Hi, friends. Me again. Raspberry, shelter manager at Cats Haven. I'm gonna write a real short blog here because I have just a couple of things to tell you all. Plus Miranda is making tuna-stuffed chicken for dinner, and I think it's just about done. With all of these kittens here, I don't want to be late for dinner . . . otherwise there'll be nothing left for little Raspberry!!!

First, I've got to tell you all about Bruce. We got a call yesterday about a kitten who had been hit by a car. Barb said that we'd help him, and for the person who found him to take him to The Cat Doctor. When the kitten arrived at the clinic, the staff called Barb to let her know that this little guy had no left ear, and his right eye will need to be removed. Well, The Other Sue was scheduled to pick up Cantaloupe from the clinic, and Barb asked her to take a picture of the new kitten. Sue took her camera to get a shot or two of this injured little guy, but she wasn't prepared for what she saw. There is no way this small black-and-white kitten has been hit by a car. His left ear flap is completely gone . . . and the injury sewed up so it looks like he never had an ear at all. And the right side of his face, well, I can't describe it except to say that it's terribly swollen, completely infected, and the eye is not even recognizable. Drs. Johns and Myra will do surgery on him tomorrow morning. But it appears that the ear was removed a while ago because the stitches are nearly healed. The side of the face looks like it was injured just a few days ago. This is awful. I just can't believe that someone would do something like this to a 12-week-old kitten, but they did. This is the absolute worst. The staff at The Cat Doctor has named our little boy Bruce after tough-guy Bruce Willis. He's obviously a fighter and will hopefully make it through this terrible injury, but at the same time he's a lover and enjoys being held and petted. I'd post his pictures on our website, but I bet many of you wouldn't want to see them. So tomorrow morning, if you all could take a moment out and send good thoughts to Bruce at The Cat Doctor, hopefully all that good cat energy will help him. 

And now, on to the best!!! Friday, Barb and her (our) Gypsy Cat jewelry will be holding a fundraiser at B Java Coffee, 56th and Lafayette Road. Weather permitting, I think Teddy is going to join her, so if you're looking for a great place to have a wonderful iced coffee drink or a light lunch, stop by B Java between 11:30 and 1:30 and visit with Barb. Just next door to B Java is Puerto Valerta, a really good Mexican restaurant, and down the sidewalk is Eh Fromaggio, a great Italian joint! So take a co-worker to lunch tomorrow and buy some one-of-a-kind, hand-made jewelry . . . and help the kitties of Cats Haven!! And don't forget that we'll be at the Speedway Petco on Saturday from 1 til 3:30 with a nice group of adoptable kitties. Even if you can't adopt right now, stop by and spend some time with us. We love to see everyone! 

Miranda just called us for dinner, so I better scoot. Those kittens absolutely inhale food and if I'm gonna get dinner tonight, I gotta hurry! Later, folks. Don't forget about sending out that healing energy to our new friend Bruce!!! - Raspberry 

Hi, friends!! How is everyone on this gorgeous Monday morning? I hope everybody is doing well and is  enjoying this purrrr-fect weather! I'm hoping to take a break later this week and head out to the Indiana State Fair. Miranda and I have a lot to do around the shelter, but we might be able to sneak out for a couple of hours and hit the pork chop and roasted corn tents. Miranda and I also want to visit the chicken and bunny barn . . . it's a cat thing, you know. So I've got lots of news to tell you all. Ready? Here goes.

First, our "organic mousetrap" promotion is going very well. We've found jobs for Gareesh, JoeLee (Miss Squirrel), and a few other top-notch mousers! In this economy, jobs are hard to find, so congrats to our organic mousetrap team for landing gainful employment. We have more organic mousetraps, if you know of anyone who wants to hire professional rodent controllers. You need 'em? We've got 'em!  And they come in several different colors. I'm sure we've got one who will match your interior or exterior decor. Also, congrats to our friend Wobbles who went to his new home a couple of weeks ago. Way to go, Wobbles!! Thank you to Wobbles new mom for giving our special-needs friend a chance to have his very own home and family. And congrats to Maurice! Maurice was kind of like a big white rug at the shelter, and now he graces the floors of his new home. My kitten friend Echo also found his new home with Sonja, one of our stellar volunteers. Echo came from Indianapolis Animal Care and Control as a tiny baby. He's got a great home now, kinky tail and all. Sonja, please make sure Echo (I hear you're calling him Petey) keeps up with his studies. He was doing very well with math and geography, but needed a little help with language skills.  So a big Woo Hoo to everyone who has found their fur-ever homes!

I've got other shelter news, too. Barb (and I, or course) recently applied for and received a $1,000 grant!! Yippee!! Our dream of having a garage and a fence is getting closer to being a reality! Barb and Cindy Cox (and I, of course) are looking into more grants opportunities, and hopefully we'll have more capital improvement funds before too long. And a group called Vision 3 has chosen us to be one of their 'projects' over the next couple of months. This group will take a look at our logo and our website, and see what suggestions and improvements they can make. Thanks, Vision 3 folks! Also, we're in the planning stages now for our October 11th Fall Frolic. Just like we did this spring with our Spring Fling, we'll have vendors, food, free pet food samples . . . all kinds of fun. If you'd like to volunteer for this event, call The Other Sue at 317-329-8219. Stay tuned for more details.

You want more news? Why not. We've had some unhappy things happen recently. Last week, my best friend in the whole world Dzana got mugged while waiting for a bus in Fountain Square. Some mean punk came up to her and stole her purse! He not only scared my friend Dzana, but he stole her money, her medicine, and her bus pass that she'd just purchased for the month. The police were called, but they didn't find this little criminal. If I find him first, I'm planning to neuter him. Thankfully, Dzana is OK and didn't get hurt, but it wasn't a good way for her to start the day. She was just trying to get to the shelter that morning to help. Our friend Amy Van Ostrand with Indiana-PAW lost her dog friend Wyatt last Thursday. She, Derek, and her fuzzy family were just starting to heal from losing their dog friend Melanie when Wyatt was diagnosed with lymphoma. He received chemotherapy for several weeks and it seemed to be working well. But last week, Wyatt crashed. Wyatt joined his dog sister Melanie at the Rainbow Bridge last Thursday evening. Amy, Derek, and family, my heart goes out to you all. And my good friend The Other Sue lost her dog friend, Chloe, too. Chloe was an older Lhasa lady, and seemingly in good health. But she had a debilitating stroke early one morning, and Chloe joined her cat friend Rudy (who had crossed just a couple of weeks before) at the Rainbow Bridge.  Sue referred to Chloe as the "rare and exotic waddling Lotta Lhasa" because she was a stocky gal. Chloe is very much missed by Sue and the rest of her fuzzmates. And one last piece of sad news . . . we lost our old friend Sinclair. Sinclair ended up at Indianapolis Animal Care and Control a while back, his family not wanting to deal with an old cat man with cancer. So Barb took him, had a malignant tumor removed, and he lived for a while with The Other Sue. He spent his final months at the shelter, enjoying the upstairs kitchen with all of his kitty friends. But recently his cancer returned and his old black and white fuzzy body gave up. Rest in peace, my friend Sinclair. You have many friends waiting for you at the Bridge.

Wow, I almost forgot to say a big THANK YOU to WalMart for all the donated litter and food!! And THANK YOU to the original Sue for making the trek down to Seymour every week to pick up all of these donations. Because of WalMart and Sue, we've been able to keep our Pet Food Pantry stocked and help Indianapolis Animal Care and Control as well as other rescue groups and shelters in the Indianapolis area. If any of you would like to help with our weekly WalMart runs, you can always donate a gift card to help defray gas costs. It costs us $30 to make the trip down and back, but it's worth every cent. IACC doesn't have a food budget and they rely on donated food to feed all of the animals in their shelter. So these WalMart donations not only help Cats Haven, but they help many other animals, too.  

Well, friends, it's coming up on 1 in the afternoon, and I hear Miranda upstairs, setting up the chalkboard for the afternoon kitten classes. It's such a gorgeous day outside that we're all going to sit in the windows and learn to identify the different types of birds. And then later this afternoon, Miranda is teaching a cooking class! What a wonderful Monday! Here's hoping your week is starting out as well as ours here at the shelter. I'll blog again soon . . . Raspberry