Monthly Archives: October 2010

Last Monday, October 18, our board member, Carol Gaul, got a call from her husband, Chuck. Someone had stopped by the shop and dropped off a cat, which they said was injured. The woman who brought the cat to Carol works at the local supermarket and she said she found the cat on Bigelow Avenue in Plain City.

Carol was a bit upset at this woman for just dumping the cat off on her. Black and Orange is not a vet clinic and we do not have a shelter. If the cat was injured, it needed to see a vet, not Carol. But, of course, Carol took responsibility for the cat and went to the shop to check it out.

As far as Carol could tell, the cat was not injured. She had planned to rush it to the local vet if it was. Instead, she sent it with me to our weekly Wednesday clinic at the Union County Humane Society.

Well, it turned out that the big gray tabby was already neutered. We went ahead and updated his vaccines just in case he needed those. But he was also very healthy and a very good weight. He was not like the dumped cats we usually find who are starving and thin. This big guy looked like someone had been taking care of him and feeding him.

Carol named the cat Alex and he is staying at the shop right now while she tries to locate his owners. She has put flyers up all around town and called all the people she can think of who live in the area where he was found.

Alex is very, very friendly and loves people. He is not shy or scared at all, and that also leads us to believe that he is someone’s missing cat. I did go on PetFBI and could find no missing cats listed for the Plain City area. Even surrounding counties did not list a cat that matched Alex’s description. I also tried to list Alex on PetFBI, but there was a glitch in the computer and the site was not working correctly.

Please take a look at the photos of Alex and see if he looks familiar to you. We would love to find the family who is missing this gentle giant.

While Joe and I were at lunch the other day at the NCPA (National Community Pharmacists Association) convention in Philadelphia, we happened to talk to a pharmacist who told us about a trip he had taken to the Finger Lakes region of New York. While scanning a local newspaper, he saw an ad for Water Street Pharmacy in Dundee, New York. The drugstore’s advertisement encouraged people to stop by and see Jack the cat.

This pharmacist, who was a cat lover, was intrigued by the idea of a pharmacy cat, so he did indeed stop by and meet the infamous Jack. Jack, he said, was very, very friendly and came out to greet him, rubbing up against his legs. He said the pharmacist and owner of Water Street Pharmacy, Tracey Knapp, told him that many of her older customers would not leave without seeing Jack when they picked up their prescriptions.

While I have heard of other businesses having both dog or cat mascots, I have never come across a pharmacy with one. Joe and I had discussed having a cat in Plain City Druggist, but we feared a wily feline might try to escape or customers would complain of allergies or cat fur in the aisles.

Happily, those are not concerns for Water Street Pharmacy and Jack. In fact, Jack has even received a “service recognition award” for providing the pharmacy customers with impeccable service. You can see a photo of Jack, Pharmacist Tracey Knapp, and read about Jack’s award HERE.

We may have to rethink our hesitations about a pharmacy feline.

While the cat in the photo with the stethoscope is not Jack at Water Street Pharmacy, Jack does appear, in the photo about his award, to be a large tabby cat, too. You can order copies of the cat and stethoscope get well card through Zazzle.

Many of you have probably wondered how we are able to catch so many feral cats. I’ll bet you thought it was through the use of humane traps.

But now the truth comes out. We have a marathon runner on our Board and she chases the cats down until she catches them.

We want to congratulate our Board member, volunteer, and co-founder of Black and Orange Cat Foundation, Bobbie Timmons, for completing the half-marathon (that’s 13.1 miles for all you non-runners) portion of the Columbus Marathon this past Sunday, October 17. Bobbie finished in two hours and fifty-three minutes. That’s her in the photo in the pink shirt and black pants.

So now you know our secret. No cat gets away from B and O with Bobbie on board. Run, Bobbie, run.

Each year, Alley Cat Allies encourages people who love feral cats to celebrate National Feral Cat Day. This year, Alley Cat Allies is celebrating the 10 year anniversary of this important day.

We will also be celebrating National Feral Cat Day in two ways on October 16. First of all, we will be at the PetSmart on Sawmill Road from 12-2 for an adoption event. While we are there, we will also be selling $5 shopping passes for Macy’s Shop for a Cause day, which also just happens to be October 16. The passes allow you to get extra savings in the store and also enter to win a raffle for a $500 Macy’s gift card. Best of all, we get to keep all of the proceeds from the sale of the passes.

We will also be selling raffle tickets for the Mini Cooper and tickets for the Eldchrist Winery Fall CAT-illion. So stop by and support us and meet some of our kitties.

Later in the day, after the adoption event ends, we will be heading to the Macy’s at the Mall at Tuttle Crossing to sell shopping passes at the main mall doors leading into Macy’s (in the women’s clothing section). We will be there from 5-7 pm and will stay from 7-10 pm, as long as the crowd doesn’t dwindle with the start of the OSU vs. Wisconsin game at 7 pm. Please stop by and see us and buy a shopping pass to support us. As always, any money we raise goes towards spay and neuter surgeries for stray and feral cats.

We’ll be celebrating National Feral Cat Day. How about you?

For more information on National Feral Cat Day, visit Alley Cat Allies and purchase your own “I Love Feral Cats” merchandise.

Eldchrist Winery, located at 8189 State Route 736 in Plain City, has kindly agreed to host a Fall CAT-illion to benefit Black and Orange on Saturday, November 6 from 7-11 pm (there is no OSU football game that day, so no reason to hold back). Tickets for the CAT-illion are now available. 

Tickets are $40 per person or $75 for a couple. Included in the ticket price are unlimited wine by the glass, soft drinks, coffee, and tea, as well as hors d’oeuvres and entertainment by local musicians, 2nd Story Acoustic.

Since the Winery cats, B and Mittens, are white, the hors d’oeuvres will feature a white theme: a gourmet mashed potato bar, white pizza, white cheeses and crackers, white gourmet cookies, and a white chocolate fondue with fruits for dipping. 

B and Mittens are the kitties that are featured on the label of Kitten’s Kiss Wine. These two went through a Black and Orange clinic to get neutered and vaccinated. Thus, to thank Black and Orange, the Winery has graciously offered to conduct this classy fundraiser. Don’t forget, B and O also gets a portion of the proceeds from each bottle of Kitten’s Kiss wine sold. 

Besides everything that Eldchrist Winery has planned, we also plan to have Christmas gift items and baskets for sale during the event. Additionally, a good friend of ours, Libby Sparks, will do tarot card readings for a donation. She is planning to spend about 15 minutes per person and felt a $15 donation would be suitable for her time. 

My cousin, Jeremy Blanton, and his girlfriend, Heidi Boles, both licensed massage therapists, will be offering five to ten minute mini neck and shoulder massages for a donation, as well. 

We also had four 1-Day Park Hopper tickets for Walt Disney World in Florida donated to us by Walt Disney theme parks. These tickets, valued at $136 per pass or $544 for all four tickets, will be auctioned off in a silent auction.

We plan to have a lot of fun, so if you want to come, get your tickets now. The Winery can only hold 50 people per fire code, so Eldchrist will be selling around 50 tickets for the evening. If you would like tickets, you can purchase them by credit card by calling the Winery at (614) 874-6240. You can also stop in while they are open on Fridays from 6 pm to 9 pm and Saturdays from 2 pm to 8 pm.  

Additionally, we have tickets for sale through Black and Orange. You can come by Plain City Druggist, 480 South Jefferson Avenue (across from Der Dutchman) in Plain City to buy your tickets from Robin or Joe. Plain City Druggist  is open Monday to Friday 9 am-6 pm (closed for lunch from 1:15-2:15) and Saturdays 9 am to noon. We will also have tickets at our upcoming adoption events. You can also email us at bandocats@columbus.rr.com for more information. Eldchrist Winery will also have some tickets available to purchase at the door the night of the event.

This coming Saturday, October 16, Marcia Perry Rhoades will be hosting a stem cell replacement presentation at BarkPark. The presentation will get underway at 10 am in the barn and will focus upon stem cell therapy procedures for dogs. 

As Marcia noted in her email, this is a fairly new procedure that is used for dogs with osteoarthritis, a condition quite common in older dogs. To find out more, you can visit the web site, Vet-Stem.com, which features videos from owners who have had the procedure done on their dogs. There is also a video segment from ABC’s Nightline.

Additionally, the web site provides information about using stem cell therapy for cats and horses, as well as dogs.

Marcia plans to have the procedure done on her beagle, Bob, within the next few months. Bob has deformed legs and Marcia hopes to prevent the severe arthritis that would certainly develop due to his deformity. 

The stem cell therapy presentation will be given by one of the three vets in Columbus who currently does the procedure. 

If you would like to attend this presentation, which is open to the public, please email Marcia at marcia@barkpark.org

BarkPark is located at 6755 Merchant Road in Delaware.

As an added note: BarkPark is re-opening in 2011!! For more info on the 2011 season, check out the web site, www.barkpark.org

As we mentioned in an earlier posting, a good friend, Ernie Sparks, who owns Ernie’s London Apothecary in London, Ohio, donated his son’s 2003 Mini Cooper S to Black and Orange Cat Foundation (in the photo, you can see Ernie’s son, Nick, with the Mini when he first got it). The car has around 130,000 miles on it now and has a retail book value of over $12,000.

We are going to raffle the Mini off and we now have raffle tickets available. One ticket is $50. We are selling a minimum of 200 tickets. The drawing for the Mini will be held on December 15 as long as 200 tickets have been sold. Any tickets over the 200 will just give us more money to spay and neuter more kitties. 

With the $50 for the raffle ticket, we can spay approximately one female cat or neuter two male cats. From 2006 to 2009, we have sterilized 2,320 cats (so far in 2010, we have spayed and neutered between 250-300 cats). 

The rules for the raffle are this:

You must be 18 or older to enter.

You do not need to be present to win–we will call you or email you if you are the winner. Don’t worry, we will get hold of you somehow.

The winner is responsible for any taxes or fees associated with the transfer of the title. The winner is also responsible for arranging pick up of the car (although, if you ask us, we are sure we can help figure out a way to meet part way if you live outside of the central Ohio area).

The car is sold “as is.”

We had thought about limiting the number of tickets you could buy, but we decided against that. So if you want to buy two tickets or three tickets or more, you can. There will still be only a limited number of tickets sold, so you will have very good odds no matter if you buy one ticket or half a dozen tickets.

You can purchase a raffle ticket by stopping in to Plain City Druggist, 480 South Jefferson Avenue in Plain City (across from Der Dutchman Restaurant). We will also have tickets for sale at our upcoming adoption events at PetSmart. Our volunteers will also be selling them throughout the community and at their work places. 

If you don’t live near Plain City, you can also purchase tickets by mailing a check or money order made out to Black and Orange Cat Foundation to P. O. Box 126, Plain City, Ohio 43064. Please indicate on the check or in a note how many tickets you want. I will then fill out the raffle ticket with your information (please make sure you include your phone number or email address so we will be able to reach you if you win) and mail you back the half of the ticket that you must keep until the drawing.

Again the drawing will be held on December 15 if we have sold 200 tickets by that time. By selling 200 tickets, we will raise $10,000 to help area cats. 

I want to thank Ernie Sparks for helping us and the kitties with this super donation. This was a total surprise and we are so happy to have this opportunity to “sterilize a carload of kitties” with the proceeds from the raffle tickets for the Mini.

Mini Raffle Tickets flyer2

To print out a copy of the flyer about the Mini Cooper S raffle, click on the link above. If you would like more info about the raffle or would like me to email you a Mini flyer, please just send me an email (bandocats@columbus.rr.com) and I’ll be more than glad to help in any way I can!

Please join Black and Orange Cat Foundation at Columbus Cocker Rescue’s “Howl-O-Ween” party on Saturday, October 23 at 5560 North Hamilton Road in Columbus from 3-7 pm. The event is being held at Noah’s Too Pet Resort. For directions and a map, go HERE.

There will be lots of fun things for families to do and you can also look for a new furry family member while you are trick-or-treating and enjoying all the ghoulish “howling” around you.

Additionally, there will also be a professional photographer taking family photos, as well as a pet costume contest.

Kristin and Christina have kindly agreed to attend this event with some of our adoptable kitties. If you would like more information, check out Columbus Cocker Rescue’s Facebook page HERE.

To print out the flyer, click on it to enlarge it and then print.

Please come out and see us! We know you will have a howling good time!

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