catangel – Page 10 – Cat Angel Network

Auction news

A great big “THANK YOU” goes out to all involved with yesterday’s highly successful Cat Angel Network Benefit Auction! It was so much fun bidding on the beautiful items and seeing all of our supportive CAN friends. But the best part is knowing that the funds raised will help cats who may have never felt the loving, caring touch of a friend offering medical services, food, shelter, and an adoption opportunity. With the more than $11,000 contributed yesterday, we will be able to show more kitties, “You have a friend in CAN.”

LauraLizzieGavinJessie

The above kittens were abandoned in a shoebox on May 3rd of this year. One day old, with no mother, their outlook for survival seemed slim. But with the help of our contributors & volunteers, they were fostered, received complete medical care, and are now ready for adoption at the Pottstown PETsMART. Ask to see Laura, Lizzie, Gavin & Jessen!

Annual Auction October 24th

Mark your calendar today for our upcoming auction on Sunday, October 24th. If you haven’t attended one of our auctions, you really should make an effort to come this year. With bargains galore, excellent food, and a room filled with cat lovers, the event is always fun, fun, fun! There is no pressure to buy, but few can resist the wonderful bargains and great opportunities to do a little holiday shopping.

We are most fortunate to have Bud and Annette Smith from Smith Auction Gallery running the live auction. They make bidding fun and easy for the novice auction attendee!

Auction FAQs

When and where is the event? The date is Sunday, October 24th from 2-5 p.m. The silent auction runs from 2-3 p.m. with the live auction beginning at 3 p.m.

The event will be held at the West Chester Senior Center, 530 East Union Street, West Chester (www.wcseniors.org). There is a great map on the Senior Center website.

Where do I get tickets? The price of admission is $20 per person, which includes delicious hot and cold hors d’oeuvres. There are no physical tickets. Just fill out the form (see page 4) and return it with your check/cash, or right here our website where you can purchase admission using PayPal. Your name will be on a list of attendees, so you will only need to check in at the door. We strongly encourage making reservations in advance and appreciate receiving your reservation coupon purchase or PayPal payment by October 18th. After that date, please call or email Henry to reserve admission to the event.

Tickets at the door will be available on a first come, first serve basis.

Dress? We suggest “business casual.”

How can I help make this event a success? If you would like to contribute a new item for the auction, please contact Henry. Also, we could use help advertising the event. We can send you a flyer to print out via email. In addition, we would love to have a business or individual donor cover the cost of the Senior Center. This expense is $350.00. If you would like to cover this cost, please contact Henry.

What type of items are acceptable for the auction? Gift baskets, restaurant gift certificates, jewelry, items of value, and bottles of wine to name a few. If you would like to have us purchase an item at wholesale from Pure Country Weavers and list you as a donor, please contact Henry.

What is the deadline to donate items? The deadline is October 6th. After that date, we may still be able to take high quality items that will bring a good price at the auction.

What payment is accepted at the event? Cash and check only. Absolutely no credit cards.

If you have questions, please contact: Henry Grabb – catangelpa@aol.com (or call 610-873-0430)

Pet Trusts

Have you given any thought to Fluffy’s future in the event that she were to outlive you? We don’t like to think about that possibility but the spirit of it is actually very responsible. Deciding who you would want to take care of your beloved pet not only makes sense, but it gives you the assurance that Fluffy will be well taken care of in your absence.

If you know your family and friends are not the best people to care for Fluffy (even if they’re willing), you should probably consider a Pet Trust. You arrange with the person of your choice to take Fluffy into their care and designate funds from your estate to go to that person for Fluffy’s care. You should consult with your lawyer concerning the various types of legal trusts which you can consider.

In the event that your options do not include someone whom you would entrust with Fluffy, there are many wonderful organizations who will care for Fluffy as you request in your Pet Trust. Some people prefer to have the organization find a loving home where their pet can become part of a new family, while others opt for the security of a retirement home or sanctuary where your pet will be forever cared for and looked after as a retiree.

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If a pet organization is the best option, make sure they are highly reputable. Learn what their criteria is for matching your pet with the right family and home. If you do choose an

organization, it’s a good idea to leave funds for them in a pet trust. Some facilities require a fee to take your pet, while others rely on donations. In any case, you want to make sure they have the funds to care for your pet.

People in their golden years are generally much better at looking ahead and planning for the care of their pets, while those of us who can’t yet get senior discounts don’t even like to think about such things. But, no matter how young and healthy you are, it’s important to have a plan in place for your pets. Not only does it ensure that your pet would be well cared for, but it keeps your family from having to decide where Fluffy will live. You know your pet best, so you’ll feel better if you make the decisions about her future.

If you are interested in setting up a trust for your cat with Cat Angel Network and would like to discuss details, please email jaysing@aol.com.

100 Ways To Help

This list of one hundred ways to help a cat shelter can be found many places on the internet (mostly oriented toward dog rescue – we’re providing the cat version!) Please take a moment to read through and see if there’s any small way you can help us or another rescue group in your area.

Transport a cat?
Donate a cat bed or towels or other *bedding* type items?**
Donate MONEY?
Donate a toy mouse? A sparkle ball? A catnip pouch?
Donate a crate?
Donate a blanket or baby blankets (good size)?
Donate a food dish?
Donate a harness and leash?
Donate a collar?
Donate some treats or a bag of food?
Donate canned food?
Cuddle a rescue cat for the foster parent?
Groom a cat?
Donate some grooming supplies (shampoos, combs, brushes, etc.)?
Go to the local shelter and watch out for needy cats?
Make a few phone calls?
Mail out applications to people who’ve requested them?
Provide local vet clinics with contact information for educational materials on responsible pet ownership?
Drive a cat to and from vet appointments?
Donate long distance calling cards?
Donate the use of your scanner or digital camera?
Donate the use of a photocopier?
Attend public education days and try to educate people on responsible pet ownership?
Donate a gift certificate to a pet store?
Donate a raffle item if your club is holding a fund raiser?
Donate flea stuff (Advantage, etc.)?
Donate heart worm pills?
Donate a feline first aid kit?
Provide a shoulder to cry on when the rescue person is overwhelmed?
Pay the boarding fees to board a cat for a week? Two weeks?
Be a Santi-paws foster to give the foster a break for a few hours or days?
Clip coupons for cat food or treats?
Make some homemade cat treats?
Sign up for eScrip.com?
Host rescue photos with an information link on your website?
Donate time to take good photos of foster cats for adoption flyers,etc.?
Conduct a home visit or accompany a rescue person on the home visit?
Go with rescue person to the vet to help if there is more than one cat?
Have a yard sale and donate the money to rescue?
Be volunteer to do rescue in your area?
Take advantage of a promotion on the web or store offering a free ID tag and instead of getting it for your own pet, have the tag inscribed with your center’s name and phone # to contact?
Talk to all your friends about adopting and fostering rescue cats?
Donate vet services or can you help by donating a spay or neuter each year or some vaccinations?
Interview vets to encourage them to offer discounts to rescues?
Write a column for your local newspaper or rescue newsletter on cats on cats currently looking for homes or ways to help rescue?
Take photos of cats available for adoption for use by the Club?
Maintain web sites listing/showing cats available?
Help organize and run fundraising events?
Help maintain the paperwork files associated with each cat or enter the information into a database?
Hang a poster at the grocery store?
Microchip a rescued cat?
Loan your carpet steam cleaner to someone who has fostered a cat that was sick or marked in the house?
Donate a bottle of bleach or other cleaning products?
Donate or loan a portable cat playpen to someone who doesn’t have a quarantine area for quarantining a cat that has an unknown vaccination history and has been in a shelter?
Drive the fosters’ children to an activity so that the foster can take the cat to the vet?
Use your video camera to film a rescue cat in action?
Pay the cost of taking a cat to it’s new home?
Be the one to take cat to its new home?
Go to the foster home once a week to help socialize a cat?
Help the foster clean the litter pans?
Offer to test the foster cat with dogs?
Pay for the cat to be groomed or take the cat to a *Do It Yourself* Grooming Place?
Bring the foster take out so the foster doesn’t have to cook dinner?
Pay a house-cleaning service to do the spring cleaning > for someone who fosters cats all the time?
Lend your artistic talents to your center’s newsletter, fundraising ideas, t-shirt designs?
Donate printer paper, envelopes and stamps to your club?
Go with a rescue person to the vet if a foster cat needs to be euthanized due to incurable health conditions and suffering?
Go to local shelters and meet with shelter staff about how to identify your breed or provide photos and breed information showing the different types of that breed may come in and the ? different color combinations?
Go to local businesses and solicit donations for a center’s fundraising >event?
Offer to try and help owners be better pet owners by holding a grooming seminar?
Help pet owners be better pet owners by being available to answer training questions?
Loan a crate if a cat needs to travel by air?
Put together an *Owner’s Manual* for those who adopt rescued cats of your breed?
Provide post-adoption follow up or support?
Donate a coupon for a free car wash or gas or inside cleaning of a vehicle?
Pay for an ad in your local/metropolitan paper to help place rescue cats?
Volunteer to screen calls for that ad?
Get some friends together to build/repair scratching posts for a foster home?
Microchip your own cats if you are a breeder,and register the chips,so if your cats ever come into rescue, you can be contacted to take responsibility for your cat?
Donate a small percentage of the sale of each cat to rescue if you are a breeder?
Buy two of those really neat cat-items you “have to have” and donate one to Rescue?
Make financial arrangements in your will to cover the cost of caring for your cats after you are gone – so Rescue won’t have to?
Make a bequest in your will to your local or national Rescue?
Donate your professional services as an accountant or lawyer?
Donate other services if you run your own business?
Donate the use of a vehicle if you own a car dealership?
Loan your cell phone (and cover costs for any calls) to someone driving a rescued cat?
Donate your *used* cat litter pan when you get a new one?
Let rescue know when you’ll be flying and that you’d be willing to be a rescued cat’s escort?
Donate a carrier seatbelt?
Donate a scratching post?
Organize a rescued cat picnic or other event to reunite the other adopters and volunteers?
Donate other types of cat toys that might be safe for rescued cats?
Donate a hairball remedy?
Donate package of brochures on spay/neuter info?
Donate materials for a quarantine area at a foster’s home?
Donate sheets of linoleum or other flooring materials to put under crates to protect the foster’s floor?
Donate an engraving tool to make ID tags for each of the rescued cats?
Remember that rescuing a cat involves the effort and time of many people and make yourself available on an emergency basis to do *whatever* is needed?
Do something not listed above to help rescue?

Fall Auction – Save the Date!

Our annual fall auction will be held this year on October 24th, at the West Chester Senior Center. This year’s event will once again feature wonderful food plus a great live and silent auction. The live auction will be run by Bud and Annette Smith of Smith Auction Company. We are currently accepting donations of items valued at $25 or more. If you have items to donate, please email Henry at catangelpa@aol.com. More details will follow in our September newsletter. Please check us out on Facebook or here at www.catangel.org for periodic updates.

Would My Older Cat Be Happier In A New Home Where She Got More Attention?

QUESTION: I have a beautiful, loving cat that I adopted as a kitten many years ago. She is now 10 years old. The kids no longer pay any attention to her, and I am so busy with work that I’m beginning to think she would be better off in another home. She is a sweet cat and enjoys sleeping in sunny windows or sitting on laps. I think she would make an older person or couple an ideal companion. Wouldn’t she be happier if I surrendered her to Cat Angel Network so she can find another home?

ANSWER: Can I tell you the honest truth, from a cat’s point of view? The truth is, NO, she wouldn’t be happier. The fantasy most people have is that there are many potential adopters for a friendly senior cat like theirs. They believe that their “nine-year-old-or-older” kitty will soon leave the comforts of the shelter to be taken home by a lovely retired couple who will lavish her with the time and attention she craves.

The reality for a kitty like yours is more likely to be an experience like the following. Upon entering the shelter, she’ll go into a cage so she can feel safe until she acclimates. She will probably not want to come out of her carrier so it will be placed in the cage with her. Being in an unfamiliar room, approached by unfamiliar people, and surrounded everywhere by unknown cats, she’ll huddle in her carrier, some cats for days, others for weeks and even months. Most refuse food, requiring days of persistent prompting by the volunteers so they don’t succumb to liver damage. The adjustment period can take months, and some, especially former “only cats,” never adjust to a life surrounded by other kitties. Aggression is very common in a cat under such stress, and even the nicest cat can lash out at anyone or anything approaching the sanctity of her cage. As nice as our shelter looks to a visitor, it is a terrifying place to a cat leaving the only home she has ever known.

Once kitty adjusts, she is available for adoption. Here’s where that loving older couple puts in an application for her and takes her home, right? Unfortunately, that is not likely. Although your kitty WOULD make a wonderful pet for them, they are most likely to request…. a kitten. At least 90% of the applications we receive are for the youngest kitten possible. Whether it’s because adopters don’t want to go through the loss of another pet too soon, or they’re afraid of vet bills for an older kitty, adopters most often choose kittens, while wonderful older cats wait on the sidelines, passed over again and again.

Sometimes adopters will state that they don’t want a kitten, but an “older cat.” Asked specifically what they’re looking for, most reply, “Oh, everybody wants kittens so I’m looking for an older cat, somewhere between one and three years — definitely not older than five.”

fireplace The sad reality is that only one or two cats that are nine years old or older get adopted from Cat Angel Network each year. Those days on which a senior kitty goes home are very, very happy days for everyone at CAN. So, please, please, let your kitty live out her golden years in the comfort of her own home, surrounded by her family and enjoying the simple, familiar rituals that cats love so much. Believe me, she would NOT be happier having to join the ranks of the many, many homeless cats competing for too few homes. That competition leaves senior kitties at a distinct disadvantage, most living out their last years in the shelter, waiting for an adoption application that never comes. May she never be in the position that so many of us are, of watching the shelter door, praying,

“Please, God, may the next person who comes in to adopt not say ‘Too old, too big’ when he looks at me.”