Monthly Archives: October 2011
Eldchrist Winery, located at 8189 State Route 736 in Plain City, has kindly agreed to host the second Fall CAT-illion to benefit Black and Orange on Saturday, November 12, from 6-10 pm (the OSU football game is AWAY 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 classical guitarist Tip House.
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 once again.
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.
A former adopter and good friend to B and O, Olivia Brininger, will be selling Lia Sophia jewelry with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Black and Orange.
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. You can also email us at bandocats@gmail.com for more information. Eldchrist Winery will also have some tickets available to purchase at the door the night of the event.
While we have the perfect name for Halloween (Black and Orange Cat Foundation–sadly, we could never fit in for Christmas–Red and Green Cat Foundation?) and we love the holiday, we always worry about the black kitties we so adore at this time of the year. There are a lot of creepy people who decide it might be fun to harm black cats around Halloween.
The best thing to do as Halloween approaches is to keep your black cats and, in fact, any of your cats or pets, inside where they will be safe from pranksters and mean people. Even if there aren’t gangs of delinquents patrolling your neighborhood looking to tie firecrackers to a cat’s tail or have a “sacrifice” in a local cemetery, just the crowd of trick-or-treaters traipsing to your door can be a scary occurrence for pets accustomed to peace and quiet.
Open doors are also a threat at this time of year as you pass out candy—that thin opening provides a means of escape for a frightened pooch or kitty. Keep animals well away from open doors if they are a bit shy or scared (or even overly exuberant about meeting new people). And just to make sure no one gets lost if there is a door darter, have identification on your pets if they are not microchipped.
And, while we have been guilty of this crime, don’t dress your pets in costumes to torture them unless they are okay with it and are not going to freak out.
We really think Winston secretly wants to be a pirate, so it is OKAY that we made him pretend to be Johnny Depp for a photo op. And Oswald loves to wear hats!
For more safety tips, visit the ASPCA site HERE or the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) site HERE.
For safety tips specific to dogs, please go HERE.
Back in February, a lady wrote to me asking if we could take in her two cats, Midnight and Tiger. Her grandmother was ill and they were moving to a facility that would not allow the cats. Since the boys were in the 6-8 year range, she feared that if she took them to her local “dog pound,” they would just be killed because they were older.
I offered to post the boys on our Petfinder site, as I do for everyone. She sent me photos and something about their images pulled at my emotions. The photos showed a chubby black cat and his tiger striped buddy. They were the most generic of all cat types–their colors the colors of thousands of other cats in need. And to go with their generic looks, they had the most generic names–Tiger and Midnight. How many times had I heard those same names used for tabby and black cats?
But for some reason, I could not get their pictures or names to leave my mind and I kept checking in with the woman to see if she had found them a safe place to go. Sadly, they got overlooked online and no one inquired about adopting them.
In the final few days before she had to move and take them to the pound, I took Midnight and Tiger from her. She didn’t even live in our area. She lived on the East side of Columbus. I never met her in person. I only spoke with her one time after she dropped them off at the Capital City Spay and Neuter Clinic to be evaluated and get updated on vaccines. She wanted to make sure they were okay.
I must thank that woman, because, boy, did she give me two wonderful kitties.
Midnight and Tiger went home with me as my fosters. They were both lovers and it was easy to fall in love with them. Tiger was laidback and quiet, always head butting me and soliciting a scratch on the head. Midnight was a talker. He loved his dinner and he would enthusiastically greet his food as if it was a long lost friend. He was a bit on the portly side, running on thin legs to meet you and ask where you’d been and request a rubdown. His favorite place to hang out was in my bathroom closet in his cup bed. I would come in often to find his head leaned over the side of the bed, eyes closed, perfectly at peace with the world. He would meow at me, lifting his head in greeting, and then go back to sleep.
I loved those boys. They were more special than their photos showed.
I only had the boys with me for a few months. I had worried that no one would want them because they were older and because I wanted to keep them together. They had been pals their whole lives. I could not separate them. They had to be adopted as a pair.
In the time I had them, they both got dentals from Dr. Tom Klein at East Hilliard Vet Services. Midnight, more than Tiger, had a mouth full of problems. He had a snaggle-tooth and several other teeth that needed pulled. I think his poor mouth hurt and after the teeth came out, he seemed to feel so much better.
Everyone who met the boys fell in love with them, as did their new family the Formans. After Midnight and Tiger went to live with Jeff and Monica and their son, I knew they had found their forever people. Monica kept me updated on the boys and donated any unwanted food that they wouldn’t eat to our Pet Food Pantry.
Just about a month ago, Monica wrote me to give me sad and completely unexpected news. Midnight had been having some digestive problems and Monica had been working on his weight and various foods to help him. It turned out that the issues he was having were due to cancer. I was devastated. I never expected anything like that. He had just found a home. I’d put him through all the vet care routine I thought he needed and nothing had showed up while he was my foster. I felt awful.
I asked Monica if I could visit my boy one last time. But sadly that was not to be. This morning, October 20, Monica wrote to tell me that Midnight passed away.
Perhaps that is better. I will always now imagine Midnight, curled up in his little cup bed, eyes closed, happily sleeping, at peace and unafraid. He did not die in a cold, unfamiliar cage at the “dog pound,” crying for Tiger who would not have been with him. Instead, he spent his last days with his friend, loved and spoiled among people who cherished him–the ending all cats should have.
Thank you Monica and Jeff for taking these boys into your life. The Formans had just recently lost another beloved cat and I cannot imagine having to go through this kind of loss again so soon.
Thank you Midnight for the happy memories you gave many, many people who loved you.
Each year, Alley Cat Allies celebrates National Feral Cat Day in mid-October. This year the event will be held on Sunday, October 16. Get out there and help the kitties!
Alley Cat Allies is asking everyone to not only plan an event for National Feral Cat Day, but to also use the power of social media to get the word out about feral cats. They’d like for folks to connect with them on Twitter and Facebook. You can visit their Facebook page and Like them HERE. To find events in your area, go HERE.
Additionally, here are ways you can help if you are a social media guru (or even if you’re only kind of adequate at this stuff, like me!):
- Follow Alley Cat Allies @alleycatallies and tweet your National Feral Cat Day activities using the hashtag #NFCD2011. On National Feral Cat Day, Alley Cat Allies will be live tweeting from their very first open house at their headquarters, so follow them to see what they’re up to and tell them how you’re helping cats! Make sure to follow #NFCD2011 yourself (just type it into the search bar) to find out how the Twitter community is celebrating across the nation. Find something neat under #NFCD2011? Share it with your friends with a retweet!
- Let everyone in your social circle know you’ll be helping cats on October 16 by posting your National Feral Cat Day plans on Facebook now. Then, follow up on the big day with updates and photos! Be sure to tag Alley Cat Allies in your posts and photos, and share your National Feral Cat Day experiences with all 20,000 of Alley Cat Allies’ fans by posting directly to their wall. Plus, keep an eye on their Facebook page for photos of their open house and special National Feral Cat Day-themed LOLcats!