Catnips from Chats du Quercy

[Lynn_STONE]

As an introduction, here's a little history!
I’ve been finding homes for abandoned cats for nearly ten years now.
With the help of some fantastci supporters, in 2010, Chats du Quercy registered charity was created, since then we have been able to accomplish incredible steps forward for cats and we’re very excited about building on this success. Chats du Quercy is a non-profit organisation funded solely by public donations.

In 2011 I qualified as a cat behaviourist

Chats du Quercy’s ethos is to help cats in need, regardless of age and condition, if we can we always give a second chance at happiness.

We offer a wide range of services, including investigating complaints concerning cat cruelty, rescue and rehabilitation, adoption of homeless cats, education and cat behaviour advice.

Happy Endings - finding forever homes
We are always happy to wave goodbye to our cats as they set off to their new homes, but nothing puts a wider smile on our faces than when we know just how much they deserve happiness, following all that they’ve been through.

Prissie’s story – this lovely, calm black and white girl is a double victim! Prissie was adopted on 7^th January 2012. After giving our usual advice both verbal and written concerning the length of time to keep a new cat indoors – normally at least 4 weeks, the new owner let Prissie out just 2 days after adoption. Needless to say, Prissie became completely lost and we feared the worst. However, imagine our surprise and delight when a call came, almost a year to the day, to say that Prissie had been taken to a vet surgery and as she was microchipped, identified and still registered to Chats du Quercy, we were able to take her back in. Apparently no worse for her year on the streets and no idea where she’d been Prissie(above) was once again looking for a new home which she found with a lovely young woman who is totally besotted with her.

Without the care and devotion of foster carers and the many volunteers that help out at the Rescue Centre, Chats du Quercy would not exist, and we thank them from all our 4 paws!
Every summer, we are inundated with kittens. Some are the result of an accidental litter, and are surrendered by people unable to look after them. Others are born to cats that have been abandoned, and are brought to us as strays. If you are considering getting a cat for your family, why not visit Chats du Quercy Rescue Centre and we’ll help you find the right match. Your new feline friend is waiting! If you would like more details concerning adopting, please contact us on 05 63 94 73 97 or look on our website www.chatsduquercy.com

News just in : We have been elected as Association of the month of December on ZOOPLUS.
From Zooplus 'each month, all bonus points collected will be recorded and we will offer the equivalent of these to the selected association. So, thanks to your generosity, we are able to regularly help to support many animal protection charities."
An article will be published on the Zooplus blog https://www.facebook.com/ZooplusFR and online via the loyalty program
Please help collect the maximum possible points, and please share with everyone you can!

[Lynn_STONE]

Just a few clics will help Tiny Tim this Christmas!

http://www.actuanimaux.com/a-parrainer/animaux/tiny-tim

[Lynn_STONE]

Just a warning

a few years ago there were a spate of fraudulent scams on many french and english websites, offering pure breed cats or more likely kittens for free. When you answer the advert, you receive a speel about the people not being in the country so they ask for your details and will find out transportation costs for you!! It seems like they are starting up again, this is the reply I received today after responding to one of these suspect adverts yesterday -

Bonsoir,

Je vous informe que le chaton est toujours disponible. Je tiens à vous informer qu'il s'agit d'une magnifique Chaton angora turc femelle très belle. elle partira vermifuge, vacciné, puce, avec son certificat vétérinaire de bonne santé. Je vous informe aussi que je vous fais don du chaton, à vous de voir. Je cherche la personne qui peut bien prendre soin d'elle et l'aimer pour de vrai. Actuellement, je ne suis pas en France et la température d'ici ne lui fait pas du bien, raison pour laquelle je voudrais la donner ( avec beaucoup de peine ) à quelqu'un qui pourrait lui offrir amour et tendresse car nous avons déménager de la France pour le cadre d'une Association Coopérative Union Européenne-Afrique avec ma famille et notre petite chaton. Cela fait quelques mois que nous sommes ici avec le chaton. Pour ce qui concerne les frais de transport je m'en chargerai. Si vous êtes sincèrement intéressé et que vous êtes sûr d'avoir du temps à lui accorder et beaucoup d'attention ( j'y tiens ), veuillez me laisser votre adresse domiciliaire complète comme suit :

Nom :

Prénom :

Adresse :

Code postal & Ville :

Téléphone :

Afin que je puisse me renseigner auprès de la compagnie de transport animalière française qui se chargera de vous livrez le chaton.

Promettez moi de me donner ses nouvelles et photos à la réception.

Très propre et gentille avec les enfants.!!!!!!

Je veux qu'il ait un bon maître qui peut la donner beaucoup d'amour car je l'ai habitué à une vie sociale très joyeuse affectueuse même avec les autres animaux domestiques.

dite moi avez vous jardin?

Mme et Mr:Lacour

Believe me this is a scam and the next mail will ask for you to pay for the transporting of the kitten in advance, of course, nothing ever arrives!!

[Lynn_STONE]

Just passed a really exceptionally busy weekend, our stand at the local Jardiland went very well - photo attached, with many people interested in Chats du Quercy, so raising the profile of the association, which is always good!

We've been holding open afternoons too on Sundays, the two so far have netted nearly 1000€ for us, much needed to kick us off to a good start in 2014 and ready for the new onslaught of cats and kittens arriving! In fact, it isn't just us, but many charities are commenting on the lack of a 'break' this year! Normally we can take a little breather at the end of a year, with fewer unwanted births but not so this yaer, we are still as full on as ever!

So please pass this link around

http://chatsduquercy.fr/chats-du-quercy-conseils-soigne-et-bien-etre-des-chats/la-distribution-de-chatons/

and the message that now is the time to have your cats and kittens sterilised!!

[Lynn_STONE]

Don’t forget to pop along, have a cuppa, look around and perhaps treat yourself or someone close to you to one of the fantastic present ideas for sale. We have loads of items for your cats and dogs too!

[Lynn_STONE]

I agree Regina, but there are a lot of keyboard warriors out there, each with an opinion. Like you, I do a lot of internet research but the vet is my first port of call with a sick cat. I am also very lucky to have one of the best vet's I've ever worked with (and that is a lot!!).

[Regina_Young]

I must admit that I also use Dr. Google to look up possible symptoms, but this does not hinder me to take my cats immediately to the vet for TREATMENT!
Since our old vet died, a very young lady has taken over his practice and I think she actually appreciates that I am better informed than most of her customers, but I would never ever dare to make a possible diagnosis by myself. Unfortunately she doesn’t seem to know much about feline nutrition. I definitely seem to be better informed when it comes to appropriate cat food and admit that I rather buy it through the Internet than from her.

[Lynn_STONE]

Writing in the most recent installment of his blog, UK vet Will Easson discusses his fear that the voice of the veterinary profession is being "swamped by the cacophony of the internet".

More specifically, he notes the increasing tendency of pet owners to leave it longer before presenting sick animals to their vet – a habit he believes can no longer be blamed purely on the rising costs of veterinary care, but is due also to a reliance on internet based resources.

He writes: "As is obvious to everyone in this job, we've been replaced by Doctor Google and the mighty World Wide Web in the first few days of illness. Some people even think they can diagnose their animal's ailment and come in to demand a particular drug.

"What is perhaps worse is that this information is easy to access and free. It may mostly be irrelevant, wrong, or just pseudoscientific woo written by self-professed experts with a theory, but you need to be a vet to tell what is what."

"What adds psychological weight to what they read is that it's all written down, and for some reason people seem to put more trust in written words than spoken."

Is this something that veterinary professionals are experiencing on a regular basis? Are pet owners putting their faith more in often-anonymous online sources than in their local highly-trained veterinary surgeon?

It makes for interesting discussion and I’d love to hear other’s views.

[Lynn_STONE]

One of the biggest problems in Frane is the Vet governing Body.

They are like a protection raquet and place restirictions on vets to offer reduced rate sterilisations etc.

[Regina_Young]

Very interesting, Lynn, and yes - the key is indeed EDUCATION. A long way to go here in France, especially in rural areas.
I find it hard to believe that France is bottom of the pile in Animal welfare terms. I would have thought the more Southern the countries, the more stray animals, but I also know that Spain and Greece have a lot of very engaged (German) volunteer groups and organizations. They work together with the locals and have enough funds to sterilize and also fly a lot of animals out for adoption.
Keep up the good work, that’s all I can say. I am doing my little bit here, but it is just like a drop into the ocean.

[Lynn_STONE]

Representing Chats du Quercy, I have just returned from a weekend in Barcelona, invited to give a talk on ‘How to manage feline overpopulation in an efficient and ethically acceptable way” at the Feline Conference 2013 the overall purpose of which is to discuss common issues and share best practices of feline overpopulation in Europe and to eventually produce a standard for all to follow.

The obvious answer is to put in place a TNR(Trap-Neuter-Return) programme, it is what all good cat charities advocate, Chats du Quercy included (we have documentation in French and English for those interested, and especially useful for convincing your local commune leaders!) As a Cat Rescue and Rehoming facility, I decided to take a different slant on the problem, highlighting the root of the problem. Here is the basis of my talk.

The word "feral" is used to define a cat that lives outdoors and it essentially does not belong to anyone. Feral cats are the offspring of lost or abandoned pet cats who are not sterilised. Females can reproduce three or four times a year, and their kittens, if they survive, will become feral without early contact with people. Cats can become pregnant as early as 4 months of age, and the number of cats rapidly increases without intervention by caring people.

The root of the cat overpopulation problem is irresponsible cat ownership.

Lack of sterilisation can be for many reasons, from outright owner unwillingness to cost implications, or lack of knowledge that cats can start to reproduce from as young as 4 months of age. This is why as a cat charity we take our responsibility seriously and for the past 2 years have practiced early age neutering from 2 months of age and 1kg in weight. We also have information on “Early age neutering” in French and English for those interested.

Often overlooked is the very short socialisation period for a kitten, if a kitten has had no human contact in between its 2 and 7^th week of life, then it will most probably stay feral, there are exceptions to this general rule, but in the main it is true.

As soon as the recording of the Feline Conference 2013 is completed, we’ll place a link for you to see the whole event.

This was a very positive experience for us at Chats du Quercy, but what is more and more evident is that France has a lot of catching up to do. With representatives from Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy and Austria, France is bottom of the pile in animal welfare terms, a sad fact as it is one of the more financially stable countries of Europe.

Nearing the end of the conference we were all asked the question, if we could name one thing that would make a difference to animal welfare in Europe, the overall resounding answer was EDUCATION.

The purpose of this conference was to provide a starting point for raising standards Europe wide. I’m more than convinced this is the best way forward for everyone.

Watch this space!

[Lynn_STONE]

http://www.animalwebaction.com/

this is just one site that we sign up to which helps animal charitys. these kind of websites are an amazing boost to us and many others.

We also have

http://www.aideanimaux.com/parrainage-animal?ani=171

where specific cases are financed.

Thanks for your help!!

[Lynn_STONE]

[Lynn_STONE]

ICC was formerly FAB cats as you rightly point out Regina, but not sure that the Feline conference has links!

[Regina_Young]

Is this International Cat Care http://www.icatcare.org
Formerly Feline Advisory Bureau?

[Lynn_STONE]

We have been invited to participate in the Feline Conference in Barcelona - poster attached. We will of course report back how it went, but it would be equally fantastic to see you there!

[Lynn_STONE]

Thanks Regina, We hope that the goodies will help our 'inmates' over the new year period, they love to have new toys! It is the animals that deserve better.

We have a couple of cats featured on AideAnimaux too

http://www.aideanimaux.com/parrainage-animal?ani=171

Every clic counts and if you watch an advertising video we arrive at the desired amount even quicker!

[Regina_Young]

Lynn, you and your helpers are doing a FANTASTIC job! If everybody were like you, then the world would be a much better place!
You have my full respect and admiration. Congratulations on the Association of the month - you deserve it!!!