CRAN News
National Answer Your Cat’s Question Day
Today is National Answer Your Cat’s Question Day. At first this sounds like a silly holiday but actually it is a day for you to ask questions about your cat’s behavior so you can help them. For instance, if your cat runs when it sees its carrier, come up with a question he might ask like “why do you stuff me in that thing and scare me and take me to that scary place?” Once you see things from your cat’s perspective, take some time to come up with a way to make things easier for your cat. For the carrier look at ways to make it a more positive experience i.e., keep it out so it is a den for your cat or put treats in it and then try some short trips that don’t end up at the vet. So as crazy as this holiday sounds, it really is about becoming a better cat caregiver by asking questions about their behaviors. On a lighter note, enjoy this video from the Ellen Show.
Happy Tales – Zoe
We always say there is a home for every cat – it’s a matter of finding it. Sometimes it takes longer than other times. Zoe came to us in 2016. Everyone loved her but she did have her quirks (don’t we all).CRAN was contacted after Zoe was surrendered to a local veterinary practice by her owners for euthanasia. Zoe is a great cat with a big personality but she had two challenging behaviors. She would go outside of the litter box and she would get over-stimulated and nip.Zoe was in several foster homes and ended up spending much of her time at our intake facility. She was a cheerful presence there and roamed freely around the open areas. Zoe loved pets until she didn’t. She was a sensitive cat and we needed to watch her carefully for cues that she was getting overstimulated and ready to nip the hand petting her. Multiple litters and litterboxes were tried with varying degrees of success. Finally, we found she liked puppy pads and the incidence of outside the box events dropped off sharply. She finally became consistent with peeing in the box with an occasional poop outside but near to the box. All the volunteers loved Zoe but we wondered if she would ever find a home for her senior years where she could be loved and appreciated for who she was.Finally, Zoe’s future people found her. They had previously adopted another senior kitty from us who had since passed away. Zoe joined them and it was not long before she was settled in and enjoying her new life. She is now a pampered, much-loved kitty and loves following her new dad around.
CRAN Cat Tales – 4th Quarter 2021
https://catrescues.org/wp-content/uploads/2021LastQuarterUpdate_compressed.pdf
Volunteer of the Month – December 2021
Mushu Dappletini Scofield – Moosh has been volunteering for CRAN since the beginning of time. Moosh is our trusted dog-test volunteer, allowing a variety of cats and kittens to meet her and alert us to any alarms they might have about canines. Moosh also volunteers on a regular basis at TLC with her human companion, Martha Scofield. We asked for Martha’s favorite story about MuShu’s volunteering: “This happened on a Sunday when I was busy fixing food dishes for the ringworm room. Sarah was already in the room. I had a tray of food with three bowls of yummy stinky cat food ready but Sarah couldn’t take them off my hands just yet. I got busy doing something else. (All this time MuShu was manning her usual post in the kitchen.) I didn’t want to balance the tray on the laundry bins so I set it on the floor thinking Sarah was going to pick it right up. The minute I got distracted, The Moosh jumped off her perch, moseyed down the hall, then proceeded to help herself. Ate all three bowls of food. Only realized something was amiss when I heard Sarah exclaiming about something. She didn’t realize MuShu was helping herself to all that food because the kick plate on the door was just high enough to hide her misdeed when she had her head down scarfing every last morsel of cat food. Only when MuShu lifted her head up – probably coming up for air after that marathon food binge – did Sarah see what was going on. Needless to say, The Tsarina of TLC was quite pleased with herself!”
Volunteer of the Month – November 2021
Casey Hitchcock – Casey is one of our COVID fosters – she and her family started fostering at the beginning of the pandemic, and have become invaluable to CRAN’s foster program. Casey does it all – socialize, feed, scoop, care for sick kittens, happy kittens, crazy kittens, you name it! When we asked Casey what her favorite memory is of volunteering, she said “I have absolutely loved fostering for CRAN, and I’m two cats richer for it! I think my favorite memory was getting Joey (pictured) who was returned from being adopted. It was supposed to be just a short-term foster.As he immediately snuggled into my arms and I cradled him, my husband looked over at us and said, “We aren’t giving this damn cat back, are we?” It was love!”
