"Home for the Holidays" at Nine Lives Foundation

Posted on:  12/20/11

By:  Deanna Graham

Nine Lives Foundation Board Member

'Tis the season...and Nine Lives celebrated the holidays with a cat adoption and holiday party for our many friends on Saturday and Sunday.  There was food, drinks, an auction and a raffle, plus lots of good friends..and of course, our adorable cats, plus Christopher the Cat joined us.  The celebration was a huge success with 23 of our cats and kittens adopted to their forever homes.

Leanne, a Nine Lives volunteer and our Nine Lives webmaster, made an incredible gingerbread house and is helping Ernesto decorate gingerbread men.  Great job, Leanne!

You can help our cats and Nine Lives foundation by a contribution of $100 for a 4x4" or $500 for an 8x8" ceramic tile, with a photo of your pet(s) on the tile (like the examples).  Your tile will be placed, in your honor, in the lobby of the Nine Lives lobby of our remodeled facility.  Your generosity will be on display and will inspire everyone who enters our new shelter facility to give to Nine Lives Foundation.

Whiskers is enjoying herself on Michelle's lap with a lot of puurs and snuggling while Michelle's husband, Adam, watches.  The people interested in adopting our cats sat in the cubical's while the cats ran over for pets and scratches.

Whiskers is content getting pets and scratches from Michelle, while Morris looks on.

Sparkle, a beautiful little calico, was rescued from a "High-Kill" shelter in Bakersfield and fostered in a home with three cats.  Sparkle spent a lot of time being held and loved by folks looking for a kitten to take home.  Later that day, Sparkle met a couple who fell in love with her.  They adopted her and she'll join there wonderful family.

Sparkle is the hit of the day..such a great kitten.

Christopher the Cat is getting a lot of love and cuddling from Elizabeth and Wayne, the couple who found him hurt and alone.  Elizabeth tells Joanna, a Nine Live Foundation board member, who was videotaping Christopher's story for the Nine Lives Foundation Facebook, that while going for a bike ride on Polhemus Road in Redwood City, they saw an injured cat lying in a ditch.  He had a fractured hip and was in a lot of pain. They took him to a local shelter, but after thinking about Christopher's fate at the shelter, they picked him up and took him to Adobe Animal Hospital for evaluation and care.  The vet at Adobe told Elizabeth, "Take him to Dr. Monica Thompson at Nine Lives, she'll help Christopher...and she did.  Now Christoper is completely healed and has become the Nine Lives "Miracle Cat."  You can learn all about Christopher's story if you go to the Nine Lives website, or join Christopher the Cat's 3,000+ friends on Facebook.

TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return): Trapping Day at the South San Francisco Feral Cat Colony

Posted on 12/8/11
By:  Deanna Graham
Nine Lives Foundation Board Member

A few weeks ago, three Homeless Cat Network volunteers, Wendy, Gina and Cookie met at the South San Francisco feral colony to trap cats.  They used the drop trap because it's been difficult to trap Bushy Tail.  They set up the drop trap in an open area and set two traps by the feeding station in hopes of trapping a new cat, Midnight.

      "Traps are set..."



 "Here Kitty, Kitty..."

 "The Waiting Game..."







"Teamwork..."









Many of the neutered/spayed colony cats went into the trap to nibble on the dry food on the ground, but finally the hours of waiting paid off.  Bushy Tail and Thumper went in the trap together and started nibbling on the food, Wendy pulled the string and they had them.  Two trapped cats can move the trap, but they were ready.  It took three of them, working as a team, to hold the trap down.  Gina put her body across the trap while Wendy was ready to open the trap and transfer the cats to another trap for transport.  Cookie spoke quietly and gently to the two terrified cats to calm them.

When Bushy Tail and Thumper were safely in the transport trap, Cookie went to the feeding station to check on the traps there.  Happily, they got Midnight.  Cookie says, "Luck was on our side."







"We got Midnight!..."




The cats were transported to Dr. Monica Thompson Rudiger at Nine Lives Foundation.  Thumper was already fixed, but needed to have his left ear tipped.  Now the feeders at the South San Francisco colony will know that Thumper is fixed and he'll never go through that again.  Sadly, Dr. Rudiger found out that Bushy Tail was FeLV+ and could not be returned to the colony.  The volunteers were afraid he would have to be euthanized, but Dr. Rudiger told them Bushy Tail could join the other FeLV+ cats in Room 9 at the Nine Lives shelter at 3016 Rolison Road, Redwood City, CA.  Dr. Rudiger neutered Bushy Tail, gave him his vaccinations and had to do extensive dental work on him.  She told me that Bushy will only let her pet him, and she told me, "He's my buddy."

As for Midnight, Gina is fostering him because she feels he is a friendly, loving cat who was probably dumped by his owners or maybe he got lost and found his way to the colony.  She feels he definitely was a house cat at one time.  Gina will find him his forever home, and as Cookie says, "Another blessing for our South San Francisco Colony."

Cookie, Wendy, and Gina are deeply thankful for all the care and love Dr. Rudiger has showered on their colony cats.  Dr. Rudiger kept Poppy, another SSF colony cat that was trapped, but not returned to the colony because the pads on his paws wouldn't heal properly and the outdoors was not the place for him.  Now Poppy makes his home at the Nine Lives shelter and spends a lot of his time roaming around.  Rose, another HCN Feeder, saw him at NLF a few weeks ago and was able to pet him.

"Wendy, Gina and Cookie"

The majority of the colony cats at South San Francisco will live out their lives in the colony, but some have been trapped, fostered and found loving homes.  Thanks to Cookie, Wendy, Gina, Rose and the other volunteers at HCN for working closely with Dr. Rudiger to make sure these abandoned, lost or throw-away cats are given the best life possible.


Another HCN success story.....Wendy, a long time trapper at HCN, trapped three kittens at the SSF colony some time ago, and Gina fostered them because they were ill.  With TLC and a lot of love, the kittens are healthy and going to kitten fairs, just waiting to go to their forever homes.  Both HCN and NLF have these wonderful success stories of lost kittens and cats finding loving homes.  To read more, you can go to www.ninelivesfoundation.org and www.homelesscatnetwork.org and read about the incredible job they're doing.  You can also follow NLF by going to our Nine Lives Foundation Facebook page.