PAWS TO PONDER

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by Suzyn Barron, President of Warwick Valley Humane Society, Inc. 

Did you know June is Adopt a Shelter Cat Month?  With over 72 cats and 34 kittens, we are beyond full and hope that June adoptions bring us some relief. Most of the young kittens will be available for adoption in about a month.  During this designated month do people really need incentives to adopt?  Like reduced adoption fees, free gifts etc.?   Our adoption fees help us cover only some of the cost of caring for them.   If you find or take a “free” cat or kitten you will have to cover all of the costs yourself which will amount to more than an adoption fee.  Cat-World estimates “that the final cost of a free kitten is over $200 more than one you’d adopt from a shelter”.  Isn’t that incentive enough?

But June is not only about adopting a cat. Apparently, its about rescuing them too!   Despite being full, we managed to intake an adult cat with an oozing abscess on her back, a presumably pregnant stray, an elderly colony cat with double ear infections and four sick kittens with severe eye conjunctivitis.  

And recently Animal Control Officer Caitlyn received a night call about a paralyzed stray. As she approached, both the cat and her kitten were laying out in the open. But movement caused them both to take off into the pipes.  She had to lay on the ground and reach into the narrow pipe without gloves.  She was able to extricate her and received multiple bites to her hand for her rescue effort because the cat is feral (wild).  And the small kitten instantly disappeared.  Sadly, the cat appears to not only be partially paralyzed but sight impaired as well.   The next morning, using her as a ploy to capture the kitten, ACO Joany and I brought her back in a carrier to the site hopeful the kitten would want to be reunited with her mom.  It didn’t work.  The kitten scampered under the pipes out of reach.  With the help of Elmo, the neighbor, we moved some of the pipes, inadvertently making a lot of noise and suddenly this orange and white fluffball came flying out and once again disappeared.  But Elmo saw her run into a long, plastic pipe, so we blocked both ends until ACO Joany could get the net.  She placed it at one end, Elmo lifted the other and out into the net she flew! Success!  “Piper”, as we named her for obvious reasons, is only about 5 weeks old and yet managed to keep up the chase for over 45 minutes. But perseverance and the help of Elmo prevailed.  Add two more cats to our already crowded shelter.  Somehow, we manage to make the room as the need arises. 

What we really need are adoptions.  So, with June being Adopt a Shelter Cat month, if you are thinking about adding a feline companion to your home, please do it now.  As the saying goes, “there is no time like the present”. 

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