I'm Ready to Go Home, But is My Plane?

No. The answer is no. After mechanical issues that could not be resolved, we were told our flight would leave 9 hours later than scheduled. That meant I would miss my connecting flight and the one that followed. The upside is, I'm blogging from the Hyatt regency in Taipei where I was able to sleep for 5 hours before going back to the airport to get on a plane that will get me home 14 hours later than planned. At least I'll get home. 

Now to wrap up the trip. The food tour of Chinatown in Bangkok was fantastic. We tried so much food including dumplings, steamed buns, duck, pork, squid, and my new favorite dessert dough that has been deep fried then grilled then covered in pandan sauce which has a coconut like flavor. So delicious!

Then it was off to Chiang Mai. Compared to fashion-forward Bangkok this is a small town full of shabby dressed tourists with a similar vibe to Siem Reap. I was in my element. It's also filled with over 100 wats and what seems like 100 coffee shops. It was here I hit my limit and stopped taking photos each time I passed a temple and instead thought "Oh, Buddha. Cool." 

I got a Thai massage at a business that trains and employees formerly incarcerated women to be the masseurs. A one-hour massage only costs $9! I also signed up for another food tour, this one even more adventurous. A lot of stops in the market visiting vendors who have run their booths for decades making sausages, pork leg, pork belly. I finally succumbed to peer pressure and tried both silk worm larvae (kind of mushy) and crickets (a crunchy snack). Hey, when in Southeast Asia. 

Friday was a visit to Elephant Nature Park, which I posted about the other day. It was very special to be able to walk among the elephants and hear about their stories of being rescued from logging or the tourist trade. Watching them frolic, yes I said frolic, in the river was also fun. And we got to spend 15 minutes in Cat Kingdom with 2000 rescued cats! I wanted to visit with more of them but one sat on my lap so I stayed with that cat the entire time. And... in the souvenir shop, I saw an elephant carved out of flip flops. It was done in partnership with Ocean Sole, an organization I visited in Nairobi and made a short video about back in 2007 when they were called UniquEco. So cool to see.

A trip to the night bazar for some local food and souvenirs and here we are, about to board the plane for the final leg home. It's been great to see places I haven't been before and inspiring to see what local people in both Cambodia and Thailand are doing to improve the lives of people and animals in their communities.

As has become the usual with these posts below is a selection of photos from this section of the trip. Thanks for following along!

Feel Good Friday - The Cat Network

Most of the time, I use this blog to highlight an organization that’s connected in some way to the time of year or current events. But sometimes I just want to talk about cats. Enter today’s Feel Good Friday Organization, The Cat Network.

Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Miami, Florida, The Cat Network is a grass roots organization dedicated to humanely reducing cat overpopulation. The 2,500 volunteer and donor members that make up the network work towards this goal in several ways.

The first  focus is on sterilization. The Cat Network educates the public about the need to sterilize their pets. They also provide access to low-cost spay/neuter services for stray, homeless and abandoned cats through their certificate program. Members of The Cat Network can purchase low-cost spay and neuter certificates that can be used at participating veterinary clinics. As well, the Miami Meow Mobile is a fully equipped surgery center on wheels that can provide sterilization procedures, vaccinations and basic wellness care for cats.

The second focus involves advocating non-lethal population control and humane public policy. That includes working with multi-family developments to enact TNR (trap/neuter/release) efforts rather than extermination of stray cats on their properties. The Cat Network website lists advice on trapping feral cats for people who want to help in their own communities.

Finally, The Cat Network assists members in finding homes for rescued stray cats and kittens. Before a cat is placed in a home, the member and adopter sign a contract and the member collects the adoption donation of $75. If you’re looking to bring a cat into your life, click this link to learn more about the adoption process.

Since they began almost 30 years ago The Cat Network’s members “have trapped and sterilized over 51,000 stray and abandoned cats and have adopted out over 7,000 cats”. That’s a lot of cats!

If you’d like to join The Cat Network in their efforts to help homeless cats, there are many ways to get involved. People living in South Florida can volunteer, become network members or foster cats. All of us can make a donation and amplify their work on social media by following The Cat Network on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Feel Good Friday - Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary

It’s Feel Good Friday and time to take a summer road trip to Saint Pauls, North Carolina to visit the Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary (BCR).

North Carolina law allows for animals who are sick, injured or blind to be killed immediately in animal control facilities. When a 6-week old blind cat named Louie was not accepted in the shelter where the BCR founders were volunteering, they decided to take him home and soon after registered Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary as a non-profit in North Carolina.

The first BCR building was built in 2005 as a lifetime care sanctuary for blind cats who were deemed not adoptable by regular shelters. In 2011, they built a second shelter to provide a safe place for Leukemia positive (FELV+) and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV+) cats who otherwise would be killed because they tested positive for these viruses.

In addition to providing homes for these cats, BCR’s website has helpful information for owners. For example, blind cats can do almost everything that sighted cats can do and will use their whiskers to navigate around objects. One way you can help them is by staying consistent with where you place their litter box and food bowls.

Cats that are FIV+ can live for years before becoming sick. Since FIV is primarily transmitted through a deep, penetrating bite, positive and negative cats can live together with no problems. While cats that are FELV+ typically have 3-5 years of healthy life, several of the FELV+ cats at BCR are nine years old.

If you’re curious to meet and support the cats at BCR you can click on their names on this page to see photos and read their individual stories. For example, Houdini is an FELV+ cat who came to BCR earlier this year after being hit by a car in Miami, and Popcorn is a cat with no eyes who has been living at BCR since she was found on a country road in 2011. Check out the live streaming cameras to see what the cats are up to. When I looked everyone was asleep but hey, cats are gonna cat.

If you’d like to support the cats at Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary, there are several ways to do so. Go to the open house on Saturday, August 12 and visit the cats in person, volunteer your time, donate your money and spread the word on social media. Follow BCR on Facebook and Instagram @blindcatrescue. 

Feel Good Friday - Alley Cat Allies

May is National Pet Month and since my pets are cats, we’re focusing this Feel Good Friday on our feline friends and their Alley Cat Allies. 

Founded in 1990, the mission of Alley Cat Allies is “to transform and develop communities to protect and improve the lives of cats.” With more than 650,000 supporters, Alley Cat Allies works with lawmakers, animal shelters, and the public to change attitudes and advance lifesaving policies that best serve the interests of cats. 

 

A sample of these activities includes: educating decision-makers and communities about policies that save cats, advocating for Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) as the only humane and effective approach for community cat management, sharing advice and connecting people to resources through the Feral Friends Network and providing emergency assistance to animal organizations that help feed and care for cats and kittens in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

In addition to this ongoing work, there are featured campaigns. One is working with Australia’s Animal Justice Party to stop the Port Authority from killing cats in the Port of Newcastle. A campaign that hits much closer to home is the one fighting against lethal removal of cats from the East Bay Regional Park District. Between 2018 and 2020, 34 cats found in three East Bay parks have been either shot and killed or euthanized! Alley Cat Allies is working to get EBRPD to control the cat population using Trap-Neuter-Return instead of killing the cats.

 

If you want to fight against these types of issues to help cats in your community, download this advocacy toolkit. It will provide you with background information on the issues and teach you how to make an impact and grow the community.

 

Other ways you can help Alley Cat Allies protect and improve the lives of cats is by making a donation, shopping for merchandise and amplifying their message by liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter @alleycatallies.

 

 

Feel Good Friday - Kindness for Cats, Inc.

Happy Feel Good Friday the 13th! On this superstitious day, let's talk about black cats and the people who are helping them find forever homes, Kindness for Cats, Inc (KFCI).

You may not know this, but black cats have the lowest adoption and highest euthanasia rates among felines. That's why Kindness for Cats, Inc. works with Orange County Animal Services in Orlando, Florida to foster cats in their program.

Founded in 2008 by Cindy Patton, KFCI's mission is "to provide temporary nurturing homes for homeless kittens and cats and to find them loving forever homes." They also educate the public about the abandon pet overpopulation, the high rate of euthanasia at local animal shelters and promote spaying and neutering.

KFCI places cats and kittens from OCAS with foster parents to spare them from euthanasia while they wait to be adopted. Those most likely to need extra time and attention are cats that are too young to be adopted, have special needs or are sick or injured. A typical foster placement is for one month and OCAS provides assistance with food, bedding, crates and bowls.

If you live in Orlando and are in the market for a kitty, the KFCI website is a great place to look. This link lists cats and kittens currently available for adoption. Once you bring a cat into your home, their website has tons of resources on topics such as introducing a new cat to your home, whether or not to declaw your cat and what to do about feral cats in the neighborhood.

But what about all those black cats you ask? KFCI promotes their adoption with fun links like Top 10 Reasons to Adopt a Black Cat. While reasons 9 and 10 might be a stretch ("black goes with everything" and "you can always find your black cat in the snow") the number one reason is why KFCI focuses on black cats, they are "least likely to get adopted".

Depending on where you live, there are many ways you can support this work. Floridians can foster or adopt cats from KFCI. All of us can make a traditional donation, automatically donate a portion of our online shopping purchases, and share the social media love by liking the KFCI Facebook page and subscribing to their YouTube channel. Cat videos anyone?