Hello, everyone! I'm Bandit, the shelter manager at Cats Haven, and I'm so excited that I can hardly stand it. The Spring Fling Art for Paws event is nearly here!!!!! Just two more days until 2603 North College Avenue will be transformed from a corner lot with a white, two-story home to a huge festival place with artists and their art work for sale and belly dancers and a fortune teller and a massage therapist  . . . and all kinds of tents and food and drinks and a GREAT BIG flea market and free samples of Precise cat foods and oh this is just gonna be so much fun and I CAN'T HARDLY WAIT!!! Ahem . . . sorry. I didn't mean to yell, but this Spring Fling thing is big, folks. I mean really really big! Bigger than, uh, than, er, well, it's just really big, okay? Take my word for it. Admission and parking are absolutely free, and a percentage of everything you buy goes to help the shelter. This is one of our biggest fund raisers of the year, and I hope to see everyone on Saturday between 11 til 4, rain or shine. You can have a great time, have lots of fun, meet and talk to all kinds of animal lovers, buy some really cool stuff, have some lunch, and know that you're helping Cats Haven all at the same time. Have I mentioned that this is really big? Well it is.

So aside from getting ready for the Spring Fling, other things have been going on at the shelter, too. Dzana has been doing some painting and getting the place spruced up. It looks great! Thank you, Dzana!! And several other volunteers have been in and out all week, helping to do a little spring cleaning and spending time with all of us. We love it when people come by to visit, so thank you to everyone who has stopped in recently. I'd like to welcome a few new kitties to the Cats Haven program, too. Welcome Opal from Animal Care and Control. Opal is a really nice gal with a gorgeous coat. She needs a hernia operation, and she'll be with us for a while. She'll be available for adoption when she's all healed up. And a big welcome goes out to Willow! She was left behind when her family moved away. Willow is a gorgeous tabby and white gal with a crooked right front paw. She's now spayed and ready for a home. And welcome to Phoebe from IndyFeral, and Cadbury, too. Cadbury is vision impaired, and was found wandering around and bumping into fences. Thank you, Deb at the Cat Doctor, for offering to foster him! Oh, and I'd like to welcome Sherman, too. Sherman is a really funny looking little guy who Barb has been tending to over the last few days while his dad has been in the hospital. I asked Barb what breed Sherman is, and she told me he's a baby Possum! I've heard of Siamese, Turkish Vans, Maine Coons, Ragdolls, and so on, but I've never heard of a Possum. He's got the strangest tail with no hair and a weird pointy nose . . . apparently his dad found him after his mom was killed, and Barb says that he'll be released outside as soon as he's big enough. He's only a few weeks old right now and I guess he's kinda cute . . . in a weird kinda way. So welcome, Sherman. Your dad will pick you up in a couple of days.

After we get this Spring Fling done on Saturday, I'm gonna have a new project to manage! Here's the deal. We need to move our office from the middle room downstairs into what we affectionately call The Queen's Room. To do this, we need to do a little floor repair, put in some electrical outlets, and put down some new flooring that was donated to us. I'm gonna be coordinating this project, and here's my challenge. I've got to find people who can help us with this work. Having paws with no opposable thumbs, none of us can use a hammer or a saw. And we really don't want Barb to have access to sharp tools. So do any of you guys know anyone who would like to donate their time to the shelter and get this job done? Does anyone know of a contractor or a builder who might like to help us? It's not a very big job, but it's gotta be done right. If anyone knows of an animal lover who could help us, email me at bandit.the.puddytat@gmail.com, and we'll contact them with more information. 

Beddie bye time for me. We've got a lot to do Thursday and Friday so everything is absolutely perfect for our big day on Saturday!! Oh, this is just gonna be so much fun. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone, so please stop by and say HI to me, okay? See you all Saturday!! - Bandit the cat, shelter manager at Cats Haven and just one really cool dude

Hello again from Bandit (that's me), the shelter manager at Cats Haven! How's everyone doing? I hope you all are doing just grrrreat. I'm doing fine, thanks for asking. I'd be better if this rain would go away and the sun would come back. I'm a sunny kinda guy, and I really don't care much for these grey, damp days. But I'm very thankful that I'm in a nice, warm, dry shelter with all my friends and plenty of food. No better way to spend a dark, rainy day than to eat, sleep, and watch TV. And that's what we've been doing all day today. I decided to change lesson plans today for the kittens (we were going to cover the importance of ignoring your human and the best ways of doing so), and teach them the fine art of lounging when the sun isn't out. So our morning classes today consisted of finding a warm, dry cubbyhole, curling up with our tails over our noses, and sleeping. Everyone got an A+! Our kittens are so smart! But I sure hope the sun comes back tomorrow. Snoozing in the sunshine is so much more fun.

We've got so many fun things coming up, from an appearance at a farmer's market to the Indiana State Museum's Scales and Tails event. But the thing I really want to talk about is the upcoming Spring Fling Art for Paws that we're planning for May 23rd. Guys, this event is big. I mean really really BIG!!! The Spring Fling, for those who don't know, is a major fund raising event for the shelter. And this year, we've got THOUSANDS . . . well, maybe HUNDREDS . . . Hahaha. I'm lying. Actually, we've got nearly 20 local artists and vendors who are looking forward to selling their stuff and donating a percentage of their sales to Cats Haven. We'll have painters, photographers, jewelry makers, and other artists as well as a numerologist, a tarot card reader, a belly dancer, and even a massage therapist. And Am-Nee-Sha, the face-painting clown, will be back this year, too! We'll also have a flea market tent, and Grillmaster James will again be barbequeing those mouth-watering beef or veggie burgers and hot dogs. Like always, admission is free, but we're asking that everyone bring a canned or boxed good that we can donate to The Julian Center. Check out our Calendar page for time and location, but I'll be there and I want to be able to meet all of you! So take a break from all the 500 race festivities and swing by our Spring Fling! You can get all kinds of cool stuff AND help the shelter all at the same time!

I suppose I should talk about what all has been going on here at the shelter. Wow, where to begin? Well,  first of all, I'd like to welcome Waltzing Matilda (or Tildie, as I call her) to Cats Haven. Tildie was found late last week when a group of kids were playing with this little, tiny, baby cat. When the kids gave her up, it was obvious that something was terribly wrong. Tildie had no use of her back legs and tail. So Adam, the guy who took Tildie home with him, called Barb to ask what to do for her. We figured the best thing was for her to come to the shelter. So last Friday night, six-week-old Tildie officially became a Cats Haven kitty! So far, she's doing great. She's eating like a pig and loves to talk. I'll keep you updated on this tiny gal, and will try to get a picture of her in the next few days. She's absolutely precious. And while Tildie was coming in, we had several kitties going out! We got a call for more Organic Mousetraps for a horse farm on the southwest side, so we managed to find jobs for a few more Cats Haven kitties! And I'd like to congratulate Darby on finding his fur-ever home. 

The Other Sue was on Radio Brownsburg earlier this week, talking about the importance of spaying and neutering. Did you know that she's on Radio Brownsburg the first Monday of each month from 9:30 til 10 in the morning? Well, she is! You can hear all about Cats Haven and other pet-related topics at 1610 AM, or by going to www.radiobrownsburg.com and listening from your computer. The show is really cool, so tune in sometime! 

A big THANK YOU goes out to Sue Hildebrandt for coming by the shelter and fixing the office door. We've had a bit of a problem at night with some of the teen-agers here in the shelter breaking into the office and really trashing the place. (I HAVE THE NAMES OF ALL YOU GUYS WHO DID THIS!!!) So thank you, Sue, for cat-proofing the office door. And thanks go out to April Tchiguka (have I mentioned I love your hair? Can you do mine like that sometime?), Victoria Wesseler, and Jen Metz for all the hard work they've been doing on the Spring Fling! Thank you, also, to Dr. Myra from the Cat Doctor for putting together the Arni's Silent Auction again this year. Hey, check out the Calendar for info on that event. I'll talk about it next time. 

I better think about getting my fuzzy butt to bed. Morning will be here before you know it, and so will another busy day here at Cats Haven. Hope to see you all at the Spring Fling . . . or before, if you want to stop by and visit with us. We love to have company, and I'll personally give anyone a tour of the shelter! And hey, don't forget you can email me at bandit.the.puddytat@gmail.com!! I love getting your emails! G'night, all! - Bandit the cat