In this Issue:

advoCATS Volunteers Venture Into Waipio Valley
The Neuter Scooter Clinic
Special Mahalo’s
New Feeding Stations
New advoCATS President Meets New Humane Society Director
In Memory Of:
In Honor Of:
Fundrai$ing New$
Hawaii Island Humane Society Spay Neuter Clinics
Comics
advoCats Welcomes New Volunteers
In Our Mailbox
advoCats New Board Members
advoCATS Bids Mahalo and Aloha O`e to Volunteer Roberta Agre
“Purr-Kit” aka: Mighty Mouse, The Miracle Kitty
What’s the Difference: FERAL CAT, DOMESTIC CAT or COLONY CAT

Story by Jan Abbott - Waipio Valley is a lush tropical paradise with magnificent waterfalls that create streams and the Waipio River. It also has taro, fruits, flowers and something common to other parts of the island: CATS!

AdvoCATS was recently asked to help with the cats in Waipio and the experience was like no other. Swiss nationals got involved in providing transportation down the steep, treacherous road into the valley. Their four-wheel drive vehicle was loaded with traps, carriers, and cat food. Once on the valley floor we traversed stream after stream, as well as the Waipio River, which was fordable because there had been no recent rain. Beyond the river we turned into a stream and drove not across it, but slowly up it. Isis, the person who had invited us, told our driver Karl, to drive as if we were his grandma.

Photo by Jan Abbott, taken while driving upstream on the Waipio River.

Once on the property of the Waipio Valley Botanical Gardens, we parked and entered the cottage to see the moms and kittens. Isis has done a beautiful job taming them all. We scooped up six kittens and two moms, then walked on, getting our feet wet in two streams that flowed between where we parked and where the next colony of cats lived. Again, Isis’ loving care of these cats worked to our advantage because we didn’t have to set traps. She was able to catch the somewhat scared and bewildered kitties and put them into the carriers and traps we brought along.
Twenty-three cats later, we packed up the Jeep and headed out; with the cats and kittens stacked double and triple bunked in traps and carriers. Two sweet kittens went directly to grace the Puako Bed & Breakfast and I took the rest of the kittens and one mom cat to foster at my house. That left 15 cats to be taken care of by fellow advoCATS volunteer Bee Henderson. She and I were settling them into large traps and carriers in her garage late into the night. Veterinary Associates in Waimea was able to spay or neuter ten the following Tuesday and five the day after that.

There are still over 40 cats left at this colony to TNR and Isis’ tenure in the valley is coming to an end, so there will be no one there to provide food for the colony. If you or someone you know can provide a loving home for one or more of these displaced cats, you’ll be getting a sweet companion and a great mouser.

See more of the Waipio cats and other cats and kittens for adoption on our web site: www.advocatshawaii.org

 

Oscar. Armendariz and daughter Aria	A Family of Domestic Cats	Dr. Tess Peavy

Recently they spent one week in Hawaii and went to Maui, Molokai, Oahu and the Big Island, neutering cats both domestic and feral. Here in Kona they did an amazing total of 160 cats in 13 hours and even helped to clean up after it was all done! 30 domestic cats came from the public (owned cats they call them) and 130 cats from advoCATS. A total of 71 female cats and 59 males were neutered and the birth of 85 kittens was prevented through abortion. On Molokai, they neutered 96 cats and aborted more kittens than the number of cats they spayed and neutered.

The “Mom” of this incredible team is Dr. Tess Peavy and the “Father” is Dr. Oscar Armendariz. Dr. Peavy studied veterinary medicine at Ross University in the Caribbean. Their hometown is Bloomington, Indiana. Dr. Peavy became a vegan while in college studying veterinary medicine and the children followed suit.

Job in post-op. Job is 19 and did the check-in, post-op work, gave each cat a tattoo, administered dewormer and Advantage. He likes to do macramé and beadwork in his spare time, as well as walking out in nature with his brother Gabriel.	Gabriel with the autoclave machine. Gabriel is 9 and autoclaved all the instruments and made surgery packs. He wears a megladon tooth; an extinct whale killing shark, on a cord around his neck. He likes to go walking in the woods bird watching, trying to catch sight of Woodpeckers, his favorite bird.
Aria shaving the cats. Aria is 8, does the shaving and preps the cats for surgery. She loves to do collages and collects interesting things on her travels to make them with. She also writes songs and sings them too.	Elijah taking a break at the pool. Elijah is 6 and handed the surgery packs to his mother as she needed them, as well as keeping us all entertained until he finally passed out on the couch at about 9 p.m. He says his favorite thing to do is to catch flies and feed them to spiders, but he also likes to play imaginary games and make-believe.

On February 17th the clinic began at our dedicated volunteer Roberta Agre’s house at 9:00 am. The surgeries began at 10:30 am and the final cat was neutered at 10:00 pm. The Neuter Scooter team was all very organized and caring and the cats got the very best treatment. The only thing our advoCATS volunteers had to do at this clinic was move the cats from place to place and ear tip our cats. The domestic cats were not tipped. Neuter Scooter charges $40. - $50. for a domestic cat and $20. for a feral or abandoned cat. They provide the anesthesia, dewormer and Advantage and bring their own surgery instrument packs and autoclave machine. Dr. Peavy did all the surgeries and Dr. Armendariz did the anesthesia. Their children did everything else and were as professional as anyone we have ever seen.

Dr. Peavy single handedly performed all of the 160 surgeries!	Oscar had an interesting technique for anesthetizing the cats; he turned the trap on it’s end so the cat would either climb to the top or stay at the bottom. This way he didn’t need to use the pronged tool to hold them to one side and it seemed less traumatic for the cats. Oscar was extremely competent and humane while performing this part of the process.	Job was highly skilled at the post-op work and gave the cats their tattoos, as well as any needed medication.

This amazing family has 4 house cats of their own and everyone’s favorite is named Screwfus who evidently is somewhat of a contortionist. All of them like to travel, but also love to be home with their family and friends. The children are home schooled and their homework is done on planes, in cars and in hotel rooms while doing their Neuter Scooter activities. The family travels to 5 other states doing their Neuter Scooter work. So far they do clinics in Indiana, their home state, Hawaii, Illinois, Florida, Ohio and Oregon and can spay and neuter up to 200 cats a day.

There were cats, cats and more cats anywhere and everywhere at the Agre house and yard. 160 of them in traps and carriers and even one domestic cat brought in a laundry basket who unfortunately escaped.

One of the most interesting cats brought in was a homeless female from Kailua who Dr. Peavy estimated to be around 20 years old. She had heart failure during surgery, but Dr. Peavy brought her back around. This little old lady of a cat had no teeth, but was otherwise in good shape. Instead of putting the 20 something female back out in her colony, advoCATS volunteer and foster mom Jan Abbott, took her home. The old girl is doing OK now. Since she is a true feral cat, she is being kept apart from the other kitties who are waiting for adoption and will eventually be let outside at her caretakers home, where she will have a bit more attention than a colony cat.

Our warmest mahalo goes to this wonderful and dedicated family. Mahalo also to Roberta Agre and Allan Sluizer for hosting this clinic at their home, Judy Kocon for finding the visitors a condo and Diane and Jim Merriam for lending their condo, Pat Boyajian for lending them her truck, Kandice Crusat for providing all the food, Stephanie Delmont for providing us with 100% Organic Kona Coffee from Blue Journey Farm and everyone else for trapping, schlepping, transporting and ear-tipping cats.

The Neuter Scooter will be back in June and will do clinics in Kailua Kona, Ocean View, Hilo and possibly Kohala. If you would like to volunteer or have cats to spay or neuter, check our web site or the Neuter Scooter web site for current information on these clinics. If you would like to arrange a spay neuter clinic in your town or would like to sponsor this family with accommodations, transportation or airfare here or on the mainland, please contact them:

Neuter Scooter
3789 Bethel Ln.
Bloomington, Indiana 47408
Email: neuterscooter@yahoo.com

Have a look at their web site for more information:
www.NeuterScooter.com

A Big Mahalo To:

Howard Baldwin, Robert Bowman, Thomas Bredt, John & Ann Broadbent, Randolph Broshears, Carpenter Farm Trust, S&E Crooke, Charlotte & John Crouch, Andrew Czajkowski, Kathryn Forte, Louis Goodman, Helen Gregory, Ramona Kimsey Hackbart, Sarah Heath, Linda Holler, H. Isler, Rick & Adriene Jensen, William Kaye, Nancy Kraus, Duncan McFarland, Martha McLean, Laurie McGrath, John Mellon, Gunther Mench, Alan Ochiae, Peter Ogilvie, Barbara Ota, Petco Foundation, Charlys Randal, E.L.Righter, Marie & Jeff Riley, The Sandal Bar, Ronald Scelza, Christine Schneider, Sherry Cordova Jewelry, Denise Towle, Richard Tramoulin, Irene Tschappat, N&H Watts, West Hawaii Humane, James & Wendy Williams, Richard Wilson, Joan & Clifford Winston. And mahalo to Joy Banks who picks up cat food from the Food Bank for the kitties every week.

And a special Mahalo to Carolyn and Bruce Witcher at Witcher Engineering for printing our newsletter!

In Memory Of:
The Little Raggedy Kitty of Keauhou Bay (aka Dibby) from Martha McLean
Sweet Stuff from Sharon Scott
Giggles from Purrcynth

In Honor Of:
Angelika & Axel from Charlys Randall
Carrol & Pat Ryan from Brad and Ruth Houser
Black Storm from Kathryn Forte

Fundrai$ing New$ A Rainy Garage Sale

Even in the rain, our volunteers made an amazing $1,760.00 at the March 7th & 8th garage sale! It was a lot of wet drippy work, but everyone trudged on together and had a lot of fun. Rain was forecasted for the entire weekend, but our dedicated and determined volunteers persevered. Mahalo to: Roberta, Margie, Nancy, Cathy, Joy, Lisa, Cindy, Pica, Peter, Sarah, Taylor, Karen, Veronica, Linda and Judy. Mahalo to the ones with the muscles and trucks: Mike, Jim, Valerie and Taylor. In addition, our biggest mahalo goes to Kathy Vilander who kept us fantastically well fed and offered her wonderful home in Kilohana for the sale again!

Hawaii Island Humane Society S/N Clinics

A Spay/Neuter Clinic for feral and domesticated cats was again held at the Kailua HIHS in April. For information and appointments on future clinics with the HIHS please call their Kailua office at 329-1175. They still tip both ears and do test for FeLV and FiV and will euthanize if positive. The HIHS is still offering low cost spay/neuter coupons to use at a participating veterinarian’s office and they will spay for free, any cat or dog whose kittens or puppies are brought into the office.

Mahalo HIHS for continuing your spay/neuter clinics to help the homeless, abandoned and domestic cats on the Big Island.

Hawaii Island Humane Society Statistics for 2008:
Feral cats euthanized: 529, Domestic cats euthanized: 125,
Cats adopted: 350

To the world you are just a person,
To a rescued animal you are the world.

author unknown

Rufus returns his owner because she keeps having BABIES! artist unknown

In Our Mailbox Dear advoCATS, Here is a picture of one of our favorite kitties; Jewels. She has a white diamond shape on her chest, hence the name! We trapped her for TNR last year when she was young and despite the fact we were away for six months, she found us again. Her favorite breakfast is tuna and cheese. In the photo at right, she is settling down for her morning nap, which of course means we can't use our lanai! We love our island kitties. Thank you advoCATS for all your work on their behalf. Sincerely, Cindy von Hagen

Meet Our New advoCATS Board Members

From left: Pica Mertvago, Cindy Thurston, Cathy Swedelius, Bee Henderson and Ferol Kolons

President Cathy Swedelius - I was born in Seattle, the oldest of five children. My dad was in the Air Force so we traveled a lot and I went to High School in Germany. I’ve been a cat lover since I was a child. I spent 21 years in the Air Force as an air traffic controller. During that time I was stationed in Thailand during the war, which was where I got started working with cats. After the military I got an MA in family and marital therapy and became a psychiatric social worker for Dakota County in Minnesota for 21 years. When my husband Glenn retired from the airlines we moved to Kona because I have always wanted to live here. I have always believed in TNR, so I got involved with advoCATS because of my experience with cats in Thailand and my involvement with Alley Cat Allies, Animal Ark and Feline Rescue while I was in Minnesota. I decided to go from caretaking people to cats.
Secretary Ferol Kolons - I've always been a cat lover and as a kid I was always bringing the strays home in California where I grew up and went to school. Later on I worked at a public relations company and did some writing for the local newspapers. My real passion is graphic design and I have two degrees; communication and graphic design. After moving to the Big Island in 1989, I started working with the cats at Hapuna Beach after I realized there must be at least 100 cats living there. I started spaying and neutering out of my own pocket, then I connected with West Hawaii Humane Society which had money to spay/neuter feral cats. Once that money was gone advoCATS came into being and I've been able to spay and neuter all the cats at the park. There were no kittens again this year because I've been trapping non-stop. I probably have about 65 cats at the park now, all fixed thanks to advoCATS. Those healthy and happy cats are fed daily by me and other cat helpers. I also feed and trap colonies in Waikoloa Village and Mauna Lani Resorts.
Treasurer Pica Mertvago - I was born in Italy and have lived in Brazil, San Francisco, New York and Switzerland. I studied Real Estate in San Francisco and sculpture in New York and have exhibited my work on the east coast, California and Hawaii. I'm mostly a portrait sculptor, although I do other figurative work as well, all of which can be viewed at www.picasculpt.net. When we lived in Manhattan on the corner of 6th Ave. and 47th St. we were adopted by Sasha, our grey tuxedo cat who gave us so much joy and pleasure that we had to pass it on to other cats. All of a sudden we noticed cats everywhere. So we started feeding, then trapping, to spay and neuter the neighborhood cats. We even cut a hole in our garage door so they had a place to sleep in the winter. We brought 4 cats to Hawaii from New York; 2 of the 4 are still with us. The Hawaiian cats quickly found us so we started by feeding and working on our own until we met Nancy Hitzemann, an advoCATS foster mom, who was gift wrapping for advoCATS at Borders. That's how we became advoCATS.
Vice Treasurer Cindy Thurston - I first became aware of feral, homeless and abandoned cats when I moved into my condo in 1993. There were quite a few that lived there and it just seemed natural that they needed to be spayed or neutered. I am happy to report that we have had no kittens born on our property for over 10 years, so yes, TNR does work! From 1994 through 2007 I volunteered at the Hawaii Island Humane Society. I attended my first advoCATS meeting in April 2008 and haven't looked back! I feed and trap at several colonies in the Keauhou area. Prior to moving to Hawaii, I worked for a management consulting firm in Los Angeles, specializing in employee benefit plans.
Member At Large Bee Henderson - My husband and I and our 2 cats moved from Oahu to Waimea (Kamuela) in 1995. We had open land around us and soon we were feeding several "stray" cats. Mama Orange had a litter of 3 kittens and I started feeling guilty about feeding all of them without doing anything to prevent more kittens. So in December of 1999 I started trapping, neutering, and returning these cats to my back yard. In 2001 I started to TNR the cats at Kawaihae Canoe Club. With help from Annette Hall, DVM of Kamuela Animal Clinic and Matt Belcher, DVM and his wife, Emily Claspell, we have done 30 cats at the club. At last count there were 13: proof that TNR does lower the population. The most recent addition was a Siamese mama and 3 kittens that came in a box in 2002. One of the kittens was brain damaged and we took her home so she could die in peace. Seven years later, she is still with us, and is doing quite well, in spite of a round of severe mouth ulcers that required us to pull all her teeth. I helped with the first advoCATS clinic and have trapped for and volunteered at most of the clinics since. I currently feed about 40 cats (in addition to my own) in 4 different locations and continue to TNR about 5 cats per week. I will trap from Kapa’au to Kalopa to Waikoloa Beach Resort and would love to train new volunteers who live in any of those areas.

advoCATS Bids Mahalo and Aloha O`e to Volunteer Roberta Agre Former advoCATS treasurer extraordinaire, Roberta Agre, moved to San Francisco in April this year. In addition to her recent duties as treasurer during her 3 year term, Roberta helped to feed colony cats in Kailua Kona, as well as trap colony cats and other homeless community cats for TNR. She also helped to plan many of our spay/neuter clinics, volunteered at garage sales and other fundraisers, helped to get the sanctuary going and was involved in just about everything advoCATS did for our Big Island kitties while she lived here. We will all miss you Roberta, especially the kitties, and we hope life in San Francisco is good to you. Our island cats are so much better off for your being here. A Hui Hou Aku (until we meet again) our fondest Purrs and Meow’s go with you. Photo at left: Roberta and Wally at the advoCATS sanctuary.

“Purr-Kit” aka: Mighty Mouse, The Miracle Kitty

In the dark early hours of the morning Marit Vestre was feeding at the Honokohau harbor when she heard teeny little cries. Using a flashlight she found a tiny kitten under a cactus who was very wet from the rain. She immediately brought the kitten to foster mom Nancy Hitzemann who bathed her in warm water to bring up her body temp. She weighed only 2 oz and was probably just hours old. (Her eyes finally opened on day 12 after finding her). She started sucking on the bottle formula right away and lived her first month in a carrier with the heating pad on under a soft blanket. She suffered through 2 major health issues and purred even when so ill, so she was named Purr-Kit by her foster mom. For the first 2 months it was touch and go and Dr. Ota called her Mighty Mouse for her survival fight. She is 3 & 1/2 months in the photo at right and weighs a huge 1 lb 6 oz (but should be around 3 lb for that age). Even so, she is doing all the normal crazy things for a kitten her age. Marit is her "Godmother" and visits often and foster mom Nancy decided to keep Purr-Kit instead of adopting her out. Purr-Kit is a little miracle and Nancy has to hide her when perspective adoptive parents come to look at the other foster kitties, as they all want Purr-Kit! Nancy always said she would keep the one that no one wanted and now it’s just the opposite.

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What’s the Difference: FERAL CAT, DOMESTIC CAT or COLONY CAT

Aren’t they all just cats? Well, in actuality, yes, but they differ in many ways.

A true “feral cat” is un-sterilized, socialized only with other cats and lives completely on it’s own without any human assistance, receiving no food, water or shelter.

A “domestic cat” is socialized with humans, hopefully sterilized by their guardians and depends on humans for all its needs. That includes water, food, shelter, medical care and companionship.

A “colony cat” is an abandoned or homeless domesticated cat, or their offspring, that lives in groups in a semi-wild state and is generally semi-socialized or truly socialized to humans, depending on its experiences with abandonment, homelessness or birth environment. This cat depends on humans for food and water. If not fed by colony guardians, they can survive on human waste such as leftover food in garbage cans as well as rodents, insects, birds, or whatever they can find. The colony guardians in the trap/neuter/return movement in animal welfare, such as advoCATS, strive to sterilize the colony cat to improve the life of the individual cat and prevent the growth of the colony other than by the addition of newly abandoned or homeless cats.

Here in Hawaii we have cat colonies everywhere, mostly due to the transient influx of people coming and going and leaving cats behind when they leave. We feel it is important that the public and legislators recognize these differences in their dealings with the various feline populations who all keep our island from being over-run with rodents.

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advoCATS, Inc. P.O. Box 4415 Kailua Kona Hawaii 96745
advoCATS, Inc. is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization. Donations are tax deductible.

Print up our donation form and mail it in. Click here: Donate to advoCATS, Give a charitable gift

advoCATS Also Accepts Donation$ Through Pay Pal

Click Here:

It’s easy to make donations to advoCATS using Pay Pal. You can go to our home page and click on our Pay Pal donation link, or the click on the link above, or log on to www.paypal.com and click on “Send Money,” then enter our email address: advocatshawaii@aol.com. It’s that easy! You can use your bank account, credit card, or PayPal balance to make a donation. And what 's really great; you can use your credit card that enables you to acquire frequent flyer mileage points. Take a trip and help the kitties! What a way to go! If you don’t already have a Pay Pal account it only takes a few minutes to get one. It’s a free and safe way to make purchases or send donations.

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As of April 2009
6516
Cats Have Been Spayed or Neutered Since 1999
Mahalo To All Our Veterinarians and Staff!