Off Topic -- Kittens

Subject: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: Jason LaPrade
Date: 05 Aug 00 - 12:40 AM

I know this isn't about music but I thought this might be a good place to post this. After all, the site is called mudcat!

I've been trying to find a home for a black stray cat and it's 4 kittens (now down to 3 kittens). They are unfortunately still outside, but they are relatively friendly. They're getting more used to being around people but need more work -- and love. The cat has a small white patch on it's chest. I think it adds to the "cute factor." One of the kittens is identical (We've been calling her Mini-me). The other kittens have a few white hairs in the same place. We've named the mother Rodeo after the song and group "Blackie and the Rodeo Kings" (hey, that's music related). We've had Rodeo spayed and vaccinated.

If anyone is interested in giving one a home, we live in the Scarborough/Toronto area. Also, if anyone has any suggestions as to where we might take them. The Humane Society is our last choice but may become our only choice.

I can be reached at [phone] or [e-mail] or mudcat of course.

Thank you, Jason

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Aug 00 - 12:52 AM

Wow, what a neat thing to have actual kittens on the Mudcat! Good luck, Jason and BIG karmic brownie points for you all for helping out and getting Rodeo her shots and spayed.

Come on you Toronto Mudcatters, we know you are out there! Help the kitties find good homes! Maybe the "Kings" could each have a Mudcat name?

all the best, adopt a furperson...ya won't regret it!

katwhoalreadyhastoomanyofherown&livestoofaraway!

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: CamiSu
Date: 05 Aug 00 - 03:05 AM

Jason, do you have a paper that is all classified ads? They are great places to advertise for giving away pets. Also, local flea markets, grocery stores (weekends are good for this as kids are apt to be with parents.) But do look hard at your prospects and suggest spaying and neutering at an appropriate age. Vets also are often a good source of adoptive homes and they ususally already know how these people treat their pets. good for you for adopting mama and spaying her. Having a barn I think people drop cats off figuring it is a good spot for them. They don't think about the fact that there is a major road between my house and my barn. I bring the cats in and do my best to keep them there, tho Andy got out last week and got rolled by a car. Thank goodnes the next person by was a Statie who stopped for him and we were able to get him before someone decided to flatten him. He is fully recovered and quite bent because I still keep him in at night--and make double-da*ned-sure he IS in! Fool me once...

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: death by whisky
Date: 05 Aug 00 - 11:19 AM

Do you really want a cat from a FLEA market!Our cats stay outside.The dog rules the roost,well,he is 13yrs.The first cat arrived last year,rescued from a ditch and cost a fortune in vets fees.Then another just showed up,left while we were on holiday,now another one is hanging around.

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 05 Aug 00 - 12:01 PM

Okay, so now I should feel guilty if I don't take one right?
Oy, what am I going to do?

Bonnie

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: bbelle
Date: 05 Aug 00 - 02:56 PM

I'm glad that I live too far away ... I'd be too tempted.

When I left my "girls," Minnie and Pearl, in Fairbanks, to make the trip south, it was just too traumatic. I vowed, henceforth, to raise only "dust bunnies."

moonchild

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Aug 00 - 06:32 PM

here is how you get rid of kittens...*smile*

you go to a PUBLIC place...like the campus of a University, a park, or an outdoor fair/festival...and you carry a kitten around with you, or sit in the grass surrounded by kittens...(you can have a sign, but it it not necessary)..people will come over and ASK!!..Kittens are their own best sales force.

I have given away kittens this way twice...5 one time, 4 the other...no more than a couple hours...(you DO have to choose the right place)....

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: GUEST,Ely
Date: 05 Aug 00 - 07:32 PM

I'd post a notice at the vet's--I'd shy from handing them out to whoever comes by because I don't like the thought of people taking in animals impulsively. We used to foster dogs for a no-kill rescue society and it's amazing how many come in that were gifts or impulse acquisitions that have lost their novelty. Which is not to say that all people who take animals spur-of-the-moment get rid of them, but I think it's risky.

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Aug 00 - 07:50 PM

you can NEVER be sure...but I kinda liked looking in the eyes of the happy folks who took my kittens..*smile*...I think those cats did ok..

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: Jason LaPrade
Date: 05 Aug 00 - 10:01 PM

Thanks for all the suggestions.

CamiSu, I put an ad in the Toronto Star and it was re-run today. Got some calls and one kitten adopted because of the first ad, but heard nothing today. I think the long weekend is part of the reason. Anyway, I'll try your suggestion about advertising in local places. I might try another ad in a different paper too. Unfortunately, time is short since I'll be at the Woods Music Camp for a week starting Aug 15th.

Hey Bill, that sounds like a great idea. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to convince the cats to play along. But one kitten went in a similar way. A woman who called came into the yard where they were and one of them put on a great show ... she was hooked. Kittens are so hard to pass up.

Bonnie, don't feel guilty about not taking them. I feel guilty every time I see a cat without a home. If I gave in I'd certainly have more than I could handle. And they can be quite an expense. By the way, are you the same Bonnie I met at Song Circle, and the next day at the Performance Arts Lodge where Rick was playing?

Thanks again for all the help and support.

Jason.

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 05 Aug 00 - 10:59 PM

I'm not too sure.
Are you the same Jason working the sound system at the Performance Arts Lodge where Rick was performing and who I met at a Song Circle playing a doboro the previous night?

Bonnie

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: Jason LaPrade
Date: 05 Aug 00 - 11:27 PM

I'm not sure!

Are you the same Bonnie that saw me working the sound system at the Performance Arts Lodge where Rick was perfoming and who met me at Song Circle playing a dobro the previous night, and who will also see me playing the dobro and running the sound system at the Woods Music and Dance Camp?

Is there an echo in here?

Jason.

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Aug 00 - 11:51 PM

LOL!! I have to echo what Ely said, sorry BillD, not only because of the impulse thing, but also because there are people who look for free pets to use for horrible reasons.

We used to live a few miles away from a large pharmaceutical company in Connecticut. I had to rescue my brother's cat one time, as he was caught by a neighbour in a have-a-heart trap, thank goodness, and the neighbour would not let us at him. I stole in there at night, in their backyard and picked up the whole thing and ran. We were told by authorities that people were trapping pets and then selling them to assholes who then acted as legitimate dealers of animals for drug testing. The Humane Society, there, and here, says to always ask for a few dollars when you find a new home for a pet, as that discourages such creeps.

Keep up the good work, Jason,

kat

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: Jason LaPrade
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 12:24 AM

Thanks kat(and Ely). I'm glad you had the nerve to do what you did. It's hard to believe people would do something like selling cats for research.

That's a good idea about asking for a few dollars. We might ask for a donation to PAWS -- an organization that has helped us with expenses, or the Annex Cat Rescue which has given a lot of support. A woman named Marie-Lynn Hammond (folk musician and writer/editor) who also works with stray cats and the ACR has been a great help along with their foster home co-ordinator Marisa.

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 12:56 AM

That's not the half of it, Jason. I was to call on Pfizer one time, as I was in sales. I couldn't make myself go in because I knew, from a friend who worked in their citrus division, that the building right next to where I needed to go was full of beagles having all manner of horrible testing done to them.

I know there seem to be good medical reasons to use animals for testing, but I am damned if I can understand how anyone can nor agree with its need. It is a real conundrum because I know the drugs I take for my heart have to have come from testing of some sort. It is an imperfect world I guess.

You are a blessing for critters and it has been really great to read of your efforts. All of my critters were strays. We have a PAWS in the US, too. Thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 07:42 AM

Well Jason, when I arrive at Woods Music and Dance Camp, I will have to take inventory of all the Jasons I find there. And then we will sit down to compare notes to figure this thing out.

I think right now I should write out dobro 100 times.

Bonnie

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: Jason LaPrade
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 10:55 AM

I was tempted to point out that "Doboro" mistake. Then I thought, if this is the same Bonnie I met at Song Circle and ... she's smart enough to figure it out herself.

See you at the woods.

Wasn't this a thread about trying to find homes for kittens? Oh well, thanks again everyone for all the support. It's been a rather stress filled time dealing with these cats -- from watching the mother freeze outside in the winter to trying to train her and her kittens. Fortunately I've gotten some help from a friend I live with. We wanted to bring the mother in originally, but we were afraid of how she'd react to Amie, the feline who calls this house a home already. We were also afraid of diseases, etc. It is rewarding realizing how far they've come though. At first we couldn't touch the mother, then we used a broom (which she loved) and gloves. It's been a long road that is hopefully coming to an end soon. Or at least until the next stray comes along. Oh no!

Thanks, Jason.

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: Wavestar
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 12:13 PM

Jason - If you haven't found homes for the kittens, I have a friend in the Toronto area you might be able to tempt... but I'm not sure. He and his wife are only there for about a year more, and dont' know where they are going after that... but I could email them and try and convince them! he's at Yorke, working in the Arabic History dept... In fact, he might even be convinced to come to a Song Cirlce, were he to be informed of it's whereabouts...

-J

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 05:47 PM

aww...folks, most of the people who took MY kittens were young ladies from 18-25...that WAS awile ago, but even then I knew enough to be reasonable...animal merchants have different techniques..like answering ads in the paper, (I even have photos fo some of the happy owners)..

sure..DO be wary...but it aint hard to tell.

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: Sorcha
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 06:16 PM

I wish this one would drop off (so here I am posting to it?) because it is making me feel so guilty I am about to send Jason shipping money. (Do I really want a cat that has been in a shipping crate for HOW long?) Besides, my 2 cat allergic fellas say that 4 inside cats is more than ENUF!! Several times I have decided that when one Goes Home to Cat Heaven, we will NOT get another, but there is is Hobo Sign on the back gate that only needy cats can see............4 seems to be what the Fates have decreed for us.

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: Jason LaPrade
Date: 06 Aug 00 - 11:41 PM

Thanks Sorcha, for helping draw out this thread a little longer. Even one more person who gets a chance to see it might be the difference :>) You never know! Actually I've got a few leads, so we'll see what happens(one fell through tonight -- a woman who wanted a couple of black kittens. Unfortunately, we just found out she wanted them for her very young kids. She'll need really tame ones). I'll definitely post an update when a conclusion is found to all of this.

Wavestar, I certainly won't stand in your way about e-mailing your friend. But don't push things too much -- I don't want to make anyone teel too guilty. I don't think it'll hurt to ask. Thanks.

Jason.

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: Bert
Date: 07 Aug 00 - 12:38 PM

I've found that it's much easier to find homes for kittens if you sell them rather than give them away.

Subject: RE: Off Topic -- Kittens
From: Hollowfox
Date: 07 Aug 00 - 04:20 PM

The few times I've had to find homes for kittens (I'm usually on the receiving end), I found that offering a "package deal" helped. If they'd take the kitten, I'd throw in a bag of cat food, a bag of kitty litter, and pay fro the neutering/spaying when the kitten was old enough. This allowed for follow-up, and was cheaper than a feline-lifetime supply of food and litter per kitten. Maybe even paying for the vet would sweeten the deal enough. Good luck.