31 Cats of Christmas #3

Minnie is a sweet affectionate cat that loves attention from people. She will probably run right over to you when you visit her. It's best to break out the toys when you see her roll to one side or swish her tail - that's her "let's party" sign... If you let Minni...e call the shots and give her lots of play time, she should be a wonderful addition to your home.

Since she's such a little diva about her space, we'd like to see her in a home with a little sense of humor and good nature. Her feisty spirit might be a bit too much for very young children. Minnie is FIV positive. Cats with FIV can live long healthy lives. She will need to remain indoors and bet the only kitty or live with other FIV positive cats.

31 cats of Christmas #2

MONKEY

Monkey is a wonderful, easy going, happy-go-lucky gal of sweet sixteen. As a special needs kitty with early stage renal disease, she's seeking a loving and caring caregiver to spoil her to pieces in her golden years. Despite her age, she is full of zesty spunky chatter. Her foster mom reports that she Monkey awaited her arrival each evening with a chitter chatter all about her day. That is, when she wasn't batting around the toys she loves so much. This kitty loves to party! She got along well with the other kitties in her foster home, and wouldn't mind sharing her love again. Monkey's adoption includes follow-up care at The SF/SPCA Veterinary Hospital.

31 Cats of Christmas

Today we are kicking off the “31 Cats of Christmas”: a countdown challenge as we try to find one kitten or a cat a home every day until Christmas.

We’ve received a sudden influx of kittens and cats at the SF/SPCA, so we are asking for your help to save an animal’s life by giving them the gift of a home for the holidays.
Each day throughout the holidays, we’ll feature an adoptable kitty or cat. Please help us spread the word about our precious 31 Cats of Christmas by sharing the cat’s stories and photos with your friends on Facebook and Twitter or by visiting the Macy’s holiday windows adoption program from now until January 3, 2010.

Help save an animal’s life by giving yourself the ultimate holiday gift of a companion!Sweet 8 year old Luigi. Talk about a distinguished fellow. Luigi is a man who enjoys the finer things in life...a soft bed, a warm scratch on the chin, soft nuzzled (okay - those he gives you). He was found roaming the streets of our fine city, without a care in the world. This guy is confident and steadfast, but with a heart of gold once you've given him 10 seconds in your lap. He'd prefer to be the only pet in the home - he feels his love is exactly the perfect amount for anyone. His rough exterior is hiding a loving cat that loves to sit on a warm lap and nuzzle with his best human friends. Partying may not be his everyday agenda but he makes up for it with his graceful affinity for being cuddly and cute!

SF/SPCA ANNUAL MACY'S HOLIDAY WINDOWS HAS BEGUN

Every holiday season, The San Francisco SPCA holds its Holiday Windows Adoption Program. People come from all over the city, state, country and world to see the amazing window displays that Macy's creates for our special kitties. The window displays draw large crowds and donations for our cats, in a time when they so desperately need someone to provide care for them. Visit Macy's for the holidays to give homeless cats and dogs at the San Francisco SPCA a chance to "believe" as they find warm and loving homes. Holiday shoppers can catch a glimpse of some of San Francisco's cutest animals in the Macy's windows at Stockton and O'Farrell Street from November 20, 2009 through January 3, 2010.

In a sense, it's like we have created a satellite animal shelter right inside Macy's Union Square. It's a great way to give our homeless cats the exposure and to showcase our programs and mission to an audience that may not know all the amazing services that the SF/ SPCA provides.

The window displays are amazing!!! All of the "creature" comforts are provided for our companions, including temperature control, hidden litter boxes and comfortable spots for those quick catnaps. Every adoptable animal has been medically screened, vaccinated, microchipped and spayed or neutered just like if you adopted them from our shelter. Also, each animal will come with a 30-day medical assistance plan at the SF/SPCA infirmary, plus a gift bag filled with samples, treats and valuable certificates from sponsor partners of The SF/SPCA and Macy's.

The SPCA is also seeking volunteers for the windows. Volunteers serve as a vital component to all aspects of the event's success, from meeting and greeting the public and answering their questions to collecting donations, and ultimately helping the animals get adopted. Those interested in signing up to volunteer are encouraged to sign up at http://www.sfspca.org/support/volunteer.


The SF/SPCA thanks Macy's for their generous sponsorship, now in its eighth year, on behalf of homeless cats and dogs.

CAT BEHAVIOR MAIL BAG: Rockstar Feline "Vincent"

Dear SF/SPCA Cat Behavior Program,

We adopted "Taurus" about a year ago from your facility. He has been renamed "Vincent". He was shaved with a lion cut when we first adopted him and he has since grown out most of his fur. He is not fully fluffed yet and is continuing to grow everyday and has blossomed from a 4lb furball into a muscly 15 lb man.

In addition to sleeping with us at night, Vincent greets all of our friends with love and lap warming snuggles. He gets oils and vitamins for his fur, waterless shampoo, Cat wipes and furminated as well as tooth brushing on a consistent basis. Frequent trips to the vet and a great diet have been a lot of work, but as you can tell from the pictures our hardwork has paid off and he has almost completely regrown his facial mask (the area around his ears was almost completely bald). He's so soft and has such a luxurious coat that our friend turns the hair we furminate off of him into yarn and knits with it. It also helps prevent hairballs and mats.

When we're away, he gets to go to Pet Camp and is with other cats which he loves. He loves other cats and dogs, especially. He has even helped us rehabilitate a neighbor's unfriendly somewhat vicious cat when she stayed with us. Together, we transformed her into a lovebug by the time we sent her back to live with her family.

He truly is the most loving, adorable cat in the world and has a huge following in our community. He's the most intelligent cat We've ever known! He opens cabinet doors (until we put baby locks on them) and has learned tricks like jumping through the "hoop of fire" (a ring with ribbon around it), hopping onto a stool and posing like a seal and he even poses for photos without any positioning or prompting/etc. He does not spray, scratch furniture, dig, knock things off the counter-any of the other stuff that people usually complain about.

He watches movies and LOVES to watch Daniel play video games. He eats my homework at all the right moments.

In short, We wanted to thank you and your staff for saving our best friend.

We owe you one,

Daniel and Dellaena

HOW DOES YOUR CAT SPELL “MEOW”?

By Rod Kilpatrick
SF/SPCA volunteer

First, a confession: I’m a relative newcomer to feline society. It wasn’t until four
years ago that a couple of kittens named Gary and Sponge took over my wife’s
and my house, conferred briefly in a corner of our bedroom, and decided to let us
stay.
We were honored at the time, and we are now, and we always will be. The boys
have never contributed so much as a whisker to the rent, but what can a person do?
Ever since then, Paula and I have done pretty much whatever Gary and Sponge
say. And yet we still wonder – what exactly ARE they saying?
People around the world have been asking themselves that very question for
centuries.

Here are some of their answers.

Afrikaans: miaau
Albanian: mjau
Arabic (Algeria): miaou miaou
Bengali: meu-meu
Catalan: meu, meu
Chinese (Mandarin): miao miao
Croatian: mijau
Danish: mjav
Dutch: miauw
English: meow
Esperanto: miaw
Estonian: näu
Finnish: miau, kurnau
French: miaou
German: miau
Greek: niaou
Hebrew: miyau
Hindi: mya:u, mya:u:
Hungarian: miau
Icelandic: mjá
Indonesian: ngeong
Italian: miao
Japanese: nyaa
Korean: (n)ya-ong
Norwegian: mjau
Polish: miau
Portuguese: miau
Russian: myau
Slovene: mijau
Spanish (Spain, Argentina): miau
Swedish: mjau
Thai: meow meow (with high tone)
Turkish: miyauv, miyauv
Ukrainian: myau
Vietnamese: meo-meo

Sponge, pontificating on the etymology of "Meow"
(Copyright 2009, Sponge)

I showed this list to Gary and Sponge. Their response didn’t start with an M, as in “Meow.” It was more like an H, as in “Huh?” So, as any rational person would do, I sat our cats down and demanded an explanation. It didn’t take them long to give me one. As it turns out, cats speak the same language all over the world. It’s only we humans who feel the need to figure out how to spell it. Maybe there’s a lesson in there somewhere. I don’t know. But in any case, meow for neow.

ADOPT A DANGER KITTY AT THE SF/SPCA