What’s New With Stray Cat Blues: Winter 2022
Inside This Issue
• 5 Simple Ways To Get More Involved
• How One Lost Cat Saved 50 Others
• A Message From Our President
• 3 Ways To Keep Feral Cats Cozy
• “I Have Your Cat. He’s Safe. Are You?”
Letter from the President
We Are Growing!
After the bitter cold in Pennsylvania, we are finally having warmer days, which gives me hope. As we continue to meet the challenges that come our way—a never-ending kitten season and a global pandemic in its third year—I can’t help but feel hopeful. Our volunteers are working harder than ever: Our fosters are providing temporary, loving homes to help kitties get ready for their forever homes, and our trappers are working tirelessly, providing TNR to an ever-growing cat population. And here’s a pretty great reason to celebrate: 1,207 adoptions in the year 2021!
But it’s not only the promise of blooming flowers and warmer air that gives me optimism: We are hiring! We’re happy to announce that after almost 25 years in operation, Stray Cat Blues is finally ready to bring on its first full-time employee. The new Director of Operations will help propel Stray Cat Blues into the future, leading by example and creating a vision for our organization. I thank the Board and everyone involved for their work in creating this position. Much like those spring blooms, we are growing and expanding our reach—looking to rescue even more cats and kittens in need.
All of us at Stray Cat Blues wish you and yours a very happy, hope-filled spring!
Sincerely,
Stacy Borans
President, Stray Cat Blues, Inc.
How To Keep Feral Cats Cozy
By Amanda Case
While the weather outside may be less frightful, it’s still far from what we’d consider delightful. Especially if you’re a feral cat trying to stay warm when nightly temps dip into the single digits.
These simple, low-cost ways can help make things a bit more comfy for out feline friends.
Image from The Society for the Improvement of Conditions of Stray Animals
Low-cost option: It doesn’t get much easier than this: Line an old storage container with straw (not hay!) and a Styrofoam cooler or aluminum foil to create a snug and waterproof home. Cut a small hole through the container and cooler for access. Secure the lid with duct tape and voila! Happy (feral) campers. Find step-by-step instructions at the Society for the Improvement of Conditions of Stray Animals.
DIY option: Who doesn’t love a reason to bust out the power tools? There’s no shortage of easy-to-follow shelter plans, and the possibilities for customization are endless! You can use up those leftover building materials you’ve got kicking around in your garage, and maybe even get the kids involved (though perhaps not with said power tools). This sample project from Instructables Living can get you started.
Purchased option: Not all of us are into power tools, and happily, Amazon comes through (you know about our AmazonSmile deal, right??) with a number of outdoor cat shelters for every budget. You can even get ones with heating pads for a truly luxe winter hideaway. Check out this comprehensive guide to finding the right option for you from Alley Cat Allies.
Amanda Case might be new to Stray Cat Blues, but she’s wasted no time volunteering for the communications team and working on trapping her neighborhood ferals. We’d expect nothing less from a woman who named her cat Ruth Bader Ginspurr.
I Have Your Cat. He's Safe. I Hope You Are Too.
By Aimee Davis
I have your cat. A trapper found him lying on the bed you so lovingly left for him. He had a green leather collar around his neck. The bell tinkled when he stretched to walk to my carrier. The strap was well-worn when I took it off. Each hole counted his growth. The months he’d spent with you. Being loved by you. Sleeping in your home on that bed. The place where he dutifully waited.
But you weren’t coming back for him. Not this time.
I named him Oscar, because in the picture I first saw of him, he was sitting next to a trash bag. I almost threw up when I saw that picture. Not because I thought you were a monster, but because I knew you weren’t. Because you left him his bed. And he had a collar with a bell around his neck.
In rescue, we see so very many monsters. Just the other day we got a call about a cat thrown off a bridge. We see bullets imbedded in flesh and kittens burned for sport. We see purple paint for bait and bags of newborns and stones lobbed into rivers. It becomes remarkably easy to turn every man into a monster when you see these atrocities over and over.
I choose to see Oscar lying on a bed carefully positioned and a well-worn collar around his neck. I choose to hear the jingle of a bell and feel the silky fur of an animal who was petted again and again. I choose humanity and heartbreak.
So I write you this note that you’ll probably never see to tell you that I have him, your cat whose name I’m sure is not Oscar. He’s here, in my home. He’s been to the vet, neutered, vaccinated, microchipped. He is warm, with a full belly, and a comfy bed. I’ve learned things about him that you likely already know: He likes laser pointers and crinkle balls. He prefers dry food to wet (strange, that). He makes biscuits on every soft surface and loves when you scratch his butt. He’s a quiet, contemplative sort of cat. He doesn’t get underfoot or in the way. He likes to watch the birds out the window and to hide in boxes. He’s a good boy. But there’s a sadness to his soul I expect wasn’t always there. Or maybe that’s just me, anthropomorphizing.
He’s here, though. And he’s safe. But every time I look at him, I can’t help but wonder: Are you safe, too? You, who loved him so much you left his bed behind. You, who left his collar on. You, who left him somewhere you knew someone would find him. Someone who would love him as much as you did. Are you safe? Are you sound? Are you warm and loved and happy, too? I hope you are.
Update: Oscar has been adopted! He’s now settled in with a fantastic family where he will be adored and pampered. He has a feline older sister who is still not quite sure about him, but it’s a safe bet that she’ll come around (what’s not to love?).
Aimee Davis has fostered 150 cats in the past eight years, often naming her furry guests after book characters, as she’s a huge reader and writer of fantasy novels. Aimee serves on the board of Stray Cat Blues.
5 Ways To Get More Involved With Stray Cat Blues
By Taylor Bjornsen
There are more ways to help Stray Cat Blues than you may realize! From snuggling cats at our adoption centers to shopping online from your couch, it couldn’t be easier to get involved with Stray Cat Blues.
Here are 5 ways you can lend a paw right away.
1. Shop with AmazonSmile. If your neighbors start to worry when they don’t see a daily Amazon delivery, then this is for you. AmazonSmile turns a portion of your Amazon purchases into donations! Shop for the same products you always do, but with the added benefit of Amazon donating a portion of the purchase price to Stray Cat Blues. On your computer, go to smile.amazon.com to select Stray Cat Blues as your charity and start shopping! On mobile devices, simply turn on the AmazonSmile feature in your Amazon account settings.
2. Help out at our adoption centers. We have adoptable cats at PetSmart in North Wales and Collegeville, as well as at Whiskers Way Station in Lansdale—and they need you! Clean some cages, serve some meals, and socialize through playing and cuddling. Shifts are available AM and PM every day of the week, so we can work with whatever free time you can spare. An orientation and supplies are provided. Fill out an application here.
3. Visit our online store. Do you have your Stray Cat Blues calendar yet? How about a t-shirt? Head over to the Stray Cat Blues store to contribute towards a cat’s adoption fee or buy some of our swag. (Your car definitely needs a Stray Cat Blues decal.) All profits help us keep doing what we do best.
4. Foster a cat (or two!). If you have a spare room in your house (even bathrooms work), consider fostering a cat or kitten. You can help ensure that our feline friends have a roof over their heads, food in their bellies, and lots of playtime while they wait for their forever homes. An orientation and supplies are provided. Fill out a volunteer application here.
5. Trap, neuter, and return (TNR). Sometimes a cat is simply feral—no amount of Temptations Beach Side Party Mix or squeaky mouse toys are going to convince him otherwise—and that’s okay, but you can help us put a stop to the overpopulation crisis with TNR. We’ll teach you how to humanely trap feral cats, transport them to get spayed/neutered, and then return them to their colony. Get started by filling out a volunteer application here.
Taylor Bjornsen is new to the Stray Cat Blues team, but when it comes to giving her all for her cats—including her dignity—she’s a pro. Case in point: Taylor and her boyfriend sing the first two lines of Barry Manilow’s Copacabana to their cat Lucy with modified lyrics like, “Her name is Lucy, she is a goober!” It’s ridiculous. And perfect.
How One Lost Cat Saved 50 Others…and Counting
By Amy Beal
Do you ever get up in the morning and just have a feeling that it’s going to be an awful day? Yeah, June 4, 2021 was not one of those days. It was gorgeous and sun-filled and not a billion degrees! My 5-year-old told me he loved me without bribery (well, only one cookie). The avocado for my toast was perfectly green, without even a hint of gross Band-Aid-tasting brown! June 4, 2021 was shaping up to be a fantastic day!
Until it wasn’t.
Let me back up a second and tell you about Joe. When my family moved in 2015, the first thing I noticed at the new house was a streak of gray bolting by the back door. Over the next few months, that streak started to stick around a bit more, mostly hanging around the bird feeders for reasons I didn’t want to think about. Eventually, I named that gray streak Smokey Joe, and I was all in—I was going to get that shy cat to trust me and get him inside if it was the last thing I did. I was obsessed.
I spent more than a year earning Joe’s trust. Finally, on New Year’s Eve 2017, Joe came in for his nightly snack and I slammed the door closed behind him for good. I finally had him safe! I could stop fixating on whether every change in the weather meant he was cold or hot or wet or in any way remotely unhappy (like I said, obsessed). I promised Joe that he’d never again have to worry about where he’d get his next meal. He’d never have to worry about finding shelter. He’d never have to wonder if he was loved. He was safe.
Until he wasn’t.
Back to that day in June. I’d taken a very reluctant Joe to the vet for only the second time since he’d come to live inside. Because while he now slept on my chest every night and even tolerated my small human, he was still terrified of strangers and had zero interest in even sticking so much as a whisker out the door. Just luring him into the carrier for this vet trip had taken two months of coaxing. Because of COVID, I couldn’t go in with him, so I had to wait until I was allowed to fetch him from the lobby. I was hauling him back to the car when the unthinkable happened: The door to his carrier somehow came open. And Joe, my sweet Joe, became that gray streak again, darting through the parking lot and disappearing into the woods.
In the months that followed, I called and visited every shelter and vet’s office within a 30-mile radius. I set trap after trap after trap. I walked more miles that I can count, handing out fliers and hanging up posters and talking to anyone who would listen. I cried more tears than I thought humanly possible.
It was a few weeks into my search when a tip led me to a house near the vet clinic—I’d heard that the elderly couple who lives there feeds a number of cats out of their barn. I’ll never forget standing there waiting for someone to answer the door, and catching movement out of the corner of my eye. I slowly turned around and saw dozens of cats and kittens roaming around. Not an ear tip in sight.
You always have a choice, you know? Do something or don’t. Part of me really wanted to do nothing. I had my hands full: The search for Joe had taken over my life—every night after my son went to bed, I spent hours roaming different neighbors and combing through social media and worrying. So much worrying. The last thing I needed was to get sucked into TNR. But I couldn’t un-see those cats. Just like I couldn’t go back to that day in June and keep Joe from escaping. I realized that I could let the despair of losing Joe slowly pull me under, or I could make something good come out of this nightmare.
I chose the good.
Of course, I had no idea what I was doing. That’s really been the motto of my adult life. But I was lucky enough to connect with Stray Cat Blues (the right person saw a Joe flyer and told me about this “amazing group that could help!”), specifically volunteer Debbie Hryhorec. There aren’t enough wonderful words to describe Debbie. I suddenly had this incredibly kind ally who not only patiently walked me through trapping the barn cats and finding fosters for the kittens, but who also gave me her own guidance and hands-on assistance in searching for Joe. I suddenly went from bumbling along on my own to becoming part of this incredible network of volunteers who taught me that I could make a difference, no matter how much my heart was aching for Joe. I found a new family full of people who take action and never ask for anything in return. They kept me going. They kept me hoping.
And what about Joe? Even with the TNR, I never stopped my daily searches. Reports of potential sightings took me from Norristown to Coopersburg, from Hilltown Township to Macungie, and to discovering parts of Quakertown I never knew existed.
Finally on the morning of November 3, 2021, I got the call I’d been dreaming of. A gray cat that had recently started showing up on a trail cam I’d set up near the vet clinic had succumbed to the allure of Fancy Feast and went into my trap. That elusive gray streak had finally, finally once again became my sweet, insanely soft, fish-breathed, snugglebug again. Joe was home! Joe was home.
Those five months of searching for Joe were some of the worst of my life. But they were also some of the best. Because while Joe may have returned to his couch-potato ways, I’m still volunteering with Stray Cat Blues. Joe was one of the lucky ones; he had a person who wouldn’t give up on him. But so many cats don’t have anyone. So now I try to be that person for the cats without a voice. Something good did come from this nightmare. Joe is home, and I found my purpose.
Amy Beal has been volunteering with Strat Cat Blues since August. She’s up to 50+ cats in TNR and foster care (a few more and she’s hoping to win a set of steak knives…admittedly an odd choice for a vegetarian). Joe is back to hogging the bed and demanding Fancy Feast 24/7.
STAY CONNECTED
To reach out to us directly, please fill out the contact form on our contact page directly. You can also message us on our Stray Cat Blues, Inc. Facebook page. Thank you for being a part of this collaborative group and supporting each other.