Welcome! Pawstock 7. Contents

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1 Welcome! Welcome to the fall 2009 edition of the Thundering Paws newsletter. This issue includes a variety of informative and heart-warming articles to bring you up to date on all the happenings at Thundering Paws. Pawstock 7 by Kay Rolfes Pawstock is our biggest annual fundraiser, a great occasion full of music, food, shopping, and socialization. This year marks the seventh annual Pawstock event, and promises to be better than ever. Please join us on Sunday, October 4th, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., at Casa de Luna s El Arroyo Mexican Cafe, Bee Cave Road at Highway 71. We ll be out back among the trees, just like last year. Bring your friends and plan to stay for dinner, or just stop by for an afternoon break of tasty nachos and margaritas. Our silent auction is a fantastic shopping opportunity, and includes pet products, home décor, fine art, jewelry, gift certificates from area restaurants, and much more. It s a perfect place to find a bargain, or perhaps start your holiday shopping. We ll also have our new t-shirts on sale an updated design and new colors. Get yours while we still have a good selection. The musical line-up includes a diverse collection of styles including The Therapy Sisters original folk/comedy ( Stevie Tombstone s Americana/blues/country style ( pop/classic rock by Jackson ( and T. Tex Edwards special eclectic southern flair. Check the Thundering Paws web site ( for updates on performance times and other acts. Have a great time and support a great cause all at once at Pawstock! See you there! Portia s kittens read their story on page 2 Contents Welcome 1 Pawstock 7 1 Forever Home, Wherefore Art Thou? 2 Heartworms in Cats 2 The Camp Mabry Kitties 2 The Drive for Five 3 Dexter Update 3 Billy Finds a Home 3 In Memoriam: China 4 In Memoriam: Miss Mickey Le Mouse 5 In Memoriam: Oliver Bartholomew 5 Newsletter Contributers 5 Our Direct Deposit Form 6 Page 1

2 Forever Home, Wherefore Art Thou? Portia is a semi-feral long haired, black kitty who came from a managed colony in Austin. A managed colony is the term that feral cat friends use to define a group of feral cats who are cared for by a caretaker, in Portia s case, a kind neighbor to her vacant lot. These people feed the cats, and, even more importantly, spay/neuter everyone they can trap, keeping up with the spaying and neutering of any new cats that show up in the group. Portia showed up very pregnant and, in fact, had her babies before her caretaker could trap her. She and the babies were brought to Thundering Paws so the kittens could get old enough to be spayed/neutered, and adopted to loving homes. Portia will be spayed and vaccinated, and go back to her managed colony when the kittens are old enough. We re often asked if we run out of names for kittens. Well, no. I had just ed with my friend who is a Shakespearean actor when I saw these kittens, so I e- mailed him back and asked for names. We came up with Viola, Desdemona, Othello, and Juliet. Viola is definitely the head kitten, who is always at the front of the cage, talks a lot, and is quite opinionated! They will be available for adoption as soon as they are old enough. We do pre-adoptions however, in case you want one of these darlings. A preadoption means that you select your kitten and give us a financial guarantee that the kitten will be spayed or neutered. This deposit is returned after the surgery is performed. Heartworms in Cats While rare, heartworms do show up in cats. A new snap test, which used to test only for FIV and feline leukemia, now tests for heartworms, too. That s how we found out that Elle was infected. Elle was a sweet kitty living in a feral colony. She was taken to be spayed and, just hoping that she could find a home for her, Julia Hilder, her rescuer, had her tested. Since the newer tests scan for heartworms, too, Julia found out that Elle Elle is positive. Julia appealed to us to take her and we did. We found out from Dr. Leanne Jakubowsky ( Dr. J. to her clients) that there is some evidence that some of the symptoms of heartworm infection may be caused by a parasite within the heartworms, Wolbachia. Heartworms die of natural causes and, at death, emit the Wolbachia into the animal s bloodstream. It is thought that the Wolbachia may be the worst offender in causing the symptoms associated with heartworms. Dr. J. has been treating her heartworm positive patients with Doxycycline to kill the Wolbachia and she feels the results are positive. If an unsymptomatic cat can Mabry Page 2 outlive her heartworms, and does not have to contend with Wolbachia, she may recover. Elle has been treated and is still, six months later, unsymptomatic. We will have her retested when the veterinarian tells us the time is right and we hope to adopt her out, as Elle is not only beautiful but very friendly. The Camp Mabry Kitties Our of our volunteers and board members, Kelly Player, works as a consultant at Camp Mabry, a military installation in Austin. In May, she was looking out the window of her office and

3 saw a small, long-haired black cat trailed by two black kittens and a Siamese kitten. She went out to visit with the cats and the kittens ran, but the mom stayed and allowed Kelly to pet her. Kelly named her Mabry and, realizing the kittens were old enough to take care of themselves, brought her home and then to Thundering Paws. One of the black kittens was friendly, and another person at the installation took him home. Kelly trapped the Siamese kitten without any problem and brought her here the day after her mom arrived. Named Luna, she is beautiful and tailless. Mabry has a shortened tail. They are all Manx mixes. The Memorial Day weekend is usually a fun time for people the start of summer, the first long weekend good for barbecues, swimming, just laying around in lawn chairs. Kelly spent it at work. She wasn t getting paid for it, however, and she wasn t working at her regular job. She was sitting, looking out a window at a spot where she had placed a trap for the last kitten. She called Thundering Paws at 9:30 Monday night. I got him! she said. What do I do with him now? Bring him to me, I said. We named him Dash. He has a stubby tail. Luna was tamed by a loving foster family. Mabry didn t need taming. Dash has been handed around to several households and has gotten tamer with each succeeding foster placement. All are ready for forever homes. The Drive for Five As always, when we are having a fundraiser, we encountered more vet bills. This time it was our most recent rescue who became really ill and had to spend a week at the vet. Rambler is much better, but he is back at the vet for another problem. (The vet told me today that Rambler is his the vet s Main Man. ) We want to thank everyone who participated. The response was overwhelming and we are grateful for the contributions that poured in by $5s and $10s to help care for the animals. Dexter Update In an earlier newsletter, we told the story of Dreyfus, a young feral kitty who ate at one of the colonies of feral cats that we feed daily. Dreyfus didn t want to be feral. He kept bumping against the volunteers, talking, and, ultimately allowed himself to be picked up, put into a carrier, and brought to Thundering Paws. A little skittish at first, Dreyfus calmed down and became a lover boy. Loud noises and quick movements continued to startle him, but he reacted less and less. And he quickly identified volunteers that wanted his sweet attentions. Stephanie Limb, a Sunday afternoon volunteer, would sit on the floor so that Dreyfus could wrap himself around her waist and purr like a locomotive. He seemed to choose Stephanies. A young woman came over to consider adopting a cat. A first time cat owner, Stephanie Janulis talked to many cats here, but it was Dreyfus who chose her. She renamed him Dexter, a perfect name for him, and took him home to Dallas. She sends us pictures regularly and, from the looks of this one, he still likes to drape himself around his chosen friends. Billy Finds a Home Billy, a large brown tabby, was running around acting like a feral cat until Dawn trapped him. He settled down immediately and became a head butter. But Dawn found out that he is FIV positive (FIV+). FIV is the virus that causes kitty AIDS. Like HIV, it is transmitted only in a fairly air-deprived arena, such as during sex, in a deep bite, or by sharing needles (which kitties don t do voluntarily). Billy is a lover, not a fighter, and is retired from sex, but since other cats here could take umbrage at him, bite him, and contract the disease, we put him in a room with our other August is our hardest month. A new, and obviously brilliant, board member came up with The Drive for Five as our August fundraiser. We ed almost everyone on our list and asked that they send us $5, then everyone on their lists and ask the same. Our goal was $5,000 and, while the woman who keeps the figures is out of town and I cannot get an exact count, I am sure we made over $4,000. It paid off some bills to our veterinarians, paid our rent and utilities, and paid some of the outstanding bills to Hill s Science Diet for our cat and dog food. Dexter and his favorite person in the whole world Page 3

4 FIV+ cat, Mason. (Mason really was a feral cat, but he is over that now and is a very cute, if goofy, orange tabby with a formerly broken, badly healed leg.) A couple who have another FIV+ cat, Sarge, slightly smaller and slightly grayer than Billy, applied to adopt Billy. After talking to them, we determined that it would be a great home for Billy and we took him over to meet Larry, Kim and Sarge. Larry and Kim, the humans, were delighted with Billy immediately. Sarge wasn t sure. Sarge followed Billy all over the house. It seemed he was saying, What are you doing in my living room? Hey! What are you doing over there in the laundry room? Why are you in my kitchen? What are you doing in my parents bedroom? Now you re in the bathroom! Why? However, every time Billy would turn around and confront Sarge, they would touch noses with no hissing, spitting, swatting, or bad language, and then Billy would resume his inspection. Having found the house satisfactory, Billy opted to stay. Sarge grumbled a bit, but, we are told, played with Billy after we left. They did have a fur-flying altercation about who would sleep on the bed with the humans, but no one bared China Billy claw nor tooth. The humans told them that the bed is large and they may BOTH sleep on it. We hope they take this information to heart. Keep your fingers crossed, but it looks like Billy may have found his forever home. In Memoriam: China by Dave Harper China, a little brown tabby rescued by Anne Zabolio from a feral colony in Dripping Springs, won me over as soon as she arrived at Thundering Paws. She was very ill with stomatitis, a dreadful disease. I brought her home on December 31, 2006, and over time her health improved somewhat, although she always had her ups and downs and made many visits to the vet. She evolved from being somewhat feral to absolutely the sweetest, most loyal cat companion I have ever had. She followed me everywhere, sat at my side or in my lap, and gave me and her kitty friends (especially her pal Athena) many head bumps each day. She snuggled against my right side, with her head on my shoulder, all night and every night. In early May of this year, China suddenly became very ill with kidney failure. Twice weekly fluids kept her going until early August, when she no longer had the strength to fight the disease. My little China is now at rest at the beautiful and peaceful cemetery on the northwest side of Thundering Paws. I miss her so much and wish she could have been my companion for many more years. Page 4

5 In Memoriam: Miss Mickey Le Mouse by Laura LaMantia Born in Paris, France, Mickey was immediately adopted by a Saudi family and taken back to Saudi Arabia where she grew into one of the most beautiful Persian Angora cats to grace the Earth. I first met Mickey in 1996 when she gracefully sashayed into the attached business office of my driver s home. At that time she was residing with a lovely Pakistani family that had taken her under their wing following concerns for her well being as the Saudi family grew in size. I was immediately struck by her delicate resemblance to the cat that performed in the Fancy Feast commercials back home. Captivated by her beauty and spirit, there were no second thoughts to consider when in 1998 my driver came to me in tears and begged that I take her into my family. He was being repatriated to Pakistan and feared for her safety if she were to accompany his family home. It was very hard for his family to say goodbye to their first and only beloved pet, but they felt they had to do what was best for her under the circumstances. We were proud to be entrusted with someone so valued and took our responsibility to her seriously. Mickey blessed us with her presence on Thanksgiving Day, In September of Mickey Le Mouse 2000, Mickey flew cross-continent once again to arrive in the US and she has proceeded to fill our days with wonderment, entertainment and love ever since. It has been our joy and pleasure to be with her as she learned the wonders of such things taken for granted by western cats such as squirrels, birds, dogs etc. and such frivolities as stuffed mice, cat nip and scratching posts. Such things never did make sense to Miss Mickey and she regularly scoffed at our efforts to engage and entertain her with such odd devices. Instead, Mickey preferred the comforts of a warm sunbeam, a bowl of fresh cream, and an occasional smear of cream cheese shared with her beloved girl. Mickey left us suddenly the morning of Tuesday, September 08, 2009 at the ripe old age of twenty-two. She was just two months shy of her twenty-third birthday which we were looking forward to celebrating with caviar, boiled eggs and crème fraiche hold the onion please. ;) Mickey leaves behind family and loved one s scattered on four continents. Our stunned home echoes with her absence today, and our hearts ache in sorrow for a furry companion that brought so much light, love and laughter to so many. Rest in eternal peace Miss Mousey and know that you were loved more than life itself, and will be painfully missed from now until the end of time. In Memoriam: Oliver Bartholomew by Debby Glick Born January 4, 1999, adopted August 8, It s a Boy! Three weeks after putting down my nineteen year old cat, Muffin, the house seemed very empty. One Sunday I called all the Free Kitten ads in the newspaper. They had already been given homes. The last ad had some older kittens, so I went to see them. I had one picked out and the cat lady was chasing it around the apartment trying to catch him, when this one came and jumped in the carrier and would not get out. I removed him twice, but he kept getting back in. I told the lady I had been chosen, so home we went. He was a little afraid in the car, but after checking it out thoroughly, he sat on the arm rest between the seats and put his left paw on my shoulder, then laid his head there. I was hooked. He had never been out of that apartment. Sadly, he started to go out and was run over by a car March 7, I still miss his sweet purrs. Newsletter Contributers Photos by Kay Rolfes, Dave Harper, Stephanie s friend and Miss Mousey s girl. Formatting and layout by Kay Rolfes. Editing and Kay Rolfes. Page 5

6 Our Direct Deposit Form Won t you let us draft $7.14 (the cost of keeping one cat in food and litter) or more from your bank account monthly, using the form below? In this way we are building an operating budget. It takes close to $6000 a month to run the sanctuary. How we come up with it is miraculous! To do so, we wrack nerves which could better be used to save animals. So please become one of our regular contributors. You will save many, many lives. Thundering Paws A Program of Central Texas Animal Sanctuary P.O. Box 1555 Dripping Springs, TX / Authorization for Direct Deposit (ACH Deposit) of Monthly Donations I authorize Thundering Paws Animal Sanctuary to initiate variable* entries into my account described below: Account Number Checking or Savings Name and address of Bank, Credit Union, or other financial institution Name on Account Telephone ( ) Address Amount $ Draft funds on the 5th of the month or the 20th of the month. Signature Date This authority is to remain in full force and effect until Thundering Paws Animal Sanctuary has received written notification from an authorized individual of its termination in such time and manner as to afford Thundering Paws a reasonable opportunity to act upon it. Please attach a voided check. * The word variable in this instance pertains to the ability of Thundering Paws Animal Sanctuary to draft monies out of the above account and, if a cancellation order is received after a monthly draft has been taken, to refund that donation back into the account. To cancel this authorization, please send a copy of this form with the word CANCEL prominently written across it to the above address. Thundering Paws Animal Sanctuary thanks you for your tax deductible donations. You will receive a yearly summary of your donations in January. Page 6