Saturday, July 31, 2010

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR BLACKHAWKS JERSEY WINNER!


Congratulations to Colleen Walsh, our Blackhawks Jersey Winner! As advertised, we said we'd draw the winner today, and we notified Colleen, a volunteer for the Animal Care League that she'd won the Keith Blackhawks Jersey raffle. As a proud Blackhawks fan, she plans to wear it proudly!

Pictured here are ACL Second Chance Shop Manager Stephanie Mandolesi drawing our winner, and C.A.T.S. volunteer Mark Rogovin holding up the prize jersey.

Many thanks goes to the Animal Care League, the ACL Second Chance Shop and the C.A.T.S volunteers who sold 107 tickets for the raffle (we are still determining how much was raised). As you know, the funds raised benefits C.A.T.S for Forest Park and the Animal Care League and directly goes towards spaying and neutering feral/stray cats.

Friday, July 23, 2010

We're Back!

Hello Everyone!
Sorry for the long and unplanned absence from the blog and C.A.T.S. activities. I had an emergency surgery on July 8 and several hospitalizations afterward. Just got out of the hospital for the third time on July 22nd and am getting my sea legs back! Thanks for your patience. (I'm fine, but getting caught up on a lot of stuff).

Just to remind you, we're coming up on a lot of stuff!

1. Our Blackhawks Jersey Raffle ends July 31! You can purchase your tickets from the Animal Care League Second Chance Shop at 808 Harrison Street, or from a C.A.T.S. volunteer, just e-mail us and let me know you're interested. You have an excellent chance of winning! Tickets are $5 each or 3 for $10.

2. Our next fundraiser, Sundaes for Strays is coming up on August 29 at the Forest Park Park District Building on Harrison Street! It's from 2-3:30pm, and features a Sundae bar from the Brown Cow Ice Cream Parlor! Adults, $20, and an adult can bring one child under 10 for free! Each additional child (up to 16) is $5.

Help us help the strays!

Thanks!
Michelle

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Can you foster kittens?

We're looking for people who can foster kittens...we've been getting calls and the Animal Care League is absolutely full, there are so many litters out there! Are you able to take in a litter? Do you have experience fostering kittens/mammas? Please let us know, as soon as you can, by e-mailing cats4forestpark@gmail.com.
Thanks!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Announcing the Cat-Tee Contest!

Have you rescued a cat or kitten in Forest Park and welcomed it into your home? Do you have a fabulous photo of this beautiful feline when you first met? E-mail us with your story and your photo! We'll collect stories and photos and post them (Forest Park cats and kittens only) on our blog. Then we'll ask our Facebook friends and blog followers to vote for their favorite photo and we'll create a design in our new t-shirt shop!

The winning owner will receive one t-shirt featuring their prize feline!

Here are the rules:
1. You need to submit a nice clear photo of your cat that will print well on a t-shirt. We'll let you know if you need to submit another photo. Indicate your cat's name on the entry, as well as your name, address and telephone number. (Your contact information will not be posted on the blog.)
2. All entries need to be submitted to cats4forestpark@gmail.com by September 15, 2010.
3. A poll will be posted on September 15 and close on September 30 to solicit votes for the winner. You can vote as many times as you want, but the goal here is to get more visitors to the blog, folks, so ask your friends to visit too, ok?
4. The t-shirt design will be created by C.A.T.S. for Forest Park. The winner is not permitted to review or approve the t-shirt design, but we promise you'll like it, and it will be cat and family friendly!
5. We can have a tie, but C.A.T.S. reserves the right to select the winner!
6. This is all in fun, and to help raise funds for our mission and the mission of the Animal Care League - so thanks for participating and keeping that in mind!

So here's an example of what we're looking for (and no, I can't win!)

The photo above is of my cat Annie!

Annie came to us seven years ago, and this picture was taken of Annie on the back porch of my Forest Park home on Dunlop Street. Annie is pictured here under a table that looks into my kitchen window. She used to climb up on the table and watch our cat Fluffy eat his dinner and meow for food. We didn't know it at first, but Annie was asking to feed a family - she was pregnant! She was very scared of people and she would run away when we came near. She would just look in at Fluffy.

One day she came to our door and gave out a big yowl. She started to give birth! Wow, we had no idea what to do, but our neighbor Terri helped us out. We helped Annie with her kittens and moved her into our upstairs bathroom so that her kittens wouldn't be eaten. We fed Annie and her kittens, and watched the kitties grow. We took them all to the vet, and had Annie spayed. We decided to keep Annie, as she grew to feel more comfortable in our home and had clearly been abandoned because of her pregnancy. We found homes for her kittens (and we know they continue to do to well and are living happy healthy lives).

So now it's your turn! E-mail us with your cute tail! And let's add some great tees to our shop and raise funds to help homeless cats.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

We need you...to send people to the ACL Second Chance Shop!

Are you a Blackhawks fan? Do you know Blackhawks fans? The genuine Keith Blackhawks jersey that we're raffling off to benefit C.A.T.S. for Forest Park is now at the ACL Second Chance Shop at 808 Harrison Street in Oak Park (you can buy your raffle tickets on the spot). Stop by, send your friends, go see the jersey and buy some tickets to win a special piece of Blackhawks memorabilia!

Find out about the raffle here.

Duncan Keith gave seven of his teeth in game 2 for the Blackhawks to bring home the Stanley Cup to Chicago. What will you do to help us reach our goal of raising $500 for CATS for Forest Park and the Animal Care League? (Hint - we're at $175 now!)

The raffle ends July 31, and we'll announce the winner on this blog!

Nickel has found a good home!


Our TEAM WHISKERS colony caregiver, Terri, has welcomed Nickel into her home. We're so pleased that Nickel has a loving cat-friendly home!

If you are interested in fostering kittens, or are ready to welcome a kitten into your home, contact us or the Animal Care League. The ACL currently has dozens of beautiful kittens and cats ready to go home, and we will have more to come.

Two More Cats!



This is Ghost (with green eyes) and Grey Guy (behind the door of the cage), both trapped by Team Whiskers in late June. Ghost was taken to the Animal Care League and found to be FIV+, so Ghost was euthanized. Grey Guy was trapped on a day that the ACL was not open, so he was taken to another shelter to receive an assessment. He was found to be FeLV+, and the shelter neutered him. Grey Guy has a broken and fused front paw, frequently fights with other cats, and is not healthy. He was returned to us, and we had no choice but to re-release him. (It was not humane to keep him in the trap.) We need to find him again (this is harder because he is a bit more savvy about traps) in order to take him to the Animal Care League and protect the colony, which is FIV and FeLV free. If you see this cat, please let us know.

Next week the Animal Care League will be making more days available to C.A.T.S. for Forest Park to spay/neuter ferals (just for our program, for authorized colony caregivers only) so we will not have this problem in the future.

So, unfortunately, this post does not have a happy ending, but this work is difficult too, and we continue to learn and grow and find the best ways to approach our colony caregiving.

Friday, July 2, 2010

T-Shirts, Mugs, and Totebags to Support C.A.T.S and ACL!


This is just one of several examples of t-shirts, mugs, totebags and water bottles that you can order on CafePress to support C.A.T.S. for Forest Park and the Animal Care League.

Take a look at the site - we'll add new designs as we capture and release more cats, but here's what we're starting with. There's lots to choose from. A portion of the proceeds goes directly to TNR for C.A.T.S. for Forest Park and the ACL, and you help spread the word about our efforts!

Service is speedy and the products are first rate!
Thanks for your support!

We have a second colony! Welcome TEAM CATNIP!

Welcome Team Catnip! The Catnip Colony is up and running, but now that C.A.T.S. for Forest Park has 2 colonies, we need volunteers now more than ever. If you can help trap, deliver cats to the ACL, pick them up and release them, we need you to contact us.

We're working to bring on a third colony but we won't be able to take on any more cats without increased volunteer support (volunteers directly involved in trapping and transporting cats, fostering kittens and feeding and monitoring colonies).

Please visit our volunteer page for more information and e-mail us with questions!