Feed The Kitties

[Calico]

That was me, Ulysses.

And in retrospect, should I mention Gecko and Tuskers in a newspaper article about these kitties, or would it be better if I just mention myself and send anyone your way who asks?

[Starrysky]

Indeed this is excellent work and inspiration of eek and others, now recognising that just a little help goes a long, long way is really heartening to witness.

And Calico, you have a good memory, indeed sterilisation is the way to go, culling merely creates a vacuum. A word of warning though, just like most temples in Thailand, if there is a food source because of a current pet friendly monk being in residence, there will be an increase in dumpings of unwanted pets. The further problem arises when the pet friendly monk moves on, leaving the temple. Other resident monks at the temple may not be so inclined.

at Doi Kam is a prime example of this. The monk who presided there 2 years ago cared for the dumped dogs, even arranged and facilitated feeding. Often you could drive up there and find a new duped dog, sitting at the entrance to the car park, hoping the next car arriving was the same one that dumped them there.

The numbers grew and then the monk decided to leave monking and became an artist instead. The new monk came along, with an entourage of support (cooks & cleaners) but the feeding declined and the numbers of dogs resident too. In fact the injuries to and loss of dogs rose.

What a shame the initiative at Wat Pa Pao cannot be copied at more temples. There are in excess of 350 in Chiang Mai alone and from my experience, at least half of these are over populated with dogs and cats looking for a home. Some temples are lucky to have a little old lady living nearby, who might visit with food scraps, some might have a pet friendly monk. If any of you were to visit a temple car park just once a month with just a morsel of food, it would make at least one cat or dog happier.

Sorry to have rattled on ...Well done you folks for making a difference. And yes, I am back with Care for Dogs after taking a short break from volunteering.

I fully support this recommendation to get involved with a local temple to help the animals - if you're an animal lover! After years of intense dog-work in Phuket, I moved to the North, determined to do less as overload can really get to you, emotionally and physically. Now, I live about 10 kms outside C. Mai and have a cute little temple on my doorstep. Yes, you do need to speak a bit of Thai to communicate with the monks and locals, but they have reacted very positively to my offers of help and in 6 months I've taken about 12 temple/local female dogs for sterilization. I donate a large bag of dog food to the temple every 2 months or so - they always seem to have left-over rice etc to give the dogs, and I also give the cheapest medication against tics/fleas. Whenever I get the opportunity to tell the local people how important sterilization is, I do and the message does get taken onboard, but I don't think that any of them would instigate it themselves! I receive money back for up to 5 operations a month from a dog charity and pay for anything extra myself, but it's never that much. At least I'm doing what I can to not see any more puppies in my area and the dogs all look much healthier after they've been snipped and are not in the 'production line' any more.

Ally

[Ulysses G.]

That was me, Ulysses.

And in retrospect, should I mention Gecko and Tuskers in a newspaper article about these kitties, or would it be better if I just mention myself and send anyone your way who asks?

Nice to finally"meet" you. I was going to go over, but you seemed to be in a heavy conversation with the woman beside you.

[Calico]

That was unnecessary.

Let's get this back on topic. Cats.

Should I mention Gecko and Tuskers in the newspaper, assuming they'll publish me, or would that bring unwanted government attention onto somebody?

[Ulysses G.]

Should I mention Gecko and Tuskers in the newspaper, assuming they'll publish me, or would that bring unwanted government attention onto somebody?

My opinion is that we should make it as easy as possible for people to give. Gecko Books has lots of customers and outlets and Tuskers has lots of customers too. Please mention us, so we can collect as much as possible for cats and also dogs.

If we get enough, maybe we can spread the program to other Wats with mostly dogs as I love them too.

Edited June 15, 2008 by Ulysses G.

[Priceless]

Should I mention Gecko and Tuskers in the newspaper, assuming they'll publish me, or would that bring unwanted government attention onto somebody?

My opinion is that we should make it as easy as possible for people to give. Gecko Books has lots of customers and outlets and Tuskers has lots of customers too. Please mention us, so we can collect as much as possible for cats and also dogs.

If we get enough, maybe we can spread the program to other Wats with mostly dogs.

Hopefully by tomorrow afternoon, there will be a donation box at Dr. Nook's Animal Hospital (off Chang Klan Rd.) as well

/ Priceless

[Calico]

Great! It sounds like we've got a plan.

[stevemcqueen]

I'll be over at the end of next month,and will donate.

Hope everything is going well,and would like to say "Nice one",to all those involved.(to "care for dogs",too!)

(and also to give this a bump )

Edited June 18, 2008 by stevemcqueen

[Ulysses G.]

I think most of us who are involved love cats and dogs and are happy to take care of both.

By the way, all of the animals who are old enough will be vacinated at Wat Pa Pao on Friday.

[Ulysses G.]

The folks from Lanna Dog Rescue just brought me a receipt for the vaccination of 17 animals for 6 diseases at Wat Pa Pao . In one month, the same animals will all be fixed if we have collected enough money to pay for it. I don't think we are too far off having enough now, but we are also hoping to get enough to pay for a doctor in emergencies and other such expenses.

Edited June 20, 2008 by Ulysses G.

[Calico]

This dog thought he was playing with these two cats, for the 5-10 minutes I was there, but I think gray and white corrected that misconception soon after I left.

The blue object in the background is the cats' new quilt. A soft place to sleep.

[Ulysses G.]

Thanks to Khun catmac for a most generous donation. We have enough for the sterilizations and are back in the black!

[eek]

Popped to Wat Pa Pao yesterday morning as I was craving a cat cuddle and took along another bag of kitty food. (If anyone wishes to buy bigger bags, Aksat Petshop (2 Central Airport Plaza , Mahidol Rd, 053-939605) sells 20kg for just under 800baht. I think good value in comparison to the smaller bags.)

The cats looked very comfortable on their new soft bed. Was a wonderful sight seeing so many lounging sleepy cats Khun Dii came over and let them out of the cage area (locked in apparently because of yesterdays injection session against Rabies. Good news!) and had a chat. When the cats came out they seemed well and happy. Cat biscuits were already laid out in 3 trays, so some had a munch. Khun Dii brought out some of Calico's catnip and several of the cats began eating, sniffing, and rolly-pollying around on it Great fun to watch.

Its always a nice feeling to go to Wat Pa Pao now, as the cats are in such good health. I notice too the Temple itself seems to keep improving. Months back the grounds seemed a bit dilapidated, but there has been gradual improvement. I think the Temple is really beautiful, so its nice to see improvements and what seems to be an active community there.

Some pics from yesterday :

[catmac]

Thanks for the latest photos, Eek, the cats sure do look fine.

I'm so pleased that we've been able to make good progress at the Wat, my thanks to all involved. Maybe in time, we'll have a lifeline to help more and more of the needy cats in Chiang Mai.

Whereabouts in Airport Plaze is that petfood shop Eek? It's such a huge mall, I think I could walk round all day and still not find it!

[Calico]

Glad to see the catnip and the quilt are such a hit. Eek, do you mind if I add your photos to my Wat Pa Pao web page? They're much better than mine.

[eek]

Whereabouts in Airport Plaze is that petfood shop Eek? It's such a huge mall, I think I could walk round all day and still not find it!

Doh! Im so stupid sometimes! .. Raksat pet shop do have a place in Airport Plaza, according to their website: http://www.raksatpetcenter.com/contact.php but I actually get it from their other place. When I was providing details of where to buy the food, i just blindly went to their website from the business card they gave and copy & pasted the location..without actually properly reading.. Sorry!

I actually go to their other location on 69/1 Chiangmai-Lampang Rd. Its located on the superhighway between Macro and Carrefour. *feeling v embarrassed*

Glad to see the catnip and the quilt are such a hit. Eek, do you mind if I add your photos to my Wat Pa Pao web page? They're much better than mine

Your pics are great Calico! But of course, you are most welcome to add them, or any others i post that you may like.

Ill made the pics quite small..if you would prefer a higher resolution let me know.

[Calico]

Raksat at Airport Plaza is in the parking garage.

They also sell scratching posts if anyone's interested. The kitties at Wat Pa Pao, of course, use trees. I'm glad I realized that BEFORE buying them scratching posts.

And thanks for the photos, Eek. The size is fine. I keep everything on my site down to 400 width or else it'd just take forever to load.

Edited June 22, 2008 by Calico

[Ulysses G.]

(locked in apparently because of yesterdays injection session against Rabies. Good news!)

The cats were innoculated against 6 diseases including rabies.

[Calico]

Chinese cats who are so innoculated can get little passports.

Edited June 22, 2008 by Calico

[Priceless]

Talking about pictures of the kitties: This little one, "Scorpion", was about four weeks old when I took the picture of him two weeks ago. Somebody, presumably the mother's owner who didn't want kittens, dropped him off at the temple long before he should have been separated from his mother. When I visited today, I was told that he didn't make it and died a week ago

Let's hope that we can help with the resources to save as many as possible of these innocent beings (and help prevent too many being born).

/ Priceless

[Ulysses G.]

Very sad.

He looked sickly when I saw him a few weeks ago. I remember that someone had come to the temple a few days before and took all the kittens his age and left him behind.

[Calico]

I did call Scorpion my favorite. I wondered why he wasn't in the photo with 10 on a quilt.

[eek]

Let's hope that we can help with the resources to save as many as possible of these innocent beings (and help prevent too many being born).

/ Priceless

Exactly.

I still have sad moments when I think back to when one of the kitties died even after having antibiotics (she was my favorite and so affectionate), i kept thinking "maybe i could have done more"...but all we can do is our best, and think about the good things that are being achieved.

[Calico]

A while back I included an article in this thread that I hope will appear in Chiang Mai Mail. Last night I put it in my own newsletter. A subscriber in Seoul is snail-mailing me a donation. Yahoo!

[Calico]

Since I have such a knack for showing up when Khun Dee isn't around, I need one of you fine folks to be my messenger again.

• The tiny dropper bottle is otocide, for killing ear mites.
  
• The bottle of blue stuff with no label is an ear cleaner.
  
• The bottle of green stuff is, as labelled, an all-natural ear cleaner.
  

These are Picasso's leftovers. When we first moved into this house, about two years ago, the previous doggie tenant had left her some ear mites. After the otocide kills them, the dead mites and the wax buildup still itch, hence the other bottles.

And now I'm off to the wat. Don't you hate it when your ears itch?

[Calico]

Well, that was another of those posts done so fast that, if it had been email, I might have forgotten to BCC. Lemme slow down and explain, especially since it's an excuse to move this thread up the list.

I visited with some cat food, and a kitten above me was shouting at me. I've decided kitten has the face of a lady cat, so I'll say that she was shouting at me in the same way that my own lovely Miss Picasso does when she wants to leap down from a high surface and onto my shoulders. (Or to my shoulders on the way up.) I stood still and waited, since I am well trained, but this little girl decided to just shout. So I rubbed her face and she turned all sideways, rubbing her head on me and any available surface, just like Picasso does. Then she licked my arm, just like Picasso does.

Y'all really should visit these kitties, folks. People barely notice you. Wanna practice some Thai and/or let them practice English? Just find them because they're very friendly. Not in the mood? Just talk to the kitties.

In the middle of all this, I noticed the kitten had some black ear wax. If memory serves, Khun Dee's taken care of the ear mite problem, but both times that I had this problem with Picasso, the vet didn't tell me about washing out the corpses and the old dirty wax. I learned that myself.

So when I returned, 5 confused mini-monks didn't know what I wanted. One saw me at the cage, eventually, and said, "Locked." Having exhausted all the English he was going to give me, he just watched. I took my little bag in my tiny hand, stuck my hand through the hole in the cage, and tossed. It landed on the table, as usual, and I said "Khun Dee." Now mini-monk was happy as we all went on our merry ways.

I swear, I love being the mystery donor. Who was that purple-headed fool?

When Khun Dee treated the kitties with Frontline, they didn't react. At least half didn't even wake up. The others woke up, barely, from being carried by mini-monks. The kitties might not like the ear wash so much, but at least it's quick.

[eek]

You do so much to improve their lives Calico, its really wonderful. Enjoyed reading your post.

mini-monks.

"mini-monks"! How true! Love it!

[Calico]

Eek, I'm just hooked on little kitty-cuddles. The real Calico, Miss Picasso, won't let me have any more cats, so I sneak off to the wat. I rubbed a black one today who found the strength to open his eyes. I mean, it was the hottest part of the afternoon, and he didn't know why the two kittens with bells on were wrestling. Or care.

Picasso does smell them on me, though, just like they smell her on that quilt. When I brought it out of the cupboard for the kitties, she suddenly took an interest in it and hoarded it for 2 weeks.

I hope my buddy isn't donating Korean won.

[Calico]

Meow

[Ulysses G.]

Thank you Calico for a great article on feeding the kitties in the Chiang Mai Mail!