Update on Cassie - Emergency Surgery Today

As noted in an earlier posting, Cassie saw the specialist at Animal Eye Care last week - Friday afternoon - and now that she's big/old enough, they wanted to do surgery as soon as they had an opening so her surgery was scheduled for Thursday of this week. 

Unfortunately, Cassie had a really bad night and her bad eye may have ruptured overnight.  She's at Animal Eye Care right now and she'll have emergency surgery today to remove that eye.  Poor baby girl. 

Lots of warm thoughts and lots of love for Cassie today.  And for her foster mom, Karen, who's having a really bad day with her foster baby in surgery.  Planned surgery is bad enough, when it's moved up to emergency, it's very stressful. 

Blue Jean Babies

Not sure if everyone remembers way back when in May (I think) when we rescued four very small, malnourished, and very sickly kittens from the back porch of an empty house and then a few weeks later, finding out that one of the kittens had cataracts at only 8 weeks old.  Well, all four "babies" are doing wonderfully.  They are now about 14 weeks old, very healthy, and ready for adoption.  And the baby with the cataracts -- well, the doctor at Animal Eye Care suspected it would resolve on its own with proper nutrition and it did.  And one of the Blue Jean babies was adopted last night by a family from Fayetteville.  The adoption has been in the works for about a week and they drove up last night to adopt her and take her home.  Jordache, congratulations on your new home. 

As for the rest of the babies - Levi, Wrangler, and Lee - they are all waiting for their forever homes too.  They can be seen this week at PetSmart Capital (corner of Capital Boulevard and Millbrook Road in Raleigh) as we moved into the Petsmart adoption center last night.  Even for the most  outgoing cat, sometimes the adoption center can be a scary place -- and our cats aren't used to be caged but they are only in the center for short periods of time (we "rotate" frequently so cats are not caged for weeks) and it helps get them adopted.  So if you go by and they are a bit shy - it's the environment.  They are super delightful (although really shy cats can be super delightful too!).

Lee

Levi

Wrangler

Cassie's Eye Surgery Scheduled

Remember Cassie - the kitten we took in at two weeks old that has upper eyelid agenesis?  Well, she is now old/big enough, she went back to Animal Eye Care for her exam last week to determine the next steps for her. 

Cassie is blind in her right eye but has vision in her left eye and we need to work quick to preserve that.  She is so funny when she plays - she loves chasing balls and feathers (and her sister's tail!).  Kind of like she's showing off that despite her handicap, she's a normal kitten. 

Cassie's surgery is scheduled for this Thursday, September 2.  She will have an eye enucleation (removal) on her right eye and cyrogenic surgery on her left eye to remove the hair around the eye.  Next steps will be creating an eyelid for the left eye. 

Cassie's surgery is going to be expensive, and we've had so many extreme medical cases lately.  If anyone is interested in donating, donations can be made via paypal from our website or checks mailed to Alley Cats and Angels, PO Box 785, Apex, NC 27502.  Please mark donations "Cassie eye surgery fund".  Thank you.

Weekend adoptions

A bit slow last weekend compared to previous weeks, but still, two kittens found homes.  Eve was adopted - although it was a hard decision because the family liked Tygra too and both have fantastic personalities.  And Dora was adopted yesterday. 

There will be lots of opportunities to adopt cats/kittens in the next few weeks as we have events every weekend, with a minimum of five events on the PetSmart National Adoption Weekend (September 10-12).

Alley Cat August has been extended through September.  It's only $60 to adopt a fully vetted cat or kitten.  That's about a $250 value with all the medical care each cat receives.  See attached flyer for more information: http://alleycatsandangels.org/AlleyCatAugust2010.pdf

Our Programs Work Together to Offer the Best Solution for the Cats

Sometimes the best solution for a particular situation is not just TNR or taking cats into our adoption program; often, it is necessary to combine the forces of several of our programs to offer the best solution to the cats - we want to do what is right for them. And each time, we rise to the challenge!

To help the cats of Homestead, we utilized our Feral Cat Education/Assistance, Barn/Garden Program, Alter and Alley Cat Program, and Adoption Program. We received a desperate plea for help from a family living in the Homestead trailer park. This family had an estimated 30 cats swarming to their house on a daily basis for food and, once again, trailer park management had called animal control for another sweep (and guaranteed euthanasia) of these relentless breeding machines. We initially went out and assessed the situation, but had no money to spay/neuter 30 cats. A few weeks later, we had the funds to spay/neuter at least most of the cats, thanks to one of our most dedicated donors. By that time, there were at least six pregnant cats. As we quickly began our work to stop the population explosion, we vetted and then rehomed 12 cats to barn homes before returning some back in the neighborhood, where they would continue to be fed by the family that initially contacted us. One night as we arrived we found one of the momma cats on the front porch in labor. We quickly prepared a trap with a cardboard lining and while she was taking a break from birthing the second and third kitties, we slipped her and her babies into the trap where she had her third baby, and later that night in a bathtub at the foster mom's house, she birthed her fourth. Over the next few days, we played a game of hide and seek with other mommy cats and kittens. A couple of kittens were found under the trailer near the foundation and we also found a litter of kittens in the insulation under the trailer. All in all, over 25 adult cats were spayed/neutered and 16 kittens were taken into our adoption program from this situation.

To help the cats at a local prison, our feral cat education and assistance/TNR program, Alter an Alley Cat adoption programs worked together to provide the best solution for the cats. After receiving a request for help for a friendly mama cat and her five kitten and two other kittens born inside prison gates, we sprang into action. We took the mama cat and all seven kittens into our adoption program and then set out to get permission to TNR the feral cats at the prison so they would no longer add to the overpopulation problem. The prison superintendent was agreeable to letting the cats stay on premise, but the cats had to be spayed/neutered and vaccinated and the state could not pay for it. Through generous donations, we raised money to cover the cost of TNRing the feral cats at the prison. The inmates were happy when we brought the first set of cats back and helped us each time we were there to catch more. It’s a win-win situation: the cats no longer have to fear animal control, the inmates enjoy the cats, and the cats keep down the mice and bugs. To date, we took in 12 kittens from the prison, 1 friendly mama cat, and TNR’d 13 cats.

Alley Cats and Angels' Selected to be September's Community Spotlight Organization by Whole Foods

Each month, Whole Foods shines their spotlight on a different non-profit organization.  The featured organization gets to display information on a dedicated bulletin board and gets to collect donations at each register in the collection boxes provided. 

Whole Foods of Raleigh (Wade Avenue) selected Alley Cats and Angels to be next month's (September) Community Spotlight.  This will provide great exposure for our rescue and will also raise some money for our Alter an Alley Cat program - which subsidizes spay/neuter surgeries and vaccinations for cats owned by low income families and feral cats in large colonies whose caregivers truly cannot afford the cost of spay/neuer.

Thank you Whole Foods for choosing us.  And everyone, when you're by the Whole Foods on Wade Avenue in Raleigh during the month of September - please put some coins in the collection boxes (dollar bills are nice too!).

Adoptions this weekend

It was a good adoption weekend.  We had two events Saturday and one on Sunday and we adopted out five cats/kittens.  The following were adopted:  Zander, Kano, Carolina (she was returned after her first adoption due to family allergies), Mo, and Jaga. 

All of the adopters were just fantastic. Zander's adopter is in a wheelchair and needed a cat a little bit older (sometimes kittens aren't always smart enough to get out of the way).  He will be very spoiled, I know.

Jaga's adopter is the former Veterinary Officer for the Ministry of Agriculture in England (of course now lives locally).  For once I was glad that I have insomnia as we were corresponding via email from 2:00 a.m. to around 3:45 a.m. Sunday morning. 

Thank goodness for foster homes that can bottle feed

Friday was a sad day.  Friday before heading off to work, foster mom checked in on the mama cat and babies and all were doing well.  Friday night I get a call from foster mom and I could tell it wasn't good news.  I thought for sure it was about the one weaker kitten.  But mama cat had passed away while foster mom was at work.  After warming the babies and wrapping up mama cat to drop off at Rollins Laboratory for a necropsy, foster mom headed into Apex to bring us the babies - while working to keep them warm.

Three little babies born only Tuesday need around the clock feeding about every 2-2.5 hours and that's not an easy task for anyone. But thankfully Christi and her husband were up to the task - even though until we got the results of the necropsy from mama, extreme quarantine measures needed to be taken. 

Rollins Lab was able to do the necropsy overnight and we were called with the results early Saturday morning.  The likely cause of death is sepsis, mama had an infection that the c-section to deliver the babies that weren't coming out worsened.  She also had a rather large cyst that contributed.  We are still waiting the histology report but it appears that mama did not have a contagious disease.  We are thankful mama was trapped before she had the babies -- most likely, mama would have met the same fate but with us, the babies are safe.

The good news is the babies are doing well and have very hearty appetites.  And thanks to Christi and Brian for feeding around the clock.

Update on yesterday's kittens

Yesterday evening the foster mom worked on stimulating the third kitten mentioned in the previous post, the one not thriving.  She rubbed him with a towel and got a faint cry and more breathing than just gurgling.  At that point she put him back in with mama, because that's really all there was to do.

A bit later she found all three kittens wiggling and squalling.  And that is wonderful news!  They are all black, but we think black is good luck. She managed to get a couple of pictures of mama and babies.  Here are the latest Alley Cats and Angels' babies.  Aren't they just beautiful?

It would be nice if cats came with a clock...(and, oh no, not more kittens!!)

A clock that says "hey, I'm pregnant and have been that way for XX days"!!!!

Read a facebook posting early this morning from one of our TNR Task Force leaders "Adventures in TNR: feral cat scheduled for spay this morning is now giving birth in a trap at my house.  Let the good times roll."  Now, we all love kitties but we have had so many this season - and still have a lot to be adopted out - that my first thought was "oh goody" with that playing over and over in my head in a very sarcastic tone. 

The clock would come in handy because you could look at the clock and think better catch this cat fast, she's my priority, she's 46 days pregnant or oh crap, she's 61 days along, she could give birth any second.

So feral mama only gave birth to one kitten.  After several hours with no more babies appearing, she went to see Dr. Teresa at Magnolia and two more babies were delivered.  One is doing well - vocalized almost immediately.  The other one was much slower to vocalize but has a strong heartbeat but it's really wait and see with that one.  All babies are with their mama now.  The kittens are now born so there's no more sarcastic "oh goody".  Now it's "come on little one, be a fighter, you can do it.  please be ok".

Utah and Oklahoma

Remember the video of the orange kitten in the adoption center furiously trying to get everyone's attention (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8shsaFktYXM) so someone would take him home?  Well, he and his brother were adopted together and have settled in nicely at their new home.

Below is a picture of them napping quietly like two good little angels.  Utah and Oklahoma have been renamed Mozart and Copland (although I don't really know which one is which!).

50/50 Raffle a Great Success

We sold $3,870 in raffle tickets and that made the winning ticket worth $1,935 ($1,935 for the winner and $1,935 for Alley Cats and Angels.  After tallying tickets and money, three Alley Cats and Angels volunteers went to the Apex Police Station where Office Allen drew the winning ticket for us.  Thank you Officer Allen, we appreciate you making our drawing more official. 

The winning ticket was 006 - Wayne Bailey.  Even more awesome is that he is donating a portion of his winnings back to Alley Cats and Angels.  Thank you Mr. Bailey.

A huge thank you to everyone that sold tickets and to everyone that bought tickets. This raised some much needed money for medical such as Cassie's eye treatment and pay off some outstanding surgical bills for the cats for non-routine surgery.

Adoption Update

Well, after several big weekends of adoptions, it was a slower weekend.  Two kittens were adopted but the adoptions has been in the works for a few weeks because of vacation schedules, etc. of adoptive family.  Damien and Buzz Lightyear were adopted.

We are moving a bunch of kittens into the PetSmart Knightdale adoption center tonight and we will be there for two weeks (August 16-August 29).  And then we move into the PetSmart Capital Blvd/Millbrook Rd adoption center for three weeks (August 30-September 19) and then back to PetSmart Knightdale for two weeks (September 20-October 3).  We will "rotate" the cats and kittens in the adoption center on a weekly basis so they aren't caged too long.  And we'll have additional cats/kittens each weekend at adoption events in table top cages. 

Two places to meet the cats tomorrow (Saturday, August 14)

Two adoption events for Saturday, August 14.  Come out and meet the cats and help them find their forever homes.  We have a long waitlist of cats and kittens needing to come into the rescue.  When we adopt out cats, we can then save more lives.

1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.: PetSmart Capital / Millbrook
2800 Millbrook Road, Raleigh, NC
919-873-0544

The following cats will be at the PetSmart Capital/Millbrook adoption event: Esmeralda, Edwina, Endora, Eddie, Arizona (an orange tabby girl!!), Pooh, Roo, and Charlie Girl

12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m: Wag Pet Boutique (Stonehenge Market)
7414 Creedmoor Road, Raleigh, NC
919-841-5093

The following cats will be at Wag Pet Boutique adoption event: Edmund, Zena, Ian, Kano, Tygra, and Panthro

Young, single, gray & white neutered male seeks Lovely Lady (or Gentleman) for late night chats, snuggling and long naps in front of the fireplace or on the vent

Ian is a sweet and playful kitten with super soft fur. In his foster home he's become a big lap cat and is the first to get up on his foster mother's lap when she sits on the couch at home. He also likes to help her when she's on the computer by walking on the keyboard and batting at pictures on the screen. Laptops are also nice to sit on because they're so warm.

Sometimes his foster mom makes cards for the rescue in her craft room and he likes to sit on the table and try out the different stamping inks with his pink and white feet. Those bright colors sure show up on his little feet!

Ian gets along well with other cats and even the corgi at the foster home. He's been good with older children, but he doesn't do as well with smaller or more energetic children. Not that Ian doesn't love to play, he's just fairly laid back and would like some quiet time and a nice nap after a show-down with the spinny ball toy.

Coins for the Cats

Alley Cats and Angels (AC&A) is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) all volunteer, foster home based, cat rescue organization. We are dedicated to improving the lives of the stray, abandoned, and feral cats and the overall reduction of homeless cats in the Triangle. Alley Cats and Angels is not your typical rescue group; we have a broad focus to help the unwanted and forgotten felines in the Triangle, NC area. Our programs include:

• Adoption program
• Barn/garden cat program which finds safe alternative homes for feral and semi-feral cats in imminent danger in their current environment
• Feral cat education and assistance including a TNR (trap-neuter-return) Task Force
• Spay/neuter assistance program for cats owned by low-income and hardship families and feral cats

We need your support; but we are not asking for $20 bills, $10 bills, or even $1 bills (but we'll take them if you'd like to donate those!). We are simply asking for your spare change. Spare change can add up and make a big difference in the lives of the cats we rescue. 

This “Coins for the Cats” campaign will further our mission of helping the unwanted and forgotten felines by:

• Providing food and medical attention for the animals in our care
• Supporting our Alter an Alley Cat spay/neuter assistance program
• Helping education the general public about responsible pet care and spay/neuter

Collect your spare change in soda bottles, baggies, coffee cans – use whatever container you have on hand. When you’re ready you can cash in your coins and mail us a check or bring the coins to any of our adoption events (visit our website weekly at www.alleycatsandangels.org for weekly adoption event information). Donation receipts for tax purposes will be provided upon request. As always, every dollar (um, cent) goes directly to care for the cats and your donation is tax-deductible.

Make it a family or office project and put your stray coins to good use! Your coins will help with medical needs, spaying/neutering, rescuing abused / abandoned cats, fostering, then finding the right home for those rescued kitties!

We believe that by working together we can change the lives of many of the Triangle’s homeless cats.

Big, beautiful, four-legged, furry woman seeks soul mate!

Do you have room in your heart and home for magnificent girl with an attitude?!

Izzie was rescued when we received a call to help the little cat because it was so cold out; expecting a kitten, we found a beautiful adult instead - and that's quite ok (vet estimates Izzie is 4-6 years old).

Izzie is a typical tortie, which means she has an attitude – she has “tortitude”. Izzie can be wonderfully sweet and then sometimes be a bit persnickety. She loves attention, wants to sit near you, sleep with you, and be a central part of your world. Do not think about closing that door behind you and not letting her into the study with you. She’ll even sit on the bathroom floor and keep you company while you shower or brush your teeth. You won’t be lonely with this lady around!

Izzie actually quite a good snuggler. She has the cutest little short tail (not quite 2/3 the length of an average cat tail) – which is how she gained one of her nicknames (Isabella Stumpy Tail). But we mean it with love – it’s actually quite a cute stumpy tail.

Because of her catitude, Izzie would be best suited to a house without young children. However, if you want unconditional love (95% unconditional love, 3% feigned indifference, and 2% cute kitty attitude), then Izzie is your girl.

Adoption Update

Well, it wasn't nine like the last weekend in July, but we did have a good adoption week/weekend and we are happy that the following cats/kittens found homes:

• Three of the Thundercat kittens were adopted:  Cheetara, Thundera, and Panthro
• Texas (Tex) was adopted (Tex and Panthro were adopted together)
• Penelope was adopted
• Oscar was adopted.  YAY!!!  Oscar's adoption was a direct result of him being featured in the Independent Weekly's Dog Days of Summer Least Adoptable Pets issue.  Thank you Independent Weekly

We have two places to meet the cats this coming weekend. 

• We will be at Wag Pet Boutique in Stonehenge Market in Raleigh from 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m. this Saturday, August 14. 
• We will also be at the PetSmart on the corner of Capital Boulevard/Millbrook Road in Raleigh this Saturday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Oscar is a local celebrity

Ok, well not quite a celebrity, but he was one of four least adoptable pets from local rescue groups featured in the Independent Weekly's Dog Days of Summer issue.  Oscar is our IBS cat who requires special food and that seems to scare away the potential adopters.  Check out the article: http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/least-likely-to-be-adopted/Content?oid=1578301.  Thank you Independent Weekly for selecting Alley Cats and Angels to have a featured cat.

Oscar loves to play fetch and it's trick he taught his foster mom ("hey mom, you throw the ball and I'll go get it and bring it back to you and we'll have lots of fun"). 

His foster mom also has a blog and has several write-ups about Oscar's antics (see below); he's quite a special boy.

• http://mello-cat.livejournal.com/56318.html
• http://mello-cat.livejournal.com/54103.html
• http://mello-cat.livejournal.com/50701.html
• http://mello-cat.livejournal.com/50539.html
• http://mello-cat.livejournal.com/50386.html
• http://mello-cat.livejournal.com/47863.html
• http://mello-cat.livejournal.com/45870.html
• http://mello-cat.livejournal.com/45280.html

 

KoKo adopted

KoKo was adopted today.  Her adoptive family has been waiting patiently for her since she was about 7 weeks old.  They met her and fell in love but we have a 100% spay/neuter before adoption policy.  KoKo was spayed last week and new mommy and daddy are very excited to take her home.   KoKo will be renamed Zoe and will have three big kitty brothers and a big doggy brother to become friends with.

Second Annual "Alley Cat August"

We are celebrating our second annual Alley Cat August with reduced adoption fees of only $60.00 throughout the month of August 2010. 

Why adopt a cat from Alley Cats and Angels?  Well...... 

• People at adoption events love to tell us how well socialized our kittens are -- that's because our cats/kittens are raised in a home environment
• We give you 14 days to let the cat adjust to its new home with a full refund of the adoption fee
• We make a life-time committment to our cats and will take them back at any time for any reason
• Our cats come with a 21-day health guarantee
• All adoptable cats have been fully vetted, including:
• Wellness check
• Treatment for intestinal parasites, ear mites, and fleas
• Testing for FeLV/FIV 
• FVRCP vaccinated (initial vaccination and booster)
• FeLV vaccinated (initial vaccination and booster)
• Rabies vaccination
• Spayed/Neutered
• Microchipped with Home Again microchips with rescue paid enrollment
• Extra flea treatment at time of adoption (if not treated with Revolution in the past 28 days)

We invite our community to celebrate Alley Cat August with us and join our life-saving efforts by welcoming a rescue cat into their home. The reduced adoption fees will help us reach our goal of finding homes for all of our rescue cats by encouraging more adoptions.

Make this a summer of love for your family because the adoption fees are reduced, but there will be no reduction in the love received from a fabulous feline companion.

Ten cats/kittens adopted this weekend

Another great adoption week for the cats.  We adopted out ten cats/kittens since Thursday:

• Parker - an adult cat - YAY!
• Wall-E
• BoPeep
• Oklahoma
• Utah
• Diva
• Yum Yum
• Carolina
• Apex Abby
• Apex Hunter

Thank you to all the Alley Cats volunteers who helped staff the multiple events.  You all totally rock