Our new tag line: for The Love of Cats

You may have noticed a new tag line popping up on our vouchers and other media saying “for The Love of Cats”.    Actually, it’s not really new as it was the tag line of our 2000-2009 Michigan cat programs. We’ve brought it back because our work here has expanded since we started in 2010 and we wanted to tie our programs together under a common name. 

Our Low-Income Pet Cat Spay/Neuter program was our first program and it continues to be our main work.

 

But we’ve added an Acute Care Program to also give low-income cats access to urgent care  for treatable medical emergencies.

 

And more recently we’ve added a Community Cat Outreach program allowing us to fund complementary spay/neuter programs for other nonprofits working in our service areas.   By strengthening their work, we can reach cats — including feral cats — our voucher program couldn’t easily reach.

We’re currently working with the Animal Welfare Coalition of Northeastern New Mexico, the Espanola Valley Humane Society, the McKinley County Humane Society  and Taos Feral Feline Friends — and  welcome inquiries from other area nonprofits.

So when you see our new tag line we hope you think of all the cats we’ve touched who will no longer lose their homes simply because their caregivers couldn’t afford their essential veterinary care.    In New Mexico this now totals over 8,500 cats.

What better way is there for us to show our love of cats than this?

Expanding our spay/neuter umbrella to include managed feral cat colonies.

For the last five years our free spay/neuter assistance has focused exclusively on lower-income individual and family pet cats.  And this is with good reason.  Pet cats in this demographic rarely come from shelters that fix the cats before placing them – the adoption fees are prohibitive.  So instead they get their cats the “old-fashioned” way – finding strays on the street or taking kittens from litters of other low-income homes with unfixed cats.  

And – just as they can’t afford an adoption fee, they can’t afford to fix the cats even at a low-cost spay/neuter clinic.  So they wait to save the money – or if they have a mix of cats – fix only the females (or males) and before they know it their cats get pregnant or start spraying and they can no longer tolerate living with them.  When this happens the cat(s) are abandoned outdoors (where they join feral cat colonies and continue reproducing) or are given to animal control shelters (where they are often put down for lack of immediate homes).    Empowering low-income caregivers to fix their cats quickly (by providing free and local spay/neuter) prevents these tragedies from happening – and makes a significant dent in the number of kittens born each year. 

Yet what about the cats that are already abandoned and living in outdoor colonies – shouldn't they be fixed too?  Yes.  And now we've established a separate ManagedTNR (trap-neuter-return) Program to address the special needs of fixing these outdoor cats.    Unlike our low-income voucher program that works directly with pet cat guardians, the TNR program seeks other non-profit groups working in our 10-county area* that can coordinate the live-trapping and transporting of feral cats to vet clinics for surgery.  The program is simple to use and we’ve posted all of the information including registration forms to our web site: 

For a practical guide on feral cat care, read our handbook:  Managing a Feral Cat Colony.    It gives you everything you need to know to care for outdoor cats.

*New Mexico counties of Bernalillo, Catron, Colfax, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, and Valencia.

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!

Saying Goodbye to Missy (1993-2014)

Calico cats are cat-lover cats.  They possess the traits all cats are cherished for – grace, beauty, peacefulness and curiosity – but they also possess a certain je ne sais quoi that make them very special to know.  Missy was an archetype Calico.    

Even though she was a small cat – only 8 pounds at her best weight – Missy had the presence of a lioness – looking at humans and other cats (regardless of size) with a look of equality or dominance.  She feared no one.    When she entered a room she did so with the stride of a victorious general back from war. Yet she was also a loner – wanting attention and social interaction solely on her own terms.

Despite how special Missy was, we rescued her from death row at the Ann Arbor humane society in 2000 when her original guardian passed away.   As often happens, she had no relatives to take over Missy’s care and – at 7 years old -- the shelter considered her "too old" for adoption.   We had just started our Older Cats for Older People program and were able to take over her care and place her as a live-in service cat first for one elderly woman – and then when she passed away three years later -- to a second elderly couple.   She lived with them for a few years but their own health issues eventually became too great and she was returned to us to live out her life in retirement.

Maybe it was her flaming orange and black coat or the very alert look in her eyes but Missy

continued to look vibrant, healthy and youthful up until the last few months.   She had an unidentified tumor the size of a fist that started on her liver and continued to spread causing her to lose weight and become lethargic.  

Finally on Friday it got the better of her and the quality of her 21-year life vanished.    We said our goodbyes and had her euthanized – not wanting her to suffer unnecessarily when there was no sign she could improve.  We were in awe of her stamina and will to live and will miss her greatly.

Feral Cat Assistance Through Community Grants

We recently awarded our Community Cat Program’s first feral cat TNR grant to the Animal Welfare Coalition of Northeastern New Mexico.  This grant will enable them to continue an important project they began earlier this year with a similar ASPCA grant.  Under that grant they fixed 180 free-roaming feral cats in San Miguel and surrounding counties.    Our grant should help them double that number.

San Miguel county is also one of the 10 counties we target with our low-income pet cat spay/neuter program – which over the last few years – has funded the sterilization of almost 6,500 cats through the 27 veterinary clinics that work with us.  These local clinics make free-and-local spay/neuter a welcome reality for low-income guardians – including the elderly, the disabled, the un-or under-employed, young families living on a tight budget and students.   Once their pet cats are sterilized, they become easier to care for – no more kittening, spraying and yowling – and stand a better chance of keeping their “forever” homes forever.      Those that don’t get fixed are always at  risk of being relinquished to shelters or abandoned outdoors where they form or join feral cat colonies.  

While our spay/neuter program isn't equipped to directly work with feral cats – we support the work of groups that can which is why we’re happy to fund the Animal Welfare Coalition project.  Their efforts complement our basic pet cat spay/neuter work and help further our mission of reducing the New Mexico cat population to a manageable number – stemming the growth of feral cat colonies and reducing shelter intake and euthanasias. 

Yet another reason to fix your cat.

A few days ago we took a spay/neuter application from a woman with two cats – she wanted to get one of the cats spayed, but thought she’d need to give the other one to the shelter because there was “something wrong with her” and she lacked the money to take the cat to a vet for treatment.  We asked what was wrong with the cat and she said she didn't feel well and was oozing pus from her vagina.

 

We suggested getting vouchers for both cats anyway and taking the one that was sick to the vet asap – it’s possible spaying her would take care of the problem and she could keep her cat – and if the vet thought something else was wrong -- we may be able to cover some or all of the treatment cost if it was an acute health issue.

Lucky for this cat her mom took her in quickly and sure enough – the problem was pyometra – and the cure was getting her spayed.  Pyometra is an infection of the uterus and – if not treated quickly can lead to sepsis and death of the cat.  Only female cats that have not been spayed can get this type of infection – so when you’re weighing the odds of whether to let your cat reproduce or fix her – think of how sad you’d be to see your cat sick with a totally preventable infection.  Other illnesses your cats can’t get after they’re fixed include mammary gland tumors, uterine cancer and – in male cats – testicular cancer.

We still maintain the number one reason to fix your pet cats is that they’ll be easier for you to care for and will be better long-term companions but with secondary reasons like these – who wouldn’t want to get their cats fixed – sooner rather than later?

Community Cat Spay Neuter -- Thinking Outside the Voucher

For the past 5 years in New Mexico (and for 9 years earlier in Michigan) we've been providing free-and-local spay/neuter for cats through a simple voucher program.   The specifics have evolved over time but it currently works like this:   If you live in our service area, have a household gross income under $40,000 and have an intact pet cat, you can complete a phone application and -- if we approve it -- we’ll mail you a voucher that pays the complete cost to spay or neuter the cat and get a rabies shot at any of the veterinary or spay/neuter clinics we work with.

This works remarkably well for the cats that qualify – but like most programs – it doesn't work well for all cats.  It's intended to fix only low-income family pet cats with lifelong caregivers -- and so it excludes loosely owned outdoor cats, kittens being fostered for adoption, stray cats, cats whose caregivers make more than our $40K limit, and those living outside of our service area.

Recently we've been looking for ways to increase our Foundation’s spay-neuter radar to include some of these other types of cats on a limited basis and so we've begun developing a Community Cat Spay-Neuter program.    Our goal is to reach these other groups of cats without sacrificing our well-honed voucher program by making exceptions and blurring its focus.  

Last winter we worked with Santa Fe’s Felines & Friends to fix a few dozen cats from Ramah, New Mexico.  This group was both outside our service area and included a mix of both feral and pet cats.  Then a few months ago we started working with the Espanola Valley Humane Society to ensure that the cats in Rio Arriba County could be fixed at no charge to the caregiver at their spay/neuter clinic.  They are in our service area but their clinic’s open door policy to fix all cats (companion and feral) extends our reach beyond low-income pet cats.  And beginning this month cats from Espanola residents are also included.  We particularly like this partnership because they are providing Rio Arriba County with free-and-local spay/neuter across the board.  And -- in our vision -- this is necessary in all areas if we are to get on top of the cat overpopulation problem.

We'll keep our primary focus on our Low-Income Pet Cat Voucher Program – because these are the cats that when left intact most often end up at shelters – where they are often put down for lack of homes – or abandoned on the streets – where they form or join feral cat colonies and continue to reproduce.   But we look to these new community cat situations as a way to provide a more complete cat spay/neuter service to New Mexico – a state with many people wanting to take care of the cats they live with –as pets and as wildlife -- but often lacking the money to pay for their sterilization.    And we welcome inquiries from other cat nonprofits who may want to join with us in this community effort.  We know realistically there will always be intact cats outside of our reach --- but by adding a community aspect to our spay/neuter package we’ll minimize their numbers.

Feline Cardiomyopathy -- Death without warning

We've lost two of our geriatric cats over the last 18 months to sudden death – Larry and Joyce.    Both were indoor-only feral cats about 16 years old and neither death came with forewarning.   Joyce’s death was so sudden that we had no chance to get her to a vet for examination – we just woke up one morning and she was gone – we assume it was a heart problem but have no clinical proof of that.

Larry on the other hand started showing signs of distress a few days before he died – he stopped eating and stayed under a bed coming out only to use a litter box.  We knew he was in trouble and took him to the vet for treatment.  And -- since Larry had had a complete physical exam last December -- we went into the appointment knowing that 5 months ago he was in good health for a geriatric cat – no indication of kidney disease, hyperthyroidism or cancer – at least none that were picked up by the exam or lab work.

But by the time Larry reached the clinic he had gone from being an ostensibly healthy cat two days earlier to a terminally ill cat with all his vital signs shutting down – the change was dramatic and alarming.  An x-ray pointed to the culprit – congestive heart failure brought on by cardiomyopathy.  As sad as it sounds, Larry’s unannounced and quick death is not uncommon with this disease – and it is often genetically-based so the average age of death from cardiomyopathy is a young 7 years old – and most of the victims are males.  In its advanced stage, the prognosis is very bad – even with treatment which is more of a “Hail Mary” than a sure thing.    Blood clots often result in the hind legs causing extreme pain and paralysis.

The advance symptoms are minimal if any.  If your cat goes in for annual physical exams and your vet detects a heart murmur that could point to cardiomyopathy which can be confirmed only through further testing by a cardiologist.  But – not all cats with cardiomyopathy have heart murmurs so even with an annual exam it can go undetected until the end stage when the naturally stoic cat can no longer hide the signs of distress.

Simply put, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a disease of the heart muscle that eventually prevents the heart from pumping properly causing fluid buildup ending in congestive heart failure.    Although the condition develops over time, there are few early signs and since cats are masters at hiding illness it’s hard to pick up on until it’s too late.  To learn more about feline cardiomyopathy visit our web site.

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!

Lost Cat Tips

With warm weather on its way, your indoor-only pet cat is more at risk of getting out– doors open and close more often as you enjoy the outdoors –  and if your cat is curious –  he or she may try to bolt when they see the opportunity.  This does not mean they are trying to run away – or would prefer living outdoors – it simply means they are curious.  They are more comfortable indoors as their territorial nature defines wherever they routinely live as their home – and anywhere they don’t live – as a foreign territory.

So what happens when cats run outdoors unexpectedly?  Most often they  realize they are no longer safe in their home and get scared – and then hide under the closest bush or porch or in an outbuilding or garage.   They don't keep running as dogs would.  If you see them get out and go after them – they will run away from you and end up further from your home but still be looking for a place to hide.    And – you can be pretty certain they’ll use their hiding spot as their new “home base” – coming out only in the dark when they are hungry and need food or to gradually work their way back to their home without being seen by potential predators.    Even if you call them and they know your voice they won't come out.

To find your cat start looking as soon as possible remembering the cat is almost certainly very close at hand.

1. Look in, behind and under any place the cat may be hiding, starting right from the exit point – in dense plantings, under a porch, in a garage.  And don’t neglect to look up – in trees and on rooftops.
2. Softly call the cat while looking.  It’s unlikely the cat will respond – it’s terrified of everything including you – but it may give a very faint “mew” reply so listen closely.
3. Try again at dusk and dawn using a flashlight to re-search all the areas you explored earlier.
4. Put some cat food and water overnight in the vicinity of the exit point.  The cat may go back into hiding after eating but this encourages him or her to hide nearby rather than getting further away looking for food.  If you have a live trap consider putting food in it – if the cat enters the trap you can easily get him back indoors without risking getting bit or scratched.   Putting food in a cat carrier may work too but tie a string on the door so you can close it remotely without being seen.  
5. When you do locate the cat, approach very slowly and gently – calming the cat.  It’s frightened and may bolt if found – even from you.  Use a carrier to take your cat home.  Trying to carry a scared cat is dangerous and if the cat gets away from you, you'll have to go through the process again.

Alerting  your neighbors (within a 3-4 house radius) and asking their children to help find the cat are good strategies.  Kids know the neighborhood better than most adults.  And posting a “Lost Cat” flyer  (with a photo if possible) in your immediate neighborhood, at the local pet stores, veterinary offices and animal shelters is also useful.

Most importantly -- don't give up -- it can take weeks or months to recover your cat and at least that long for them to turn up at a shelter as a "lost cat".    To learn more about lost cat behavior visit our web site.

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!

Onyx Passes Away at 19 Years

With a heavy heart we said goodbye to Onyx on Tuesday – almost exactly 11 years after we accepted him into our Older Cats for Older People Program in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Onyx was a transfer from the local animal control shelter who knew little about him other than he appeared to be at least 8 years old making him “too old” for their adoption program. 

    

His past was a blank because he was turned in as a homeless stray cat, yet he could equally have been someone’s indoor-outdoor pet.  Unlike most cats, Onyx had zero fear of people and so while playing outdoors, would have approached any stranger passing by -- and that friendliness may have cost him his original home.  All too often people who see cats outdoors assume the worst – that the cat has been abandoned by its guardian and/or gotten lost and will “die on the streets” -- where in reality they have a home and a caregiver nearby.  They needlessly uproot the cats and take them to a shelter where they are as likely killed as re-homed.

    

Moving to our cage-free older cat sanctuary turned out to be a boon for Onyx – as he thoroughly enjoyed the companionship of both people and other cats.  Of the 70+ cats we took in, he was one of only 3 that immediately settled in to group living.  He loved other cats and would spend hours snuggling and grooming them – yet every now and then he’d attack a cat without notice or provocation.  And – if it had not been for a pesky problem he had with nipping people, he could have been adopted out several times over in spite of his advanced age.    Visitors were fascinated by his extroversion and his willingness to jump up on their laps even though he didn't know them.  Caring for Onyx over the last 11 years wasn't always easy -- but it was always fascinating.  His incredible openness and curiosity made him a cat bar none.

Losing a cat is often like losing a family member.  It gives you a sudden feeling of helplessness that you couldn't do something to intervene.    Yet – as we've learned so often in caring for the cats in our Older Cat Program death is unstoppable and – in a strange way – often kind.  Onyx had been dying for a long time – you could almost see him fading away as his weight steadily dropped from 17 pounds 18 months ago to just under 5 pounds on Tuesday.  Over that time he was examined by 5 different veterinarians with no definitive diagnosis as to the cause of the weight loss.   Sure he was old and was hyperthyroid and had chronic kidney disease – but there was no "smoking gun" as to what was going on with him.    Yet as much as we saw him physically erode, mentally he stayed alert up until Monday afternoon when he became very tired and we knew it was time to say goodbye – to let him sleep in peace forever – and hopefully to get to the Rainbow Bridge to reconnect with all his old TLC friends that passed before him.  

Our Acute Veterinary Care for Cats Gets a Makeover

Tripod was born without a rear leg but it didn't cause any

problems until something started to grow at the stub.  The

vet removed the stub and now she's doing fine.

Our feline Acute Veterinary Care Program – initiated last January -- got off to a very slow start.  Partly because we wanted it to -- so we could do some beta testing before we got too deep into it – and partly because the system we set up to handle the applications was cumbersome to the point of scaring caregivers, vet clinics and ourselves away from it. Learning from our early participants, we've fine-tuned the program to strip out most of the red tape and now the program seems to work almost as smoothly as our seasoned spay/neuter program does.

Full Full details on the program are on our website, but here are the key changes:

We no longer require Care Credit applications from all applicants – only those not receiving food stamps.  SNAP recipients simply fax us written confirmation of their account and we accept that as proof of financial need. 

We now include the cost of the initial vet exam to determine what’s wrong with the cat in our eligible expenses.    Most veterinary assistance programs exclude this first visit and we originally followed suit.  Ironically by doing so, those most in need of our financial help were least likely to participate since they couldn't pay for the initial exam. 

 We no longer require the vet clinic provide us with a written quote of the charges before we approve the cat.  We simply limit our vouchers to covering reasonable and customary services and supplies to treat the acute care issue we describe on the voucher – and limit the amount of aid we can provide to a maximum of $300/cat.

And, instead of faxing a voucher to the clinic while the cat is waiting for treatment, we now e-mail the voucher to the Caregiver before the appointment is made.  They simply print out the voucher (at home or at the library) and take it with the cat to any of our participating clinics who accept it as a “coupon” to cover the work described on it up to the $300 limit.

11-Year old Tessa had a growth on her

head that started to grow.  The vet

removed it and found that it was benign.

Our mission is to keep cats in their homes – off the streets and out of shelters.  We’ve always know that sterilization was the key to this.  But – as kittens grow into cats – acute health issues invariably arise and can threaten the cat’s long-term home as much as not being sterilized can.    Worse yet – a simple acute care issue left untreated can result in permanent damage to a cat or even death.  We hope by adding this supplemental service we’ll further our mission of keeping cats in their homes, happy, healthy and living out their lives with those who love them.

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.

At age 20, Simon succumbs to kidney failure

Simon’s quality of life started to slide late last summer.  Always idiosyncratic, he suddenly became more so – instead of sleeping on the seat of a chair he’d sleep on the back, instead of standing next to his food he’d get on top of its tray to eat, and he didn’t recognize when he had to use a litter box so would simply go wherever he happened to be when nature called.  The vet suspected he had had a mini stroke – or at the age of 19 – had simply become very senile.

     

At any rate he was clearly a special needs cat and to accommodate his bizarre behaviors we set up a large floor cage lined with washable piddle pads for him to live in.  Since he spent almost all of his time sleeping, this worked very well.  We confined him overnight and left the cage door open during the daytime so when he wasn't sleeping and wanted exercise he could come out.

But, as sad as his new behaviors were, they were not life-threatening.  And – as with many geriatric cats – it would be kidney failure that would ultimately cause his death.    By last Wednesday he stopped eating and on Friday with much sadness we decided it was time to let him go.

Little is known of the first half of Simon’s life – TLC picked him up from the local animal control shelter in 2003.   A cat Samaritan had turned him in after finding him wandering the streets of Ann Arbor, Michigan.  The shelter estimated his age at 10 and so he was too old for them to adopt out.  They also feared he was blind because his eyes were totally milky with no visible pupils.    Turned out the cause of their milkiness was a flare up of the herpes virus – probably a condition he was born with.  It literally took a few years to stop the periodic outbreaks and he required a series of daily eye drops for the rest of his life.

Simon clearly preferred people to other cats – loving to sit on laps and talking constantly.  He pretty much ignored other cats as they ignored him.    We often thought he was more human than feline – and had the appetite to prove it.  Where most of our cats ignore human food Simon sought it out.  By last January he had morphed from cat food to baby food which wasn't great for his kidneys but it was all he would eat.

Simon was a remarkable little guy – and one we will not soon forget.  RIP.

"We just thought it best that our cat have one litter before we spayed her."

We don’t hear this every day, but we hear it often enough to make us shudder.  Someone calls to get a free spay/neuter voucher to fix their cat and proudly announces that it's time now because she just had kittens – usually coupling the announcement with “they found good homes for all her babies” or – they “will keep mom and her babies together forever” in their home because she’s “such a good mother” to them.    Apparently this makes it okay – the kittens will be cared for.

No one will argue that their hearts are in the right place.  The miracle of birth and motherhood are a sight to behold – and who can deny that baby kittens are precious?    Yet – like many of life’s temptations – allowing your cat to reproduce for your and her enjoyment – has many unintended consequences.

Just a few days ago we had a frantic call from a woman whose pet cat’s planned pregnancy went awry.  She gave birth to one kitten but several hours later was still in labor and obviously suffering.  She had no money to take her to the vet and needed financial assistance to get her help.    This meaningful experience of giving birth almost cost the cat her life.  Although many cats can and do have kittens on their own – a good number of them end up at vet clinics when they encounter problems.   You don’t know if your cat will need help until it’s too late – and the cost of emergency vet care can be staggering – with no “kitty insurance” to absorb the cost. 

  

The concept that it’s okay to let a cat have one litter is flawed because it doesn't keep the population stable – it increases it geometrically.  Cats don't have babies they have litters -- averaging four to six kittens (not one or two) and some litters contain seven or eight kittens.    Add to that the likelihood of a mother cat getting pregnant again while nursing and the numbers go up even more.     You “may” think you can find good homes for the first litter, but the second litter -- not so much. 

You may want to keep Mom with her kittens in your home but as the kittens grow into cats the commitment gets more and more difficult to keep.  The average cost of caring for a cat is about $500/year.  By the time you realize the financial commitment that was implicit in the cat commitment the kittens are much harder to adopt because they’re now adult cats.  And – if you lacked the money to get mom and the litter fixed promptly – when the kittens are 8-16 weeks old – you’ll soon find the kittens are now parents too and your problem has escalated to a crisis point.  Don’t look to shelters to take on your cats and find them homes – they simply can’t.  According to the ASPCA about 70% of -the cats given to shelters are euthanized for lack of homes.  And the no kill-shelters you think will welcome your cats?  Well they're usually full – and when they are admitting – they’re looking for kittens because that’s what they can most readily place.   Many will accept new cats only if they are current on vaccinations and already sterilized -- at your expense.

With all of these pitfalls, it’s hard for us to understand why anyone believes it’s best to let their cat have "one litter".  Spaying and neutering your pet cats should be a bottom line of adopting them – the sooner the better.  But – if you and your family want to experience the wonderment of kittens – do it responsibly.  Hook up with a shelter or rescue that has a family of kittens in need of a foster home to love them and care for them until they’re old enough to be adopted out.  It’s a 4-8 week commitment that instead of contributing to the problem of cat euthanasia can work to prevent it.    And – who knows – in the foster family there may even be a kitten or mom cat with your name on it.  

Safe Sex for Cats Begins and Ends with Spay/Neuter

For most cats spay/neuter is a bottom line at adoption, but for those cats living in low-income households it’s often an unattainable luxury.  This is especially true when there’s more than one cat to fix causing the price to go up exponentially.  These caregivers want to act “responsibly” but they just don't have the front-end money to fix their cats -- even at low-cost nonprofit clinics.  And even if they can afford the lower rates, the longer drive to get to one of these clinics keeps it out of reach.

Yet far from being “irresponsible,” many of these low-income caregivers make a valiant effort to keep their cats “kitten-free” using other methods of birth control.    Here are a few of the most common:

Delay.  If their pets are kittens, they delay sterilization assuming they’ll save up the money by the time the cat is old enough to reproduce.  What escapes them is this can happen as early as 16 weeks, which is why shelters with staff veterinarians won’t release kittens until they’re fixed – sterilizing them when they’re as young as 8 weeks and including the cost in the adoption fee.  Ironically, the caregivers who can’t afford to fix their cats also can’t afford an adoption fee so they look elsewhere for their pets – and are not disappointed.  Finding a free cat or kitten is easy – they’re readily available from friends, relatives, and coworkers or simply roaming around outdoors -- typically the offspring of other cats whose caregivers also couldn't afford to get them fixed.

Isolation.  Many caregivers try to keep their female cats indoors while they’re in heat – which is every two weeks from early spring to late fall – but inevitably someone opens a door without looking and the cat is out in a flash – often pregnant  by the time she returns home. 

   

Even those who succeed in keeping their female cats indoors often assume it’s okay to leave them with their male relatives – thinking that sons, fathers and brothers won’t impregnate their mother, daughters or sisters.  Not true.  Cats have no cultural mores to prohibit incestuous behaviors.    In the cat world any female cat is fair game for an intact tom.  Those that realize this may try keeping the male cats in one room and female cats in another, but of course this plan is foiled the moment someone forgets to close a door.  And – the stress it puts on the caregivers is considerable.

Selective Sterilization.    Still another common method of kitten control in multi-cat homes is to fix one sex and not the other. A major flaw with this is that it’s not always easy to tell the sex of a cat and by the time you realize “Harry” is really “Mary” she may already be pregnant.

And since it’s so much cheaper to neuter a male than spay a female, the males are often the ones fixed, so inevitably the female cats get pregnant anyway – sneaking outdoors when they have the opportunity.

Even when the money is there to spay only the females, the male cats will find other females to impregnate – or will start to spray and lose their homes for a problem that could be prevented by simply neutering them.

 

As valiant as these attempts at birth control are, they are all largely ineffective.  The only way to prevent kittens is sterilization – a simple surgical procedure that not only is 100% reliable, it also increases the probability a cat will keep his or her home long-term.   Once sterilized, cats are better housemates – no longer spraying, yowling or kittening.  

In most of central and northern New Mexico, we provide free vouchers to low-income caregivers committed to the life care of their cats.   These vouchers pay the full cost to spay or neuter their cats at local veterinary clinics who subsidize the surgery costs.  If you know someone living in our service area that has intact cats, refer them to us.  They – and their cats – will be glad you did.

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!