Autumn 2017
This is an archived newsletter. Information featured in it may no longer be pertinent or accurate and some features may be missing.
Autumn, 2017
FieldHaven Feline Center’s 2nd Chance Ranch
Leading the charge to save feral kitty lives across Placer County and beyond.
Feral cats pose a challenge for animal shelters everywhere. They’re fearful, sometimes aggressive, often deemed “unadoptable,” and are usually euthanized.
However, euthanasia is not an acceptable solution and FieldHaven Feline Center is leading the charge to save feral kitty lives across Placer County and beyond. Before they become residents at 2nd Chance Ranch, new arrivals begin their journey in Buck’s Barn, the holding area where each cat’s health and behavior will be assessed prior to it being spayed or neutered. Buck’s Barn (named in memory of long-time volunteer Buck Ewing) also doubles as a resource center for people who manage feral colonies and offers traps, cages, and all the necessary equipment.
After they are cleared, cats will move into one of four enclosures in the Camp Joe Willie barn (named in memory of Mark Glickman’s beloved tuxedo cat). Each enclosure accommodates eight to ten cats and includes a generous outdoor area. The cats’ temperaments will determine where they will stay: Barn Pals (friendly), Lone Rangers (semi-feral), or Raging Bulls (feral). Cats may move into and out of categories as they acclimate. We anticipate that some cats initially deemed feral will transfer into our adoption program, where we will match cats with adopters.
FieldHaven has been facilitating adoptions of barn cats since our inception in 2003. Last year, FieldHaven helped decrease Placer County Animal Services’ feral euthanasia rate by 89% – in just one year! The agreement was simple: Placer County would spay/neuter, vaccinate, and ear-tip ferals, and FieldHaven would take them into our Rodent Ranger program. We accepted 138 cats from the Placer County shelter. Of those, twenty-six were found to be social and were adopted into homes. The remaining cats were adopted as Rodent Rangers. As a result of our partnership, Placer County now has its own barn cat program and has euthanized zero feral cats this year! We are so proud.
In late October, we will celebrate the opening of 2nd Chance Ranch, a new state-of-the-art facility that will temporarily house feral and semi-feral cats until they’re ready to assume their Rodent Ranger jobs at barns, warehouses, wineries, stables – or wherever unwanted critters invade.
In late 2010, a generous donor provided the seed funding to create an account dedicated to helping cats with extraordinary veterinary needs. The fund, which we call the Tenth Life Club (TLC), is used to provide life-saving medical care for cats that would otherwise be euthanized. In the past seven years, FieldHaven has saved dozens of cats and kittens using money donated to the Tenth Life Club.
Here are their stories:
CRAISEN is a true miracle. Last winter, he was found nearly frozen to death. Upon arrival at FieldHaven, he had no measurable temperature, was anemic, emaciated, dangerously dehydrated, and hypothermic. He also had severe dental disease, unequal pupils, and was diagnosed FIV+. It took seven hours to slowly raise his temperature to 94 degrees, and three more days before he had a normal temperature of 101 degrees. Craisen faced many obstacles in the weeks he recuperated in the med room, including possible liver damage. He faced them with the determination of a champion and, after only four weeks, he was adopted.
LAUREN was playing with her littermates as kittens will do, especially precocious ones. However, after she took a tumble, she wasn’t able to walk on her left hind leg. X-rays revealed a fracture. She underwent surgery, which involved inserting a pin down her femur and attaching it to two external stabilizing pins. Lauren was a perfect little patient and tolerated her treatments and bandage changes very well. After eight weeks, her pins were removed and she recovered fantastically, so much that her foster dad adopted her.
THE PANLEUK PALACE. When your cat receives its FVRCP vaccine, the P is for Panleukopenia, commonly called “Feline Distemper.” Panleukopenia is a highly contagious viral disease caused by the feline parvovirus, which disproportionately affects kittens. Sadly, many are euthanized at shelters. Our FieldHaven staff and veterinarians apply a highly effective panleuk protocol, and this year, accepted ten feral kittens that had been exposed to the virus. Because of the extremely contagious nature of the disease, the kittens were treated at our off-site isolation facility, dubbed “the Panleuk Palace.” Staff and trained volunteers oversee their care through treatment and recovery. It is a long, labor-intensive process, but helping these kittens survive and thrive makes it all worth it.
These are among the extraordinary treatments and procedures FieldHaven administers with the skills of our veterinary staff. Your donations to the Tenth Life Club will ensure cats and kittens in need of critical care will continue to receive it.
It’s time for FieldHaven to hit the road!
Even though FieldHaven’s heart and headquarters will always be in Lincoln, there is a desperate need for our services in other parts of Placer County and beyond.
To respond to this, we’re announcing our “Fund the Bus”campaign to raise money for a mobile clinic that will offer spaying/neutering and veterinary care in areas with inadequate services for animals in need.
Since we opened our veterinary clinic to the public in January, we have been booked days in advance. We have limited capacity in our small medical suite at the shelter and we are not able to provide all the services we would like. This was our incentive to think BIG!
After mulling the options, including opening a separate clinic, we settled on a state-of-the-art, custom-made bus.
A bus can go right to the need, whether it’s in downtown Lincoln, here at the shelter, or some place farther away that doesn’t have low cost spay/neuter services. We launched the fundraising campaign at our annual Classics, Cats & Cabernet celebration in June. Our supporters loved the idea and we raised more than $50,000 in just a few minutes!
The estimated cost of this specialized bus is just over $300,000, far less than the cost of a brick-and-mortar clinic. We know you, our dedicated supporters, will want to be part of putting the wheels on this bus and getting it on the road sometime in 2018.
Please make a note with your donation if you’d like it to go to our “Fund the Bus” campaign. If you are interested in becoming a major sponsor, please contact Rochelle Barcellona at [email protected]
You probably already know FieldHaven’s Marketplace is located at 454 F Street in downtown Lincoln, but you may not know it is housed in a WWII vintage Quonset hut that has been at that address since 1948.
Once a hardware store, a church, a gym, and a retail store, the Quonset hut is now the home of FieldHaven’s venture into retail.
The store is staffed by four employees, and largely driven by volunteers who provide valuable labor, knowledge and assistance. All are motivated by FieldHaven’s maxim: “For every cat in need, a solution.”
The Marketplace experience begins on the loading dock, where volunteers process generous donations received from the Lincoln community. A wide variety of items are sorted, cleaned, and priced behind the scenes – some set aside to be listed on eBay.
The goods, which range from commonplace to eclectic, are brought to the sales floor to be showcased: Limoges china, Hummel figurines, hand tools, and furniture. Let’s not forget the artwork, jewelry, a kid’s department, and a selection of women’s and men’s clothing. All proceeds from sales go toward FieldHaven’s work saving cats and kittens.
The highlight of the Marketplace is Champy’s Catfé, where customers enjoy the company of adoptable felines while sipping coffee, tea or hot chocolate – and surfing free WiFi of course! They can spend time with adoptable cats right there in the Catfé or take one or more home on a Purrjama Party for a trial period.
This year, the Marketplace was honored by Lincoln’s Best of the Best and received the award for the Best Thrift Store in Lincoln. Marketplace is not only a store. It’s a place where you can enjoy the companionship of cats while supporting a non-profit, community-based organization dedicated to saving as many lives as possible.
In its 9th year, Classics, Cats & Cabernet was hosted at FieldHaven on June 10. Beautiful classic cars and wooden boats were displayed and the horse barn was transformed into a decorator’s showcase. The event was emceed by radio personality Kitty O’Neal. Kanani Reynolds of KLM Auctions hosted the live auction, renowned for unusual, fun items such as a cattle ranch weekend, falconry experience, redneck party, and breakfast with the Folsom Zoo bears.
CC&C 2018, June 9 – SAVE THE DATE!
My name is Grandma Rhoda, and I wasn’t sure if I’d make it to the ripe-old-age of 13. A year ago, my previous owners surrendered me at a different shelter to be euthanized, but when the vets examined me, they didn’t find any serious problems. Now I’m at FieldHaven, where I have a better chance at adoption. For those of you who might be skittish about adopting a senior kittizen, you should know I’m pretty healthy for my age. I’m also playful, affectionate and mellow, and do well with children. Like many grandmas, I absolutely adore sitting on the patio, sunbathing by day and star-gazing at night. There are only a handful of months left before I turn 14, so please help me prove 13 is indeed my lucky number!
#AdoptDontShop
Who says 13 is an unlucky number? It feels pretty lucky to me.