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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Great Thanksgiving Weekend for the Cats

We had great adoptions over the long Thanksgiving weekend.  Ten cats were adopted - nine kittens (including older kittens) and one adult.  The following cats were adopted this weekend:  Sanford, Inca, Aztec, Salmon, Pumpkin, Pacino, Felix, Felicia, Fergie, and Mr. Beans.

In addition, we relocated five at-risk feral/semi-feral cats to two safe barn homes.  We drove over 415 total (two relocations on opposite sides of the state!) but it was worth it to get these cats into safe environments.

Monday, November 22, 2010

For grins and giggles....Christmas kitties!!

Some thinking "oh the indignation of it all", while others were thinking "payback is heck, you two legged being".  But they all agreed on one thing - that the people are never allowed to do this to them again!  These cats (and many, many more) are available for adoption.  Please contact us if you are interested in adopting, fostering, or volunteering.
Fred

Rhett

Suzie

Ashley

Great News - we won another grant!

We received notification Friday that we were awarded a grant by the Bernice Barbour Foundation. 

With this grant, we will be able to hold two low cost spay days for cats whose owners have lower incomes, are unemployed, etc.  These spay days will also include spay/neuter and vaccinations for feral cats whose caregivers cannot afford the cost of sterilization.

Approximately 30 cats will be helped with each spay day, so the opportunity to provide spay/neuter and vaccinations for only $10 for up to 60 cats means a lot fewer unwanted litters of kittens will be born next year. 

Thank you to the Bernice Barbour Foundation. 

We were awarded both grants we applied for.  This means a lot to us because every dollar from these grants will be used to provide low-cost spay/neuter.  Just from these two grants (and a matching donation for the ASPCA grant), we are able to provide spay/neuter for up to 105 cats.  It's a huge win in our fight against overpopulation.  With donations and fundraisers, we'll be able to provide even more low-cost spay/neuter surgeries.

Adoption Update

It continues to be a slow adoption time right now, and with so many cats and kittens needing homes and the fact that we cannot take in any more until we have lots and lots of adoptions, I hope adoptions pick up.  But we did have two adoptions this weekend:  Tater and Navajo. 

Monday, November 15, 2010

Be an "Alley Cat Angel" this Holiday Season

Alley Cats and Angels wants to ask you to help one of our needy kitties this holiday.


Adoptions are slow this year, we have older cats that will be with us for a very long time, kittens that need a chance and feral cats that need to be spayed / neutered, a bowl of food and a warm place to sleep.  Please consider a donation, every $1 helps!

You can find our Alley Cat Angel Tree at all adoption events.  You can pick up a card there or drop off food, litter and toys.  You can also make a donation via Paypal on our website and email the details for thank you cards to info@alleycatsandangels.org.

Alley Cat Angel Tree

Wish List:

Long-term residents (very shy cats or older cats not easily adopted): Xiu-Xiu, Eureka, Yates, Yancy, Leesha, Calliope, Lola, Lucky, Quinn, Valentine
  • Annual Vaccinations ($16)
  • ToysLitter (white clay)
  • Food (Purina One Adult - Chicken & Rice or Hairball) 
  • Scoopable Litter (prefer Fresh Step or Scoop Away)
  • Cardboard Scratchers
  • Sponsored Adoption ($60 through the end of the year, $95 regularly)
  • General Donation - name your amount, every $1 counts 
Feral Cats:
  • Spay / Neuter Sponsor ($50)
  • Annual Vaccinations ($10)
  • Any Dry Food (16lbs will feed a colony for a week)
  • Winter Shelter ($25)
  • General Donation - name your amount, every $1 counts 
Or choose any cat in our program:
  • Annual Vaccinations ($16)
  • Spay / Neuter Sponsor ($50)Toys
  • Litter (white clay)
  • Food (Purina One Adult - Chicken & Rice or Hairball) 
  • Scoopable Litter (prefer Fresh Step or Scoop Away)
  • Cardboard Scratchers
  • Sponsored Adoption ($60 through the end of the year, $95 regularly, $50 for black cats in November)
  • General Donation - name your amount, every $1 counts 
If you make a donation we'll send you a donated handmade card (as as well as a tax receipt) and if you make the donation as a gift, we'll send a card to your gift recipient as well.  

Sample of the handmade card that will be sent to you or your gift recipient.


 
Thank you so much for helping the cats in our program and being an Alley Cat Angel!

Adoption Update

Bumble, Flounder, and Georgia Lily was adopted this weekend.  Georgia Lily was adopted by one of our previous adopters and is going to live with one of the other United States kittens (formerly Nevada, now Fiona).  We have quite a few adopters who adopt a second cat from us or refer others to us, which is fantastic.

Also, Mason and Zoey have been in foster to adopt homes and their adoptions were finalized this weekend. 

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

So, tell me, when exactly does kitten season end?!

In North Carolina, kitten season used to be primarily end of March through maybe October.  Now, it seems like it's year round.  We took in babies this year the first week of February.  And we are still getting babies, babies, and more babies.  It's enough to make your head spin.

Officially, intake has been closed for a little while because we have so many, adoptions are slow, and we don't have enough foster homes.  But we are a rescue group that is very heavily into TNR for ferals -- we work on many colonies at one time, and with colonies come kittens.  What are we going to do, TNR adults and leave the 6-week old kittens until they are old enough to be TNR'd?  No way, we couldn't do that.  So we've taken in lots of kittens in the past month from colonies we are currently TNRing.

Then there's the litter of five week kittens from a feral mom that we took in Monday.  Six kittens, one is sick - how could we not take them and leave them in the cold where the sickly one would've most surely died that night alone as his sibling had left him. First stop, vet's office.  Five are doing great, the little one is still touch and go but we're doing everything we can for him but it's wait and see and hope and prayer that he makes it.  And we are hoping and praying and calling Dr. Jodi all the time -- we love the vets that work with us, they are so fantastic, not just great medically but also all around wonderful people.  That litter is a very mixed bag of kittens: two orange tabbies with white mitts, one black and white cow kitten, one dark gray tabby with lots of white (he's the sickly one), one that appears to be all white until you look close and see there's some light orange on his tail and ears, and the other one is a Siamese/dilute calico mix (white with siamese markings with just teensiest bit of very color here and there).  We'll get pictures up soon, have some good ones, just have to upload them.

Then came Chance.  He was brought into PetSmart last night in hopes the rescue would take him.  He's about 7 weeks old and a medium haired orange tabby - adorable as can be with his little fluffy pants.  He was found in the middle of a road and narrowly missed being hit by a car (it passed over him, but didn't hit/roll over him).  He, of course, got scared, jumped, took a tumble and scratched up his little nose.  This picture was taken while he was waiting for his quarantine cage to be set up in the hall bathroom of my house, before the heater in the kicked in so I could bathe him without him getting cold.  This was literally taken within 15 minutes of getting him home - thus the fact that he still has eye boogies in this picture.  Poor little guy was absolutely starving.  Scarfed down canned kitten food and then attacked the dry kitten food.  He is such a good little boy.  Phone pictures so not the best but at least you can see how adorable he is.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Adoption Update

We had three adoptions this weekend:
  • Giselle, the little medium haired dilute calico who had only been with us about a month 
  • Zena, our little black manx (with the manx attitude to match) had been with us since May but didn't necessarily "show well" at adoption events because even though she's really lovey, she hates being picked up
  • Izzie: sweet issue with major torti-tude (torti attitude) but very loving.  Izzie was about 6-7 years old and had been with us almost 2 year.  She was adopted and we're pretty sure it's a perfect match.
So overall, it was a great weekend.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Our first grant award

Yesterday was a great day, we received notification of award of our first grant.  So, with the funds from the grant and matching donation from a generous donor, we will be sponsoring the SNAP-NC mobile spay/neuter van for one day in the near future for a low-cost spay/neuter clinic. 

The SNAP-NC mobile van provides affordable low-cost spay/neuter ($50 for feral cats and $70 for owned pet cats - includes all vaccinations), but in this economy, even $50 or $70 is hard for many people to come up with.  So we will be providing $10 spay/neuters with Alley Cats and Angels paying the remaining fees using the grant and donation money.  However, as long as we have appointments and income criteria is met, no one will be turned away if they are unable to pay a $10 co-pay; because really those are the people that need it the most. 

We will be able to have 45 cats spayed/neutered in a single day.  This spay day will be doing a mix of owned pet cats and feral cats.  This day is targeted for lower/limited income and hardship families and appointments will be made after submission and review of our spay/neuter assistance request form.  We'll keep you posted as soon as we have the spay day date and other details (location of van, etc.) ironed out.

But right now - we are all jumping up and down doing the happy dance!  Being able to provide spay/neuter for 45 cats in one day.  Yeehaw!!!

The low cost mobile spay day is made possible by a grant from the ASPCA (http://www.aspca.org/). 

Because Black Goes with Everything - Black Cat Adoption Promotion

Black Cat Adoption Promotion: November 1-30, 2010 (adoption fee for all black cats reduced to just $50 for the month of November)

Studies show that black cats are about half as likely to be adopted as other cats. On average, they stay several months longer in rescues and shelters than any other cats. Black cats are routinely overlooked by potential adopters for a variety of reasons: superstition, they don’t photograph well, they aren’t distinctive, and there are so many of them in shelters that they just don’t stand out like the colorful calico or orange tabby.

While black cats sometimes conjure up all sorts of thoughts of bad luck, they have also actually been thought to bring good luck at different points in history. The cats themselves don’t cause bad luck but the false reputation of being bad luck often causes them to be unlucky at adoption events.

Black cats need love and a safe home just like other cats in shelter. Black cats are commonly known for have easy going and good natured personalities. They have so much to offer and ask for so little in return.

Black cats are truly gorgeous and regal creatures. Their fur typically has a glossy satin sheen unlike other cats and when the light catches their fur, it shimmers.

We encourage potential adopters to give a black cat a chance – their playful, easygoing attitude will charm you into making them a permanent part of your family. Because Black Goes with Everything!

Click here for a printable PDF flyer of our Black Cat Adoption Promotion: http://alleycatsandangels.org/BlackCat.pdf

Monday, November 1, 2010

Holiday Fundraisers

We have two great ways to check off some of the items on your holiday shopping list and help support the cats at the same time.

Creamy Marble Slab Fudge

Nine (9) delicious flavors
Half-pound and one pound boxes available Orders due by Friday, December 3
See attached link for flyer and order form
http://alleycatsandangels.org/2010-Fudge.pdf
Proceeds split equally between the main medical fund and the Alter an Alley Cat spay/neuter assistance fund




Customer Engraved Crystal Ornaments
Many beautiful engraved designs - custom engraving available
See attached link for flyer and order form
http://alleycatsandangels.org/ACA-Ornaments.pdf
100% of proceeds go to the Alter an Alley Cat spay/neuter assistance fund


Sample Ornament
Available Designs (Alley Cats and Angels design also available)