Help Your Cat Find His Way Home

For longer than I count, dog owners have always turned over every leaf and stone searching for their lost pets. Cat owners, who were even more likely to allow their pets to roam seldom used to look for their lost felines, assuming they'd run away or found a new home. It's really hard to fathom that attitude these days although I suspect some people may still feel that way.

I now see nearly as many posters for missing cats as I do for dogs. Still there is a good way to help ensure that your lost pet will be reunited with his family: microchipping. It is becoming nearly as popular for cats as it is for dogs but we still need to make more people aware of microchipping, especially cat owners.

One microchip company, Home Again, has gone the extra mile for cats and their people, not only providing a safety net of microchipping but helping in another way as well. Home Again Proactive Pet Recovery Network has promised to donate $1. to the Winn Feline Health Foundation for every cat microchipped and enrolled in Home Again during the months of June, July and August. You still have time to take advantage of the company's generosity in helping feline health studies while taking that extra step to provide for your own cat's recovery in case he is lost.

While some cats wear a collar, a cat who gets loose can easily lose his collar and thus his tag as means of identification. Microchipping provides that added measure of security. If your cat is taken to a shelter or veterinary hospital, he can be scanned for a microchip, his number can be called in to Home Again and the owner will be notified.

It's sad to think that microchipped cats are fewer in number than microchipped dogs. It's a relatively inexpensive and painless way to protect your beloved companion. And by taking advantage of Home Again's generous donation offer, you'll be helping all cats have healthier lives through Winn Feline Foundation's studies which will greatly benefit from Home Again's generosity. They will be as generous as you are a responsible owner when you get your cat microchipped and enrolled in Home Again by the end of August.

Feel free to visit: www.winnfelinehealth.org to learn more about this 40 year old non-profit's work. The organization was established by the Cat Fanciers' Association to promote the health and welfare of cats through research and education.

Also be sure to visit: www.homeagain.com which is a subsidiary of Schering-Plough Animal Health Corporation.

Albuquerque Does it Right!

I arrived in New Mexico on Friday. Animal person that I am, I was at the Albuquerque Shelter on Saturday. This is a City that had one of the worst possible systems that was called Animal Services. An average of 28,000 animals was brought into the two shelters every year and far too many were euthanized. That is no longer true and within months it began to be turned around in a big way. Impossible, you say? Hardly. All you need is someone who cares and who is determined to do something.

In Albuquerque's case it was their Mayor, Martin Chavez, who saw the problem and set to work fixing it. In a stroke of absolute brilliance, he put Jeanine Patterson, a Registered Nurse by training, in the position of Director and she set to work turning the entire system around. For the first time in 20 years the euthanasia numbers dropped into double digits. The shelter was cleaned up and a new facility appeared in a mall where people can shop and stop by and visit cats and dogs who might just be great additions to their family. Patterson is no ordinary nurse. She opened medical clinics around the world for Intel. She knows how to make things happen. She even invited Dr. Sandra Newbury from the University of California-Davis visit because she specializes in Shelter Medicine and could make recommendations of everything from the most effective cleaning and deodorizing as well as disinfecting agents to better protocols to limit stress while cleaning cages.

Patterson is one of the nicest women I've had the pleasure of meeting and those who work with her and those who volunteer would appear to agree since there is such a warmth that passes among those at the shelter. The Albuquerque Animal Care Center is something to be seen. And something the residents of Albuquerque can take great pride in having in their City.

The shelter is clean, bright, well-maintained and there is a veterinary staff. The associate director is, in fact, John Romero who is on the New Mexico Board of Veterinary Medicine. The method of adopting is fair.

The fact is that Mayor Chavez has his own dog who goes everywhere with him, including his office every day. One of the most popular annual fund-raising events is the Mayor's Dog Ball.

In concert with this effort, is a group called Kennel Kompadres. The Friends of Kennel Kompadres are those who donate money to help augment the money the City has set aside for the Shelters. In other words, in many other places it's common for donations to a shelter to go into one fund and the money might end up being used for road repair instead of going to the shelter. Kennel Kompadres raises funds to help augment the shelter needs including humane traps for feral cats, etc., puppy and kitten formulas, kitten beds, toys, pet food to help those who foster animals for the shelter. They also do a wonderful job of humane education for children. They bring dogs and cats into school classrooms to educate the children about caring for pets and how to stay safe. They also pay for and distribute coloring books filled with animal care information and they have the equivilent of pet baseball cards for the children to collect. On the back are pet care facts, including spaying and neutering.

There is an Eastside Shelter as well as a Westside Shelter and people who truly care about animals in each.

Thanks to Mayor Chavez, Jeanine Patterson and people who augment the staff like Rick DeReyes, as well as those involved in Kennel Kompadres, many dogs and cats as well as puppies and kittens have found loving homes, life instead of death. The numbers keep coming down for euthanasia and up for adoption. Who could ask for more.

If you know me, you know that I don't impress easily. Albuquerque's Department of Animal Welfare has certainly impressed me. Their motto: Spay, Neuter, Adopt, Love serves as a shining beacon for every community in the United States. And Mayor Martin Chavez should be honored for his foresightedness, compassion, caring, and his determination to take action for the animals of Albuquerque. Bravo!

Visit the Animal Care Centers and Kennel Kompadres online:

http://www.cabq.gov/pets

www.kennelkompadres.org