps them the best way they can –by providing them with supplemental food and human attention.    Here are his observations:

I recently found the article, “If You Find a Stray Cat” on your web site while Googling “how much to feed a starved cat.”  It was a well-written piece with very sensible advice.  I particularly liked the suggestion to collar a suspected stray with your contact information.  It is a brilliant idea, and I had never thought of that.  I have always been a cat lover and a sucker for strays.  Over time, I have learned a few other tricks that your viewers might also find helpful.

There are SO MANY strays in my neighborhood.  I walk home from work most nights, so I have begun carrying kibble and wet food in my backpack at all times.  Although I’ve only lived here for a few months, most of my “regulars” have picked spots and know to meet me there for dinner.  I also keep my camera with me, so I can try and find homes for these little ones.

In my experience, most strays do not immediately dart away when faced with eye contact.  In fact, you can use eye contact to your advantage with a technique called the “slow blink”.  It is a signal that cats use among each other that means, “We’re cool.  We’re so not in a fight right now that I will even close my eyes while you are staring at me, and I will do it in my slow, lazy way.”  This technique, coupled with soothing words and that “prbt” sound, has had dramatic results for me with startled or skittish cats.  They will often run right up after the signal is given.

What will usually startle a stray are the headlights and noise of an oncoming car.  I have had starving cats bolt away from a meal because of this, so I no longer put their dinner on the open sidewalk.  If you can put their dinner behind a fence, wall, trash barrel, or under a parked car, they will feel much more comfortable.

As for recognizing a stray, well in the neighborhood, it is obvious.  They are too thin.  But the real tell is that once you establish trust, they will meow desperately and follow you for a block or two, sometimes even running ahead of you.  A contented cat with a happy home does not do that. 

We hope Jeremy's comments give you a window into the secret world of the night cats -- we just have one thing to add.  Please don't remove the cats from their outdoor homes until and unless you have a plan that will ensure their future will be better than their present situation.  On balance, outdoor cats do very well in their homes and removing them without a lifelong plan often puts their lives at risk.  

Kittens 101: If your cat has kittens ...

All too often the motivation to fix a cat happens only after she gives birth to a litter of kittens.  Many are pet cats whose guardians put off spaying for lack of money and/or time, yet many are outdoor cats who show up at someone’s home and the owner unwittingly initiates a relationship with the cat by putting food out for her.    (This latter group would never consider letting their pet cats go unsterilized, but the outdoor cat is different – it’s “not their cat” – they’re just putting food and water out for her daily and petting her and letting her live in their yard.)  Exactly how this differs from what they’re doing for their pet cats is unclear.

Both groups seem caught off guard by the pregnancies – unaware that cats are persistent breeders starting as young as 16 weeks and having 2 or 3 litters each year of 4-6 kittens per litter.  And -- unlike dogs that go into heat once or twice a year -- cats go in and out of heat every two weeks from February to November– even when they’re nursing. 

Once the kittens are born, the caregivers typically react in one of two ways: 

(1)    Scoop up the litter (and often Mom too) and drive them to the nearest rescue or shelter to let them deal with the problem.  This is not a good idea on many levels.

a.       For kittens to become “adoptable” they need to be well socialized and this cannot happen in a shelter cage or in an overloaded foster home.  While their personalities are forming (the first 8 weeks of their lives) they need to have intense human interaction – preferably from a variety of people – young, old, male and female – and they need to learn to live in a home acclimating to typical noises like dogs, doorbells, TVs, washers, etc.   Your home – or that of someone you know that immensely enjoys kittens – is a far better and effective option than a shelter.

b.      Mom needs to be with her kittens for the first month – to feed and care for them – and littermates need to stay together for at least two months so they learn they’re cats and don’t grow up thinking they’re little “humans” because all they saw during those formative weeks were people. 

c.       The darker reason to hold on to Mom and her kittens is that in a shelter they often stand a better chance of being euthanized than being adopted.   Inadequate socialization, lack of foster homes, stress-induced illness, overcrowding are all common reasons shelters euthanize cats and kittens.   And -- if Mom is given to a shelter -- she’ll have to compete against younger, cuddlier kittens for the few homes that adopt from shelters.  Less than 20% of pet cats are formally adopted.  The rest are passed from person-to-person or simply show up at someone’s door and move in.

(2)    Caregivers that don’t turn Mom and the kittens over to shelters often embrace the kittens as part of an extended cat family and want to hold onto all of them for the rest of their lives.  This is typically a better option than turning the family over to a shelter, but it can be a mine field too.   To do this you must be able to make a lifelong commitment to the cats and have the ability to get the entire group spayed and neutered quickly to prevent follow-on litters.    This is a steep financial and emotional commitment – and one that is difficult to undo later on.  The older the kittens get, the less adoptable they become and the more dependent on your lifelong care they become. 

We like a third option – keep the kittens in your home until they’re 8-10 weeks old – and give them loads of love and affection.  While you’re doing this, network with everyone you know to find good homes for them -- preferably adopting them in pairs so they stay with a litter mate.  Often simply giving them matching names (Ben and Jerry or Frick and Frack, etc.) will ensure someone adopting one will want both. 

Just make sure when you give them away that you like and trust the caregiver who adopts them.  With all the care and love you put into their socialization, you’ll want the best for them.  And – if you know in your heart the kittens will have a good life in their new home, giving them away gets easier. 

If any of the kittens don’t find good homes, hold onto them – Mom will appreciate their company and you’ll know they’ll be well cared for.  And – most importantly – get Mom fixed as soon as she’s done nursing so you can enjoy her without the worry of more babies.  Any kittens you end up keeping should be fixed as soon as your vet will do it – typically around 12 to16 weeks of age.

Cats Deserve Equal Rights With Other Species

If you read the news regularly, you'd think it's open season on cats.  Frequently there'll be a news flash from the American Bird Conservancy or kindred organization alerting us to what overzealous bird hunters cats are --and more recently the federally-funded Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute joined in.  It published a study in the journal Nature Communications reporting  that U.S. domestic cats kill up to 3.7 billion birds and as many as 20.7 billion mice, voles and other small mammals each year.  

According to Merritt Clifton of Animal People – a nationally recognized keeper of animal statistics – their study is deeply flawed on many levels.  For one, it dramatically inflates the U.S. domestic cat population by at least 124 million cats.   And one of the scientists who conducted the study -- Nico Dauphine --  was arrested in 2011 for trying to poison neighborhood cats.  She was convicted and sentenced to do 120 hours of community service, spend a year on probation, and pay a fine of $100.  Yet -- in spite of this -- the Smithsonian kept her on staff and allowed her to continue doing “research” on cats.    Her sentence is a sham when compared to the calls to kill outdoor cats for threatening birds -- as a human she should have known better.

Surely no one likes to think about animals killing animals but it happens -- and cats are by no means the only animal that does it.  Most species do -- including dogs and humans.   But only cat predation  makes the evening news. 

Since moving to New Mexico we’re constantly reminded about the risk dogs, coyotes and – yes -- large birds -- pose to outdoor cats and kittens.  Frequently a spay/neuter applicant will comment they keep their cats indoors to protect them from owls.  Just last week a woman called and said she wanted to get her cat fixed and when we asked how she got the cat, she said her dog had taken a kitten from a bird who had snatched it and then she saved the kitten from her dog!

    

Unbridled attacks on cat behavior veiled as scientific “research” need to be stopped.  And the media – who pick the studies up as chapter and verse and report them as “news” need to recognize them for what they are -- propaganda from organizations with anti-cat agendas.  

And as a culture, we must remember that cats are part of our ecosystem and as such, they should have the same rights as any other species.  Several years ago the San Francisco SPCA published a “Cats Bill of Rights” and it’s worth revisiting now:    These are the basic rights all cats should have:

·         The Right to be recognized as a unique and important species
·         The Right to have their individual lives cherished and protected
·         The Right to be free from cruelty and abuse
·         The Right to receive aid and comfort including food, water, shelter and medical care
·         The Right to a fair share of public resources for the care of companion animals
·         The Right to be treated as equal members of the animal kingdom
·         The Right to be represented accurately and humanely by those who speak on their behalf.

It goes without saying that many individual cats already enjoy these rights – yet as a group they continue to have these rights violated.  All too often a different standard applied to their behaviors than to other species.  How sad!

Is It Really Raining Cats and Dogs?

If you believe the statistics published by many animal organizations, yes.  For example, PETA’s web site states that in “…seven years one female cat and her offspring can produce an incredible 370,000 kittens” And …”Just one unaltered female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 puppies in only six years”.     Although these numbers may add up on paper, Mother Nature sees to it that they never play out in real life – for if they were even close to being accurate, our streets would be so full of cats and dogs that we wouldn't be able to walk down the sidewalk without tripping over them.  And that simply isn't the case.

No one really knows how many cats and dogs there are – but the pet owner marketing surveys published by APPA (American Pet Product Producers Association) may shed some light.  They estimate there are about 164 million cats and 78 million dogs living in American homes.  Annual adoptions into this population include about 12 million cats and 11 million dogs.  Un-owned cats living outdoors in feral cat colonies add to the total cat population –but again how many there are is unknown.  Estimates run as high as one feral cat for every owned cat.  Yet as we've seen through our spay/neuter program – the line is blurry between the two groups and many “yard cats” may be double-counted.

Of the 12 million cats adopted out each year, only 500,000 are purebred cats purchased from breeders, and 2.5 million come from animal shelter adoptions.  The overwhelming majority –9 million-- are cats that are literally found outdoors (feral, lost or abandoned) or born to someone’s pet cat – and then kept or given to someone else through a free cat ad or networking person-to-person with friends, relatives and coworkers.

APPA doesn't distinguish, but we assume the majority of adoptions are kittens and puppies – with most of the balance being young adults – often abandoned or relinquished from homes that can’t afford to fix them.   For – once pets become sexually mature, they become increasingly challenging to care for – even for the most loving guardians.   Only 12% (or 20 million) of owned cats are left intact – not because their guardians don’t understand the importance of fixing them, but simply because they lack the front-end money to do so.  Scare tactic population statistics aren't needed to drive home this point – all you have to do is live with one to understand. 

    

So why does PETA and many other otherwise responsible animal organizations perpetuate these grossly misleading statistics?  Perhaps they think that this is the best way to show the importance of spaying and neutering cats or that it’s the best way to justify the use of healthy cat euthanasia to manage shelter occupancy rates – for according to the HSUS, 2.5 million cats and kittens are put down prematurely in shelters annually – rough half of their total admissions.    Whatever their reason, the result is a distorted picture of the number of cats – one that may be more hurtful to them than helpful.

Introducing Acute Veterinary Care for Cats

A few weeks ago a Santa Fe woman called us about Spook -- her 8-year old male cat.  He just wasn’t acting right and she wanted to get him to a vet to find out why.  But raising two grandchildren on an income of only $15,000 per year made that next to impossible.  The first clinic she called quoted $150 just to walk in the door and then more depending on what treatments he needed.  The second clinic quoted less but they couldn’t see him until the next day.  I could tell by the somberness in her voice that she felt he needed attention sooner rather than later.   She hesitated to call a third clinic because by now she knew the cost of diagnosing and treating Spook at any clinic was way outside her budget.  Then a friend of hers suggested calling us for financial assistance.

Normally we would have declined to help because our focus has been exclusively on cat sterilization.  But something about this call hit a chord.  And -- if our goal in sterilizing lower-income pet cats is to keep them in their original homes – would it be stretching it too much if we added acute medical emergencies to our program?    After all – if a cat’s guardian can’t afford to sterilize their cat, how are they going to pay for a medical emergency?  And – without prompt professional attention– the cat may suffer unnecessarily – or may even die prematurely.  Considering this we suggested Spook’s guardian take him to a third clinic and ask the vet to provide us with a diagnosis and estimate of treatment costs.  If the long-range prognosis for the cat was good, we may be able to pay the costs to treat his emergency.

Lucky for Spook she got him to a clinic that afternoon.  His urinary tract was blocked and if that had not been corrected immediately he may have died.  Fortunately after a brief hospitalization with lots of fluid therapy he was ready to go home again and pick up life where he left off – with no serious damage to his health.  Don’t you just love a happy ending?

We do.  So now we’ve formulated Spook’s situation into a new Foundation program called Acute Veterinary Care Assistance.  Services covered are the necessary costs to treat an otherwise-healthy cat for an acute and curable health problem.  It serves as a last-resort option for cat caregivers in our service area who are unable to pay for the treatments themselves and cannot qualify for traditional funding through existing financing programs such as Care Credit.

The best news is that it won’t take any funding from our free cat spay/neuter program because we’re funding it with the money we previously allocated for feline veterinary scholarships – a program we put on hold during the 2009 financial meltdown.   With our last scholarship recipient graduating this year, it was time to open the program to new applicants or reallocate the money to something else.  As much as we liked sponsoring new feline veterinarians, we believe funding acute veterinary care is more in line with our mission –channeling the money directly to otherwise healthy cats in need of emergency care.

For just as we believe that no cat should have to lose a good home because their caregiver can’t afford to get them fixed, we also believe no cat should have to suffer or die because their guardian can’t afford to pay for urgent care.    For complete program information on this and all our programs, visit our web site, Zimmer-Foundation.org.

Today's World Spay Day 2012

The last Tuesday in February is set aside annually to bring international attention to the importance of spaying and neutering pets. For cats this is particularly important because they can breed when they’re as young as 4 months old and as often as three times a year – starting in late winter and continuing into fall. 

It’s easy to see how the situation spirals out of control.  You adopt a stray cat or the kitten of someone you know and before you realize it she’s pregnant.  Once her kittens are born you try to find them homes but a few don’t adopt out so your single pet cat is now a family of cats.   And – if you don’t act quickly to get the entire family fixed – more kittens will follow.  We hear this story over and over again from people applying for our free spay/neuter vouchers – and we think – if only they had known about our program sooner…

And -- as important as cat spay/neuter is in containing the domestic cat population --it’s even more important for the cat.  Once spayed (or neutered) the cat is healthier, a better companion and statistically much more likely to retain his or her original home.  Left intact, it’s only a matter of time before the difficult cat behaviors – yowling, spraying and kittening – become more than even the most dedicated caregiver can manage.  When this happens the cats are typically abandoned outdoors (where they form or join feral cat colonies and continue reproducing) or taken to the local animal control shelter (where they’re often put down -- for no other reason than they were never sterilized).     

Fortunately for most pet cats – about 85% of them – spaying and neutering is a routine part of adopting – shelter cats are typically fixed at 8 weeks of age before they are released to a permanent home.  And stray cats that are rescued by families with the resources to take their new cat or kitten to the vet for a new cat checkup are usually fixed right away. 

It’s the remaining 15% of cats that miss out – not because their new family doesn’t understand the importance of spay/neuter but simply because they lack the front-end money to get it done.  This is where we—and many other organizations today -- help.  By fixing the pets adopted outside the shelter systems  by students, young parents, and disabled or elderly adults living on a fixed income.    And by doing so more cats will keep their homes forever -- which is the best outcome for everyone – the cats, their caregivers and their communities.   To learn more about our spay/neuter program visit Zimmer-Foundation.org

Happy Spay Day!

Cat Spay of Santa Fe 2011 Update

During 2011 we funded the sterilization of 1,130 cats living in northern New Mexico.  This was our first full year of operation and it brings our program total to 1,589 cat sterilizations for 798 households -- and we hope to build on this growth in 2012.

Although we provide the funding for these spay/neuters, the real key to our effectiveness is the willingness of area spay/neuter and veterinary clinics to accept our vouchers as payment in full -- often at a significantly reduced price than they charge to the general public.   Establishing a centralized clinic to do our work would be much less effective.  Why?  Because the people who most need our help -- families with young children, students, the unemployed and those living on fixed incomes such as the elderly or the disabled -- can't or won't drive long distances to a spay/neuter clinic -- especially when it involves two trips -- one in the early morning to drop the cat off and the other in the late afternoon to pick them up.  Working through in-place veterinary clinics puts spay/neuter directly in the communities where our target group lives.  And in a region as spread out as northern New Mexico this is particularly important.

We especially thank the following clinics for their participation:

• Animal Wellness Center, Santa Fe
• Brainerd Animal Health Center, Sapillo
• Espanola Humane Society, Espanola
• Gruda Veterinary Hospital, Santa Fe
• Pecos Valley Veterinary Clinic, Pecos
• Sangre de Cristo Animal Hospital, Santa Fe
• Santa Fe Humane Society Spay/Neuter Clinic, Santa Fe
• Santa Fe Humane Society Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinic, Northern New Mexico
• Valley Veterinary Clinic, Santa Fe
• Vista Larga Animal Clinic, Edgewood

Often we hear "If you can't afford to get your cat fixed, you shouldn't have one", but we simply don't believe that's true.  There are many that can provide a good loving home for a cat who don't have the wherewithal to pay for the sterilization.  And -- often these are the same people -- that can benefit most from the unconditional love a cat can give them.  By helping them get their cats fixed we help cement the bonding -- eliminating the problems that most often cost these cats their homes -- kittening, yowling, fighting and spraying.   And in a culture that kills thousands and thousands of companion animals each year for lack of homes -- we think this is an important thing to do.

Common Cat Toxicities

Last month, an employee of the National Zoo, was charged with attempted animal cruelty for allegedly trying to poison feral cats in her Columbia Heights neighborhood by putting out cat food laced with antifreeze and rat poison.  The Washington Humane Society caught her actions on video tape after some area residents alerted them to the problem.    The case has not yet come to trial and the employee has not been fired or suspended from her duties at the National Zoo despite an urgent request from Alley Cat Allies that she be at least suspended pending the outcome of her case.  Yet – as sad as this case is – malicious poisoning of cats is not as common as you may think.

According to the ASPCA Poison Control Center -- who averages 375 calls daily from pet guardians and veterinarians regarding possible pet poisonings – most cases of pet poisoning are not malicious but happen accidentally.    So understanding how pets are poisoned is the easiest way to prevent it from happening in the first place.

The most common source of pet poisoning – 25% of the calls to the poison control center -- comes from medicating them for common illnesses with human drugs.  Well-meaning pet parents try to diagnose and treat their pets without seeking the advice of a veterinarian – and don’t realize that many prescription and over-the-counter drugs safe for humans are toxic to their pets.    These include a variety of pain killers, cold and flu medications and anti-depressants.  Even medications that are safe for both pets and humans need to be dosed properly and that requires the input of a veterinarian as well.

 

For cats – another 20% of the calls to the Poison Control Center – comes from the use of flea and tick medications formulated for dogs.     Although cats and dogs share many common parasites the medications safe for dogs can be life-threatening to cats.  Since many families find it easier to get the dog to the vet than the cat they may be tempted to treat the cat based on what the veterinarian recommends for the dog.  Big mistake!  Cats are not small dogs.  When they have parasites or are ill, take them in for diagnosis – in the long run it will be cheaper than dealing with the aftermath of not. 

Rounding out the list of the top ten toxins to pets are rodenticides, people food, flavored veterinary medications, chocolate, household cleaning supplies, plants, herbicides and outdoor toxins like antifreeze and fertilizers.  See the poison control center web site for a detailed list.

    

Keeping your cats indoors and cat-proofing your home to ensure potential sources of poison are out of their reach is your first defense against poisoning.  If you do suspect that your cat has been poisoned call a vet immediately – and – get in touch with the ASPCA Poison Control Center.   Time is of the essence.  And to learn in more detail about the manifestations of the most common feline toxicities, read our veterinary scholarship paper on the subject.  

Every Cat's Name Tells A Story

The current issue of Cat Fancy Magazine lists the winners for their 2011“Most Unusual (Cat) Name” contest.   From the more than 300 entries they received, they selected Mice-Tro,  Ghengis Tom, Nixi Nootzie, Ka Ching and Door Hinge.    While no one would consider using names like that for their human children, one thing most cat “parents” have in common is the desire to give their cat the most “purrfect” name – something that tells a story often by accentuating the cat’s unique appearance or personality. 

  

We thought it’d be fun to see what names were in our top list – selecting from a pool of over 700 cats that we've provided with spay/neuter vouchers so far this year.  It was hard choosing, but we did our best and here are our results:  Our top name was Still Here – it so aptly describes how many cats morph into their families.  This one showed up one day – and months later was “still here”.    Second prize goes to Roamio – a name proudly given to another stray cat that moved in with a family who -- at least until after he was fixed – roamed his neighborhood pleasing the ladies.   Chevy came in third – he’s a young kitten that a woman spotted under her neighbor’s truck – she told him about the kitten but he didn’t believe her – but an hour later, his truck was up on a hoist and it took three men to find him and get him out.  He brought the kitten back to the lady and of course she named him Chevy after his truck.  Honorable mentions go to Bob de Cat, Illuminati, Scruffalufagus, and Lucy Lu.

One thing is clear – there are as many cat names as there are cat guardians.  Of our 714 cat names only 12 repeated themselves more than 3 times – in order of frequency, they are:  Tiger (11), Precious (8), Angel (7), Blackie (6), Baby (5), Pumpkin (5), Missy (5), Callie (4), Smokey (4), Spooky (4), Sunshine (4) and Mama (4).     Human names are the most commonly used -- such as Lola, Oscar and Isabella.   Descriptive  “Cat” names came in second – like Kitty Gado, Meow, and Sylvester -- or Mittens, Snowflake, and, Gremlin.  About 10% are called by terms of endearment like Lovee, Tupelo and Baby Boo”.  Less than 6% of the cats had no name – because – as many of their guardians told us – the only thing they answer to is “Kitty”.  How true!

Cat Spay of Santa Fe Comes of Age

July was a benchmark month for Cat Spay of Santa Fe.  By its end,  we had helped 570 caregivers fix – and keep -- over 1,000 cats – in just a little over a year since we first launched.    And we did this by partnering with ten northern New Mexico veterinary clinics (private and nonprofit) so our participants could do the surgeries in their own communities on their own time schedules.  This is paramount because our target cats mostly live with the elderly, the disabled, and families with young children who find driving long distances to a centralized spay/neuter event difficult if not impossible to handle. 

Establishing locally-based low/no-cost spay neuter programs has to be at the crux of any community’s cat assistance services.  With it, all the other issues surrounding cats become manageable – free kitten ads start to disappear, shelters no longer burgeon, and outdoor cat abandonment happens less often.  Without it, cats with perfectly good long-term homes lose them when their intact behaviors (kittening, yowling and spraying) become more than their caregivers can handle.  Lacking the money or the clinic accessibility to fix their cats, they give them up (to a shelter or by releasing them outdoors). 

Of the 1,000+ cats we’ve fixed so far in Santa Fe, less than a handful came from shelters, breeders or pet stores – almost all were either found outdoors, given to them by a friend or relative whose cat had kittens or born to their own cats that were not sterilized.   Although shelter cats are almost always sterilized before adoption, they account for less than 20% of the cats adopted each year – so the majority of cats rely on their caregiver to ensure they’re fixed – and those with the money to do it usually do.  No one chooses to live with an intact cat – much the opposite – it’s the most frequent reason that a cat is given up.  Often simple solutions are the most effective – and nothing is simpler than providing low/no-cost and accessible spay/neuter for all cats living indoors or out. 

If you live in northern New Mexico, our program is fast, convenient and free.  Usually you can apply during a 5-minute phone call and your vouchers will be mailed the next day.      They cover the full cost to spay or neuter each cat and vaccinate once for rabies (if it’s done at time of sterilization).  The program is open to families with gross incomes under $40,000 a year who are committed to the life care of their cats and willing to get all the cats in their care fixed within 30-60 days of applying.  We can also provide assistance to property owner caring for naturally-occurring colonies of yard or barn cats regardless of income.  Full program information is on our web site:  zimmer-foundation.org.  

“Lies, Damned Lies, and Animal Shelter Statistics”

The recent resignations of two Michigan Humane Society board members, was not so much a reaction to their excessively high euthanasia rate, as to their lack of transparency.  

With three open-admission shelters and an annual budget of 12 million dollars, Michigan Humane is one of the largest companion animal organizations in the country – and one of the many still embracing the 1950’s animal control model.  Under this model, shelters accept local tax dollars as well as private donations, to take charge of displaced cats and dogs (puppies and kittens, strays and relinquished pets) and then either adopt them out or put them down at their sole discretion – with little or no public oversight.   Rarely would board members at these organizations challenge their euthanasia rate -- it’s intrinsic to their operation.   And 2010 was just a typical year for MHS – euthanizing about 71% of their intake, compared with 71% in 2008 and 74% in 2007.   If board members found this objectionable they would have resigned a long time ago – or never agreed to sit on the board at all.

 

Perhaps the catalyst for these resignations was a recent MHS announcement.   They announced that they achieved their goal to place 100% of their healthy intake by 2010 – and they had also rehabilitated and placed half of their “treatable” admissions as well.  They went on to say in 2011 their “treatable” placements had increased to 81%.    This would be wonderful news except for the fact that their kill rate remained unchanged!  And their “kill rate”  – the only meaningful measure of their performance --  is the only statistic that can’t be fudged.

As resigning board member Cheryl Phillip put it:  

“I doubt that our funders would be happy with a 100 percent healthy adoption rate if they knew that behind the scenes, fewer than 7,000 of the 24,000 total intakes were actually adopted, and more than 17,000 animals were “classified” as untreatable by MHS management ... and were killed.”

To investigate lowering their euthanasia rate (which is 7 times higher than that of an open-admission “no kill” shelter), Phillips called for a third-party review of their procedures, but was voted down 7-5.  Apparently other board members found nothing unusual about MHS significantly increasing their adoption rate without lowering their kill rate.  But therein lies the beauty of statistics. 

  

To support their fuzzy math, MHS noted that they use a national standard for assessing whether animals are (1) healthy and adoptable, (2) treatable, or (3) unhealthy and untreatable.   These “standards”  are the “Asilomar Accords” -- formulated at a 2004 summit of key No Kill and Animal Control organizations.  The Accords were touted as the first step in bridging the gap between the two movements so they could work collectively to save the lives of all healthy and treatable companion animals – to ultimately, create a “no kill nation”.  

 

Shelters were encouraged (and often given Maddie's Fund financial grants ) to establish and maintain a standardized database recording their intake and disposition according to the three categories above.  The data would serve two purposes:  (1) It would increase public transparency by being posted to both the Asilomar web site and those of the participating shelters, and (2) It would be used by shelters to track their own progress – with the goal for each shelter to immediately stop euthanizing their “healthy” admissions and then, as practical, begin rehabilitating the “treatable” admissions so they too could be adopted.  When both of these categories reached a 100% adoption rate, the shelter would be considered “no kill” – and when all shelters achieved this goal the U.S. would become a “No Kill Nation”.

This all sounds good on paper, but it fails miserably in practice.   Although Asilomar established the categories for animal evaluation -- they left the definition of the categories up to each participating shelter.  (Apparently the tension between the no kill and animal control organizations was too great for a consensus on what constituted “healthy”, “treatable” and “untreatable” cats and dogs.)    With no consistent definitions the statistics have no meaning and allow organizations like MHS to create whatever picture they want with the unwitting backing of Asilomar.    Instead of increasing transparency, the shelter statistics are more muddled than ever.

 

Asilomar turned out to be just a paper tiger.  But that should have been clear right from the beginning.  If the founding members had been serious about eliminating the euthanasia of all but the truly “unadoptable cats and dogs – those terminally ill or a threat to public safety – they would have started with the basics – pro-active spay/neuter.    Instead they specifically excluded it from their scope.   You don’t have to be a statistician to know the probability of becoming a No-Kill Nation is pretty low without first ensuring that all cats and dogs have access to free (or at least affordable) and local spay/neuter.    Why do you think so many end up at the shelters in the first place?

Larry's Great Feline Adventure Has A Happy Ending

No one knows better than I do how territorial cats are.  Their home is so important to them that they go to great lengths to mark it with their scent – using glands on their cheeks, flanks and paw pads. You’ve probably seen your cat rubbing or scratching areas in your home and although you don’t see or smell the scent they deposit, they do.     Your cat may even rub against your leg to mark you as part of his territory.  Unfortunately some cats (usually unsterilized) mark with urine.    Simply fixing the cat will usually stop this type of marking – but if it doesn’t, at least the spray will be less noxious and can be cleaned up with the enzymatic cleaners found in pet stores.   Once a cat establishes his territory he has a home.  Within his invisible scent-laden “walls” he’s safest and has little desire to venture out.  Why should he?  His softest beds and tastiest food are well within its boundaries.

   

Yet in spite of understanding this feline phenomenon, once a year – usually when the winter weather breaks and the sun is shining brightest -- I come down with spring fever and forget all I know about cat behavior.  One of my eleven happy indoor-only cats goes to the screen door and looks at me like Lucy holding the football – convincing me that this cat -- who spends his waking hours defining his territory within my house --can and “should” be allowed outdoors where he has no territory.  I think, “He’ll have fun outside and come right back in after a few minutes of fresh air”.  And in a moment of weakness I open the door and let him out in our courtyard – foolishly thinking the garden walls will keep him safely in view – and after a few minutes of sunning he’ll walk back into the house and thank me for his little excursion.  Instead -- just like Lucy -- the moment he breaks free from the house he lifts the football – takes a running leap over the wall – and panics.  He’s gone in a flash and leaves me feeling guilty and anxious for his safety.  This year the cat was Larry – a 12 year-old black feral cat.

When Larry jumped the wall I knew he was gone – at least until dark.  He’d do what cats do when they’re suddenly thrust outside their territory – he’d find the nearest hiding place, hunker down and not move again until dusk.   Under the cloak of darkness he’d try to get back to his home – or at least find something to eat.  I had an idea of where he went and sure enough I found him – under an evergreen along the front yard.   Periodically during the day I’d go and make sure he was still there and talk to him but he wouldn’t budge.  So I waited and sure enough when the sun went down he showed outside our sun room with all his catmates staring at him through the screen.  We opened a nearby door and tried to coax him in but all we did was scare him back under his bush.  He came back to the sun room a half hour later and our attempts to coax him indoors failed again.  Luckily our sun room has electric screens for walls so I tried a different tact.  I brought the other cats indoors closed the door leading to the house and raised the screens.  About a half hour later I found him in the sun room so I opened the door and he came running in as fast as he could.  

Did he enjoy his outdoor adventure?  Not at all.  Hiding under a bush all day with nothing to eat or drink isn’t any cat’s definition of fun. A little tough love on my part yesterday morning would have saved him (and me) from himself.  But Larry and I still hold to the fantasy that a cat wants to be outdoors even though we both know where a cat really wants to be is in his territory – whether it’s indoors or outdoors isn’t the issue – it just has to be where he’s had the time to mark it with his scent so he and everyone else knows that it’s his home.  That’s where a cat is safest – and happiest.  

“If I get my female cat spayed, do I have to neuter my male cat too?”

More often than you’d think, we get asked this question by caregivers calling for spay/neuter help -- but once they understand our program is totally free -- they enthusiastically apply for vouchers for all their cats (male and female) – and it’s good that they do.  

The cost of getting cats fixed (particularly in multi-cat homes) is out of reach for many people even through low-cost spay/neuter programs.  They try to economize by just fixing the female cats – or in some cases if they’re concerned about male spraying – just fixing the male cats.   They're trying to do the “right thing” by preventing kitten births in their home, but in the process they miss out on some of the most important benefits of cat sterilization.  Here are just a few:

1.  Fixing all your female cats may prevent them from having litters of kittens, but if any of your male cats have outdoor access, they’ll roam until they find other females who are intact and impregnate them.  You’re simply shifting the kitten problem to someone else’s cats – or contributing to an increase in the community’s feral cat population.   

2.  While your male cats are on the prowl  for unsterilized females, they’ll be spraying – most likely in someone else’s yard -- and the property owner won’t appreciate it.  Un-neutered male cat spray is highly noxious and one of the reasons that so many people view outdoor cats as a nuisance.   After neutering the odor diminishes considerably and makes you and your cats better neighbors.

3.  Neutering a male cat lowers his testosterone level and heads off his getting into serious cat fights with other un-neutered males.  Just one trip to an emergency clinic to stitch up a nasty cut or treat  an infected puncture wound can set you back magnitudes more than the up-front cost of neutering.

4.   FIV – a potentially debilitating lentivirus that affects 2-4% of all domestic cats – could potentially be eliminated simply by neutering all male cats.  The virus is very short-lived outside the body making saliva transferred through bite wounds from one infected male cat to another during territorial fights the most common means of spreading FIV.  Ironically neutering a male cat at a low-cost spay/neuter clinic often costs less than running a viral test to see if your cat has the virus.  

5.  Neutering your male cats will reap personal rewards for you too.  Once male cats are fixed they become better companions – more docile and more accepting of human attention.

Sure fixing your female cats is a step in the right direction – but just that.  To fully benefit you’ll need to follow through and get your male cats neutered too -- the sooner the better.  If you live in northern New Mexico we may help with the cost – visit our web site or call to apply.

It's time to retire the phrase "kitten season"

Here we are again -- at the onset of “kitten season” – the time of year where you see the biggest disconnect between cat lovers and cat welfare workers. To cat lovers, this is the best time of year to adopt a new cat – I mean kitten. Soon the shelters will be burgeoning with new litters and –and newspapers and Craig’s List will start running ads for “free kittens to good homes.” And – since the majority of kittens are born to outdoor cats – you may actually find the cat (I mean kitten) of your dreams living in your own backyard – or that of your neighbor’s. All you need to do is scoop her up before she turns 8 weeks old to effectively socialize her to the life of an indoor companion. Or – if you’re not looking for a new cat (I mean kitten) -- you can take the kittens you spot outdoors to a shelter or rescue where they’ll receive good care and find great lifelong homes.

But – if you’re a cat welfare worker you’ll have a different take on “kitten season”. First – it’s hard to think of kittens as a “season”. Cats over 4 months old are polyestrous long-day breeders with females (if they’re sexually active) going into heat every 3 weeks from March thru October – or year-round if they live indoors with artificial lighting. Second – of the kittens taken to shelters – only those that arrive at the shelter at the right age (around 8 weeks) and well-socialized (have had lots of prior human contact) find that loving permanent home – and that is if they are also healthy and the stress of being at a shelter doesn’t make them sick. (All shelters – no matter how fancy – are subject to airborne viruses that often are more than the immature kitten immune system can handle. When they get sick, they’re often euthanized rather than treated.)

So what happens to the kittens who don’t get adopted? They’re euthanized in shelters right along with the adult cats, dogs and puppies sharing their plight – healthy but homeless. According to the ASPCA, U.S. shelters euthanized approximately 3.7 million animals in 2008 – and there’s no reason to believe that number will drop much in 2011.

But despite these staggering euthanasia figures, we perpetuate the fantasy that kitten season is exciting. Probably because it's more palatable than thinking about the 10,137 shelter killings a day – 422 killings per hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year -- killings that could be prevented if instead of celebrating kittens we managed their numbers.   Isn't it time to retire the phrase "kitten season" -- a phrase that only pulls a pretty curtain over an incredibly ugly situation allowing us to close our eyes and ignore the root problem.  A problem with a known and easy solution -- free and accesible spay/neuter for all cats -- male, female, friendly or feral.

Spay Day USA is Today

Today marks our 11th Spay Day USA participation. This event was established in 1995 by the Doris Day Animal League to draw national attention to the importance of spay/neuter for cats and dogs – and to give a central theme to grass roots events held simultaneously throughout the country -- often free or very low-cost spay/neuter events.

Today – over 85% of all pet cats are automatically spayed or neutered by shelters and rescues before being adopted -- or soon after by their caregivers. The other 15% -- are often left intact. Not because their caregivers don’t recognize the importance of getting their cats fixed but simply because they can’t afford the surgery – even at a low-cost spay/neuter clinic. These are often the cats living with students, young parents, disabled or elderly adults living on a fixed income – or with property owners feed colonies of stray and feral cat who take up residence on their land -- and the sheer number of cats put the cost of surgeries out of anyone’s reach.

Often these caregivers are stereotyped as “irresponsible” but this is simply not the case – given access to free and convenient spay/neuter help they jump at the opportunity to get the work done. How do we know this? Because we provide them with the help they need to be “responsible” and they tell us.

In celebration of this year’s Spay Day, we’d thought you might enjoy hearing them first hand so we’ve pulled a few comments out of our mail bag to share with you:

“I am 66 years old living on $824. SSA retirement and this would really help me. Thank you.” -- Clare, Santa Fe

“Thank you for helping me and my cat M. We took her to the mobile clinic in Las Vegas and she’s recovering nicely. Due to being impoverished after my bout with cancer in 2007, paying such an expense would have been very difficult. But the dear companionship of my M is a joy worth it. Thank you.” -- Robert, Las Vegas

“I haven’t been able to find anyone to give this very nice cat a home and It was apparently abandoned, unneutered, by the previous tenants here. It has been hanging around my yard since I moved in, but has been a constant, ever thinner fixture since the weather turned cold. Although very friendly to people, he is quite aggressive to my existing neutered, older cats, and I can’t expect them to accept him into the yard or house as an unaltered tom. I can stretch my budget to feed him, but professional services are beyond me at this point. This is a wonderful program you are offering and I hope I can qualify so that I can integrate the cat into my household.” -- Terri Santa Fe

“My S. kitty is nearly mended now from her recent spay surgery. I am relieved that this has been taken care of as I could not have financially done so on my own. Again, many, many thanks.” – Bahira, Santa Fe

“Your funding of this project has made a difference to both the feral cats in that area as well as the elderly residents. They have been very worried about the “wild kitties” and as a friend to many of the folks there, I want to especially thank you for putting their minds at ease.” -- Sue, Santa Fe

It's easy to see that these caregivers are anything but irresponsible.  So the next time you hear a media piece blaming them for a burgeoning cat population -- remember these true-life stories. Once we quit blaming others for the problem of homeless cat euthanasia, we can work on solving it.  And the solution is known and simple – make every day Spay Day USA -- providing routine free and available spay/neuter access for all cats – male, female, indoors and outdoors -- to everyone regardless of income.

Every Day Is Valentine's Day When You Have A Cat To Love

Valentine’s Day is always special but this year it seems to be more anticipated than in other years. Sure the purveyors of all things Valentine – candy, cards, flowers and dining – are most likely behind all the press it’s getting, but don’t be put off by the commercialism. Valentine’s Day goes deeper – it’s not so much about loving someone as about “being in love”. That added feeling of warmth and happiness that comes from intertwining our lives with others – like the euphoria we feel when a bright sun shines after a heavy rain. Or the happiness that comes from getting a promotion or scoring well on a test.


It goes without saying that most of us who have cats love them. Why else would we scoop their litter boxes and put their food out before having our morning coffee or sitting down to our evening dinner? In return, our cats provide us with unconditional love – they’re always there waiting to greet us when we return home -- and are just as happy to see us on a good day as a bad day. And – when we take the time to sit with them, they jump up to be petted -- purring as if we’re the most important person in the world – and to them we probably are.

The benefits of cats as pets are well documented. The simple act of petting a cat can lower blood pressure and their daily companionship can often head off or minimize human depression. Public housing units are required by law to allow cats so even those on the thinnest budgets can benefit from a loving cat-human relationship. Unfortunately assisted living residences don’t always accommodate pets and because of this, many individuals who would benefit from the extra care these places provide continue living independently so they can keep their cats. And – when they do ultimately move where their cats aren’t allowed – the emotions they feel are akin to those of mourning the death of a loved one.

Often the people who benefit most from having a cat -- students, young parents, disabled or elderly adults living on fixed incomes -- are the ones with the most difficulty paying the front-end costs to neuter their cats and so they’re often depicted as “irresponsible”. This simply isn’t the case. They get the importance of spay/neuter but with limited incomes other bills take precedence and before they know it, the situation is out of control – the female cats start going into heat and having kittens -- and the male cats start spraying – so they’re taken to animal control shelters where they’re often euthanized – or dropped outdoors to fend for themselves where they often form or join feral cat colonies.

It isn’t that they can’t provide good homes for their cats – they can. It’s just a matter of economics. By simply providing them with free and local spay/neuter we can help keep these cats in their homes with the guardians who love them. In northern New Mexico, – with the help of area spay/neuter and veterinary clinics -- that’s what Cat Spay of Santa Fe is doing. If you know of someone here who has an un-neutered cat, give them our phone number so we can help make their Valentine’s Day a day of love and commitment to the soft furry friend that keeps them company. Our program is fast, convenient and free. Every cat that stays in their original home is one less on the streets or in the shelters. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Have You Had Your Cat Fix Today?

In the United States we take pet guardianship for granted. Cats – in particular – are often free for the taking and permitted to live in most housing. If not, they often hang around outdoors at apartments and mobile home parks (attracted by the rodents feeding at community dumpsters) so even those without indoor pets can enjoy seeing and feeding them. This is not the case in Japan where they are commonly banned from apartments depriving many Japanese of the joys cat companionship. But Japanese entrepreneurs have stepped up to the plate and now provide a new twist on cat-human relationships vis a vis the establishment of Cat Cafes.

Just as the name implies, cat cafes are essentially coffee shops that house ten to twenty well-cared-for cats so people can enjoy them while sipping coffee or tea. There’s almost a hundred cafes right now with some specializing in a particular breeds or colors of cats but most providing a variety of cats – tigers, calicos, etc . Customers pay a nominal hourly fee and follow a few simple rules – like washing their hands before petting the cats and agreeing not to pull their tails. Mostly women under 35 frequent the cafes but men and older women go too. It’s not the same as having your own lap cat but close enough when that option is not available.

Our Cat Retirement Farm was a sort of “cat café” – we had no end of volunteers that would come out weekly and provide daily care and entertainment for our group of 15-20 orphaned senior cats. Although most of the volunteers had cats of their own at home some did not – they (or other family members) were allergic or lived in places where cats were not allowed. And -- sitting in a group of cats is different from living with one or two – there’s something almost spiritual about a group of contented, well-taken care of felines. They effuse tranquility. By providing visitation events for assisted living facilities, the farm allowed us to help the elderly – if only for a few minutes – remember their earlier companionship of cats – sadly we often take that right away when we move the elderly to assisted living facilities – at a time where they could most benefit from the cat’s attention and presence.

To get more insight on how cats affect a person’s well-being – particularly one in crisis – pick up a copy of Dewey’s Nine Lives – the just-released follow-on book to Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched The World by Vicki Myron. She is the librarian who found a cat in her library’s return-book chute one winter morning and made him their resident library cat. She saw Dewey’s impact on the residents of her small Iowa town and then documented it in her first book. This second one tells two more Dewey stories and seven others – of people who had their own Dewey-like experiences. It’s a very heart-rending book out just in time for Christmas – what a wonderful gift for cat lovers everywhere.