Even though I am not a charity, but as long as you are working in the animal industry, you will always end up being involved with animal rescue. Simply because your website is out there, people in desperation will contact whatever that comes up on Google search. I guess I am doing my SEO properly so I often end up receiving calls from people who needs help with cat rescue mission.
Also, after being in this business for over a decade, I often got calls from various cat charities who might be in need of help. I always try my best to help as much as I can.
But over the years, I realise one problem. Sure, we can go out and help one cat, two cat, three cats, or even a colony of cats. But why are those cats there in the first place? Why are cats being abandoned?
When I first turned 30, my mission was to start a cat business and work for myself. I have just turned 40 this year. (FYI: my original plan was to go to Paris with a good friend to celebrate for a weekend, but then the pandemic hits….so here I am. I will celebrate it when the pandemic is over)
In my 40s, I want to get into education, so to raise the awareness of the public on cat welfare. I strongly believe that with education and public campaign, there should be less and less cats needing rescue in the long run. And that’s going to be my mission for the next decade.
As one of the first steps of me starting this journey, I have created this infographic about TNR (Trap-and-Release or Trap-and-Return). Please feel free to share this far and wide. The more people learning about the best practice in cat welfare, the better chance for cats to have a better life everywhere. If you want to print this out, click on the download button below to download a PDF file.
The owners Helen and JJ gave me and Taran the toddler a warm welcome as always. We ate super yummy pancakes and got to work!
I am currently training with the famous former police officer turned pet detective Kat Albrecht to be a Missing Animal Response Technician, so I gave a lecture on Lost Cat Recovery. I also threw in a short Pet CPR demo for good measure!
As you can see, the cat cafe’s cats were working very hard on ignoring my lecture, hahaha
Then we went on to do a cat CPR demo…
DO NOT BE ALARM! THIS IS NOT ONE OF THE CAFE’S CAT! THIS IS A FAKE CPR CAT!
P.S. No cat is being harmed during the making of this CPR demo! DO NOT EVER USE A REAL CAT AS PRACTICE!
And you can see these two little helpers learn very quickly and want to do some heart compression!
And the cafe cats continue to ignore my lecture…
I wish I remember to take a picture of the beautiful pancakes! We just dived in and demolished them! Highly recommend the pancakes if you ever visit Nurri Cat Cafe.
Due to popular request, I have also uploaded the PowerPoint for the lecture on SlideShare, you can have a look here.
Every year, there are so many tragic stories in the media about people leaving their dogs in their cars.
Yes, we are cat lovers, but we are animal lovers first and foremost. Cat Man has designed this poster to help educate the public to NEVER leave your dog (or cats if they are travelling with you) in the car, no matter how short a time and EVEN if you leave a gap at the window!
Even if you don’t have a dog, please download this poster and stick it to your car window.
Other drivers might see this postcard and change their mind about leaving their dogs behind. It might save lives! Our doggie friends will thank you for that!
The poster has been set up in a fool proof way that there is no need to adjust any setting with your printer. Just click the image below, click print, and it will come out.
It will take you a few minutes to do that, and it will save lives!
This is also a good time to think about if you know what to do if you see an animal suffering from heatstroke. They will need immediate vet attention. But before you can transport them to the vet, they could be in critical condition that need your immediate attention. Check out my upcoming Pet First Response workshop in Dublin, you will have confidence and knowledge to help your own pet or other animals on the street in case of emergency.
When I heard from Jerico Matarazzo from Equality Empires talking about a cat game that can help actual cats, I was really curious. After he explained me the whole concept, I realise it is such a smart idea!
Cat Climb Time is a game for humans but have cats in it. And this is a cat game that makes a difference to actual real cats in a shelter.
The cats featured in this game are all actual real cats from a cat cafe in Perth, Australia. The Cat Café Purrth is a cat cafe that opened last year in Perth, Subiaco. From the day they opened, they have made a promise that part proceeds of everything goes to animal welfare. Cat Café Purrth’s twelve rescue cats are featured in the Cat Climb Time game.
To follow the footstep of Cat Café Purrth, the maker of Cat Climb Time will also donate part of the proceeds to their local cat shelter – Cat Haven.
Cat Haven is the main animal shelter for cats, located Perth. And like most animal shelters around the world, they are underfunded, overworked and at capacity. So every little helps! It is such a lovely story to know their local businesses make such a commitment to help them and that cat lovers have such solidarity to all help each other to grow together.
Here are the famous Cat Café Purrth cats featured in the game, look at them! They are funny!
What’s better than play games feature real actual cats in them, while being able to help real cats in shelter? If you love to play games (and a CAT GAME for that matter!), check out Cat Climb Time on iOS and Android today!!
Our Cats ARE IN A GAME!Thanks to our friends at Equality Empires, all twelve of our cats are now a part of an awesome new game, Cat Climb Time. Play with Major, Rolo, Jelly, Mr. Fox, Albus … all of the kitties, as you climb higher and higher into the game.Amazingly, Equality Empires have also decided that part proceeds of Cat Climb Time will go to our very own Cat Haven. So now you can play with our cats and give back to Cat Haven from anywhere in the world!Check out Cat Climb Time here:APPLEhttps://itunes.apple.com/us/app/keynote/id1153508678?mt=8ANDROIDhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.equalityempires.cct
There is a huge housing crisis in Dublin at the moment, which is horrible. However, cat people have always had difficult time finding accommodation in a lot of places around the world. Some cities are more pet friendly than the other, but Dublin….oh my goodness, it’s notoriously hard to find accommodation when if you are a pet person.
But that’s crazy, because we all know pet people make the best tenants! We are responsible, caring, mature and we are good at taking care of things! Otherwise, we wouldn’t be a pet parent in the first place! In fact, some landlord and real estate agents have copped on and discovered pet parents are the hidden gem of the real estate markets and they are right!
However, there is not nearly enough people realise that, so I decided to make this infographic. Please share this far and wide! The real estate market needs to know pet people make the best tenants!
(A printer friendly version is available by clicking on the image below, you will get the PDF file of this infographic. You have permission to print and distribute the flyer as long as you don’t alter anything.)
Do you have any stories to share as a pet parent trying to find a place to rent? I would love to hear from you.
I know some people call them feral cats, but the new and more positive terminology is ‘community cats’.
The concept of community cats is this. There are cats who don’t like to live with human due to their genetic pre-deposition or lack of early exposure to human. However, they could live a healthy and happy life outside as long as they are neutered, fed and have access to veterinary care. In exchange, they provide an excellent, safe and healthy rodent control service to the community!
These cats and human live in a form of mutualism, where two animals of different species exist in a relationship in which each individual benefits from the activity of the other.
The benefit of community cats is not very widely acknowledged yet in Ireland. I am hoping with time, more people in Ireland will understand and respect the service provided by the wonderful community cats.
So let’s have a look this article about community cat by Alley Cat Rescue in US to explain the benefit of community cats.
Feral cats minimize rodent problems:
While cats do not hunt rats and mice into extinction, they do keep their populations in check and discourage new rodents from moving into the area. Feral cats fill in a gap in the current ecosystem. For example, bobcats (Lynx rufus) used to live up and down the East Coast, but were hunted ruthlessly and driven away by development. Feral cats exhibit similar behaviors to these native feline predators, and they help to control the same species of small prey animals.
Feral cats help reduce the spread of disease. During the Middle Ages cats were nearly hunted to extinction, as they were scapegoated for being associated with witches. With fewer cats in communities, this allowed an increase in flea-ridden rat populations and more carriers of the plague; this lead to an increase in the spread of the deadly disease (Zeugner, 2008). Millions of Europeans died from the bubonic plague during this time.
An established, stable, sterilized, and vaccinated colony of feral cats will deter other stray and feral cats from moving into the area. This decreases the risk that residents will encounter an unvaccinated cat, and will virtually eliminate problem behaviors like fighting, spraying, and yowling. Cats vaccinated against rabies also create a buffer zone between wildlife and the public, which greatly reduces the risk of contracting the disease.
Many people enjoy watching feral cats, and observing animals has been shown to lower blood pressure in medical studies (Sakagami and Ohta, 2010).
People who help to care for feral cats by feeding them and taking them to the vet enjoy many benefits. Often cat caretakers are elderly men and women, a population at risk for depression, loneliness, and isolation. Cats relieve these conditions and often bring a sense of happiness and purpose to people who help them. Just as companion animals have been shown to extend life expectancies, lower blood pressure, and relieve stress (Qureshi et al., 2009; Levine et al., 2013), caring for feral cats can improve the health and happiness of the caretaker.
Individuals who cannot take on the full-time commitment of adopting a companion animal can participate in programs to help feral cats. This provides a viable alternative to irresponsibly purchasing an animal one is not prepared to care for.
Implementing local TNR programs helps drive community involvement and encourages compassionate action. TNR also creates opportunities for outreach, education, and cooperation. Today’s society has a heightened awareness of the staggering euthanasia rates occurring in animal shelters, and there is more determination than ever to reduce the killing of healthy animals.
References
Zeugner, Emily. “Feline Geneticist Traces Origin of the Cat.” Associated Press 9 June 2008. Web. 29 July 2014.
Sakagami, Taketo, and Mitsuaki Ohta. “The Effect of Visiting Zoos on Human Health and
Quality of Life.” Animal Science Journal. 81.1 (2010): 129–34. NCBI PubMed. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.
Qureshi, Adnan I. et al. “Cat Ownership and the Risk of Fatal Cardiovascular Diseases. Results
from the Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Study Mortality Follow-up Study.” Journal of Vascular and Interventional Neurology 2.1 (2009): 132–35. Print.
Levine, Glenn N. et al. “Pet Ownership and Cardiovascular Risk: A Scientific Statement From
the American Heart Association.” Circulation (2013): CIR.0b013e31829201e1. Circ. Ahajournals.org. Web. 1 July 2014.
In order to spread this wonderful message far and wide, I did this infographic, please share and spread the word of community cats! We desperately need to educate the public of Ireland! Click on the image for a ready-to-print PDF file. You are welcome to print and distribute no copyright issue whatsoever as long as you don’t alter anything on the post.
