It Was Spay & Neuter Day Today!

Approximately one day a month, PAWS donates areas of its facility to a local organization by the name of FeralCare - an all-volunteer group dedicated to spay and neuter efforts to help control cat overpopulation. Volunteers capture these kitties and bring them to PAWS, where veterinarians volunteer their time to spay and neuter them.

Today a total of 49 cats were spayed/neutered. FeralCare had planned to do a lot more, but a caravan carrying 20+ cats had car trouble and did not make it to the event.

This month's event was not without its scary moment ... one of the kittens spayed at the clinic was not waking up, even several hours after her surgery. Our shelter director brought her to an emergency clinic where she received IV fluids and supportive care. Happily, though, she was up and about the very next day. And what, you may be asking, happened to the kitten? Well ... she's now a PAWS kitty, and has been newly named "Miracle." (:

Thank you, FeralCare, for all of the wonderful work you do!

If you or anyone else would like more info on FeralCare please visit www.feralcare.com.

Hey ... is that cat winking at me?

It's pretty safe to say Sammy has already used up at least a few of his nine lives. But there have also been times that he's qualified for the title of "luckiest cat in town."

Sammy, who is 12 years young, was abandoned some years ago by his owners. A compassionate neighbor noticed this super-friendly (and hungry) fellow wandering around and began feeding him on a regular basis. She would even let him in the house when the weather turned foul. Everything seemed to be going well, but over time, the woman noticed Sammy's eye was severely swollen and rapidly getting worse. She couldn't stand the thought of him suffering, but not having much money, the well-meaning woman took Sammy to a vet to be euthanized. As luck would have it, a local animal rescuer just happened to be at the vet office when Sammy came in, and to make a long story short ... our lucky boy ended up at PAWS.

Sammy was diagnosed with severe glaucoma, and it became clear that his right eye would need to be removed. This resilient feline came through the operation with flying colors. But his road to recovery was interrupted by repeated gastrointestinal upset and frequent vomiting. The folks at PAWS had him examined by a vet, and numerous tests determined that Sammy had an esophageal stricture (a narrowing of the esophagus that makes swallowing difficult). A procedure was performed to correct this, and we're happy to report that he's doing well.

If you're wondering how life's trials and travails have affected Sammy, just take a look at his photo (taken as he purred and snuggled up in the lap of yours truly!). It almost looks as if he's winking at the camera, which I think is a pretty good summation of this kitty's wonderful disposition. It's amazing, but this cat who has been through so much is still the embodiment of sweetness and love. I have no doubt that Sammy is going to be an incredible friend and companion to the person (or people) lucky enough to adopt him. :)

Psst...

Kev and I have a "best kept secret" we need to share with you, straight from the cats' mouths at PAWS...

"The Scratch Lounge is awesome ... I chase other cats off of it just so that I can have it all to myself."

- Houdini the Cat, PAWS

"From what I can tell, the Scratch Lounge is really nice ... if only Houdini would give me more than 10 seconds on it."

- Reggie the Cat, PAWS

The Scratch Lounge is what we feel is the best cat scratcher on the market today. It's the first 3-sided scratcher- a "one-of-a-kind design" that allows cats to satisfy their instinctual need to nest. It can even help prevent cats from damaging furniture!

You might want to check it out ... I did a Google search and found their Website ... it's located at http://scratchlounge.com/index.html. And when surfing their site I found out that portion of the proceeds of each sale goes to animal rescue and spay/neuter programs ... (:

Come (Adopt) Mr. Tally Man!

If Tally could talk, I'm pretty sure he'd say that nothing beats spending some nice, quiet time with friends and family. Although this handsome guy gets along well with the other cats in his "open" room at PAWS, he generally stays out of the thick of things. At times when the room's more active residents are running around and playing, Tally can usually be found curled up in a zen-like state (with the other more placid kitties) on a couch or futon. It's like he knows it's only a matter of time before one of his human friends comes along to give him the love and attention he deserves. And he's right ... this mellow fellow has a certain something we just can't resist! Tally is truly a gentle giant, and we're confident that he would do especially well in a quieter home (one with comfy furniture, of course).

Update On Pepper (aka Peppy)...

Hi everyone,

I wanted to give you all an update on Pepper - the sweet, chubby grey and white kitty mentioned many moons ago in our blog.

This weekend I visited her as she was lying down in her cage and I began to cradle her head. Based on her response (i.e. purring like a MAC truck), I would have to say she enjoyed it very much!

And while I don't truly know for sure, I think I may have enjoyed it even more...(:

Great News from Tump and His Peeps!

We LOVE hearing "happily ever after" stories from PAWS grads and their humans. Those of you who've been following our Blog for a while may remember Tump, the handsome, solid grey kitty adopted in June. We recently received the following message from his owners:

"I just wanted to give you a quick update on Tump, who I adopted from PAWS. He settled in very quickly, and is such a Zen kitty. He loves to sit on the windowsills and watch the birds, and he's constantly purring. During the 4th of July, when a lot of fireworks went off in the neighborhood, he wasn't fazed in the least! Visitors aren't a problem either; he just sits on the sofa next to them, and rolls around. I'd say he's one happy cat.”

Now that's what we call a happy home!

Previous posts about Tump:

Great News About Tump the Cat

Oh Snap! It's Ginger and Tump!

Our Younger Boy, Moose (a PAWS graduate)

When people learn that Tracey and I volunteer regularly at an animal shelter, they often ask how we can do so without wanting to "take all of the animals home." Sometimes we ask ourselves the exact same thing. : )

As volunteers, we have the chance to really get to know the cats at PAWS. Through regular interactions, we get first-hand knowledge of the personalities, temperaments and quirks of these kitties. It's been our experience that each cat has something that makes it special and unique. And while we love all of them, every once in a while a cat will come along who completely and utterly touches our hearts. Those are the ones we've ended up adopting.

We've already written about our cat Sammy, who is a PAWS alum. He shares our house (and our affections) with his younger brother Moose, who was adopted from PAWS a little over a year ago. (Moose, by the way, is the silly boy pictured on his back at the top of our blog.)

At PAWS, Moosey was a calm cat who got along well with cats and humans alike. In our home, he's become increasingly snuggly (he sleeps with us every night), confident and vocal (in a nice way). While not exactly best buddies, he and Sammy seem, for the most part, to like each other's company (as you can see from the second picture, we've even caught them sleeping on the couch together).

We love you, Moosey!