Hi Volunteers and Friends of the Catty Shack,

So much happens behind the scenes at a rescue, I thought I would report in on some of the activity.

Everyone who has shifts at the Shack knows that Artemis and Guy were adopted, we have 4 new kittens in the green room from foster and a new senior declawed girl in the back room who is making the transition from neglect to having a clean area and food to eat that she likes.

I am getting multiple calls for help daily, as always, and am trying to find solutions for each situation. Sheri Laing is doing a Herculean task of keeping up with all the emergency situations, as well as spaying and neutering multitudes of ferals, colonies and hoarding situations. I can’t even begin to guess the numbers this year, it is so relentless. We are doing our best to keep up with the kittens and moms who are friendly enough to go somewhere.

Yesterday I found myself driving out to Dewey to pick up a purebred Persian who was found on the street trying to fend for himself outdoors, where he had probably never been. He is microchipped, and the number was contacted, but they had no interest in having him back. He was brought down from Montana originally. As I drove up to the woman’s car, I saw she was holding an orange kitten, and we know what that means! Luckily there is always a collapsible carrier in my car, so Pipe Dream, the orange kitten who had been living in a drain pipe, was handed over, along with the Persian boy.

Baba, as I dubbed the Persian, rode in the front seat with me, and as we drove to the lusty music of Pipe Dreams protest song, I looked at Baba through the holes in the carrier. I wondered how a full bred Persian ended up on the street and he wondered where he was going and what would happen to him next. We drove back to town, intermittently looking into each other’s eyes, and he began a soft talking, telling me his story and asking me where he was going. Our hearts touched in those moments, and as we all know, we are forever changed by their gifts from the heart.

I took them both to MileHi to get tested, which is always our first step. I stepped outside to take a call, and when I stepped back in, two vet techs were sitting with both of the carriers, waiting for me. Both boys tested negative and the new vet tech, Breezy, asked if he would be up for adoption. I replied he was horribly matted and would need grooming. She said she would do that at MileHi, and, long story short, Baba, now Cosmo, went home within an hour of pickup. His stars aligned, as his new person is over the moon to have him.

Meanwhile, Pipe Dream went into one of the enclosures in the kitten room, ate some food and collapsed into sleep. He is a worn-out little guy, about 16 weeks or so, but you know it won’t take long for him to bounce back and drive us all nuts. You can watch him do that when you come into work or visit at the Shack.

Thank you for continuing to work and support the Catty Shack. I know sometimes it doesn’t look like much is going on but behind the scenes it is hell on wheels! We do our best to keep up and keeping things running smoothly at the Shack, which makes it that much easier.

Susan

You are home now boy! Hopefully we’ll get some after pictures to show what he looks like after being off the street for awhile.​

We said good bye to one of the FELV + kitties in our group this morning. He died peacefully in his sleep never having a chance to find his own home. His fosters have been incredibly good to him and his companions and for that we are eternally grateful. But we have hopes and dreams for all our rescues that they will find their place in the world and connect deeply with their human. It has been the hardest thing to accept that this won’t happen for these babies and they will never know that experience. But their fosters have stood by them through every twist and turn of the path. Even when I suggested we euthanize them on the advice of people I talked with, they refused and have continued on day in and day out, caring for them, giving them the best life they can, sacrificing the space in their home to hold them where they won’t be with their well cats. These are the good hearted people you rarely hear about. The ones who quietly sacrifice, reassure these babies that they are loved and guide them through their experience of the world as they know it. The power of love is the strongest power in the world and the only one worth having. Thank you fosters more than you will ever know.

It is with a heavy and broken heart that I inform you of Ali’s passing from this world today. I am in deep shock and grief over his death.

He was found this morning in agony on the floor of the kitten room. We rushed him to the vet at 7:30 and he was gone soon after. I have no answers about his death. All I know about is his life and all he overcame so that he could participate in life with us.

He was found as a tiny ringworm ridden black, polydactyl kitten with 2 possible siblings and fostered through the horrible ringworm bout by Gloria Toft. He was very scared of people and never “friendlied” up as a kitten. When he came to the Shack he became very ill and was syringe fed and bathed as he was too sick to keep himself clean even. He overcame that and then started working on trusting people.

That took some time and we had really stopped thinking of him as an adoptable guy and more like a Shack mascot. He gamboled around the edges of everything, observing with his big gold eyes but not necessarily participating. He loved to run out the door of the room at feeding time with his buddies, the 7 kittens of Greta. But then when the last one of them was adopted, I watched him run out the door a couple of more times and then stop because it wasn’t fun to do alone. Who knows what they think when they watch their friends disappear one by one?

In the last few months he had become able to position himself to be petted as his idea instead of being pursued and you could tell by the glow n his eyes, how proud he was of his bravery. He would do little things to catch your eye but not necessarily for hands on interaction. Just to let you know that he was there enjoying the action. I’m sure we all have Ali stories and memories of some kind.

So now I will say an unwilling goodbye to you, Ali, as you take your leave of us. We were lucky to have had you as our friend and thank you for helping us learn what Rescue really means. You are one of a kind and our hearts will never forget you.

Be free from fear and confinement. Fly.

​Hello Everyone,

I hope this finds everyone well and enjoying life. It has been awhile since I sent out an email about adoptions. It’s been a busy and productive time for us since around March when we started taking in kittens in earnest. I don’t have numbers but it has been non stop since March and I do mean non stop as we just took another lone, small kitten in today. Yes, they are still out there and we have them from 4 weeks old on up.

That’s the good news but the really good news is that we have had 9 adoptions in the last 4 days, with 5 adoptions today alone! Today we adopted out Belle, Tia and Finn, Bindi and Lucy. Yesterday we adopted out Jane and Percy. The day before was Rosalee and Onyx. And we had more lookers today. Also, there is interest in some of the kittens still in foster. Our total for adoptions were 15 last month so we may surpass that this month.

Several factors are helping us to increase our numbers. One of our volunteers has made up a book of all the fosters with their pictures and bios so people can see who we have at the Catty Shack and who hasn’t arrived yet.. Another volunteer has gotten us on Petfinder.com. And our webmaster has been busily keeping up with all the pics and bios he has been receiving from us. Also, we are included in the Prescott Dog magazine bi monthly. And then there is YOU! Supporting us in so many ways.

We still have 40+ cats and kittens in foster with more arriving as we go. We have taken in several adult cats also. Yesterday we partnered with someone who had a hunch to check a locked up home. She found a cat who had been locked in and left to die. Luckily she followed her hunch. She offered to take him home, bathe and feed him, take him to the vet and foster him until he is strong enough to get neutered and come to the Shack. He had been there over a week with no food.

And that’s how we are managing to do all this. Fosters who have opened their hearts and homes and agreed to see their charges through until they can be brought to the Shack or adopted. We were fortunate this year to have 14 fosters working to keep these kitties off the street. And not only off the street but many of these cats and kittens would have been left to fend for themselves, consigned to the life of a feral, or worse. The fosters make the whole Rescue procedure possible and keep it going. It’s one thing to find the abandoned and stray but where do you put them all when you receive multiple phone calls a day and need to rescue ASAP? With fosters!

I want to tell you that most of my posting is now on Facebook, Instagram and our GoFundMe campaign. I reach the maximum amount of people that way so the emails have gotten sparse but I am thinking of you all and know you are still out there wishing the best for us.

I won’t blow your computer up trying to send pics of all our recent adopteds but you can find their pictures on our website cattyshackrescue.org. Daily news is cattyshackrescue on Facebook and Instagram and WeNeedANewShack on GoFundMe where we are trying to reach a down payment goal for a facility.

As always we are a 501(c)3 with no paid staff entirely volunteer run. And if you haven’t seen the recent improvements at the Shack, you need to come by and take a look.

Thank you for helping us in our mission to take the abandoned cats and kittens from the streets of the tri city area and find them homes. Your support makes all the difference.

Susan, all the volunteers of the Catty Shack and all the kitties