On November 29th the caretaker of a feral cat colony in Cleveland Heights discovered that someone had put out antifreeze into the cats’ food and water dishes in a clear attempt to poison and kill the colony.
The property had recently been sold and the new owner wanted the cats gone. Upon hearing of this, our TNR Division sprung into action! Most of the cats had already been trapped and spayed/neutered by a member of our TNR Division so the process of trapping them again, and trapping any new cats that were there, began immediately. Members of our TNR Division, the colony caretaker, and local trappers, worked together to trap 13 of the 15 cats that were at the site. We are still after the last two cats there and will not stop until they are safe. The call for donations of crates and cages garnered a generous outpouring from our members and we received enough supplies to temporarily house the 13 cats that were trapped. To date, 4 of the cats have been relocated to barn homes. We are still looking for barns for the remaining cats to be moved to. Thanks to the colony caretaker for noticing something was wrong, the quick response of our TNR Division and the generosity of our Weirdo community, the Antifreeze Cats, are now safe!
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This Thanksgiving, I want to tell you all how very thankful we are for each and every one of you. Your stories, advice, support and advocacy for cats in need inspires the Leadership Team and keeps us going on the tough days. Thank you so much for all that you do to make this group as amazing as it is! We are wishing each of you a Thanksgiving filled with the warmth of all that you love most. One of things we are especially grateful for is your support of our first annual Weirdo Cat Lovers of Cleveland calendar. The calendar was an idea that had been discussed for some time and this year we decided to make it a reality. The leadership came together to choose some of the better-known cats on the Weirdo page and decided to give it a go. Each pet parent wrote up a short blurb about their featured pet, and we even tossed in a surprise doggo for an April Fools! I gathered all of the photos, blurbs and pet details and compiled the calendar for sale. I have to tell you, we weren’t sure how it would go, but I was convinced we could sell at least 250. Here we are, months later and thanks to your support, we have sold a whopping 328 calendars to date, yielding more than $4,000 to help local cats in need! If that’s not a reason to be grateful this Thanksgiving, I don’t know what is. This year, thanks to your support via direct donations, event attendance, calendar and shirt purchases, we have been able to provide financial coverage for 68 cats who needed veterinary care (including those who needed multiple visits). We have also been able to provide trap, neuter, return (TNR) for 29 cats and find placement at local shelters for 19 friendly (non-feral) cats/kittens! That’s 116 cats who are better off thanks to Weirdo support. We are working hard to add their stories to our website, so please feel free to read up on them in our "Success Stories" tab. AND, now that we have obtained our non-profit status, we will be able to do SO MUCH more! We simply cannot thank you enough for making this possible. Are you interested in all of the ways that a Weirdo can help? Read on, below!
Happy Thanksgiving! - Amber Tischler In September 2019, our TNR Director was asked to help trap a family of cats and get them spayed/neutered. Mama cat, Moo, had 4 grown kittens and had recently given birth to 6 more kittens. Mama Moo was a feral cat, but she trusted her caregiver and kittens were all friendly. The 4 older kittens were all taken in and were fixed and given vaccinations. One of them was even adopted out. As soon as the younger kittens were weaned, they were surrendered to a shelter and adopted out. Moo was trapped and spayed and is living with her 3 older kittens. They have heated houses, a safe location on their caregivers porch and are all happy and loved. Moo had 10 kittens within a year! Thanks to our TNR Team, Moo won’t have any more babies and her kittens are all fixed and cared for. That is the goal of our TNR Division, to stop the cycle of feral and stray cats having kittens and adding to the overpopulation of cats.
Hello, Weirdos! Today was a great day! We organized an official WCLOCLE meet-up at affoGATO. Not familiar? affoGATO is a cat café in Cleveland (Tremont, to be specific). It is Cleveland's first cat café. Cat cafes have been around for quite some time in places like Japan, but have just more recently become popular in the United States. According to Google, there are 72 cat cafes in the US, and 44 of those cafes opened up in just the past year! Cat cafes aim to provide a safe and welcoming environment for adoptable cats and to give cat lovers a place to come to relax and enjoy the company of felines.
Let me tell you more about affoGATO, an official Weirdo Cat Lovers of Cleveland approved business! affoGATO opened on January 2nd, 2019. In less than a year, they have had 244 adoptions!! Their goal for the first year was 100, which they blew out of the water! All of the adoptable cats at affoGATO come from their partner shelter, the Cleveland APL. Since the café environment acts more like a person's home, it is a lot easier for shelter cats' true personalities to shine. It also gives the potential adopter an apt amount of time to observe the cat and see if their personalities are a good match for one another! affoGATO offers 1 one-hour session inside the cat lounge for $10. This cover charge is to help affoGATO keep up with the special costs of the cat lounge. affoGATO also offers a full service café! They have delicious coffee and espresso drinks and some sweet treats! And the décor- oh my it is a cat and cat lover's heaven! There are many shelves, cat walks, nooks, and soft and fuzzy crannies for the cats to enjoy. All of the artwork, books, and games inside the cat lounge is cat-themed. affoGATO is surely a place for a cat lover to visit at least once. If you want to learn more about affoGATO please visit their website! They do a great job of explaining the benefits of a cat café for the cats, the visitors, and the local community. https://www.affogatocatcafe.com/ If you missed out on this WCLOCLE meet-up, fear not, we will be scheduling more in 2020! Be sure to visit the WCLOCLE Facebook page to check for event posts and you can also check our website under "EVENTS." **Top group photo courtesy of page Mod Dawn Thomas- seen with WCLOCLE members Lisa Sample, Christine Munroe, Whitney Richards, and Barb Mondok** **Bottom group photo courtesy of member Jen Braz- seen with members (top L to R) Russ Richards, Ramona Poole, Carrie Kellner, Robert Darkmatter, Cassandra Ungvarsky, Amber Tischler, Jen Braz, Kitty Tischler, Nicole holding resident cat Smeagol, (bottom L to R) Constance Mcgough, and Mary Flowers Arbogast.** I am writing this to let you all know just how this group came about for me and how much it has meant to me and to share my experiences. I was turned on to this group through my sister Tari. She knew just how hard I was trying with my cats and Told me I should join the group to learn more and identify with others doing the same things. I applied to join and was accepted. I so enjoyed the learning process and hearing the experiences of many other members.
Then, one crazy night something terrible happened to my outsiders and one of my ferals was killed by two pitbull dogs. That was the night I met Lesley Pontin. This beautiful woman stayed with me that night and talked with me and so helped me keep my sanity through the whole thing. She poured out so much love and calmed me down. Never have I met such a compassionate woman. To this day she has become a special friend to me. I am so grateful for her in so many ways. I could go on about her, but It would get too mushy. Yes, This is the family I have come to know in each and every person here. Be it Admins, Mods, or other group members, I feel so blessed to be a part of this great team. Along with being mentally helped and compassionately helped, this group supported me during a financial crisis I was having with my kitties and my sweet little Dat. I received food, toys, and many other things for my babies during this time. All given with great love and care from all my Weirdo friends. They have also helped me TNR my outside cats and take an injured stray to the vet. I will forever be grateful to all. Still one of the things I love most is the feeling of family throughout the group. Complete strangers, with an abundance of caring and love for each other. If you are in this group then for sure you will feel blessed. Sincerely with love, Joan and Ray Marvin and clowder. - Joan Marvin As most of you are aware, the Weirdos were granted our 501(c)(3) non-profit status recently. In making sure that all aspects of our organization are protected, we also filed for copyright protection on our logo and trademarking for our name. We are pleased to announce that copyright protection was granted July 25, 2019 and covers our logo back through the first time it was drawn and released in 2018. We are awaiting our trademark registration, but hope to have that granted in the coming months. For more information on copyright, please read on below!
What is copyright? Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works. What does copyright protect? Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. When is my work protected? Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. (Copyright.gov) Weirdos- We have something BIG to celebrate!!! On October 18th, 2019, we got official news that the Weirdo Cat Lovers of Cleveland had been approved as a Nonprofit organization, achieving 501(c)3 status. So, you might be asking, what does that mean?
By definition- "Nonprofit means the entity, usually a corporation, is organized for a nonprofit purpose. 501(c)(3) means a nonprofit organization that has been recognized by the IRS as being tax-exempt by virtue of its charitable programs." (Google.com) The journey to our nonprofit status has been in the works for a little while. Weirdo Cat Lovers of Cleveland started back in 2016. At first, the group mostly got together to share funny cat memes and cute photos of our own cats. Soon, members began sharing their own experiences with health and behavioral issues and would offer advice to one another on how to take on some of those problems. Leadership saw the need for sharing resources for members to turn to for affordable vet care. As membership numbers grew for the group, Leadership now saw that many members not only needed emotional support for some of their cats' health or behavioral problems, but could also use financial help sometimes, too. This lead to Leadership organizing ways to raise emergency funds for members in need of financial assistance. After a few emergency posts, it was apparent that WCLOCLE wasn't just a Facebook group. It was a community of cat lovers who have hearts of gold who do not think twice when they see a member and their cat in need. Donations would come pouring in and in the matter of hours the group had collectively paid an entire vet bill. Although Leadership knew that WCLOCLE had become a charitable organization, we were still unsure about actually applying for official nonprofit status. With persistent, and sometimes not so gentle prodding, Admin Lesley Pontin convinced the Leadership team to go after the dream of becoming official. On April 2, 2019, Leadership filed for 501(c)3 and also filed for WCLOCLE to be an official business. Unfortunately, a few snags were encountered with the filing being done and at the beginning of October we got word that the submission was not properly filed. So, Leadership had to go a different route and filed on our own online. On October 18, 2019, we received that glorious letter telling us we had been approved!!! Now that we have been officially recognized as 501(c)3, what does that mean for the future of our group? Well, first off, it means we can help even more members and their cats. We can now apply for government grants that could provide us with funds we can use for our members' needs! We are also tax-exempt now, so we can get more with the money we have. We can also set up special wishlists with places like Amazon. So, as a member of WCLOCLE, what does that mean for you when you decide to send us a donation? Well, it means that your donation to us can be filed in your taxes as a charitable donation! It also means that if your workplace has something set up so that they'll match employee's personal donations, then we qualify! It also means if your workplace will set up your paycheck so you can make donations straight out of your paycheck, we would qualify! For total transparency, here are all of the things that your donations could be used for: vet services, (this includes anything the vet says is necessary to properly treating the cat- blood work, x-rays, scans, biopsies, surgeries, etc); medications that are given at the vet's office during the visit, or medications that will be taken home to be administered; supplies for members that are in temporary financial crisis and need things like litter, food, or treats for their cats; supplies that are bought off of wishlists for rescues; TNR fees for spay/neuter at the Cleveland APL; sending condolence cards to members who have lost a beloved cat; and helping to cover costs for euthanasia, cremation, and returning ashes to the cat member's family. It is safe to say that every penny that is donated by each and every lovely WCLOCLE member is important to our cause. We appreciate every 17,929 of you!! Without our amazing members, we could not do what we love- helping the cats!! We hope we continue to make you proud and that you continue to follow along with us on this new leg of our journey! We have so many big ideas and cannot wait to unveil them all to you! During all the of excitement and celebration on 10/18, I asked the Leadership team to tell me what it personally meant to them to achieve this honorable status. To close, I shall leave you with the comment from Lesley Pontin, WCLOCLE's Senior Admin. Said, as I can only assume in her most regal and British tone, "It's been a long road to here, I joined more than 2 years ago and in that time we have gone from cat memes to actually doing good in the community. After 2 years, this is really the START of the ideas I have." This past weekend, cat lovers from all over the world descended upon Cleveland for the nation’s largest cat show. The Cat Fanciers’ Association held their International Cat show at the IX Center on October 12th and 13th. The CFA is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1906. It is currently the world’s largest registry of pedigreed cats. The overall mission of the CFA “is preserving and promoting pedigreed breeds of cats while also enhancing the well-being of all cats.” Now, while the subject of breeding may be a source of conflict for some of us, something we CAN get behind is that our mission also centers around promoting the well-being of ALL cats.
The show featured 45 pedigreed breeds, judging in 16 rings, meet and greet celebrity cats, agility contests, the Savitsky Cats, educational talks about the history of cats and their breeds, shopping with cat-themed vendors, and last but most certainly not least, the Adopt-a-thon that went on all day both days. This year, the CFA decided to focus on adoptions. They had several local rescues and shelters attend the show with adoptable cats and kittens for attendees to meet and take home. I am SO happy to say that the adopt-a-thon was a HUGE success for ALL of the rescues that attended with adoptable cats. I went around to get final numbers from the rescues there and I was blown away by the numbers. The Euclid Beach Cat Project reported a WHOPPING 31 adoptions. The Cleveland APL reported 22 adoptions for the weekend. Kitten Krazy reported 15 adoptions. Forever Friends Foundation reported 12 adoptions. Lucky Paws rescue reported 5 adoptions. Tails From the City had 5 of their 8 cats they brought adopted, but only attended Saturday. House of Mews also reported 5 adoptions and they also only attended on Saturday. Viva Los Gatos had 6 pending applications. Overall, it surely showed that although the CFA was showcasing Pedigreed cats, the average attendee didn’t need a fancy title to go along with their furry friend. The Weirdo Cat Lovers of Cleveland saw this show as an opportunity to promote our organization and share our own mission with fellow cat fanatics. Myself, Rachel, Mandi, Dawn, and Meredith spent several hours each day of the weekend working at our WCLOCLE booth. We also were in the company of Amber, our group’s graphic designer and web site developer. Christy O. was able to stop by with her beloved Derry as he was there to say hello to attendees at the “Companion Cat” booth. Brandy, Christy W. and Megan were also able to drop in and check out the show and hang out at the booth for awhile as well. We used our time at our booth to introduce ourselves to attendees, give a brief explanation of who the WCLOCLE are, and invite those who didn’t know us to join our group. We also talked about our calendar and how sales of the calendar were to help us build our emergency fund reserve for members in need. We had coloring books for sale to help our TNR fund and we also displayed our WCLOCLE tshirts. Rachel had her awesome homemade catnip toys for sale. We also had homemade jewelry from member Erica which was a crowd favorite. Amber had her irresistible Adcat Designs car window decals and her homemade fleece cat blankets. For most of us, this was our first ever cat show. To say that I was thrilled to be there would be an understatement. I entered the building just before 10am on Saturday, just before the opening of the show for the weekend. I have never in my life felt more at home than I did as I walked around this cat show. “This is my place; these are my people,” is a sentiment that was echoed by many of us over the weekend. If you love cats as much as I do, I highly recommend that you attend the next CFA cat show. There were endless amounts of cat themed clothes and jewelry, tons of cat toys to bring enrichment home to your kitties, and cat ears as far as the eye could see. And surely enough cats there to pet until your heart’s content. The WCLOCLE leadership is already busy talking about next year’s show and how we will have even more exciting things to share with attendees about the amazing things WCLOCLE accomplished. We hope to see you there in 2020!!! -Cass Bean-U. Jessica Haynes interviewed our very own Cassandra Bean-Ungvarsky! Check out her blog interview, here.
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