December 2015, Happy New Year from all of us at Stillwater Cat Haven

Here we are at the end of another year…..where has the time gone? We wish you all peace and joy in the year to come. It's hard to believe that 2016 will be our 16th year of operation here at the sanctuary. Don and I are now 74 and ‘creaky’ but hanging in there.  Our many cats and kittens are also healthy except for a few colds and continued need for flea control, worming, etc.

This has been a busy year that has had its successes and its challenges.  We have found homes and adopted out 72 cats, spayed/neutered 148, continue to feed and monitor 20 feral colonies as well as continue to TNR (trap, neuter, return) which is the only humane way to stabilize cat colonies. For more information on feral cats and TNR  go to alleycat.org as well as bestfriends.org.

Don's been busy, he finished the small "clubhouse" in the backyard which provides various levels for sleeping and relaxation, and we are now trying to insulate the garage and install cupboard cabinetry where bedding can be stored and improve wintertime sleeping quarters. Blankets and towels are always needed as are baskets big enough for 1-3 cats.

 

Our most recent news is that we have become a Best Friends Network Partner. This group is intent on supporting no-kill shelters and being a resource for groups such as ours.  Our first event with them was in November, the Black Friday Weekend Special which provided free adoptions. Zappos.com, an online shoe and clothing sales group, agreed to reimburse us for the adoption fees.  We took advantage of this on our adoption Sunday at Petco Thanksgiving weekend and what a success!  We had 9 adoptions in one day!!!  It was so exciting to know the cats had found loving homes.  We are most grateful to Best Friends and their partnership with Zappos.com.

During December there has been an Adopt a new Best Friend event during the entire month offering a special rate of a $25.00 adoption fee. Spay and neuters can cost $50-$60 and more so this is a bargain rate. There was no Zappos compensation in this situation but we decided we should see what happens with the support of Best Friends of Utah, primarily in advertisement and encouragement.  Unfortunately Don and I got bronchitis and were unable to be at Petco the Sunday before Christmas but, we were able to make it the following Sunday and are happy to report that there were 8 more adoptions. We look forward to many more successful events with Best Friends.

We have some adorable Siamese mix 3 month old kittens that were trapped at Win River Indian Casino by a friend. Win River prohibits feeding and trapping for adoption purposes any cats on their property !!!!!  We had 2 female cats in a box trap that we had been unable to catch previously and security officers made us let them go !!!!!  My friend is still feeding on the fringe. . . you can’t NOT feed !!!  If you have a chance, protest to Win River. 

 

A few months ago we were contacted by a local trucking company that had a growing population of cats and kittens living on the property. Some of the employees were feeding the cats to prevent them from starving to death. We decided to partner with the company in order to get the cats spayed/neutered to prevent the population from growing further. As you can imagine, this was an expensive and time consuming task.  We released the feral adults back onto the property and brought the kittens here where they could be taken care of and socialized while they got big enough to be spayed/neutered and put up for adoption. This contributed to our "kitten explosion" we had this year. So many kittens were abandoned and in need.  Many have been adopted but some are still here anxiously waiting for their forever homes. 

Unfortunately we see our share of cats that have been abused, abandoned and neglected. We find kitties in bad situations, whether from abuse or an accident, we don’t always find out, but we love them and try our best to help them heal and find new forever homes.

There were the unwanted youngsters found at a trailer park by one of our workers, and several kittens found on the doorstep of an empty house, abandoned when the owner moved.  Oh! and 2 were left at two different school sites, charming babies that have now been tested, spayed, given shots, wormed, and already adopted. One kitten we rescued from a deplorable trailer park had thick loose scabs all along his back and sides that our vet said were the result of burns!!! That little guy named Crusty stayed in the vet clinic for more than a month where he could be protected from infection better than we could do, wearing his little stockinette coat to hold all his scabs in place until the underlying skin was healed !!!! What a doll he was. He found his forever home with one of the hospital’s workers and was renamed Christopher. Yeah!!! Another little guy was said to have fallen out of the bathroom window and had a missing lower lip which exposed his pink gum and his teeth. He also found his forever home. Sadly, incidents such as these happen daily.

Our communities are full of cat colonies without owners; many we meet during our early morning feeding, monitoring route at 20 sites. This large population is way more than we can handle alone. Trap, Neuter, and Return is the only humane solution. Most in our community try to ignore the situation.  Public animal control agencies refuse to be involved in or to even encourage attempts to establish a more stable and healthy group of community colonies. There are a number of individuals with whom we have worked with in trapping, neutering, and returning (TNR) in locations like Caldwell and Anderson River Parks, but so much more is needed. We need a spay/neuter grant badly to support the costs that we incur. Haven Humane’s & CARE Animal Hospital’s updated charge of $45.00 -$61.00 feral cat fee for Felv/Fiv testing, spaying/neutering and giving rabies vaccinations becomes a very significant expense, particularly when groups of 10 cats in one night become a target for control as recently occurred at the trucking company’s service yard.  The supplemental feeding and monitoring expenses of multiple neutered/stabilized community colonies also becomes significant. 

Here are some of the ongoing expenses in the operation of our rescue:

TNR expenses                  $4,200 per month

Litter/food                         $3,850 per month

Other Vet expenses           $  850 per month

Meds and vaccinations      $  470 per month

Our expenses exceed $100,000 per year……

Thank you for the support and financial aid you have given us this year and we hope you can continue, as the current financial situation is grim at this time.  We have been working for 15 years to help these ignored/abused community cats....... and things are only slowly becoming better. We are dedicated to giving community cats a better life and eliminating their suffering.  If you are able to help us keep this rescue afloat and improve our community cat colonies and save more kitties PLEASE join us with your support; it is tax deductible. We also accept and appreciate donations of food, litter, used or new cat toys and beds, blankets, towels, cat trees.

Thank you and Happy New Year,

by Joan Neptune, founder of Stillwater Cat Haven, (530) 365-4861, a 501C3 non-profit organization   Visit us on Stillwatercathaven.blogspot.com or visit our facebook.com/stillwatercathaven where you can see many of our kitties, and click on the ‘Donate Now’ tab to be taken to our website to complete your donation.  Our mailing address is PO Box 278 Anderson, CA 96007 if you prefer to mail us a donation.