December 2008 Newsletter

All About Spay Neuter Inc.
December 2008 Newsletter
Sam pson and Delilah wish you Happy Holidays !!
In this edition........
In this edition ....
All About Spay Neuter
Receives TNR Contract from
Town of Oyster Bay
Madison Square Garden Cat
Show
Director Certified in Technical
Animal Rescue
Meet Dr. Ellen Leonhardt
The Story of Jackie
Fundraiser in the Works
Happy Holidays from the Director
Once again, another record year for All About Spay Neuter Inc.
Without your help, love, compassion, and generosity, we could never
achieve what we did.
Sadly our economy is reaching recession quickly. Billions of dollars
are being spent on trying to revive the economy, while our homeless
ferals suffer. The feral population is growing exponentially because
people cannot afford spay/neuter prices at local veterinarians.
Local governments have every excuse as to why they do not have
the money to take care of a problem that WE started. Unspayed
and unneutered pets being thrown out to the curb, not only to fend
for themselves, but they continue to reproduce. With the economy
the way it is, we will be seeing more and more pets abandoned on
the street, as peoples mortgages foreclose and they are forced to
move to places that are not pet friendly.
It has never been clearer that we must make our politicians
responsible for taking care of the sterilization of these feral cats.
They must realize that this problem is not going away. We must
impress upon them that TNR (trap/neuter/return) is costing the
taxpayers nothing while euthanizing an animal at the local shelter is
costing hundreds of dollars to the taxpayers. The towns of Long
Island must be more proactive, like Town of Oyster Bay who
instituted a feral cat program last year. More monies must be
budgeted for these programs. Feral Cat Advisory Committees must
put pressure on our legislators to get the job done - stop talking and
start doing.
be dugeted to these programs.
Our Statistics for the year
2008
Life on the Streets
A very Happy Holiday season to you and your families filled with
warmth, joy, love, health, peace and happiness. My sincere thanks
to all.
Joanne Monez, Director
Events of the Year 2007
Adopted Kitties
All About Spay Neuter Receives TNR
Contract from Town of Oyster Bay
Finally someone in Long Island government understands. In 2008,
All About Spay Neuter Inc. received a third of a TNR contract from
Town Of Oyster Bay. The Town budgeted $ 24,000.00 for TNR in
the 2008 year, $ 8000.00 being distributed to each of the three
animals rescue groups that participated. The program started midApril 2008. By July, All About Spay Neuter Inc. was finished with our
monies. It was a large help to be able to help the feral cats located
in the Town of Oyster Bay.
This is MuShu. She is a CH
special needs kitty that was
adopted to a wonderful fam ily
in Manhattan
According to the Town of Oyster Bay, monies will be budgeted for
the 2009 year. They also propose to open up a small spay/neuter
clinic for residents to take their feral cats. We thank Island Rescue
for spaying/neutering all the cats that we trapped for the Town of
Oyster Bay.
Madison Square Garden Cat Show
A Huge Success
This is gorgeous Jake. He too was
adopted at the cat show at Madison
Square Garden and now resides in
Brooklyn with his new M om and
brother
All About Spay Neuter Inc, a participating organization of the Mayors
Alliance for New York City Animals was invited on Sunday, October
19, 2008 to attend the Madison Square Garden Cat Show. Above
the cat show, on the Madison Square Garden terrace, over twenty
(20) rescue organizations showed their adoptable cats and kittens,
in hope of finding them very special homes. Our organization
brought seventeen (17) kittens that were spayed/neutered, tested
negative for feline leukemia and feline AIDS, dewormed, vaccinated,
and microchipped. We found homes for ALL seventeen (17) of the
kittens that we brought. They ranged in ages from 8 weeks to 4
months, some with special needs. This portion of the cat show was
sponsored by CFA (nonprofit Cat Fanciers Association) along with
the Mayor’s Alliance for New York City Animals. We thank the
Mayors Alliance for letting us participate in this wonderful event.
Director Attends Technical
Animal Rescue Course
This is Mittens. She is a beautiful
m edium haired black/white girl
that was adopted to a wonderful
fam ily. Her other four litter
m ates were adopted too
October 31, 2008, November 1 & 2, 2008 the Director of All About
Spay Neuter Inc. attended a technical animal rescue course
sponsored by the ASPCA. Little did Joanne know that she would be
swimming off the North Shore of Long Island on Saturday. The
course certified her in Technical Animal Rescue and taught all
different techniques of animal rescue in catastrophic situations such
as flood water rescue and rope rescue. The course was attended by
the ASPCA disaster response team and was taught by Kim Little of
Rescue Tech International. A great time was had by all. Thank you
ASPCA for sponsoring such a wonderful course.
The Story of Jackie O
Jackie O before surgery - her right
hind leg was severed at the knee
The marshes and empty hangers of Kennedy Airport are home to
many feral cats. Many rescue groups have offered TNR to stop the
reproduction, but their help has been refused. How sad is it that
Port Authority finds the feral cats at Kennedy such a nuisance that
they have hired an exterminator to remove the cats? Many rescue
groups and individual caretakers have stepped up, pulling these feral
cats from the Brooklyn Center for Animal Care and Control (a high
kill city shelter) and relocating them to their own backyards and
finding “outdoor homes” for them.
All About Spay Neuter has been assisting some of these caretakers
with trapping and spay/neuter assistance. So when one of the
workers at Kennedy airport called Joanne frantically to tell her that
another airport employee had given her a box of 5 kittens that were
found where the Jet Blue parking garage had just been knocked
down, Joanne insisted that she bring the kittens to her.
From walking on her injury, it kept
breaking open and was very painful to
Jackie O
The kittens were approximately 4-5 weeks old, all five were grey
tabby girls. As she took them out of the box, Joanne noticed
immediately that one was missing half of her back leg. The kittens
were fostered for weeks before the other four were spayed and
adopted. But this little kitty needed major surgery to have her leg
amputated. We decided to call this kitty Jackie O.
When Jackie O turned approximately 3-4 months, we took her to Dr.
Ellen Leonhardt who examined her and told us that this was an
injury, not a birth defect. So this little kitty had been severely injured
in her four weeks she spent outdoors in pain, but still had a warm
and loving heart. Dr. Leonhardt amputated her leg and spayed her
at the same time. She came back to foster for a week and than had
her stitches removed the following week. She was adopted to a
wonderful woman who lives on Shelter Island and keeps us informed
weekly with pictures.
Here is this beautiful kitty resting after
surgery at her foster home
Jackie O is just one of the brave and strong kitties that we rescue
that have an intense desire to survive. I hope this story reminds us
that with kindness and compassion we can make a difference in an
animal’s life.
Fundraiser in the Works
It is hard for us at All About Spay Neuter to plan a fundraiser as we
are out in the streets every chance we get, performing TNR,
rescuing sick and injured kittens, and fostering kittens until they are
ready to be adopted into safe, wonderful homes. But this year, we
are planning a fundraiser. One hundred percent (100%) of the
monies raised will be put towards sterilization of feral cats. We
anticipate a March/April 2009 date.
Jackie O in her new forever hom e
We ask you to help us with this fundraiser. If you can donate any
goods or items for auction, gift certificates, your creativity or baking
skills, or time, please call Joanne at (516) 967-4648.
Dr. Ellen Leonhardt
Our Kitties Best Friend
In past newsletters we have spoken about Dr. Randon Feinsod, who
had helped our rescue tremendously. For the past year, since he
left, we have searched for a vet with his compassion, knowledge and
understanding of the rescue world.
Well, we have found her......Dr Ellen Leonahardt, of Animal General
of East Norwich.
After five hours of patience, this feral cat
that lived in a colony of fifty (50) cats was
trapped. It appears that the cat had a
horrific eye infection. But after brining him
to Dr. Leonhardt, she told us that this poor
kitty had a huge tumor on his face. He was
humanely euthanized to end his suffering.
This is just one of the many kittens that
we brought to Dr. Leonhardt this year.
After a virus broke out, Anim al General
of East Norwich nursed m any of our
kitties back to health, spending hours
syringe feeding them and treating them .
Dr. Leonhardt has helped us with some pretty amazing cases :
A pregnant cat was trapped at Kennedy Airport. Early morning on
the day she was scheduled for spay, she gave birth to a stillborn
kitten. On her way to the spay/neuter clinic she gave birth to another
stillborn kitten. We decided to bring the cat to Dr. Leonhardt. We
arrived with the cat at 5PM on a Friday evening. She took an x-ray
the cat and she determined that there were two more kittens inside
her. Dr. Leonhardt performed emergency surgery on her and called
us at 8PM that Friday to tell us that the kittens were not alive, but the
Mom was fine. We picked her up on Saturday and she was released
to her colony a week later.
She would have died with out the
intervention of Dr. Leonhardt.
A caretaker of a feral cat that was already spayed by All About Spay
Neuter called to tell us that the cat was limping. We trapped the cat
and brought her to Dr. Leonhardt. She had a huge abscess on her
leg. Dr. Ellen cleaned the wound, and put a drain in it so that it
would heal. She kept the feral cat for three days and than released
her to us, where we kept her on antibiotics for another week. She
was returned to her colony and now is a happy and healthy little girl.
We feel blessed to have met such a wonderful, caring, and
compassionate doctor like Dr. Leonhardt and look forward to saving
many lives together.
Packages Under Our Tree
Dr. Leonhardt
All About Spay Neuter Inc., is a 501c(3) non-for-profit animal rescue.
We primarily rely on private donations to keep our rescue operating.
Besides monetary donations, we are always in need of the following
items :
COUPONS - dog or cat coupons
W et cat or kitten food, dry kitten food
Cat litter - any type
.
These two beautiful girls were just dum ped
last week in Queens. They are
approxim ately 8 weeks old.
Baby Food - Gerber Stage 1 or Beechnut Stage 2,
chicken and broth or turkey and broth
Baby blankets or sm all pet beds
Life on the Streets
The Cat with NO Face
One evening a frantic call came in from a volunteer. She had
seen a cat with “no face” behind a deli. The cat was living in a
cardboard box. Joanne told her to trap the cat. The volunteer
brought the cat to Joanne in tears that she had never seen
anything like this before. She had left a note at the spot where
she found the cat stating that the cat was going to be taken to a
vet.
The cat with “no face” that Nassau
County SPCA investigated All About
Spay Neuter and Massapequa Pet Vet for
euthanizing
Early the next morning, Joanne brought the cat to Dr. Ned
Horowitz of Massapequa Pet Vet. The stench of infection filled
the office and Dr. Horowitz immediately came to see the cat. No
one in the office had ever seen such an awful sight. Not only was
the cat’s whole face deteriorated away, but she was emaciated
and had fleas. There was no choice but to humanely euthanize
this poor girl and put her out of her miserable being.
Later that day, Joanne was contacted by Nassau County SPCA.
They had been investigating this situation and told Joanne that
she had no right to euthanize the cat. They claimed the cat was
“owned” by a man named John and if she returned the remains
to John than John would not sue her. Joanne refused saying that
John did not have the right to this cats remains as he left her
suffering and living in a cardboard box for over one year.
This beautiful spayed female was shot at
a local state park. State police are still
investigating but Nassau County SPCA
refused to investigate because the cat
was removed from the scene.
How dare Nassau County SPCA be aware of this situation and
not do something to stop the suffering of this poor animal ? It is
appalling that All About Spay Neuter Inc and Massapequa Pet
Vet were investigated by Nassau County SPCA for this incident.
They should have been applauded. Thank goodness this poor
kitty now rests in peace.
Cat Shot at State Park
This spayed female cat som ehow got her
head stuck in the glass jar. It took the
caretaker over four days to finally get
the cat. She was imm ediately rushed to
Island Rescue to have the jar removed
from her head. She was given fluids
and was quite anxious to eat after that
ordeal.
One afternoon, Marion, one of our wonderful volunteers, was
feeding a colony of cats where she is one of the caretakers for,
in a parking lot of a state park. She noticed that one of the cats
was dragging it hind legs around. The cat had been fine that
morning. She immediately trapped the cat and took it to Dr.
Leonhardt. Dr. Leonhardt x-rayed the cat and found out that the
cat had been shot by a pellet gun. The cat was shot on the tip of
the spine, paralyzing the cat from the waist down. There was no
choice but to humanely euthanize the cat. Once again, Dr.
Leonhardt to the rescue.
All About Spay Neuter immediately notified Nassau County SPCA
about the incident. They told us that since we moved the cat that
they could not investigate the incident. We felt that the cat
needed to be seen by a vet immediately. Dr. Leonhardt, after she
euthanized the cat removed the pellet and gave us the x-rays.
Marion and Joanne went to Park Police, who took the incident
very serious and is still investigating it.
Our 2008 Moms
2008 Statistics
The year 2008 has far surpassed all of our expectations. To date
we have spayed/neutered over nine hundred fifty (950) feral cats
and kittens and December has just started. This exceeds our
numbers from last year. Since September 2004, our grand total
is over three thousand (3000) cats that have been trapped,
neutered, and returned. Just imagine how many births have
been prevented by spay/neuter intervention of over 900 cats and
kittens....and still more to be done.
Mom is reunited with her kitties
that were found in a wishing well.
And these are not random cats, they are all TNR’ed by colonies.
We do not leave a location until 95%-100% of all the cats are
sterilized.
It has been a pleasure to see how many people have made these
feral cats part of their families, providing them with the life
essentials of food, water and shelter.
This Mom was reunited with her kittens
after hours of searching. Sadly, after
she was returned to her colony, she was
hit by a car and died.
Special thanks to all that make this possible.....the veterinarians
and staff of wonderful organizations like the ASPCA, Island
Rescue, Dr. Ellen Leonardt, Dr.Ned Horowitz, and Dr. Senk.
We cannot forget all the trappers that spend countless hours and
time to trap, transport, and recover these cats.
This year, and our Christmas kittens are not included yet, one
hundred forty (140) kittens and cats have been placed into safe
adoptive homes. Since September 2004 over five hundred forty
(540) cats and kittens have been adopted.
Mother’s Day Was Every Day This Year
Never let a cat out of the trap.....
This year was a pretty incredible year for trapping mother cats
and than finding their litters.
One mother, from Holbrook, we had no idea she was nursing
when we trapped her. After we picked her up from Island Rescue
after she was spayed, the doctor told me there were little kittens
in the field. Rob and Joanne went back to Holbrook and search
a deserted lot for three hours until finally at 11PM we found the
kittens, all snuggled together in a plant pot lying on its side.
This beautiful pure white cat was
dum ped in Far Rockaway....pregnant.
A wonderful school teacher brought
her to All About Spay Neuter where we
spayed her the next day. These two
kittens were orphaned and being bottle
fed. Squeaky heard the kittens crying
and started to care for them , keeping
them warm and clean. In three days,
she started to produce m ilk and cared
for them until they were ready for
adoption. How am azing is she ? Not
m uch later, she got adopted and is
living a luxurious life on the north
shore of Long Island.
Another litter was rescued from Amityville in a wishing well on a
neighbors front lawn. The litter was only days old, with their eyes
still closed. Trapping of the mother was unsuccessful after the
kittens were taken out of th wishing well. A trap was lent to the
caretaker who trapped the mother cat the same evening and she
was reunited with her kittens.
Never let a cat out of the trap. A rule that one trapper has
learned very well this year. After she trapped a tortoiseshell cat
last year and the caretakers refused to pay to have the cat
spayed, she released it. This year the caretaker called her to tell
her the cat was pregnant. She trapped the cat and she gave birth
to four little kittens in the trap.
Seasons Greetings to All !!
Every day is a new experience in animal rescue, but one thing that
does not change is all the wonderful people we meet along the way.
To our supporters, who understand our mission - to reduce the feral
population through TNR, thank you.
`
This adorable tabby girl will be one of
our stocking stuffers for the holidays
To our wonderful feral caretakers, we love you for helping those that
cannot help themselves. You have shown your love by opening up
your backyards, places of employment, places you visit, to make a
home for a homeless cat. Food, water and sheltering is an integral
part in the survival of our feline friends.
To our adopters, we cannot thank you enough. You have opened
your home to a homeless kitten who would have lived its life on
the streets if not for you. They will show you their gratitude every
day of their lives.
Our gorgeous long haired
Delilah will make som eone the
purrrrfect present
Our rescue is built on the dedication of our volunteers. Our
newest and most outstanding volunteer is Laurie, who has done
independent rescue her whole life. We could never have
achieved all that we have this year without her. She donates her
time, above and beyond to help the homeless. Florence and
Marion, our beach girls, have come and helped this year with our
kittens and we cannot thank them enough. Renee, our teacher,
was a wonderful help this summer. Rob, who helped us at the
beginning of the year and had to leave due to personal reasons,
we look forward to your return.
Please Open Your Hearts....
to Help Us Help the Homeless
Our rescue operates through your generosity.
Please remember how we have helped you with TNR, found
safe adoptive homes for your kittens, taken dumped friendly
cats and placed them in great homes, and how many other
rescue groups said NO to you when you were in need.
This adorable kitty will keep you warm
all winter
YES, I will donate to help All About Spay Neuter Inc.
Name _________________________________________
Address _______________________________________
City __________________ State _________ Zip _______
Enclosed is my tax deductible donation $ _____________
Please return to :
The beautiful Roxanne was found
pregnant on the streets of Far
Rockaway with nothing to eat except a
dirty napkin
All About Spay Neuter Inc.
P. O. Box 140098
Howard Beach, New York 11414
THANK YOU !!!!
Thank Yous and Purrs
Please help us continue to
help the homeless animals
by pledging your support.
Please mail your tax
deductible donation to :
All About Spay Neuter Inc.
P. O. Box 140098
Howard Beach, New York
11414
Phone :
(516) 967-4648
(516) 850-1061
E-Mail :
[email protected]
Please visit our website :
www.AllAboutSpayNeuter.com
.
ALL (100%)
of your donation will be used
to help an animal in need.
Our number one thanks goes to Dr. Ellen Leonhardt. She has helped us
tremendously this year with our feral cats and kittens too. To the other
doctors at Animal General of East Norwich and to your amazing staff, we
thank you.
Chris, Aimee, Joel, the staff and doctors of the APSCA.... WE LOVE
YOU !!!! Your continued compassion to the feral cats of New York City
is unbelievable and we could not help as many as we do without you.
Angela, Debbie, the veterinarians and staff of Island Rescue - kudos to
you - providing top quality, high volume, and low cost feral spay/neuter
to Long Islanders.
Dr. Ned Horowitz and his amazing staff, for their commitment and
dedication to the rescued animals we bring him.
Jessica Frohman, and the staff of Alley Cat Allies, your guidance and
constant support is much appreciated. You prove, every day, that TNR
does work and we are not seeking the impossible dream.
Theresa, President of For Animal Inc., we are so happy for you achieving
your 501c(3) status. Congrats to you and the many animals you are
always helping.
Hailey Greenberg, and the staff of Greenberg and Merola LLC, who
proved to us that it is all about the animals welfare.
And to our friend, Ashot, who has made us feel we are not alone in our
fight to save to homeless.
Happy Holidays to All !!