Cat-Scratchings.com

A friend at work told me about an article in the Dunkirk Observer about the over abundance of kittens and unwanted cats in Chautauqua County  this year.  I was horrified to see how they found some of the kittens. 

The number of unwanted cats is up this year as owners fail to take necessary steps to help keep the kitten population in check.

 

With the summer months heralding kitten season in western New York, failure to spay or neuter pets has caused an increase in cat populations throughout the region, and the country as a whole. Home foreclosures due to an ongoing mortgage crisis have exacerbated the situation and increased the number of abused and abandoned cats as well, ultimately leaving area animal shelters and humane societies inundated with rescued cats.

 

"We’re always overrun with (cats)," Karene Gora, president of the Lakeshore Humane Society said. "… There are a lot of (cats) out there and with kitten season, we’re going to see even more."

 

Gora said there’s already a lengthy waiting list for people bringing in cats at the Lakeshore Humane Society. However, she indicated it’s not a situation specific to this region alone, but one affecting shelters across the United States.

 

In addition to unchecked breeding in the wild, the number of people losing their homes due to foreclosure has had a direct impact on the number of unwanted animals as well, Gora explained.

 

"There are a lot more animals coming into shelters because people just don’t know what to do with them," she said. "… The economy certainly is not helping either; that just compounds the problem."

 

While many of these cats are brought in to a shelter, many others are simply abandoned. When owners fail to spay or neuter these unwanted cats, it not only adds to the number of cats breeding but, consequently, the population boom which occurs annually during kitten season.

 

In order to limit the number of unwanted cats, Gora said shelter volunteers and officials work to educate the public about the need to spay or neuter pets.

 

"People just throw (unwanted cats) out and discard them like garbage," Gora explained. "We have that going on all the time … That’s why we keep pushing people to get their animals spayed or neutered, so we don’t have all these unwanted animals."

 

As the number of unwanted cats increases throughout the region with little relief, cases of neglect, and outright abuse, have become more rampant as well.

 

Frances Price, who manages a foster home for cats through the Lakeshore Humane Society, witnessed numerous cases of abuse and abandonment throughout her time caring for unwanted cats. Price cited cases in which cats were thrown from moving vehicles, including one female which was pregnant; an abandoned kitten found covered in maggots with bones exposed from the hind feet which had rotted off; and other kittens rescued which were found severely emaciated and dehydrated, flea and tick-ridden, suffering from ear and eye infections, pneumonia, abscesses and blindness.

 

"Those kittens are born to suffer and die because people turn out their unspayed cats," Price said in an e-mail. "It is so terrible to see the little ones born only to suffer and die. All that agony could be prevented by spay(ing or) neutering (them). Sadly, a lot of the females with kittens that we take in are friendly, sweet animals that obviously were pets at one time."

 

Currently, the Lakeshore Humane Society doesn’t operate from a central location, but rather depends on the support of foster homes to care for unwanted animals. Without adequate space and resources, and with the population of unwanted cats growing, unfortunately, many are eventually humanely euthanized.  [Article Link]

I really don’t agree with the Lakeshore Humane Society’s (Fredonia, NY) policy on euthanizing animals. I’m not even sure I agree with the euthanization of Margaret, although she was probably in so much pain maybe that was best. I don’t know.

I do know that if you have a pet it is your responsibility to not only take care of that pet but also to give the proper treatment such as neutering/spaying the animal.  They are not garbage you just toss aside when it becomes inconvenient. I had to give up a dog once and I cried all day, maybe that makes me a baby, but I love animals so much they are all special and bring such joy to anyone’s life.  Treat them as you would want to be treated, don’t throw them away.

There are some beautiful cats and dogs up for adoption at the Lakeshore Humane Society, please adopt one if you can, give them a loving home.

A little happiness happened in our house this morning. Abbey has had no prolapse but has had constant diarrhea even being on wellness.  So I did a little research online and found that many Manx owners have their cats on science diet kitten/adult food.  Due to the nerve damage it helps keep the stool harder and less clean up when the bathroom is used.

So we tried it.  We are back to separating Abbey’s food from Gizmo’s, Bucky’s and Franky’s.  Yesterday she didn’t go to the bathroom all day, which worried me.   There was no mess to clean up and she just drank a lot. This morning she went to the bathroom. I was standing there watching her to make sure she went and so I could see how it was. IT WAS NORMAL!!!!!  NO DIARRHEA!!!!

She loves the science diet and it seems to keep her stool as normal as can be.  So far we are really happy with the results and we’ll keep watching her to make sure she’s ok.  I’d rather regulate her food then have to put her through an unnecessary surgery.

Wish us luck!

As you may know I’m a big person on samples and coupons and I could never find store coupons or samples of Wellness.  On Tuesday I ran across the Catster.com forums where they had successfully gotten Wellness coupons and samples from Old Mother Hubbard.   All you have to do is call 1-800-225-0904 and ask for your Wellness samples and coupons. I called on Tuesday and on Friday I received my samples & coupons in the mail!   The coupons expire in January of 2009 and say $1.00 off of any Wellness purchase.   Catster.com says you can call every month to get these, if you’re a little nervous to do that every month have a friend or family member call for you.  Enjoy!

Last night Abbey had some fun getting her head stuck inside the cardboard scratcher we have for the cats. I was able to catch it which surprised me because we were laughing so hard watching her and then Gizmo who plopped on top of it. 

She’s a crazy little thing.

This is our first Wordless Wednesday and it features Franky, the queen of the bed…..

and Abbey the mighty stalker…

On a side note Abbey is doing GREAT! We took her off of the Hills Science Diet wet food because Gizmo was getting it and both were starting to get diarrhea.  There has been no prolapse since July 17 which is 27 days!  Her normal vet called to check up on her and we haven’t seen any signs which would incline us to take her to the new vet because she is progressing well.  Perhaps rescheduling her appointments was a good thing as she is doing very well!

I usually don’t post things like there on here, but I thought it would be good for anyone who shops online.  I recently ran across a website that gives you money back for shopping online.  I use one similar to this but they don’t always have the stores I use online.

I noticed they not only give a $5.00 registration bonus but besides money back on shopping they also list a lot of coupons for online shopping!    I do a lot of eBay surfing and buying; I saw they give you 1% back when shopping on eBay!  Woot!  Plus they have 26 pet stores to get some money back for pet products.  Where I usually shop for pet food it Petfood Direct as you all know and they offer 5% back on that.

The cash back minimum is low, you can receive your cash back once your money his $10.00, via paypal or check.

I signed up for this and I’ll keep you all updated on my cash back progress.

 I recently ran across some coupons that I thought I’d share.

PetCare RX has free shipping over $35, good deal there! Shipping prices have gone up due to gas prices.

Only Natural Pet Store Save 5% on orders over $75.00 with code CJ75.  Also code SNUGGLE22 will give you 10% off any pet beds.

Pet Food Direct.com has several good coupons out at the moment.  Code PET3552 will give you 20% off your entire order, PER35 will give you 12% off your order,  PER10PCT will give you 10% off the entire order, code PER15OFF will give you $15 off an order of $175 or more.

Animal Den (great site for gifts like calendars, earrings, toys, lots of gifts, breed specific too!) Code ad202 will get you 5% off a $30 order, ad203 will get you 10% off a $50 purchase, clicking on the image above will get you 10% off cat gifts.

Well we had another issue come up and Abbey’s appointment had to be rescheduled again. My husband had to go to a job interview in Albany and from where we are it is a 6 hour drive, so because of this her appointment was rescheduled again. :(  I hate it when things just keep coming up.

On the bright side Abbey hasn’t had any more prolapses since July 17th!  She is still on her Wellness kitten food and Hills Science Diet wet food (the vet said this is high in fiber so a little gets put in her dry food).  She seems to be doing good except there is still a little diarrhea and her stool is still not as normal as it should be.   Although she is as active and as cute as ever.

Hopefully our funds will allow us to get her to the vet at the Brighton -Eggert Animal clinic soon as long as no more emergencies come up.

With being so busy I didn’t see that we received an award from Save Moki, how sweet is that!

This award was created to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creativity and their talents, also for contributing to the blogging world in whatever medium.

When you receive this award it is considered a "special honor".

The rules for passing this honor on are as follows:

1. Pick 5 blogs that you would like to award this honor to.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4. Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico" blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award. arteypico.

 

This is why Save Moki felt we deserved the reward:

10. Cat-Scratchings - For helping to raise money for Moki and for taking such great care of Abbey.

 

How nice is that?  Thank you Save Moki for giving us this award, we are glad we could help out in a small way with Moki!