News from the Kauai Community Cat Program

February Roll Up and March Black, Green Eye Cat, Belated St Patrick’s Day 1-1 Match Challenge – Say That Fast 5 Times

Aloha!

Happy belated Green Day to all! I had been planning to do this update several days ago and got wrapped up in tax stuff and yesterday, I saw all the “green” postings so decided I just needed to wait so I could be unique today with my green!

I am way overdue for February’s updates and what’s been going on so let me start now with a quick wrap up of February. We did 165 (YTD 374) TNR’s and 15 (YTD 35) transfers to mainland and adoptions with another 2 (YTD 8) return to owners. Thought I would at times spotlight return to owners since for the most part people are so excited to get their kitties back which makes it very rewarding. If you recall a couple months ago we had a kitty that had been missing for 9 years – now that is really unusual.

In February we had a 1-1 Match and I am happy to announce we raised about $3,500 which was matched! Thank you all that participated – I really appreciate each of you. I did have a couple people that said they had missed the window and asked that I do another soon. Hummmm….

February is also Tax time, which is never fun. This year we have the added bonus of finding out our GE license expired years and years ago and that we have to have one and we have to file even though we are 100% donations and never charge. That was a painful and costly discovery that we are still trying to work through with the help of our great tax and business strategies partner Amy Cedusky (yes I stole that off her web page) and our accountant Olivia Henley. Learning experience for all. This is holding up several grant opportunities that we were really counting on. Grant money is getting a lot harder to obtain. Foundations are offering less and are putting more scrutiny on who they award grants to. Mainland groups are more focused on mainland organizations. That is understandable. Therefore, I am trying to focus on grants that originate in Hawaii.

We still have to pay our bills in spite of whether or not we receive grant money so our regular donors are more important now than ever. We just did some medicine shopping yesterday and it was a big ouch. It was big, about $4,000!

As I was whining and crying (is this a 50’s song?) about the whole thing one supporter said if you can do another 1-1 match I will match the donations but you have to do at least $5,000. You know me – my mind is starting to strategize. Then I remembered the ones that had missed the Valentine Match – Yes it’s coming together…. so how about a Black, Green Eye Cat, Belated St Patrick’s Day 1-1 Match Challenge. Yes! It’s sort of a catchy name? To be honest – I know this is actually a hard ask. The issue is money is tight everywhere and I ask the same wonderful people time after time to help. Fingers crossed. Let’s try this. Between now and the end of the month let’s do this!

Future:
TNR’s have been pretty consistent. We will continue to schedule our 3-4 days a month. The great thing is we did learn some efficiencies with the mega buses last year in addition to finding some additional personal to draw from so Dr. Maya and team have been able to increase the number of surgeries. One of our main issues is call outs and no shows for surgery. Trapping is so much different that people bringing inside pet kitties in for surgery. Believe it or not we have to schedule between 30-50% more than we want. How do we fix that? It’s hard. I continually ask people requesting appointments if they need to borrow traps and try to give them trapping hints. It’s really a hard issue.

Speaking of traps (everyone is tired of me on this subject). I started several months ago to get a better handle on our traps so we have traps to loan out when needed. It may be more painful for those those trying to help me get them back but that’s OK. We have been able to gather about 100. We have a ton still out there but we are finding them! If you have borrowed KCCP traps, still have them and are no longer needing appointments do the right thing and bring them back. Others are desperate to borrow. So someone said to me just order more. One trap ordered separately costs between $250-$350. That’s a lot of money. We need them back to keep helping others.

Struggles will be transfers going forward for a while. Our partners at Seattle Humane had lost their entire Lifesaver group and is in the process of filling positions. We had one last transfer before their existing manager left in February and from rumors it will be at least April or May before we can resume transfers – we are hearing their future priority will probably be in state so….. Our partners at The Noah Center have been struggling with ringworm and closed all transfers effective February as well. They just have no space for intakes. They are hoping next month sometime they might be able to resume transfers. Our Friends at Renko in Illinois visited and took 2 kittens home with them and agreed to take 4 more later this month. Seattle Area Feline Rescue (SAFr) stepped up to the plate and took a transfer that was ready to go to Noah which we really appreciated. For the remainder of March and April we will see what happens.

I was going to do some follow-ups on kitties that have flown but since I blabbed on for so long already I think I will save most of them for next month but here is a teaser: You see a lot of times I thank the village when a cat gets their golden ticket to the mainland. This guy got 5 Golden Tickets really. We named him RC. He is about 11 and was fixed years ago in a colony in Anahola. He got caught up in the sting to trap colony cats in Princeville and the the company trapping for Princeville did the right thing and took him to the humane society which to be honest usually does not happen (Golden Ticket #1). KHS called and we picked him up and we thought he was blind and deaf. We just could not put him back into a colony so we kept him (GT#2). After about 4 or 5 months he was improving but still pretty feral and one of our miracle worker volunteers took him home (GT#3). We all celebrated when he chased a laser light the first time (not blind) and when he came running when called (not deaf). One of our very good friends Sofia that does miracle stuff with kitties with issues on the mainland said lets do this so RC flew to San Francisco (GT#4). He has been there for a number of months when he went to a foster who said that she really really wanted him to be her special kitty (GT#5) and this is RC in his new home. Very content. From a feral in Princeville and to a happy cat in California. How much better can it be?

We need to keep being able to have more success stories like the 165 TNR’s in one month and adoptions like RC! Help us by participating in our Black, Green Eye Cat, Belated St Patrick’s Day 1-1 Match Challenge!

All donations are tax deductible! Every dollar donated is used on our kitties. There are multiple ways you can donate.

You may donate directly to KCCP by one of three methods:
– Via PayPal: PayPal.Me/kauaicats (Kauai Ferals)
– Via our website
– Send a check in the mail, made out to KCCP, and address the envelope to KCCP, PO Box 143, Kekaha, HI 96752

KCCP is a registered non-profit, 501(c)3, and contributions are deductible to the extent permitted by law. Thanks in advance for your continued support of Kauai’s cats!

Thanks in Advance
Susan

Mahalo for your kokua of Kauai’s community cats!

3-18-25

Happy Valentines Day and How About a One-One Match to Celebrate?

Aloha!

Time for our monthly update and then a couple of good meow’s stories!

TNR

In January we did 208 TNR’s which is right at our objective. February looks to be a similar month even though this time a year for some odd reason things do slow down a bit. More good news. The Kauai Humane Society has brought another vet on board and they seem to be adding appointments which definitely helps.

Transfers/Adoption/Return to Owner
In January we did have 2 transfers to Seattle Humane and an individual transfers plus a good number of return to owners which I will talk about in a bit. Our total was 26 which we do feel good about. We would have loved a third transfer but the timing was just not right.

What does February look like?

TNR – as I said earlier February for TNR’s should be pretty normal. We, of course, hope for 200 but it’s hard to tell what will happen.

Speaking of that. Several people have asked me why I say you can never tell how many you will get on any given day. This is an example – for one of the buses in January, I scheduled 77 cats which was well over our absolute have to have number of 40 and well over what we want which is 50. On that day we had 58 show up and of those 2 were already fixed so really should have not come in. So you are saying how can that happen? People are trapping and can’t catch the cats they wanted – the more you fix in an area the harder it is to get the last couple, weather plays a big part – for some reason most cats don’t want to come out when it’s raining or windy, some people do forget in spite of reminders and sometimes instead of 3 you tried to get you only catch 1. I totally understand and that’s why we schedule more than wanted. What happens if they all show up on a given day? That has sort of happened once but everyone powered through and we got all done!

Transfers – this is a hard one to accept. Seattle Humane who has been a transfer partner for years and years has lost their Lifesaver Manager and 2 coordinator’s. Until the positions are filled we are on hold. Our other partner The Noah Center has been swamped over the last couple months but hopefully things are more normal now and we can resume later in the month. Fingers crossed. We did have a regular transfer with the new Hawaiian Cargo group supporting our friends at Alaska Airlines and everything went well. With Alaska Airlines merging with Hawaiian Airlines it has given Alaska the ability to now use their own cargo crews which they have never had before. The had been working with Aloha Cargo and we will miss that group since after years we got them trained to just love us.

So what else you say? Well it’s almost Valentine’s Day. You know how I love to celebrate that day and I want to do something special.

First – I want to celebrate the day by having a 1-1 match (everyone groans) because that makes it more FUN! Yes. For each dollar donated, KCCP gets an extra dollar from our Valentine’s Match Donor (VMD). The VMD has agreed to a $10,000 limit match which I think is wonderful. I have asked everyone for so much over the last 6-7 months I am surprised when I ask more people donate. Surprised but very grateful.

So when you have a match going on what better time than to give some good meow’s stories.

1) Return to Owners
What does that mean you ask. Well cats get separated from their owner and a Good Samaritan either gets them scanned for a microchip or brings then into the bus and sometimes we are able to reunite them with their owner. Just recently a kitty was brought in and it was already chipped. When I set the alert through 24 PetWatch I had not even hung up the phone and the owner, Rachael, was calling. Rachael was in tears because their kitty, Little Girl, had vanished and she suspected her neighbor had done something bad. She could not believe it was the right kitty and I just happened to have a photo and forwarded it. She was yelling at the kids to come and look and everyone just went nuts. Little Girl was reunited with her family.

A second instance was a kitty called Grayson. He showed up at a volunteers home looking a lot worse for wear. She (Yes her name is Susan but not me) took him to the bus and he was scanned. We discovered Grayson was about 11 which just breaks your heart. Susan called the contact number that was 11 years old and Yvette answered and said OMG. Grayson has been gone for 9 years! Grayson was returned to Yvette’s parents and the next weekend Yvette and her kids flew to Kauai from Oahu to pick up Grayson. Everyone was thrilled! The airlines even told everyone Grayson’s story and he was treated like a king! How exciting!

2). Transfers are cool.

We had one event at the end of December – one of those when you least expect it. I was talking to a friend about cats and she had rescued an older cat and eventually found its owner and now she was cat-less. I had just gotten a picture of a cat (are you surprised) from one of our volunteers (no not another Susan this time but Mel) that was friendly cat just showed up. Hummm. Of course I showed this picture to the person who was now cat-less (her name happens to be Susan too so I didn’t want to confuse you). In about a week this kitty named Otis Jr was in the sky on his way to Gearhart Oregon to his new wonderful life. Otis reports things are great and his mom and dad worship him. The dog would love to worship him but Otis says not time yet.

Not to minimize any of the above stories but what I consider epic is this last story. It will bring a tear to your eye. How many of you remember MINNIE? She was the kitten that had been hit by a car and all of her internal organs were rearranged. She had a diaphragmatic hernia and could not eat. She was pretty close to meeting her maker. However, with the help of Lihue Vet, Dr Maya, Alex, Kim and literally a cast of thousands which included all of you Minnie pulled through her surgery (from what I read they actually did CPR). All of you remember my plea for $$$ since the surgery was very very expensive but the people surrounding MINNIE said it was worth it. She was special. So months later it’s time for MINNIE to find a home. It has to be someone who understands how special she is and how close to death she was. Lots of soul searching. I emailed a wonderful person named Marie who had adopted Mr Lucky several years ago and I watched how wonderful she was to this old kitty Last year Mr Lucky unfortunately died and Marie was devastated. Long story short Minnie flew last Thursday/Friday to Indy to her new home. I got a text from Minnie yesterday. It said
“Aloha Susan! I think I can make this place work

And the yard looks really interesting. But Mom says we have to wait to go outside until it gets warmer. It’s too cold for me now. I’m not sure I understand what she’s talking about “

As I always say – we could not do any of this without our supporters – thank you so much.

Please remember our 1-1 Valentines Match good now through end of day February 14. Think of Minnie, Otis, Little Girl and Grayson Show your kitties that you love them by making a donation to help Kauai Cats.

All donations are tax deductible! Every dollar donated is used on our kitties. There are multiple ways you can donate.

KCCP is a registered non-profit, 501(c)3, and contributions are deductible to the extent permitted by law. Thanks in advance for your continued support of Kauai’s cats!

Thanks in Advance
Susan

Mahalo for your kokua of Kauai’s community cats!

2-7-25

2024 In The Books!

Aloha!

In case anyone missed it – it’s 2025!

Happy New Years!

If you were on Kauai definitely did not miss the excitement. There are more fireworks going off than people can imagine if you have never lived through it. Horrible time for animals and people that are sensitive to the noise. WE SURVIVED!

2024 was pretty crazy. We learned a bunch of stuff. I have always believed that if you don’t learn something from what you are doing there is something wrong with you and if you don’t make corrective action there is something wrong with you as well.

So 2024 was let’s try this or let’s try that. There was some – who’s idea was that, I told you that was stupid and more of well that was not what I thought would happen. All in all, we are stronger each year that we have the bus and we are more dedicated to making this all work and getting to the point the number of homeless/abandoned cats starts to decline.

What was 2024 in a nutshell?

We continued to focus on getting cats fixed! 2024 showed a little over 2300 cats fixed at the bus and another 170 for us at the Kauai Humane Society. KHS has been great at giving us a couple spots each week for emergencies and that is a life saver.

On the transfer and adoption front we were able to send about 270 cats to our partners on the mainland and another 75 that we either adopted out locally or off island. Our partners at Seattle Humane and The Noah Center have been great. It seemed to both of them kitten season went on forever but they continued to take our Kauai kitties on a regular basis and for that we are grateful.

What else? Kauai County once again had increased the heat about cats on county property. To cat lovers we will never understand but it’s a fact of life. Thankfully several long time cat lovers and supporters decided it was time to do something so they are working on a plan to save the Lydgate cats. Not going to give names or go into details since I don’t want to jinx anything but my fingers are crossed! What their hope is that others on island will do the same thing and save other endangered cats on Kauai!

Our plans – full steam ahead! We are going to plan for 4 bus days a month and attempt to send 3 transfers to the mainland each month. Slow and steady wins the race and that is what we want to do!

As I always say – none of this is possible without our volunteers. They keep this machine going. And of course without our supporters none of this is possible.

I will mention that all donations to KCCP are tax deductible. There are multiple ways you can donate.

KCCP is a registered non-profit, 501(c)3, and contributions are deductible to the extent permitted by law. Thanks in advance for your continued support of Kauai’s cats!

Thanks in Advance
Susan

Mahalo for your kokua of Kauai’s community cats!

1-4-25