Musk Seeds

Many people who work in animal welfare find that, as the years pass, they like people less and less.  This happens because they are naturally exposed to the awful ways that people treat animals.

I have to confess, however, that after 8 years in this field, I actually like people more and more.

The secret: I started with a very low opinion of people.  I have always felt more comfortable around (non-human) animals and had very low expectations for my species.

But since starting Tabby’s Place, I have been utterly amazed by the kindness of people.  I have seen cats adopted that I was sure would be with us forever, due to their conditions (a few examples: Twig, Bagheera, Tashi, Gabriella).

In addition, we are often contacted by people who have rescued cats with apparently insurmountable  disabilities.  read this from Roberta in France and you will see what I mean (& underatand the relevance of “Toasted Musk”):

Hi, I just heard about you and you cat sanctuary, and I thought that maybe you could give me an advice.  I live in Palermo, Italy, and about 3 years ago my daughter found a paraplegic cat.  The radiography showed that one of the lower verterba is broken, he was very sick but we cured him and now he his strong and healthy, we only have to change his diaper twice a day and help to the needs.

… here are a couple of picture of “Muschio Tostato” (something like “Toasted Musk”), the first is with his best friend “Nocemoscata” (”Nutmeg”) and is from when we find him, the second one is more recent.

Simply amazing …. and seriously raises my expectations for homo sapiens.

But nobody told the cats that. Besides, the rules are different for international intergalactic elections…especially when there’s one hundred meeeellion dollars at stake for everykitty involved.

OK, technically it’s $1,000. And I’m not entirely certain that folks read cat blogs in other galaxies. (Wait, who am I kidding? Of course they do.)

What really matters is this. One of Tabby’s Place’s bestest bloggy buddies, Catsparella, has been nominated for Best Social Integration Blog in the prestigious 2011 Petties awards. Because Catsparella is awesome beyond measure, she’s pledged to donate the $1,000 prize to help the Tabby’s Place cats if she wins.

Make that when she wins. Because that’s where y’all come in.

You can vote for Catsparella every single day, multiple times a day, right here. You don’t need to vote in every category or provide any personal info; just click on Catsparella under “Best Social Integration Blog,” then submit.

Again, and again, and again.

If this were a presidential election, I’m fairly confident this would be a felony. (Or treason on the high seas, or something like that.) But it’s not…so it’s not.

What it is, is awesome.

Catsparella, we cannot possibly thank you enough. We were already colossal Catsparella fans at Tabby’s Place, but this is just the sprinkles on top, the whiskers on the kitten, the stripes on the tabby. You rock our socks.

Felis Catus fam, you know what to do: let’s make this a big win for Catsparella and the Tabby’s Place cats.

And, as an advance thank-you, I leave you with not one but two videos of that mammoth mushball…Sluggo.

Actually, they all boil down to one: we can’t rescue every single cat.

A baited trap, ready to humanely capture a feral orange feline.

Everyone knows and empathizes with the heartbreak of saying goodbye to one of our residents. But there’s a daily, low-grade heartache that takes its toll as well. Aside from the Guardian Angel and Exceptional Circumstances Programs, we typically can only take cats from shelters where they are on the list to be euthanized. And so each day our hearts ache from saying “no” to the numberless folks who call, begging us to take 23 cats, spay 80 cats, do something.

We are doing something, I know. Heck, we’re doing a Big Giant Something, to the tune of nearly 1,000 saved, loved cats now. Something isn’t everything - but it’s the something to which we are called, and it’s our something. We are not in this labor of love alone. There are many, many, many heroes doing big somethings for the many, many, many cats in need.

But, still, it hurts to say no. It hurts to know there are cats that we can’t take.

So when the opportunity presented itself to do something more, we pounced.

Denise and Dr. C preparing a feral cutie for surgery

The amazing Shelly Kotter, of the amazing Best Friends Animal Society, journeyed out to Tabby’s Place late last month. Over the course of a few hours, Shelly delivered a TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) Boot Camp that was, all at once, delightful, funny, moving and compelling. Armed with Shelly’s wisdom and a bigger-than-Jupiter love, Tabby’s Place staff and volunteers then embarked on a brave mission.

I don’t use the word “brave” lightly; this was not for the faint of heart. Their quest: to trap orange ferals.

Yes, orange ferals. Not tabby, not calico, not Siamese…it’s all orange, all the time, in this particular feral colony. Scan any crew of cats, and you’ll see a rainbow of colors…except for this colony.

All orinch.

One of our feral buddies recovering from her spay surgery

Through members of the community, we’d known about Team Orange for some time, and had been especially worried when caring folks noted that their numbers were dwindling in this brutal winter. So, led by Danielle, Tabby’s Place sent a brave team to trap orange wildcats; bring them to Tabby’s Place; get them spayed, neutered and treated for any medical issues; then release them back into their wild home.

I can imagine the obvious question here: why not keep them at Tabby’s Place? Isn’t that safer and better and kinder than putting them back into the wild world?

Safer? Probably. Better and kinder? Depends who you ask. According to these wild orange souls, that would be a resounding, horrified no. True ferals (and, as you can tell from these photos, these guys are true ferals) do not want to be indoors. They loathe the very thought of human affection, and will rapidly become depressed if forced to live a domesticated life. We’ve encountered this tough call before, with Phoebe and Marischka. Ultimately it came down to the decision: do we love them enough to let them truly live, or are we so rigidly clinging to our own system that we’ll force them to live a “safe” but soul-killing life? Will we accept them as individuals, loving them in the way that respects their wild hearts?

That’s the wisdom behind the “R” of TNR.

Born free! Fully recovered from their spay and neuter surgeries, the orange ferals show their approval of the "R" component of "TNR."

Danielle and the team painstakingly captured nearly a dozen orange beauties, bringing them back to the sanctuary to be…well, snipped and tipped. With their kitten-making components snipped, all that was left was for Dr. C, Denise, and the other veterinary professionals volunteering their time to “tip” the cats’ ears. Notching their ears this way lets folks know that the cats are altered, and that they’re under the watchful care of someone who loves them.

That’s the most important piece of the TNR puzzle: ensuring that, untouchable though they are, these feral angels will be loved long-term. I don’t mean merely “looked at with affection” or “cared about.” It’s crucial that ferals, like all cats, have a love that acts. And so, we worked with the community to ensure that the orange cats’ neighbors would gladly feed and look after them over the years.

Now spayed/neutered and looked after, Team Orange sprints off to a better life.

This was a first-time outing for us at Tabby’s Place, but it won’t be the last. We hope to have a second TNR Boot Camp sometime in the future, and ultimately to do TNR on other feral colonies as we are able. 

While we can’t be all things to all cats, we’re grateful that we were able to do a life-changing, life-blessing something for these wild oranges. To Danielle, Dr. C., Denise, and all who so selflessly made this happen, I tip my orange taffeta hat to you in awe.

PS: Special thanks to Danielle for these stellar photos of the whole TNR process - and especially for making this all happen.

PPS: Fixin’ to learn more about TNR and feral cats? Best Friends and Alley Cat Allies provide a cornucopia of resources. I thank God that we are all in this together.

With apologies to Charlie Sheen, the cats are the ones who really know what winning is about.

And, I dare say, they do it with a splash more grace.

I could natter on about the Tabby’s Place cats’ victory in this year’s NJVMA Animal Hall of Fame, but a video is worth many millions of my words. I dare ya not to grin, laugh and tear up at the following.

Special bonus points if you can name every single cat featured. Double-extra-special bonus points with sprinkles if you can name the cat who is missing even though he is the handsomest, loveliest and best. (And triple-infinite bonus points if you agree that I am not biased at all.)

This sweet success was possible only through the hard work of Tabby’s Place volunteers Joanne Cole, Kim Kilmer, Lisa Schuyler and Bonnie Wagner-Westbrook, who worked together to create the cats’ winning nomination.

But the truth is that we human beans are the real and daily winners here. We get to share the lives of creatures who exude love on a daily hourly moment-by-moment basis. We get to share their journeys, meet their needs, and in turn find our own needs met more than we could have imagined. We get to know the grace of a love without condition.

And that is the biggest win of all.

PS: Sweetening the cats’ win was the extraordinary company they kept at this year’s induction. Do check out fellow victors Tilly, Samson, Greyhound Friends of NJ, and longtime Tabby’s Place friend Kanga. Warning: you should click these links only if you like happiness and joy.

What’s this got to do with cats?

Wait, there is a connection.  A while ago I stumbled on this image of a ray gun for sale:

I was dismayed to find out the gun was a Mega-Sonic ScatterCat Pest Repeller.  Yes, it’s a way to

• “Repels dogs, cats, squirrels and other nuisance animals without harming them
• Target animals over 20m away with laser-light aim sight”

You can read about it here.  If you look around the site, you’ll see quite a collection of non-harmful animal deterrents, including: Motion Activated Ultrasonic Cat Scarer, Mega Sonic Cat & Dog Repeller.

Despte the fact that the stuff is not particularly animal-friendly, the names make me chuckle.

So, this wasn’t my ray gun.  But I can still dream …

But, now I’m rethinking my position.

You see,  I found this article titled “Study shows dog-loving Ireland hates cats.”  It appears that only 10% of Irish families have a cat as a pet, while 36% have dogs.  The Irish are right up there with us Yanks in terms of dog ownership (37% os US families own dogs), but 10% is bleedin’ unacceptable.

I don’t really know what to make of this.  For now, let me just say this to the Irish: Póg mo thóin!

Now through September 30th, everyone who makes a donation to Tabby’s Place through Modern Cat’s Give Forward page will be entered to win three beautiful products from designer Ree-Yong’s Copenhagen Collection. Check them out:

• First Prize – Copenhagen Cat Condo ($200 US retail value)
• Second Prize – Copenhagen Cat Dinnerware Set ($65 US retail value)
• Third Prize – Copenhagen Cat Scratcher Manicure Set ($39 US retail value)

Per Kate, “The fundraiser will close on September 30 and three winners will be chosen in a random drawing. This giveaway is open to readers everywhere. All donations are tax deductible. You will receive a receipt upon completing your donation.”

Kate’s big heart is matched by her big goal for our kitties: raising $2,500 through Give Forward by the end of September. China, Mr. Grey, Peachy, Pepper and the whole crew heartily approve.

Huge thanks, purrs and head-butts to Kate and Ree for making this possible! And, good luck to all the Felis Catus family; I look forward to seeing photos of your kitties doing their own Ree-Yong dances when they win these groovy products.

A Prayer for Animals

Hear our humble prayer, O God, for our friends, the animals,
especially for animals who are suffering:
for any that are hunted or lost of deserted
or frightened or hungry;
for all that must be put to death.
We entreat for them all Thy mercy and pity,
and for those who deal with them
we ask a heart of compassion and gentle hands and kindly words.
Make us, ourselves, to be true friends  to animals
and so to share the blessings of the merciful.

- Albert Schweitzer

That means that lawyers all over the Keystone State are devoting their time, gifts and love to thinking about and working for needy animals. Heaven knows the cats (and dogs, and eared sea lions) could use a good advocate. All of this gives me tremendous encouragement.

But what surprised me was the great disparities between “dog law” and “cat law.” The tome given out to all conference attendees devoted 223 pages exclusively to new dog laws…and exactly 30 pages to cat laws. By no means do I blame the fine people who planned the conference. Their presentations simply reflect the state of the laws.

I was shocked to learn that, while all 50 states have specific “dog laws,” only three (CA, RI and ME) have comprehensive “cat laws.” Now, before we storm our state Senate buildings with flaming torches, consider that the dearth of cat-related laws is a mixed blessing. On the downside, of course, this means painfully limited protection for our beloved felines.

But there’s a good side here, too. As one attorney explained, there are more laws surrounding dogs because the legal profession (and most people) perceive dogs as at least potentially dangerous. Cats, on the other hand, are still considered largely “harmless,” and therefore need less regulation. While more cat-related laws could help protect felines from abuse and mandate greater responsibility, they may also penalize folks for helping ferals (i.e. caretakers of feral colonies, good people who do trap-neuter-release, etc.). When a colony of ferals is managed by caretakers, the issue of ownership creeps in, and tighter laws could actually slap fines onto feral caretakers for owning dozens of cats. So, there are advantages to not having more cat-centric laws. As with most things legal, it’s complicated.

More than anything, the conference reaffirmed for me the vital importance of loving these cats with all we’ve got. Although the 90 million owned cats in the US make felines America’s most popular pet, 70% of cats who end up in public shelters will be euthanized, while only 1-2% will be redeemed by their families. (Compare that to 50% of dogs in shelters being euthanized, and 20% being redeemed.) Given that there may be as many as 90 million feral cats in America, that means there’s one homeless feline for every beloved family cat. As one attorney grimly put it, these cats are trapped in an “assembly line of death,” and a “national tragedy of epic proportions.”

I wish we could take in 90 million homeless cats at Tabby’s Place. I wish we could nudge the world towards cat-loving laws, and help educate folks to prevent “disposable pet” syndrome.  

But I know we can love every cat we touch with everything we’ve got. I know we can change the world for every Tabby’s Place cat, and love him as if he were the only cat in the world. I know we can play our part.

Let’s work and pray that the laws and love of the world will follow.

Mmm mmm good. I wonder what “successfully” means here?

You’ll be relieved to know that they’re a thorough bunch up at Brock University, too: they’ve included both “meat chunk (MC)” and “gravy gel (GG)” constituents in the testing.

The statement I find most bemusing is the following:

Ultimately, this may facilitate more economical and efficient methods for optimizing cat food flavour and texture and predicting the effects of composition and processing changes on cat feeding behaviour.

Hmm. I can’t say that my reaction to the prospect of consuming my favorite felines’ food seems to be very “predictive” of their “feeding behavior.” Take Molly for instance, our feisty, affectionate old Siamese who spends 95% of her day sleeping in a basket on my desk. Even as a vegetarian, I’m first to admit that some cat foods (excuse me, CFPs) look almost edible, even…appetizing. Those are Molly’s least favorite offerings. But give our old girl a dish of food she’s buried under her blanket and slept on for two days, allowing it to form a mysterious crust, and she will dig right in with all the gusto a 5-pound cat can muster.*

Then again, this new methodology is all about taste-testing, not sight. So, who’s to say that us humans wouldn’t find crusty, nasty, scary-looking cat food varieties absolutely scrumptious (and accurately predictive of Molly’s feeding behavior)?

Um, I’ll say it.

All kidding aside, I’m always grateful to see researchers spending time and resources to make the world better for cats. If this new methodology leads to more healthful cat food, better understanding of kitty preferences, or even just a more enjoyable cuisine for our beloved species, I’m all for it.

But, for now, I’ll leave the taste-testing to the pros. Like Molly.

*Not to worry: we don’t regularly allow Molly or any of our cats to eat old, crusty food! But, on the rare occasion that Molly’s buried an old dish of wet food and discovered her “treasure” a day later, she’s been absolutely elated and eaten as much of the old, nasty-looking stuff as she can before we catch her to take it away.