Valentina-The Heart of your Home

Luca-Cat of the Month- October

Valentina-Urgent Home Needed

Volunteer of the Month-October

Opal, a KittyKind special needs rescue, featured on Desire to Inspire

Opal, a special needs rescue, was featured on the Pets on Furniture series of the design blog Desire to Inspire. She looks gorgeous sitting on her red chair, watching over her home!

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Totsie and Whiksers- Friends for Life

First, we brought home Totsie, a six month old calico. The previous owner, a teenaged girl, had named her Tootsie and had even written her name on her carrier with stickers. It seems, though, she only had one “O” sticker because she spelled the name Totsie. We loved that version of the name and kept it. Sometimes she’s Hotsie Totsie.

Then, a couple of weeks later, we brought home Silver Boy, a handsome silver tabby. He’d been at KittyKind for quite some time and, before that, in a small apartment with 20 other cats. He was really afraid of people and did not want to be touched at all. The first week, we just kept him in the bathroom and he was very unwilling to come out of his carrier when we went in there to visit him. We did, however, observe signs that he was coming out when he was by himself such as the bathtub duck not being in it’s usual place and unrolled toilet paper. Lots of toilet paper. Little did we realize what we were in for.

We moved him to the bedroom and eventually he and Totsie met face to face. There was some hissing at first, but they quickly got comfortable around each other, especially when there were toys to be played with. Over the weeks, he’s become more and more at home, largely due to Totsie’s efforts. She gives him lots of the attention he clearly craves from another cat such as playing and licking. She doesn’t bully him or let him bully her. She even shows him that it’s okay to let people give you pets. After a few weeks of this, he started to let us pet him sometimes. We named him Whiskers.

Now, there’s playing all the time in our apartment. Playing with the bathtub duck. Playing with crinkle balls. Playing with a pea that has fallen to the floor when dinner was being made. Their favorite is double playing; with one hand, you shake the fishing rod toy for Whiskers while, with the other hand, you throw a milk ring for Totsie to play fetch with. They can do this forever. Really.

Whiskers still isn’t completely normal. We can only pet him sometimes and picking him up is out of the question. He may continue to warm up to us or he may not. Still, he seems happy now and Totsie’s happy to have someone to play with too. We wouldn’t give them up for anything.

Thanks so much, Leslie

NYC Must Add More Shelters

You Can Help! NYC Must Create More Animal Shelters

The ASPCA applauds a decision by the New York State Supreme Court to uphold a 2000 law mandating the existence of full-service animal shelters in all five New York City boroughs. In last week’s ruling, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Shafer gave the City 60 days to come up with a plan to implement the law which will ultimately allow for more animals to be adopted and fewer to be euthanized.

While the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island are each outfitted with New York City Animal Care and Control shelters, the Bronx and Queens have only part-time animal receiving centers. Animals in these two boroughs are routinely sent to Manhattan and Brooklyn, where shelters quickly reach capacity, resulting in the euthanasia of healthy pets. Although funds were allocated for a full-service shelter in each borough, the City has not yet taken steps to purchase sites in the Bronx and Queens.
“Each New York City borough, by law, was required to have a full-service animal shelter by July 1, 2006,” states Michelle Villagomez, ASPCA Senior Manager of Advocacy & Campaigns. “The ASPCA has been urging New York City for years to fulfill its mandate and provide the people and animals of Queens and the Bronx with these shelters.”

In January 2009, the nonprofit group Stray from the Heart sued the City, reasoning that its failure to set up animal shelters in the Bronx and Queens resulted in the “needless suffering and death of homeless cats and dogs.” In its lawsuit, the group charged: “Homeless dogs have been dying in unconscionable numbers because the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has not provided the shelter space required by statute.”

Notes Villagomez, “Not only are healthy, innocent animals being euthanized before getting a chance at adoption, but residents of these boroughs are tax-paying New Yorkers and deserve the same services that residents in the other three boroughs receive.”

The City of New York plans to appeal the court’s decision.

How You Can Help

The impact of the shelter shortage is felt city-wide—even in the three boroughs that currently have shelters. Please phone your representative on the New York City Council and urge him or her to support the establishment of full-service animal shelters in all five boroughs.

“Vacancy” Pet Adoption Ads in NYC Subway Stations Next Week!

Watch for “Vacancy” Pet Adoption Ads in NYC Subway Stations Next Week!

“Vacancy” Ad Campaign asks New Yorkers, “Is there room in your life for a homeless pet?”

From September 28 until October 25, a series of intriguing print ads will pose a simple question to New York City subway riders: Is there room in your life for a homeless pet?

The advertising campaign was created to encourage New Yorkers to adopt their next pet from a shelter or rescue group instead of purchasing from a pet store. The Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals worked with Filter Advertising in New York City (who created the ads pro-bono) to develop the ads two years ago for an outdoor poster campaign that ran for a month throughout the city. Now the campaign has been recast to reach the tremendous audience of New York City subway riders.

The campaign’s revival was made possible as a result of the successful fundraising efforts by TAILS (Toward Animals In Loving Spaces) of the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals — a group of young New York philanthropists who work with the Mayor’s Alliance to help achieve its goal of transforming NYC into a no-kill community by 2015. TAILS raised the funds to place the ads at a spring fundraiser held specifically to fund the campaign. The timing of this campaign corresponds with the New York Week for the Animals, which takes place October 10-18 and features a wide range of animal-related events throughout New York State, including adoption events, spay/neuter clinics, microchipping clinics, and many more events that celebrate the importance of animals in our lives.

The ads’ creators developed the “Vacancy” campaign as a simple, graphic and emotional approach to pet adoption based on a single premise: asking New Yorkers if they have room in their lives for a homeless pet. The situations depicted in the series of five ads show people in recognizable settings where a dog or cat would naturally be present. But instead of a cat or dog, the absence of a pet is suggested by a “vacancy” sign. For example, one of the ads features a sleeping young couple, and at the foot of the bed (where there could very well be a dog or a cat) is a vacancy sign. The tagline states, “Is there room in your life for a homeless pet?”

“We are excited to launch our first advertising campaign in the NYC subways, and hope that it will increase responsible pet adoptions in our city and decrease the number of homeless pets at our city shelters,” says Jane Hoffman, President of the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals. “We’re grateful for the efforts made by the TAILS fundraisers and also Filter Advertising, who were the driving forces behind this moving campaign.”

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With Jezzy, Never a Dull Moment

Jezebel (Jezzy) earned a place in our hearts immediately.  This little lady took our apartment by storm and instantly bonded with her 5-year-old brother kitties Cricket and Cali and 7-month-old human brother Sean.  She has so much energy and spunk (so much so that we often call her Jazzercise)!  She loves running around, chasing strings, sitting on our laps and napping next to Cricket and Cali.  She has a heart of gold and we are thankful that she’s in our lives.  Thank you, Kitty Kind!

Jenny & Steven

Zoltan, the City Cat Explorer

When Zoltan came home with us, I assumed he would stay in the carrier for the night and be very nervous, but instead, he jumped right out and started exploring.

He is definitely a city cat, not afraid of anything including loud noises, which is a relief since my vacuum must wake up the neighbors every time I use it!

He loves, loves, loves to play especially with the toy mice and string! He is so excited when we get home at night and never forgets to wake us up every morning at 7am!

Even though we took Zoltan in as a foster kitty for a few days, we fell in love with him immediately. He was so friendly and loving and fit right in the family!

Marine