July 13, 2006

Animal magnetism

Neta: from grungy feral cat to poster girl

By Jeanne Carbone Lewis
Staff Writer

Life started precariously enough for one orange, long-haired kitten. Born in an abandoned Los Gatos resort, the mother cat and her litter roamed the area with several dozen other feral cats. They foraged for food, sometimes fed by kind souls at the apartment complex nearby. But then one day they were caught, trapped by Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary [SHAS] husband and wife volunteers Dan Dawson and Janice Frazier and a new life began.

Neta at home in Almaden knows all the right hiding places. Photo by Jeanne Carbone Lewis

“We rescued her June 2 [2005] and I called her Neta after the daughter of a friend who died that day of a bacterial infection of the brain,” said Frazier. “We originally thought to name her Powderpuff but then changed it to Neta. She was cat number 19 we helped out of the Los Gatos apartment job, number 13 if you are counting only the kittens. Maybe 13 was her lucky number!”

Frazier and Dawson collected 40 cats and kittens from that rescue under the County’s Feral Cat Trap-Neuter-Return plan. It’s a small dent in the estimated 125,000 stray and feral cats living in Santa Clara County but the husband and wife team are undeterred.

They have rescued felines for the past four years, fostering many at their home in Almaden and are currently running adoption fairs every Saturday at PetSmart in Campbell.

“I decided to keep Neta because she is so sweet and so good with other cats,” said Frazier. “She really helps to socialize them.”

Socialization is important for cats to be adopted—especially a feral cat. Many of them are unadoptable—too wild—and are returned to their colony. Sometimes they have had human contact and make good ranch cats. For the kittens young enough to be socialized with humans, they must be fostered, cared for in terms of basic health and immunizations, and then shown at the adoption fairs until a suitable match is found.

Frazier and Dawson report that adoptions have been slow lately but feline arrivals continue.

SHAS’s mission
The sad statistic is that out of nearly twelve million animals brought to shelters each year, over eight million are eventually put to death. Feral strays are 40.6 percent of the total known cat population in Santa Clara County—per the Humane Society Silicon Valley—and for every cat in a home, there is a homeless cat trying to survive.

SHAS began seven years ago and was founded on the belief that no animal should go hungry, homeless or live in fear or pain. The Sanctuary believes that all animals deserve to be treated with dignity, kindness and respect and be provided with care that increases their opportunity for a safe life.

The group’s mission is to take care of and provide a peaceful living environment in foster homes for abused, physically handicapped, aged or homeless cats. Its goal is to provide temporary homes where these “special needs” animals can receive medical care, love and attention that will ultimately lead to adoption.

The Sanctuary believes in and practices Trap-Neuter-Return. Volunteers control and feed feral cat colonies all over Santa Clara County. These undomesticated cats have lived in the wild so long that they would never make good house pets. Dedicated volunteers care for them and break the kitten cycle by having them fixed.

SHAS also educates people on how to trap humanely and helps them by providing space for their rescued animals at the adoption fairs, when possible.

A happy ending
But for Neta—it’s a happy ending and a good home. She has the run of the house along with her canine pal, Angel, who is one of her best friends. Other cats and kittens come to visit and stay until they’re adopted and with Neta’s sweet nature, she helps socialize them. She is curious about Topaz, the parakeet, but realizes the small bird is off limits. She eats well, has a plethora of toys and plenty of love from the doting Frazier and Dawson.

For more information on SHAS’s Silent and Live Auction, donations or to volunteer call (408) 832-4010 or visit www.safehavenanimalsanctuary.org. For adoptions or donations visit PetSmart, 850 W. Hamilton Ave., Campbell, CA every Saturday 12-4 pm; phone (408) 374-9321. Other Pet fairs run by SHAS are listed on their Web site.