It was a whirlwind of a week as hundreds of cats were recently trapped, then spayed and neutered in seven days at five locations on the Big Island. Veterinarian, Dr. Tess Peavy DVM and her incredible team neutered and scootered their way around the island and left 416 cats sterilized in their wake. This included 333 feral/colony cats, as well as 83 owned/domestic cats. In addition to the Big Island, the Neuter Scooter went to Oahu and Maui the week before and after they came here.

advoCATS sponsored three clinics on the west side and Hui Pono Holoholona (HPH) and Rainbow Friends each sponsored one on the east side. These are all volunteer, 501 (C) (3) organizations.

At the Kailua clinic there were two litters of kittens born. One litter was born after the mother was trapped the night before the clinic and the other litter was born right at the clinic. Both mothers were spayed and returned to their kittens that same day and were later fostered by an advoCATS volunteer.

We had a special and unexpected volunteer at the Kailua clinic: Dr. Erik Baulis, a General Practitioner from Tasmania who was on vacation and visiting an advoCATS volunteer. He was a big help tipping the cats ears and we had fun teasing him about what he would tell his friends back home that he did while vacationing in Hawaii.

Photo Top: Oscar Armendariz and Teri
Bottom: Elijah, Dr. Tess Peavy, Aria and Gabriel

At the Kohala clinic Dr. Peavy delivered a litter of kittens by caesarian while the mother was being spayed. The kittens were full term at the time of surgery. A volunteer foster mom ended up taking over when the young mother refused to take on the job of nursing. At this clinic we also had a human doctor volunteering: Joe Triggs, who enjoyed helping as well as observing the surgeries.

Normally cats come to the clinics in traps and cat carriers, but one tiny kitten came to our Ocean View clinic as a stow-away in a car engine! Tiny mews were heard in the parking lot and someone realized they were coming from a car. After inspection, two tiny eyes were seen peering from inside the engine of a volunteer’s car. It was quite an ordeal to get the kitten out and then catch it after it got away. The volunteer had no idea where the kitten came from, but it was neutered just the same and is now being tamed and fostered by an advoCATS foster mom.

At our Ocean View clinic, another kitten was suffering so badly from worms and fleas it was very anemic. Dr. Peavy said if it were not treated it would die, so she administered medications. Later the kitten was having respiratory problems and needed special attention, so Dr. Peavy asked to take the kitten with her to their next location in Keaau. In the mean time she kept the tiny kitten inside her shirt to keep it warm. Later on in the day, vet tech Terri fell in love with the little thing after helping to care for it and wanted to adopt it and take it back to Indiana with her.

In our opinion, the kindness and dedication from this team is unsurpassed.

If you would like to arrange a spay neuter clinic in your town or would like to sponsor this family with accommodations or transportation 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

Clinic Volunteers from left: Jan Abbott, Joe Triggs, Ferol Kolons, Margie Gilman-Wolfe, Lorna Vincent-Venter, Torun Almer and Christy

Volunteers at our clinics have the “hands on” experience and do everything from ear tipping to trap cleaning. It takes a tremendous amount of time to organize these clinics and make them run smoothly. There were dozens of volunteers who worked at the clinics, as well as those who trapped and transported cats, organized and moved the traps and supplies to various locations, prepared food for volunteers and provided the Neuter Scooter family with accommodations. Dr. Peavy complimented the advoCATS volunteers by saying we are one of the best organizations she has seen. She said we are very organized and nice to work with and we bring more cats to her clinics than any other group.

We are especially grateful to Dr. Peavy and her incredible team for providing Hawaii with affordable spay & neuter. The owners of domestic cats pay the Neuter Scooter $40. per cat, the animal groups pay $20. for each feral or colony cat. With everyone’s help, we are making a difference in the lives of these animals.

Mahalo to the Queen Liliuokalani Village Community Center for hosting the Kailua clinic, Debbie Cravatta for hosting the Kohala clinic, Ocean View Community Center for hosting the Ocean View clinic, Frannie Pueo for hosting the Mt. View clinic and Hawaiian Paradise Park Community Center for hosting the Keaau Clinic.

West side mahalo’s go to Rob and Kim Quinn for donating their vacation rental condo at the White Sands Village in Kailua and Jamie and Bill Perry for donating their vacation rental home; Milolii Magic in Milolii. Bill DeVaney from Aloha Fridays Restaurant for bringing food to the Kailua clinic and Starbucks for donating the coffee. Kona Natural Foods 2 in Keauhou donated vegan sandwiches to the Neuter Scooter team who are all vegetarians. Other clinic food was donated by Jerrie Bennett, Debbie Cravatta, Kandice Crusat, Jenny Crusat and Linda Morgan.

East side mahalo’s go to Father George DeCosta, Mabel and John for the Hale Lokahi Retreat in Volcano sponsored by HPH and Helen Baker. Puainako KTA & Safeway for donations of food & refreshments. Other clinic food donated by the University of Hawaii and Sandy Alstrand. Other donations came from Home Depot, Lynn Forbes, Corinne Stefanko and Nancy from the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

Mahalo to the Hawaii Island Humane Society for loaning extra traps for all these clinics.

Complete Big Island Clinic Results:
Kailua Kona, June 1 - Surgery started at 10:30 am, finished at 11:00 pm. 60 females spayed, 42 males neutered, + 15 owned cats.
Kohala, June 3 - Surgery started at 11:00 am, finished at 6:00 pm. 26 females spayed, 31 males neutered.
Ocean View, June 5 - Surgery started at 11:00 am, finished at 6:30 pm. 46 females spayed, 47 males neutered, + 5 owned cats.
Mt. View, June 6 - Surgery started at 10:00 am, finished at 4:30 pm. 32 females spayed, 24 males neutered, + 23 owned cats.
Paradise Park, June 7 - Surgery started at 10:00 am, finished at 4:30 pm. 25 males/females spayed/neutered, + 40 owned cats.

Our Wish List:
Plastic tarps - for garage sales and spay/neuter clinics
Pop-up sun shades - for garage sales and spay/neuter clinics
Cat toys & Cat furniture - for our foster moms
B&B, Condo or Vacation Rental - for our visiting Veterinarians

Mahalo, Mahalo, Mahalo

Daniel & Lynn Azar, Kathryn Bowes, Helen Brendel, Mike & Nancy Brown, California International Airshow, Mark & Stephanie Carpenter, G. Terry Causey, Bruce Coats, Janet Coburn/Kahilu Theatre, Elmer Coffey, Stefanie Delmont & John Matucha, Robert & Louise Elliott, Shawn Fitzgerald, Brenda Ford, William & Janice Furumoto, Jack & Kathy Garner, William & Johanna Gil, Ngaire Gilmour, Tekla Harms, Rudolph & Kazue Hart, Liselotte Hatfield, Hawaii Island Diggers/John & Charlotte Crouch, Greig & Bee Henderson, Kerry & Marnie Humble, Evelyn Hurr, Oliver & Anne Hutaff, Ironman Foundation, Colburn & Alana Jones, Sharon Karayianis, Laurie Keener, Leslie Klein, Rachel Louis, Jim Monk, Marcy Montgomery, Sandy Morton, Gary & Susan Neumann, Lewis & Alice Nichols, Joyce Nozaki, Jamie & Bill Perry, Diane Pettengill, Mary Phalan, Rob & Kim Quinn, Eric & Heather Redman, Walter & Jean Rowe, Claudia Steffen, Catherine Steinbach, Sandra Stringfellow, Helga Tossman, Irene Tschappat, Tony & Sandra Tschopp, Richard & Cindy Von Hagen, Peter & Jacqueline Webber, Kenneth & Claudia Weber, Diana Wolking, and Stanley & Carol Zakahi.

A special Mahalo to Carolyn and Bruce Witcher at Witcher Engineering,
for printing our newsletter
&
Allie Kitchens and Kayshel Trudell
for folding and stamping it as their summer project.

In Memory Of;

"Leo" by James & Wendy Williams
"Milo" D'Arlon by Diane Pettengill
"Purrkit" by James & Nancy Hitzemann
"Samantha" Singh by Nancy Faulkner
"Sid", "Nancy", "AC", "DC", Rover" & "Smoky" by Stefanie Delmont & John Matucha
“Buddy”, “Sergio” and “Shadow”
All the Kitties at the Old Airport

In Honor Of;

"Blacky" & "Stripes" by Rachel Louis
"Grandie Jaxson" & "Jeddie Sweet Boy" by William & Johanna Gil
"Jake" by Kunkle Industries
"Keiko" by Elaine Anderson
"Ozzie" by Lee Messenger
"Smokey" by Steve Perry
"Spanky" by Sandra Ruffin
"Taj" & "Beau" by Claudia Steffen
Casey Carlson by Bonnie Beard
Janet Mello by Walter & Jean Rowe
Joan Nichols by Evelyn Hurr
Laddie & Pat Hutchison's anniversary by Robert & Louise Elliott
Mike & Kate Sugimoto by Brian Lee

On July 11th we had not only one garage sale in Kailua, but another one in Waikoloa. Our Kailua sale made a whopping $1,549 for our depleted spay/neuter fund. It was a long hot day with way too much "merchandise" but all the sunburns and aches were worth it. Huge kudos to Margie who organized, collected, and worked herself to the bone for this sale. A fun new addition to our garage sale came from Christy who made a cute little boutique for the nicer clothes. Mahalo Christy and husband Simon who designed the bamboo poles to hang the "boutique" items. Without Lisa as cashier, we would have made only half the money. She persuaded buyers to pay more, buy more and give more donations. Mike, Wayne, Taylor, Solomon and Jim provided the muscles and vehicles to transport items before and after the sale. Judy did a great job on the jewelry and Linda, Laurel, Nancy, Cathy S, Ferol, Jennifer, Rita and Joy were the worker bees to keep the merchandise moving. Kathy V. kept our energy up with her kitchen treats.

It was the first time our volunteers tried a garage sale in Waikoloa. They held two sales in July: on the 11th and the 18th. Mahalo Jan, Debbie and Rebecca for all your hard work and raising $363 for our spay/neuter fund.

A BIG mahalo to all of you who donated items for the sale.

Recycling For The Kitties

Recycling efforts have hauled in $915. so far this year! On one occasion, several volunteers sorted through loads of bug infested bottles and cans and took 5 truckloads from Hokulia in Kealakekua to Kailua Kona. It was a hot and dirty job, but someone had to do it and they did it for the kitties!

When you recycle your HI-5 containers tell them to add it to the advoCATS account. It all adds up and every little bit helps.

The Keauhou recycle is now open Tues/Thurs/Sat/Sun and Kailua Kona is open daily, except Tue/Thurs. They close for lunch 12:30 to 1:00. Atlas is open Monday thru Saturday in the Old Industrial Area.

Ink cartridges can be collected at our monthly meeting, or call Nancy: 329 4337 or Email: nhitz@hawaii.rr.com to arrange a pick up, or to put a recycle box at your store or office. We also collect mobile phones for recycling. Email Judy Kocon at balikaihi@aol.com

Clothing and toiletries that are not sold at our garage sales are distributed to "The Friendly Place" (located in the Old Industrial Area for the homeless), at St. Michaels on Food Bank day and the Battered Women's Shelter. Items are also placed in the "FreeCycle" tent at the Keauhou transfer station. We find a home for everything!

Guess What the Stork Brought Us?
Kittens For Adoption!

What makes advoCATS volunteers different from other people? We don’t get little babies dropped off on our doorstep, we get kittens! It seems the stork knows just where we live and brings them to us. That’s just what has happened recently to some of our volunteers. One opened her front door to find a box full of kittens, another found some on their front lawn and one found a mama cat and her kittens outside their gate. One of our foster moms has over 30 kittens right now! We need to ask you to help us find homes for these delightful little balls of fur. Please ask your friends, neighbors, co-workers, anyone who you think would make a good companion for these sweet and innocent critters.

These kittens have all come around and allow themselves to be held and petted, especially Cricket, the little black female. Ozzie (that's him announcing their presence) and Orville are the two boys. Charm is the other little girl. They are three months old and have been spayed or neutered.

Redford is a male kitten, already neutered and raring to go to his forever home. He's 3 1/2 months old and is an active, adventurous kitten who likes smooches when he's sleepy.

Three little girls Molly, Mitzi and Marni were born the beginning of April. They have been spayed, wormed, and vaccinated, and have purring motors inside them. They love laps and playtime.

Dulce is a little fluffy female fur ball who is looking for love. She was born the beginning of May and has been spayed, wormed, vaccinated and is ready to bring love to your home.

These 3 kittens were born on June 1, in a trap, before their mother was to be spayed at the Neuter Scooter clinic. The left kitty above is a female, the right is a male.

Neuter and Scooter. These two kittens above were born the 30th of May, inside a trap, the night before their mother was to be spayed at the June 1 Neuter Scooter clinic. The calico on the right is female, the one on the left is male. Both were neutered at our most recent Neuter Scooter in July.

Tyler was dumped at a gas station with his siblings and Mom. He was probably born in May. He’s very lively and playful and has huge eyes. He and Frankie rough house all over. Favorite places to be are: laundry pile, back of chair or in bed with you.

Frankie was left in a box on my doorstep with his two brothers who have already been adopted. He was born in April and is a buff color with hazel eyes. He is high spirited and plays all day with Tyler. His face is very expressive, loves to sleep with you and does not like salmon.

Please Don’t Litter!

Story by Jan Abbott

According to Wikipedia, the definition of litter is: waste that people unlawfully dispose of out of doors.

Stories of pets left behind when the family moves have become more and more common, especially if that family has lost their home through foreclosure. One would hope that people who adopt pets would provide for them even when the going is tough. There is, however, a mentality that cats can fend for themselves and although some are good hunters, most rely on humans to give them food and water.

Last year advoCATS became involved in a littering incident in which kittens weren’t left behind, but deliberately discarded in a paper grocery sack and left on the highway to let fate and traffic take care of them. They weren’t turned out to fend for themselves nor were they taken to the Humane Society for re-homing. Someone set these kittens up to meet an ugly death. Fortunately Kimberly Hawks of Kohala Ranch, was on her way to Waimea when she saw the moving paper sack at the side of the road. She pulled over and investigated, finding two tame and beautiful five week old kittens inside.

These two little girl kittens remained in advoCATS foster care until they were old enough to find a home of their own. What luck for them that they were adopted together by Casi Barret. The story doesn’t end here, though.

A year later the Barrets were packing up to leave Hawaii for the mainland and they returned the two now adult cats to their Waikoloa foster home. Exactly a week later, Casi returned for her two “girls,” not able to bear leaving them, and proceeded to get them their health certificates and carriers so they could fly and stay with their family. Casi had to deal with the objections of her husband and in-laws over traveling with pets, but she knew it was the right thing to do and in the end all went well.

Thank you, Casi, for saving those two bag babies a second time.

When Jenny Crusat heard about feeder Gen Griffin going to 11 feeding spots 7 days a week and feeding over 150 homeless and abandoned cats (99% of them spayed or neutered) she wanted to help. Jenny decided to help by taking over the feeding schedule 1 day a week so Gen could spend an evening with her husband. The cost of the cat food is paid for by every individual feeder, but Jenny was concerned this might get too expensive for her alone, so she enlisted the help of her co-workers at Oceans Sports Bar & Grill, located in the Coconut Grove Marketplace, behind the volleyball court. They all agreed to pool their tips one day a week to help feed the cats.

So stop by Oceans and say “Hi” to Jenny, Jamie and Emily say hey: “Thanks for helping the advoCATS!”

Gen and many of our other feeders could use some help to pay for cat food or to have a day off, so if you’d like to adopt a colony or a feeder, give us a call or email us and we’ll help you arrange it.

Draw, Paint, Color or Collage your Cats or Kittens and Win a Fun Prize!

Prizes will be awarded by category: The Most Creative, The Most Original, The Funniest
Kids 4 Cats Artwork will be featured on our web site and newsletter

Hurry, contest ends on Sept. 15th. Judging will be done at our Sept. meeting
Winners notified by mail and artwork shown on our web site by October 15th

Send Your Creation To:
advoCATS - Kids4Cats, P.O. Box 4415, Kailua Kona HI 96745

For more details go to: www.advocatshawaii.org/kids4cats.htm

One Entry Per Child Please

September is “Give Aloha” at Hawaii’s Foodland and Sack N Save stores. This is the best time of year to donate to us, because a portion of your donation is matched by Foodland and the Western Union Foundation and all of it goes to our spay/neuter fund. If you have a permanent Maika`i card, go to any checkout counter during September and specify the amount you wish to donate to advoCATS. Donations up to $249. qualify for this opportunity to help local charity organizations. Since the program began in 1999, a total of more than $12.3 million has been raised for the community.

Mahalo for Giving “Aloha” to the Cats!