Love me, love my cats! Bruce does it again (are we really surpised??)

Several times per week I get emails/calls from people who found a stray cat they would LOVE to keep, except they have allergies, or their boyfriend has allergies and they need to give up their cat.

Well, look no further! Dr. Bruce Langlois of the Animal Hospital of Lowell may be able to solve your allergy problems! Contact him at 616-897-8484 for more information.

Cat allergies work as follows: What people are allergic to is something in the cats' saliva, which is deposited on the fur during grooming, and then later flakes off as "dander". The common misconception is that people are allergic to the dander, when more accurately they are allergic to something in the saliva. Dr. Langlois has a medicine to help neutralize the saliva element so it doesn't cause allergic reactions. He has had great successes with it, and it is very inexpensive.

So the next time anyone out there comes to me with the allergy story, be prepared to hear a solution that does NOT involve getting rid of the cat!!

Thank you; No, thank YOU. Thank you, THANK YOU!!

Some days you can't please anyone, like yesterday. Other days you know you made the right choice. I just called the woman on Seminole street in New Orleans to tell her Cocoa had found a great home. In under 3 minutes she gave me as many accolades as any person would ever need to hear.

I'm still in contact with people in New Orleans almost every day. The rescue workers, the people who have cats, the vets, and anyone who thinks I could still help. One of my volunteers is going down there in a few weeks to take over where I left off. I cleaned up my loose ends from the last trip, now I need to clean them up from this trip. There are still areas where I know there are cats, and cats are in danger.

Reminds me of the story of the starfish:

Once upon a time there was a wise man that used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking along the shore.

One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?"

The young man paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?"

"The sun is up, and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."

"But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach, and starfish all along it? You can't possibly make a difference!"

The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said, "It made a difference for that one."

I know I can't save them all, but in the past 8 months we have made a huge difference for hundreds of cats. And that's a great start!!

Sweet Sess

Little Sess is with me for awhile. He has ringworm and we don't want to contaminate the other kittens we have. He looks perfectly fine except for a bump between his toes.

Right now he is wolfing down penne pasta like he's a dog! 4 big noodles and counting. His loud purr is incredible, and very loud!!

Bruce, Lord of the Ferals

Have I mentioned in the past 5 minutes how awesome Dr. Langlois is?

Let me tell you what we would be able to do without him: N-O-T-H-I-N-G. He is the only reason we can exist, save cats, and keep our sanity. He is the only reason I can leave town, because I know he will take care of whatever needs to be done, whenever it needs to be done. One of my volunteers calls him God, and he no doubt thinks I'm a crazy bimbo for the excessive thanking and gratitude I pile on top of him. Because he doesn't think he's anything special.

In the past week he has seen my personal cat at the last minute while I was gone, nodded his head when I showed up unexpectedly and left him with a cat who has "explosive diarrhea", has seen all the hurricane cats I brought in to him, and took in a miscellaneous sick stray during his "time off". This man hasn't had time off since he met us! And when he figures that out, we're in big trouble!

Stella of the stars!

Meet Stella!

Stella is a wonderful cat. Before I saw any animals, I told the group I could only take tiny babies, and no black ones. Why? Because we have a hard time adopting them out. Then I met Stella, Cuddles, and Abby. Then Midnight and Lily (who was adopted Wed.). Like so many before them...........they got me.



Here is Stella leaning in for a kiss.


Stella came flying out of a garbage can when she was being dumped into a garbage TRUCK! She is very happy to have safe food and water available all the time, and has barely ventured from her cage, though she is such a good girl her door stays open.

If you want a lap cat and believe cats DO belong on the couch, come meet Stella today!!

Sick to my stomach

Well, I just read something nauseating. I picked up the Kent County Humane Society's winter newsletter. In the first paragraph the executive director states "...we took in 3,442 animals. Each one required medical and behavioral assessments, food, shelter, love and care. And we enthusiastically provided it!"

Sound impressive, doesn't it?? Then I turned to page 2.

Total admitted cats: 1,552. Of those, 376 were adopted, 25 reclaimed by owner, 1 transferred to another facility, 2 dead on arrival, and 9 died in kennel. Euthanized: By Owner Request: 115, Not Adoptable (cats not using litter box, feral, don't pass the behavioral test, etc.) : 385, Sick/Injured: 566, Too young/too old: 31, No room: 11.

What do those numbers tell you? That 75% of the cats going into our local humane society are killed! First of all, Euthanasia is about ending suffering. Many of these animals were healthy--that makes it plain ol' KILLING!! Do we really think that 1/3 of the cats (566) were so sick or injured that the STAFF VETERINARIAN really couldn't save them? Or are they just killing off the animals who might require some expenses and some work?

Let's talk about the behavioral assessment: Take your trusting cat, stuff it in a cat carrier, take it for a car ride, abandon it to strangers, shove it in a stainless steel cage in an environment of other howling cats and the constant barking of dogs. Would YOU pass the test? None of my cats would--and 2 of them were once kittens there! The behavioral assessment is simply an excuse to kill cats and justify it.

As for money, the humane society is sitting on over $3 million of available funds. If they stopped receiving donations they could survive on the money they have for almost 5 years. They have PLENTY of money to do a better job for the local animals. Copies of local rescue groups' tax returns can be found on our website.

Last year's newsletter talked about their feral cat program. What feral cat program? is my question. Their program consists of loaning their 2 traps to groups actually doing trapping, and charging huge vet fees to "fix" those cats. We should know, we used them until a private practice veterinarian stood up and helped us (All hail Bruce, King of Cats). In 2006 Jandy's Home garnered funding for the spay/neuter of over 400 cats for ourselves and other local groups. That means we provided more spay/neuter than the Kent County Humane Society............and we did it better.

We believe the staff at the humane society mean well. They have no control over the spending..............just the lies they give to the public. Their board of directors who make the financial decisions have limited involvement and experience with animals, and are frequently simply "local rich people". The small groups of Crash's Landing, Vicky's Pet Connection, and Jandy's Home save far more cats and do it on far less money.

Regrouping

It has been a busy couple of days. Life getting back to "normal", I guess. Taking the new cats to the vet, dealing with our "old" cats who are furious at the newcomers. I want to be back in New Orleans, but first the cats already rescued need to find homes, then we can get more.

Today was a good day! Lily and Cupcake were adopted today, and Munchkin found a home on Sunday. We Looooooooooooove our Munchkin. It was hard to see him go but he deserved a home of his own. He is a very special little boy.

The nice thing about being a "small" rescue (we have more kittens than any local rescue), is that we get to know all of our adoptors. We take our cats personally and like getting to know everyone. We love to get updates and pictures of all of them. We want to rescue as many cats as possible.............but never so many that we forget who any of them are.

But just because I'm back doesn't mean I'm done! I'm still working with people down there, organizing residents and getting cats rescued.

After all, if not me, who?

Thanksgiving

Here are pictures of thanksgiving with the kitties. I cooked them a turkey and spent an hour ripping it up into small pieces. I rolled out paper towels as a "trough" of sorts for them.



And here's the fun they had after the turkey was gone ;)

Pictures of New Orleans, trip number 3

I didn't take as many pictures as on prior trips, mostly because so much is the same. But to those of you who haven't seen it, here we go!

This is the abandoned complex, before I smashed all the windows :).


By the pool is where I found Cuddles.


This is the junk I have to wade through and sort through to find an animal. It could easily take 4 hours to go through a small apartment.


Life beginning on the 2nd floor of an apartment.


Sugar, the dog I reunited with his owner.


The sad truth.


Here is sly Cody. It took me 4 days to catch him. He's peeking out at me from the crack in the door.

"To gampa, from Alexis"

I will never stop being amazed at the devestation left behind. Much of it remains. It is a very slow process, and the truly abandoned areas haven't been touched yet. Today, in somewhat of a daze, I walked through some of the Carriage House buildings. What happened here? The water didn't reach these floors, it just seeped up the walls, so clothing and furniture are in good condition. But why are they thrown all over the place? It looks like residents were told they had 15 minutes to grab what they wanted to keep and had to hurry out of there. But it has been 16 months. Why didn't they take their perfectly good things? Why are they thrown all over the place? If I had the car space or inclination I could take home a lot of "good" things. They will just be thrown in the dump when the building comes crashing down.

I walk past a picture on the floor. To gampa from Alexis, it reads. Did Alexis live here or did Gampa? Where are they now?

All Hail ME!!

It has been a worthwhile 2 weeks. I trapped and got vet care for about 37 wild cats, rescued 14 kittens and friendlies, and brought 25 back to Michigan with me. There is always more to do but it was time to go. ARNO needs cage space for new cats and I need to take care of what I've already committed to.

I am the hero of the month down there, no question. The group doing the spay/neuter was impressed at how many cats I brought them. They need help down there!! Not everyone can take the time off to go, but support our efforts through adoption or donations!

Saying Goodbye to Buddy

I trapped Buddy at Cindy's Place apartments. He may have been someone's pet but it would take a lot of time to retame him. We don't have the cage space and time, and should we "waste" space on a difficult cat when easier ones are everywhere? I wanted to take him with me so badly! But the area he came from was safe and I knew he would be happier with freedom. I sadly released him and watched him return to his life. He paused and looked at me, saying his goodbye. I reset a trap and told myself if I recaught him it would be fate telling me to bring him home. But my trap was empty.

Who are the crazies?

I called my friend Adam today, and told him I could no longer tell who was crazy and who wasn't. For starters, Shirley told me that Marie doesn't want me trapping her cats and is the one "tripping" them and releasing cats who get caught in them. But then Marie thanked me over and over for what I was doing, and handed me her favorite cat to get "fixed"!! Who am I supposed to believe and what am I supposed to do about it?

Then there are the demo crews. I didn't have 10 minutes to wait for them this morning, so I jumped out of my car and ran across the complex to check my traps. Despite the fact I stayed 100 yards away from them and their equipment, they stopped everything until I drove away. No doubt glaring at me the whole time :). But they will be demolishing buildings for years to come, and my time is running out. Which means the cats' time is running out.

DANGER, ASBESTOS!! reads the sign. I argue with the foreman who is in charge of the Gaslight village apartments. He isn't going to win this, and finally accepts it. I'm ready to barge in there but he insists I wear the appropriate hazmat garb and face masks. Probably a wise decision. I catch 3 cats and am satisfied.

For the past 2 weeks I have been ARNO's street connection. They are the street rescue group. I am the one who traps the cats, gets them the vet care they need, and decides if they are tame enough to keep, wild enough to release, and determines their future.

Yesterday I caught the dad of Carriage House apartments. Today I trapped the mom. What remains are the babies whom I must search for and catch. I must find them today.

Who do I rescue?

Every minute of the day is filled with the stress of life and death decisions. If I go to the 9th ward will I miss the animal in St. Bernard who needs me? Where should I go today? Tomorrow? Who needs me most?

The biggest decision is where do I focus my efforts? Do I go to the areas where I know there are a lot of cats, but they are being provided food? Or do I go to the deserted areas where there may or not be any cats, but nobody is around to provide for or care for them--or even notice them? I had planned on the former when I plotted out my trip, but the conditions I found in New Orleans turned me to the latter. I generally had 12 traps in abandoned areas and 3 in colonies.

Sometimes my traps were empty, meaning there were no cats in the area. Sometimes the cats already had ear-tips, meaning someone had already trapped and "fixed" them. After a few days of having only those 2 types of situations I knew the area was clear and I could move on. I caught at least 21 cats in these such areas and it was very rewarding. They had no hope without me.

I shrieked with joy when I caught 3 babies and their calico mom. The man who stayed on the property didn't understand my excitement. Sadly they tested positive for FIV and I couldn't bring them back with me. But none of them will ever reproduce and spread the disease to anyone else, so that is something to be happy about.

Patience is a virtue

And one I'm running short on. Catching cats was far easier before the people returned.

My day starts around 4am, which is when I wake up and head into town. I spend the morning checking traps and taking cats back and forth to the vets office. I'm done at the vet by about 10:30am. I return the ferals who had surgery yesterday to their home, or set them up in a cage if they are tame and adoptable. I feed and clean all the cats I've brought into ARNO, the local rescue group I'm working with. Or should I say the group who is tolerating me? I showed up one day and told them what I was here to do. I love Robin, the director, but I pretty much do as I please and I never finish all the paperwork she wants. I drive around the city, checking for areas that have cats who might need me and I walk through houses and the remnants of people's lives. By 4pm I'm back at the vet to pick up cats and bring them back to ARNO for the night. I give them food/water and litter pans and cover the traps with blankets. They hate me. I am their captor and they are my prisoners. For the next 3 hours I roam the streets, checking and setting traps. Releasing raccoons and other critters who walk into them. When it is pitch black and I'm in a deserted area I start to thing my friends might not be wrong: I just might be crazy. They watch the 6:00 news every night to make sure I'm not on it. There have been 6 murders in the area since New Year's Eve.

Last night I went to Seminole street with a carload of traps. I easily saw 4 cats in 5 minutes. The 77-yr. old woman was living in her FEMA trailer on the dirveway and feeding them. She immediately told me she wouldn't allow me to put traps there because it was her "private property".

She picked the wrong day to annoy me. The closer my time gets to running out here, the more stressed out and impatient I am. I don't have time to waste. Every minute wasted is another cat I can't rescue before I leave. I spoke to my sister a few days ago and she said she was going to try a new approach with people who said ridiculous things. Instead of being snotty to them she was going to allow for a long pause, then start laughing. So I tried it. She was speechless. I told her there had been 6 murders in that area in the past 3 days and there was a football game playing at the Superdome. Did she really think any officer was going to come by and stop me??

She finally relented, and in the end allowed me to take 3 of the baby kittens to Michigan with me and even made a donation!