Re: KittyKind as a symbol--LONG LONG response!
Hi, I agree with you whole heartily. I have had to say "no" as my limit was at 18 and that is in a one bedroom condo. There are people who just do not realize that they are in over their head. As for the dead cats in her backyard..."Come On" The live ones needed the money and time. I know many people who have Freezers just for the remains until they can dispose of them.
Re: KittyKind as a symbol--LONG LONG response!
Very well said. Thank you for reminding us to get all the facts before we judge.
RE: KittyKind as a symbol--LONG LONG response!
Ok, I too have been reading things online and I even went to www.kittykind.org looks nice, but I have also read that 200 cats in one year.come on we all have had sick and elderly cats but 200 in a 12 month time period that is an average of 16.66 a month that means more than half of the month one cat died A DAY...there is something wrong here. As to taking the other cats out of the home, where would they put them? There are always alternitives, spay, neuter and medicate, then release into a safe farm land environmentkeep the elderly as they have special needs and the too sickly to medicate but otherwise fix me up and if no one can adopt them, they can even be tagged, all my cats have a chip in the neck, if they are lost they can be returned. Then let the kitties be free to roam, farms and farm land can be heaven for a kitty, all those mice and such yummy I do not agree with all you say, but then again I am a firm believer in an eye for an eye, and if you do me or my family, furr or child, wrong watch out my wrath is great. Cherie"MacKenzie, Kerry N." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: when did we decide that a newspaper version of ANYTHING is accurateand fair? what sells papers? "woman overwhelmed with departed cats;living ones in good shape?"I know nothing about the case except what I read here on the list, andas MaryChristine points out you certainly cannot take newspaper articlesas gospel---they're always slanted, it's the nature of the business.So, I feel unqualified to weigh in, apart from to thank MaryChristinefor a well-balanced and carefully considered reminder of all the factorsthat should be taken into account.Kerry-Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED][mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of TenHouseCatsSent: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 2:50 PMTo: FeLVTalkSubject: KittyKind as a symbol--LONG LONG response!okay, here goes--this has been in draft form for a number of hoursnow. i know it won't be popular, i just hope that it does makepeople stop for a bit and maybe challenge themselves.while i am not in ny/nj area, and have no personal experience withKittyKind, i have heard excellent things about thisshelter/group from folks who arefrom what i gather, marlene took home the sickly ones--the ones none ofthe other rescues would touch. the sick, the elderly, the severelyabused before they reach our care--these cats DIE, withheart-wrenching regularity. and no one who hasn't accepted the care ofa large number of the most-unfortunate seem to face that reality. andhow many have ever thought about what THEY would do, in the winter, inthe north, with the earthly remains of these finally-free cats?no one seems to notice that they didn't remove the living cats fromher custody--even if i didn't have a real understanding of how thesethings can happen--that would be enough for me to question howterrible the conditions/her care really were.38 cats in one room? well, depends on the size of the cats, the sizeof the room, the number of litter boxes, the number of windows, theventilation, the toys/cat-trees, the number of volunteers who come into cuddle and clean. having a roof over their heads, regular food andwater, observant medical care, playtime and affection--to ferals andstays, this is heaven.from what i've read from various sources, there were two groups ofcats in the house: 38 were in one group, 10 in the other. to me, thatsounds as if there was intentional segregation done, most likely, forhealth reasons (those being treated for uris, need food intakemonitored, chronic diarrhea), ie, the cats' benefit. as someone elsesaid, including that of too many vets!--even having one FeLV cat inthe house would be construed as mixing the quick and the dead. 38cats in a 10 x 12 room; not a good idea; 38 cats in a 24 x 30 room?whole different story. unless you have visited a sanctuary settingwhere the cats are free to roamwithin their own space, and have plenty of comforts (or, as bestfriends puts it re: housing FeLVs, "intellectualstimulation"--picturing here a full video collection and library!),most people have no idea of how well the cats get along, and howwell-adjusted they can be.cremation is VERY expensive if you are talking about 200 cats. whenyou're a 501(c)3, you have access to medication and testing kits,greatly-reduced food costs, and, frequently, vet care at an lowerrate. i'm not sure why her chosing to spend her money on the livingcats is to be faulted so strongly, especially when medical care on alarge scale is far less expensive than when one is doing it on anindividual basis.did she take on more than she could handle? probably--something ithink we ALL struggle with at one time or another. could she haveasked for help before the authorities got involved? probably. wasputting the bodies outside unburied a good idea--obviously not! noneof this says one word about whether these cats were loved and caredfor when it mattered.please don't forget that another thing she did was take
RE: KittyKind as a symbol--LONG LONG response!
when did we decide that a newspaper version of ANYTHING is accurate and fair? what sells papers? "woman overwhelmed with departed cats; living ones in good shape?" I know nothing about the case except what I read here on the list, and as MaryChristine points out you certainly cannot take newspaper articles as gospel---they're always slanted, it's the nature of the business. So, I feel unqualified to weigh in, apart from to thank MaryChristine for a well-balanced and carefully considered reminder of all the factors that should be taken into account. Kerry -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of TenHouseCats Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 2:50 PM To: FeLVTalk Subject: KittyKind as a symbol--LONG LONG response! okay, here goes--this has been in draft form for a number of hours now. i know it won't be popular, i just hope that it does make people stop for a bit and maybe challenge themselves. while i am not in ny/nj area, and have no personal experience with KittyKind, i have heard excellent things about this shelter/group from folks who are from what i gather, marlene took home the sickly ones--the ones none of the other rescues would touch. the sick, the elderly, the severely abused before they reach our care--these cats DIE, with heart-wrenching regularity. and no one who hasn't accepted the care of a large number of the most-unfortunate seem to face that reality. and how many have ever thought about what THEY would do, in the winter, in the north, with the earthly remains of these finally-free cats? no one seems to notice that they didn't remove the living cats from her custody--even if i didn't have a real understanding of how these things can happen--that would be enough for me to question how terrible the conditions/her care really were. 38 cats in one room? well, depends on the size of the cats, the size of the room, the number of litter boxes, the number of windows, the ventilation, the toys/cat-trees, the number of volunteers who come in to cuddle and clean. having a roof over their heads, regular food and water, observant medical care, playtime and affection--to ferals and stays, this is heaven. from what i've read from various sources, there were two groups of cats in the house: 38 were in one group, 10 in the other. to me, that sounds as if there was intentional segregation done, most likely, for health reasons (those being treated for uris, need food intake monitored, chronic diarrhea), ie, the cats' benefit. as someone else said, including that of too many vets!--even having one FeLV cat in the house would be construed as mixing the quick and the dead. 38 cats in a 10 x 12 room; not a good idea; 38 cats in a 24 x 30 room? whole different story. unless you have visited a sanctuary setting where the cats are free to roam within their own space, and have plenty of comforts (or, as best friends puts it re: housing FeLVs, "intellectual stimulation"--picturing here a full video collection and library!), most people have no idea of how well the cats get along, and how well-adjusted they can be. cremation is VERY expensive if you are talking about 200 cats. when you're a 501(c)3, you have access to medication and testing kits, greatly-reduced food costs, and, frequently, vet care at an lower rate. i'm not sure why her chosing to spend her money on the living cats is to be faulted so strongly, especially when medical care on a large scale is far less expensive than when one is doing it on an individual basis. did she take on more than she could handle? probably--something i think we ALL struggle with at one time or another. could she have asked for help before the authorities got involved? probably. was putting the bodies outside unburied a good idea--obviously not! none of this says one word about whether these cats were loved and cared for when it mattered. please don't forget that another thing she did was take in the cats that no one else would. there was something about her behavior giving the volunteers permission to do the same thing--if more people WOULD take in the most-undesirable, then no one single person would ever find themselves in this situation again. hopefully what her volunteers, and everyone else when they put themselves in her place, will learn is to ask for help when it's needed, to take a hard look at their own limits, and work to find ways to create the no-kill nation that maddie's fund promotes. when did we decide that a newspaper version of ANYTHING is accurate and fair? what sells papers? "woman overwhelmed with departed cats; living ones in good shape?" every shelter/sanctuary i know of has freezers full of the left-behind bodies--it's just something that the general public doesn't think about, or want to know about. how long they're been there before they can be buried or otherwise disposed of depends on the available freezer space, as well as the method of disposal and, in the case of burial, the wea
