URGENT - barn/garden home for two ferals needed ASAP

URGENT: immediate need for a barn/garden home for two feral cats in immediate danger. Or some place to house them until a barn/garden home can be found (safe enclosure). Unfortunately during kitten season, we don't have a room to house feral cats awaiting barn homes. Please email info@alleycatsandangels.org for more info. Thank you.

Adoption Update

It was a slow holiday weekend, but three kittens were adopted this weekend.  Two of the Avengers kittens (Captain America and Black Widow) were adopted together.  And the Bunny was adopted.  Bunny (also known as The Bunny) was one of the kittens left in a shopping basket at Walmart on Easter Sunday.

In addition, four cats were placed in safe barn homes this weekend.  One set of three ferals in imminent danger went to a barn home and then we placed a friendly cat from another rescue group into a barn home.  The sweet girl had lived outside all of her life and had not adjusted to being inside only.  She went to a great training barn with lots of children visiting, so they needed a friendly cat.  They are in love with her.

Adoption Update

Adopted last week: Super Sweetie and Clover together, Count Chocula and Kashia together, Oatmeal, Skye, Minnow, and Iron Man.

Meet Bunny

Bunny goes in for spay soon and is expected to be available for adoption shortly after. Here she is, defending the bed from the blanket monster.

She's also a fan of her empty bowl

Arthur Videos

You can't get Arthur down. He just loves to play.

Arthur, playing and then at emergency vet

Here's sweet, teeny tiny Arthur playing with a catnip knot. Catnip knots aren't very big and he's barely bigger than the toy!  

Less than an hour after the video, Arthur decided to jump off his kitty play condo (which isn't very high) and do a face plant onto the floor.  He started gushing blood and his lip looks torn.  He's is currently at the Veterinary Specialty Hospital in Raleigh (http://www.vshcarolinas.com/).  He'll be staying over night so he can be closely monitored.  His lip tore more and the wire that was through the skin and soft tissue into the bone looks displaced.  He'll get a surgical consult in the morning.  Arthur is already so underweight that any impairment to his ability to eat could be devastating. Yes, that does mean more medical expenses.  

Update on Arthur

More detail on Arthur:  Arthur went into the vet hospital yesterday morning. He weighs 1 pound and has all of his baby teeth so his age estimate is between 7-8 weeks. He is super small, probably from malnutrition, so we are getting that under control. An average 7-8 week old kitten is about 2 pounds and twice his size.

Arthur did have surgery yesterday for his lips. First, they were going to just clean it out and apply a few stitches, but after going in, they found that all of the small tissue had degloved along with his lip, but he is doing great. They had to put a wire into the bone and are very optimistic that his lips will reattach themselves to the scar tissue. The wire will come out in a few weeks.  Dr. Jon said if he had to guess, his lip injury is probably from hitting the road or barrier, face first.

He doesn't seem to be in much pain when he eats but no dry food for him at all right now per our vet. We are feeding him a mixture of canned food mixed with KMR powder and water. He was given an injection of pain medication and has some oral liquid pain meds that he'll take for the next week or so.

So the hard part is over for this little man! He is also responding to his name!

Arthur is in very good spirits, wants to run around, play, purrs up a storm and doesn't mind some cuddles. :-)

Eventful week

Adoption Program
After two very slow weekends - no adoptions, almost unheard of for us to have two weekend with no adoptions - four of the Sweetie Pie kittens were adopted this weekend:  Hucklberry Pie, Rhubarb Pie (by a previous adopter), and Apple Pie and Strawberry Pie together. 

Barn Cat Program Update
Max and Gus went to an alternative home on Thursday. They went to a living and learning center with residential and vocation programs for adults with autism. The residents and staff were very happy for the cats to move in. They're set up in a building by the garden and barn. I know the big ol' lunkheads (term of affection, they were big cats with big heads) will be very happy. They'll even have 79 acres to roam when they want. Quite a change from the mean streets of NYC - where they came from.  This was a great move for them.


Flopsy was moved to the barn cat program after re-evaluation.  She's such a pretty lady but she was scratching and biting, so no adoptable material (originally she seemed to be feral, but likes belly rubs once in a while).  She went to a property that adopted one of our barn cats two years ago and wanted another barn cat for their second barn.  The first barn cat was a persnickety guy but now he's their mascot and lets people love on him.  They are ok if Flopsy ends up wanting attention but understand if she doesn't. 


The best news is that we were able to find a barn home for three cats that another rescue group had.  These cats most likely should have been TNR'd.  Two of the cats are 2  years old - they have been in a cage since they were 3 months old.  The other has been in a cage for almost a year.  Breaks my heart.  Yes, they were safe living inside but they were a priority because they did not have any quality of life.  Only a few more weeks of being caged and then they have 20 acres to run around and exercise and regain their muscles (they are fat, skin, and fur over bones - no muscles).  The family is so nice and they are putting a cat door into their workshop so the cats have a climate controlled place to hang out when they want.  So happy for these three cats .

Meet Arthur

Named Arthur because he was saved by the lady at the lake. Thrown out of a car at a local lake, this little one is only 5 weeks old, has a degloved lower lip (much worse than appears to be in pictures), wound on tummy, had three ticks, and tons of fleas (we stopped counting around flea number 40), and is super skinny. Headed to vet first thing in this morning. 

Meet Snowball

Found in a grate at Duke University's student housing

Community Events

We handed out lots of literature over the weekend, raised more community awareness of our organization, sold some catnip toys, tshirts, etc. to raise some money for our medical fund, AND saved some kittens this weekend at our community events!  We raised more money than anticipated from donations and sales.  Awesome!

We had three community events and for the most part, the weather held out until the end (exception - OutRaleigh event, it took 4 people to hold down the tent around 1PM because the wind was so bad).

We had people come by our booth at Apex Peak Fest that had bought our awesome handmade catnip toys last year so they could buy more.  Yay!

At Meet in the Street in Wake Forest, Jill came across a lady with two kittens she needed to find homes for and it was 90 degrees out, and they had no water.  The kittens were panting and close to distress. Fortunately, we always have carriers in our car.  These two beauties are friendly and playful and had nice full bellies when they went to bed that night.

Jill and Nicky, two of our board members working it!

 Our new tshirts

Tricia, one of our TNR Task Force Leaders at OutRaleigh

Meet in the Street rescue kittens

Come celebrate Cinco de Meow-O with us!

Blackjack is ready to party! Won't you come visit us at Meet in the Street (Wake Forest), Peak Fest (Apex), or OutRaleigh (downtown Raleigh) this Saturday?

COMMUNITY EVENTSAll Events – Saturday, May 5, 2012

Apex Peak Fest (downtown Apex, NC)
9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Meet in the Street (downtown Wake Forest, NC)
9:00 AM to 6:00 PM

OutRaleigh (downtown Raleigh, NC)
10:00 AM to 7:00 PM

Come by and find get information about our organization, feral cats and local low-cost spay/neuter.We will have our fabulous catnip toys and KITTYSTRONG wristbands for sale.

Elizabeth Ruffing original Hug Me Kittens and Hug Me Slugs also available for purchase at the events

It's an awesome day!

On March 23, we took in a litter of four kittens, three of which  tested faint positive for FeLV.  They were only four weeks old so they have been in quarantine since they so they could be retested once they were over 60 days old as the mom's antibodies can stay in them for that long.  The one FeLV negative boy has been quarantined by himself, and the other three quarantined together.  I tried not to get attached to them just in case but that sure didn't work - I love them so much.

We retested Tuesday evening (they are now over 60 days old) and the negative boy was still negative, one of the faint positives was definitely negative but the other two were too close to call.  So we made an appointment and had them retested at the vet today.

Dr. Cindy said without a doubt, they are all negative!!!  They are so adorable and should be available for adoption in about a month.  I'll get pictures up soon.  They are the font kittens - the two males are orange classic marble tabbies with white (Garamond and Palantino), a calico (Verdana), and a tabbico (Cambria). I'm so happy!

15 years of doing rescue and never had any test positive for FeLV until this year.  It's a horrible disease, so very contagious.

Mother's Day Sponsorships

Looking for a unique Mother's Day present for your mom?  Please consider making a donation to sponsor one our wonderful mama cats in honor of the special mom in your life.  You'll receive a printed photo card of one of our sweet mama cats inside a beautifully handcrafted Mother's Day card to give to the honoree.  Pictures of the mama cats available for sponsorship are on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150727677781914.395905.132383006913&type=3.


Donations can be made by credit card via Paypal (on our website at www.alleycatsandangels.org, please specify Mother's Day promotion and the mama cat you wish to sponsor) or via check mailed to our post office box (Alley Cats and Angels, PO Box 785, Apex, NC 27502).  Donations must be received by Monday, May 7 in order for us to make cards and get them mailed in time to be received by Mother's Day. 


Email info@alleycatsandangels.org for more information.

Sample cards from top to bottom: Level I, Level II, Level III.  The higher level cards are more detailed and intricate, but they are all handmade and beautiful. Special colors/themes can be requested.  

Community Events this weekend

All Events - Saturday, May 5, 2012 

Apex Peak Fest (downtown Apex, NC) 

9:00 AM to 5:00 PM 

Meet in the Street (downtown Wake Forest, NC)

 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM 

OutRaleigh (downtown Raleigh, NC) 

10:00 AM to 7:00 PM 

Come by and find get information about our organization, feral cats and local low-cost spay/neuter.We will have our fabulous catnip toys and KITTYSTRONG wristbands for sale. Elizabeth Ruffing original Hug Me Kittens and Hug Me Slugs also available for purchase at the events