Sampson and Delilah wish you Happy Holidays !!

All About Spay Neuter Inc. December 2008 Newsletter

Happy Holidays from the Director In this edition ....

Once again, another record year for All About Spay Neuter Inc.Without your help, love, compassion, and generosity, we could neverachieve what we did.

Sadly our economy is reaching recession quickly. Billions of dollarsare being spent on trying to revive the economy, while our homelessferals suffer. The feral population is growing exponentially becausepeople cannot afford spay/neuter prices at local veterinarians.

Local governments have every excuse as to why they do not havethe money to take care of a problem that WE started. Unspayedand unneutered pets being thrown out to the curb, not only to fendfor themselves, but they continue to reproduce. With the economythe way it is, we will be seeing more and more pets abandoned onthe street, as peoples mortgages foreclose and they are forced tomove to places that are not pet friendly.

It has never been clearer that we must make our politicians

responsible for taking care of the sterilization of these feral cats.They must realize that this problem is not going away. We mustimpress upon them that TNR (trap/neuter/return) is costing thetaxpayers nothing while euthanizing an animal at the local shelter iscosting hundreds of dollars to the taxpayers. The towns of LongIsland must be more proactive, like Town of Oyster Bay whoinstituted a feral cat program last year. More monies must bebudgeted for these programs. Feral Cat Advisory Committees mustput pressure on our legislators to get the job done - stop talking andstart doing.

be dugeted to these programs.

A very Happy Holiday season to you and your families filled withwarmth, joy, love, health, peace and happiness. My sincere thanksto all.

Joanne Monez, Director

In this edition........

All About Spay NeuterReceives TNR Contract from

Town of Oyster Bay

Madison Square Garden CatShow

Director Certified in TechnicalAnimal Rescue

Meet Dr. Ellen Leonhardt

The Story of Jackie

Fundraiser in the Works

Our Statistics for the year2008

Life on the Streets

This is Mittens. She is a beautiful

medium haired black/white girl

that was adopted to a wonderful

family. Her other four litter

mates were adopted too

This is MuShu. She is a CH

special needs kitty that was

adopted to a wonderful family

in Manhattan

This is gorgeous Jake. He too was

adopted at the cat show at Madison

Square Garden and now resides in

Brooklyn with his new Mom and

brother

Events of the Year 2007Adopted Kitties

All About Spay Neuter Receives TNR Contract from Town of Oyster Bay

Finally someone in Long Island government understands. In 2008,All About Spay Neuter Inc. received a third of a TNR contract fromTown Of Oyster Bay. The Town budgeted $ 24,000.00 for TNR inthe 2008 year, $ 8000.00 being distributed to each of the threeanimals rescue groups that participated. The program started mid-April 2008. By July, All About Spay Neuter Inc. was finished with ourmonies. It was a large help to be able to help the feral cats locatedin the Town of Oyster Bay.

According to the Town of Oyster Bay, monies will be budgeted forthe 2009 year. They also propose to open up a small spay/neuterclinic for residents to take their feral cats. We thank Island Rescuefor spaying/neutering all the cats that we trapped for the Town ofOyster Bay.

Madison Square Garden Cat Show A Huge Success

All About Spay Neuter Inc, a participating organization of the MayorsAlliance for New York City Animals was invited on Sunday, October19, 2008 to attend the Madison Square Garden Cat Show. Abovethe cat show, on the Madison Square Garden terrace, over twenty(20) rescue organizations showed their adoptable cats and kittens,in hope of finding them very special homes. Our organizationbrought seventeen (17) kittens that were spayed/neutered, testednegative for feline leukemia and feline AIDS, dewormed, vaccinated,and microchipped. We found homes for ALL seventeen (17) of thekittens that we brought. They ranged in ages from 8 weeks to 4months, some with special needs. This portion of the cat show wassponsored by CFA (nonprofit Cat Fanciers Association) along withthe Mayor’s Alliance for New York City Animals. We thank theMayors Alliance for letting us participate in this wonderful event.

Director Attends Technical Animal Rescue Course

October 31, 2008, November 1 & 2, 2008 the Director of All AboutSpay Neuter Inc. attended a technical animal rescue coursesponsored by the ASPCA. Little did Joanne know that she would beswimming off the North Shore of Long Island on Saturday. Thecourse certified her in Technical Animal Rescue and taught alldifferent techniques of animal rescue in catastrophic situations suchas flood water rescue and rope rescue. The course was attended bythe ASPCA disaster response team and was taught by Kim Little ofRescue Tech International. A great time was had by all. Thank youASPCA for sponsoring such a wonderful course.

The Story of Jackie O

The marshes and empty hangers of Kennedy Airport are home tomany feral cats. Many rescue groups have offered TNR to stop thereproduction, but their help has been refused. How sad is it thatPort Authority finds the feral cats at Kennedy such a nuisance thatthey have hired an exterminator to remove the cats? Many rescuegroups and individual caretakers have stepped up, pulling these feralcats from the Brooklyn Center for Animal Care and Control (a highkill city shelter) and relocating them to their own backyards andfinding “outdoor homes” for them.

All About Spay Neuter has been assisting some of these caretakerswith trapping and spay/neuter assistance. So when one of theworkers at Kennedy airport called Joanne frantically to tell her thatanother airport employee had given her a box of 5 kittens that werefound where the Jet Blue parking garage had just been knockeddown, Joanne insisted that she bring the kittens to her.

The kittens were approximately 4-5 weeks old, all five were greytabby girls. As she took them out of the box, Joanne noticedimmediately that one was missing half of her back leg. The kittenswere fostered for weeks before the other four were spayed andadopted. But this little kitty needed major surgery to have her legamputated. We decided to call this kitty Jackie O.

When Jackie O turned approximately 3-4 months, we took her to Dr.Ellen Leonhardt who examined her and told us that this was aninjury, not a birth defect. So this little kitty had been severely injuredin her four weeks she spent outdoors in pain, but still had a warmand loving heart. Dr. Leonhardt amputated her leg and spayed herat the same time. She came back to foster for a week and than hadher stitches removed the following week. She was adopted to awonderful woman who lives on Shelter Island and keeps us informedweekly with pictures.

Jackie O is just one of the brave and strong kitties that we rescuethat have an intense desire to survive. I hope this story reminds usthat with kindness and compassion we can make a difference in ananimal’s life.

Fundraiser in the Works

It is hard for us at All About Spay Neuter to plan a fundraiser as weare out in the streets every chance we get, performing TNR,rescuing sick and injured kittens, and fostering kittens until they areready to be adopted into safe, wonderful homes. But this year, weare planning a fundraiser. One hundred percent (100%) of themonies raised will be put towards sterilization of feral cats. Weanticipate a March/April 2009 date.

Jackie O in her new forever home We ask you to help us with this fundraiser. If you can donate anygoods or items for auction, gift certificates, your creativity or bakingskills, or time, please call Joanne at (516) 967-4648.

Here is this beautiful kitty resting after

surgery at her foster home

Jackie O before surgery - her right

hind leg was severed at the knee

From walking on her injury, it kept

breaking open and was very painful to

Jackie O

Check out our of our adoptable kitties

Dr. Ellen Leonhardt Our Kitties Best Friend

In past newsletters we have spoken about Dr. Randon Feinsod, whohad helped our rescue tremendously. For the past year, since heleft, we have searched for a vet with his compassion, knowledge andunderstanding of the rescue world.

Well, we have found her......Dr Ellen Leonahardt, of Animal Generalof East Norwich.

Dr. Leonhardt has helped us with some pretty amazing cases :

A pregnant cat was trapped at Kennedy Airport. Early morning onthe day she was scheduled for spay, she gave birth to a stillbornkitten. On her way to the spay/neuter clinic she gave birth to anotherstillborn kitten. We decided to bring the cat to Dr. Leonhardt. Wearrived with the cat at 5PM on a Friday evening. She took an x-raythe cat and she determined that there were two more kittens insideher. Dr. Leonhardt performed emergency surgery on her and calledus at 8PM that Friday to tell us that the kittens were not alive, but theMom was fine. We picked her up on Saturday and she was releasedto her colony a week later. She would have died with out theintervention of Dr. Leonhardt.

A caretaker of a feral cat that was already spayed by All About SpayNeuter called to tell us that the cat was limping. We trapped the catand brought her to Dr. Leonhardt. She had a huge abscess on herleg. Dr. Ellen cleaned the wound, and put a drain in it so that itwould heal. She kept the feral cat for three days and than releasedher to us, where we kept her on antibiotics for another week. Shewas returned to her colony and now is a happy and healthy little girl.

We feel blessed to have met such a wonderful, caring, andcompassionate doctor like Dr. Leonhardt and look forward to savingmany lives together.

Packages Under Our Tree

Dr. LeonhardtAll About Spay Neuter Inc., is a 501c(3) non-for-profit animal rescue.We primarily rely on private donations to keep our rescue operating.Besides monetary donations, we are always in need of the followingitems :

COUPONS - dog or cat coupons

W et cat or kitten food, dry kitten food

Cat litter - any type

Baby Food - Gerber Stage 1 or Beechnut Stage 2,

chicken and broth or turkey and broth

Baby blankets or small pet beds

.

This is just one of the many kittens that

we brought to Dr. Leonhardt this year.

After a virus broke out, Animal General

of East Norwich nursed many of our

kitties back to health, spending hours

syringe feeding them and treating them .

These two beautiful girls were just dumped

last week in Queens. They are

approximately 8 weeks old.

After five hours of patience, this feral cat

that lived in a colony of fifty (50) cats was

trapped. It appears that the cat had a

horrific eye infection. But after brining him

to Dr. Leonhardt, she told us that this poor

kitty had a huge tumor on his face. He was

humanely euthanized to end his suffering.

Check out our of our adoptable kitties

Life on the StreetsThe Cat with NO Face

One evening a frantic call came in from a volunteer. She hadseen a cat with “no face” behind a deli. The cat was living in acardboard box. Joanne told her to trap the cat. The volunteerbrought the cat to Joanne in tears that she had never seenanything like this before. She had left a note at the spot whereshe found the cat stating that the cat was going to be taken to avet.

Early the next morning, Joanne brought the cat to Dr. Ned

Horowitz of Massapequa Pet Vet. The stench of infection filledthe office and Dr. Horowitz immediately came to see the cat. Noone in the office had ever seen such an awful sight. Not only wasthe cat’s whole face deteriorated away, but she was emaciatedand had fleas. There was no choice but to humanely euthanizethis poor girl and put her out of her miserable being.

Later that day, Joanne was contacted by Nassau County SPCA.They had been investigating this situation and told Joanne thatshe had no right to euthanize the cat. They claimed the cat was“owned” by a man named John and if she returned the remainsto John than John would not sue her. Joanne refused saying thatJohn did not have the right to this cats remains as he left hersuffering and living in a cardboard box for over one year.

How dare Nassau County SPCA be aware of this situation andnot do something to stop the suffering of this poor animal ? It isappalling that All About Spay Neuter Inc and Massapequa PetVet were investigated by Nassau County SPCA for this incident.

They should have been applauded. Thank goodness this poorkitty now rests in peace.

Cat Shot at State Park

One afternoon, Marion, one of our wonderful volunteers, wasfeeding a colony of cats where she is one of the caretakers for,in a parking lot of a state park. She noticed that one of the catswas dragging it hind legs around. The cat had been fine thatmorning. She immediately trapped the cat and took it to Dr.Leonhardt. Dr. Leonhardt x-rayed the cat and found out that thecat had been shot by a pellet gun. The cat was shot on the tip ofthe spine, paralyzing the cat from the waist down. There was nochoice but to humanely euthanize the cat. Once again, Dr.Leonhardt to the rescue.

All About Spay Neuter immediately notified Nassau County SPCAabout the incident. They told us that since we moved the cat thatthey could not investigate the incident. We felt that the catneeded to be seen by a vet immediately. Dr. Leonhardt, after sheeuthanized the cat removed the pellet and gave us the x-rays.Marion and Joanne went to Park Police, who took the incidentvery serious and is still investigating it.

This beautiful spayed female was shot at

a local state park. State police are still

investigating but Nassau County SPCA

refused to investigate because the cat

was removed from the scene.

This spayed female cat somehow got her

head stuck in the glass jar. It took the

caretaker over four days to finally get

the cat. She was immediately rushed to

Island Rescue to have the jar removed

from her head. She was given fluids

and was quite anxious to eat after that

ordeal.

The cat with “no face” that Nassau

County SPCA investigated All About

Spay Neuter and Massapequa Pet Vet for

euthanizing

Our 2008 Moms 2008 StatisticsThe year 2008 has far surpassed all of our expectations. To datewe have spayed/neutered over nine hundred fifty (950) feral catsand kittens and December has just started. This exceeds ournumbers from last year. Since September 2004, our grand totalis over three thousand (3000) cats that have been trapped,neutered, and returned. Just imagine how many births havebeen prevented by spay/neuter intervention of over 900 cats andkittens....and still more to be done.

And these are not random cats, they are all TNR’ed by colonies.We do not leave a location until 95%-100% of all the cats aresterilized.

It has been a pleasure to see how many people have made theseferal cats part of their families, providing them with the lifeessentials of food, water and shelter.

Special thanks to all that make this possible.....the veterinariansand staff of wonderful organizations like the ASPCA, IslandRescue, Dr. Ellen Leonardt, Dr.Ned Horowitz, and Dr. Senk.

We cannot forget all the trappers that spend countless hours andtime to trap, transport, and recover these cats.

This year, and our Christmas kittens are not included yet, onehundred forty (140) kittens and cats have been placed into safeadoptive homes. Since September 2004 over five hundred forty(540) cats and kittens have been adopted.

Mother’s Day Was Every Day This Year

This year was a pretty incredible year for trapping mother catsand than finding their litters.

One mother, from Holbrook, we had no idea she was nursingwhen we trapped her. After we picked her up from Island Rescueafter she was spayed, the doctor told me there were little kittensin the field. Rob and Joanne went back to Holbrook and searcha deserted lot for three hours until finally at 11PM we found thekittens, all snuggled together in a plant pot lying on its side.

Another litter was rescued from Amityville in a wishing well on aneighbors front lawn. The litter was only days old, with their eyesstill closed. Trapping of the mother was unsuccessful after thekittens were taken out of th wishing well. A trap was lent to thecaretaker who trapped the mother cat the same evening and shewas reunited with her kittens.

Never let a cat out of the trap. A rule that one trapper haslearned very well this year. After she trapped a tortoiseshell catlast year and the caretakers refused to pay to have the catspayed, she released it. This year the caretaker called her to tellher the cat was pregnant. She trapped the cat and she gave birthto four little kittens in the trap.

This Mom was reunited with her kittens

after hours of searching. Sadly, after

she was returned to her colony, she was

hit by a car and died.

Never let a cat out of the trap.....

This beautiful pure white cat was

dumped in Far Rockaway....pregnant.

A wonderful school teacher brought

her to All About Spay Neuter where we

spayed her the next day. These two

kittens were orphaned and being bottle

fed. Squeaky heard the kittens crying

and started to care for them, keeping

them warm and clean. In three days,

she started to produce milk and cared

for them until they were ready for

adoption. How amazing is she ? Not

much later, she got adopted and is

living a luxurious life on the north

shore of Long Island.

Mom is reunited with her kitties

that were found in a wishing well.

The beautiful Roxanne was found

pregnant on the streets of Far

Rockaway with nothing to eat except a

dirty napkin

Please Open Your Hearts.... to Help Us Help the Homeless

Our rescue operates through your generosity.

Please remember how we have helped you with TNR, foundsafe adoptive homes for your kittens, taken dumped friendlycats and placed them in great homes, and how many other

rescue groups said NO to you when you were in need.

YES, I will donate to help All About Spay Neuter Inc.

Name _________________________________________

Address _______________________________________

City __________________ State _________ Zip _______

Enclosed is my tax deductible donation $ _____________

Please return to : All About Spay Neuter Inc.

P. O. Box 140098Howard Beach, New York 11414

THANK YOU !!!!

Seasons Greetings to All !!

Every day is a new experience in animal rescue, but one thing thatdoes not change is all the wonderful people we meet along the way.

To our supporters, who understand our mission - to reduce the feralpopulation through TNR, thank you.

`

To our wonderful feral caretakers, we love you for helping those thatcannot help themselves. You have shown your love by opening upyour backyards, places of employment, places you visit, to make ahome for a homeless cat. Food, water and sheltering is an integralpart in the survival of our feline friends.

To our adopters, we cannot thank you enough. You have openedyour home to a homeless kitten who would have lived its life onthe streets if not for you. They will show you their gratitude everyday of their lives.

Our rescue is built on the dedication of our volunteers. Ournewest and most outstanding volunteer is Laurie, who has doneindependent rescue her whole life. We could never haveachieved all that we have this year without her. She donates hertime, above and beyond to help the homeless. Florence andMarion, our beach girls, have come and helped this year with ourkittens and we cannot thank them enough. Renee, our teacher,was a wonderful help this summer. Rob, who helped us at thebeginning of the year and had to leave due to personal reasons,we look forward to your return.

Our gorgeous long haired

Delilah will make someone the

purrrrfect present

This adorable kitty will keep you warm

all winter

This adorable tabby girl will be one of

our stocking stuffers for the holidays

Please help us continue tohelp the homeless animalsby pledging your support.

Please mail your tax deductible donation to :

All About Spay Neuter Inc. P. O. Box 140098 Howard Beach, New York 11414

Phone : (516) 967-4648 (516) 850-1061

E-Mail : AllAbtSpayNeuter@aol.com

Please visit our website : www.AllAboutSpayNeuter.com

ALL (100%) of your donation will be used

to help an animal in need.

Happy Holidays to All !!

Thank Yous and Purrs

Our number one thanks goes to Dr. Ellen Leonhardt. She has helped ustremendously this year with our feral cats and kittens too. To the otherdoctors at Animal General of East Norwich and to your amazing staff, wethank you.

Chris, Aimee, Joel, the staff and doctors of the APSCA.... WE LOVEYOU !!!! Your continued compassion to the feral cats of New York Cityis unbelievable and we could not help as many as we do without you.

Angela, Debbie, the veterinarians and staff of Island Rescue - kudos toyou - providing top quality, high volume, and low cost feral spay/neuterto Long Islanders.

Dr. Ned Horowitz and his amazing staff, for their commitment anddedication to the rescued animals we bring him.

Jessica Frohman, and the staff of Alley Cat Allies, your guidance andconstant support is much appreciated. You prove, every day, that TNRdoes work and we are not seeking the impossible dream.

Theresa, President of For Animal Inc., we are so happy for you achievingyour 501c(3) status. Congrats to you and the many animals you arealways helping.

Hailey Greenberg, and the staff of Greenberg and Merola LLC, whoproved to us that it is all about the animals welfare.

And to our friend, Ashot, who has made us feel we are not alone in ourfight to save to homeless.

.