RESCUES RECENTLY TAKEN INTO TEN LIVES CLUB…

June 2010

Last week a mother and her older daughter who were being evicted from their apartment walked into the shelter holding six adult cats in their hands (no carriers, three in each of their hands). She had to give them all up. None of the cats were fixed so we took on two pregnant mamas and four black and white tuxedo boys. We received a $100 donation for the six cats, but the cost was about $1200 for them after neutering/shots/testing/flea treatment was done and it will cost an additional $1800 once the kittens are born. Another woman brought a mama cat and her kittens in and gave a $15.00 donation. Since our SPCA is on limited intake and all area groups are on overload, many people are choosing to dump unwanted cats on our property or show up unannounced. If we refuse them after they drove all the way out to the shelter, these cats are being dropped or tossed out around the corner as they leave.

Another woman showed up "unannounced" (an appointment is needed for surrenders to our group) with her twelve year old cat who had started peeing around her house and was not getting along with her two other cats. She wanted to give us $75 to take this cat. When I explained to her that we are not a dumping ground for unwanted personal pets she said she was NOT dumping her cat. Then what exactly was she doing I wanted so badly to ask her??? It took all I had not to snap at her!! She was hoping we would take her senior cat with a peeing problem who does not like other cats for a $75 DUMPING fee is the bottom line! Many people are looking to adopt young cats and many do not even want a cat older than age five let alone a twelve year old. Not a lot of people are standing in line for a cat with a peeing problem who does not get along with other cats either. I explained to her that any personal pets entering our program over the age of eight has to have a complete blood work up done at our affiliated outside vet to make sure we are not taking in any sick cats we are then stuck dealing with ( kidney/liver disease, diabetes). She told me the cat was healthy. Are we suppose to adopt this cat out telling the new owner that the previous owner SAID the cat was healthy?? The bottom line is she wanted to give us her problem for a mere $75 and walk away making this OUR problem to figure out. When I say OUR problem it means every one of us as a volunteer, supporter, paid employee, etc. to help this cat from the day it enters our program to tend to it, feed it, buy litter for the cat, have paid cleaners take care of it, treat it with paid staff should it get sick, need meds/fluids/extra vet care, transport the cat possibly, spend hours of time in the anticipated hope of getting it adopted, put ads and flyers up on this cat, etc.

It is very common for many personal pets coming to a shelter such as TLC to have been spoiled and pampered living with one owner or in a home for many years to get severely depressed when given up/brought to our shelter. We have seen this hundreds of times with older cats coming in. Cats like people, form attachments and get upset/depressed and withdrawn when this attachment is severed. We have to put this poor cat in a room with some thirty other cats when it may have never even lived with another cat. The cat hides, stops eating, and get sick from stress. Some of these cats are so terrified they pee on themselves and huddle in a corner. We as volunteers and staff watch helplessly as they lose weight and deteriorate right before our are eyes. These cats have lost their zest for life and are grieving the loss of their owner and home. We then as an organization spend monies for blood work and testing on a depressed cat hoping there is a cause/reason for their weight loss/behavior when there rarely is one (they are diagnosed by the vet as depressed and giving up on life). It is more humane for the owner of this senior cat to DO THE RIGHT THING and have the cat euthanized in a vet office with the owner by it's side. Giving a senior cat to a shelter, any shelter is NOT the right thing to do for the cat. After ten years of taking cats into our organization this is definitely not the right thing for the cat. We can attest to this. In the end it is our volunteers and staff that end up holding this senior cat as it dies in the shelter after long hours and monies were spent trying to keep it alive. It is heartbreaking to all involved and sad knowing that no matter how much money, love, and care we gave this senior cat they are heartbroken and no longer want to go on.

We recently took in five sickly bottle fed newborns from the City Shelter that went to two separate foster homes and six part Bengal kittens; four are now neutered and ready for adoption. A female Bengal will be spayed when she is at least 3 pounds. We took in four motherless kittens and six motherless kittens (two seperate cases). We also assisted in a raid from Tonawanda, NY with the SPCA and took in sixteen cats. We are working on getting three scared cats out of a condemned home. Two cats with very matted long-hair who are not spayed/neutered showed up at our mall adoption site as the owner could not care for them. These two cats have an appointment in July through Bow Wow and Meow Grooming Services; loyal supporters of TLC who will groom them and two other cats free of charge! Grooming is not cheap so we are very appreciative of this kind donation to help the cats. Other cats are being brought to Tabbytown McKinley Mall main adoption site weekly which was NEVER meant to be the case. All cats surrendered to TLC need to be done by appointment only through our shelter vet. The public has no clue that we CANNOT just take cats they bring to us, put them in a cage, and tell the new owner it is healthy and please adopt it without it being checked over first by our vet. There are policies and procedures we follow as an organization for EVERY cat/kitten entering our program. We are an accredited organization and we have to follow guidelines to make us so. We test all our cats (we just ordered thirty feline leukemia/FIV testing kits costing $395.00) and each undergoes a physical exam and are vaccinated.

An orange baby kitten about three weeks old was brought to us the other day. It was found in the dumpster at the North Boston market. Paintbrush (a young mama cat who had given birth to kittens at the shelter only to have all but one of them die) took in this little kitten as if it was her own. When two young girls showed up at the shelter with a one week old kitten they had rescued from being fed to a snake at a party they were at, Paintbrush took ths kitten in as well. She is proving to be a wonderful mother taking these little orphans on. We just added a black four week old kitten to Paintbrush’s growing brood. Paintbrush and her band of orphans are just one of many cats/kittens looking for a foster home for the next eight weeks. Any takers???

Just so all know what TLC is up against, since June 3,2010 we have taken in over 70 cats/kittens. Some organizations do not do this in one year! TLC was started to help homeless and stray cats. It is NOT a dumping ground for people who committed to adopting an animal and then don’t want to deal with the animal's behavior or issues, or because something in THEIR life changed (new baby, new wife/husband, moving, allergic, etc.). I know it might sound cruel, but they made a commitment when they chose to adopt a cat and it is their problem NOT ours to figure out what to do when they suddenly cannot keep it. In a situation when someone dies and has no one to take their cat, we would hope that the family would step in but if not we are happy to help.

Between our shelter cats, those in foster homes, and the cats seeking adoption at Tabbytown and our other adoption sites, we have over 350+ cats and kittens we are tending to and need to find homes for. We were started as a revolving door adoption shelter, meaning moving them in and moving them out to new homes. We were never, EVER meant to be a sanctuary for the unwanted and older cats which we have accumulated over many years. All of our surrenders are done by appointment only and no one should be just showing up at the shelter or at our mall store with cats in their hands. In reality, they are and TLC is dealing with each case/cat.

Please make sure that anyone you refer to our organization knows they need to call and schedule a surrender appointment at our shelter.