June e-tails
Local animal shelters, including CAT, receive recognition for good work
The Portland-area shelter alliance has been so successful in saving lives that it was recognized a $1 million grant from Maddie’s Fund, a California nonprofit focused on ending euthanasia of healthy and treatable pets. Read more....
CAT Receives Community Lifesaving Award
Maddie’s Fund recognizes the Animal Shelter Alliance of Portland
CAT and the other organizations that make up the Animal Shelter Alliance of Portland (ASAP) are doing a lot of things right when it comes to the cats and dogs in local animal shelters. Since founding ASAP in 2006, these organizations have worked diligently to save cats and dogs in our local shelters.
•Starting with a live release, or save rate, of 62 percent in 2006, ASAP implemented several programs that decreased shelter intake and increased the transfers of animals between shelters. By 2012, when over 33,700 cats and dogs entered the six shelters, the community’s live release rate reached an astounding 85 percent (compared to the national average rate of around 50 percent). Nine out of ten dogs and eight out of ten cats left animal shelters alive.
•ASAP’s successful “Spay & Save” program has altered over 30,000 cats owned by people needing financial assistance, resulting in a 25 percent decrease in shelter intake of cats within just two years.
•For metro areas with a human population of over two million people, Portland is in the top three safest communities for homeless animals, joining New York City and the Denver Metropolitan Area (source: Maddie’s Fund® National Community Statistics Database).
•Portland shelters have not euthanized a healthy, social pet in over two years, making it what Maddie’s Fund calls an “Adoption Guarantee Community”.
Acknowledging ASAP shelters’ achievement, on May 21, Maddie’s Fund® awarded its prestigious Community Lifesaving Award of $1 million to the six animal welfare organizations that make up ASAP.
This monetary award was divided between the six shelters based on their adoption and transfer numbers. Each ASAP shelter will be putting 35 percent of their individual awards into a pooled fund for ASAP to assist in coalition-wide activities.
The Cat Adoption Team, is already working on increasing the save rate for cats from 85 percent to closer to 100 percent in the coming years.
“CAT is honored to receive this award from Maddie’s Fund®. This grant is an investment in our ability to increase efforts to help felines who come to us from throughout our community,” remarks Karen Green, CAT’s Executive Director.
Karen goes on to say that “CAT is excited about further increasing the numbers of cats saved. To take our community to the next level, we need to be able to help even more cats who need foster care or veterinary treatment before adoption. We also want to find homes for more kitties who have manageable health or behavioral problems, like those who require a special diet or who are a little on the independent and cranky side.
Some of the things CAT is doing to save more lives include:
•Ramping up the foster program to provide care for underage kittens this kitten season.
•Working to increase capacity for cats with treatable medical conditions like upper respiratory infections and ringworm
•Promoting our special needs cat for adoption in local media from the Oregonian to the Greenlight classified
•Continuing and increasing adoption promotions like the June’s Kitten Palooza event
•Establishing a “CAT-vocate” program for volunteers, supporters, and online fans to easily promote their favorite CAT cat
Karen encourages community members to get involved. “This award can help our community become even safer for at-risk pets, however we need more volunteers, foster families, donors, and adopters to step forward. Please join us in making the Portland metro area a leader in lifesaving!”
Read more....
About the Lifesaving Awards:
Maddie’s Fund® has established special Lifesaving Awards to recognize communities that are leading the way in saving animal lives.
These awards are designed to acknowledge the outstanding contributions being made by coalitions consisting of Traditional Shelters, Adoption Guarantee organizations, and Animal Control agencies in which all groups have already implemented:
•an adoption guarantee for healthy pets in their target community and are likely to sustain it in the future (Adoption Guarantee Community); or
•an adoption guarantee for all healthy and treatable shelter pets in their target community and are likely to sustain it in the future (No-Kill Community).
About Maddie’s Fund
Maddie’s Fund® is a family foundation endowed by the founder of Workday® and PeopleSoft, Dave Duffield and his wife, Cheryl. Maddie’s Fund is helping to achieve and sustain a no-kill nation by providing solutions to the most challenging issues facing the animal welfare community through Maddie’s® Grant Giving and Maddie’s InstituteSM. Maddie’s Fund is named after the family’s beloved Miniature Schnauzer who passed away in 1997.
Microchip reunites cat with family
In 2012, Alice, with her feline sister Missy (both adopted from CAT), accompanied Judy and George on a cross-country trip with a not so happy ending. Alice got lost in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. George did not give up on finding Alice.
On May 9, Alice was found. She arrived home (via a plane trip) on May 15. Thanks to the microchip, Alice was reunited with the family who loved and missed her terribly. Read more. CAT microchips all our shelter cats prior to adoption. (Photo: Judy picking up Alice at Portland International Airport)
15 years of adoptions
CAT is celebrating it’s 15th anniversary and the over 30,000 adoptions we’ve been privileged to be part of.
Adopters send us photos and notes all the time. Check out our 15th Anniversary Alumni Album.
Resources for cat owners
Here are some resources for those in need of pet food:
petfoodstamps.org: qualified pet owners may receive free food delivered directly to their homes (this is a new program).
fido-clackamas.org/dog-food-bank: Friends Involved in Dog Outreach (FIDO) - Dog Food Bank in Oregon City. The food bank will supply one month’s supply of dog food to those in need every third Saturday of the month. Some cat food also available.
oregonhumane.org: Oregon Humane Society in Portland offers an emergency pet food bank.
thepongofund.org: Pongo Fund in Portland. Open 2nd and 4th Sunday each month from 12 until 2:30 pm, first come first-served basis as available (3632 SE 20th Avenue, Portland).
oregonfoodbank.org/Get-Help: Find a local food pantry; sometimes they will have pet food to offer.