Companion Animal Trust, Inc.

Spay and Neuter Your Pets

Did you know each day 10,000 humans are born in the U.S. and each day 70,000 puppies and kittens are born. As long as these birth rates exist, there will never be enough homes for all the animals. As a result, millions of healthy, loving cats, dogs, kittens and puppies face early deaths as a form of animal control. Others are left to fend for themselves against automobiles, the elements, animals and cruel humans. What can you do to stop the suffering? Spay and neuter your pets!

An unspayed female cat, her mate and all of their offspring, producing 2 litters per year, with 2.8 surviving kittens per litter can total:

• 1 year .. 12 cats
• 2 years ...... 67 cats
• 3 years ........ 376 cats
• 4 years .......... 2,107 cats
• 5 years ............ 11,800 cats
• 6 years .............. 66,088 cats
• 7 years .................. 370,092 cats
• 8 years ...................... 2,072,514 cats
• 9 years ........................ 11,606,077 cats

  GOT THE PICTURE?

  

  Low Cost Spaying and Neutering

  For low cost spaying and neutering of both dogs and cats contact CARE (Companion Animal Rescue & Education) for a certificate. This low cost certificate is honored by several veterinarians of your choice in Jersey City. CARE's number is 201-436-6484.

  Also providing low cost spay/neuter services is the Liberty Animal Shelter in Jersey City. Contact them at 201 - 547 - 4147.

  NJ State spay/neuter info for low income families Click here to visit the NJ State website.

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  Caring for Feral Cats

  October 16, 2008 is National Feral Cat Day. Help spread the word. Go to National Feral Cat Day for more details.

  Alley Cat Allies, Alley Cat Allies and Neighborhood Cats, Neighborhood Cats are two excellent sources for information about caring for feral cats. From these sites you can learn how to do trap-neuter-return, how to build an inexpensive winter shelter and information on how to maintain care and feeding of a colony. In addition, the Humane Society of the United States also has info on feral cats at, HSUS.

  Feral Villa, an Indiana based organization, builds and ships insulated outdoor cat shelters at a very low price. See them at Feral Villa

  CSM Stray Foundation (USA) Inc., a local organization in Kew Gardens, Queens (NY), sells insulated winter shelters made from a Rubbermaid tote that is insulated with styrofoam. Cost is $25 plus a suggested donation of $10. This is an excellent deal. Contact them at CSM Stray. Visit their website by clicking here CSM Stray .

  

  ATTENTION JERSEY CITY FERAL CAREGIVERS

  You can now join the JC Feral Cats Yahoo Group by clicking on the button below. Come join the Jersey City feral cat caregiver online community and network with others in the city who like you are feeding and sheltering feral cats and who do trap-neuter-return.

  
  Click to join jcferalcats

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  In Loving Memory of Jill

  October 1, 2006 - Going forward we have decided to dedicate our animal rescue work to a special young feral cat named Jill, a little one and a half year old Calico.

  Jill, her brothers Jack and Red, and their friend Snowbird were a team who were very bonded to each other. Jack and Jill would sit on the outside window sill each day and look in the window of the home patiently waiting for breakfast or dinner. They were as healthy and chubby as any indoor cat. And they were a joy to watch as all four would cavort. Playing, stalking, rolling, hiding. Happy, happy cats who we thought were safe in this private enclave from the risks of urban living. We were wrong. Jill was found dead one day just outside of this property. She was taken away by Animal Control before we could see her and hold her for the first time and only time. Cause of death is not known but suspicious. We grieve for her and will sadly miss her every day as we look at the faces waiting for their dinner and know there is one very special one missing. Goodbye Angel.

  
  Photo of Jack (left) and Jill (front right)

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  Animal Law and Protection

  For animal abuse in Hudson County contact the NJ State SPCA at (800) 582-5979 or (732) 251 6673 or NJSPCA . If you find you are not getting the help you need, call the NJ State Office of Animal Welfare at (609) 292 7837 to make a complaint.

  For other sources about animal protection laws contact the following:

  New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance 732-446-6808 and the Animal Welfare Federation of New Jersey 856-740-1344.

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  Are You and Your Pets Prepared for a Disaster?

  Keep your pets safe in an emergency situation. The Hudson County Office of Emergency Management has valuable information on its website for all pet owners on how to prepare and manage your pets in the event of a local diasaster (flood, hurricane, fire, etc.). Visit their website by clicking here Hudson County Office of Emergency Management .

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  Secondhand Smoke is Dangerous to Your Pet

  If you really love your pet, stop smoking!

  We all know that secondhand tobacco is bad for people, but research indicates that it poses health risks to pets as well. Secondhand smoke has been linked to lymphoma in cats as well as lung and nasal cancer in dogs.

  Arden Moore, a nationally recognized pet expert, says that may pets – especially cats – spend most of their lives indoors, subjected to air pollution left by tobacco smoke. Because their body mass is so much smaller than humans’, they are at increased risk of becoming adversely affected by that smoke. Smoke particles can also be ingested by cats, dogs and other pets when they groom themselves and lick their fur.

  Experts agree there is only one sure way to avoid risk to your pets – don’t smoke inside your house, any building with pets, or in your vehicle.

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  The Cat Owner's Oath

  1. I have spayed/neutered my cat(s).

  2. I never let my cat outdoors unless on a leash.

  3. I always keep the litterbox scooped and clean.

  4. I am always on time with my cat's meals.

  5. My cat(s) can see out at least one window without having to behave like a contortionist.

  6. I know the signs of painful, life-threatening cystitis, a painful urinary tract infection. If Tiger urinates in strange places, I rush him to the vet.

  7. I take time to play with my cat every day, even on days when I'm busy or in a bad mood.

  8. I never forget to kiss my cat goodbye when I leave home.

  9. I frequently bring home presents . (These can be as inexpensive as a dried leaf or a pine cone. The important thing is to make an Academy Award-style presentation.)

  10. I always keep the dryer door closed and check for sleeping cats before switching it on.

  11. I never smoke in the vicinity of my cat's sensitive nostrils.

  12. I give my cat fresh water and scrub out all bowls at least once a day.

  13. I would never give my cat a "human medicine". Aspirin makes cats very ill. Just one Tylenol can kill them.

  14. I have provided for my cat in case of my death.

  15. There is a sticker on my front door that reads, "In case of an emergency or fire, please rescue my cat(s)".

  16. My cat is always attired in break-away neckwear with a current address and phone number on it.

  17. I would never declaw my cat.

  18. I never board my cat when I go on vacation.

  19. I never allow the vet to keep my cat overnight unless he/she is extremely injured or ill.

  20. I would never fly my cat in a plane's cargo hold.

  21. I would never give my cat to someone else.

  22. I never push my cat off the bed or furniture.

  23. I never yell or swear at my cats.

  24. I would never leave my cat in the care of children, strangers or people whose reliability I had not verified.

  

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  An Ode to Those Who Do Trap-Neuter-Release

  A Very Funny Story by Jody Harmon, Cat Trapper Extraordinaire, or How the Cat Trapper Olympics Got Started

  It will come to this, I'm sure, given the competitive edge of the cat trappers I know, myself included.

  Like today, I talked to Penny Vance of Roseburg, Ore. Called her up because the Corvallis Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon clinic has only 60 cats registered. I have eight spots. I know Penny is trying to clean up the Roseburg area so I figured she'd want to bring as many cats as she could bring.

  So I start out accommodatingly with my hot information about the `short' clinic', but she interrupted to tell me she knows the clinic is shy on cats because Vicki from Sweet Home already told her. Penny says she's bringing 25 cats and that she borrowed a van to haul them all up in and is rounding up carriers to transfer them into after trapping.

  I should have been pleased to hear this and I was, but it did trigger that competitive edge. I felt inadequate, outdone. I congratulated her with warm words, but inside I'm thinking “More cats! I have somehow got to round up more cats to bring to that clinic. Penny Vance--ROSEBURG, are not going to out-do me.”

  Thank god I have only eight spots. Thank god, for my own health's sake, I have only eight spots, or I'd try to get thirty and be out for 36 hours or more, climbing fences, climbing into the rafters of barns and into the foundations of trailers, through warehouses, knocking on the doors of suspicious looking strangers in gang-run neighborhoods, all to beat out Penny Vance in the numbers game and out of competitive fierce pride.

  We cat trappers don't go down easy!

  I'm sure this `friendly' rivalry will one day morph into the Cat Trapper Olympics. Of course, by then, with my neck problems, I'll have to compete in the Cat Trapper Special Olympics. I'll be rolling after cats in my wheelchair with my mechanically directed net and any cats I get would have to be heavily sedated or seriously ill. Or, by the time yearly Cat Trapper Olympics are routine, complete with all the glory and opening ceremonies and media blitz, I'll have to enter the special geriatric division. Or get some lifetime achievement award as I hobble up with my cane and neck brace still sporting laceration and bite wound scars.

  Cat Trapper Olympics Award Categories

  Parasites

  The Cat Trapper Olympics will include an award given for the cat trapper who tests positive for the most parasites attained while cat trapping.

  Cat Netting

  There will be the cat netting relay event. But knowing the difficulty the cat trappers I know have in getting along with each other for more than a couple of minutes, that event probably won't draw many entries.

  Triathlon

  There will be the triathlon. It will begin with marathon trapping, at night, in a simulated methamphetamine production area, with rubber bullets flying overhead and people screaming at one another and yelling threats into the faces of entrants. There will be varying and conflicting descriptions given by these "participant area residents" of the cats the cat trapper is to trap. The trapper must not only sort out the information and trap the cats as quickly as possible, but also refrain from verbally abusing or shooting back at the "area participants". Normal bodily functions will be allowed, however, in expression of negative emotions.

  The second segment of the triathlon will be conducted around a trailer with an adjacent shed loaded with rotting garbage and twisted junk. The entrant must net as many wild hissing agile kittens as possible in a forty-minute time frame within that shed and underneath the trailer.

  The final triathlon segment involves loading all cats trapped and kittens netted safely into a car and traveling forty miles to the finish line. The catch in this segment will be that the entrant must fix the car whenever it breaks down or overheats along the way with only tools and supplies found in the glove compartment.

  Name the Sex of the Cat

  There will be a visual "sex the cat" competition, in which a participant cannot touch the cat in question and must determine its sex only by sight, sound and smell.

  Language

  There will be a language competition. The winner will be the entrant who can effectively communicate commands in the most feral dialects.

  Self Healer

  There will be the "cat trapper as self healer" competition where cat trappers must treat their own injuries, ranging from lacerations to infections to broken and dislocated bones, while continuing to trap as many cats as possible in a given time.

  Creative Trapper Life Solutions

  And there will be the "creative cat trapper life solutions" competition where entrants will face problems such as increasing debt, loss of housing, a failing vehicle, angry spouses, smelly clothes and sanity inquests from neighbors and family members. The most creative solutions to these common cat trapper crises will determine the winner.

  Award to Top Cat Trapper

  The overall winner, the entrant who places highest in the most events, will stand atop a spay surgery table and proudly be given the title of "Top Cat Trapper". That person will be rewarded further by subsequently receiving thousands of calls and daily e-mails requesting – no demanding - immediately their volunteer services as a cat trapper in the caller's neighborhood now no matter the hour of the day or day of the week.

  Here's to all who do TNR. Keep up the great work.

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  Pet Insurance

  Alleviate the financial stress associated with your pet’s unexpected medical expenses and generate funds for our shelter at the same time! Simply apply for a ShelterCare Pet Insurance Program by using the ShelterCare banner-link below.

  Here’s how it works: ShelterCare Pet Insurance Programs cover you when your pet needs essential veterinary care from an illness or injury. Also, every time a completed application for a ShelterCare program is generated through our shelter’s website, we automatically receive a $25 donation to help cover common needs like blankets, litter and food.

  This donation is of no cost to you and provides us with essential funds. Make the right move and enroll today!

  

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  Companion Animal Trust
  Jersey City, NJ 07304
  Email: CompanionAnimalTrust@yahoo.com
  See our Cuddly Cats and Kittens!
  
  

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