Monthly Archives: January 2013

One of our adopters alerted me to the H&R Block referral program for nonprofits. If you are NOT a past client of H&R Block, you can help us raise money just by having your taxes done. This only works for new H&R Block clients, however.

When you go to have your taxes done, take a copy of the flyer posted to the right with you. Just click on the flyer to enlarge it and then print it. Our information is printed on the flyer to insure that we will get credit.

For every new H&R Block client who takes this referral form when they have their taxes done, Black and Orange will receive $20.

Thank you to Megan Brautigam, our super adopter, and Crystal Merida at H&R Block for working with us on this program.

Our good friend, former foster, and author, Linda Stanek, has started a wonderful company called Ari’s Garden, with her friend and colleague, Jen Funk Weber. Ari’s Garden publishes puzzle books and other educational materials for children and adults.

Several months ago, Linda emailed me asking for photos of feral kitties for a puzzle book she was writing about Trap Neuter Return (TNR). I put the word out to several of our volunteers and they worked with Linda to provide pictures of both feral and friendly cats for the book.

There are actually two sudoku books available from Ari’s Garden which feature cat photos from our volunteers, Kristin Ramsdell and Kim Longnecker Swider. There are also a few pictures that I sent Linda, as well, in the books. The books are Good Fun Sudoku for Kids, Volume One, which contains “Puzzles for Ages 6 and Up with Fascinating Cat Facts, Photos, and Jokes,” and Good Fun Sudoku, Volume One, containing “Easy, Moderate, and Difficult Puzzles with Fascinating Cat Facts, Quotes, Photos, and Jokes.” Who doesn’t want a book containing fascinating cat info?

The books also feature photos of adoptable kitties that were taken at Colony Cats‘ adoption center.

By the way, the buff, fluffy kitty on the front of Good Fun Sudoku, Volume 1, is a semi-feral kitty that Linda helped get vet care. He and his momma kitty both were fixed using Trap Neuter Return methods.

To buy your own copies of Good Fun Sudoku and Good Fun Sudoku for Kids (both with the sub-title Supporting Feline Trap Neuter Return), go HERE.

The other nice thing about these books is that Ari’s Garden donates “10% of profits from the book sales to the causes designated by each book.” Yeah! Have fun and help kitties all at the same time.

To find out more about Linda, visit her web page HERE.

Please check out the wonderful “Collars By Katie.” Katie Habrat is currently an employee at East Hilliard Vet Services and a vet student at The Ohio State University–clearly a very busy lady. She started “Collars By Katie” as a side business and is so generous to offer to donate part of the proceeds from sales to Black and Orange. Katie will donate $2 per item sold (cat collars, dog collars, leashes, harnesses) to B and O through January and $1 per item thereafter. There is a spot on her ordering window online that asks “who referred you?” so she’ll know where the credit is due! So if you do order something, write in that you found out about Katie’s wonderful items from B and O!

Katie also has some of her items available for sale at East Hilliard Vet Services, 3993 Brown Park Drive in Hilliard (across from the post office). Stop in the office and take a look at her lovely items and then buy as many as your pockets can hold!

Please support Katie, as she is very kindly supporting us and the kitties!

To find out more and order from Katie, visit her web site: http://collarsbykatie.tripod.com/

Join ZenCat Gallery on Wednesday, January 30 from 6-9 pm for “Art With Heart,” a silent auction, and other fundraising to benefit PetPromise’s “City Kitty” program which carries out Trap-Neuter-Return projects throughout Central Ohio. The event will be held at House Wine and 20% of all the evening’s proceeds will go to City Kitty, as well.

House Wine is located at 644 High Street in downtown Old Worthington next to the Candle Lab.

For more information on the City Kitty Program and the event, go HERE and HERE.

For more info on PetPromise, go HERE.

Please go out and support this fundraiser as it will help a lot of feral kitties get vet care. We always like to help TNR programs, because they are so important!

 

I know that all of you who adopted from us have very lucky and spoiled kitties.

Animal Planet, Petfinder.com, and Petco are asking rescue groups to have supporters and adopters submit their luckiest pet in the “Luckiest Pet Contest.”

Many of you know the sad or unfortunate situation that your pet came from. Now, though, they are living the life of luxury, loved and pampered in your home. So take the time to enter the contest and tell everyone how lucky your baby is.

You can enter your lucky pet in the contest from now until February 20. Entrants will select a Petfinder rescue group or shelter when submitting the story of their pet. If the pet wins the contest, the Petfinder group they picked will win, too. We hope you will kindly select us when you enter your pet in the contest!

The luckiest pet who receives the most votes will win a $500 gift card to Petco and a $5,000 donation to the rescue group or shelter they chose when they entered. Voting will begin on February 21 and end on March 18. You will be able to vote for your choice of luckiest pet once a day.

To enter, you will need to upload a photo or video of your lucky pet and describe why your baby is the luckiest fur-ball alive.

To enter the Luckiest Pet Contest and find out more, go HERE.

The kitty featured in this photo is Presto who was adopted by Monica and Jeff Forman this past year. Presto is a very lucky kitty. He was an outside cat, fending for himself, and now he is a very spoiled boy who receives tons of gifts and lots of love!

On January 9, volunteers from SOS of Ohio, (Shelter Outreach Services) will be traveling to New Providence Island in the Bahamas to begin “Operation Potcake and The Bahamas 5 Year Spay and Neuter Initiative.”

Operation Potcake is a ten-day intensive spay and neuter campaign that runs from January 10 through January 21. The goal is to sterilize 2,000 animals during that 10 day time frame.

Operation Potcake will spay and neuter feral and stray dogs and cats who will probably never see another vet during their lifetimes.

The 5 Year Initiative plans to help dog and cat owners who need low cost vet care for their pets. The surgeries are being offered for FREE to owners.

All of the clinics during Operation Potcake are being run by volunteers. People are coming from around the world to help with this intensive 10 day spay and neuter campaign.

It is estimated that there are 20,000 dogs on New Providence alone! If there are 20,000 dogs, I can only imagine how many cats there probably are!

So where does the word “Potcake” come from in Operation Potcake?

Potcakes are local dogs, usually mixes of several different breeds. In the Bahamas, a “potcake” is the leftover food on the bottom of a pot of rice. These unwanted food remains were traditionally fed to stray dogs and, thus, the name potcake came to be associated with the dogs.

For more information on this huge initiative, visit the Animal Balance web site HERE.

Follow this link to a YouTube public service announcement about Operation Potcake: YouTube Link

Here is a brief list of items the SOS volunteer team would like to take with them as they head to the Bahamas. You can drop off items to SOS before January 9th. They are located at 691 E. Dublin-Granville Road in Columbus.

1. Shipping tags (the old fashioned brown card with string type–often found at Office Depot).

2. Cotton Balls

3. Q-tips

4. Nutrical

5. Spray bottles

6. Tupperware containers–assorted sizes with lids

7. Old socks (without holes) to cover the hot water bottles (recycled bottles)

8. Brushes and Combs

9. Triple Antibiotic Ointment

10. Monetary donations–which can be sent to SOS of Ohio, 691 E. Dublin-Granville Road, Columbus, Ohio 43229

Please take the time to see if you can round up any of these items to help out the volunteer team from SOS. Many of these items we all have around our homes in abundance or we can purchase at low cost to help the animals.

To find out more about SOS’s ongoing efforts, visit their Facebook page HERE.

Click on the flyer in the upper righthand corner to enlarge and read!

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