Advocates 4 Animals Spring 2012 Newsletter

Have you met Linda?

Spring 2012 Edition

Many Adoptables at A4A…

Thank you to Quinn and herfriends!

Amazing!

for yoursupport of A4A! Click the photo to

read more about their happygreeter, Shultz and all that theydo to give back to the local

Thank you to Brandy & RyanSites of

for donating our new A4ALogo- we are so appreciativeand honored! Click the above

photo to learn more.

Editor: Stacey Ritz, M.Ed.-

theGolden Rule

Newsletter

Learnmore by clicking the photo!

Linda is as sweet and lovingas can be! She is patiently

waiting to be adopted into aloving forever home to call

her very own. To learn moreabout Linda and all of ourcurrent adoptables- please

visit us:

www.Advocates4Animals.com

Linda would LOVE to meet you!

-- Advocates 4 Animals, Inc. -

Click the feline photo (to the right) toread step by step tips and view a “how

to” instructional video!

Kittens Galore! How to Care for Orphaned and Feral Kittens

Orphaned Kittens

“Spring is just around the corner and kitten season is here.” Commented AmyBeatty, Co-Founder of Advocates 4 Animals, Inc. “We often work with orphanedkittens in the spring time. Last spring we received an orphaned kitten that didn’teven have her eyes opened yet. We were lucky enough to have a nursing momcat in the rescue at the time and the mom cat was kind enough to allow the or-phan to occasionally nurse from her, along with her own kittens. In addition, wehad to have a volunteer with the orphaned kitten at all times, to be sure shewas kept warm and we did a lot of bottle feeding as well. It is a 24/7 job, with-out question.” Beatty stated. “Anyone who has ever worked with an orphanedkitten at just a few days old knows the extreme challenges that are faced andthe extreme amount of constant and careful effort that is necessary to sustainlife. It truly is a miracle when such a young orphaned kitten survives and thrives.The hard work and dedication pays off when you see the kitten grow up strongand healthy- and in time they become big enough and old enough foradoption…it’s a wonderful thing.”

When speaking with various volunteer foster families at Advocates 4 Animals,all described their experience as “rewarding”, despite the extreme amount ofeffort and work that is necessary to provide when working with orphaned kit-tens. Lisa Struble, a volunteer with A4A shared, “I fostered two orphaned kit-tens for the rescue several years ago- named Lilly and Laney. I had neverfostered orphaned kittens before and it was an eye opening experience. We didnot have a nursing mom cat at the time- so I did a lot of bottle feeding. I thinksaying a lot is actually an understatement. I felt like I was bottle feeding all ofthe time. Every 2 hours or so at first. Because the kittens did not have a mom

-- Advocates 4 Animals, Inc. -

Have you joined uson Pinterest?

cat, I also bathed the kittens with a warm cloth, often, to keep them clean andtidy. They were so tiny, I took photos and it’s amazing to think back at howsmall they were. They could both fit into the palm of one of my hands! Both sur-vived and thrived- and because I bonded with them at such a young age- whenthey were old enough to be considered for adoption, I told the founders at A4Athat I wanted to adopt these two…I just couldn’t give them up. I was too at-tached! It has been two years now and Lilly now weighs 10 pounds and Laney isnearly 12 pounds. Amazing! I wouldn’t have traded that experience for theworld. Yes, it was a lot of work…but it was totally worth it. An amazing experi-ence that I will never forget.”

Orphaned kittens are rescued from a variety of situations. Some are rescued byrescues like Advocates 4 Animals, Inc. when the orphaned kittens are given tohigh-kill shelters and placed on the “death row” list because shelter workers donot want the upkeep and constant care that is required of such a young kittenwith no mother. When shelters are willing to work with no-kill rescue groups,orphaned kittens have an opportunity to live. Without the help of volunteersand rescue groups, orphaned kittens who end up in high-kill shelters do nothave a chance to survive. It is imperative that orphaned kittens like Lilly andLaney, receive 24/7 care, regular bottle feeding and regular cleaning. Every calo-rie and every moment matter when caring for orphaned kittens.

Feral Kittens

We’ve all heard the saying, “patience is a virtue”- right? Patience truly is a virtuewhen working with rescued feral kittens. Feral kittens are most often born toferal mother felines. A feral cat is one who looks like a domestic cat, but doesnot behave the same. Feral cats do not wish to have human interaction. They donot want to be held or petted- in fact, they are terrified of humans. A feral cat isnot the same as a shy or fearful cat.READ FULL ARTICLE BY CLICKING THIS LINK:http://www.examiner.com/pet-rescue-in-dayton/kittens-galore-how-to-care-for-orphaned-and-feral-kittens

-- Advocates 4 Animals, Inc. -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X29eESuH1cM&feature=player_embed

ded

The Necessity of Feline Rescue – The Facts

It is an incredibly sad reality that millions of healthy cats and dogs are needlessly killedin shelters throughout the United States annually. Nathan Winograd of the No KillAdvocacy Center states on his website (www.nathanwinograd.com), “We have thepower to build a new consensus, which rejects killing as a method for achieving results.And we can look forward to a time when the wholesale slaughter of animals in sheltersis viewed as a cruel aberration of the past. We have a choice. We can fully, completely,and without reservation embrace No Kill as our future. Or we can continue to legitimizethe two-pronged strategy of failure: adopt a few and kill the rest. It is a choice whichhistory has thrown upon us. We are the generation that questioned the killing. We arethe generation that has discovered how to stop it. Will we be the generation that does?Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. We can be that great generation." Itis possible to create No Kill Communities across the globe, but it will take greatleadership, compassion, and a strong knowledge and effort to implement the necessaryprograms, to achieve this goal. With an estimated four million dogs and cats being killedin our country’s shelters annually, yet every year twenty-three and a half millionAmerican’s bring a new pet into their home… It’s simple math- pet overpopulation is amyth.

In the United States, most county pounds and shelters are killing an average of fifty-per-cent of the healthy, adoptable pets who enter their doors. Fifty-percent! Greene CountyAnimal Control in Xenia, OH has a current average kill rate around eighty-percent, as ofMarch 2012. Unbelievable! Why aren’t these pets being given an opportunity to live?Why is killing the only answer in the eyes of shelter and pound directors across thecountry?

-- Advocates 4 Animals, Inc. -The mandatory programs and services that shelters/pounds must implement in order tobecome No Kill Communities, include (www.nokilladvocacycenter.org):

1.TNR Program 2.High-Volume, Low-Cost Spay/Neuter 3.Rescue Groups 4.Foster Care 5.Comprehensive Adoption Programs 6.Pet Retention 7.Medical and Behavior Prevention & Rehabilitation 8.Public Relations/Community Involvement 9.Volunteers 10.Proactive Redemptions 11.A Compassionate Director

Every element of the No Kill Equation must be implemented successfully in order to fos-ter a true No Kill environment. Take a look at the items on the above list- does yourshelter implement any of these programs/services? How can you work with them tohelp implement the programs/services that are not yet being utilized by your local shel-ter? Do you know others who are interested in volunteering? Have you considered thepossibility of fostering a shelter pet? Do you know individuals who are interested inhelping with a TNR Program?READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: http://www.examiner.com/pet-rescue-in-dayton/the-journey-of-rescue-to-adoption

http://youtu.be/VYrUcOjMI0k

http://www.amyshojai.com