No more lonely cold nights or hearing that I'm bad

No more growling belly from the meals I never had.

No more scorching sunshine with a water bowl that's dry.

No more complaining neighbors about the noise when I cry.

No more hearing "shut up", "get down" or "get out of here"!

No more feeling disliked, only peace is in the air.

Euthanasia is a blessing, though some still can't see

why I was ever born If I weren't meant to be.

My last day of living was the best I ever had.

Someone held me very close, I could see she was very sad.

I kissed the lady's face, and she hugged me as she cried.

I wagged my tail to thank her, then I closed my eyes and died.

Written by an Animal shelter volunteer in Massena, NY

Thought with the recent pet food recalls everyone would start to research pet foods. Here is some interesting info.

Selecting a Good Commercial Pet Food (written by a vet):
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=004

Cat Food Labels
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=1&articleid=667

Pet Foods - FDA Requirements:
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/petfoods.htm

What's really in pet food:
http://www.api4animals.org/facts.php?p=359&more=1%00

Selecting a Commercial Pet Food:
http://www.api4animals.org/articles?p=361&more=1

New York Times interview with a Nutritionist:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/weekinreview/25basics.html?_r=2&ref=us&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Here is information to contact your senators and tell them what you think about the FDA's job of managing the pet food industry:
http://www.mousabilities.com/nutrition/campaign.html

(edited from Womyn's Exchange website)
Although I may be a day late and a dollar short, there is some information I think the GP (general public) should be privy to, especially with the spirit of generosity sparked by hurricanes
Katrina and Rita. There are high profile ARs (animal rights)
organizations out there doing their best to shine in the spotlight during the disaster recovery efforts. They are using this opportunity to solicit funds, using half-truths and sensationalism to tug at America's heartstrings and (as a result) wallets.

A brief guide to America's shelters, who is taking credit for what, and where your donations go.
---
A brief guide to America's shelters, who is taking credit for what, and where your donations go.

Wayne Cavanaugh, President, United Kennel Club

Did you ever get mail from the "humane society"? Donation solicitations, Christmas cards, free address labels? Was it from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the American Humane Association (AHA), or the American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)? Did you ever wonder who they are and what
they do? What about during disaster relief efforts, did you ever wonder where to send your donations?

Don't know the answers to these questions? You are not alone. Even among the most dedicated [animal] lovers there is huge misunderstanding and confusion when it comes to our nation's shelters and the SAS – that is, the Shelter Alphabet Soup, that comes with them.

In the late 1990's, a group called the California Coalition of Animal Advocates convened to try to find answers to issues dog-related population issues. Their work included a study to find out who and where the animal shelters were in America. It sounded easy enough until they discovered that a national list of shelters did not exist, and, contrary to popular opinion, there wasn't a
"humane society" or any other type of organization that oversaw all of
America's shelters!

So who, what, and where are the nation's shelters? Who are these big fund-raising groups, and how are they related to shelters? Where do they get their money, and who is running them? To start, the coalition funded a study to create shelter list of every shelter in America. They knew it would always be changing and would never be
complete, but they also knew it would be a lot better than what existed, which was nothing. They hired university graduate students to do the only thing that would work – the students called every town, municipality, city, village, township, hamlet and county in America and asked if they had a shelter, what they called it and who ran it. The answers were interesting and the list was compiled.
Today, there is still no national organization overseeing or
coordinating America's shelters.

Here are some facts that most people do not realize.

The Humane Society of the Untied States (HSUS) does not operate a single animal shelter in America or anywhere else. That's right, not one. Makes you wonder how many people send them
money thinking they were the local animal shelter.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
(ASPCA) does operate a shelter and an animal hospital - they are both in New York City. That's it, a New York City shelter only. It is a highly regarded shelter, but New York clearly isn't the
nationwide shelter list some people think of when they think of the
ASPCA. To be fair, the ASPCA does humane work all over the nation, but as far as operating shelters, well, no.

The American Humane Association (AHA) operates no shelters, but does have about 300 shelters that are affiliated and agree to maintain AHA standards of care at their shelters.

What about the SPCA? Is there a national organization called the SPCA (society for the prevention of cruelty to animals)? Nope. Sorry. "SPCA" is simply a term, or abbreviation, used for
most any animal shelter but it is NOT a nationwide organization. It's a
generic for what we say instead of "dog pound", "animal shelter", or "humane society".

Now you can see the confusion! When national groups use words like humane society, or letters such as SPCA in their name, people think they are giving to their local shelter. But they, of course, are not.

So who runs the local shelter in your town? It could be anyone from
volunteers, to your local government, to a private party. Many rural areas simply have a person, with a few extra kennel runs, who the town pays to house the strays. In more populated areas where actual dedicated buildings exists, the shelters are funded by any
combination of tax dollars, donations, adoptions fees and dog license fees. (It is interesting to note that the shelters house dogs and cats, but since hardly anyone licenses cats, the dog license fees pay the bills for both dogs and cats.)

These shelters are named anything from the "SPCA of Whatever County"
to the "Humane Society of Whatever Township", but are not affiliated with either national group, the ASPCA or HSUS. Within a county or state, the shelters may meet for educational purposes or to share information but not as a member of a national fund raising group that operates and fund shelters.

So what does the ASPCA, HSUS, and AHA do with all of their money if it is not going to your local shelter? Each has their own agenda. They all advertise, use money to raise money, and draft and lobby for legislation. Some may agree with none, all, or some of what they
support. The AHA has the contract to oversee and ensure the safety all animals used while filming a movie. They have done so for years and have done an admirable job. However, they are also opposed to hunting. So are the ASPCA and, obviously, HSUS. Do they help protect animals? Yes, they do. But does their agenda agree with your
individual ideas and philosophy? Hang on, you better check. Check a lot. Go to their websites. Call them. Dig deeper into their agendas. See what legislation and advertising campaigns they are spending donated money on.

HSUS for example, in addition to the troubled PAWS legislation, is also spending donations on a new campaign to prevent America's youth from hunting before they are 18 years old. (For those familiar with the PAWS bill, this is typical HSUS – set limits first then
adjust them to extinction!) These campaigns and laws are often being
funded by well intended people who think they are giving to their local shelter! But you now know that is not true.

With Hurricane Katrina, watch the big PR money being spent by some of these groups, and other dog organizations, as they exploit the hurricane victims by trying to raise money that goes who knows where. Is that money all going to relief? Let's hope so. We have heard
that good money is starting to get spent in the hurricane ravaged areas.

Or is some going to fund anti-hunting and anti-breeding legislation? It almost seems as though where some see despair and horror, others see a PR opportunity, so who knows?

The bottom line is that there are thousands of shelters in America, all of which are individually operated and funded locally. They always need resources and support. Then, there are large groups who raise money by using the goodwill of words like "humane"
and "cruelty" in their national name. To add another layer of concern, while your local independent shelter is not run by HSUS, AHA, or the ASPCA (unless you are in New York City), you really have no idea what the mission of your local shelter is. Your job is to ask.

There are many, many excellent and worthy local shelters that need your donations and will use them directly to help dogs. But before you open your wallet, ask what will be done with your money.

Consider donating food and supplies, which can't be as easily
used to pay government lobbyists.

Ask what they believe in. Then ask yourself what you believe in and where you draw the line.

We should and we must help those less fortunate. We must not forget the people and the [animals] who need help from the hurricane. We must do
so from our hearts, though, and not to take credit or exploit the situation. And we must make sure our efforts are in line with our private individual beliefs.

-----
...Wayne raises some excellent points. One thing he neglected to mention is that PeTA does not run any shelters or
animal hospitals, either.

FEEDING YOUR PET CAN HELP US SAVE ANOTHER PET’S LIFE!!

That’s right! We couldn’t have made it any easier for you to help us do what we do best...save lives. Every time you feed your dog or cat, offer them treats, give them dental care, clean their ears or even give them a bath, PAWS receives funds!

We are proud to announce our partnership with HealthyPetNet. HealthyPetNet has offered us a way to create an “on-going” fund raiser without you having to do more than what you are already doing……taking care of your own pet.

Every time you purchase one of HealthyPetNet’s all natural, holistic foods, supplements, treats, pet care products or cleaning products PAWS receives an on-going income!

It’s a Win-Win-Win for everyone!

PAWS WINS by receiving an on-going income!

YOU WIN by giving you pets superior, healthy premium products that are delivered right to your door!

....and Especially

SHELTER/RESCUE PETS WIN by PAWS having the funds to care for them!

So PLEASE, do your pet and ours a favor, purchase some HealthyPetNet products NOW.

Click on the web address below to shop at HealthyPetNet!

http://www.healthypetnet.com/healthypetnet/(uu2med455pnhbk55awtejabh)/home.aspx?realname=10104427

Save your PAWS points from specially marked packages of litter, and give them to PAWS! We can redeem them for free litter! Thanks :)

For those of you who have cats on restricted diets, this will really help!

http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/canfood.html

With the recent pet food recalls, you are probably wondering where to get grain-free canned foods. Here 'ya go:

Wellness: (www.omhpet. com) Wellness is a complete, balanced diet.
No supplementation is needed and can be fed, as is, on a daily basis
as the sole diet. Wellness is a very low carbohydrate (range
depending on variety: 1%-12%), high quality canned food. Note: This
company has chosen to start adding grains (brown rice) to some of the
canned foods. This will increase the carbohydrate content. Be sure
to look for a small yellow triangle on the front of the can stating
that the food is "Grain Free".

Nature's Variety: (http://www.naturesv ariety.com <>) Nature's Variety
canned food is also a complete, balance diet that is great for daily
use. No supplementation is need. This is also a very low
carbohydrate food. Nature's Variety also makes a high quality raw
food.

EVO: (www.naturapet. com) Innova EVO is a complete diet for daily
feeding and only 3% of its calories come from carbohydrates. **Please
note that this food is very high in phosphorus and would not be a
good food choice for any cat that is showing signs of renal
insufficiency.

Wysong's Au Jus Canned Meats: (www.wysong. net) Several of Wysong's
regular canned diets have undesirable grains in them but the plain
canned meats are grainless. These are referred to as "All Meat"
or "Au Jus". These all-meat diets are devoid of calcium so they are
not balanced for daily use. You must add Wysong's "Call of the Wild"
supplement to ensure that the meals are properly balanced if used as
a sole diet. Otherwise, use the Au Jus canned food, without
supplementation, for a few meals each week. Not every meal needs to
be balanced so this is an excellent use for this product. These
products are relatively expensive and are sometimes hard to find.

Avoderm Select Cuts: (www.breeders- choice.com ) This high quality
product is a complete diet for daily use. Please disregard the
Breeder's Choice website that urges the reader to provide dry food at
all times. This is very poor advice.

Wysong's Archetype: This is not a canned food. It is a cold-
processed grainless diet, containing high quality meats, bones,
organs, probiotic cultures, and other supplements. You add water to
hydrate this food and then serve. This product is relatively
expensive and hard to find.

Merrick: (www.merrickpetcare .com) This company makes some varieties
of canned products without grains but several of them do contain
grains. Read the labels carefully.

Whole Paws: This is a Whole Foods Market brand and is only carried
in their stores. I like this food because it is very basic and
contains nothing other than a single meat source and broth. It is
balanced for daily use and would be a very
good 'hypoallergenic/ limited ingredient' diet to try for a cat with
IBD or any allergy/food intolerance. It comes in 3 varieties:
chicken, beef, and fish. Please note that beef and fish are
considered to be common allergens in the cat so I urge you to feed
the chicken variety only. Note: As of around mid 2006, WFM stopped
making this food. I have no idea if they will ever start offering it
again.

Country Pet: (www.countrypet. com) This is a frozen product that is
not raw but also is not heavily cooked. This company blanches the
meats prior to freezing. I feed this to my cats as a supplement to
their raw meat diet for variety. I find it in a freezer cart in the
pet food section at Whole Foods Market. Check their website for
other sources. I feed the Chicken dog food and sometimes the Fish
and Chicken cat food. I say "sometimes" because I do not like to
feed a lot of fish to my cats and I never feed it to my IBD cat due
to its tendency to be hyperallergenic in the cat. This is why I
prefer the Chicken dog food over the Fish and Chicken cat food but we
all know that commercially prepared (cooked) dog food, as a general
rule, should not be fed to cats because cats need more taurine (an
essential amino acid) than dogs do. I have checked with the company
that produces this food and have been assured that there is enough
taurine in the dog food to meet a cat's needs. (In fact, the cat and
dog food contain the same amount of taruine.) That said, if I was
going to feed more than 50% of the total diet comprising either of
these foods, I would feel more comfortable adding in 50 mg of taurine
to each meal for a total taurine supplementation of 100mg/day. (The
other option is to just add 100 mg to one feeding/day. ) Taurine can
be purchased in any health food store or Whole Foods Market or can be
purchased online at www.iherb.com or other internet sources. Use the
capsule or loose powder form and mix into the food. Some taurine is
always lost even with minimal processing of the meat. This company
does not add any extra taurine to either the cat or the dog food to
account for any losses so it just adds to my personal comfort level
to add some if this diet is going to make up more than 50% of the
total diet.

Everyone wonders what apartments allow pets in Brevard. We found it in a local pet magazine in the vet's office!

***please let us know if any of these places stop taking pets, thanks :)

Melbourne area
Bridgewater Pointe, Caribbean Isle, Charleston Place, Cypress Cove, Golden Point Apts, Grand Oaks at the Lakes, Hampton Greens, Harvard Apts., Hickory Pointe, Lake in the Woods, Lake Pointe, Lakes at viera East, Lighthouse Pointe, Paradise Cay, Park Townhouses, Plantation Club, Rivercrest, Sabal Palms, Saratoga, Sugar Mill, summerset, Sun Breeze, The Harbours & Hidden Harbour, The Park Town Homes, Tradewinds, Via Tuscany, WIckham Club, Wickham Village, Windover

Viera: Mission Bay

Palm Bay:
Madalyn Landing, Malabar Lakes, Palm bay Club, Park at Palm Bay, Pinehurst, The Landings, The Pines, Windwood Apts., Woodlake Village

Rockledge: Rockledge Villas, Southgate Apts.

Titusville: Park Villas, River Breeze, The Villas at La Cita

OK to clear things up for everyone. As for Brevard County, the COUNTY shelters we (PAWS and other no-kill groups) work with are:

- SACC (South Animal Care Center) which is the Eau Gallie location of the county shelter
- NACC (North Animal Care Center) which is the Titusville/Flake Road county shelter.

Both SACC and NACC are county-funded.

We also work with Cox Road (the Cocoa kill shelter) which is STILL KILL despite being non-county (they accept no gov't funding) so they are a PRIVATE shelter just like PAWS. Cox Road has changed its policy to be "no kill for space". This means that when someone walks in with a litter of kittens, if all cages are full, they will not take the kittens. Prior to this, they would take them and one of the litters would get killed. However, they STILL KILL for sickness, i.e., heartworm (dogs), upper respiratory, etc.

All these shelters let no-kill groups come in, and put our names on cats we think we can place. If we have a home already for something they have, usually they will let us take it right away, even if it's not due to be killed, because of the fact we have a home for it.

HOWEVER what you MUST understand is cat overpopulation is almost an epidemic. Too many people do not spay / neuter, then they dump their animal, or let it out to be an "outdoor cat".

As a result, all shelters (including PAWS) are terribly overcrowded.

County shelters must take anything that comes in, because they are funded by taxpayers. Thus they cannot turn anything away. They have higher kill rates because of this. Their policies are:

- nursing moms and litters get killed ASAP (sometimes same day they come in)

- litters under 6 weeks get killed ASAP (sometimes same day they come in)

- pregnant females get killed ASAP (sometimes same day they come in)

- ferals (wild cats that people trap) get killed immediately

In 2002 the total average cats killed in the above 3 Brevard shelters was over 500 per MONTH. (dogs was over 200 a month)

And the numbers for barely the first half of 2005 are:

Cats taken in 2869
Cats adopted 527
Cats returned to owner 91
Cats euthanized (KILLED) 2251 (78.46%)

This is how bad the cat overpopulation is. It's that bad EVERYWHERE. They say 14 kittens are born for every human baby - this means you would need to own 14 to balance it out. Your spouse would ALSO need to own 14, as would each of your kids....are you getting the picture now??

DAILY the average cats killed in the United States at shelters due to overpopulation is 17,000.

So now you see that what all these other rescues are doing - we are small but wonderful. The key is to FIX the animal before it goes out. So, what can you do?

**** The most important thing you can do to help is FIX YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD STRAYS. ***

One female cat can have 3+ litters a year, and if she is well fed, those kittens will thrive, grow quickly and begin to breed.

A female kitten goes into her first heat at 4 months and can get pregnant and have her first litter by 6 months of age.

AND....female cats can get pregnant again 48 hours after giving birth. OUCH! So they would be nursing newborns, and gestating....(this is BAD multi-tasking, folks).

There are excellent vets at the low cost clinics. A feline spay at United Humanitarians in Cocoa is $50, add a rabies shot for $8. Their number is 636-7002.

Another low cost clinic is Melbourne Animal Hospital across from WalMart and the dog track on Wickham, feline spay $50, neuter $30.

SPCA is $30 per female cat spay. 269-0536. $25 for a neuter. $7 for the rabies shot.

Florida Aid to Animals (Melbourne) has low rates also.

NOTE: Please be sure to get a distemper shot (at LEAST one) because distemper gets to epidemic levels in the summertime during kitten season. This is an over-the-counter shot you can buy at any feed store, give it under the skin at the right shoulder. It's about 5 bucks.

Additionally, if you have a bunch of stray cats (and some that you cannot touch because they are "wild") then you can get into the feral program to have them fixed for a flat rate of $35 you pay. 631-SPAY is the number you call to get into this program. The only law is you MUST feed and water them daily until they die out naturally, and you MUST fix and do your best to find homes for the tame ones.

This will really help reduce the numbers of cats and kittens who are dropped at the shelter every day.

Thanks!

PAWS benefits from your Cafe Press purchases if you click from THIS PAGE to get to Cafe Press and you complete your purchase without breaking the "bond" between our website and Cafe Press.

Here are some of the more popular cat products, by breed and such.

Happy shopping!

Cartoon Cats

Cat Art

Cat Humor

Cat Photography

Cat Rescue

Cat Breed Gifts

Abyssinian

American Curl

American Shorthair

Balinese

Bengal

Birman

British Shorthair

Burmese

Burmilla

Chantilly

Chausie

Colorpoint Shorthair

Cornish Rex

Devon Rex

Exotic Shorthair

Himalayan

Maine Coon

Manx

Norwegian Forest

Oriental

Persian

Ragdoll

Russian Blue

Scottish Fold

Siamese

Siberian

Singapura

Snowshoe

Somali

Sphynx

Tonkinese

Turkish Van

Eau Gallie Shelter numbers (cats only):

Cats taken in 6067
Cats adopted 1166
Returned to owner 150
Killed 3947

(10/1/06 - 9/30/06)

SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR STRAYS!!

http://www.felineparadise.com/viewArticle.php?articleId=48

We found this GREAT information online at another rescue site and have borrowed it to post here:

What DO your indoor cats miss?

Getting hit by cars

Being abused by cruel people

Eating poisoned food

Collecting fleas and ticks

Being attacked, maybe killed, by dogs

Hunting and eating rats, bunnies, lizards...

Defecating in your child's sandbox

Contracting and spreading Feline Leukemia and other diseases

Getting lost

Meeting rabid wildlife

Being shot by BB guns (or worse)

Fighting with other cats

Getting worms

Eating week-old garbage

Crawling onto warm car engines

Shivering in cold, rainy weather

Do your felines a favor. Keep them in!

On average, indoor cats live 15 or more years, while outdoor kitties live just 2 or 3 years. So make them indoor pets and keep them safe!

My name's Max & this is my friend Sheila.

We have a message for you from Heaven.

You see we are two of those you tried to save and didn't make it. Notice we're black. That's because most people don't want to adopt black babies, so we don't stand a good chance of making it out of the kill shelters alive. We wanted you to know we are happy now and was part of God's plan. You see God wants some of us up here, just like humans! You ask why - why did they die. Well its all in the plan and God has a reason. For us - well maybe there was a little girl or boy who needed a playmate when they got here and He chose us to be that special pet for them. Or maybe a senior came & have to leave their baby behind and so God wanted them to have someone to cuddle up here. But we wanted you to know that even tho' you tried real hard - it was to be this way, and we are now young, and healthy and really, really happy, and have lots of love now. So when you lose one of us - remember this - it will ease the pain.

Now to get to the real reason we are here - Even tho this was meant to be, there a reason he wanted us to give you a message and that is to concentrate on how it happened. He wants you to spread the message to everyone to stop the cruel ways of death. It needs to have more attention on how we die. You should try to get the ways of our death changed. The gas chambers & heartsticks & torture is the real horror, not our deaths. We came to a beautiful & wonderful place but it's how we got here that needs to be stopped. He wants you to spread the word to try to stop these things and to have us die a peaceful death. One which would not be so tragic - that is what makes the death so bad. The puppymills need to be stopped & the overbreeding needs to be stopped to save more of our lives. There are too many of us to save us all. But the main thing is to work to get it done in a humane way. Educate the shelters and the public. Get the message out. Then when we are called to go it won't seem so tragic. You won't feel like you failed as you will know you tried your best but it was not in God's plan for us to stay.

Just remember one day you will get to see us again. We are not far and we live in your hearts and know you did your best. But we are happy now and have love and playmates and are taken care of with no more suffering. We just want to see our buddies not go thru the horror we had to endure and God doesn't want his creatures to suffer either. That's why he sent us to give you this message. To change the ways the world looks at us and treats us.

God bless you one and all for what you do.

Love Max & Shiela.

See ya in Heaven!
---
Note: Some shelters kill via gas chamber, and some via "heartstick" by sticking the needle into the heart and injecting the serum. Brevard uses the abdominal method, which is the most torturous, because the animal thrashes around and takes several minutes to die a horrible, painful cramping renal death. Eau Gallie injects them abdominally, and tosses the animal into a cage to let them thrash around until they die (got this info from someone who used to work there). Isn't that the most horrible thing you have ever heard? Unfortunately it is very, very common. With so many animals the government-run shelters don't have the budget, time, or staff to keep so many animals housed, and when they have to kill 200 a week...
yes that is how many die on average in Brevard due to overpopulation.

PLEASE SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS AND YOUR STRAYS.

FYI there is a rebate that Brevard County will give for spay/neuter of personal pets (limit 4 per household) - call 633-2024 or see the Brevard County Animal Services website.

Hi, all - I just combined several different notes on our bulletin board, because these are asked about so often we are just going to leave them all posted together.
----
We are at a local pet store every Saturday for adoptions!!! Call our adoption hotline to find out the location of the store (sometimes the location would change). ADOPTION HOTLINE: 321-795-6306. See you there!

How to help directly with our vet bills:

If you want to donate (anonymously is fine) at these vets, that would be great...the reception staff will credit our account!

Piedmont Animal Hospital, 407/880-7387, ask for Shirley (current outstanding balance for Bryce, Smores, Collier, and others is $800+)

Coastal Animal Hospital, 321/632-3800 (Coastal is the only homeopathic and the only chiropractic vet office in the central Brevard area as of now).

Dr. Karla McCloud, Animal Hospital of Central Brevard, 321/751-6007
--------------------------------------
Many of you keep asking for "that website with the truth about pet food", so here it is:
http://www.resteddoginn.ca/api.php
--------------------------------------
we often get questions about what is the best litter.

The BEST clumping litter we have found is Cat's Pride multi-cat formula, in the white jug. You can get this at Publix. The reason we like it is, it clumps hard (less crumbling when you scoop), it doesn't gum up the scoop, the fresh scent is not overpowering, and best of all... it has the LEAST DUST!
-------------------------------------
Those of you with Littermaids...there is a new liner you can get that has been developed by a cat owner! (imagine that)

Go to www.litterliners.com
------------------
We have found catster.com where you can make your own webpage for your cat, and your cat can talk to other cat friends! Wayyy cool!
-----
Do you know about goodsearch.com? This is a website that donates to a charity (HINT!) every time you search. Purrs and Whiskers Shelter is one of the charity choices, just choose your charity, and start searching! THANKS!

-----

Several folks have asked me where to get these "stairs" so the pets can get onto furniture easier due to arthritis, etc. I have found the best deal at Harriet Carter (catalog). You can get a 3-step (18"d x 14"w X 12"h) or a 4-step (24"d x 16"h x 14"w), for $39.98 or $49.98, respectively (product #s are F5251 and G5252). Comes with a washable cover. Their phone number is 800-377-7878 or online at www.harrietcarter.com.

PAWS is committed to finding the best possible homes for our foster cats and kittens. To this end, we want to "match" the cat or kitten based on your lifestyle. Please allow us to help you determine what is best for you and best for the cat. We have lots of satisfied adopters who agree we are very good at this!!

We have found a GREAT article which the author, Barbara C. French, gave permission to reference on our site.

www.breedlist.com/faq/young.html

Other websites you should review:

www.newyorktails.com/boredcat.htm

www.listnow.com/helpingpaws/articles/article_63.html

www.perfectpaws.com/help2.html

www.de-clawing.com

http://www.sbpixiebobs.com/FAQ.htm

Thanks for doing YOUR research before adopting!!!

this is a GREAT article to read.

http://network.bestfriends.org/Blogs/PostDetail.aspx?bp=4897

To Purrs and Whiskers:

Thank you so much for caring for Monty till we found each other.

He is the most lovable and playful cat I have ever had. I feel very lucky
to have Monty since he tested FIV Positive (FIV+). I know that many shelters, etc will not keep an FIV+ cat and that many people are afraid to adopt them.

I would like to urge those considering adoption of an FIV cat to not let that factor stop them. FIV is not transmittable to humans and with otherwise good health and care, the cat can live a wonderful, long life.

My last cat was FIV+, and he was 16 yrs. old when he died, a ripe old age for any cat. I have had FIV+ cats with non-FIV cats together living in my home and FIV did not spread between them.

There are two things I would like to pass on to a prospective FIV cat owner:
Pick your veterinarian wisely. Opinion on FIV among vets varies. Make sure you have a vet who is comfortable treating FIV cats and has current knowledge. I had to change vets twice within the same animal hospital, and again after I moved, twice. Call the office and tell them you have an FIV cat and see what the response is. You’ll know when you hear it whether the veterinarian is right for you.

Second, is not to let any health issue go untreated for any length of time. FIV causes a weakened immune system. So, in my opinion, getting treatment early is a key to long life for the FIV cats.

So once again, thank you Ms. Mona and Purrs and Whiskers for caring for Monty. He is a lover. He enriches my life in a truly wonderful way.

If anyone would like to email me about owning an FIV cat, please feel free to send a note to southernbeauty50@hotmail.com and put FIV adoption in the subject line, so I don’t delete it as junk mail!

Very truly yours,
Carol Timko and Monty (aka Poufy)
1-11-08