Homes for Paws: Loving homes for homeless cats

We hope this newsletter finds everyone happy, healthy and enjoying your summer!

CATS has not slowed down one bit this year with all the cats and kittens we are busy trying to place. The beautiful pair of kittens pictured here were recently rescued off the top of a building in Mexico by local firefighters.  We took in the brother and sister, made sure they were healthy and ready for their forever home, and they were both just adopted together by a loving family!

Due to a lack of rescue resources south of the border, we strive to develop as many connections in Mexico as possible to help as many felines as we can.  The story of these siblings is a great example of how each and every donation we receive helps us in our mission to find loving homes for cats, no matter their circumstance.

I hope this newsletter finds everyone safe and healthy. It is raining kittens here in San Diego!!

Kitten season, otherwise known as feline breeding season, takes place during the warm months. This is typically March through October but will vary across the country. Since San Diego is generally warm we experience a long kitten season!

During kitten season,we experience a large intake of kittens; roughly 400 a year!!! Only one month into the season, we are already bursting at the seams with adorable little felines. Kittens that enter our rescue either come with their mother or are, unfortunately, motherless. Kittens that enter with their mother will be kept with their mother and continue to feed off of her with solid food being introduced when appropriate. We rely on fosters who either have no other pets or have a separate space for the mom and her kittens as momma cats are naturally very protective of their offspring.

Kittens that arrive to our rescue motherless often need to be bottle-fed by an experienced foster until they are old enough to eat on their own. This requires a lot of dedication by our team of fosters because kittens eat frequently! Kittens under 2 weeks old eat every 2 hours and kittens 2 to 4 weeks old eat every 3-4 hours. Once kittens reach 2 pounds they are old enough to get spayed or neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated! At 8 weeks old they are ready to fly and go to their forever home.

We do encourage kittens to go to homes in pairs when the adopting home has no other pets. Despite the common belief that cats are solitary animals, they are actually very social beings who thrive when they have a buddy from an early age. A pair of kittens will be able to keep each other occupied and are truly happier living with other cat companions.

As always we would like to thank all of our wonderful donors! It is donations from you that give us the ability to provide a safe space for all of these kittens until they are able to find their loving forever home. We appreciate you all!

With Gratitude,

Elizabeth Tracey and Lauren Click

Links:

• Cat Adoption Service

To Our Wonderful CATS supporters,

As we enter the holiday season during what most of us would consider an incredibly trying year, we here at CATS still have a lot to be thankful for.

We continue to see daily examples of humanity when it comes to our rescue kitties and that is what we will choose to focus on.  For each act of ‘bad” that we witness through rescue, we witness equally, if not more, acts of “good”.  A perfect example of this is the story of our abandoned mom and the subsequent adoption of all of her kittens.

Back in September a mom and her kittens were trapped in downtown Escondido.  Sadly, the momma cat had been abandoned by her previous owner.  He was a restaurant owner who lost his business during the COVID shutdowns and had to move away.  The fate of so many animals recently come from situations just like this during this difficult time---where people simply do not believe they can care for their pet any longer and discard them.  Luckily for CATS, we learned about this situation and sprang into action.  The kittens were all socialized and vetted and were put up for adoption. 

The first two females, Broadway and Valerie, were adopted by a retired teacher and will have a loving home together forever.  The third kitten, a boy named Smarty, went to a lovely family all his own.  Finally, the fourth kitten, Grand, went home with a couple that drove all the way from Las Vegas to San Diego to adopt him after falling in love with his picture online.

The momma cat is still in rescue learning to trust people and will be up for adoption soon.  Even though it is a sad reality that animals can be so easily discarded it is refreshing to know that out of this one bad act we witnessed 4 good acts proving that the good will always outweigh the bad.

So, as we close out this year we choose to end on a positive note.  Thankful for all the good out there in the world. The people who volunteer their time for CATS.  The wonderful adopters who see the potential in previously discarded animals.  The people who drive 5 hours to bring home their new family member.   Most of all, we are so thankful for all of you who donate to us and allow us to keep this rescue going each year so that we can continue to spread stories of good for all to hear. 

Happy Holidays from CATS,

Lauren Click and Elizabeth Tracey

Hello to all of our wonderful CATS supporters.

We hope this update finds you all safe and in good health.

Covid-19 has made 2020 a very difficult rescue year for CATS Adoption Service.  However, despite all of the restrictions and shut downs we have still managed to rescue and rehome many cats in need.

This group of kittens is one example of our recent successes.  These 5 little guys were born to a feral mom in a wherehouse.  CATS was able to trap and fix mom and release her as well as socialize and vet all of her litter.  We are happy to report that all of the kittens have found their loving home!

Even though we are unable to do a lot of things we once did in an effort to get our cats adopted we have found new ways to make sure our CATS find their ways into loving homes.  We are happy that cats and kittens adopted during this time certainly brought a little bit of light into the lives of their new family during this time of darkness.

As always, we depend on wonderful donors such as you to keep our organization up and running.  Your generosity does not go unnoticed.  We appreciate your continued support and send each one of you our sincerest gratitude.

With Gratitude,

Elizabeth Tracey and Lauren Landini Click

Links:

• CATS ADOPTION SERVICE

Hello to all of our CATS supporters,

I hope this email finds all of you and your families happy and healthy during this uncertain time.  I have decided to share a wonderful rescue story for everyone in the spirit of spreading positivity at a time we all could use some.

At the end of January, 3 black cats were found in a crate on the side of the road, discarded next to a field.  Luckily, they were spotted by a good samaritan on their way to work.  This same good samaritan agreed to foster this threesome while waiting for space to open up at our rescue organization.  During their time in foster they were provided all vaccinations, spayed and neutered and given clean bills of health.  

I am happy to report that once space opened up in rescue we were able to find all three of them a home...TOGETHER!  They only had to spend a month at our Escondido Petco facility before their forever family found them.  Their adoptive family had just bought a house and wanted to fill it with kitty love so the time for this trio was perfect.  Finding an adopter to take in one kitty is a challenge, two is rare and three is next to impossible!  We were thrilled that these three kitties, so easily discarded on the side of the road have found a great home and will live great lives.  They truly got the happy ending they deserved!

With gratitude,

Lauren Landini Click and Elizabeth Tracey

Links:

• Cat Adoption Service