Do you need to find your cat a new home?

If you find it necessary to help your kitty find a new home, say, for instance, when you have to move and cannot take the cat, there are precautions to take to ensure a best outcome for Miss Kitty or Mr. Cat.

Avoid placing "Free to Good Home" ads anywhere, as this can attract unsavory types to come get the cat and subject the poor thing to a life of horrors, or death. There ARE people who pretend to be nice in order to gather as many unwanted pets as possible in order to sell them to research companies, or their agents. These people are called "bunchers," and usually earn about 20 bucks per pet. The agents get much more from the labs, but the unhappy outcome is that Miss Kitty ends up in a lab being tortured in the name of "science."

You really need to screen people who ask about your pet. And you need to get references, and then CHECK them! Of course, those can be faked, too.

If you can, visit the home and see for yourself if you want your cat to go there.
Ask them questions like, how many cats have they had? How do they feel about declawing, and will they be doing that to your cat? If your cat is an indoor cat, will they be letting her run loose? Do they have dogs? Do they live on a busy street?

It can be helpful to visit with their veterinarian as well to get some outside opinions as to whether they are responsible pet owners.

If you get a "funny feeling" about anything, just back off and tell them you need time to think about it and may not actually give up your cat as you are too attached, etc. Then keep looking.

HappyCat... a Very Cool Cat!

HappyCat is one of the best cats I've ever had. Even though I haven't really treated him any differently than all the other cats around here... and I've had plenty... he just turned out fantastic. That's how he got his name, in fact. He was always just so happy! Nothing ever ruffled him, and he accepted all the other cats that came and went around here, in connection with my rescue work. He even "mothered" some of the kittens that needed some extra attention until they were old enough to be adopted.

HappyCat came in as a kitten himself, and was even adopted rather quickly. Even as a little guy, it was obvious he was going to be the best cat. But the family that took him didn't keep good track of him, and let him out a lot without supervision, along with a few other behaviors that were not part of the adoption contract they signed.

So when he disappeared from their home and turned up at someone else's, I answered the call to pick up a stray cat and waited to see if the first familiy cared enough to call. They didn't. While I waited, HappyCat just kept on growing up and became a close personal pet. No way to let go of him after that... He's much too special.

Loveable Cat Plans to be Busy This Year!

Welcome to 2008! Here are a couple of interesting bits of information to start your year off with a smile:

The cat, Nin, has just retired from his post on a mountaintop:
Read about him here, but if you miss the story's expiration date (Jan. 26), you can still read about him here.


And, for a bigger smile, here is a fun game to play during a coffee break:

Don't let the cat escape!

See you later with more goodies.