Hi, friends! This is just a quick blog about a mistake that I made on our website. At least, Barb and The Other Sue are telling me that I made an error. A-hem. I begged to differ. I thought I had made a mistake once, but I was wrong. HOWEVER, on the Calendar page, *someone* had the date of our Kitten Kaboodle this weekend listed as June 21. Well, it's not. It's June 22 . . . Sunday. Just to be purrrrr-fectly clear, our Kitten Kaboodle at Pet Supplies Plus on Rockville Road is this Sunday (the day after Saturday), June 22 (the day after June 21) from noon until 4. 

While I'm here, I want to let you all know that we're still finding kittens. The Original Sue found several babycats in a carrier on someone's porch, left there with no momma. And at the shelter, we have a few more than we had last week. It's like a kitten blizzard in June! Miranda and I are going to be busy for the rest of the year taking care of all these little guys and getting them to sit still in our kitten classes. We had one class this morning that included the tiny babies as well as the slightly older ones . . . the class was Chase the Round Thing Across the Floor 101. Everyone did super!  After class, they all had lunch, I read them a story while Miranda gave them their juice boxes, and then everyone took a nap. Right now, they're all in their afternoon class, which is Face, Ear, and Paw Hygiene. It'll be over soon, so I better start setting the table for dinner.

Hope to see a bunch of you at the Kitten Kaboodle this weekend . . . Sunday . . . June 22! Raspberry, over and out! - Raspberry

Oh, boy. You guys just wouldn't believe it. We have even MORE kittens at the shelter. Like over 20 more kittens tonight than we had this morning. How did this happen? Well, Barb and the Other Sue took off this afternoon to go to the Indianapolis Animal Care and Control board meeting, just like they do every month. A couple of hours later, Barb and the Other Sue came back and started moving crates and cages around, filling up litter pans, and preparing food and water dishes. I had a feeling something was up . . . and I was right! A little while later, the Original Sue and my buddy Dzana came in with carrier after carrier of KITTENS! When Barb, the Other Sue, and the Original Sue were at Animal Care and Control, they found all of these babycats in the intake room, and because these guys were so little and didn't have any mommies, they were going to be put down. They're so tiny, like maybe three weeks old. And very dirty and hungry . . . so we spent the rest of the evening getting these guys cleaned up and fed, and they're all in their kitten beds now, clean and full of food and safe. Barb said that we need to let the rest for tonight, and then Miranda and I will start getting them registered tomorrow morning for Kitten Classes, but here's the deal. WE NEED HELP!!!! Folks, I don't ask for help very often. But with all the kittens we have here now, there are some things that we need. Things like

• Jars of baby food . . . chicken, turkey, ham, and veal; not junior foods, but the little jars of moooooshy baby food
• Baby wipes
• Paper towels
• Kitten food in the next couple of weeks
• Vinegar and bleach
• Clay litter
• Gift cards for Petsmart, Petco, Pet Supplies Plus, WalMart, Target, and other places where we can get the supplies we need

I would personally appreciate any supplies that you guys can donate. Without Barb and our volunteers, these little innocent lives would be lost by now. These kittens were literally minutes away from being killed, gone forever. We just couldn't let that happen. Please help us if you can. If you could just see these little faces . . . Hey, you can! C'mon by the shelter and meet all of our residents! I guarantee that you'll fall in love. :)

I've also got other shelter news! This past Monday, Cats Haven in cooperation with IndyFeral had 35 free-roaming cats from Fountain Square spayed and neutered at the Hamilton County Low-Cost Spay/Neuter Clinic. Most of these kitties were females, so just think of how many kittens they could have had . . . and how many kittens those kitten could have had . . . and so on and so on. AND we're doing it again this coming Monday. IndyFeral's spay/neuter schedule is so booked up, so we decided to jump in and just 'get 'er done,' as the Other Sue says. There is a big need in the Fountain Square area to get these free-roamers fixed, and as the summer goes on and finances allow, we'll continue to meet that need. 

More shelter news? Well, of course! Barb and our, er I mean, HER fan-tabulous Gypsy Cat jewelry will be at the Noblesville Garden Tour this Saturday from 10 til 4. Check out our Calendar page for the location, but this sounds like a really cool event! You can tour all kinds of gardens (I wonder if anyone has a catnip garden?), see antique bicycles and tractors . . . and find that purr-fect necklace, bracelet, or earrings just in time to look gorgeous for Father's Day. Barb and I have been working really hard to whip up some new designs in all kinds of bright summer colors just for this event. She'll also have some of our world-famous, hand-made catnip toys, too. I know my dad would have loved a new catnip toy for Father's Day! I bet yours would, too!   

I hear a couple of the new babies crying, so I guess it's time to curl up with them and purrrrrrr them back to sleep. I want to thank you all in advance for your donations, help, and support. I've said this before, but I'll say it again. Cats Haven has the very bestest volunteers and supporters ever in the whole world. Without you guys, we wouldn't be able to help the ones we do. From the bottom of my orange striped heart, thank you all. - Raspberry

Hi, everyone!! It looks like summer is *finally* here, but I can do without all the stormy weather. Wow, that thunder sure is loud! The kittens were afraid of all the noise until I told them that thunder is just the sound of angel kitties bowling in heaven. Now when they hear thunder, they giggle. Of course, we all know that thunder is actually the big cat god Leo rolling potatoes downhill, but the kittens like the bowling story better.

So it's been quite a week around the shelter here. Aside from the storms, we've got another mom and her new-born kittens staying with us for a while. That means Miranda and I will be teaching Kitten Classes all summer. Woo hoo!!! I love to teach kitten classes. We've found that they're never too young to learn about purring, head-butting, and the all-important selective hearing. So aside from the new babies, we're gearing up for Scales and Tails at the Indiana State Museum this coming Saturday. I have to stay at the shelter, but I think Miranda will get to go. And Barb is talking to a couple of others about going, too. So we're getting kitties , toys, and jewelry ready to go on Saturday, putting in all the air conditioners, getting momma cats spayed now that their babies are big enough, and getting some of the babies spayed and neutered, too, so they're ready to go when their new families find them. We're planning a Kitten Kaboodle at Pet Supplies Plus on June 21st, and next Saturday Barb will be at a Garden Tour in Noblesville. More info on that early next week. Oh, and we're already planning for the annual IVEC Pet Carnival in July, so we've got a lot of fun stuff coming up.

Barb and the Other Sue have been feverishly working on a new Volunteer Manual and Foster Manual that we'll be rolling out in a few weeks. We've gotten so many folks who want to help us that we're actually going to have a volunteer orientation class! How cool is that!? If you or someone you know might want to volunteer at the shelter or at some of our events, just have them contact the shelter. There is always so much to do around here. Hey, maybe I should put my own Kitten Class Manual together, and you guys could help teach the kittens! You'd need to be experienced with sleeping in the sun, rolling around in catnip, and throwing up hairballs when company comes to visit. 

Oh, the other BIG news is that I've put together another YouTube video!! Check it out at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPHamFfshek I think you'll like this one!

That's all for now, friends. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week, and Miranda says that she's looking forward to seeing many of you at the Scales and Tails event this Saturday! Stay cool, everyone. Cool just like the RazMan!! Hahahaha! - Raspberry