The tailless cats have arrived!!

Alley Cats and Angels was able to help a hoarding situation by taking in a few cats from that home. The Johnston County Animal Protection League (JCAPL) spearheaded the rescue effort and was able to remove 47 cats from the house. JCAPL found multiple rescue groups that could each take in some of the rescued cats and, of course, JCAPL is putting many of the cats into their adoption program also. Unfortunately with so many of the rescues groups full, not all cats could be pulled from the home. Alley Cats and Angels was originally not going to be able to take any because our foster homes are at capacity but this situation weighed so very heavily on our hearts and minds that we found room for a few of the cats. We would have liked to take in more, but are not able to at this time.

All of the cats in the hoarding situation are black, most of them manx (a few do have tails), and are of varying ages. I've never owned a manx cat or had a manx rescue. I love those little nubby tails - reminds me of my friend Debbie's rescued Boxers!

The cats absolutely reeked of cat pee and the smell was quite overwhelming. They were bathed last night and although were scared, did quite well. They have settled into the hall bathroom and will be scheduled for medical care as soon as we can get an appointment (we'll call Monday to make appointments). The older manx is quite friendly and very verbal (meows and cries non-stop). He (or she - I haven't looked yet) just wants out of the bathroom but I told him he can't until medical and quarantine is finished. They have a nice hidey bed and fleece throws in the tub and the rest of the bathroom for play. I'll go back in there in a bit and sit in the bathtub and give the cats love and visit with them. They don't seem to know what kitty treats are and just stare at them. Well, they'll get used to them. It's always treat time after cleaning time every day!

I could only get a picture -- albeit not a great one -- of the older manx. Guess I better determine sex quickly so we can name the cats!

Two adoptions today

Newcomb (pictured left) was returned after his first adoption because the resident cat didn't get along with him. However, Newcomb went to a new home today. Ruth and Joel are fantastic people and will provide him with the very best home. And Newcomb will provide them with many years of joy and love. This is a great fit. I will miss him - although I won't miss him bouncing off my head in the middle of the night! :-)

Vera (pictured right) was also adopted today. Marie handled the adoption so I didn't meet the people but I know they are great adopters also because Marie is good at this - she does it for two different rescues groups. The only thing is I was in such a hurry today when Marie can to get Vera to take to her house for the visit, I didn't get to say goodbye. Vera has been with us since last April/May and I fostered her for most of that time so I become quite attached to her so this is very hard for me. We rescue so we can help the cats and find great homes for them and I know that and I'm glad she's found a good home, but I sure liked her snuggling with me at night. I will miss her so much. In fact, I'm now crying. But the couple said it was ok for me to come see Vera next week and say goodbye to her.

More on the babies

Debbie, their foster mom checked and here's how it plays out

• Black - male
• Tortie/calico? - definitely female
• Tabby - male
• Orange - 2 females, 1 male

We're going to have to wait until they get a little older to see if there's going to be any way to distinguish the oranges; right now the only thing is that the male definitely has a male face and the females have female faces, otherwise, I can't tell much difference in them.

Can't tell yet, but looking at the pictures, it almost looks like the tortie might just be a calico, will just have to wait a little longer to find out I guess.

Mr. Black has a really good motor on him already; he starts eating and it goes to town, he's the only one I've noticed/heard so far. One of the orange kittens is starting to open her eyes.

See how little they are?

We have babies....

It amazes me how people can be so thoughtless. Someone dumped a mama cat and six brand new newborn (hours old maybe) in a box at the end of a driveway to a horse farm. What if the people at the farm hadn't been home? That mama could have died protecting her babies. Fortunately the owners were home and took the mama and babies in until they could find a rescue that could take them. My friend Debbie picked up the mama and kittens today and is their short term foster home. I know she misses having kittens around, so I'm sure she's loving it. I mean, she snapped 196 pictures in a short period of time!

We're quite happy the mama is there to take care of her babies. When we were neighbors (as opposed to me living in the "boonies" like I do now), Debbie and I once rescued four 3-day old kittens without a mama. It was our first experience and wow. Debbie was able to take them to work with her during the day (because ones that little have to be fed every 2 hours). I kept them at night. It was exhausting but again, wow, it was a very special experience. And Debbie ended up keeping one of the kittens.


This is from Debbie: "The kittens are now 5 days old, they were born Thursday, February 19th. There's 6 of them and I think 2 of the orange are girls and 1 of the black ones but I lost track trying to figure it out myself; they kept moving around on me :) Mama is super sweet and being a real good mama but doesn't seem to mind at all if I pick them up; she was a little uncertain, though, of the camera and as you can see used her leg to hide them from the flash a lot. Sorry, didn't realize I had so many of them until I got ready to send them; can't figure out how in the world I took so many in such a short period of time. I'm going to have to put them on a darker towel so I can get some better pictures. With all the white in the bathroom, the flash, the reflection from the bathtub and the light towel, I had to go through and darken quite a few of them; trying to take a pic of just an orange one in all that white came out mostly just a blur!"

Update: 3 orange kittens (aka "the triplets" for now anyway), 1 tabby, 1 black, and 1 tortie (with not much tortie markings but the markings are there). Debbie snapped another zillion pictures last night so we'll have more pictures later. We have "kitten pile" pictures of just the kittens. I held each one last night and Debbie got a picture. Little tabby is about the length of my hand.

And the winner is....

Alley Cats and Angels did a lot of research before ordering our microchips. Various chips and chip registration companies were thoroughly reviewed. One of our board members spent countless hours on the phone with various microchip companies investigating all the ins and outs of their chips and registration database.

Armed with facts on the various chips, databases, and costs, it was a unanimous decision by the board to go with Home Again (chips and registration). It is slightly more expensive than some of the other options, but there are times when cost should not be the deciding factor and this is one of those times. We are doing what is right for the cats. It is a decision we are proud of and we'll be so excited when those chips and scanners arrive in the next week or so.

They just won't cooperate

Other rescue groups post fabulous pictures of their adoptable kitties. We try and we snap, snap, snaps lot of photos but our cats just won't cooperate. Apparently the cats are like me - they don't like their picture being taken.

Come on kids, just work with us. That picture of just your butt or your ear won't go over well on the website!

Bingo, Boots, and Domino all go to the vet tomorrow to finish their medical care. Was hoping to have pictures to post on the website soon, but again, they won't cooperate. Wait, they are cats - should we really expect them to cooperate. Isn't that a dog thing?

How we keep them healthy....

Upon entering our adoption program, each cat is placed in quarantine for a 14-day period. In the quarantine period, each cat or kitten is in a seperate sheeted off cage, seperate from the other cages. This will help stop the spread of any airborne virus they may have and each cat having its own litterbox ensures if one cat has worms or other parasites that it does not spread to another cat. We don't like putting them in cages but it is for the health of every cat that we do this. They are only in cages while they are quaratined and received medical care and once they get a clean bill of health, no more cage.

During the quarantine period, they are bathed with an anti-fungal shampoo (immediately upon intake), monitored for illness, health checked, dewormed, treated for fleas, tested for FeLV/FIV, sterilized, vaccinated, and microchipped. Once the quarantine period and all medical is complete, the cats are made available for adoption. The quarantine period helps us ensure the cats adopted out are very healthy cats.

But keeping them healthy is more than just the above. Every day is "Poop Watch 2009". One of the joys of being a rescue group. You can't dump those litterboxes until you've inspected the pooh! "Regular" poop makes us happy.

Cages and litterboxes are very thoroughly cleaned every day. And each week, everything in the cage is replaced with bleached and disinfected items - carriers, litterboxes, toys, bedding, food/water dishes, etc. and all cages are bleached. We use a lot of bleach here and it typically takes several hours each weekend to bleach all the carriers, litterboxes, etc. Most of the other stuff can be put in the washer (even the little brooms and dustpans we use to sweep the cages and all the cat toys).

It's a lot of work, but our kitties are healthy and they like everything always being nice and clean.

Fudge fundraiser a big success

We sold about $1100 in fudge (our profit is 50% so that's $550 for the rescue) and received another $225+ in donations. We also received two other large donations this week ($500 from of First Insurance Services and $200 from my dear friend Theresa (whom I miss terribly since she moved).

This means we have raised enough money to purchase our own microchip scanner and microchips, FeLV/FIV combo test kits (another rescue group has graciously been letting us use theirs kits and microchips at cost), and a sign and banner to be used for our adoption events. This is very exciting for us.

Our next fundraiser is our yard sale on March 21st in the North Ridge Subdivision (address to be made public closer to the sale). We'll be able to raise more money for the cats' medical fund. I really hope our yard sale is at least as successful as our last sale because I would like to have the money to be able to sponsor a few spay/neuter surgeries for those that cannot afford it. That is very important to me. Everyone must get involved to stop the overpopulation crisis.

We thank our donors from the bottom of our hearts - we are so deeply grateful for your donations.

Alley Cats and Angels Joins GoodSearch

What if Alley Cats and Angels (AC&A) earned a penny every time you searched the Internet? Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support our cause? Well, now it can!

GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up!

GoodShop.com is a new online shopping mall which donates up to 37 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, ebay, Macy’s and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you’ll be supporting your favorite cause.

Just go to www.goodsearch.com and be sure to enter Alley Cats and Angels (Apex, NC) as the charity you want to support. And, be sure to spread the word!

Newcomb adopted today

Yay for Newcomb. Oh he is such a sweet boy. But that now leaves one remaining sibling still searching for her forever home - Moxie.

Isn't she pretty? Gray tabby with a big orange stripe down her face. She is a little shy but will warm up quickly once in her new home. Please give Moxie a chance.

Meet Coco

Coco wondered into someone's house through a pet door the wee hours of Tuesday night / Wednesday morning. She's only about seven weeks old and saved herself -- so we think that she has a high kitty IQ.

She looks black in the picture but she has some burgandy/auburn on her head and ears - almost a tortie. We'll be watching closely to see if the colors fade or if they stay.

Coca is shy and still somewhat wary of us big ol' humans (wouldn't you be - it's like a 6-month old baby looking up at Godzilla). She hisses and spits as you reach in to get her but gently burrito her in a towel to love her and she slowly relaxes.

We gave her a bath Wednesday evening because she was a stinky little girl and she smelled all nice and fresh. But when she gets a little scared, she hides in her itty bitty litter box (after all, she's an itty bitty girl), so it's only been two days and she doesn't smell quite so fresh anymore. But who can resist a baby, even one that's a little stinky?;-)

She didn't think much of the bath, the dewormer medicine or her first vaccine. But she likes having a food dish full of nutritious food. She's eating Science Diet Kitten mixed with some L-Lysine to boost her immune system. We tried telling her it's crunchy milk but she doesn't believe us. At first I thought the food might be too big for her but it was too late that night to get something smaller for her so I was going to crush it some, but she eats it just fine. Giving her a little bit of canned food also, but only a little because this baby girl is a little gas-bag. So not too much canned food because we don't want to upset her tum-tum, but do want to put a little bit of weight on her. She was wormy so that's probably why she's gassy, plus she's getting used to a new food. It should get better in a few days.

She'll adapt nicely and will probably be quite a lovebug by the time she's old enough for adoption, I'm sure. She's sitting very loosely wrapped in a towel on my lap right now with that motor going. She has nice loud purr for such a little girl.

Little Miss Coco did not want to sit still for pictures.

501c3 status

We received our official letter of determination from the IRS today stating that we have obtained 501c3 status. This means all donations made to Alley Cats and Angels are tax deductible.

Another barn cat relo today

Took a vacation day to do a barn cat relo. The house/barn owner took four cats and she will take good care of them. Cowboy, Princess, and Fiona are somewhat social. Mr. Bad Boy is true feral - hissing and spitting and growling at me today! Honestly, if they want to go in the house, she'll let them. It was a good fit.

This makes cats 9 through 12 that have been relocated to barn homes this year.

What pain looks like!

Yesterday, Marie and I were rearranging and organizing one of the foster rescue rooms (new bleachable flooring installed last week) and after all the heavy lifting was done, she left to go man an adoption event and to go to a Super Bowl party later that night. I stayed and kept cleaning and organizing, somewhat bordering on OCD.

After bleaching two large 48-inch cages (suitcase style cages), I was folding the top cage and somehow managed to get my finger stuck between two sides of the cage where all the pressure was. I can't repeat the words that came out of my mouth. And the worst part, I was alone and I had to scoot the cage closer to me (I was standing on right side of cage, finger on left hand was stuck on left side of cage) and then open the cage so I could get my finger out. Well, it hurt even more to open the cage because it meant more pressure on the finger. It's quite icky. The cage cracked my fingernail and I was bleeding through the nail which grossed me out except I was in too much pain to care about being grossed.

I called my mommy (a retired nurse) and told her what happened, she told me to ice it for 10 minutes at a time and of course I don't have any ice at the house so I just used really cold water from the fridge.

Then I called and texted Marie to let her know I'd need help before she went back home because I couldn't move the cage and needed to take down the other cage too (needed both cages for a barn cat relocation today). Marie comes by and takes down the cages and moves them under the carport for easy access today. And then she drives me to the local Burger King because it's open 24-hours and I hadn't eaten all day. We get back to my house and she backs up the driveway like she always does and misses the driveway and ends up in the culvert (had to be towed out). Her wallet was hurt with towing charges (winching not covered by roadside assistance).

Debbie, my former neighbor and the person that started me doing cat rescue on the scale that we do it now, helped with the barn cat relocation today for two reasons: 1) she has an SUV and we were relocating four cats which means lots of stuff to take and 2) because I still can't lift the heavy cages because I can't use my middle finger on my left hand. The pain is now down to the second knuckle. But I'm becoming quite adept at typing with 9 fingers! :-) And unlike picture of Puddin' who is cuter in person than in photos, my finger is ugly and nastier in person than in pictures.

So, the morale of the story is, the next time someone is there to help with the heavy stuff - let them help with all the heavy stuff and don't try to do it yourself.

Oh, and Debbie - yeah...she no longer does cat rescue, she fosters for Blue Ridge Boxer Rescue. But I'll bring her back around the cats someday -- I know she misses kittens.