This blog post is contributed by Michelle Williams, a San Jose Animal Advocates volunteer.  

Every single day, things happen that affect the way we think, the way we behave, the way we feel… and most of the time, we are hardly aware. If you ask me when animal welfare became personal, I can tell you exactly when that happened.

The date was May 15, 2010 – this is the story of my “turning point”.

It was 10am on a Saturday morning and my husband came into the house muttering something about kittens in the backyard. This wasn’t your typical Saturday conversation over coffee. We have no pets, and there was certainly no reason why there should be newborn kittens behind our air conditioning unit.

I knew I had to do something and since the feral cat population is a sore subject for my husband, I also knew that would not include bringing them into our home. After placing an ad on Craigslist, I realized that I may be attracting the wrong kind of attention. So, I looked up information for a *local shelter, went and found a box and a soft fuzzy blanket. Let me just mention – for such little creatures, those little teeth were sharp!

Several days later, I called the shelter to enquire about trapping feral cats and asked how the kittens were doing. I was told they were euthanized… I was beyond heartbroken. The reality of the situation was that the kittens were unable to eat on their own and would have required around the clock care. At that weight, the kittens needed a foster “meowmie” to bottle feed and teach the kittens how to eliminate.

The weeks that followed continued to break my heart over and over as the momma cat repeatedly came into my back yard looking for her kittens. At one point, she brought another cat with her as if to say “I swear I left them here! Please help me find them!”

Once I let myself off the hook, I decided to try and make a difference.

Every shout begins with a voice. This is mine.

Adopt. Foster. Spay. Neuter.

* prewean kittens that are brought to our area shelters are typically euthanized.  If the mother is still around, the best thing you can do is leave the kittens with their mother until they are old enough to eat on their own.  There are wonderful resources such as Itty Bitty Orphan Kitty (IBOK Rescue's) Prewean packet (free at all Bay area shelters and Pet Food Express stores) and video.  These resources can help you care for the prewean kittens until they are old enough to eat on their own, and then able to be adopted into a permanent home.  Monthly classes on how to care for prewean kittens will be given at Humane Society Silicon Valley, and they are always looking for kitten foster parents.  Read about their foster program, and save a kitten, save the world!

I recently had the pleasure of listening to a Petsmart Charities webinar presented by Amy Shever, Director of 2nd Chance 4 Pets.  This non profit organization educates the public about life planning for pets, a topic that is sadly overlooked and results in approximately 500,000 animals being euthanized at area shelters because their owners have passed away or become incapacitated.  This statistic is hard to believe given how much we love our pets.

2nd Chance 4 Pets provides very straightforward steps and proper documentation to put in place which will prevent your beloved pet from ending up at the local animal shelter.  This topic may seem difficult to think about, but the reality is no one ever knows when something tragic is going to happen to them.  It is easier than you think to make arrangements for your pets (just in case).  The following information was provided in the recent webinar from 2nd Chance 4 Pets:


In the confusion that accompanies a person’s unexpected illness, accident, or death, pets may be overlooked. To prevent this from happening, take these simple precautions:

• Identify at least two responsible friends or relatives who agree to provide temporary care if needed. Give them keys to your home, feeding and care instructions, the name of your veterinarian, and information about any permanent care provisions you have made.

• Make sure neighbors, friends, and relatives know how many pets you have, and provide them with contact information for emergency caregivers.
• Carry an “alert identification card” that lists the names and phone numbers of emergency caregivers. Post removable “in case of emergency” notices on your doors or windows, specifying how many and what types of pets you have. (Emergency cards can be downloaded from the  2nd Chance 4 Pets website)
  

Awareness of this issue is  the first step in helping our animal companions and preventing our animals from unnecessary euthanasia as well as providing pet caregivers with peace of mind.

2nd Chance 4 Pets has a wealth of information on their website, with easy downloadable forms to get all in order related to life time planning for your pets.  Your pets will thank you!

With our society's preoccupation with reality television, perhaps the next new show should be "Kitten Season: San Jose"?   Unfortunately most people would be shocked and horrified at the realities of how our area shelters, humane societies and cat rescue groups struggle to save these tiny lives during kitten season in the greater San Jose area.

Every year between April and October area stray, feral and domesticated cats give birth to many kittens.  Statistic:   Did you know that left unaltered a cat and her offspring can produce over 420,000 kittens in 7 years?

Sadly six months into kitten season, pre-wean kittens (kittens under 8-weeks-old) are still pouring into our local shelter, San Jose Animal Care Center.  The shelter reaches out on a daily basis to area rescue groups with a list of cats and kittens who need rescue.  Many of these are underweight kittens.  If the *rescue groups can't take these kittens which are typically under 8-weeks-old and weighing less than 2 pounds, they are sadly euthanized because  they are not "adoptable" until they are old enough--and big enough--to be spayed or neutered. Statistic:  More than 3500 pre-wean kittens are euthanized in Santa Clara County shelters every year.
*rescue groups rely on having foster homes to allow them to save more animals

So the logical question you might have is, what should you do if You find homeless kittens? According to Laurie Melo, founder of Itty Bitty Orphan Kitty Rescue "If people would only foster these kittens until they are big enough to be spayed or neutered, they could be placed for adoption through a shelter or rescue group and have a chance at life."  This community involvement is critical due to lack of resources and staff at our local shelter to care for these kittens.

In an effort to educate the public on what is involved in fostering kittens, Itty Bitty Orphan Kitty Rescue created the Pre-Wean Kitten Project.  As part of the Pre-Wean Project, IBOK Rescue provides Starter Packs available to more than 20 Bay Area shelters and to all 40 Pet Food Express stores.   In addition, IBOK produced a 30-minute instructional video on how to care for pre-weaned kittens.  The video shows you everything you need to know to hand-raise the kittens until they are old enough to be adopted and is available on DVD and online (watch it here).  I personally have used the pre-wean packet and attended IBOK's class at HSSV.  As a result, my current foster kittens are thriving.  Until you try bottle feeding these little ones, you have no idea how rewarding it is, not to mention life-saving for the kittens.

What else can you do to help? Spay/neuter ALL of your pet cats.  This act alone helps save thousands of lives!  In our area, the San Jose Animal Care Center has low cost/spay neuter clinics for cats on a weekly basis.  Make your appointments online and for $20 females, $15 males you can do the responsible thing for your cat/s.

Reality check:  As I was leaving HSSV with my foster kittens, someone had brought in a card board box full of kittens found in a dumpster.  Again, please save a life and spay/neuter all of your pets.  That's the least we all can do!

These days, you can't have a conversation without someone saying, " I saw that on Facebook!"  Whether you are a fan of social networking or not, you can't ignore it's power to connect people to a each other, to groups, to businesses, and in this case, to a cause to save a beautiful shelter dog.

Meet Nathaniel.  Since May, Nathaniel lived at the San Jose Animal Care Center.  Every day, he patiently waited for someone to come to the shelter in search of a handsome, athletic, sweet dog who wanted nothing other than a home and a friendly human to love him.  Did I mention that he is a pit bull mix?  Unfortunately, with the bad press that never ceases to highlight this breed over all others, there are less humans out there who would consider Nathaniel because he has some pit bull in him.

The time dragged on, but Nathaniel kept his attitude in check knowing that if he was a good boy, someone would come and take him home.  Fortunately, there are these amazing people called shelter volunteers who shower the animals with love and give up their spare time to walk and assure them that the perfect person will come.

This good dog, like many others, can only deal with so much confinement.  Nathaniel was starting to exhibit classic kennel stress behavior.  Unfortunately, the shelter has no other option but to put these animals on the euthanasia list since keeping them in the shelter environment indefinitely is inhumane.

Nathaniel's time was up.  His outlook was bleak.  Little did he know that social networking would save him.  San Jose Animal Advocates decided to place a paid advertisement to plead the animal-loving population of San Jose to take action and save this dog before it was too late.  He had 24 hours for someone to go to the shelter and adopt him.

Maybe it was his photo with his soft grey eyes saying, "I've been a good boy, and have waited for so long".  Whatever it was, due to one Facebook advertisement, Nathaniel's future guardian found him just in time.  To this good citizen who is on Facebook and took immediate action to save Nathaniel's life, we salute you!  And to Facebook, well I guess I'm a believer now of the good that this phenomenon can do.  I might even rent The Social Network this weekend.

There is another very deserving dog whose life hangs in the balance.  Please see Dallas' Facebook page and share with your friends.

Lastly, many people didn't realize that our local shelter, San Jose Animal Care Center is not a no-kill shelter.   It isn't.  It takes in over 20,000 animals a year, and is one of the largest shelters in California.  There are many Nathaniels, Dallases, and so many beautiful, loving animals (dogs, cats, bunnies and rats) who keep hoping you will come and take them home.  Go visit today and find your next best friend.

The below video is for Nathaniel: