June Meows and News From PuRR Project Linda Brasseal - PuRR Project
go to original June 17, 2013

Shelter Update

The Mayan gang take a painting break.

We were recently contacted by PVAngels about a group of volunteers from Vida Vacations who wanted to spend a day volunteering.

We threw our name into the hat and on June 10th, a dozen enthusiastic locals showed up with 20 gallons of paint, brushes, rollers and cases of water! They needed the water as it was a steamy Vallarta day but they managed to paint the Nursery/Maternity, Acclimation and Special Needs casitas inside and out before the paint ran out.

Turns out they were from Mayan Resorts International Sales and they sent out 58 volunteers that day to the Banderas Bay Women’s Shelter, Pasitos de Luz and the Bucerias Senior Citizen Facility as well as PuRR.

The idea is to build team spirit while giving back to the community and we salute our paint team for giving their valuable time to PuRR Project: Rich, Lorissa, Ron, Jason, Frank, Marty, John, Nikki, Michele, Rasha, Romain, Karla, Andrew & Manisha!!!

Ron Anderson was our group leader and wrote: “Thank you for your hospitality and support, and most of all…thank you for the experience, we emphasize at our company that the best things in life are the great 'experiences' we collect, not the 'things' we collect.”

Kittens of every size & color are available!

We are currently INUNDATED with kittens! We’ve taken in over 75 since February and currently have 34 kittens and 3 mamas that we are desperately trying to find homes for… and have a list of people who have litters they need help with.

At around $100 U.S. per kitten to test for Feline Leukemia/FIV, deworm, vaccinate, spay/neuter and feed special kitten food…… you can do the math! It takes a lot of pesos. Our limit policy is 15 kittens in the nursery and we are more than double that with no end in sight.

The SPCA officially closed their cattery this week so it puts even more pressure on the other feline rescue centers. We are hoping to start a second Adoption Booth on Saturdays at a great location and will let everyone know if it is approved. You can inquire about giving a home to a special kitty at adopt@purrproject.com.

Jose’s daring rescue of kitty in a tree.

In other news, Jose’s mom passed away last month and his dad is visiting for a few weeks and has been a huge help around the shelter. This week he painted the base of all the trees white, and with the newly painted casitas, the place looks quite colorful & spiffy!

We also constructed a second outdoor covered litter box. On the down side, we lost power twice last week and the electrician says we have some serious problems and may need to replace a lot of the old wiring and cut down tree limbs rubbing against a transformer, so we are going to get an estimate for that.

Don’t forget that PuRR has acquired its 501 (c)(3) Non-Profit Status!!!. Tax exempt receipts for US Dollar donations deposited in the U.S. are NOW available – See more at PuRR.

Adoption Update: Milo (Javi)

Javi departing from the PV Airport with Brooke & Cindy

Milo was one of six adopted on April 10th when the group from SWEET toured the shelter. We love to hear news about our kitties as we become very fond of them while they are at PuRR. Milo was special because he was a bit older than most of our adoptees. He had been living for four months in a cramped cage at a vet clinic where he had been brought in for treatment and then abandoned by his owners. One of our volunteers rescued him and he now has his happy ending with Cindy Thompson and Brooke Loudermilk in Millersville, MD:
 
“Hello PurrProject ladies! Milo is now 'Javi', short for Javier, since it sounded more like a name for a Mexican cat! We can’t believe what a great little cat he is! He slept for about 7 hours or so and then woke up at the end of our second flight. He actually started meowing a little bit as we were taxiing to the gate, which amused the folks sitting around us. We wanted you to know that he’s doing really well and is SUCH a cutie pie! He’s even starting to become good buddies with the Doberman.” Cindy & Brooke

Odd-Eyed Cats

Beautiful Maisie was adopted by Gary Mellon this year to be companion to Max, a flame-point Siamese he also adopted from the shelter.

I recently had a couple ask me at our adoption booth if a particular white cat with blue eyes was deaf. I thought it was a strange question… I had never heard of such a thing so decided to investigate.

After searching through many articles on the internet, it does seem that while it’s not common, blue-eyed white cats do stand a higher than usual chance of being deaf. It is a genetic mutation connected to the same gene that makes them white.

We have had several cats at the shelter with one blue and the other eye either green or yellow and these are commonly called "Odd-Eyed Cats." Odd-eyed white cats may be deaf but only on the blue-eyed side. Interesting!

Because they compensate so well, it may be difficult to determine deafness. Fortunately, cats have a lot of senses to use – touch, vibration, smell, taste (let them lick you), and vision which are all greatly enhanced to compensate for their deafness. Vibration is important, and when cuddling a cat close, they can feel your voice when you speak or hum. They can also sense your presence by footstep vibrations.

The most important thing is to keep them safely indoors as they may not hear danger approaching in the form of cars or predators.

Good Meows!!

Great food & entertainment in the Marriott Gardens!

Last month we reported on what a great success the International Altruism Festival was. This week we were invited to a final meeting to learn the results and receive our share of the profits, which were divided among the 23 non-profit charities who participated.

With our share plus the individual donations and T-shirt sales that evening, the PuRR Project received almost 30,000 pesos. The money is ear-marked specifically for food and much needed vaccines and FIV/Leukemia testing kits.

And guess what?? PuRR Project sold the most tickets to the event! Since this was our first time to be invited, we are very proud of that and want to thank everyone who bought their tickets from us, and especially those who bought blocks of tickets: Sharon & Marty Weber, Martyn Ravenhill, David Fitzgerald & Betty Neuman. Also a Muchas Gracias to our partner OHTLI Spa Marriott for their donation of over 10,000 pesos in Spa gifts for the raffle.

Thanks! Grazie! Merci! Gracias!

Without the help of expert translators Luz Covarrubias-Garcia and her daughter Judy Covarrubias-Garcia, we would never be able to put out a newsletter in Spanish! It was their idea to do a regular newsletter and they helped set up the original program. Luz and Judy are both expert translators acknowledged by the Supreme Court of Justice of the State of Jalisco. If you’d like to get an estimate and translate something with them you can contact them at balamalux@yahoo.com. Now they take time out of their busy schedule each month to translate articles for PuRR and they do it because they really LOVE helping the kitties! Meow!

Also a Big MEOW to Judy Wolfinger who responded to last month’s newsletter by immediately sponsoring Mr. B.G. by Virtual Adoption!

  Learn about PuRR Project No Kill Feline Shelter/Adoption