Diana

Many of the cats we are helping to get adopted who were caught near Temple Hospital are part of “Project Diana.”  We are helping Brenda Malinics, an experienced trapper and wildlife rescuer – and Temple employee, as well, with her quest to rescue the cats of Estaugh Street. Diana was a tiny cat rescued by Brenda who didn’t make it due to the abuse she had suffered, and she decided to help more cats from Diana’s street in her honor. Brenda is working with Forgotten Cats to trap and care for the cats, and we are helping to place these cats in both foster and adoptive homes. Around 20 cats were caught, so we desperately need help! Donations to help pay for the cats’ veterinary care, as well as food, litter and supplies, will enable us to continue to care for these cats. Please contact us for more information on how to help!  If you can adopt or foster, or if you have any time to help in any other way, please let us know.

Project Diana cats in need of foster or adoptive homes:

Beckett	Elsa	Pippin
Rocky	Elvis	Emma
Lila	Murphy

Here are a few of the cats that we’re helping who were caught around Temple Hospital. Stay tuned for more updates and more cats!

Rocky, around 5 years old. This affectionate and mellow white male with two difference color eyes, has had a hard time on the tough streets. Although his gums are not diseased, he has only three teeth, perhaps from a blow to the head or mouth. He also has a deep scar on his front leg joint. Despite all this, he is a love bug and is neutered and fully vetted.

Lila, about 2 years old. This young female was pregnant when rescued. She has had several litters of kittens as a youngster and grateful to finally be spayed and vaccinated. She loves to eat and be rubbed.

Murphy, around 8 months old. This young affectionate male can’t get enough attention. This guy is an “in your face” kinda cat who wants all the love he can demand. He has been neutered and vaccinated.

Elvis, around 2 years old. This is a gentle giant who is quite a lover—on and off the street. He was well known on the street for fathering so many kittens and he has many scars, including an eye injury, and scratches to prove it. He has been neutered and fully vetted. He wants nothing of his former life.

Pippin, around 12 weeks old. This little boy is shy and coming out of his shell. He has discovered toys and loves to play in his water bowl, making a constant mess of his cage.

Emma, around 1 year old. She is very sweet and affectionate. Shows evidence of having been pregnant. Her ears have been scratched raw from probably mite infection for which she has been treated. She wants be rubbed as often as possible.

Athena was adopted by a Temple grad, and we got a picture of the happy pair as Athena left for her new home.

PAWS was chosen among organizations nationwide as a finalist in the Tom’s of Maine “50 States for Good” contest, which is giving away $20,000 to five organizations that gain the most votes. These funds would enable PAWS to subsidize services for low-income pet owners who want to care for their pets, but can’t afford even the reduced rates at their low-cost Spay/Neuter and Wellness Clinic. PAWS’ ultimate goal is to stem the tide of unwanted litters and surrendered animals that would otherwise end up on your doorstep, as well as ours. PAWS is the only PA organization in the running, and one of only three animal welfare organizations nationwide.

Voting is easy – you don’t even have to sign up or enter any personal information. One vote can be placed per person, per computer, per day. We encourage everyone to vote EVERY DAY between now and September 10.

The voting page is here: http://www.tomsofmaine.com/community-involvement/living-well/finalists-overview/poll.srv?id=165
More details on the project are here: http://www.phillypaws.org/News/archive/60.asp

Please vote – it will be a big help to PAWS and Temple Cats if they win! $20k can get a lot of animals fixed!

You can see on the right hand section of our site (and in this post) we have a link to TiniestMonkey’s Etsy Shop. Our friend Lizzie, who rescues animals, and has donated all sorts of awesome stuff to Temple Cats, has generously offered to share the proceeds from her Etsy shop to Temple Cats and PAWS. We can personally attest to the fact that the catnip she uses is top-notch – so much so that my cats once opened a package of toys she sent me before I even got to it! My cats love these handmade toys!

Please support Temple Cats and PAWS and get your cats some awesome toys! Lizzie also has T shirts and other crafts for sale.

Chaplin is our CH kitty, and he now has a great home! We found Chaplin in early June and he was in foster care for about a month before we put him as a foster cat in the pet supply boutique where we adopt out some of our cats. He was immediately loved by nearly everyone who came into the store, except for a couple of people who told us they thought his quality of life was so poor that we should euthanize him! Chaplin quickly proved those people wrong, as he was happy and healthy and ran around the store as best he could. Only about 36 hours after we dropped him off, a woman named Meg came in and she and Chaplin fell in love.

Meg decided she wanted to adopt Chaplin – the only problem? She’s from Washington State and was just visiting the area for a few days. Thanks to the dedication of our volunteers, we got Chaplin on a flight a few days later on a pet airline, and he went out to his new home – a house with a handful of rescued corgis! Chaplin and the dogs seem to get along just fine, and he is very happy in his new home!

From Meg’s email to us, and some pictures:

Chaplin is so amazing – he takes everything in stride – we love him. And that thing about “not climbing on furniture”? NOT true :) When the boy wants to be in the action, trust me – he can scale a baby gate! He is such a kitten – nights are for PLAY. Actually, so are days. The dogs have been so incredible with him – I think I should give them each trophies ;) Good dogs!

He has been out in the yard with us when we’re outside and loves to hang in the x-pen (though he tried to climb up on the chair that John put in with him because he thought Chappy liked to sit UNDER them – nope! The boy wanted the high view and was content to hang out in the chair IN the x-pen. We propped pillows around him to make sure he couldn’t fall).

We have discovered that you DON’T want to nap with Chaps next to you if he’s on his side…he dreams, and when he does, he twitches. Except it’s more like a big strettttttch/twitch (watch those claws – my nose has proof!). Another time he twitched, turned his head and bit my finger (oww, you little turd), and then went back to sleep…purring in my arms….OK!……???? Dork.

We are wondering about his litterbox and the litter used at the store. We got wheat husk litter, and while he uses it without compunction (and the dogs love the taste…and apparently it’s good for cleansing the system…ok – no dogs near the litter), he slips in the box and ends up on his side (though this doesn’t seem to inhibit his…erm…moment). Was it easier for him to stand in other litter? Or does it not matter (it doesn’t seem so for him).

John and I are absolutely smitten by him – he has such a great character. I am sooooo impressed by the dogs around him (think: potential for disaster with high prey herding dogs) and their respect for him. Lily (the black headed-tri with a tail whom you will see in the pictures) is like his shadow – she goes where he goes, lets him fall on her without eating him (good Lily!), and really, genuinely, seems to be watching out for the boy – it has truly been amazing to watch them all together. It seems like our family is complete :)

Thank you so much to Meg and her family for giving this special cat such a great home! He truly touched all of us (and the dozens of other people who wanted to adopt him)

We are excited to announce that we are now working with some rescuers up at Temple’s Health Sciences Campus, so we will be able to help more of our Temple Cats on North Broad Street! Stay tuned for more adoptable cats!

Mr Bell relaxing in his new home!

Meet Big Bunny! He’s up for adoption, which we never really thought would happen. He has always hung back while we fed the other cats and we were never able to pet him, let alone touch him. He never seemed the least bit friendly – we were pretty sure he was feral, as we’ve seen him around for a long, long time.

Two weeks ago, after we narrowed the colony down to 2, he decided to let us pet him – and suddenly he became of the most affectionate cats we’d ever met! He absolutely loves to be petted, especially if you scratch his big old cheeks. He is a really great cat, and he’s not the least bit scared or skittish. He’ll come right to you and start rubbing on your hand – he’ll even jump up on his hind legs to reach you. He is an absolutely fantastic cat who deserves a great home.

Big Bunny got his name because of Bunny – you can read about her here. She has something wrong with her back legs and hops like a Bunny. Big Bunny is very clearly related to her – we assume her father, so the name just stuck. They look almost identical (Big Bunny is older, though).

BB, as we like to call him, has some marks and scratches and old bites on him, but they all seem to have healed just fine and are covered over by his thick fur (Although the vets had to shave his cheeks to make sure an old wound was ok, so he looks a bit silly these days!) We think he’s around 3 years old, so he’s got a long life of living inside and taking it easy ahead of him!

We are planning to catch 5 cats this Friday morning and have them fixed at PAWS on Saturday, but we need help! These cats are friendly (except one, who is shy, but we may not be able to catch him), and we would hate to have to release them when they can be adopted.

There are 3 older kittens – Sadie, Lucy, and Jude- (6-9 months) who are very sweet! We believe they are Athena’s kittens.

There is an older male cat, Apollo – he may be the kittens’ father. He is standoff-ish, but he will allow you to pet him.

There is another male cat, Mr Bell, who has a collar but seems increasingly neglected, and I don’t believe he has an owner.

The last cat is Big Bunny – he is the father of many of the cats we’ve rescued, and he may be hard to catch.

Our goal is to get at least 5 of these cats on Friday!  If we do not have enough foster homes, we will have to release the cats after they are fixed – and they are really sweet and friendly!