What's wrong with the registration of all animal shelters?

Is there anything wrong with the idea that all animal shelters of any kind should be registered with the authorities? I note that the state of Colorado has obligatory licensing for animal shelters but how widespread is this across the US? The intention would be to ensure that standards were kept high enough in the interests of the welfare of the animals at the shelter. 

Michelline Toulouse. Video screenshot. She ran her own 'rescue' while volunteering at another but was herself a cat hoarder who was later charged. Licensing would have prevented her behavior.

Registration would entail inspection which in turn would be taking preventative steps against those cases in which the animal sanctuary owner loses control resulting in neglected animals some of whom end up starving to death or becoming very ill.

Surely, it is wiser to take preventative steps rather than reactive ones? On an almost daily basis we read about well-intentioned cat owners looking after more than one cat which then becomes an informal cat shelter of sorts. This then develops into an out-of-control situation in which the shelter founder and owner fails to have sufficient funds to run the establishment. 

I am concerned about individuals who have good intentions but end up hurting the cats while running informal "sanctuaries" or "shelters". I put these words in quotes because they're neither shelters nor sanctuaries. They become hellholes for cats. Sometimes you can't really blame the person but it would be far better to take proactive steps and it might be cheaper for the authorities.

And there aren't enough volunteers to help or foster carers. The complexities and difficulties of running an animal shelter can bring them down unless the person is well-prepared.

Of course, you would have to keep a register and have somebody to inspect the property. I don't foresee that as being very expensive for the authorities because there aren't that many animal shelters. I read many cat-news stories and I'm forever being reminded of the failure of informal, private cat shelters.

A recent story (Sept 2021) concerns a cat hoarder who was 'rescuing cats' from other cat hoarders. A bizarre state of affairs as she was also working as a volunteer at another rescue facility.

Michigan State University say that as at 2014, in America, traditionally, there's been a lack of regulation and supervision in monitoring rescue and foster care organisations. Licensing, they argue, would subject rescues to inspections and hold them accountable for the animals that they take in.

Of course, rescues are governed by the general laws of animal welfare in any particular state and therefore they are indirectly monitored through the potential of being punished should they break those laws. But as mentioned this is reactive and in the meantime, cats are hurt or killed. It is not as good as registration provided registration is carried out properly and combined with inspections.

1. Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act or also referred to as PACFA - info on Colorado obligatory licensing.

23 cats killed in a fire at a Florida pet adoption facility

A blaze at the Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando facility killed 23 cats but all the dogs were saved by firefighters. The rescued animals have been taken to the organisation's facility in Sanford. Video footage from firefighters showed them quickly removing dogs from the facility. More than 30 animals were saved. The rescue was hampered when a roof collapsed inside the building which made access to all the shelter animals difficult. This may account for the fact that 23 cats died but no dogs. The dogs and cats were kept in separate places. The dogs were in a place where the fire had not quite reached. The cause of the fire is unknown at the moment.

23 cats killed in a fire at a Florida pet adoption facility. Photo: Facebook.

Black-and-white cat gives birth to tortoiseshell kittens

This black-and-white female cat was living under a motorcycle cover in America somewhere (I believe). The person who owns the motorcycle saw her. At the time she was scared and pregnant. This unknown person whose Reddit username is: u/mama-and-babies, provided her with a beautiful, secure, safe and warm home for her family. 

Everything looks perfect and you can't beat cardboard for keeping cats warm. She looks content and safe. Whoever the person is they've done a very good job. It sort of restores faith in the human race!

Black-and-white cat gives birth to tortoiseshell kittens. Photo: as per above.

As I said, the mother is black-and-white, while her kittens appear to be tortoiseshell-and-white with plenty of white (calico). They have very interesting and beautiful patterns. I think they are going to be popular cats for rehoming when the time comes. 

The father can't be a tortoiseshell because tortoiseshells are always female and if they are male, they are usually sterile so not sure how these cute kittens came to come into existence! They do look as if they have orange, white and black fur which indicates to me a calico cat.

Perhaps both parents (non-tortie) carried the recessive gene for the tortie coat. I am guessing. Actually, it is far more complicated than that!

Perhaps the male is a rare sexually functioning tortoiseshell. If that is the case, might he be valuable? Find him immediately! :). 

I have overcomplicated things. If the male cat was orange the offspring would be calicos. The commenter is correct.

HOW MUCH IS A MALE CALICO CAT WORTH? - CLICK TO FIND OUT!

Russian MP, Vitaly Milonov, said gays should be kept in shelters like cats and sterilized

NEWS AND COMMENT: Russian MP Vitaly Milonov is vehemently anti-LBGT. He hates gay people and said that they should be confined to shelters and sterilized like shelter cats. He seems to reflect a substantial segment of Russian society which is hugely illiberal, repressive and backward thinking in respect of equality of rights and attitude towards gay people, the LBGT movement and ethnic minorities. An illiberal society is one in which freedom of thought is restricted.

Anti-LGBT+ Russian MP Vitaly Milonov. Photo in public domain.

Why should this be? It seems to me to be a throwback to the Stalin area. He didn't like gays either and the Russian government told people how to think and it seems that Putin has indoctrinated the citizens of Russia to stop thinking for themselves and to catch up with enlightened thinking. The world has changed thankfully in accepting and respecting gay people, diversity and the LBGT+ movement. Russia is living in the dark past.

The attitude of this segment of Russian society is similar to that of Britain about a hundred years ago when homosexuality was decried and seen as a mental illness. Gay people were seen as dangerous and punished. It was illegal to be gay! A mad world.

I'm thinking particularly of the amazing gay man, Alan Turing, who helped to crack the Enigma machine during the Second World War. He was played by Benedict Cumberbatch in the film Imitation Game. Alan Turing killed himself by eating an apple laced with cyanide because he was so badly persecuted by the state. That is why the Apple Computer company's symbol is an apple with a bite taken out of it.

Russian MP Vitaly Milonov, a notoriously homophobic member of the State Duma, made the comment that gay people should be kept in shelters and sterilised like cats when responding to a question from a presenter on the Russian radio station RT. The recording has been removed. He was called out by the head of Russia's Human Rights Council, Valery Fadeev, who said that Milonov was calling for people violate Russian law. It appears to be an impotent law.

Milonov also said that "Homosexuality is disgusting. Homophobia is beautiful and natural."

Obviously, what caught my eye was the way that he has equated gay people with shelter cats. An extraordinary way to describe gay people and utterly unacceptable. He is the disgusting one. Russia has a problem with this highly illiberal, right wing and ignorant attitude. Both Russia and China are bad apples.

Picture of a young woman and the 20-year-old cat she adopted so he wouldn't die alone

This is a picture, on Twitter, of a young woman who decided to adopt a 20-year-old cat so that he would not die alone. Her actions and the picture are inspirational. Other people on Twitter who have seen the photograph have been inspired to do the same thing. I have always said that if you adopt the unadoptable cats, you are invariably rewarded and of course always the cat.

"I love this! She inspired me to do the same the next time I get a cat! I have two now which is all I can handle." - Tiffany Davidson.

Picture of a young woman who adopted a 20-year-old cat so he wouldn't die alone

I don't know who took the photo, probably a shelter employee. The cat has fur shaved from their left foreleg. He must have been through medical treatment, probably linked to his age. It was probably known that he was dying because of the illness.

This kind of adoption does go against the grain. Although I have seen other instances of people adopting elderly rescue cats in shelters or even a couple of elderly cats at shelters for the same reason. These people walk into the shelter and they want to adopt the least adoptable cats there. They specify that. It is exactly the way things should be. It saves lives in a very dramatic and direct way.

There is always someone there for the kittens. They will always find homes. But the elderly black cats and the less attractive cats are left on the shelf until people like this young woman come along. It is a beautiful photograph which is exactly why it is inspirational.

It was taken during the coronavirus pandemic which is why the lady is wearing a mask. That is obvious but in five years' time if this website is still in existence, people might ask questions about that mask. You may know that there has been a big increase in both America and in the UK of rescue cat adoptions during Covid. 

CLICK FOR SOME PAGES ON ADOPTING A CAT

Dogs have also been adopted more frequently from shelters. However, most commonly dogs have been purchased from breeders and in the UK sometimes from pet shops who are supplied by puppy mills on continental Europe. Not a good thing to happen but demand surged.

It isn't only elderly people who should adopt elderly cats. But if you are elderly think about it. You'll be a good caretaker because you're likely to be there for your cat all day. And you probably won't have to think about who'll die first. A 20-year-old cat does not normally have more than a year of two at most to live and probably less.

California earmarks another $45,000,000 to reduce killing in animal shelters

This comes on the heels of a prior commitment of $10,000,000. Unfortunately, its allocation is a missed opportunity to maximize lifesaving according to Nathan Winograd who gave me the heads up in an email.

What no-kill means. Image: MikeB

In a Facebook post, Nathan Winograd reports on the signing by the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, of legislation that provides $45 million to help animal shelters reduce killing. You can read legislation if you wish by clicking the following link: https://bit.ly/3zMqJ8v

You got to be a bit of a nerd to read it but it is educational. Having read Winograd's Facebook post I was interested to read that initiatives like this one to save the lives of animals at shelters and to drive them to a no-kill status benefit the economy of the state, city or county concerned. 

They are 'revenue positive' as he calls it. He refers to a University of Denver study as an example which found that one city's no-kill initiative yielded over $157 million in a positive economic impact to the community over the first six years, which represented a more than 400% return on investment by the city.

He says that other studies have come to similar conclusions. There are direct cost savings apparently in not killing animals at shelters. In California a provision of the Animal Shelter Law 1998 saved 85,000 animals annually which corresponded with cost savings of over $3 million. These costs relate to the killing process and the destruction of the remains of the animals. Saving such as this have been backed up in the states of Florida, Michigan, Oklahoma and Minnesota.

Attaining statewide no-kill status in all shelters would appear to benefit the economy of that state as well as save countless thousands of lives of unwanted animals who become wanted and loved. That seems to be a win-win situation to me.

People are adopting animals in person from rescue centres in New York City at last

NEWS AND COMMENT - NEW YORK CITY: New Yorkers are pleased that they can, at last, visit an animal shelter in person, look at the animals, relate to the animals on a one-to-one basis and adopt when they fall in love with an individual. This, in a way, marks the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic, we hope. It's a sign of getting back to normal. And they lined up for the pleasure. It is said that they turned up in droves on Saturday at Animal Care Centers of New York City. It was their first in-person adoption event for more than a year.

Cut cat in shelter waiting for an adopter. Photo in public domain.

In all 55 cats were adopted. It seems that the general consensus is that adopting online remotely is not anywhere near as good as being there in person. One customer, Vaneza Almodovar, 43, had tried to adopt online several times during the pandemic. She adopted a cat from the Animal Care Centers' East Harlem branch. She surprised her daughter when she brought the cat home. Her daughter said that she had never had a cat of her own while her mother said that "It's been worth waiting".

You had to get to the rescue centre early and lineup. Denise Cunningham and her granddaughter Ariah Williams got there 90 minutes early and were ninth in the queue of dozens that apparently extended down the block. They adopted a brown tabby called Raspberry. They chose him because he was shy. I like that because it is normally the confident cats who come forward and make themselves known and to get adopted. To go for a shy cat is a nice thing to do.

The shelter said that people were not surrendering their companion animals during the pandemic lockdown and neither were they adopting stray cats because they were not leaving their house. Pet adoptions had continued during the pandemic but some found the online application process a bit tricky. Almodovar said that they had put in an application and then told that their selected cat had "just got adopted out. We were so frustrated."

It's nice to read that things are getting back to normal in the world of cat adoptions and shelters.

Building contractor spent 8 hours rescuing 16 cats stuck in wall of abandoned home

NEWS AND COMMENT: It appears that a building contractor was doing up a property in Philadelphia and he heard the meows of cats. He discovered 16 cats and kittens stuck in a wall of the building. He decided to rescue them and it's reported that it took him eight hours to save the cats from behind the walls of this abandoned house. Amazing work.

 Building contractor spent 8 hours rescuing 16 cats stuck in walls of abandoned home. Some of the rescued cats and kittens at ACCT Philly rescue. Photo: the rescue.

They are now safe at ACCT Philly, Philadelphia's only animal shelter and control organisation which helps 18,000 of Philadelphia's pets and people in need each year, according to their Facebook page on which they report the rescue.

They said the following:

"Sunday started out a bit differently for a contractor working on an abandoned house. The home owners had heard meowing in the walls, and when he opened the wall, he found 9 adult cats with 7 kittens. Thankfully, he was able to get them out and bring them to us - but it took eight hours to do so. We're so glad that he did, as quite a few aren't in great shape, and sadly, one of the kittens was not able to be saved.  The cats are scared, some will require more socialization, but right now they are resting in their cages."

Obviously with such a large immediate input of rescue cats to their organisation they are in need of donations as usual. And they would like people to come forward to foster a cat or kitten. I'm writing about this about two days after their report so they may have been able to manage things but if by chance you are able to help and they still need help then please email them using this email address: 𝐟𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫@𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐭𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲.𝐨𝐫𝐠 .

Some of the 15 rescued cats at ACCT Philly. A kitten could not be saved. Photo: ACCT Philly.

We are told that there were nine adult cats and seven kittens. One kitten could not be saved. The remainder all owe their lives to the contractor who found them because many of them were in desperate need of medical attention and they would not have lasted much longer but for his efforts. They don't know how the cats ended up inside a wall in an abandoned property. The cats are resting and recovering their health. They will be socialised and brought back to full health and then found new homes.

P.S. I have assumed the contractor is male! In the interests of equality, it has to be said that it might have been a woman or women.

Domestic abuse survivors demand answers over lack of Government funding and ask: 'Why are there more dog and cat homes than refuges for victims?'

The survivors of domestic abuse in the UK are complaining that there is more money being put into cat and dog shelters than into refuges for women who are the victims of domestic violence. Why is this?

The title to this article is a headline on The Yorkshire Post online newspaper. I will assume that it is true that there are more cat and dog shelters than there are women's refuges. Women's refuges are those establishments where they can go when abused by their partner; to seek sanctuary from an abusive home while they sort things out. Cat and dog shelters are those places where unwanted cats and dogs live, hopefully temporarily, before they are adopted into a new home.

Cat shelter. Photo: Pixabay.

If there are more cat and dog shelters compared to women's refuges these might be some of the reasons:

Society ranks unwanted cats and dogs who need new homes as more important in terms of support then women who temporarily want a sanctuary because of domestic abuse. That's a simplistic answer because what about funding?

A lot of cat and dog shelters are funded by the RSPCA in the UK, which is a very big and wealthy charity. Another big cat charity is Cats Protection. People give to the charity because they want to give towards the welfare of animals as they are animal lovers. These people probably prefer animals to people anyway. So, there's one reason behind the scenes why there might be more animal shelters than refuges for women.

But I guess too that women's refuges are also sometimes government funded as the title to the article implies but they might also be dependent partly on charitable donations. If the government is not pulling its weight and helping to fund these refuges it is because they have decided that there are other priorities firstly, and secondly because money is incredibly short at the moment as a result of the huge amounts of borrowed money that's been streaming into the country during the entirety of the pandemic.

So, government money is short but donations from individual citizens to charitable organisations is not quite so short. My impression is that there is quite a lot of money sloshing around the country because the government has been generous in supporting the unemployed due to the lockdowns. I'm referring to the furlough money which is costing about £35 billion per month and which will go on until September of this year. 

There is a lot of money out there because I'm seeing a lot of new cars and house prices have gone up rapidly. The government has probably been too generous which is going to cause possible inflation and the impossibility for employers to find employees because they are too comfortable receiving furlough money. Another reason is Brexit, as a lot of Eastern Europeans have gone home or have change jobs. I'm referring to the hospitality sector.

But of course, the pandemic only relates to the last 14 months. Before it started the situation regarding a lack of refuges was the same. The pandemic will cut funding though. It must come down to a lack of commitment by government but there are so many causes of equal merit. Funding is finite.

I am referring to the fact that the government must strictly prioritise funding at the moment as money is short. I've got to try and come to conclusion on this and answer the question in the title. It is probably because cat and dog shelters are reliant on private donations and people are generous in their donations towards animal welfare while refuges for women are more reliant or perhaps entirely relied upon government funding and the government has decided to be quite mean-spirited and do not prioritise the support of women abused by their partner very highly.

The better solution to protect the victims of domestic violence is to take proactive measures. Catch it early. Beef up social services. Incidentally a lot of women's refuges don't take pets which stops women moving out because they can't leave their cat or dog behind. 

Note: Sometimes women beat up men. It works both ways but the classic female victim is far more common.

Wrong? Disagree? Please comment.

Good and bad ear-tipping

Over the years of writing about cats, bad ear-tipping returns like a bad penny. It seems to pop up from time to time. It can only be due to negligence or a careless approach. And I will suggest that this carelessness comes about because ear-tipping is normally carried out on feral cats. Feral cats have a lower value in the eyes of humankind than domestic cats. This lower value engenders negligence.

There are two images on this page. One shows what I would regard as a good job on ear-tipping and some errors. The other shows an horrific job on ear-tipping. Ironically, the very poor surgery was carried out on a domestic cat by a vet tech under the supervision of a veterinarian at an animal rescue centre in Cabot, USA.

Good and bad ear tipping. Pics in public domain.

Horrific ear-tipping. Pic: Danyelle Freeman.

The veterinarian excused the error by saying that the vet tech thought the cat was feral. And he also said that they were very busy in providing a discount service. But there is no difference to the surgical process whether you are carrying it out on a feral or domestic cat. Indeed, there is no need to do the surgery on a domestic cat. The case concerned a domestic cat.

If a vet tech does this to a domestic cat you must call into question their attitude more than their ability. The surgery is absolutely minimal. Anybody can do it. It does not require skill. It requires the right attitude. And it seems to me that this vet tech has a poor attitude towards the welfare of animals. I would question whether they should be a vet tech.

Although, to be fair, they were carrying out a discount service and therefore must be praised for that aspect of their work. The veterinarian concerned apologised as did the mayor of the town. The veterinarian described it as an accident. I would describe it as negligence.

When ear-tipping goes wrong this is what happens: too much is taken off the ear. And sometimes the right ear is tipped rather than the left. It should be the left. There are alternatives to the surgery: tattooing the inside of the ear flap is one way.

There are advantages to ear-tipping. People know that the cat has been sterilised. This helps to protect them in urban environments where a lot of people don't like feral cats. Also a lot of people don't like domestic cats wandering around. Sometimes vigilante-types like to trap someone's pet and take them to the pound or an animal shelter. This is a crime but if the cat is ear-tipped they at least know that he or she is neutered.

This may help to protect them and it gives the impression that the cat's presence is authorised by the local authority. This is because sometimes local authorities become involved in TNR programs which includes ear-tipping.

The bottom line reason for poor ear-tipping is a poor attitude towards the value of cats particularly feral cats. It indicates a lack of respect for feral cats which is not a good look for a veterinary clinic. Veterinarians should respect all animals as it underpins all the work that they do.

Do cat siblings get along?

Do cat siblings get along? It is an important question. On the face of it, if a person adopts two siblings from the same litter when they first adopt a cat they give each cat an instant companion for life. This can take a load of responsibilities away from the cats' owner because they can entertain themselves. 

Domestic cats are social creatures despite what you read on the Internet about them being independent and solitary. Over 10,000 years of evolution in domestication they had developed into far more social creatures which means they need companionship which in turn means that their human guardian should be around. Sometimes they can't be around because of work commitments which is when a cat companion steps up to the plate.

Lykoi cat siblings. Photo: Brittney Gobble.

So the question as to whether cat siblings get along can be vitally important. And the answer is yes and no. When they are kittens and sub-adults they do get along. They entertain each other and play-fight with each other. The world is perfect if they are in the right home. But when they grow up and become individuals with better developed characters they can start to dislike each other. They may be incompatible. The relationship cools and they drift apart. Sounds familiar?

I do not have statistics on the percentage of siblings who are compatible or incompatible. But there is quite a good chance that they will be incompatible so you can't bank on adopting siblings in the expectation that they will get along for the rest of their lives. This means the policy of a double adoption of kittens from a shelter might not work.

That does not mean you can't adopt two rescue cats from a shelter who are adults. In fact there is an advantage to adopting two adult cats that need to get along because you know that they get along. The shelter staff will be able to assess this and tell you. The cats have been tried and tested. Their characters have matured so if they do get along it will likely be permanent.

I remember when I adopted my cat from an animal rescue centre, the organiser told me that cat siblings do not get along. She must have had a bad experience in adopting siblings herself. Or she had noticed that within the shelter siblings were fighting. She was partly right. Sometimes they don't, as mentioned, but they might and they often do. It's down to personalities.

But once they become adults they like to establish their home range. In the wild when kittens become adults and leave the natal nest they go out into the big wide world and establish their home range i.e. their territory. They want their piece of landscape and if they are in a home together they might be fighting over that territory. Or they might fight over some of the assets such as food and the litter tray.

And if they are incompatible they may urinate inappropriately, they may defecate inappropriately or they may spray urine and finally they may scratch furniture and walls to mark territory. So it will be a bad scene despite best intentions.

I think that the only surefire way of knowing if two cats will get along is by trying it out. That's why I think cat shelters should allow adopters to take a cat back to their home where there is a resident cat for a week to see what happens. They should be open to the possibility of the cat being returned. That should be part of the contract. It may be possible in some cat shelters. I don't know of any other way to deal with this very difficult question of multi-cat homes. Perhaps I'm being too negative because I know their are some very successful homes in which there are several cats.

And when you think about it in this instance domestic gas are being no different to human beings. How many dysfunctional families do you know? How many human siblings do you know who fight with each other because who dislike each other? It is very common for human siblings not to get on.

I myself don't get on very well with my brother and I never got along with my late sister. We were quite different characters. Hell, I didn't even get on with my parents that well either.

Who Said Cats Don't Have Emotions?

Here's a video of two cats who I would say are closely related. They have similar coloration and they are clearly very close emotionally. The larger and perhaps senior cat is, on the face of it, comforting the other cat.

They are both in a stressful situation. It is a time when at an emotional level they need some comforting and it is being provided. It is impossible not to believe that these cats are feeling emotions, particularly the emotion that goes with being caged in a cat shelter with noises and strange things happening; anxiety.

The reaction is an emotional one, a desire to comfort and a desire to receive comfort. It is a charming video which I believe supports the view that domestic cats have emotions.

Little by little there is a gradual awakening to the fact that domestic animals feel emotions and indeed a very substantial proportion, well over 50%, of concerned cat owners believe that their cat can feel compassion and a similar percentage although slightly lower believe that they can feel jealousy. These people have a closer bond than usual with their cat.

I'm not sure that this depth of emotion is true or whether the cat owners are projecting their emotions upon their cat but anecdotally it could be argued that domestic cats have the ability to feel what are described as secondary emotions.

The other day I was out for a walk with my neighbor. She has a cat. We discussed cat emotions. She was adamant that cats do not feel emotions. She said that domestic cats behave instinctively. Yes, domestic cats do behave instinctively but that does not preclude the possibility that they feel emotions.

The point that I'm making is that a lot of cat owners are unaware that it is likely that domestic cats feel emotions. The real debate is how deep and how complex they are. It is obvious that domestic cats feel contentment and can feel depressed (often through chronic illness) although pretty well all of us now realize that domestic cats instinctively hide their vulnerabilities in the interests of survival.

There is another argument concerning how over the 10,000 years of the domestication of the cat that they have evolved into possessing a strong ability to learn from their human companions. They observe and learn. This, for example is where we see some domestic cats opening doors by turning the door handle. The point I'm making here is that it may be the case that the domestic cat has developed his or her emotions during domestication. Their behavior is less instinctive than that of their wildcat ancestor. It is more learned in a highly domesticated humanized environment. This should encourage the development and refinement of emotions.

Shelter Kitten Euthanised Because She Was Black

At a shelter in or near San Diego, USA, a tiny black kitten named Ember was euthanized (in truth killed) because she was considered to be either unfriendly or unadoptable. No doubt she was considered to be unadoptable because black cats are unpopular. They are not unadoptable and neither are they unfriendly. They are just unpopular because people still harbour strange misconceptions and superstitions about black cats even today in the 21st century.

The shelter concerned changed their policy in July 2015 to allow them to euthanize animals that they considered to be unfriendly or unadoptable. It is, though, a bit of a shock to read that they decided that a small, sweet black kitten was automatically deemed to be unadoptable without any effort to see whether she could be adopted. Sometimes somebody comes along who is unconcerned whether a kitten is black or any other colour. Couldn't they have tried a bit harder? It all seems very harsh to me.

The same shelter, through San Diego County officials, have acknowledged that many cats are killed by animal services at the shelter simply because the shelter runs out of space. This may be true but I wonder how committed they are to exploring alternative ways to find adopters for their cats rather than through the conventional channels.

Some shelters use enlightened ideas to maximise the chance of adoption and these shelters have lower kill rates. It is, as usual, about commitment and valuing the lives of each individual cat.

This information comes from the San Diego Union-Tribune via the Santa Maria Times.

Money Stolen from Clarksburg Cat Shelter

The Clarksburg Cat Shelter rely on volunteers to run the shelter and their store. They rely on donations from the public to care for the 60 or more cats in their care. It is all for the good.

Yet, someone, totally devoid of scruples decided to steal the donation box on their counter.

From now on they bolt down the donation box. Good isn't it? Modern life I guess.

Ringworm At Animal Shelter

Ringworm in cats is a bit of a nightmare to be honest. I know a bit about it myself because I got it from my cat. He keeps giving it to me when he rubs my legs before I feed him in the morning. He appears not to have ringworm himself but he must have it somewhere. His veterinarian did not diagnose ringworm in my cat but I think he's got it although you can't see it. Perhaps he has not got it and I got it from somewhere else but it is very transmittable from domestic cat to cat owner.

Photo by Christine Myaskovsky

What got me thinking about the difficulty of dealing with ringworm (and it can be hard to get rid of) is a recent story in the Essex Chronicle in which they report a ringworm outbreak in an RSPCA animal shelter. The shelter is near Braintree. This had to close the shelter down and treat every animal in the shelter causing massive disruption.

As mentioned, perhaps the greatest difficulty in dealing with ringworm is that it is highly contagious. You may well know that it is caused by a fungus and not a worm! The reason why it is called ringworm is because it often causes circular ring-like red blisters on the skin. The skin peels off around the edges of the inflamed skin. The inflamed skin is not always circular like a doughnut. It could be a semicircle or a straight line. When a person's immune system is a bit suppressed it can take hold more easily. Conversely, if a person's immune system is in good shape then it will deal with the infection by itself.

Apparently veterinarians test hair samples of the infected cats and dogs. Ringworm was confirmed in this shelter. We are told in the Essex Chronicle that in general the treatment is a 6 week course of a twice-daily lime sulphur dip. It smells awful apparently and it turns cats and dogs yellow.

Did I mention that ringworm can be hard to get rid of in dogs and cats! I think it is one reason why it's hardly worth dealing with because the course of treatment is almost worse than having ringworm in the first place.

You can't be careful enough when you are trying to get rid of ringworm. Even when a hair sample proves negative you have to bathe everything all over again and then wait a week to retest and to make sure that all the symptoms have gone. It is obviously a struggle and as I said in my opening sentence, a bit of a nightmare.

Ringworm outbreaks are quite rare but not that rare to be honest. I recall a similar outbreak in America in the cat shelter there.

If my cat has ringworm he probably got it from a stray cat when he was living with my mother because I do recall her taking-on a stray cat who used to sleep quite close to my cat (I adopted my cat from my mother's estate after she died about 2 and a half years ago.

The Role of Cat Shelters

The role of cat shelters is to provide care, food and housing for unwanted and abandoned cats and where possible to re-home them.  Rehoming should be done as quickly as possible in order to minimise stress for the cats.  A wide variety of cats enter shelters.  They vary widely in age, in health and in respect of their vaccination status.  Some cats are stray cats and some are feral and you will see purebred pedigree cats as well as random bred moggies at cat shelters.

Adopted from Animal Rescue League of Southern Rhode Island

Managing and controlling infectious diseases at shelters is a major task.  A study concluded that up to 11% of healthy cats on entry to a cat shelter carry a contagious virus such as calicivirus. These cats may well spread the virus amongst the existing shelter population.  The sheltered environment may not be the primary source of viruses but viruses are more likely to spread within the shelter environment between infected and non-infected cats and to reactivate latent infections.  In addition, as shelter cats are liable to be stressed, latent infections may be reactivated and/or become more severe.

Experts are able to measure the stress of the cat using what is called a Cat-Stress-Score (CSS).  The test is based on body movements and postures including measuring pupil size.  The test tells people the stress level in individual cats confined to a small space and how the stress might change over the time the cat is at the shelter.

Cats which have no previous experience of being in boarding catteries, or accommodation other than his or her own, are liable to be more stressed on entry to a cat shelter.  Although the age of the cat does not impact upon the stress that the cat suffers from, it does impact upon the way the stress levels decline while the cat is at the shelter.  Older cats got used to the shelter more quickly indicated by a more rapid decline in stress.

The more dense the population of shelter cats are, the more stressed they become.  A minimum floor space per cat of 1.7 m² is recommended for acceptable stress levels but the figure only relates to cats who know each other in a stable group and in enclosures that were well adapted for the cats.

Some cats and shelters stay for a very long time, perhaps years, if the shelter genuinely does not kill any cats other than on genuinely humane grounds due to terminal illness.  Under these circumstances, it is important that the cats are handled by a familiar person on a regular basis.

Shelter cats who are handled regularly and who are able to interact with people regularly are more likely to be comfortable in the hands of a stranger and such a stranger may be a person who wishes to adopt a particular cat and therefore the importance of interactions with shelter staff for long staying cats is important in respect of the success rate of adoptions.

Source: The Welfare of Cats - Rochlitz.

Domestic Violence Shelters That Take In Companion Animals

There is a need for domestic violence shelters, usually for women, that allow the woman to bring with her, her cat or dog companion. It would seem that a frequently encountered problem for a woman fleeing domestic violence at home is leaving her cat companion behind because the domestic violence shelter that she is going to for sanctuary does not accept companion animals.

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In Britain, there are an estimated 570,000 telephone calls to the police each year from women and occasionally men who are suffering domestic violence. You could probably more than double that figure to well over 1 million because according to the British Crime Survey only 40.2% of actual domestic violence crime is reported to the police.

I'm sure the position is very similar in North America and indeed other countries were it may be worse, particularly those countries where the woman is subservient to the man for various reasons including religious reasons.

Let's say therefore, in the round, that there's lots of domestic violence and most of it is directed at women. Women often look after domestic cats. You can see the dilemma. In New York, USA  at one time there were 50 domestic violence shelters but none would accept a pet.

Now, there are a growing number of pet friendly shelters in various sorts of buildings. There were 4 in 2008 and in 2014 there are 73 such shelters.

One of the shelters is run by the Urban Resource Institute. The shelter that they manage also provides veterinary and other help. This is all very welcome. I do not know whether Great Britain has similar facilities that are easy to locate. Cats Protection provide a specialist service.

Abused Persian cat

It is well-known that domestic violence against the partner often entails violence against the family's companion animal. Sometimes the person who is perpetrating the violence targets the companion animal as a means of emotionally hurting his partner.

Apparently, in the USA, studies have found that about 70% of domestic violence survivors say that the perpetrators of domestic violence also threatened, killed or injured their pets. It is worth noting, also, that the person who suffered the violence delayed getting out of the home because they were worried about what would happen to their pet.

Citing one example, Pamela Isaac says that her boyfriend who was a drug user in the late 1990s not only beat her but used to dangle her cat out of the window to force her into obeying him. This particular relationship ended up with the man setting fire to their apartment with her cat inside. On this occasion the cat was not saved and died.

Probably, the most important “possession" of a woman escaping domestic violence would be her cat. I hope so anyway and therefore it would seem essential that there is somewhere where they can both go to simultaneously.

There would appear to still be a need for more pet friendly domestic violence shelters across United States and I would feel very confident in saying that there is probably a similar need in the UK.

Source: thetowntalk.com

Kansas Animal Shelters Looking to Place Cats In Businesses

This is an imaginative new program by the Great Plains SPCA to place shelter cats into businesses such as The Raven Bookstore in Lawrence KS. There are several things that I like about this program.

It is imaginative. It seeks new ways to save the lives of shelter cats. It is time to do this sort of thing: to think out of the box. Also,  cats placed in businesses become working cats, really, and I like it when cats become really useful. It creates a pleasant balance between the domestic cat and the person and I think this is a healthy balance because in almost all cases the domestic cat is cared for by a cat guardian. Perhaps cats like to be useful.

Another benefit of this program is that, provided the business is enlightened enough, they discover that having a cat around improves work productivity and if the business is a shop or store it improves the ambience in the outlet and customers generally welcome it.

The presence of a domestic cat totally changes the feel of a place. It makes a place calm and gives it a soul. That might be a philosophical exaggeration but I think people will understand what I am getting at. One thing for sure is that the presence of a domestic cat makes people feel better.

So we can save the lives of cats and improve the lives of people under this program. This has to be a good thing.

Obviously there are things to think about and concerns about how to make it work. Some people are allergic to cats and some people don't like cats. And the cat requires maintenance. There has to be somebody on hand to look after the cat and there has to be teamwork within the business to ensure that a cat is content, happy and well looked after in his workplace. There is, therefore, some organisation to do but like all benefits to a business there has to be some input and work to achieve those benefits and this is a case in point.

The sort of businesses that particularly suit the presence of a domestic cat are bookshops and coffee shops (the cat cafe immediately comes to mind, of course). But there are also workplaces, offices, where a cat can make employees more productive. Certainly businesses that are involved with the Internet and writing code would suit the presence of a cat, in my opinion. These are semi-unstructured workplaces. They are modern thinking workplaces and therefore should be open to the possibility of having a domestic cat joining them.

I really hope that this program does well and I would like to see lots of shelter cats, some of which will be destined for euthanasia, finding their way into local businesses. It is worth remembering, I think, that this program probably suits adult cats more than young cats because adult cats are more stable and experienced therefore more able to cope with the change of environment.

Are Cat Adoption Applications Too Strict?

Are cat adoption applications too strict? Have any of the readers here even looked at a cat adoption application lately? Gone are the days when you went to your local shelter, picked out a cat, paid a fee and took him or her home.

Pippa - one of my rescued cats. Photo by Elisa Black-Taylor

Thanks to the internet, both good and bad have come out of what used to be the pleasure of adopting a cat. We've all heard the horror stories of how animal abusers will search the freebie advertisements for animals to abuse. Some will even go so far as to pay the price a shelter asks for a cat just to have a new cat to torture. It's these abusers who have paved the way to turning a simple adoption into a nightmare.

That and a lot of other questionable information most shelters and rescues have the right to investigate before adopting out a cat. Some of the information that may get you turned down for a cat adoption include the following:

• Age. Some shelters and rescues require an adopter to be over the age of 21 but under the age of 60.
• Who will care for your cat should you become unable to?
• Whether you have children, plan to have children, how many children and how old they are.
• How will you handle any health problems that may come up concerning your cat?
• Vet reference. This can be a tricky one if this is your first cat.
• Have you ever euthanized a pet?
• Have you ever turned a pet into a shelter?
• What happened to any previous pets you've had?
• Do you have a full time job? This is a tricky one. Some shelters and rescues believe one person should always be home with the cat.

Are ALL of these questions really necessary? They're standard on many rescue adoption websites as well as many shelters. Most rescues will tell you these questions are necessary to prevent the cat from going to a "bad" home.

How is it a person can be called to war at 18, yet be unable to adopt a cat until the age of 21? I feel sure cat lovers over the age of 60 will have some objections to being denied because of their age.

I can understand questions on whether or not you plan to declaw a cat and whether the cat will be kept indoors at all times.  Some potential adopters have compared certain questions to an inquisition. Questions that have nothing to do with declawing or where the cat will spend its time.

Some shelters are extremely strict and cats die because of this on a daily basis. Not because a home couldn't be found. Because a "perfect" home couldn't be found and the cat is euthanized when the end holding date is reached.

I never would have thought having a full time job could make a person ineligible for cat adoption. With some shelters and rescue groups it can.

This is one reason so many people turn to the freebies. It's created a dangerous situation for many cats and also contributed to the overpopulation of cats. The person placing the ad for free kittens really has little to go on as to who gets a kitten. And the adopter is as likely as not to allow the cat to remain intact because spay/neutering can be expensive in areas without a low cost clinic. These free cats eventually end up in the shelter system. Usually shortly before or after that first unwanted litter comes along.

Rescues are also scaring away prospective cat owners by continuing to claim ownership in the contract the adopter must sign before taking the cat home. This basically states the adopter is responsible for food, shelter and medical care. It also gives the rescue the right to drop in at the adopter's home unannounced for the rest of the cats life to be sure a good home is being provided. Most rescue centers also take away the option of the adopter finding the cat a new home should the arrangement not work out. Again, a measure meant to protect the cat is causing some to shy away from rescue adoption.

I'm not saying these precautions aren't necessary. Only that some are a little excessive.

Have any of you ran into these questionnaires that border on the extreme? Were you turned down because of your answers? How far should a rescue or shelter be allowed to go in placing a cat with it's forever home. I welcome your comments on what you consider good adoption questions and questions that are more of an invasion of privacy.

The Advantages Of Adopting A Shelter Or Rescue Cat

By Elisa Black-Taylor (USA)

It is the American Humane Association ADOPT-A-CAT MONTH® so I thought I'd write about something about which I have lots of experience. They say if you're thinking about adopting from a shelter, adopt two! Great idea. But get yourself ready.

The advantages of adopting a shelter or rescue cat are threefold. By this I mean there are at least three primary reasons it's in a cat lovers best interest to adopt here rather than answer a freebie add or adopt from a breeder.

Florida and her kittens were euthanized - Photo by Andrea Sams

First of all there's the reality of what you're doing. You're saving a cat who likely would have been euthanized because of the ratio between cats available and people wanting to give them homes. The shelters are full, especially this time of year with it now being kitten season. I watch the death lists every week and see hundreds of mother kittens and their little ones killed because no one offered them a home.

These cats are grateful when you bring them home and love on them. I don't know whether or not cats can be proven "psychic," but I'm convinced shelter and rescue cats know you saved them from euthanasia. They prove their love to you daily by laying in your lap, sleeping on your bed, and basically turning you into a human servant for their needs and comfort.

The second advantage of adopting a shelter or rescue cat is the pre-adoption care given a cat before it's placed up for adoption. The majority of cats are spay/neutered and all are tested for FeLV, FIV and heartworms. They've been given their first vaccines or whatever vaccines the shelter or rescue knows the cat should have to stay healthy. Many are even micro-chipped in case they become lost. Your cost will usually run under $100 regardless of which adoption method you decide on between the two. This is what you'd pay for spay/neuter alone should you decide to go the freebie route.

The third advantage is the one most people don't even think about. When you adopt from a shelter or a rescue, you're creating a spot for another cat. This is important because often euthanasia schedules are determined by how many cages a shelter has available.

This is important even in areas where the local Humane Society or adoption center is a no-kill facility. Many pick from death row, but if the cats available for adoption in a separate facility just sit in a cage waiting and hoping for a home, it often means a cat on death row is euthanised because time ran out before a cage opening became available.

The same holds true when adopting from a rescue. Rescues typically pull cats from death row. When you adopt one of their cats, this gives the rescue an opening to save another cat.

This is the time of year for the best selection of cats available. Purebreds are being turned into the shelter along with their litters because their family didn't have the mother spayed. You may not have the paperwork to prove it, but it's very easy to find everything from Maine Coons to Siamese available along with mixed breed cats.

Many shelters as well as rescues can be found at weekend adoption events at Petco or Petsmart. If not, contact your local shelter and ask them what time is good to come in an meet their available cats.

I hope a few of the readers here will share their shelter or rescue adoption stories. These cats were thrown away by their owners for one reason or another. It does not mean they're not deserving of a good home and someone to love them.

Take it from someone who's pulled more than 50 cats off of death row in the past year and a half. Shelter cats are the best!



NOTE: The above photo shows a Maine Coon named Florida. She was euthanized along with her kittens because no one chose her at the shelter before her time ran out. Please support your local shelters and rescues.