The Cat Behavior Answer Book - Arden Moore [16]
DONOR CAT ADOPTIONS
Consider adopting a cat who has served as a blood donor at a veterinary hospital. These cats typically are healthy, even tempered, and social. Plus, they have spent their first few years being true lifesavers to ill and injured cats. Donor cats, who are usually found as strays or given up by their owners, range from one to ten years in age. They weigh 10 pounds or more and live strictly indoors. All are rigorously screened for good health and all cats also receive echocardiograms to ensure their hearts are healthy.
If you live near a veterinary hospital, I urge you to give these very special cats your very special consideration.
For the second one, I encourage you to contact a local cat rescue group and ask them if they can set out a humane trap (scented with tuna or other aromatic food as a lure). Some groups are also willing to let individuals borrow one of their traps.
Once the cat is in the trap, you can give him or her a wonderful gift by taking him to a veterinarian for a health exam and spay or neuter surgery. The treated cat is then returned to his outdoor home where other members of his colony live.
As for the stray cat who has captured your curiosity, and apparently your heart, avoid making any fast motions or speaking loudly around him. Your goal is to win him over by displaying cat-accepting etiquette. Chances are that he will eventually approach you and allow you to gently touch him. It may take a few days or weeks, but go slowly with your introductions. If you are worried about his safety or his health, you might speed up the process by capturing him in a humane trap and taking him to a veterinarian for a complete head-to-tail examination before adopting him. Good luck!
ALLEY CAT ALLIES
Feral cats live in colonies where they interact with one another, but have no interest in living indoors with humans. They can survive by hunting and scavenging if they have adequate shelter and not too much competition for food, but are subject to illness, injury, and predation. And in just a year or two, the offspring of a couple of feral cats can overrun the neighborhood.
Concerned individuals are paying more attention to the status of feral cats, and efforts are growing to spay and neuter colonies to humanely address the overpopulation issue. Leading this effort is Alley Cat Allies, a Maryland-based, non-profit organization that striving to educate people as well as cater to homeless cats. One way to keep feral cats healthy and to prevent them from spreading diseases or overpopulating is through Trap, Neuter, and Return (TNR) programs.
These cats are trapped humanely, given medical exams and necessary vaccinations, and spayed or neutered before being returned to their original locale. To keep tabs on which feral cat has already gone through the TNR procedure, the ear is notched or the tip of an ear is removed as an identifiable sign. For TNR colony management to be successful, volunteers must provide regular food, monitor the health of the colony, and watch for any newcomers.
The Clever Korat
IMAGINE THE PLEASURE OF LIVING WITH a moving “museum piece” with a shimmering silver-tipped coat and large, luminous green eyes. The government of Thailand officially recognizes the Korat cat as a national treasure. An ancient manuscript, Cat-Book Poems, created during the Ayudha period of Thai history (AD 1350 to 1767) depicts “good luck” cats. Among them is the Si-Sawat, as Korats are called in Thailand. Their “hairs are smooth with roots like clouds and tips like silver” and their “eyes shine like dewdrops on a lotus leaf.”
Among the purest of all breeds, the Korat’s physical appearance has remained unchanged for centuries. Every Korat today is silver blue and all trace their ancestry to Thailand.