By Nomi Berger
 
Have you thought of adding some new and different resolutions to your traditional New Year’s list?

Have you ever thought of getting involved in the world of rescue, but didn’t quite know how?
 
Here then, are twelve different ways – one for each month of the year – for you to resolve to make a difference in the lives of rescue animals this year. Even if you choose only one, that choice will make all the difference in the world.
 
1. Contact a local rescue organization that “speaks to you” and ask to volunteer for them. Volunteers form the backbone of every non-profit group, and no group can function without them. Areas always in need of extra hands include reference checking, updating email lists, attending adoption events, planning and attending fundraisers, distributing flyers, pamphlets and brochures, and transport.
 
2. Refer ONE cat-loving friend to the same rescue organization to volunteer alongside you.
 
3. Make a monetary contribution to them online – either as a onetime payment or as recurring monthly payments.
 
4. Read about the other ways you can donate to them – from wish lists to links to various online stores’ web sites – and purchase items both for yourself and them that way.
 
5. Donate your Air Miles points to them for a month.
 
6. Follow their Face Book page, “like” them, “comment” and “share” their postings on a regular basis, and vote for them in various online competitions.
 
7. Instead of accepting birthday gifts this year, ask your friends and family to make contributions to that rescue in your name.
 
8. Host a small fundraiser (bake sales, garage sales and yard sales are among the most popular) and donate the proceeds to that rescue. You will receive not only their gratitude, but a tax receipt as well.
 
9. At your place of work, keep a container on your desk with the name of that rescue on it, and encourage your co-workers to deposit their spare change in it. Once the container is full, bring the change to the bank (already rolled, please), mail a check to the rescue, and begin again.
 
10. Sign petitions online and in person, calling on pet stores to stop selling cats and dogs.
 
11. Foster a cat. Learn precisely what’s required of you, then welcome one very needy and deserving animal into your home temporarily, until he or she can be placed in a permanent home.
 
12. Adopt a rescue cat and save two lives – the life of the one you are adopting, and the life of the one who will immediately take his or her place. 
 
As for next year? Either continue working your way down this list, or resolve to draw up one of you own.
 
 
 
 

 by Nomi Berger
 
“Fostering a cat is not a lifetime commitment, it is a commitment to saving a life.”
 
This is the watchword of cat rescues everywhere.
 
To foster a cat is, quite simply, to save that cat’s life. A foster home provides this same cat with a safe, temporary place of refuge until he/she is ultimately placed in a permanent, adoptive home.
 
Most rescues rely solely on a network of dedicated, volunteer foster homes, and could not survive without them. And rescues NEVER have enough foster homes.
Why? Because there are more cats in need than there are foster homes available to meet that need.
 
There are many benefits to fostering, many pleasant surprises and many unexpected rewards. Foster parents, past and present, describe it as one of the most memorable and gratifying experiences of their lives.
 
Fostering is both a way of enriching the lives of the cats and people involved, and a constructive way for people to give back to their communities. Fostered cats can provide endless hours of entertainment and love for their humans, and provide invaluable life lessons for adults and children alike.
 
By taking a deserving cat into their home, fosters increase that cat’s chances of being adopted. Foster families have the time and the ability to transform their foster cat -- through one-on-one contact, exercise, feeding and training -- into a happy and well mannered companion pet any person or family would be proud to call their own.
 
Fostering provides a needy cat with a stable environment, coupled with love, attention and affection. While the foster family provides the food, the rescue usually provides everything else, including payment of all medical costs to ensure the cat’s ongoing health and wellbeing.
 
Fosters are the essential eyes and ears of rescue. By spending every day with their foster cat, fosters will learn all they can about his/her particular personality. They will be able to identify any behavioral issues that need to be addressed, then work on addressing them.
 
If fosters already have a cat – either their own or another foster -- in residence, all the better. The more animals their foster cat meets, the more socialized he/she will become, the more easily he/she will handle stress, and the more relaxed he/she will be around strangers.
 
For those who have never owned a cat, fostering provides them with the unique opportunity of seeing whether they themselves are suited for permanent “pet parenthood.”
 
But fostering a cat is NOT a form of trial adoption for that particular cat. There is even a term for it: foster failure. The most successful fosters are those who, despite being emotionally invested, know that they are essentially a stepping stone towards their foster cat’s future. And that as one successfully fostered cat leaves their home, another needy and deserving cat is waiting to enter it.
 
Ultimately, then, fostering a cat saves not just one life, but two.

by Nomi Berger
 
Cats, like humans, are creatures of habit. Once comfortable in their surroundings, they are unnerved by change. And trading a familiar home for an unfamiliar one can cause fearfulness and stress. Unless you, the conscientious cat guardian, plan ahead with all the precision of a successful military campaign. Logically, then, moving from one place to another should consist of three stages: preparing for the move; moving day itself; and settling into your new home.
 
PREPARING FOR THE MOVE
Purchase a large, comfortable carrier and give your cat sufficient time to adjust to being in it. Leave it on the floor with the door open and some treats inside. Keep replacing the treats after your cat has retrieved them.
 
Set out your cardboard, moving boxes a few days before you actually begin to pack so that your cat can get used to the sight and scent of them.
 
Maintain your cat’s regular routine for feeding, play and exercise, and quality together time.
 
If your cat becomes anxious as you start packing, place him/her in a quiet room with some toys and treats and keep the door closed. On the other hand, if your cat is an especially nervous cat, boarding him/her in a professional kennel the day before and after the move may be the best solution -- for all of you.
 
Make certain that your cat’s identification tags carry your new address and phone number. But the best precaution -- and the wisest investment you can make -- is an updated microchip implant.
 
MOVING DAY ITSELF
Even before the movers take over the premises, tuck your cat safely away from the center of the storm by closing him/her in a bathroom, together with food, water, a bed and a litter box.
 
To ensure that your cat doesn’t panic and try to escape if the door is opened, put a sign on the door stating that it must remain shut.
 
Your cat should always travel with you, secure in the cat carrier, and not in the moving van.
 
SETTLING INTO YOUR NEW HOME
Put your cat in a room that will remain relatively quiet for awhile. Before opening the carrier, lay out your cat’s food and water dishes, litter box and bed, and place some treats around the room.
Keep your cat in this one “safe” room for a few days, spending time together, soothing and cuddling, and sharing some low-key activities like reading, listening to music or watching TV.
 
Cat-proof your new home as soon as possible. Included in your “must do” list:
tuck drapery, blinds and electrical cords out of reach; plug up narrow spaces where a cat might get stuck; ensure all windows and screens are secure; install childproof latches on your cabinets – particularly those containing cleaning supplies; cover unused electrical outlets with special plastic caps, and keep all toilet seats down.
 
To help acclimatize your cat more quickly, spritz various objects with a pheromone spray or spread your cat’s own scent (gathered from his/her face and neck) with a soft cloth along the walls, doors and furniture.
 
Begin gradually walking your cat through the rest of the place, one room at a time, constantly praising and reassuring him/her as you make the rounds. Over and over again.
 
Restore your cat’s former feeding, playing and exercise schedule so that, hopefully, it will seem that nothing has changed much at all.
 
Cats may be creatures of habit, but they are highly adaptable as well. And so, whether familiar or unfamiliar, old or new, for them, there is still no place like home.
 

By Nomi Berger
 
The problem of cat overpopulation is a global one and requires a solution on a global scale. But like every journey that begins with a single step, this particular journey must begin with every cat owner in every community, town and city in the country. Those conscientious owners who act responsibly by spaying and neutering their cherished family pets.
 
Spaying (ovariohysterectomy) is the surgical removal of a female cat's ovaries and uterus, while neutering (castration) is the removal of a male cat's testicles. To minimize discomfort and pain, both procedures are performed under general anesthesia. Most cats are back to their “normal” selves within a few days, the surgery site usually heals within two weeks, and any skin stitches removed by your vet at a follow up appointment.
 
Did you know that in seven years, an unspayed female and unneutered male cat (and their offspring, if none are spayed or neutered) can result in the births of a staggering 781,250 kittens?
 
And the inevitable outcome? Hundreds of thousands of cats being euthanized each year through no fault of their own. Why? Because they are the tragic, but avoidable, results of over breeding and overpopulation. Why? Because there are too few shelters to house them and too few homes to either foster or adopt them. Why? Because there are still too many cat owners unwilling to spay and neuter their family pets.
 
Both intact male and female cats may try to escape their homes in order to roam outside. Neutering your male will eliminate roaming, urine spraying, and fighting with neighborhood cats. Spaying your female will eliminate the estrus or “heat" behavior of yowling that attracts and invites mounting by roaming males.
 
Despite some owners’ fears, spaying and neutering will not alter their cat's basic personality – except many males will be less aggressive and more docile. Their playfulness, general activity levels, excitement, and vocalization will remain the same. Although neutered males and spayed females may gain weight due to decreased roaming and other sexual behavior outdoors, keeping them active indoors and managing their weight through diet will keep this potential problem under control.
 
Spaying and neutering cats before the age of six months is growing in popularity and the benefits to their health and well being are well documented. Spayed females are less likely to develop breast cancer and won’t be at risk for either ovarian or uterine cancer. Neutered males won’t develop testicular cancer, and without the need to roam, their risk of being injured or infected by other cats is drastically reduced. And males neutered prior to puberty (six months) won’t develop the large head and thick skin of intact males. Early spaying and neutering may also prevent problem behaviors before they occur and may either eliminate or reduce certain behaviors in older cats.
 
Imagine if every conscientious cat owner in every community, town and city in the country took responsibility for spaying and neutering their family pets. Imagine what we, as part of the global community, could accomplish then.