A Case of Multiplication

Math was never my strong suit - in school I much preferred reading and writing to 'rithmatic. When I was with the kids from Blair Elementary School in Waukesha on Friday for my after-school program visit, many of them felt the same way. Of the 10 kids present, only 3 raised their hands when I asked if they like math.

However, I brought along a math problem for us to work on together, and we all found it much more enjoyable and informative than math usually is. ASPCA has a website for kids called Animal Land. It has a ton of fun resources to educate kinds about animals -- cartoons, news stories and activity sheets are just a few of it's offerings.

Friday I used one of the activity sheets entitled Rabbits, Rabbits and More Rabbits to give the kids a frame of reference as to what can happen if an unspayed female animal is allowed to breed. After a year and 3 months you end up with 100 rabbits. While this is a great biological mechanism for a wild bunny where the survival rate is extremely low, this is a disaster for a pet.

I knew that some of the kids would get it after my presentation and discussion, but I was really impressed that most of them really understood the ramifications of over-population and not spaying or neutering. Before we did the math problem Joseph had said, "But what if you want to breed your pet?". And afterward when we were talking about how to take care of 100 bunnies and probably not being able to find homes for them all I could tell he was re-thinking his original question.

Activities like this are so simple to do, and yet open up a wonderful avenue for discussion with kids. Not only did we talk about spaying and neutering pets, but also about what makes a good breeder, the fact that just because animals are cute doesn't mean that they are healthy enough to be bred, and gave me a chance to review what HAWS is and why we take in animals.

And as always, the best part of the visit was the animal I brought - a rabbit of course. Beauty charmed the kids and had a blast trying to figure out ways to break out of the circle of kids. She was able to explore quite a bit of the library while performing evasive manuevers in the meantime.

I know meeting Beauty was the kid's favorite part of my visit, but I'm hopeful they will remember our math problem as they grow older and get pets of their own.

No Such Thing as a Free Kitten!

One of the questions I hear from both kids and adults is "How much are your kittens." Often times they are aghast when I say our kitten adoption fee is $105.00, and tell me that they can get a free kitten from the farm they drive past -- they see signs all the time!

The truth of the matter is that there isn't any such thing as a free pet; unless you're talking about a pet rock. Our pets are living, breathing things with on-going needs. To fulfill those needs we the owners have to spend money.

All of HAWS cats and kittens are spayed and neutered prior to going to their new homes, and the operation is included in the $105.00 adoption fee. If you've ever had a female cat go into heat or a male cat spray in your house you will agree that this is a necessary operation for a pet cat.

A microchip is also included in the adoption fee. If you are unfamiliar with them, a microchip is a small rice sized computer chip implanted between the shoulder blades of an animal under the skin. It's basically an electronic form of ID that can be scanned and the animal traced back to the owner if the animal is ever lost. We get many cats here at HAWS that don't have any form of ID, and are never returned to their owners. A microchip is almost fail-safe and a great way to increase the chances of getting a lost pet back.

Additionally our kittens are de-wormed and get their first round of shots. If they are here at 12 weeks of age we give them their second round of shots.

I contacted a local veterinary clinic and asked for some of their prices. They charge between $190.00 and $365.00 for sterilization of a cat. They will implant a microchip for $39.99.

While we would want you to take your newly adopted HAWS kitten to the vet shortly after adoption to ensure your new family member was healthy, and you would incur costs because of that visit, you would save at least $124.99 by paying HAWS $105.00 adoption fee (the low end of the sterilization fee, plus the microchip fee at the vet minus HAWS adoption fee).

The cost of feeling good about adopting from HAWS and helping us save lives: PRICELESS!

Cats, Cats and More Cats

Two fridays a month I spend time with some of the kids in the after-school program at Blair Elementary School in Waukesha. I'm known as "The Humane Society Lady" who sets up fun games for the kids to play and brings all sorts of cool animals for them to meet.

The games are always animal related, and usually have a lesson. This week we did an activity that was meant to teach the kids what can happen when a cat isn't spayed. You can see in the photo that there are sheets of paper with photos attached. Each sheet represents one offspring or descendent of the original cat, and their offspring within a 15 month period of time.

Of course this week I brought a cat for the children to meet. Tony was recommended by the staff as being outgoing and probably a good choice to take to the school. But as so often happens when working with children, and when working with animals things don't always go as planned.

I had the kids sit in a circle and put Tony the cat in the middle. He jumped out. I went and retrieved him and put him back in the circle. He jumped out again -- this time hiding under a book cart.

I decided to make the best out of a disappointing situation by asking the kids why they thought Tony kept leaving the circle. The kids came up with some very thoughtful answers; he was afraid of the kids, the kids were being too noisy and frightening him, it was a new environment and he wanted to explore and he wanted to go over and look out the window (which he did the first time he left).

Ultimately I committed kitty torture by holding Tony in my arms and allowing each of the kids to spend a few seconds petting him. It certainly wasn't the experience I was looking for - a calm cat walking around the circle and reveling in the joy of the kids petting him. But in many ways it turned out better than I could have hoped; Tony gave me an opportunity to get the kids to think about his feelings.