Tuesday, December 20, 2011

A Huge Thank You to Our Sponsors!!!


The kitties received some toys and cat cubbies from a very generous local supporter today. Thank you Irina Tyx for your donation. The cats love them!


Thank you Gina Purpure-Czjaka for donating a Tops gift card to help us buy supplies!

Thank you Lisa Zaremba for sending us supplies from our Amazon wishlist. The food, litter and toys helped so much!

Thanks to William Brown, Brooke Miller, Lauraine Griffin, Erin Seay, Shawna Lusk, Cheryl Palmer, Todd Stillman, David DeHart, and Adrienne Trzcinski for their cash donation toward vet bills.

We truly appreciate the continued support of our sponsors! Your donations make it possible to care for all the kitties in our rescue, and enables us to go out and rescue more! We hope you all have a truly blessed holiday!

With love and purrs,
The kitties and staff of Haven House Cats

Thanks to

Help Us Pay for Trevor's Vet Bill



Poor Trevor! We noticed a small lesion on the back of his neck a few days ago and last night it ruptured! The vet says it looks like he got into a fight, which would fit the story his owner's gave us about him fighting, but it actually looks like Trevor was the victim in the scruff! It looks like another animal attacked him! We don't know if it was the previous owners' new dog or their other cat, or if they irresponsibly let him outside where he got into with another cat. Trevor can't even defend himself because the previous owners went and got him declawed! Trevor was treated with an antibiotic injection and we will continue to treat with a topical antibiotic ointment. But we need some help paying for Trevor's vet bill today! The total was $128. If you can spare a dollar or two to his cause, please donate here: http://havenhousecats.chipin.com/trevors-vet-bills

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Turn Trash into Cash to Save Kitties' Lives!


We are starting a new fundraiser to help us raise money to continue our mission of saving cats and kittens, spaying/neutering, and finding forever homes for them. This is going to be an ONGOING fundraiser, so we will always collect donations.

Here's what we are doing: we have signed up with Funding Factory to redeem cash for recycling old cell phones, ink cartridges, digital cameras and laptops.

We are asking all our friends and sponsors to help us out by collecting and donating old cell phones, cameras, ink cartridges and laptops to our rescue to be redeemed for cash. If your place of employment uses a lot of ink, see if they would be willing to donate all the old ink cartridges. Every single penny will go to the cats in our care. It will also help us save more kitties in the future.

You can help by collecting items and spreading the word! Ask everyone you know if they can donate any of the above listed items to our fundraiser. You can reach us at havenhousecats@aol.com to arrange drop-off or pick-up.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Welcome back Trevor!


Trevor is back! We're not sure why, because he's such a sweet cat. But here's what happened:

Trevor came from a kill-shelter in Kentucky last year. He was placed into foster care in September with another cat, Lia, whom the family decided to adopt! After several months of fostering Trevor, the family contacted us to say that Lia was not doing so well in their home and they did not believe she was happy there. They said she had started missing the litterbox and was hiding a lot. They really liked Trevor so they wanted to adopt him and return Lia. We agreed because we wanted what was best for the cats and we thought Lia may do better in a different home, perhaps without children. The family adopted Trevor in March 2011. All correspondence with the family from March til December indicated that Trevor was doing well and they loved him. Never once did they contact us to say otherwise.

On December 3rd at 2 am my fiancee and I were on Craigslist looking under the free section. There was an ad for a Free Cat, so I clicked on it out of curiosity. I never expected to see Trevor's photo and read about his family trying to give him away. Not once had they contacted us to return him or even to let us know there was an issue and could no longer keep him any longer. It states very clearly in our contract that if the adopter can no longer keep the cat for ANY REASON they are to contact us and return the cat. They had broken their contract and we were very upset.

We called the family and left a message regarding the ad, reminding them of the contract they had signed, and asked that they call us back immediately. Not 1 minute after hanging up the phone, it rang. I spoke with the woman and she told me that Trevor was 'attacking' them and the dogs. Last I knew they only had one dog so I inquired about it. Apparently, over the past six months they had gotten a SECOND dog, had a new baby and gotten Trevor declawed! Talk about being under a lot of stress! The poor cat no longer had it's primary line of defense, his claws. The woman told me he was biting and was also refusing to use the litterbox, two common side effects of declawing which I pointed out to her. She insisted that it had NOTHING to do with him being declawed, that they had taken him to the vet (probably the same vet who suggested declawing and made money off these people) and he said Trevor was fine, that the behavioral problems had nothing to do with declawing him. I find it very odd that she had no problems with him before she adopted him, got him declawed, and added a new dog and baby to the house. Cats don't just suddenly decide to become a nuisance one day for no reason at all. They aren't spiteful; that's why I love them.

So I offered to take Trevor back. I offered to help her find him a more suitable home. I offered to screen people and readopt him out, if she wanted to keep him until I found a new home. Would you believe that while I was in the middle of offering assistance, the ignorant woman hung up on me?!! Then, when we called back, her boyfriend answered and said she was in the bathroom and couldn't come to the phone. Yeah, I'm sure. We never got a call back that day or the following day. I looked into my options. It was suggested that I have someone pose as an interested adopter and contact her without mentioning the rescue. We did that. She lied to the person, failed to mention that she adopted him from our rescue and then when the person tried to set up a time to "meet" Trevor, the woman refused to respond to calls and texts. So I was then told i could (and would probably be forced to) take the woman to court. So I called the court, got the information and tried one more time to do things the easy way by texting her and requesting that she return Trevor. She got snippy, told me she had removed the ad so leave her alone, and said she'd get me for harassment if I didn't stop contacting her. Right. I never knew that one phone call and one text message in a three day period was considered harassment. So I told her we could do this the easy way or the hard way, she could either return him on her own accord or we would take her to court for breaking her contract. She responded, "See you in court." Real mature.

My fiancee sought the advice of his friend who is a Buffalo police officer. He advised that we seek assistance from the police department in the woman's town by having an officer escort us to her home for a property dispute. As much as I hate the idea of a cat being considered 'property' i was willing to give it a shot. It was our last option before filing a lawsuit. So we went, bringing along all the paperwork including her adoption contract for Lia, her adoption contract for Trevor, her adoption application, a copy of her ad on Craigslist, our records of Trevor and email correspondence from the woman. The officer went to the door with my fiancee, presented all the evidence to her and told her to return the cat. She refused, stating she "never signed a contract", which was a complete lie seeing as the document was in the officer's hand. The officer held it up and asked if this was her signature. She said it was but she had never signed a contract. Eventually, after 10 minutes of arguing with the woman about the contract that was CLEARLY in front of her face bearing her own signature, my fianceee told her she could return the cat now or we would be taking her to court. The cop pointed out that we had MORE than enough evidence to get the cat back in court so she would only be wasting everyone's time. She finally agreed, retrieved Trevor and handed him over, feigning sadness over losing him. Crazy, I thought she didn't want him anymore. Wasn't that the point of the Craigslist ad?

Trevor is back and he is doing very well. He is getting along with the other cats here and is just as sweet and talkative as I remembered. We haven't had any issues with litterbox use or aggression, so I'm really not sure what the woman was talking about, if she was even telling the truth about his behavior or if the truth was just that she didn't want to take care of him anymore. I will never know, it doesn't matter. I hope this is a lesson to others though: we stand behind our contract (which has been updated so this does not happen again) and we DO NOT give up on our cats!

Trevor is neutered, UTD on shots and is now front-declawed. He is seeking a new home, a true forever home where he will be safe and loved for the REST of his life! If you are interested in welcoming Trevor into your family, please email us at havenhousecats@aol.com.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

The Truth About Declawing

If you are thinking of declawing a cat, or a veterinarian suggests declawing at the same time as neutering, before you make a decision for non-reversible surgery, please consider these reasons NOT to declaw. Your cat will live his remaining years with the result of your decision, one way or another.

Declawing is NOT Just Nail Trimming

Nor is declawing only the removal of a portion of a claw. Instead, it is the surgical amputation of the first joint of the cat's toes. Whether this procedure is accomplished with a scalpel, a guillotine-type cutter or a laser, it is major surgery, and not to be undertaken lightly.

Declawing Does Nothing to Benefit the Cat

You will sometimes hear the disclaimer, "It's better than putting him to sleep." This is a fallacious argument, and usually offered only to soothe the owner's conscience. Only the cat's owner can make the decision to kill her cat because of scratching problems. He or she can also make the decision to let him keep his toes. Unlike neutering, which does benefit the cat, both healthwise and behavioralwise, declawing simply does nothing positive for the cat.

Declawing Robs a Cat of His Chief Weapon of Defense

A typical counter-argument is, "My cat is indoors-only." Even indoor cats sometimes manage to escape. A declawed cat does not stand a chance against a large dog, a bigger cat, or a predator. Although he still has teeth, by the time he gets in close enough to bite, it may be too late.

Declawing is Painful Surgery

Think of it as 10 amputations (if only the front feet are declawed). Pain meds may help initially, but phantom pain may last for weeks or months, as nerve endings heal. Dr. Nicholas Dodman describes the pain following surgery: "Unlike routine recoveries, including recovery from neutering surgeries, which are fairly peaceful, declawing surgery results in cats bouncing off the walls of the recovery cage because of excruciating pain."

Declawing May Lead to Litter Box Problems

Declawed cats often associate the pain when digging in litter with the litter box itself, and will avoid it, choosing softer carpeting instead.

Declawing Sometimes Leads to Biting Problems

When cats lose their ability to give a quick warning scratch, they will often resort to their second line of defense: a good, hard bite. The cat's owner may sometimes find himself the victim, just when he thinks his cat is enjoying a petting session.

Cats Need the Exercise Their Claws and Toes Provide

Watch a cat stretch, whether horizontally on a carpet or vertically with a tall scratching post. He will grab the carpet or sisal with his claws, using the resistance to pull and stretch his muscles. Cats' claws actually play a large and positive role in their amazing muscle tone and agility.

Altered Gait May Lead to Later Joint Problems

Domestic cats are digitigrade, meaning they walk on their toes. Walking with an altered gait because of the lack of the first digit of the toes can affect all the joints of the leg, resulting later in arthritis of the hip and other joints. Jean Hofve, DVM describes this joint deterioration more fully, in her article, "A Rational Look at Declawing."

Cats Need to Be Cats for Their Entire "Nine Lives"

Honestly, if a cat could speak human language, do you really think, given a choice, he'd say, "Sure thing. Cut off part of my toes?" His claws and toes are an integral part of making a cat a cat. Would you honestly want him to be anything less, especially since there are humane alternatives? It's your decision, but please take your cat's needs into serious consideration before making such a drastic and permanent choice.