Katies Cat Rescue

Congrats to jelly & his forever home!🎉

For all of our volunteers & followers who seen pics of our little orange bean, this is him in his forever home with his best friend! His human and his pup!

He’s up to over 3 pounds and doing great!

This is the bottle baby who was found with his brother frozen to the ground in slippery rock. His brother did not survive, but Oliver is doing great for being a singleton!

We need all of our volunteers to chip in during these days. These are days I will be away at training.

If someone can at least feed and water the cats, I can cover cleaning & meds in the evening after classes.

I can’t miss or re-schedule any days.

If anyone is interested in training to volunteer at our Butler location, you can come any day in the afternoon for the next two weeks.

If at least one volunteer comes each morning to feed & water the kitties we will be good. But even better if you can stay and help with chores!

We also need to prepare for our garage sale event. We will be accepting donations towards the end of the month & hosting our adoption/sale event in August!

And this week we are really behind on stocking, medical, deep cleaning. So if everyone’s comes at least once this week we should be able to get caught up!

Thank you all!

If you’re interested in volunteering, text me!

724-272-6593

We received very happy updates from wizard & Sam!

To complete sweetheart cats finally get their own homes🖤😸

I had the pleasure of meeting Kelly, and she really cares for her kitties!

I also want to add a few positives to adopting cats who are older.

-  older kittens or adult cats are often established in their personality.

It’s always a gamble when you adopt a kitten many people think they can dictate how the kitty forms their personality if they get them home at a young age, well, it’s true you can get them used to things sooner, humans cannot change or dictate how a Cat’s personality forms.

- kittens are usually terrified of everything. Many people think you have to adopt a kitten if you already have cats in the home. This is simply not true. In fact, you’re more likely to integrate an additional feline family member, if you match the personality to the cats, you already have in the home.

You have no idea what the personality of that Kitten is going to be, therefore you don’t know how the other cats in the home are going to respond as they get older. And older already established kitty, who matches to the cats already in your home are likely to succeed and get along best.

You wouldn’t wanna put a super shy, terrified cat into a home that is very loud and hectic. But you won’t know if that kitten will end up being a shy kitty.

Even with proper socialization, even with being in foster, even with being a mom and other siblings, each, and every cat has their own personality.

- Adopting, an older kitty means you skip the crazy Kitten phase which often leads to more immediate cuddles

Of course, some kittens are cuddly, but that doesn’t mean they will stay that way.

Kittens often change personalities 3 to 5 times before they settle on one. And that’s OK. Once you’ve adopted, it’s your responsibility to love that kitten as they age and turn into adults.

But the biggest perk of adulting and older Kitten or an adult cat, is that we can match you to the perfect kitty based on the personalities in the home or what you’re looking for in a feline.

Kittens are almost always Adopted based on looks and age.

A young and cute kitten gets them in the home, but it does not keep them unfortunately.

An older Kitten, or an adult cat is what you should be Adopting if are looking for a personality match.

You’re also saving a life

You loved us then, why don't you love us now?

Every year, it's the same. We take in a bunch of kittens, who are very young, often still dependent on their mothers.

The kittens are loved! They're so cute! Everyone wants to know if they can take one home that day. Applications come in way before they can even have a meet and greet.

Then they're finally ready for adoption - we post them up from our foster homes, or they head to Cats N’At - Cat Lounge & Adoptions ... and then... nothing. No apps. Perfectly wonderful kittens stay unadopted. They're still the same lovable and cute kittens... they're just a few weeks older. What gives?

It's easy to say that the initial interest wasn't real to begin with, and that happens a lot. Don't get us started on how long it takes the mama cats to get adopted. It's even worse... even if they're young and friendly themselves!

You may ask, why do we wait? Why don't we just do what needs to be done to get them out the door?

Well, for one, that isn't our goal. Our goal is to ensure kittens grow up healthy, socialized, and placed in the right homes.

Doing "what needs to be done" is the BARE MINIMUM.

We wait until 12 weeks or until the kitten is at three pounds to even consider having it spayed or neutered. Cats cannot receive a rabies shot until they are three pounds. Why rush this? Some kittens take longer to get to that weight or health mark to begin with. You can technically have a kitten fixed at two pounds, but after years of experience, we feel it's in the kitten's best interest and health to wait out that extra pound. One pound to a human is nothing, but it's big to a cat or kitten.

There are plenty of other myths around about kittens, too, that are just false.

One being, "a kitten won't bond" past a certain age - this isn't true. Cats and kittens are able to bond at any time of their lives. Employing this idea would mean that if you adopted an adult cat, it wouldn't bond with you. We have plenty of adopters who would very much disagree with that "logic". Taking them away from their mother and littermates too early can actually cause the opposite effect. It often leads to separation anxiety, severe clinginess, or behavioral aggression because they missed out on crucial emotional security.

Kittens also need time to socialize with humans and other cats to learn good behaviors. Humans can help get a cat used to people... but we aren't so great at getting them to learn their "cat manners". Kittens learn crucial pieces of life from their littermates and adult cats. This includes the basic functions of eating different foods, using the litterbox, and understanding boundaries when playing.

If we are fortunate enough to have the mama cat with her kittens, it's also important for the kitten's health to stay with mom. They continue to get nourishment from her up until about ten weeks of their life. Sometimes even longer. She also does a great job of keeping her kittens in check. After enough time, they all become independent from one another and are ready for the next step.

Please keep this all in mind when you think a kitten is "too old". They aren't at all! It breaks our hearts to see cats like Carys and her kittens Chad, Bert, and Penelope still waiting to find their forever homes. (Pssst... you can meet them at the cat lounge right now!)

To adopt: Conquerthecolony.com/adoption-form

Donate: conquerthecolony.com/donate

Panleuk is often deadly, but it doesn’t have to be!

I managed to only lose one kitty during a panleuk close down last summer.

This is why I’m so strict about protocols & cross-contamination.

In many cases of any disease spreading, it’s often because of the humans. Not that they do it on purpose, but they unknowingly spread pathogens.

Wearing gloves, washing hands, limiting cuddles & everything during cleaning isn’t because I don’t love the cats. I love them and want to keep them all alive!

Volunteers have an important roll of helping to love and protect all of the rescue kitties. The best way to do this is to be mindful & knowledgable about how diseases spread!

Kitties spending their time in quarantine, in a kennel sucks. But as soon as they’re cleared of being a risk to themselves or eachother, they go to the playroom.

We don’t want to extend any kitties stay in quarantine by not following protocols & not making sure we sanitize, quarantine appropriately, and handle everything mindfully. And we especially want to keep everyone alive!

So here’s a little bit of info about panleuk. Every rescues worst nightmare. The disease that tanked my mental health last summer. That we risk again with every intake.

It’s not the cats fault if they’re exposed, but it’s up to US to make sure no other cat gets infected. And this goes with every single pathogen!

So if you ever question my protocols or my rules, panleuk is one of the many reasons for it. And just remember, this rescue could’ve lost over 30 cats last summer. We only lost ONE. The one who tested positive originally. One of clovers sweet beans🖤 but his passing as crappy as it was, helped save the lives of his entire family!

Panleuk is awful. But it doesn’t have to cause widespread death.

I know it’s easy to confuse fiv & felv. So here are a few key differences!

Fiv is not a big deal. Fiv cats can live with negative cats, can live just as long, and are often the most loving!

Felv is feline leukemia. It requires 100% separated living quarters, supplies, and can lower life expectancy. However, if you only plan to have one kitty, already have a positive kitty, or you want to adopt special needs who otherwise have a very low chance of getting adopted, even though they typically live shorter lives and end up spending much of it idling and waiting for a perfect home rather than living the good life. Felv+ kitties are for special adopters who have resources to seek medical assistance when needed. They are great for shorter term adoptions also!

An fiv+ kitty can live 15 years, where a Felv kitty may only live 1-5 years. Every case is different, but both types are less-adopted, less-seen, less-loved. And 100% just as adoptable.

So if you only want 1 or want a pair or a house of special needs and wanna save lives and get them out of a kennel, adopt an fiv or felv + cat.

In return they will give you so much love!