Weekend adoptions

Grayson and Justina were adopted this weekend.

Also, come visit our kitties at the PetSmart Luv-a-Pet (adoption) center at the PetSmart in Knightdale today through Sunday, September 6. We will be there for adoptions Friday evening (Sept. 4) from 5P to 8P; Saturday (Sept. 5) from 12P to 4P; and Sunday (Sept. 6) from 1P to 4P.

O'Reilly Adopted

By a family with two tween/teen daughters. I give it 20 minutes before he's spoiled rotten. The bottom picture is his "baby picture". The top picture does not do him justice - he's magnificently handsome!

Domino...oh Domino!

Domino was originally a very thin girl found living in a feral colony. She was so friendly that Alley Cats and Angels took her into their adoption program. Since she was rescued, she received the medical care she needed and with a steady and nutritious diet, she plumped up nicely – maybe a little too much!

Domino became fast friends with Boots, a 1.5 year old cat in our adoption program, and they loved to wrestle and play together and then snuggle together while they took turns washing each other’s heads. However, Boots was adopted a few months back and Domino waited patiently for her forever home. But it’s kitten season and at the adoption events, people would comment on her cute half Charlie Chaplin moustache and then keep on going to play with and adopt the kittens. This made Domino very sad because she didn’t know why someone didn’t want to adopt her as the newest member of their family.

But last night, someone wanted an adult cat and meet several and then decided Domino was the one. We are so happy for Domino.

New Community/Adoption Event

We are very excited to announce that Alley Cats and Angels will be participating in a community event at the number one selling home community in the Triangle: Twin Lakes: a KB Homes, Martha Stewart community.

The event is scheduled for Saturday, September 26, 2009 from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM. We will have wonderful cats available at the event for adoption, as well as items to sell to raise money for our spay/neuter fund.

We’ll also have a lot informational handouts available including local low-cost spay/neuter clinics, TNR/feral cat information, etc.

Community/Adoption Event
Twin Lakes - KB Homes Martha Stewart Community
103 Bright Sand CourtCary NC 27519

Come visit us in the parking lot of the sales center (sales center will be open for extended meet and greets with the cats)

Seeking donated for our fall yard sale fundraiser

Alley Cats and Angels is currently collecting items for our fall yard sale fundraiser. If you have anything you'd like to donate, please respond to this email and we can arrange a time to pick up the items and give you a receipt for taxes.

Our yard sale is scheduled for Saturday, October 3rd. We would like to have all donated items by September 20th so we can start sorting, pricing, etc. We have a rented storage unit to store the items in until the yard sale so we can take items as soon as today. We have an SUV and can pick up items, we also have access to a truck for larger items.

The following items sell well:

• furniture
• home décor
• jewelry
• children's toys in great condition
• stuffed animals from a non-smoking home
• baby stuff (cribs [no mattresses], playpens, baby seats, etc.)
• movies: DVDs and VHS books on tape
• music: CDs and DVDs
• video games and game cartridges
• office supplies and stationary
• unpened beauty products
• tools and power tools
• gardening equipment
• home improvement supplies
• sporting goods
• knick-knacks / collectibles

We are all volunteer, no salaries, no overhead costs, all funds raised go directly to care for the cats. We fund the rescue solely through fundraisers such as this and donations.

Reduced adoption fee extended through Labor Day

We've extended the reduced adoption fee to celebrate Alley Cat August through Labor Day.

Still many cats and kittens available for adoption, all at a reduced adoption fee of $60. But again, there is no reduction in the love you'll received from your new feline companion.

Last of the G's adopted

Gwenneth and Guenther were adopted this weekend. They are doing well in their new home and enjoying a house that is about 2200 square feet larger than their foster home was. They are having a ball and being showered with love and attention and will be spoiled rotten by Sheri and Marshall in no time.

Tristan has a new family

Tristan, one of the Russian Blue mix kittens was adopted Saturday. He's one handsome fella, that's for sure.


His brother and almost twin, Grayson (pictured below), is still available.

Always bet on black - you can't go wrong

Did you know that black cats are the ones most likely to be passed over for adoption? Black cats are also the most likely to be euthanized at kill shelters, and the least likely to be rescued.

Black cats are great but often seem to get passed over for adoption in favor of felines that have multiple colors. Some people are superstitious because they think encountering a black cat is bad luck. Some people see the black color as bland with no distinguishing characteristics. Well, one definite distinguishing characteristic about black cats I can think of is that in all my years of rescue, black cats have some of the best purrsonalities. I say “always bet on black – you can’t go wrong).

Check out Othello (all black kitten) and Conrad (black and white, mostly black) kitten. They are snuggly lapcats but will also keep you entertained with all their playing and acrobatics.

P.S. A fun reason to adopt a black cat: dark fur won’t show up on that black dress as easily!

Adoption Event this weekend - PetSmart Knightdale

Come visit our awesome cats and kittens. We'll be there from 1PM to 4PM both Saturday and Sunday (Aug 22-23).

New adoption locations

We've been searching for new venues to hold adoption events and have set up two new events at great pet boutiques. These will be quarterly or twice yearly events, not monthly events but we are excited about them.

Wag Pet Boutique, Stonehenge Market, Raleigh, October 10
We will be holding an adoption event at Wag Pet Boutique on Saturday, October 10th. Wag is an upscale pet boutique featuring fine, fun, and unusual cat and dog products. It's a great boutique (http://www.wagpets.com/) They are located in North Raleigh's Stonehenge Market. Actual address is 7414 Creedmoor Road, Raleigh, NC.

Petpouri, Salt Box Village, Cary, November 7
Yes, it's a little ways out, but we're excited to announce that Alley Cats and Angels will be holding an adoption event at Petpourri in Cary on November 7th. Petpourri is a great little pet boutique located in Salt Box Village in Cary (1265 Kildaire Farm Road, Cary). Check out their website for information on this neat boutique (http://www.mypetpourri.com/).

All the M's are now adopted

Well, the S&M's actually. Sasha (mama) was adopted a few weeks ago, as were Matilda and Majik. Last night, Melody (now Izzie Mae) was adopted and Maynard and Madeline were adopted together.

We have a whole bunch of other alphabet kitties available, so check out our website!

Daisy and Dakota Update

We received the email from Daisy (now named Porsche) and Dakota's new parents tonight and the kittens are doing great. They also sent lots of great pictures, a few of which we've attached here.

Hello! Just a quick note to let you know that the kitties are doing great!!! They now hang out in whatever room we are in...even if they are taking a cat nap! Porsche has discovered the cat bed by the window in the living room and LOVES watching the squirrels steal the bird food. Dakota really enjoys trying to get the fish in the fish tank :-) I hope you enjoy the attached pictures!

Happy Saturday, Michelle, Jeff, Porsche and Dakota

Wonderful adult cat seeking lifelong companion for years of love and friendship

Meet Bridgey, a super sweet but overlooked adult cat. It's hard to imagine that Bridgey has not yet been adopted. She's sweet, she's loving, she's pretty. She's super tidy - who doesn't want that in a cat?!! She gets "ooohed and aaaahed" over at adoption events but she still gets passed over. Why? Sure, she's not an exotic beauty, but she's a very pretty dark dark gray tabby with big eyes. Sure, she's not a kitten, but she's got many years of love to give.

Bridgey's owners just left her behind when they moved and she moved over to a feral colony that was fed daily. How in the world can someone just abandon an animal? And one as wonderful as Bridgey, I just can't fathom it.

Bridgey is somewhat easily intimidated by other cats. She will need some time to get used to the other cats but does ok if there are only a few other cats around.

Won't you please give Bridgey the opportunity to be your lifelong companion? She has so much love to give and she would love to give it to you.

Bridgey's Information

Bridgey
DOB: ~6/2005 Color:
Domestic Short Hair gray tabby
Gender: F

Bridgey is approximately 4 years old. She is low-maintenance, laid back, quiet, and easy cat to have around. She's not a lap cat, she does like love and attention and will sit on your lap at times to be petted and brushed. Bridgey loves sitting anywhere up high or gazing out the window. She would be a great first cat or cat for a small space as she has tidy litter box habits, uses her scratching post, and has a moderate activity level.

We do make a difference

Everywhere we look, we see the effects of the economy. We are getting more and more requests from people who are losing their homes asking us to take in their cats; more requests from shelters asking us for help; and even more calls from people that have found friendly cats/kittens or kittens born into feral colonies that can be tamed. We are trying our best to help as many people and their cats as we can. But we often find ourselves having to turn people away. We simply cannot help everyone, we cannot take in cats from every request we get – we have no available foster homes. And it is during these times that it is easy to become depressed and disheartened. And it’s during these times that it’s easy to forget all the happy stories of the cats finding their forever homes.

But there are happy stories. So far this year, Alley Cats and Angels has adopted out 55 cats – and keep in mind we are a newer, very small rescue with only a few foster homes and a few volunteers. 55 cats is what we thought we would be able to rescue and adopt out in all of 2009. We have also found good safe barn/garden homes for over 60 feral/semi-feral cats this year. That is 115+ cats that have found safe homes this year, cats whose lives would most likely not have a happy ending without the help of Alley Cats and Angels. And while it is true that we can't help everyone, we are still making a difference in the lives of many cats each and every day.

Duffy update

Received the below email from Duffy's new home today - he's doing great. I sure do miss than handsome fellow.

He is doing great. When I let him out of the carrier he wasn't scared a bit. He went all over the house checking everything out. He is already getting in Amber's lap, rubbing all over her and following her wherever she goes in the house. They are playing up a storm together. She loves him very much already. Duffy and the dog are doing well together. It helped that our lab was already used to having a cat around. Just wanted to let you know how he was doing and that he truly has a good home with lots of love and always someone to play with him.

Lil' Girl has new home

Sweet little Pipsqueak (formerly known as Lil' Girl until I finally decided on a name) was adopted this evening. Family with a 15-year boy met her and immediately fell in love (but then, how could you not?). The son has even done research on introducing new cat to other cat in the house, etc. And he is totally smitten with Pipsqueak. I think she'll be spoiled rotten by tomorrow at the latest!

Fantastic kitten for a great family. Just don't let her steal any hamburgers!

Wanted: donations of gently used items for our fall yardsale

We are now collecting items for our fall yardsale. If you have items you would like to donate, please let us know. If they are items you need to get out of your house now, we can make arrangements to get them out of your house now. Please contact us via email at info@alleycatsandangels.org or via phone at 919-303-3500. Donations are tax deductible and we will provide a receipt for your taxes.

The following items sell well:

• furniture
• home décor
• jewelry
• children's toys
• stuffed animals from a non-smoking home
• baby stuff (cribs, playpens, baby seats, etc.)
• movies: DVDs and VHS books on tape
• music: CDs and DVDs
• video games and game "cartridges"
• office supplies and stationary
• unpened beauty products
• tools and power tools
• gardening equipment
• home improvement supplies
• sporting goods
• knick-knacks / collectibles

We are all volunteer, no salaries, no overhead costs, all funds raised go directly to care for the cats. We fund the rescue solely through fundraisers such as this and donations. Thank you.

A week in blessings

This week has truly been a week in blessings for Alley Cats and Angels. As a newer rescue, not many people know about us; therefore we do not typically get many donations (money or supplies) but we get along ok. But this week, the tide changed and we were not only blessed with monetary donations, we were blessed with some items on our wish list:

• Five 24-inch cages for adoption events
• Two 36-inch cages that we use for quarantine or to house more feral kittens that need to be tamed (able to reach all the way in, 48-inch cages not good for feral kittens, they can scrunch themselves all the way to the back)
• Kitten food
• Six-pack of Advantage Multi which treats fleas, ear mites, and helps prevent heartworms in cats

We would like to thank everyone that helps support the cats. We are all thankful for you, our kitty guardian angels.

And the icing on the cake: we adopted out two cats today. Dexter and Majik went to new homes.

Ode to Cats (from a dog lover)

The following was written by one of our foster homes. I had tried for many many years to get our front office administrator at work to adopt a cat but she’s always been a dog person. After 10 years, I finally talked her into it! And now she’s smitten. Cherri wrote the below out her experience with cats.

An ode to cats by Cherri J.

I have never had a cat in my life. I have always had dogs which I dearly loved. Dogs love you unconditionally. They greet you when you come home. They think you are God’s gift to the universe. They are a true blessing.

Tia has been trying to get me to adopt a cat for almost 10 years but dogs were always my thing. She told me about Gracie and I saw Gracie on the website for “Alley Cats and Angels”. She stood out from all of the rest as she had a striking nose. It looks as if someone just threw some black paint and it landed right on her nose. She also stood out because she was bigger than a lot of the other cats (a little chubby perhaps). Gracie is eight years old and just had one owner all her life but her owner had some rough times, lost her home, and had to give up Gracie. Thank goodness, she had the presence of mind to contact Alley Cats and Angels about Gracie. Gracie was used to being the “top banana” in her home and now she was with quite a few other cats. Tia said Gracie was becoming withdrawn and a little depressed after joining her first foster home and asked if I would foster her.

I decided to foster Gracie and since I have no other pets, she could once again be top banana. I was a little uneasy as I have never been around cats before! Well, I thought I was doing Gracie a favor but she instead did me a favor by coming into my life. I did not have to learn anything on my own as Gracie taught me everything I needed to know about her. When I come home at night; I step inside and call Gracie’s name and she in turn answers me with a loud “meow” and comes running downstairs. She now rolls over on her back so that I can rub her tummy. She is right by my side the rest of the evening. Sometimes when I come home she is sitting on my chair as if she is entertaining. She is such the Lady.

Needless to say, I am going to adopt Gracie but wanted to share my story with all the “dog lovers”. Cats too will certainly teach you about love and patience. Gracie is now a big part of my life and I am so thankful for her.

Note from Tia: Cherri keeps all of us at work entertained with her tales of how Gracie is doing. Gracie has certainly blossomed again and now she’s found the purrfect new forever home. And Cherri has found a wonderful lifelong companion.

Thank you donors

With the economy struggling, donations have been way down. We don't necessarily check the post office box every day, we can now check it weekly instead and the only thing waiting for us lately has been invoices from our veternarian supply or for microchips, etc. The other night we were discussing what we needed to order and wonderered about the minimum quantity of Advantage Multi (recommended by our vet) we had to purchase when buying directly from Bayer because funds are extremely tight. We have extremely low administrative costs (web hosting, rescue email, rescue phone, and we get a few items printed (adoption contract and health record in carbonless triplicate). Several board members pay for a lot of things out of own pockets. We've had foster parents purchase cat food and donate it to other foster homes. Money is very tight. We do the proverbial "pinch a penny until it screams" and stretch every dollar.

We've had a few donations trickle in and we have our one monthly cat sponsor who sends $20 every month. And for those donations I couldn't be more grateful. Times are tough and a $20 donation is fantastic. And to get a monthly cat sponsor in this economy is incredible. I know there have been times when I struggled to find $20 to get through the last two weeks of the month to buy groceries and gas. So when I say every dollar donated is appreciated, I mean it from the bottom of my heart.

We've had quite a few unexpected vet bills these past two months and I know everything always works out, but it can be worrisome at times.

Imagine my surprise when I checked email this week and found notifications of several Paypal donations. $20, $100, and $500. I had to close email and open it again because we typically get less than $100 in donations a month right now. And then I almost fell off my chair. The email that accompanied the $500 donation said "Doesn't the Lord work in wondrous ways? Normally I would not be able to do this - but I was blessed and can." Yes, he does...

Words cannot quite express our extreme gratitude for all of these donations. All I can really say is a most heartfelt thank you. And to let our donors know, no matter what the amount - donors, you make a huge difference in the lives of our rescued cats. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Our biggest needs right now

The following lists our most immediate needs for the rescue at this time. If you can help, the cats and the humans of Alley Cats and Angels will very much appreciate it. We are 501c3, so donations are tax deductible.

Monetary Donations: As always, money is our biggest need. Up until the past two months, we have been very lucky this year not to have incurred huge vet bills over and above the usual (FeLV/FIV testing, spay/neuter, exams, vaccinations, etc.). However, the past two months, we have had quite a few vet bills for kittens that were seriously ill upon intake, kitten hit by a car before rescued, kitten with eye problem, etc. We could use help paying these bills. We also need to purchase large amounts of Advantage Multi for the cats. Our vet recommends Advantage Multi because along with killing fleas, it helps prevent heartworms and also treats ear mites in cats. We need these in all sizes (kitten [2-5 pounds], and both adult sizes [5.1-9 pounds and 9+ pounds]).

Cat food:

• Right now our biggest need is Purina One Healthy Kitten formula
• But we also need Purina One Adult in Chicken and Rice formula

Adoption event supplies: We have been able secure additional adoption venues which means some weekends we have two seperate adoption events at different locations. Now this is a very good thing but it means we need some additional supplies for our adoption events. We need:

• Six more 24-inch black wire dog cages (black to match the ones we already have). These small cages are the perfect size for tabletop cages at adoption events. We have had five new cages donated, we just need one more 24-inch cage.
• A four-foot long folding table (the kind with adjustable height legs and folds in half so easily fits in a car and can be carried by one person) [approximately $45 at BJ's, Sams Club, Target]
• A six-foot long folding table (the kind that folds in half so easily fits in a car and can be carried by one person) [approximately $50-60 at BJ's, Sams Club, Target]

Barn Cat Program: we need to either raise the money for additional cages and supplies for the barn cat program or have cages donated. We use the 48-inch long wire dog cages for the barn cat program. Because the cats are confined for several weeks, these cages are large enough to give them some room to move around. We could use at least four more 48-inch wire dog cages.

Adoption program cages: We need at least four more 36-inch wire dog cages for quarantining incoming cats. The 36-inch cages are also the idea size for feral kittens that need a lot of socializing (larger than 36-inches, can't always reach all the way into the back and touch the little monkeys). We received notification of two 36-inch cages today (8/6). We still need at least two more 36-inch cages.

Again, if you can help with any of these items, we would be extremely grateful. It's all for the cats. All donations are tax deductible

And Duffy makes five

Duffy was adopted today (he'll go to his new home next weekend). He will be showered with so much love and attention. And we know he'll return the love to Amber.

That makes five adoptions from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon. And Bristol adopted last weekend. So this is really a great week.

Thank you...

Thank you so much to the Petsmart shopper today who donated two 18-pound bags of Purina One Kitten. We very much appreciate it.

Sasha

How could I forget? Sasha, our Seal Point Himalayan was also adopted today. A nurse from Wilmington fell in love with the gorgeous girl - even when Sasha's little tongue sticks out...it is kind of endearing!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Our little Aretha finally got some respect today. She was adopted. YAY -- Re-Re was adopted. Ginny, you are a very lucky lady to have this precious girl as part of your family.

Daisy and Dakota...

Daisy and Dakota were adopted last night by a couple that drove all the way from Charlotte to meet and adopt these two babies. I think it was love at first sight and they were ready to adopt after a short time but they stayed and spent a lot of time with the kittens before making it final. The kittens cuddled together in a large carrier on their way back to Charlotte.