First two Intrepid Explorers Getting Set for Their Journey

The arrangements are in the works for the first two kittens who are journeying down to NC to stay with the kind folks of the Marley Fund. Salsa and Zest are scheduled to leave on Monday, November 1st for their new digs.

Wish them luck and good health!

Kittens fine post spay/neuter

So the kittens are doing a-OK after their spay/neuter surgeries. The next step is setting up a health certification appt. for the two that will be traveling first (which I think shall be Chili and Salsa) and setting up the flight information.

I am ready! Poor little shaved bellies, they have been really sweet. I was worried they would be angry at me, but they have been super friendly. Except Zest, she's kind of pissed.

Support the Marley Fund, Buy a 2005 Calendar!

The Marley Fund is the rescue organization that is going to take over care of the kittens. There was another sanctuary that backed out of taking the kittens for financial reasons, and the people at the Marley Fund have stepped up to fill the void left behind. They are located in Greenville, NC and are working on their fundraising efforts. Part of those efforts involves the sale of calendars for 2005 featuring Marley, the organization's namesake. For more information on the Marley Fund, Marley, and where to purchase calendars, please visit their website at http://www.marleyfund.com and read the rest of the email.

Because taking on five FeLV positive cats is a resource intensive endeavor, I encourage as many people as possible to donate and purchase calendars. The Marley Fund folks, specifically Joy, have been tremendously supportive and made room for the entire litter at a time when they are feeling the resource pinch. Anything anyone can do is tremendously appreciated.

The kittens will still be looking for permanent adoptive homes, but they have at least found a permanent safe haven where I trust that they will be well cared-for until such time as they are adopted. Other FeLV cats are available for adoption through the Marley Fund, who will fly them to homes that are found to be suitable. Please get the word out, if you know someone looking for a companion who can support the needs of a special needs animal.

The kittens are scheduled for their spay/neuter tomorrow and then the first two kittens will make the journey down to NC once they have recuperated sufficiently to tolerate the flight. The remaining three kittens will travel once space frees up, hopefully in a couple of weeks. Wish us all luck! Think of the kittens tomorrow and send get well soon vibes, as the anesthesia is a particular risk for them.

lunasmom

*********Calendar Information***************
Good Afternoon All!

The wait is over! The Marley 2005 Calendars arrived last night from Norfolk, Virginia! They are so beautiful and the best yet! We will be distributing calendars throughout the 19 counties throughout Eastern North Carolina over the next couple of weeks (within 2). To view all the places to pick up a calendar, http://www.marleyfund.com/pickup.html.

We encourage those who live out of the area to order theirs online. To support us and order your calendar, please visit, http://www.marleyfund.com/calendar.html

If there is anyone that would like to help us with our calendar drive, please contact me so that I can bring or mail some (however many you think you can handle) to you. We have 2,300 that are packed with beautiful kitties, information on FeLV and FIV and the Marley Fund Story.

Please consider these outstanding calendars for Christmas gifts and more! They are really awesome!

Thanks for your support!
Sincerely,

Joy Eubanks
Marley Fund Founding President
1510-208 Wimbledon Way
Greenville, NC 27858
252.215.0925
252.215.9262 fax
joy@marleyfund.com
www.marleyfund.com

Marley Fund is taking two kittens

The wonderful people at the Marley Fund are going to take the kittens in installments. Once the kittens are spayed and neutered and well enough to travel, two of them will travel by plane down to Greenville, NC. Then, when room is available hopefully in just a few weeks, the remaining three kittens will travel down to NC as well.

I think I can hang in there for a few weeks while everything settles.

If anyone would like to make donations for transport to fly the kittens down, please contact me. I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE donations be made to the Marley Fund for taking this on. Whatever you can spare, send it their way.

http://www.marleyfund.com

The kittens will still be looking for permanent homes, but they will have somewhere safe to stay until the day their forever home comes along. Adopt a special needs pet today! Check out the Marley Fund's adoption pages for more information on adoptable FeLV kitties.

Sanctuary backed out of the deal

They decided not to take the kittens when I told them that I could not afford the required sponsor and donation fees at $100 per cat initial fee plus $1200 per cat per year for the rest of their lives. I was told they have their financial pressures as well.

So it's back to the drawing board. Please DO NOT DONATE TO HOME FOR LIFE THE ANIMAL SANCTUARY OF ST. CROIX in the name of the kittens as they ARE NOT TAKING THE KITTENS. If you have already sent a donation, I recommend cancelling it and I have already asked them to return funds to anyone who may have donated in the kittens' names already. I will be removing the link to their site from my blog.

If anyone has any ideas for me, please contact me and let me know. I am slowly losing my faith in humanity.

Successful, uneventful vaccination day

Went pretty well. The guys are growing. Dijon is about 5.5 lbs, so is Zest, Growler is bigger than her sisters now at 6 lbs, with Chili topping her at 7 lbs and Salsa tipping the scales at 8.5 fat lbs! They are ready for their spay/neuter, scheduled for next week (donate to FOCAS!) at a nearby hospital.

So far, looking good. I am waiting for the paperwork I need for the Home For Life application to arrive this weekend. Then I can start transport arrangements.

How could you resist this face?

The puppies will miss the kitties the most, I think

Transport Help needed for VA, PA--not my kittens

There is a rescue in NY that needs help transporting some kittens from a kill situation to their new homes in Vermont. They are in need of someone to drive part of the way; all the slots are filled except for one stretch from Roanoke, VA to Lexington, VA and one leg from Harrisburg, PA to Allentown PA. The details are below. If you know any animal lovers in the area who are free on Saturday afternoon to do a good deed, would you put them in touch with Barbra at adoptapet@optonline.net?

Here are the details:


PLEASE CROSSPOST WIDELY (posting has been snipped to save bandwidth)


8<-------------------------

We need to get 7 kittens to their forever homes and that is from MD to VT. In order to do this the run will need an overnight in CT and continue on Sunday. I have no contacts in CT so crossposting here is GREATLY appreciated.

These babies haven't even had an opportunity to begin their lives (at 6-9 weeks old) and are about to be put to sleep.

As always, your help will be so greatly appreciated.

All kittens are UTD on shots, traveling with health records and have tested negative for FeLV/FIV. There is one kitty that is about 5 months old and she is spayed.

All carriers will be supplied.

The kittens will be coming from temporary foster care and going to rescue and onto their approved forever homes. The rescue group is Kitty ResQ www.petfinder.org/shelters/NY413.html

Please let me know what leg(s) you could drive.

Saturday, October 9, 2004


8<-------------------------

Leg 1 Roanoke, VA to Lexington, VA **DESPERATELY NEEDED**
55.09 miles (1 hour)
7:00am to 8:00am


8<-------------------------

Leg 6 Harrisburg, PA to Allentown, PA **DESPERATELY NEEDED**
81.06 miles (1 hour 26 minutes)
1:40pm to 3:10pm

Let's hear it for FOCAS!

The Bergen County Friends of Bergen County Animal Shelter stepped up and are subsidizing the spay/neuter of the kittens! Send them donations!! Register with iGive (http://www.igive.com) who will donate $5.00 to FOCAS just for registering and another $5.00 if you actually shop. FOCAS is lean on money right now and any donation would go a long way, consider making a donation to these amazing people who have lifted a large burden from me and really gone out of their way to do it.

http://www.focas.us

Now I just need to arrange transport after finalizing the arrangements with the sanctuary. A terrific resource I found is

http://beardie.net/bone/rescue_links.html

which has a transport links section. I am running down these links to see what I can rustle up by way of transport. My first stop is here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PetTransportNet

So much done, so much more to do!

Sanctuary Found!

ORIGINAL POST IS BELOW BUT PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS SANCTUARY BACKED OUT OF TAKING THE KITTENS. THEY ARE NOT TAKING THE KITTENS, PLEASE DO NOT SEND MONEY FOR KITTEN CARE! The information below is no longer valid.
****************************

Home for Life in Star Prairie, WS has agreed to take all five kittens. I have setup their spay/neuter appt. for next Friday and they see their regular vet this Friday for the last vaccination series. I need to arrange transport for these guys from NJ to MN/WS (i think the land is in WS but the org is based out of MN).

I am so relieved and excited. I have a few details to take care of, like the faxing of medical records to the sanctuary, but I finally got these guys placed somewhere and they will be safe. i could cry.

thank you to everyone!!!

What I still need now are people to sponsor the cats in their new homes. I will sponsor but I figure as many sponsors and donations the sanctuary can get, the better. I want to defray the financial cost for them as much as possible as they are stepping in and taking on a huge task and financial burden by taking the entire litter.

I will make a separate post with just that link. You will need to identify which cat you want to sponsor--Chili, Salsa, Dijon, Zest, or Growler. You can alternately just make a donation to the sanctuary itself but if you can afford a sponsorship, that would really rock.

Getting desperate for homes

Here is my rather desperate plea:

The kittens can't stay here for much longer and I haven't had any success finding them homes. If anyone knows of anyone who can take over fostering these guys, please contact me right away. It can be a rescue or a sanctuary or an independent fosterer, just somewhere safe.

We were hoping that this time wouldn't come, but the housing situation took a big hit when the kittens flooded our bathroom and got the housing complex involved. (For those that asked, the kittens flipped the handle on the faucet while the stopper was up; the sink had nowhere to drain and flooded the room, the complex hallway and two neighbors' apartments). We're not in trouble yet, but they are coming back to inspect our apartment and the kittens can't be here when that happens.

The kittens aren't such kittens anymore and are too big now for the space that I have for them; the flood only drove that point home. I need to find them somewhere more permanent to go and it has to be done really soon or else I won't have a choice but to euthanize the litter. I'm exhausting all my options and honestly a bit of my sanity and lunasdad's patience.

Understandably, I'm in a bit of a panic over it. I could sponsor the litter but I just can't house them any longer. I'm not too proud to beg for help if it saves some feline lives. So many people have come together to help these guys out, and to help me to help them. I can't help but feel frustrated that it's not working, despite my best efforts and all that goodwill. God help me if I have to do the unthinkable.

Kittens cause bathroom flood

My partner said that the kittens could stay here indefinitely as long as they don't jeopardize our housing situation, but today they caused a flood in our bathroom that leaked out into the apartment complex hallway and we had a mad scramble to explain to the head of maintenance.

So I really need to find them homes soon before we get evicted because of them. If anyone knows of someone considering adopting an FeLV positive cat, please let me know. They are all black and about 5 months old. Everyone is otherwise healthy, Chili just seems to be sensitive to the heat and overexertion. Two girls and one boy are in need of homes. Two girls might have a home, I have to find out what the deal is.

I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed. I have had better days.