Scratching The Surface Of Cat Rescue

By Nancy K. Crevier

Kitten Associates, Inc, is Newtown’s newest cat rescue program, and is “the new breed of cat rescue,” said president and founder Robin Olson. Formed in September 2010, the non-profit organization differs from other local rescue groups in that it focuses not only on Sandy Hook and Newtown, but utilizes social networking to reach far beyond the borders of town.

An experienced cat rescuer who has fostered cats at her Sandy Hook home for more than five years, Olson branched out on her own last fall when she realized that her popular Covered In Cat Hair blog was a means of helping cats all over the country. The “mostly true stories” of fostering and owning cats has readership worldwide, she said, and she had begun to receive requests from readers for assisting cats. Many of those pleading for help knew of cats in shelters in southern states, where animals are routinely euthanized if not quickly placed. It is not the culture of the south to spay or neuter cats (or dogs), as commonly as happens in northern states, she said. While there are certainly many feral and homeless cats in Newtown and New England, the numbers do not compare to those of southern states, said Olson.

One story in particular tugged at her heartstrings and inspired her to do more.

“A reader told me about Mama Huggie, a cat in Georgia scheduled to be euthanized, along with her two kittens, within 48 hours; then I heard about another mama cat and two more kittens. I decided to stick my neck out, and used my blog contacts to rescue Mama Huggie and the others,” Olson said. The cats arrived in Sandy Hook, and while she figured the kittens would be easy to place, she knew that placing adult animals is always more difficult. “But I had faith. Newtown has some of the best adopters, and sure enough when a family came to look at Mama Huggie’s kittens, they took both of the kittens and the mother cat.”

But bringing all of the needy cats from the south up to her Sandy Hook home was not going to be reasonable or even possible, she knew.

“But I thought, I can’t sit back and not try to help, even in any small way. I have so many connections because my blog is read nationally, and so much support. So I decided to start a non-profit, in the middle of the worst economy since the Great Depression,” said Olson.

As expected, her blog readers have supported her efforts not only emotionally, but financially as well.

“They have helped me pay for transport and care, through another non-profit agency, until mine is completely set up. It costs $75 to transport a cat from Georgia to Connecticut, and then there are veterinarian fees, food, and other costs with each cat,” she said. Fundraisers on the social networks for Kitten Associates, Inc have been quite successful. One fundraiser brought in twice as much money as was needed to help the targeted cat. “That extra money stayed with the veterinarian who performed the surgery, to help other animals,” she added.

She does receive some flack, she said, from people not so understanding as why more cats should be brought into the area for adoption, “But I think that a life saved, is a life saved, no matter where the cat is from,” Olson said. Newtown already has a very good animal rescue program in place, and Kitten Associates supplements that assistance, and reaches out to homeless cats nationwide. Many of the cats do not even arrive in Connecticut before they are placed, thanks to the social network that helps find fostering and forever homes.

There are other things that make Kitten Associates, Inc stand out, Olson said.

“Part of what we do is to encourage legislation for national spay and neuter laws. I have teams on the ground now in Georgia, too, that I can call and say ‘There’s a cat in need at this shelter,’ and the network will get it to a foster home,” she added.

An example of Kitten Associates’ success is that of the story of Sockington and Tweetie.

“There is a cat on Twitter, named Stockington, that has 1.5 million followers, that I had tweeted. Coincidentally, I had taken in a kitten, Tweetie, that looked exactly like Sockington, so I posted Tweetie’s photo on the blog, along with his story,” said Olson. Tweetie was one of four kittens rescued by a local group, she said, and while Tweetie’s siblings were adoptable, this kitten retained a very feral attitude. “He bit me, he bit the other handlers, he was not a good kitten,” recalled Olson. It looked like Tweetie would be returned to the great outdoors as a permanently feral cat, once he had been neutered. “But I didn’t want that to happen, so I begged to keep him,” she said. She worked diligently with the kitten, and slowly he turned around, becoming a very social kitten. “Sockington’s family from Boston saw the blog, and came to visit Tweetie. They loved him so much, they adopted him,” she said, adding that the two cats have become inseparable since. Tweetie even has his own Twitter feed now.

The thing that really sets Kitten Associates, Inc apart from other rescue groups, though, said Ms Olson, is that she and her partner, Sam Moore, are creating free websites anywhere in the US for small “mom and pop” rescue groups that need more powerful tools to place their rescues.

“We both come from advertising promotion backgrounds, and Sam builds communication tools for on-line marketing. We’re taking our knowledge and skills and helping these municipal and private shelters that need better websites,” she said. The sites allow the shelter to solicit volunteers, raise fund, post the animals pictures and link to www.PetFinder.com, “and save lives,” said Olson.

“It helps these shelters to build a local community. They can even blog through the website if they want to,” she said. The partners do not charge for creating the sites, and they do provide training and technical support for using the websites.

“We want users to be able to edit their own websites so that they can make quick and current changes as needed,” she said. Olson and Moore are trying to raise funds through specific grants and sponsorships, in order to build more websites, at no cost to users.

“We recognize that we can’t save all of the animals out there, but we can help others around the country by giving them the tools to help animals at a local level,” she said.

Still, Kitten Associates, Inc does transport many felines to the area for care and adoption.

“What we desperately need right now are local foster homes, so that more cats can be saved,” she said. Foster families are supplied initially with food and litter. “What is mandatory for anyone considering fostering,  is that they have a space in the home that is separate from any other animals. It can be a bathroom or a guest room or whatever, but it must be secure,” she said.

The group is also in need of veterinarians willing to partner with it and provide care to the incoming cats, as well as volunteers skilled in any number of ways. “Any one with expertise in event planning, fundraising, bookkeeping, anything at all, we would love to have come on board,” Olson said.

Kitten Associates, Inc, granted 501c3 status on June 17, always welcomes monetary or supply donations. Specific needs are listed at www.KittenAssociates.org, or tax deductible donations can be mailed to Kitten Associates, Inc, PO Box 354, Newtown CT 06470. Cats and kittens available for adoption are also listed on the website.

But potential adopters may want to be aware of yet one more unique aspect of Kitten Associates, Inc. “We ask our adopting families to sign an agreement that they will not feed dry cat food, ever, to the cat they adopt,” she said. It is her firm belief that the feeding of dry cat food is an unnatural diet that leads to many health problems. Feeding guidelines are outlined on the website, as well.

Kitten Associates, Inc, is currently made up of board members Sam Moore, Jennifer Jasensky and Ms Olson, and can be contacted at 203-744-9228.

“We do national outreach, and we do lots of local and area networking to help cats,” Olson said. “Kitten Associates helps wherever we think we can help.”