Cat News
Tigger, submitted by Jennifer
Voting for the “luckiest pet” runs from February 21 to March 18. We had four people enter their kitties in the “Luckiest Pet Contest” sponsored by Petfinder.com, Petco, and Animal Planet. Thank you to Debbie, Jennifer, Cynthia, and Jessica for entering Grayson, Tigger, Susan, and Cali in the contest as the luckiest pets around!
If Grayson, Tigger, Susan, or Cali’s photos win, their moms will win a $500 gift card to Petco and Black and Orange will receive a $5,000 donation!
You can vote once a day for either Grayson, Tigger, Susan, or Cali from February 21 to March 18!
To vote, go HERE and put in “Black and Orange” under “See the Lucky Pets.” The four photos included in this blog posting are the photos you will see of Tigger, Grayson, Susan, and Cali when you go to vote. Choose one of them and vote for your favorite to help B and O win!
Just a note on Susan. She is Cynthia’s foster kitty and is available for adoption. This sweet older gal is deaf and declawed. She was found wandering at a local farmer’s market, starving and alone. To read more about Susan and see other photos, go HERE. And if you are interested in adopting Susan, download an application on our web site, www.bandocats.org, under “How you can help” and “Adopt.” Once you have filled it out, either email it back to bandocats@gmail.com or fax it to 614-873-0972.
Again, vote once a day until March 18 for your favorite kitty!
Grayson, submitted by Debbie
Cali, submitted by Jessica
Susan, submitted by Cynthia
Please join Health and Harmony Animal Hospital on Saturday, March 23, for an Open House from 11 am to 2 pm. You can meet with local vendors, rescues, and businesses while touring the facility and enjoying light refreshments.
Leashed pets are welcome for the tour, as well.
Meet our wonderful board member, friend, and veterinarian, Dr. Kim West, and her lovely staff, including Dr. Evelyn Tannhof, office manager, Rob Smith, vet tech, Mandy Bible, and the lady who keeps everything running smoothly, Allyson Storts.
We know you will love them all as much as we do.
More details as we get closer to the event, but please mark your calendars and join us at Health and Harmony on March 23.
Health and Harmony is located at 1117 West 1st Avenue in Grandview. For more information or to schedule an appointment (they are accepting new patients), call 614-360-3941.
We want to wish all of our supporters, fosters, volunteers, and adopters a wonderful and peaceful holiday. We could not help the cats like we do without each and every one of you! Have a bit of rest–be like a cat and bask in a spot of sun, napping and eating, as the year quietly ends. Then be prepared to begin the rescue efforts all over again in 2013!
Thank you to the Brininger Family for this lovely photo of their rescue kitty, Treat, who they adopted from Black and Orange. Although the Brininger kitties all have Halloween type names, that does not mean they don’t get into the Christmas spirit!
This holiday season, Capital City Spay and Neuter Clinic (where we send lots of people for low cost spays and neuters) asked everyone coming in to the clinic to take a tag from the giving tree they decorated on their front counter. The tags had written on them necessary kitty things such as cat litter, dry food, blankets, and canned food. Some of the tags also included photos of some of Black and Orange’s adoptable kitties.
Dr. Chrissy Murphy’s mom and office manager, Sharon Schilling, organized the giving tree and charitable event and asked clients to make donations of items Black and Orange and other local rescue groups and pet food pantries might need. Sharon had set a goal to try to reach 100 cans of cat and dog food donated.
This past Wednesday, December 19, Capital City held their first Christmas Open House and we were amazed when we stopped in–the entire surgical area was piled high with toys, treats, food, and even cat trees and carriers. And showing just how kind people are, the clinic collected 547 cans of cat and dog food! They definitely surpassed the goal of 100 cans with no difficulty thanks to the kindness of the animal lovers who came in Capital City.
We picked up our portion of the goodies on Thursday and were thrilled with all the wonderful items people kindly gave for our kitties. We are in the process of dispersing items to fosters and those feeding colonies of kitties.
I want to thank everyone at Capital City Spay and Neuter Clinic for collecting these items for our cats. I especially want to thank Sharon for emailing me with this idea back in November and asking me what the B and O kitties needed. Sharon emailed me many times over the past month to tell me when someone was interested in one of the kitties featured on the Giving Tree or to ask me if they could highlight one of our cats on their web page.
I know it was not easy to work around all the accumulated items which took up a lot of space, so thank you Dr. Murphy, Betsy, and everyone else for still performing wonderful surgeries even while dodging cases of food and boxes of kitty beds.
We appreciate the kindness of everyone who donated. Please know that these items will be put to great use and will help many, many kitties in need.
Again, thank you to Capital City Spay and Neuter Clinic for all your efforts to help us. We love you guys! Have a wonderful holiday from everyone at Black and Orange Cat Foundation!
I am thrilled to announce that our web guru, feline friend, and local author, Vicki Watson, has just released the fourth book, Tender Mercies, in her Sonrise Stable series. I had the privilege of reading the book before it was published to give Vicki my thoughts on the story line, which features our board member, vet, and friend, Dr. Kim West, and a kitty she rescued, Sparrow, who had been shot with an arrow.
You can read Sparrow’s full story and see photos HERE.
Vicki was so horrified after she heard about Sparrow that she wanted to tell others about the extreme cruelty that brought the cat to the Humane Society of Delaware County and Dr. West, as well as the extreme compassion that saved her life. Sparrow has, by the way, gone on to a wonderful home with a friend of Dr. West’s in Chicago. So despite everything, this kitty got a happy ending.
Sparrow’s tale is a side story in Tender Mercies, which focuses on the fate of foals born to “nurse mares.” In case you don’t know about nurse mares, here’s the sad information. When an expensive thoroughbred horse gives birth, the owners will sometimes take the much wanted thoroughbred baby away from it’s very valuable mother and have a nurse mare raise the thoroughbred foal. Because the nurse mare must have milk, she will have just given birth herself. Her true baby is of no value and is often killed.
Luckily, there are rescues that take these unwanted “products” of the thoroughbred industry and find the babies homes. One of those rescues is Last Chance Corral in Athens, Ohio. Vicki visited Victoria Goss, who saves these horses, to get information for Tender Mercies. Both Victoria and the rescue are featured in the book and provide a very real and poignant portrait of the fate of these babies. Thankfully, there are places like Last Chance Corral for these foals that did not ask to be born and certainly don’t want to die.
Vicki wanted Tender Mercies to touch on the many cruel things humans do to animals to teach the next generation to be compassionate and more humane. The theme of Tender Mercies focuses on treating animals with kindness, based on Proverbs 12:10: “A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.”
If you are looking for a great gift for kids this holiday season that not only promotes reading, but also teaches compassion for animals, Tender Mercies fits the bill. To read more about Tender Mercies and to order the book, go HERE.
The other three books in the Sonrise Stable series, Rosie and Scamper, Carrie and Bandit, and Clothed With Thunder, are also available by going to the web site HERE and clicking on the link at the top for BOOKS.
Vicki lives locally in Marysville and her web site business, VWeb Web Design, takes care of Black and Orange. Her good friend, Becky Raber, did all of the illustrations for the book and she lives here in Plain City. Visit Becky’s web site HERE.
I am so happy to support local artists who promote kindness and compassion to all animals and value the importance of rescue in the lives of unwanted animals. Thank you Vicki and Becky!
You can read another blog posting about Vicki HERE.
National Feral Cat Day was started ten years ago by Alley Cat Allies to teach people about the importance of Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) for feral cats. At the time, TNR was a very new idea, but one that has grown and become a much more accepted practice nationwide thanks to Alley Cat Allies and the many other rescue groups that use this method to help cats in their communities.
TNR involves humanely trapping colonies of feral cats, transporting them to a clinic for vet care (sterilization, vaccines, and ear-tipping), and then returning them to their home base. TNR replaces the outdated and unnecessary method of Trap and Kill. Many people also often think the “R” in TNR stands for Release or Relocate, but a major component of this practice is that the cats are Returned to their home where they are familiar with places to hide and know the other cats in the colony.
The two cats that are featured in the logo for National Feral Cat Day are really two feral cats who were fixed in a TNR project in Washington DC. You can read the story of Fred and Ginger HERE.
Read about all the events taking place on this important day HERE.
And in honor of National Feral Cat Day, Xenotees is selling an ear-tipped kitty pillowcase and donating 100 percent of the profits to a Philadelphia rescue, Four the Paws. Ear-tipping, as most of you know, is the universal way to show that a cat has been fixed. A tiny portion is cut off the top of one ear (usually the left ear) to indicate that the cat is already spayed or neutered.
You can order your own ear-tipped kitty pillowcases (or tote bags!) by going HERE.
To read a really good article about TNR on Moderncat, go HERE.
Thank you to Moderncat for letting me know about these super ear-tipped cat pillowcases!
Additionally, in honor of National Feral Cat Day, you can get a discount on Tomahawk and Tru-Catch humane traps. Receive $10 off Tomahawk’s Neighborhood Cats Trap (which usually sells for $60) by using coupon code NFCD12. And get the Tru-Catch Light Duty Animal Trap on sale for $50 (normally priced at $69.99).
To find out more about the trap discounts, go HERE.
Happy National Feral Cat Day!
We are so happy to announce that our good friend, veterinarian, and board member, Dr. Kim West, will be opening her own vet hospital, Health and Harmony, on October 15. Dr. West will be assisted by fellow friend and veterinarian, Dr. Evelyn Tannhof, and head technician/practice manager, Rob Smith, in caring for the beloved animals that enter the hospital.
Health and Harmony is located at 1117 West First Avenue in Columbus (actually Grandview).
The mission statement of Health and Harmony states: “To honor our patients, Health and Harmony Animal Hospital ensures that each client is confident in the care they are receiving for their animal companion, comfortable with all aspects of the hospital and staff, as well as engaged in all areas of their pet’s health and well-being.”
The Black and Orange Board members all had a tour of the facility at our last board meeting in September and the hospital is going to be gorgeous. Painted in calming colors, the whole building exudes peace and tranquility. There will be separate waiting areas for cats and dogs. The dog waiting area will feature large comfy dog beds for lounging. Both Dr. West and Dr. Tannhof will be bringing their dogs to work with them, so expect to see the friendly faces of Fruit Bat (the chihuahua who was saved from a spot at a busy bus stop where she sat all day with a broken ankle) and her partner in crime, Tupelo Honey, the fluffy, fierce diva Pomeranian.
There is also a true isolation room in the hospital with the walls lined with a material that can be scrubbed and sanitized. I have never seen anything like this room. Clearly cutting edge!
Dr. West will be offering her acupuncture talents for those animals who need this service. Additionally (and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this), both Dr. West and Dr. Tannhof have officially decided that they will NOT do any declaw surgeries! Declawing is a very painful and inhumane surgery and Dr. West and I have talked about the problems declawed cats face for many years. Black and Orange does not adopt to anyone who plans to declaw and Dr. West decided that, as a vet, she could not continue to do something that she thinks is unnecessary and even harmful to cats.
However, like Black and Orange, Dr. West plans to educate people about declawing and offer alternatives. The staff at Health and Harmony will trim nails and attach Soft Paws (the soft sheathes that fit over nails to prevent cats from doing damage with their nails) for clients who are worried about their cat’s scratching behaviors.
To read more about declawing and find alternatives yourself, go HERE.
We are also happy to announce that one of the cat exam rooms will be named after and dedicated to Black and Orange Cat Foundation! Our logo will be painted on the door and we will feature photos of our rescued kitties and their happy stories on the walls of the room. Other rescue groups, including SOS of Ohio, will also be featured with the other exam rooms in the hospital.
To schedule an appointment at Health and Harmony, call 614-360-3941.
To find out more and see photos of the beautiful facility, go to the Health and Harmony Facebook page HERE. And please “Like” them while you are there!
We are so happy for Dr. West and wish her and all the staff much luck as they set forth on this new and exciting endeavor!
Yes, it’s that time of year again. Time to discover famous, furry faces for the 2013 Black and Orange Cat Foundation calendar!
This year we are doing things a bit differently. It was a little overwhelming last year trying to keep track of the photos that were emailed to us (almost 200!), so this year, we asked our web site guru, Vicki Watson, to set up an easy way for us to keep track of the photos and the stories that go along with them. Vicki arranged it so that the photos can be submitted online.
As a way to further fundraise for the kitties (an idea that we got from Siamese Rescue and Grey2K USA), we are asking for a $5 donation for each photo submitted.
Once again, all those with winning photos will receive a free 2013 calendar. The calendars are going to be $20 each (as they were last year) and we will have them ready in time for holiday gift giving.
The deadline for photo submission is October 20.
Please send in your adorable baby’s photo and make him or her a Calendar Kitty! You can submit photos by going HERE.
I know that many of you have heard of Romeo the Cat. This feisty Persian, who, by the way, was adopted from a local Persian rescue group in Marysville, Ohio, has his own hilarious and informative blog. His sidekick, Pugsley, also chimes in on Romeo’s adventures. The pair live with their human, Caroline, in Columbus and routinely fundraise for rescues and shelters.
Happily, one of our supporters suggested Black and Orange to Romeo and his mom as a group worthy of donations for our efforts on behalf of kitties. We are the October FURPOWER donation recipient.
Romeo raises money for organizations through individual donations, sponsorships, advertising, and other programs on his blog. Since 2009, this amazing feline has raised over $60,000 for shelters and rescues in need.
Please let everyone know that we are the group that will receive all donations raised by Romeo and Pugsley in October. Romeo offers some insightful info on how the blog raises money HERE. You can help increase the number of visitors to the site by dropping by for a visit with Romeo and Pugsley. The more visitors, the bigger the donations Romeo and his humans can dole out to worthy groups!
You can also take a look at other groups the cats have helped in 2012 HERE.
Like Romeo the Cat on Facebook HERE.
Check out the sister blog to Romeo the Cat, The Happy Litterbox, which focus on solutions and helpful information for litter pan problems. Like The Happy Litterbox on Facebook HERE.
Thank you to Romeo, Pugsley, Caroline, Angel, and all the other humans working on Romeo’s behalf for rescues and shelters nationwide!
We also want to thank Romeo the Cat’s sponsor, Pets Add Life (PAL), for their $500 check to us for being the October FURPOWER group! Pets Add Life is an initiative by the American Pet Products Association, which celebrates the joys of multiple pet ownership and encourages adoption. Please LIKE PAL on Facebook HERE.
Join the ZenCat Gallery for their Fall Art Show and Silent Auction on Sunday, September 30 from 5 to 8 pm at Sidebar 122.
The evening will feature awesome appetizers, decadent drinks, and fabulous art. You can meet the artists, buy “art with heart,” and support feline welfare. The show will feature 4 x4″ collage artworks. The proceeds from the sale of all the collages and silent auction items will go to the “Feline Assistance Fund.”
ZenCat Gallery is “dedicated to honoring and increasing the positive visibility of cats.” Their mission includes “providing more avenues for connection in the feline community as well as supporting feline welfare.” For that purpose the Feline Assistance Fund was started with a portion of all proceeds from the gallery going to “improve the lives of cats and those who care for them.”
Sidebar 122 is located at 122 East Main Street in Columbus. Please add this event to your calendar and tell all your art and cat loving friends about it. We know you have a space on your walls that is just calling for a piece of artwork featuring a fabulous kitty!
