ALL CATS KATRINA PET RESCUE UPDATE, SEPT 21, 2005

ALL CATS KATRINA PET RESCUE UPDATE, SEPT 21, 2005
©2005 Janice Price

Buddy stands at the window and watches as Jan’s station wagon rolls down the street. “Sheeeee’s off!” he announces to the Funny Farm residents.

“Let’s get moving before she comes back,” Merci declares, to no one in particular.

Percy leaps onto Jan’s secretarial chair and quickly opens her e-mail program, searching for the latest All CATS update.

“I thought she would never leave!” Cyndi exclaims.

Cotton eyes Cameron with disdain. “We could have posted this last night, except for Mr. Fat Butt.”

“I do not have a fat butt.” Cameron shoots back at her.

“Now, Cotton,” Crystal says, soothingly, “Cameron doesn’t really have a fat butt. He just made a mistake. We all make mistakes.”

“Yes, but he is the only one of us who ever sat on the keyboard to take a bath.”

“You mean, he is the only one of us that ever sat on the keyboard and got caught taking a bath,” Cyndi says.

Buddy begins to laugh, breaking the tension between the cats. Gradually, the rest of the group joins him, as they remember the early a.m. confusion Cameron caused as the club waited for Jan to stop tossing and turning and fall asleep. The quiet was broken by a mysterious doop, doop, doop. When Jan turned on the living room light, Cameron was vigorously bathing himself, while playing a non-melodious tune on the computer hardware as he bounced on the keyboard.

Merci chuckles. “That sure killed our chances at the computer for the night. Jan turned it off, and we didn’t dare touch it until she left the house just now.”

“Can the chatter, guys!” Percy orders. “I’m trying to work here.”

The group moves to where each has a clear view of the monitor. Cyndi, Crystal, Cotton and Cameron leap onto the desk. Merci stands with her front paws on the desk, and Buddy edges closer to Percy, who is standing on the chair seat.

Crystal asks, “What is the “rescue board” mentioned in the update?”

“I don’t know,” Percy admits. “That’s new. No, wait. Jan asked the same question and this is the answer she received.”

Cotton, sitting closest to the monitor, reads the message to the group. “The rescue board is in the courthouse near the French Quarter and is used by several organizations. Our volunteers list every animal we rescue, describing it and giving the street address (or at least the street) on which the animal was found. Also, where the animal was taken. People then go to the site where the pet they believe is theirs is located. Volunteers there ask for proof of identity (address) to match up with the animal. Each animal has a plastic "collar" such as vets use with the address written on it. Of course, lots of times it's obvious because the animal's eyes light up and they try to run to their person.”

“This is yesterday’s update, guys. Let’s get it posted,” Cyndi says, with impatience. There’s another hurricane headed that way. The news will be outdated before anyone gets to read it, if we don’t hurry.”

Percy hits a key and the update is posted.

“Good work, Percy,” Merci beams.

“Yes,” Buddy agrees, “good work, pal,” He pats Percy on the back, pushing him forward onto the keyboard, which begins to sing doop, doop, doop.
www.jansfunnyfarm.com


All Cats Update for September 21, 2005

Last weekend, we received a donation and wonderful letter from a lady whose dog was one of those our volunteers had been caring for. She had found her dog listed on our rescue board with a notation that it was being cared for in its home. When she arrived at her home, she found our volunteer Charles feeding the dog.

Then, lo and behold, we receive a call from CBS saying they wanted to do a ride-along with us. That happened today and was on CBS and Fox News earlier. Fox has been showing the story about every three hours. The boat has ALL C.A.T.S. written on it and is camouflage colored. Our guys are wearing military-type clothing. During the ride-along, our guys rescued 4 horses and several goats. Plus four dogs--which were shut in the farmhouse. This was shown on the news clip. The newscaster did say, "Most of the rescue people search from the air; you go door to door and find animals the rest do not." Our reasoning is that all farms have animals; therefore, we must check them all to see if these animals may be trapped inside buildings and therefore not visible from the air.

We made sure that the horses and goats were able to get to dry ground/pasture--with shelter. We fed the dogs and left plenty of food and fresh water. Charles will, of course, go back and check on them--as we always do.

During the ride-along, Charles talked about our organization and gave our website address. That address was crawling along the bottom of the screen while the clip was running.

We have received numerous emails thanking us for what we are doing--from people whose animals we have saved. The newscaster was very complimentary of our efforts--and your help. He said "You must have some great people on your supporter list." We told him that was definitely the truth.

A SPECIAL THANK YOU--To the office of the Governor of Texas. Carolyn contacted the governor's assistant today and was promised that there would be tractor trailers available, along with buses, for people to take their animals with them if evacuation of Galveston or any other area in Texas becomes a necessity. People will be allowed to take their animals (in carriers) on the buses during any evacuation. The tractor trailers are available in the same area to take animals that cannot be transported in carriers. All anyone has to do is talk to one of the drivers. They will go to the animals' location and pick them up.

We are very proud of what we have been able to accomplish--and of you for making it possible for us to do.

There is great need to continue our work, so we must ask you for more financial help. We especially need money for gasoline--we use a tremendous amount in the boats and trucks.

We also urgently need building materials--gift cards from places like Home Depot and Lowes would be wonderful!!

To donate--

1. Visit our website ( www.allcatsinc.org ) and donate on-line through PayPal with the special link for the Katrina Crew.

2. Send your check or money order made out to All C.A.T.S., Inc. to Carolyn Keeton at 4907 23rd Boulevard, Valley AL 36854.

3. Send money via Western Union to Carolyn Keeton in Valley AL and/or Barry Harbin in Albertville AL. BE SURE TO GET THE CONFIRMATION NUMBER AND SEND IT TO -

4. If there is any other way you wish to donate, we'll be happy to discuss it. Call Carolyn at the above number.

Please – if you possibly can, do find a way to help us help the animals. They are depending on all of us!