Operation Fuzzy Mice

My human has an idea! Our car, an S10 Blazer, is equipped to tow a small trailor. She also knows people in our neighborhood who own trailor parks or large back yards, and a few of them like animals in general. Hypothetically speaking, it is possible that, if we could aquire a small trailor or camper home, this can be parked someplace and some (some) of us can live there.

The human said to me that she would ask around for a space, if I ask around for a trailor or camper. If any Nipclub partygoers have any connections or ideas, do tell!

-Mewface

Nipclub!

We are so excited to be featured on Nipclub this week!

http://nipclub.blogspot.com

Here are the pictures of cats that need spay or neuter. All of them are adoptable!

http://fuzzymice.typepad.com/photos/waiting_for_spayneuter/

To participate in Nipclub, log on to www.twitter.com and search for #nipclub. To participate, sign into your Twitter account and add #nipclub anywhere in your tweets. To donate, tip the DJs and bartenders using your Paypal account, through the links on the Nipclub blog.

Thanks again for participating! Mewface will be tweeting, updating, perhaps also dancing (???) throughout this week's event!

I'm so excited! Twitter user @TheNascarKitty will feature Operation Fuzzy Mice on this week's #Nipclub! Details coming soon...

Hello, world! Human here. I will simply get to the point; I have received a thirty-day-notice to move yesterday.

Newer fans of Operation Fuzzy Mice may not know my personal life. In short, I am a university student at CSU Bakersfield, lost financial aid due to lack of accommodations for Asperger's (a different story), developed depression, am unable to work, probably also will not be able to finish school, and social security is pending. Due to an inability to pay rent, I must move.

I am not worried about myself. I can store my things and sleep in my car, and this project mission can continue. However, I will no longer be able to foster the many cats who were grandfathered in from Michelle's Cats. They cannot live in the car with me. I have thirty days to place them all, otherwise they's have to go to the county shelter because everyone else is full. Taking them to the shelter is an almost guaranteed euthanization due to overcrowding.

I turn to the internet community as well as local Bakersfield communities for help finding homes. It won't be easy - if homes were available they would have been placed long ago - but if everybody helps to spread the news it will increase chances.

Of course, if housing becomes available, then the animals would certainly move there with me. But, let's be real here. Kern County and much of the rest of California is economically depressed. This makes finding animal-friendly housing with no income highly unlikely. I would much rather prepare for the worst and make sure the animals are taken care of.

There are all ages and colors and personality types available. Most have been fixed and immunized through donor funding. The adoption fee is $10*. Transportation may be available depending on location.

(*Adoption fees safeguard against dogfighters and animal hoarders. Fees will be paid towards CareCredit, which funds OFM's vet care. )

SB 250 had a vote in the State Assembly on Thursday, August 26. We did not get the 41 votes required to pass, however the good news is we can take the bill up for a vote once more before the session ends this week.
Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez and all our friends are working hard to move the Assemblymembers to our side and to do the right thing.

But once again, underground dog breeders and puppy millers, both in-state and out-of-state, are working hard to distort the truth and fight our bill.

Here is my last request, will you please call all the Democratic members who did not vote in support of the bill and urge their “Yes” votes for the next vote on SB 250.
 
The members to call are:
 

MEMBER NAME

PHONE 

FAX



Galgiani, Cathleen 

(916) 319-2017 

(916) 319-2117 

Ma, Fiona 

(916) 319-2012 

(916) 319-2112 

Monning, William W. 

(916) 319-2027 

(916) 319-2127 

Block, Marty 

(916) 319-2078 

(916) 319-2178 

Buchanan, Joan 

(916) 319-2015 

(916) 319-2115 

Caballero, Anna M. 

(916) 319-2028 

(916) 319-2128 

Calderon, Charles M. 

(916) 319-2058 

(916) 319-2158 

Chesbro, Wesley 

(916) 319-2001 

(916) 319-2101 

Coto, Joe 

(916) 319-2023 

(916) 319-2123 

Evans, Noreen 

(916) 319-2007 

(916) 319-2107 

Huber, Alyson 

(916) 319-2010 

(916) 319-2110 

Pérez, V. Manuel 

(916) 319-2080 

(916) 319-2180 

Salas, Mary 

(916) 319-2079 

(916) 319-2179 

Torrico, Alberto 

(916) 319-2020 

(916) 319-2120 

Yamada, Mariko 

(916) 319-2008 

(916) 319-2108 

There are many jurisdictions in our state that spend more money on animal control then on veteran's affairs or libraries. This is just wrong. This is government waste at its worst. I’m sure all of you can imagine better places to put this money than into housing and killing pets! It’s simply a disgrace.

We bring nearly 1,000,000 dogs and cats into our shelters and kill over half of them, which costs our state over a quarter of a billion dollars per year. I know these numbers are huge, and maybe hard to grasp and really understand... but please try to reflect for one moment how enormous this is and how cruel and wasteful... and we, California taxpayers are flipping the bill.

Here is how SB 250 will help reduce this out-of-control problem:

1. Prevent unwanted litters – SB 250 does this by requiring stray dogs to be spayed or neutered (An unlicensed, unaltered, roaming dog is considered a stray).

2. Helps dogs get back home – SB 250 does this by promoting dog licensing – if you want to keep your dog unaltered, all you need to do is license it... which dog owners should be doing already; dog licensing has been state law since 1933.

Right now in California only 21% of the dogs are licensed, this is bad for two big reasons:

         

a. Unlicensed dogs have much less chance of finding their way
    back home if they are impounded.
b. Licensing generates revenue to run the shelters, and budgets
    have been slashed to unreasonable amounts.

3. Spay and neuter your household roaming cat. And if you want to keep your cat unaltered, keep it inside or an enclosed outdoor area.

There has been a lot of misleading information circulating regarding how SB 250 affects feral cat caregivers... the information is absolutely false! SB 250 only affects cats that you own and live on your property. Visit http://www.yesonsb250.com/ferals.php for more information.

Please, if you care about reducing this tragic situation in our state for innocent dogs and cats and are not satisfied with status quo, please help us now. If we cannot get to the 41 votes the bill will fail, and we will have to start all over again next year. We’ve come too far, please help us get this good piece of legislation to the Governor’s desk, call today, please do not delay, this is our last chance.

Source

Houdini and Blackie are safe! They will be "debugged" and then moved to their foster home in Fairfax (east Bakersfield) tomorrow.

I learned a little more about their situation. There's an empty plot on the corner of Beardsley Ave. and Oildale Dr., and people, including these boys' owner, had been dumping their unwanted cats there. These two are the last of that small colony. There is a church being built on that property now, and the other cats have not been seen. The lady who has cared for these two, has done so for around six months. She did tear up when we drove away with the kitties, but, they will live in a big cat run, and not be euthanized at the pound. So we did good.

Don't forget that Blacky and Houdini will be available for adoption soon! All interested humans are encouraged to apply!

Houdini and Blackie

For the past few days, we have been tweeting and networking for an adoptive or foster home for Blackie, a shorthair tuxedo, and Houdini, a longhair mitted tabby. Both boys were abandoned when their owners moved. Another tenant at the complex was taking care of them as outside kitties, but is now facing eviction and cannot take the cats with her to the homeless shelter. In spite of much networking, as of last night, with the tenant out of time, it seemed there was no choice but to take them to the pound, where they would face euthanasia because of their health (parasites, underfed...typical condition of indoor, tamed cats abandoned outdoors) and because our shelters here are so overcrowded.

Human saw a fellow animal-loving lady at church today who owns several cats and has a backyard cat run, and made one last effort. She asked if the lady could house the two cats for a couple of weeks, and she said yes! Her only condition was that they be parasite-free before they move in, because of her other cats. So over the next couple days, human will treat Houdini and Blackie for fleas, mites and worms, and then they will move in with lady Penny. Then we will neuter them and they will be up for adoption!

We will tweet pictures as things progress!

"Coventry Woman's cat cruelty"

Go to youtube.com and search that phrase. Watch the security footage-it's about 40 seconds-and say that this wasn't malicious intent.

Look at her looking around for other people nearby, petting the cat, the trusting cat loving the petting, woman looks around while opening the trash bin, nudges and tricks the cat to jump inside, closes the bin, hussles quickly away.

This was not an accident.

For fourteen hours the cat was trapped in the bin, terrified, and with no food or water. By sheer luck, the collection truck hadn't come. The cat was heard howling and found in the bin by the owners of that security camera.

The woman has not been arrested or charged with any crime, yet the police want the public to stay calm. There's a laugh!

News article: http://ow.ly/2u6Ds

Aidan's Testimony

In 1999, I lived in Fremont, CA with my disabled friend, Naomi, her family, and our collective menagerie. Naomi had an older lasa apso named Toby, who had heart failure. He lived a good life with medication, and died quietly in the autumn of that year. After a time, Naomi decided to rescue a shelter dog in Toby's honor, and we drove to Tri City Animal Shelter to see if they had any lasas. While Naomi was looking at the dogs, I grew bored sitting in the lobby, and decided to peek in at the cats.

This was my first-ever visit to any shelter. It was December 8, the day before the weekly euthanasia run. Every cat cage was occupied with every size, age, color and temperament of cats, and cards on the front of each cage showed the cats' information and names of interested adopters or humane organizations. Most were friendly. I recall the cat that I almost adopted; a gorgeous seal point near the end of the row, who was purring and pawing and rubbing his head and whiskers along the cage bars and just dying to be taken out and petted. Super duper friendly and hating that cage. His card said he was an owner surrender, and there were two willing adopters and one humane society listed to pull him. In the cage to my right, at the end of the row, was a smaller black kitty, crouched down in the back of her cage, her huge pregnant belly nestled comfortably in her litterbox and her big yellow owl-eyes staring at me. Her card said she was reported and picked up as a stray. There were no names of interested adopters or rescuers on her card at all.

I asked the shelter attendant about this cat. She said the cat was timid and would not move on to the adoption showcase. She was about nine months old and seven weeks along in pregnancy. The shelter had a visiting room, so I asked for five minutes to visit the cat. The attendant met me in the room with her. For a timid cat, she sure turned into licks and whisker rubs in the visiting room! After a moment, she nestled her big purring belly down in my lap and let me pet her. Then Naomi walked in and announced she was finished doggie-shopping. This startled the cat, who made a beeline out of my lap and jumped into the wastebasket to hide! We left and I let the attendant retrieve the cat.

That evening, I counted my pennies. I was five dollars short of making the shelter's fifty-five dollar adoption fee. Naomi protested at first about my bringing another animal into the home, but in the end, it was Naomi who gave the last five dollars to adopt her. When the shelter opened the next morning, I was at the door waiting for them, and with just a few hours to spare, instead of the one-way door, my kitty went to the operating room to be spayed, as the shelter required.

I brought the kitty home the following day, my birthday, Saggitarius being a fire sign. (I was into all that stuff back then.) She was shy, and kept to our own room. When I walked in, she would emerge from hiding and greet me at the door, with her tail flicking around like a flame. I named her Edhanna, an irish name meaning "little flame." After too many folks mispronounced her name as Madonna, I changed to the masculine Aidan, an irish name meaning "hearth fire."

Aidan celebrated her eleventh birthday last March. For eleven years, this stray, shy kitty from death row who nobody wanted, has stuck with me through one and one-half college degrees, seven jobs, three years of homelessness and couchsurfing, a car-versus-my-bicycle accident and subsequent surgery and recovery, onset of major depression, transplanting to a new city, family reconciliations, two family deaths, Naomi's death, various major life transitions, at least twelve relocations that I can recall, lack of any proper psychiatric support for my adult autism, and now through filing disability. Aidan has been a registered therapy cat, and her very presence in my home, forcing my depressed, exhausted, suicidal ass out of bed to see to her needs, has saved my life more than once over these years.

Now, the tables have turned. Aidan has been diagnosed with functional thyroid adenomatous hyperplasia, or hyperthyroidism. This is a condition that is common in older cats, where the thyroid gland, which regulates metabolism, produces too much thyroxine hormone, resulting in heart arrhythmias, hypertension, weight loss, nervousness, kidney malfunction, and many other problems. Hyperthyroidism is easily controlled with a medication called tapizole. Aidan's blood tests show dangerously high thyroxine levels, and she must take tapizole twice a day, and have regular blood tests to monitor the medication's effectiveness and side effects and to monitor organ function, for the rest of her life. And with proper medication and treatment, I hope that can be a good long time. After Aidan has been there for me through it all, pilling her twice a day is the least I can do.

Crossposting for SB 250!

As you know, SB 250, The Pet Responsibility Act is going to be brought up for a final vote on the Assembly floor by Assemblyman Blumenfield within days. The support calls have been flooding in thanks to you, but we need to continue.

Several opposition groups have been sending out alerts containing misinformation about the bill.

In reality, SB 250 does NOT require any new license, and does NOT affect ANYONE who already has their dog licensed and is following current law. And SB 250 does not in ANY WAY affect feral cat caretakers - for more information on SB 250 and feral cats, please visit www.YESonSB250.com/ferals.php

What does SB 250 actually do?

SB 250 requires owners of impounded, unlicensed dogs to spay or neuter their pet, and requires that family cats who roam outdoors be spayed or neutered, or brought inside if left unaltered.

Licensed dogs are not affected, unless the owner is repeatedly cited for animal control violations. Feral cat caretakers are not affected. New amendments clarify the appeals process, and allow local jurisdictions to waive fees for low income Californians.

We must act now to reduce the heavy financial and moral costs of killing over a half a million dogs and cats each year in our state.

Please help, right away!

Please call your Assemblymember TODAY, and if you cannot get through, please try again.

If you don't know who your Assemblymember is, visit www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html

Source: http://www.yesonsb250.com/sb250-make-calls.php