Congratulations, Mom!

I just wanted to let my fur-mom, Hera, know how happy I am that she's going to her forever home! Here are a few pictures of me when I was a baby. Now I'm a big grown up boy. I think I kind of look like my mom (and my sister Grizzly). I hope you get lots of toys, catnip, and treats! I love you, Mom. Your kitten, Jasper.

Saying Goodbye to Old Faces

It's true... adoptions were slow the last few months of 2008, but some of our longest residents found wonderful homes!!  So we'd like to congratulate these pets on finding their people!

Cinderella was one of our "founding kitties" and waited for 20 months before finding the ideal forever home: one where she is the only pet!!

Calvin waited for six months before finding the perfect family!  He now has a nice calm home and goes everywhere with his mom!!

Armani came to us as a puppy and waited eight months before being adopted.  He now gets to go to the doggy spa and even got a cake on his birthday!

Packer was turned in as a stray at a local vet clinic and watched as all his buddies found homes for 15 months until he charmed the pants off the kids he's now living with!  

Hera had it pretty rough before coming to Catkins:  she was pregnant, dumped on a strange country road and someone was planning on shooting her.  We think her luck improved when she came to us in March of 2007 and had six healthy babies (including Jasper, Grizzly and Petunia).  Hera's luck got even better when her new family saw her online and drove four hours to take her home!

For those who regularly visit our website, you probably didn't see Sye available for adoption. Sye's case became my personal mission.  We didn't have room for him at the rescue and he was slated to be euthanized if he wasn't moved out of the animal control facility holding him.  When I was contacted about Sye's case, I thought Sye had been through enough!  He had been held for a court case:  his owners split up and the woman in the relationship moved in with her mom. The man in the relationship ended up shooting both women and killing the mother.  The man went to prison and the young woman was in no condition to care for Sye.  This was one of those tragedies that rocked the northwoods community and the one comfort Catkins could offer this young woman making sure that her dog wasn't put down.  It took just over two weeks, but

 thanks to the internet, an experienced animal rescuer in the Chicago area was able to recommend Sye's family to me and put us in touch.  So on December 20th we all met in Portage and Sye went to his new home, where he is a big hit!

So we congratulate these pets on spending a new year in their new homes and we're getting ready to introduce you to some new faces!!

News from the Bungalow

Tinker Bell

Mowgli's Bungalow is fully operational and the kitties are in and LOVING it!   10 new cats and kittens were brought in from the cold and the kittens that didn't get adopted this summer are growing into young adults with their new friends!

Ceasar and Mojo are busy keeping all eyes on the herd of kittens that have taken up rough housing and wrestling as their favorite activities.  We thought Bowie might help the grandpas keep order- but he's as bad as the kittens!!  Thankfully Pussy Willow and Golden Boy have stepped up as reinforcements!  Every time a volunteer or visitor steps into The Bungalow, they are charged by a heard of kittens and their supervisors- it's quite an experience!  

Soon The Bungalow will be giving a home to many more homeless northwoods kitties.  What we thought were going to be 80 cats coming from one situation turned into over 150 cats!  Once their 3 month holding period is over about 50 cats will be descending on Catkins and our two catteries!  The next several months will be spent making sure that both the Bungalow and the Hideout will be ready for them!!  In the meantime, here are some pictures of the kitties enjoying their new digs!

Persephone and Dinero 

Playing Hide 'n' Seek

Pussy Willow and Aries

Getting Cozy

Making a Difference!!

The first weeks of November have been VERY busy here at Catkins!!  Armani's article came out in Nov 17 issue of Woman's World and everyone that knows him was super proud to see him recognized for his heroism!

Catkins and Helping Paws also have been very busy in a joint effort to help an estimated 120 cats that have all been living at one location.  So far over 100 cats have come into our rescues and been tested for FeLV.  All negative kitties will be held in quarantine for 3 months before being re-tested.  The city of Washburn has been exceptionally generous in allowing our rescues the use of the old Washburn pound for many of our quarantine kitties.   We're very hopeful that after the 3 month quarantine is up we can find all of these great kitties loving homes- but even if it takes awhile they're always welcome here!  Which brings me to my third piece of news... Mowgli's was finished this week and some of the residents are in!

We finished painting and laying the vinyl last week and moved in some of our kitties on Thursday.  Everything looks great and the cats are really beginning to enjoy themselves!  We are planning on adding lots of structure for the cats to play and climb on, but for now they are moved in, safe and sound!  I hope you all like the pictures!

The walls are painted and the vinyl is ready to go!

The vinyl is in and once the mopboard is up the kitties get to move in!

The toys are in and The Bungalow is ready for its residents!  I'll have pictures of playing kitties soon!

Progress

Well, the insulation is all in, the wiring is complete and the roof is on!  The volunteers are coming back on on Sunday 11/2/08 to put up the walls and the ceiling- then it's up to me to paint, paint, paint!!  Once the paint is on, the vinyl will go down and the cats will go in!!  We're hoping the Mowgli's Bungalow will be welcoming residents by the end of this week!!  

The insulation is up and the lights are on!

The floor is insulated and the panelling is in!

The metal roof will be ready to take on the winter snow!!

Mowgli's Bungalow

Mowgli's Bungalow

The new cattery is becoming more of a reality everyday!  I was inspired this summer by a tiny kitten with a genetic defect that made him impossible to adopt out.   This little kitty lived with my family for about 3 months before suddenly and swiftly leaving us.  Despite being six months old, Mowgli never grew any bigger than a 12 week old kitten.  Mowgli's tiny size didn't stop him from getting into all kinds of trouble and ruling the roost while he was here.  Mowgli was the official greeter at my house- whenever we had a new arrival, he would run and greet them (even if they hissed).  When it was dinner time Mowgli would crawl up my leg until I set him on my shoulder so he could help make the food.  Even though Mowgli was physically the smallest member of our household, but he more than compensated for his size with his personality and heart.  While thinking of what to call this new cattery, Mowgli's memory kept coming back to me.  Since so many of the kittens that will be living in the Bungalow grew up with Mowgli- I thought it would be fitting for Mowgli to move there with them!

Day 1

Two great volunteers (Billy and Leon) came over for a few hours to level the skids that Mowgli's Bungalow will rest on.

Day 2

Billy and Leon returned with Frank, an experienced builder who is also volunteering his expertise.  Within a few hours the floor of Mowli's Bungalow was constructed.

Day 3

Leon, Billy and Frank put in almost twelve hours today to get the shell of Mowgli's Bungalow erected.  The walls are up, the windows are in and the roof is on!

Day 4

The volunteers are back and this morning they papered the roof, ran the electrical wiring for the outlets and switches and put in the door!  Now it's my turn to do some insulating and when the metal for the roof arrives, building will resume!

October at Catkins

Simba

Well I am excited to announce that our second cattery is about to become a reality!  Three generous and talented Price County residents are donating their carpentry skills to the project and we are finalizing the plans and the budgeting!!  This second cattery is not coming a moment too soon!  We are currently working to help some local residents with an overwhelming cat problem (population estimates are at about 85 cats).  Obviously one small building will not house all of these cats, but it's a start. 

Our vet is coming down to vaccinate all of our cats for rabies in just a few days.  She will be accompanying me to assess the health of this particular stray cat population and we will be drawing up a "plan of attack" for population management and cat placement.  I will try and keep updating you all as we get a better handle on this situation.

As long as our vet is down here, Catkins and Helping Paws (a rescue managed by our vet) will be undertaking a grant writing storm.  We will be looking into funding for everything from kennel construction to low- cost spay and neuter initiatives. 

Finally, Catkins has ordered the first batch of microchips for our rescue animals.  It has long been a goal of mine to have every animal that goes through the rescue microchipped- and it is about to become a reality!!  This way, if any animals from Catkins end up being picked up by or turned in to another organization, we can be sure to get them back safe and sound!!  In addition, we will have a scanner at our cattery that will allow us to reunite microchipped missing pets with owners much more quickly.  

Fall is bringing a whirlwind of activity to Catkins and we're doing our best to keep up!  

I hope you all are finding time to enjoy the fall weather with your furry friends!!

Laura