Hello Everyone:

Hope you are all having a good summer!  We've been kept busy, not only trapping, but also making sure our little feral friends have had enough water to drink during this unusual dry spell.  We also asked all the feral feeders to take extra water jugs and douse the trees and bushes surrounding our feral stations so that the greenery stays alive in order to provide cover for our stations.  If the bushes die then the stations are exposed and we don't want that!   

We know you'll want to read some of the stories that we've been working on so here's a sampling . . .

MISHKA IS ADOPTED!

There was a happy ending waiting for our little guy at the end of his long journey back to health! After weeks of recovery from his nearly fatal encounter with a feisty raccoon, Mishka was ready to take his next step. Taylor talked one of her friends into fostering the little guy and we ALL know how that goes! Exactly one week later the family decided to 'officially' adopt him! He joined a fur family of two who readily accepted him. In fact, Nacho, a little tabby female with some special needs mobility issues, immediately fell in love with handsome Mishka and started following him around the house on day 2.

For those of you who missed the first part of Mishka's story, click here to read about his amazing rescue and recovery.

And finally, Marina has sent some heartwarming photos of Mishka in his new home. Click here to see them. Thank you to ALL who donated to help us out with Mishka's veterinary bills.

GREY GHOST

This gorgeous looking boy first showed up several months ago in Jay and Lorrie's backyard in Upper Lonsdale. He was hungry and Lorrie started to give him some food. Her own two beautiful orange cats, Hank and Dan, were none too thrilled with having another male around, but the Grey Ghost didn't attack them. In fact, he tried to make friends by lying submissively on his back around them, but likely they knew he was unneutered and kept their distance. Lorrie knew Grey Ghost was sleeping in their woodpile at the side of their house so they knew he had no home to go to at night. Luckily, the area has a nice tarp and roof shelter, so he stayed dry and off the ground.

Lorrie couldn't get close enough to Grey Ghost to see if he had a tattoo or to pick him up to get him to a vet, so she called us for help. We brought a trap to her house, placed it on her porch and tied open the trap door so it couldn't spring shut. We wanted Grey Ghost to get comfortable around it. Lorrie started by placing food at the front of the trap and then, each feeding, moving the food dish further inside the trap until he had no fear of going all the way to the back of the trap.

After 6 days we went for him and Lorrie caught him on the first try. The vet told us there was no ID on him and he was unneutered so Grey Ghost got the works – a neuter, tattoo, deworming, defleaing, and several mats cut off his tail and coat. He ate a good dinner in his recovery kennel overnight and we returned him to Lorrie's backyard the next day. He knew he was home and scurried off down past his woodpile when we opened the kennel door.

Lorrie told us that he is showing up regularly for his food and has a healthy appetite. We are hoping that Dan and Hank will now accept him as family so he can officially join their household. Jay and Lorrie have re-named him Silver Shadow or Shadow, for short.

Thank you to Lorrie and Jay and to all those who go out of their way to help feral cats.

Click here to see Grey Ghost (aka Shadow)

TEDDI GETS HELP

Last summer we responded to a call from Helen who works at a business just east of the Second Narrows Bridge. We spayed a little female feral cat she called Tiger, and Helen set up both a feeding station and a sleeping station for her.

Several weeks ago, Helen noticed two other cats coming to the station sporadically, so we set the trap up again last week and Helen caught a little grey and white kitty. At the vet clinic, we learned that she was unspayed with no ID, so we named the little girl,Teddi, and she got the routine PAF treatment.

After recovery, we took her back to her 'home' and set her free. She zoomed off and disappeared behind a mobile trailer. Happily, Helen reported seeing her the very next morning, waiting at the feeding station for breakfast as usual. It's wonderful to know she is okay and will be in better health now that she's fixed and vaccinated. And she won't be contributing any kittens to the neighbourhood now. Trap/Neuter/Return WORKS.

For photos of Teddi, please click here.

'DOG KISSING BOOTH' FUNDRAISERS

In early June, we were invited by Korna Pet Supplies Ltd to do a fundraiser at their Anniversary Event celebrating 20 years of business in North Vancouver! We thought it would be a fun idea to make a couple of dog kissing booths and have owners and their pups get their photos taken. Willow Penno is a wonderful photographer and she volunteered to spend the time behind the camera capturing those adorable shots! Thank you so much to volunteers, Paula and Jane.  They worked hard squeaking dog toys above Willow's head to get the pooches to look at her and ushering owners and doggies in and out of the booths. We had loads of fun!

We had a second great booth day at Korna's Coquitlam store on June 21^st and we want to thank Korna for the support to our organization.   Korna has just announced they have a a 'Reusable Dog Toy Buy Back' program between July 27 - Aug. 2nd, 2015 at both their North Van and Coquitlam stores.  Korna will buy back reusable toys to donate them to local rescue groups and give the donator $5. towards a new toy purchased on the same day. 

See Korna's Facebook page here.

To look at the wonderful photos from our 'Kissing Booth Days', click here

IN THE NICK OF TIME - LUCKY KITTENS

Minna has been doing cat rescue for many years and looking after the ferals at Hastings Park Race Track. She makes sure that they get trapped and neutered, and then feeds them daily when they are returned.  In the 1990's, PAF did a lot of work with ferals there.

Minna emailed us one Saturday in mid-May. She was desperate to catch a heavily pregnant, scared female cat that she had been feeding for several months. She was having no success in catching this kitty and was so worried that the kittens would be born somewhere in one of the horse barns at the location.

We gave Minna some of the sneaky ideas that we have used to catch those elusive, trap-shy cats and Minna emailed us at midnight, that same night, to say she was so excited – she had caught mom cat!

Mom was set up in her bathroom suite and immediately took to loud hissing and growling whenever Minna entered the room. Poor mom was under a lot of stress. Minna prepared a small brown box and draped a few sheets around the space so mom could hide and have some privacy. Because she couldn't examine mom, Minna was worried whether she had already had the kittens before capture. Minna was in the process of setting up a home vet visit when on day 3, she entered the room and heard tiny mewing. Over the next couple of hours 4 little newborns made their way into this world and it was huge relief to all of us to know the kittens were safe with mommy cat.

Gradually over the next few weeks, as Minna cared for the little family by changing blankets and bringing food and water, she was able to gain mommy's confidence and the hissing and growling gradually subsided. Minna started to handle and weigh the kittens to make sure they were eating enough and growing like they should.  After about 5 weeks, mom let herself be touched and Minna says she is allowing and loving the petting and stroking. The kittens are just bundles of fluff and wildly running around a bedroom chasing each other and having a wonderful time.

When the kittens turned 8 weeks old, PAF arranged a vet visit for the kittens and they were all examined, dewormed, and vaccinated by Blueride-Cove Animal Hospital. In a few weeks, mom will be spayed and Minna thinks she will be social enough to be adopted. Good work, Minna – your efforts mean that the kittens will not grow up feral and mom will have a much better life because of your efforts!

Click here to see adorable photos of the little family

HAPPY PHOTOS

And, finally, some other photos to make you smile !

WE NEED YOUR HELP . . . 

If you can spare a donation, we would be very grateful.  We need your help to continue this vital work.  These little ferals need veterinary care and food and, together, we can do that for them.   If you would like to donate, please visit our home page website - www.pacificanimal.org - and click on the Canada Helps icon for online donations or our mailing address is # 735 - 1641 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, BC  V7M 2J5.  We can issue a tax receipt for a donation of $10. or more.

Lana Simon, Director Pacific Animal Foundation www.pacificanimal.org			Simba is one of our ferals in North Vancouver. We neutered him in 2003 so he is at least 12 years old.  Here he is coming to the feeding station. His mother is still around and she would be 15 years old.  She looks good!  We have supplied daily food to Simba, his mother and 2 other siblings since 2002.