The answer is: "Shelby, Eden, and Newton"

What are cities in North Carolina?

Well, technically that's correct but not the answer we're looking for.

The correct answer (or rather question) is: What have you named the newest three kittens?

• Shelby: DMH gray female kitten
• Eden: DSH white and gray female kitten
• Newton: DSH white and black male kiten

Thanks Carrie for the names.

Meet the newest three rescues...

Meet the newest kitties taken into the adoption program today. They are super sweet, friendly, and very playful. They are about 9-10 weeks old.

There are two girls and one boy. The gray kitten (female) is medium haired and has a little white tip on her tail. The white and gray kitten is also female and is short-haired, and the white and black kitten (male) is short haired and also has a little white tip on his tail.

I'm thinking theme names for these guys, but I don't have a theme, so who knows what we'll decide on.

PetSmart Knightdale Banfield Clinic Grand Opening

Today was the grand opening of the Banfield Clinic in the Knightdale, NC PetSmart. A lot of foot traffic was expected so we had an extended adoption event today - from 9AM to 4PM. I'm not sure I can express how tired my feet are!

Store employees were at the store at 4AM to make sure everything was perfect for the opening and in my opinion, it was. This PetSmart store is exceptionally clean -- not just today, but every time I've gone in to buy things it's been very clean and the employees are very nice. It's a joy to hold adoption events at a store with such fantastic employees.

We did one adoption today but gained a lot of exposure for AC&A and some definite interest in several of the cats at the adoption event today - and for us, that is big. We will at PetSmart again tomorrow from 1PM to 4PM.

We also got a terrific lead on a home for two cats in our barn cat program.

Yard sale news

I've been remiss in not posting the success of the March 21st yard sale. Fortunately, it was not bitter cold like it was for the November yard sale. Quite a few people donated items for the yard sale and we raised $1,091. That is enough to spay and neuter the 2 mama cats and all 16 kittens, with a little left over (okay, not really left over because it will be used to purchase vaccines, etc.).

We are very thankful to everyone that donated and helped with the yard sale.

I saw (Vocal) Vera today

She is doing so well in her new home. Been there over a month now. The family extended an open invitation to me any time I need a Vera fix.

The family has renamed her Cocoa and she is so happy and as talkie as ever. She takes turns snuggling with the kids at night. I'm so happy to see her so happy but I sure do miss her. That's why we do this.

Sienna, Rosco, and Tara to their new barn home this weekend

And is it ever a beauty of a barn. The family that is fostering Mama 2 and her babies (the family is in the process of naming the mama and babies) has a fantastic 12 stall barn with several climate controlled areas. Sienna, Rosco, and Tara were relocated there yesterday. Everyone at the barn is excited about the cats. It is a higher level activity barn so the cats will be confined for one month instead of the usual two weeks, during which time various people at the barn will work to bond with the cats. This makes barn cats numbers 15-17 that have been relocated this year to date. They will be very well taken care of - spoiled and pampered I'm sure.

Also, after leaving the barn we went to go visit Mama 2 and the babies. Talk about fat little porkers! But oh are they ever gorgeous babies. And it looks like one of them has curly hair! Can't wait to get more pictures posted.

FULL HOUSE!!!

Wow, we have a very full adoption program for our small rescue group. We have 19 cats and kittens currently ready for adoption. And 16 kittens and 2 mama cats that will be ready for adoption in 2 to 2.5 months. Let's hope we have great luck with adoptions!

Check out http://www.alleycatsandangels.org/adoptable/index.htm for info on all of our adoptable cats and kittens.

And as our base of foster homes grow, we'll be able to save even more cats and kittens. We take in abandoned and stray cats and kittens, kittens found in feral colonies that are able to be socialized for adoption, and we even pull from high-kill shelters as space allows. Graham and Mama 2 and her kittens came from a high-kill shelter.

More pictures of mama and kittens (set 2)

Their foster mom reports they are doing well and starting to play and develop personalities. They are not quite a month old yet. We estimate DOB to be 2/24/09.

Top 10 Ways to Decrease Your Allergies to Cats

After having a fantastic adoption week last week and adopting four great cats, only to have three of the four returned today because of allergies and becoming very disheartened, I feel it's necessary to point out that there's a way to keep the cat but reduce those allergy symptoms. I absoutely do not advocate putting your health or the health of your family at risk because of severe cat allergies. I just want to share some recommended steps to decrease your (or your partner's) cat allergies.

1. No more cats sleeping on the bed. Sorry, this is a small price to pay for allergy relief. If you get your symptoms under control by all means invite them back, but give yourself a break while you are trying to abate your symptoms.
2. Keep them out of the bedroom altogether. Close the bedroom door to try and keep the cat allergen down in the bedroom. Your bedroom should be a sanctuary from allergens. So tempt your cats to sleep elsewhere during the day.
3. Wash all bedding in 140-degree hot water at least twice monthly.This eliminates both dust mite and cat allergen (because we know some of you will still let them sneak up on the bed every now and then).
4. Use HEPA air filters in rooms where your cats frequent. HEPA air purifiers do require continued filter replacement, but when push comes to shove and you are in need of allergy relief, a good HEPA filter will do it for you.
5. Vacuum up cat allergen with a high grade HEPA vacuum cleaner twice weekly.Vacuum walls, carpet, flooring, chairs, and furniture...everywhere. Use the hand tools on the vacuum. Cat allergen particles are very small and invasive so you really have to do a thorough job. Good hand tools on your vacuum cleaner are the answer here. Also, installing a central vacuum will help pick up the rest.
6. Use a vapor steam cleaner to clean your home.In addition to vacuuming, vapor steam cleaners are now proven by research to be extremely helpful in killing off the cat proteins/dander, which are embedded in your carpets and upholstery. Steam cleaners provide a chemical-free way of cleaning and killing dust mites, bacteria, mold spores and cat allergen.
7. Wash your hands immediately after petting your cat and do not rub your eyes.Rubbing your eyes can result in itchy eyes for hours. Use a strong anti-bacterial soap to avoid this problem.
8. Clean your cat.Some people wash their cats to reduce the amount of cat allergen that is released from their cat into the air, but research seems to be conflicting about its effectiveness. Allerpet, a well-known brand of liquid that reduces cat allergen in the air, can be applied to your cats' coat and is available from your local veterinarian. Alternatively, you can get a micro fiber cloth and just damp rub down the cats' coats to rid it of visible dander. The majority of cats would prefer this to the highly dreaded bath.
9. You do not have to get rid of your cat! If you do a good job with the above steps, your cat allergies should be significantly decreased. Keeping a cat when you have allergies takes a concerted effort, and is only for those who are nutty enough about their cats (like us), to go to all this trouble.
10. Reduce your other allergies. Few individuals are allergic only to cats

Before taking the drastic measure of getting rid of the cat, first make sure that it is a cat allergy that you are suffering from. Your doctor can perform an allergy test to determine which allergens affect you.

Meet Hemi

Meet Hemingway, aka Hemi. Hemi is a a medium sized long haired tuxedo cat who is polydactyl on three of his four feet. Oh, oh, love me some extra toes on kitties!!

Hemi is super sweet. He loves children and belly rubs. He enjoys sitting on your lap to watch TV. He comes when called and will jump up when asked. And will even sometimes give you high fives. He loves to be brushed and will roll over on his belly for rubbing. He's very smart and cool.

Hemi was found living near a school and no one responded to the multiple ads, emails, and flyers posted by the people that found him.

Hemi will be vetted this week and you can see him at the next adoption event.

First PetSmart Adoption Event a Success

We held our first PetSmart adoption event (actually, it was our first adoptathon) on March 14-15). We had a triple strike against us -- it's still a new store (grand opening at the end of them month) so not that much foot traffic yet), the weather was miserable, and it's ACC weekend, BUT....we adopted out three cats this at the event.
We are quite excited to have such a great weekend. We were set up between the fish section and the Luv-a-Pet Center.

Jill adopted Suki, one of the black bobtail cats we took in from the hoarding situation. And a great couple adopted Coco (our 13-14 week old kitten) and Boots. They were originally only going to adopt one but we recommended two cats so they could keep each other company when the couple is at work. The couple really like DeMartino but De didn't think too much of Coco. Boots is 11-14 months old and is a gray tabby with white boots and is super laid back. He loves all cats and kittens and people equally and is a huge snuggle bug. We took the couple and Boots and Coco back to the education room so they could all spend time together and it was a match made in heaven.

DeMartino was a favorite among many of the people that came by so we hope he'll be adopted soon -- he's been with us since July. Actually, all cats at the adoption event showed well. Tipper, JoAnne's foster, did really well; Bridgey did well, and everyone loved Ming Lee.

We had the large PetSmart rolling cages and a table setup with two smaller cages. When there are more cats we want to take, we'll take 4 of the smaller table top cages. The cats in the rolling cages stay overnight, the cats in the tabletops come home at night and go back in the morning. We were even able to get rugs and litterboxes for the cages in AC&A's colors - blue and tan. :-)

Check out our new A-frame sign that we put in front of the store for adoption events (there is small sign that can be added to the bottom "Visit Us in the Luv-a-Pet Center" that will be added when we are in the adoption center. The sign looks fantastic when it's outside, but the colors don't come through in the photograph that well. Our banner for the table is in Navy so it pops in front of the table cloth. And, of course, we wore our t-shirts with the AC&A logo.

Alley Cats and Angels approved as a PetSmart adoption partner

Alley Cats and Angels is now an official PetSmart adoption partner. We will be holding our first adoption event very shortly.

We are quite excited as this gives the cats an opportunity to be seen by more people and a better chance of being adopted.

Updated pictures of the kittens

Set 1 (born February 19th): all eyes are open in amazement at the big world in front of them. Smokey, the black one, get the most adorable expression on his face. Unfortunately, the gray tabby decided to crawl to the other bed at the time pix was being taken so he's not pictured here. And the hilarious thing is one of the orange tabbies sucks her "thumb". Seriously - her foster mom told me she did that and I saw it and it was so cute. Debbie has the mama cat and most of the babies named but still has a few more to name.

We don't have an updated picture of Set 2 (born ~February 24th). They went to their new foster home today with their mama. I'm a horrible rescue mommy for not getting updated pictures before they went to their new foster home. But their new foster mom, Ellen, will send us some pictures in a couple of days. And she'll decide on names for mama and the babies.

Set 3 (born ~March 1st) are pictured here, minus poor Tiny Tabby who died after such a short time. They are are doing very well. They don't have names either. Their foster mama says the gray/black and white kitten has quite a set of lungs on him. And one of the white ones looks like he has a slight dust color to him in places. He may end up not being totally white. Maybe we can name him smudge if the "spots" get darker.

Volunteer from the comfort of your own home

Alley Cat and Angels is seeking volunteers to help write cat purrsonality profiles and post profiles of our adoptable cats on sites like Craigslist. This is something you can do from the comfort of you own home.

Another volunteer opportunity that you can do while lounging in your jammies/sweats/other comfy clothes is help write and distribute press releases.

Of course, we are always looking for other volunteers including foster homes and volunteers to:

• Help with fundraising
• Sew catnip toys and cat beds to sell to raise money for the rescue
• Help staff adoption events

If you are interested in volunteering with Alley Cats and Angels, please email us at info@alleycatsandangels.org.

Moxie adopted Friday

YAY! Moxie is the last of the Warrenton siblings and we're very excited beause her other siblings have been adopted and its finally her turn. That makes four adoptions in one week.

Thank you to Jeanne and her daughter who gave a chance to a girl that is very shy but blossoms after she's been with you for a little bit and becomes a lap cat according to her foster parents.

We still have a full adoption program - 39 cats in the adoption program, although quite a few of them aren't ready for adoption yet (16 kittens at two weeks or younger and two nuring mama cats).

Memorial

Tiny Tabby died this morning. Tiny Tabby was rescued with his siblings last night and was only about three days old. It could have been a case of fading kitten syndrome, we don't know. We had so little time with him that we didn't even get his picture.

Not much longer than my middle finger, he was such a little guy - obviously the runt of the litter. Amazing how something so itty bitty that we didn't have much time with could steal such a giant piece of my heart. But then I do tend to fall in love right away and fall deeper in love with every minute.

Tiny Tabby: My heart aches because we lost you. We should have had more time, but you're in God's hands now, not ours. May you forever have arms to hold and love you.

They're multiplying...

Don't tell me it's not kitten season yet!! Because we have 17 (no, that's not a typo) kittens that are two weeks old or younger. 6 kittens are right at two weeks old, 6 kittens are 7 days old, and 5 kittens are 2-3 days old.

Kitten role call:

• Two week old kittens: three orange tabbies, one dark gray tabby, one black, and one tortie (mama taking care of babies)
• One week old kittens: one dark gray tabby, five silver gray tabbies with white markings (mama taking care of babies)
• 2-3 day old kittens: two white kittens, one dark gray tabby, one orange tabby, and one gray and white (without mama, they are being bottle fed)

Yes, sirreee - it is definitely kitten season!!

Puddin' finds a new home

Puddin' was adopted by a great family today. He had really come out of his shell lately and become a total love bug.

It was the sweetest thing. The family faxed over a written application and both children (ages 6 and 9) had drawn pictures of a cat named Puddin' on the application. Attached are their pictures and pictures of the real Puddin'.

The family said Puddin' is doing great, he's a total lap cat and is already showering them with kisses.

Meet the new "kids"

Mama and her week old babies were rescued from a gassing shelter today. Aren't they precious? Mama and her babies will be going to a foster home this weekend.

Orange boy is about 5-6 months old and super sweet. He was also rescued from a gassing shelter. We must come up with a really great name for him.

More on the tailless cats...

According the Tailless Cat Rescue and a breeder they consulted, the rescued cats are not Manx cats - they are Japanese Bobtails. You don't see Japanese Bobtails often in rescue because it's a recessive gene - but there were so many generations of cats in that house, it's no wonder there are so many Japanese Bobtails there.

This is what I learned today about Manx versus Japanese Bobtail...the bone in the bobtail of a Manx cat is always straight. Manx tend to be shorter legged and very round, like basketballs with legs. The bones in bobtails on Japanese Bobtails are always curved, hooked, or twisted. JB's are leaner looking cats, longer legged, with large ears and angular faces. And apparently solid black Japanese Bobtails are rare.

Who knew? Certainly not me! I know "alley cats". And to me it doesn't matter if they are a rare cat or an average run of the mill cat, we're glad we could help them. I hope to get more pictures of them up soon.

I just went in and spent some time with them before maybe trying to get to bed at a decent time tonight (decent time means before 3 AM!). The younger one is still skittish, but let me pick her up with only a tiny bit of hesitation and started purring immediately. YAY!

14 barn cats relocated so far this year

To date, Alley Cats and Angels has placed 14 feral and semi-feral cats into barn/garden homes. The new caregivers for today's cats heard about Alley Cats and Angels' barn/garden cat program from someone that had previously adopted barn/garden cats from us.

2009 is off to a good start for the ferals/semi-ferals with no other option. We are happy that we have been able to find so many good homes this early in the year.

As always, we have a wait list of at least 20 cats needing barn/garden homes, so we're still always searching.

Go Green...barn cats provide non-toxic pest control. They also provide you with the joy of having saved their lives.