It’s a very happy holiday for one special kitty: 11 yr old, 1 eyed Capt Jack is now in his forever-forever home!!
We have cared for him for the past 2 years – you can read about his 2010 rescue here: http://karmacatzendog.org/2010/12/south-5th-street-apt-kitties/
UPDATE 11/11/12 200pm: A large large donation was made to Staten Island Feral Initiative today: cat food (200+ cans & 2 large bags), carriers, toys, treats, litter, litter boxes, beds & linens. Thank you to everyone that donated – the feral cat caregivers were so grateful. Elena assembled over 30 volunteers today to build approximately 100 outdoor shelters for the island’s feral cat population. It was hard not to tear up seeing all these people come together to build housing for these cats – truly heart-warming.
Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is #1 on the the check-list for creating a no-kill community. Feral cats do not belong in the shelter system since they do not make good house-pets. Elena and the Staten Island Feral Initiative are making huge strides to keep feral cats out of shelters AND to reduce the number of cats born on the island.
Now, in case you are wondering why Karma Cat + Zen Dog is connected to Staten Island Feral Initiative – here is the brief story:
An email was circulated in March of 2011 about a hoarding case that a group on Staten Island was helping with. The cats were in relatively poor condition and really needed to be transferred into foster homes; most were being kindly housed in a couple of veterinary clinics. At the time, we hadn’t taken on a “tough case” in a while so we figured we’d reach out to help with one. A female cat with severe ear hematomas, a bum eye and dental issues was chosen as a good fit for our organization and available foster home.
Obviously, the group was Staten Island Feral Initiative … and the cat was “Olive”.
We really thought we’d have Olive for a an extended period of time so we needed to have the “right” foster home willing and able. Olive made the trip to NJ with food and medicine in tow. She was immediately one of the sweetest cats we’d ever have met. We got to know her, fattened her up and had her examined by one of our veterinarians before putting her up for adoption. She caught the eye of a young man that was drawn to the disadvantaged animals – his vet history showed that he had one of the biggest hearts for those that “weren’t your model animals”. Olive is now plump, happy, cuddly and ruling the roost. Her adopter loves her dearly and all of us couldn’t be happier!
UPDATE 11/6/12 1030am: Little Bear, Evie, Stefan-B, Cocoa Puff, Pierre, Curley, JuneBug, Kirby, Goofy, Mazzy and Bubba-C had an exciting day that started at the MCPSCA shelter and ended in various Karma Cat foster homes. The generosity of our fosters allowed us to transfer out 11 cats yesterday – for a small group, this is a pretty big deal! All the cats are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, tested and microchipped … they will be available for adoption this weekend. And, yes, we WILL be having regular adoption hours this Saturday & Sunday – yippie!
Next up: coordinating a trip to Staten Island to get donations of food, litter and bedding to our friends at Staten Island Feral Initiative. If you would like to donate, please bring items to the North Brunswick Petsmart adoption center by 3pm this Saturday – label the donations with your name & email so that we can thank you! The most needed items are: wet cat food and styrofoam containers (for outdoor shelters).
If you can’t get to us by then, you can still donate via PayPal and we’ll do the shopping for you!
Lucky Number 11: Mazzy – sweet torbie girl (gorgeous markings!), available for adoption!
UPDATE 11/5/12 8am: We are gathering our forces and foster homes to transfer a whole bunch o’ cats from the Monmouth County SPCA shelter. We’ve worked with MCSPCA in the past and are glad we can help alleviate some overcrowding there right now – they are seeing a huge increase in surrenders due to so many displaced Hurricane Sandy victims.
Sorry for the lack of pictures … been a little hectic here
UPDATE 11/4/12 8pm: Monetary donations were sent to Staten Island Feral Initiative and Seer Farms. SI Feral Initiative is “on the ground” helping feral colonies and cat caregivers with food, bedding, and foster homes. Seer Farms is doing a massive intake of animals from the Jersey Shore. We are personally connected to both organizations and know first-hand the wonderful work that they do.
UPDATE 11/3/12 6:30pm: Awesome musician and self-proclaimed cat-lady, Sarah Donner, is hosting an online musical performance to benefit a rescue group that we love, Staten Island Feral Initiative! Register for the show here:
http://www.stageit.com/sarah_donner/superstorm_d_animal_shelter_benefit/15661 and then send in “tips” (donations) during the show … Sarah will then donate the tips to SI Feral Initiative! Yay!!
Reasons to attend Sarah’s show: 1. she writes great songs with lyrics that sometimes contain articulate profanity 2. she rescues kitties, a lot! (we use the same spay/neuter clinic!) 3. she has pink hair – freakin’ rockstar! 4. donations will get to a group dealing with on-the-ground issues (no overhead/management/BS to cut into the donations.
UPDATE 11/3/12 4:30pm: Adoptable cats are back at the North Brunswick Petsmart!! Our Edgebrook adoption center is still without power. We are working with local groups to secure more supplies for shelters & groups directly affected by Hurricane Sandy. More on this very soon – thank you to all that have donated money and cat food, your generosity is always inspiring.
UPDATE 11/2/12 4pm: I delivered a truck-full of supplies today thanks to your generous donations … LOTS of cat food, drinking water, cans of soup, crackers, granola bars, cleaning wipes and dry wood (for fireplaces). I saw just a tiny bit of the destruction … but more importantly, I saw happy cats and people starting to recover. The pictures you see on the news are no exaggeration.
On the bright cat side, the Point Pleasant Beach animal welfare group has all their kittens secured in foster homes that were not damaged. One of their main volunteers also works at the Monmouth County SPCA … he asked that we try to take some cats out of there as soon as they open on Monday. The MCSPCA is already being inundated with lost pets as well as pets whose homes have been ruined by the storm.
Our adoption centers should be reopening this weekend so I’ll be headed to MCSPCA on Monday to transfer in as many as we can fit.
Thank you all that have donated so far. Additional donations will be sent to the PPB group, MCSPCA or will be used for veterinary costs associated with cats we take in because of this storm.
Always grateful, Christie
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“Down the Shore” … If you are from Jersey … or vacationed in Jersey, you know that this is the proper way to describe your location if you were chillin’ at the New Jersey shoreline.
I doubt the expression will ever change, but the experience may. Hurricane Sandy blasted through New Jersey just before Halloween 2012 and really devastated towns along the shore … Sea Bright, Union Beach, Seaside Heights, Mantoloking, Point Pleasant Beach … just to name a few.
Despite being quite far away, and escaping the hurricane relatively unscathed, we are still affected …
We “facebooked” and “tweeted” about Bubba-B & Antonio just last week. Well, they are still up for adoption (along with Travis-B and, very soon, little Heather) … BUT did you know that we transferred all four of them from a group in Point Pleasant Beach (PPB) that primarily does TNR (trap-neuter-return)? Ah, well, yes we did … PPB has been hit VERY hard … many are in need of food (human & cat), water, clothes. They won’t have power for at least 7 days – probably more like 14 to 21 days.
Tuesday, October 16 is National Feral Cat Day
What’s a Feral Cat?
Alley Cat Allies quickly describes the difference between a feral cat and a stray cat in this video:
The video was made in 2009 when approximately 70% of all cats entering animal shelters in the U.S. were killed. The situation has improved, but not substantially: the most recent estimate is that around 50% of all cats entering shelters are killed. This is a huge number of cats! In New Jersey, in 2010, 45% of all cats entering reporting shelters were killed. 25,625 cats dead in 2010 – 70 every single day – and not all shelters are required to report these numbers!
Feral cats do not belong in shelters – they are wild animals that are not suitable house pets. Every feral cat that ends up in a shelter means one less cage for a friendly cat. Removing a colony (known as Trap & Kill) does not work – instead, different cats will move in for the food & shelter. Remove the food or shelter and the colony will simply move on down the road; thereby displacing the “problem”.
Click here for a short primer on the TRUTH about feral cats.
So, what’s the answer?
Trap – Neuter – Return
Trap: using humane traps, cats are caught (usually around feeding time) and transported to a safe, indoor location while they wait for the trip to the clinic. Withholding food for a day or so will usually ensure a hungry kitty … trapping can be aided with the use of tuna, sardines or even Kentucky Fried Chicken (nope, we’re not kidding!). 
Neuter: Males are neutered, females are spayed and when the whole colony is fixed this results in no new kittens! It is common practice to also vaccinate the cats for rabies and other feline diseases (like panleukopenia or distemper). The left ear of the cat is either “tipped” (surgically removed) or tattooed – this provides an easy visual marker for others that the cat has been fixed.
Return: Returning the cats to their colony or territory is very important. These cats are not friendly and don’t want to snuggle on your couch. Relocation is possible but is labor intensive and requires several months of dedication to transition a feral cat to a new territory (and sometimes the resident cats will not welcome newbies). Seek professional advice if this is your only option.
You can help with our TNR efforts by volunteering or donating – just $35 will pay for one kitty to be fixed and vaccinated!
Alley Cat Allies has another great resource here for TNR background information.
It was Shiloh’s eyes that stole Nancy’s heart. “She was a beautiful kitten, with beautiful eyes, that deserved every chance at a better life.”
Others may not have been so patient.
When Nancy first found the kitten, Shiloh was part of a feral cat colony living in the wooded area behind her apartment complex. Last October, Nancy—a volunteer at the Karma Cat + Zen Dog Rescue Society in East Brunswick, New Jersey—and her neighbor Carol organized a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) project.
Read the rest of this story on Chewy.com’s website! Chewy.com supports Karma Cat + Zen Dog Rescue Society and other organizations via their “Shelter & Rescue Referral Program.” Place an order via our special link, and Chewy.com will donate $20 to us!
We never give up, but some cats are considered to be “long timers” and we do everything we can to keep them as happy as possible. This entry is about two cats we thought might be “long timers” … boy were we wrong!
Smokey – shy, all grey boy who was nothing like his outgoing brothers (Patchy & Swirly).
AnneMarie – super shy, medium hair torbie, saved from a local shelter where she would have deteriorated (or worse).
A foster home worked super hard to socialize Smokey, and after many weeks he was a different cat! AnneMarie found comfort and strength from other cats – she did best when she could cuddle up with a low-key kitty. We took a risk and put them together in the big cage at Petsmart. Stroke of genius! Smokey did so much better than he has ever done in the past … and AnneMarie took her cues from him.
And then, we struck gold in the form of one of the most patient and understanding adopters we’ve ever met. I had spent quite a bit of time showing this potential adopter a lot of our kitties in the adoption centers and even in different foster homes. She took it all in and I could tell she was weighing the pros and cons of each kitty – wanting to give them all an equal evaluation.
But when she met Smokey and AnneMarie, things just ‘clicked’. Smokey was his usual aloof-self … at first. And AnneMarie played her typical “shy-cat” cards. But the adopter won, and both cats decided she was worthy of their attentions. Oh kitties!
AnneMarie has been renamed Freya … and the following text & pictures are from the adopter:
I wasn’t sure whether Smokey would get territorial when Freya started to come out of her shell, because for the first week or two, he was definitely getting a bit more attention (because he wasn’t hiding under the couch all day). But I’ve never seen one get jealous of the other.
Although, if Freya looks away, Smokey will steal her treats–but Freya doesn’t seem to mind when she realizes what he’s done, and Smokey won’t do it unless he sees she’s definitely not looking.
One day, Freya came over and sat down next to me on the couch so that I could pet her. Smokey had been napping nearby, but he got up, came over, put a firm paw on her, and began washing her face and head while I petted her. She was in HEAVEN. (If only I could have taken a picture of that!)
It seemed like, after the 3rd week, Freya turned a corner and realized, “This is my home. For real. This is my little family.” She started spending more time on the couch instead of under it, following me from room to room, greeting me first thing in the morning, and not running away the minute I walked into a room–or, if she did, she quickly came back. And she started to PLAY. Like I said, it’s always the quiet ones…
The night I brought them home, I think Smokey was so excited he couldn’t sleep–he seemed to know he had finally gotten a home! He climbed up on the bed with me and tried and tried to settle down, but he just had to keep coming over and head-butting me and purring and meowing to tell me how happy he was. I couldn’t help but laugh, it was so cute! Everyone always laughs at how sweet and friendly Smokey is.
She’s slowly turning into a lap cat… likes to hop up on the couch and see what I’m reading (little does she know, an Ipad can be a book OR a camera) :)
So great to see her becoming more and more friendly and outgoing!
Two shy kitties find each other and then the adopter of their dreams!
All things are possible until they are proved impossible and even the impossible may only be so, as of now.
~Pearl S. Buck
While we truly believe that every animal is special, there are some adoptions that stand out for various reasons. If you follow us, you know we like to focus on the positive aspects of what we do. That doesn’t change with this blog entry, but I will try to convey why this adoption is so heart-warming to the volunteers of Karma Cat + Zen Dog.
Dylan:
Dylan at the Edgebrook Adoption Center, photos by Michelle Arlotta Photography
Dylan was brought into a local animal shelter as a teeny-tiny kitten in the early spring of 2011. This sweet, but shy, boy was over-looked time and time again. The shelter took great care of him but as he got older, he became even more shy. We were able to transfer him into our organization at the very beginning of 2012.
He spent time at both of our adoption centers and in foster homes. He was moved around a bit to keep him engaged and so as many people as possible could meet him. He absolutely hated being at the weekend adoption hours and didn’t really like the Petsmart Adoption Center much either. This made it very difficult for potential adopters to see how awesome Dylan really was. At the Edgebrook Adoption Center he was known to play like crazy and even curl up on your lap. In his foster home, he got along well with the other cats and loved to hog all the affection from the humans. We took videos of him to post online, featured him in the local newspaper … we knew the right person was out there for our sweet boy.
Finally, a potential adopter that had been looking and looking, and thinking and thinking about adopting a cat came along. She wasn’t sure which cat was right for her … this would be her first. Friends were giving her all kinds of advice: get a kitten! don’t get a kitten! get one! get two! get a boy! don’t get a boy! Oh my!
In the end, it was Dylan’s description online that touched her and she had to meet him. In true Dylan-form, he was indifferent at the meeting but she was in love anyway. So, we all held our breath for a week before checking in to see how he was doing …
Dylan, enjoying the comforts of home – images by his adopter
Well, he’s settled in just fine and is slowly coming out of his shell. His adopter writes (edited for clarity and length):
7/20/12 (5 days after the adoption): Dylan is doing really well! He has come out of his shy shell and is very playful and affectionate, although still skittish with sudden movements and loud noises. I LOVE him and am so glad I picked him. He’s quirky and hilarious and beautiful and such a good cat.
8/22/12: I just loooooove him and he has truly made himself at home. Though he still is a big meow-head sometimes, he is extremely playful and affectionate. He continues to get pretty tense when someone new comes around, but no longer spends the entire visit hiding in the corner under the bed. I’m so grateful for him. Thank you for the work that you do!
No, thank YOU for taking the chance on our sweet boy!!
All things are possible until they are proved impossible and even the impossible may only be so, as of now.
~Pearl S. Buck
We are having a fundraising event at Bensi (The Shoppes at North Brunswick location only) on Thursday, August 23, 2012. Dine in or take out (all day) and Bensi will donate 10% of the bill to Karma Cat + Zen Dog!
You must present one of our flyers when you pay and ANYONE can participate!
It is with a heavy heart and a tear in my eye that I write this post. Our Ironman passed away in his sleep in the very early morning hours of 7/20/12.
Sweet Ironman
We have no idea of his exact age, how he was originally rescued or many of the details of his life. But we do know that he was one of the most gentle and loving cats we have ever met.
You can read this blog post about how Ironman became a Karma Cat in 2010. In short, he was in need of rescue after his animal-rescue human passed away. If he and his cat-brothers were brought to almost any municipal animal shelter, they would have most likely been “euthanized” as all were in their senior years and scared due to their recent loss and move. Karma Cat + Zen Dog was able to take them in so that would not happen.
Over the past year and a half, Ironman settled into a foster home where he was quite comfortable. Last year, his blood work results showed that he was in the early stages of kidney disease. Sadly, there is no cure for this disease – the only things to be done are maintenance with proper food and lots of love.
The support of our volunteers and donors allowed us to properly care for Ironman – thank you for believing in this organization.
Ironman, giving me a hug
Rest in peace, sweet boy – you will be missed,
While we truly believe that every animal is special, there are some adoptions that stand out for various reasons. If you follow us, you know we like to focus on the positive aspects of what we do. That doesn’t change with this blog entry, but I will try to convey why this adoption is so heart-warming to the volunteers of Karma Cat + Zen Dog.
Whiskers or Whiskey:
Whiskers/Whiskey at the North Brunswick Petsmart
Whiskers was rescued by kind citizens that wanted to save a litter of kittens from the streets of New Brunswick. Unfortunately, they were allergic to cats and their kitten socialization skills were not the greatest. So, Whiskers and her siblings spent a lot of time in a large dog crate and didn’t receive the necessary handling from humans.
Eventually, Whiskers and her siblings made their way into our organization and into one of our foster homes. They were scared, hissing little balls of fur. Their foster really turned the kittens around and all were adopted by the time they were 6 months old … except Whiskers. She was the shy one, who was sometimes hissy … and she absolutely hated to be at the Petsmart adoption hours. She bounced from adoption center to foster home to adoption center and back to foster homes for the better part of a year. All the volunteers loved her as soon as they got to know her – but adopters weren’t ready to risk taking home “the shy tuxedo cat”.
We even changed her name slightly so we could completely revamp her Petfinder.com profile. Still, no luck. We really started to think Whiskey was going to spend her life with our organization. She would always be safe with us and we would never turn our backs on her, but it’s not the perfect life for any cat.
And just when you think things may never change … they do, for the better!
One of our founding members, Michelle, was visiting (and photographing some of the adoptables) and she decided to take a nap before driving back home. Well, Whiskey decided to join her – and she curled up on Michelle’s belly. Whiskey must have worked some magic with her purring because Michelle just couldn’t get her off her mind. So, on May 8, Whiskey made the trip to Michelle’s house … on a trial basis since there were already two cats and a very old doggie occupying the home. In just a short time, Whiskey became known as Phoebe and we all knew she had found her forever home.
Phoebe – chillin’ on top of the kitchen cabinets
Whiskey/Phoebe images courtesy Michelle Arlotta Photography.
All things are possible until they are proved impossible and even the impossible may only be so, as of now.
~Pearl S. Buck
