The SOMa Dog and Cat Animal Life Saving Thread

Nobody is advocating that treatable kittens should be killed; that is why a certified behavioral counselor has to evaluate the kittens, and not the receptionist at the front desk. I read that kitten who don't allow themselves to be handled are not good candidates. I understand that kittens who have not had the opportunity to injest the colostrum of their mothers are also not very good candidates for survival.

Nobody is saying that anything over 10% should be killed whether it is healthy or not. The reason why they have the 90% rule, as far as I have read, is that at about that level adopting pets gets risky. You can be sending animals that are not healthy and who don't have the temperament to be in the general public. The folks who wrote this guidelines are looking at animal populations at the level of millions, and that is what they have determined. If you look at the data set that Bahumbug posted of shelters outcomes, St. Hubert's in Madison has a kill rate of 4% for cats; AHS/Newark's ratio is 58%.

You can also be keeping alive an animal who will be suffering for a long time. If they are not healthy and if they are suffering, you, as the pet owner would also want to put your animal to sleep. Allow a veterinarian to have that option. Some people feel that people deserve that same option.

Many kittens that are trapped or found do not allow themselves to be handled initially. Of the few hundred kittens that we rescued almost none would make the cut. Thanks to @bigben who worked with Furry Hearts kitten, now named Cupid, he has been adopted. She picked up a sibling last night who may be going to a home later today.
I don't succeed as fast as she does. And her daughter works miracles.
bigben is also incredible with bottle babies. She saved a 1day old left in a house with no heat during the Academy St. rescue of the 37 cats.
One of MOL's posters still has that kitty.
It just takes love and determination.

I refer you to this thread. We rescued, fostered, and found homes for these kitties. It was a labor of love.

http://forum.maplewoodonline.com/discussion/10168/beautiful-friendly-kittens-for-adoption-aka-very-young-kittens-with-mom-under-neighbors-house

Saving animals does not simply ONLY tale love and determination .
Being mindful of scientific facts and work with love and determination may work ...
let's be more realistic about the possibilities ...there are times that love and determination
do not work and acceptance of that point makes this whole subject less drama filled .

Focus on realities

Just snapped these since they look a little like one of your previous litter! I am fostering them for Furry Hearts and the little girl is missing half of her back leg or more accurately the entire foot. I am calling them Countess Angelica and Count Licorice and I am convinced that they were rescued from a dungeon and that she lost her foot in a battle to try to save their kingdom. Does anyone have a pair of tiny thrones?

The Maplewood Township Committee is available this morning between 9-12 pm in front of Walgreen's to talk to residents.

That event has been cancelled due to inclement weather.

Morganna said:

bigben is also incredible with bottle babies. She saved a 1day old left in a house with no heat during the Academy St. rescue of the 37 cats.
One of MOL's posters still has that kitty.
It just takes love and determination.

@bigben is amazing with kitties. Here is that 1day old rescue today (3 years later)

Awwwww!
I remember the phone call that night from the girl who found the kitten. I had no KMR, but guess who did and saved the day!!!
Not to mention the temperature and icy streets. My car would have careened down my hill. Another pal drove the kitty to bigben's house and the first of 37 cats got out. Is the kitties name still Marty! Let's see it was close to MLK so your cat should be 4?

My son still calls her Marty but we changed it to Pippi (Pippi Longstocking) as she's cute and gets into all sorts of trouble without meaning to. She turned 3 on Jan 16th

So, back to the issue of animal control in this town. A very large question looming in everyone's mind is: what is the need? So, we followed the money. A request was made for the bills submitted by AHS/Newark in 2014 as well as the intake forms.

As expected the reports don't agree with what Scott Crawford reported at the TC meeting of 1/3/15; the surprise is that the intake forms and the bills don't agree either. But if we look strictly at the bills, from 3/15 to 12/31/14 AHS/Nwk picked up 4 dogs, two sets of cats and two bats. One set of cats included three "sick" kittens and a large group of cats from a hoarder. There is no agreement about how many cats were in the hoarder's home: Roe says 32, Crawford said 27 in the TC meeting. Debbie Hadu says that there were no other animals picked up in 2014.

So the bulk of the stray animals come from hoarders. The need does not appear to be a steady drip, instead we seem to get a flood once a year. In 2004 the total number of animals taken in by animal control in Maplewood consisted of 4 dogs, 35 cats and 2 bats. Roe's annual reports seem to confirm this pattern.

So how do the townships respond to this stream of animal need for care? The TNVR program will address the kittens and the feral cats in town. It will take a while to get the program working, it may need to be tweaked, but it is a sound strategy. Maplewood has been addressing the loose dogs for many years; recently through MOL. The number of dogs is not large, and even a good ACO can make sure that they are placed in rescues, I am told. But the flood coming from hoarders is a different matter.

The individual who has the most experience addressing this issue in SOMa is Morganna of Morgan LeFay Cat Rescue in South Orange. @Morganna, how have you solved this issue in the past?

Morganna was given the responsibility to place all the JAC cats last year, more than 40 cats, which she accomplished without having any killed. Morganna also placed the cats of a hoarder in 2011, an equally high number. I don't know if answering this question is a trade secret, so I am not necessarily expecting an answer.

I spoke to Debbi Hadu about this question, and she said that hoarders are not the responsibility of the Township. They have to call the NJSPCA in those situations. I spoke to individuals in that organization about this issue, and they informed me that they don't have facilities to shelter these animals, they investigate crimes, so the officer that I spoke to didn't give me any further info. It is likely that if they are called in, the animals are killed.

Many of these animals will not be in good health, so I imagine that a sorting process has to take place. Here is some background on the issue: http://www.aspca.org/fight-cruelty/animal-hoarding

One answer to animals which cannot be placed is sanctuaries: http://www.sanctuaryfederation.org/gfas/

I understand that the going rate is $350 for cats and $5000 for a dog. I inquired about placing cats in a barn to chase mice and rats, and I was told that this is everyone's fantasy, but there are no rescues that my contact know of that does it.

I asked if that is a goal for rescues: to place them in a barn. She said no, but faced with the possibility of death, that it can be done. She said that the cats would need to be fed, and that ferals do better on those situations than a cat that has been an indoor cat and knows nothing about how to hunt for food.

Hey everyone, pass the word that the 2 I am fostering are looking for a pair of tiny thrones in someone's castle. Countess Angelica and her brother Count Licorice. The little Countess is missing her back foot but is doing very well running and pouncing. She just needed to get out of her cage and get some exercise to build up her other 3 legs. So she does have 4 legs, but one, just doesn't touch the ground. Nothing a nice single Manolo Blahnik platform couldn't fix!
He has the long coat and she is fashionably attired in this year's shorter length.

Manolo Blahnik

This is Polly, animal 131860 at AHS/Newark. She was brought to the adoption day at PetSmart in Millburn this afternoon. She was very cold and shivering. She is young, no more than two years old, and small, 35 lbs at most. She was found at one of the Nwk parks on 1/15/15 when she was still lactating. If you are interested in looking at her, call 973-824-7080. She is adorable.
Thanks.

German Shephard https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152840697957737&set=o.165544503515421&type=1

Just a reminder: tomorrow we expect a meeting of the Health Dept (the agenda is still not up on the Township's website), and we hope to get a description of the RFP. That is what Mr. Loehner promised in his interview by the VillageGreen. If you have time, you may want to come to the Township Committee meeting which begins at 8 pm

Fabulouswalls, thanks for posting. That gorgeous dog was reunited with his family.

It looks like the meeting begins at 7 pm. Agenda is not posted currently on town website, maybe later...
http://www.twp.maplewood.nj.us/Calendar.aspx?EID=155

No RFP yet, it is still in the drafting stage.

There were fresh tracks from Foxie yesterday who went to do his business not so far from his hole; it was green. Yeap, he definitely ate the meds and the extra thick pork chop that came with it.

And my friend, a frequent poster on this site, called me a two days ago when she discovered a raccoon who has been taking refuge in her porch. My friend was trying to protect her glass table from the elements with thick blankets of wool and down, and the raccoon found the table under the blankets and roof to be much more palatable than mom's nest up in the trees.

Debbi said that it shouldn't be separated from its mother, that when the baby was strong enough, she would climb back up to the trees with mom. Besides, the weather is going to improve from now on. Her argument is that raccoons fear people, and that she will leave the porch when she regains her strength with food. My friend did not want to feed her out of fear that she would loose the use of her porch, but she relented when Debbi argued that the animal would probably die unless she fed her. The intervention is for one week. I went with my dog's food which is 90% fish and the stock of my fish soup that I had been preparing that afternoon. While we caught up, the raccoon -- my friend has not named her yet, no doubt resistance to having her become a member of the family -- ate half the huge bowl of food.

Goose with broken wing at the Golf Course.

http://www.helpwildlife.co.uk/brokenwings.php

The Raptor Trust will take the bird to evaluate the possibility of rehabilitating it, if someone takes it to them. They are located in Millington. Is there someone out there who can do that? to capture him they say throw a blanket over him and place him in a crate. I have a crate and a blanket, but I have a meeting to go to. Any takers, please pm me. Time is of the essence. Thanks.

Went to try to get help from the men in the golf course to capture the goose and take it to the Raptor Trust, and he told me "never mind; it's gonna die tomorrow. They are all dying". The geese are cold and they have no food, the men are finding them all over the golf course dead. He said that the fish are dying from the creek as well from the salt in the street runoff that goes into the creek. It is a very rough and sad winter for wildlife.

I pity the geese dying but perhaps they will resume their former migration habit to warmer climates, which would be better for them and for our towns in the long run. Dying of starvation isa cruel way to go.

If this wounded goose is caught, I will drive it to the Raptor Rehab facility, @Copihue. Please LMK.

The Governor declared a state of emergency due to the winter storm, I would not want you to get hurt driving to the Raptor Trust. Let's see if it is OK tomorrow. No predators are going to be going hunting today, I don't think, and it is too big for a hawk to eat. I will look for him/her today and feed him/her only, if I see it.

To respond to your other comment, they were on their migratory flight up north, but they simply got caught on these never ending storms. They were not here a month ago. They have been grazing on people's yards and walking on the streets, and this one probably got his by a car. It is heart breaking to see him/her.