Miss Cuddlywumps Converses with Barn Cat Buddies

Barn cat, a.k.a. Rodent Control Technician.
Photo courtesy of Barn Cat Buddies.

You know, it’s great being a housecat with a loving home, but not every cat has that opportunity. Not every cat even wants to live in a house with people. Who takes care of those cats? Well, it’s really special people, like our guest today, who step up and volunteer to look after feral cats. Toni Levine is a co-president and member of the board of directors of an organization called Barn Cat Buddies. Let’s get right into our conversation.

Hi, Toni. We’re so glad you could join us today to talk about Barn Cat Buddies. Can you start by telling us exactly what this organization is and what it does?

  

Hi!!! Thank you for the opportunity to talk about ourselves!!! Our mission is to stop the population of feral cats and to create a safe environment for them while they are waiting on their forever homes. We offer a trap/neuter/return program when funding is available. We sterilize as many cats as we can under this program and pay for the vetting. It includes sterilization, rabies shot, distemper shot, and pain meds. We also tip the ears so that anyone that sees them understands they are vetted and being fed. We have created four sanctuaries that house approximately 300 cats. We provide food and vetting services to these cats until they are placed in a forever home. In addition, we provide food to low income people that are feeding feral colonies.

We already mentioned your roles as co-president and board member. What else do you do for Barn Cat Buddies?

I also am one of the sanctuaries, application processor, and one of the food providers as a food bank.

That sounds like a lot of work! If someone has a barn and needs a cat to patrol it and keep mice away, what is the process for getting a cat from you? Is there a fee involved?

Barn Cat Buddies adopts their cats out in pairs. They
work hard to put just the right cats in the right place.
Photo Courtesy of Barn Cat Buddies.

Just go to our website at www.barncatbuddies.org and fill out an application for adoption. There are two applications…one is for indoor friendly cats, which is quite lengthy, and the other is for outdoor hunters/barn cats. We contact the applicant to find out exactly what they want and go to work locating the right cats. We do adopt in pairs, as they are social animals and will tend to stick around better with a “buddy.” We deliver, set up, and instruct as we go. There is no adoption fee for barn cats, but donations are always greatly appreciated. That is how we keep doing what we do.

Wow—it sounds like you really do a lot to make sure these cats end up in a good place. I understand you’re in Virginia. What areas of that state does Barn Cat Buddies primarily serve?

We work closely in Roanoke County, City, Salem, Vinton, Bedford County, Franklin County, Craig County, and Botetourt County, but are not limited to those areas. Our sanctuaries are in Bedford County, Botetourt County and Craig County.

Two cat buddies on patrol for rodents.
Photo courtesy Barn Cat Buddies.

How long has Barn Cat Buddies been around, and roughly how many cats have you helped in that time?

We have been around for a decade but have been a 501C for about five years. I would have to get numbers from our bookkeeper/founder, but I can tell you that we sterilized and vetted well over a 1,000 cats in 2016.

Thank you for helping so many cats! I heard you did not get renewed funding this year for one of your major programs—the Free Feline Fix. What does this mean for Barn Cat Buddies?

A Rodent Control Technician's work is never done.
There's always some part of the barn--or stable or
greenhouse--to be checked out.
Photo courtesy Barn Cat Buddies.

This means that our main mission has been altered. We are not doing any intake in the year 2017 and will gear ourselves to adopting from our sanctuaries so that we can begin to pull from kill shelters and non-thriving or hoarding colonies in the next year. For now, we are concentrating on feeding and vetting (keeping healthy) our sanctuary cats and those colonies that we have committed to prior. We will reapply for our grant this coming year and hopefully will receive it for 2018.

What can people do to help Barn Cat Buddies?

Donate food, money, or items that we can sell at our large yard sales, which help provide a large amount of money for our food and vetting. Our mailing address is Barn Cat Buddies, P.O. Box 111, Salem, Virginia 24153. If someone would like to talk to one of our board members, please feel free to give them my email address, which is barngrama2@hotmail.com and I will be glad to call them.

Well, a Rodent Control Technician just needs a break
sometimes, but just their presence can warn pests away.
Photo Courtesy Barn Cat Buddies.

Thank you so much for any attention you can give us. We are ALL volunteers (there are no paid employees) and every dime contributed goes directly to run our program, provide food and vetting, and funds our Free Feline Fix program. 

This has been a really enlightening conversation, Toni. Thank you for joining us today. We have really enjoyed it. Readers, we really hope some of you will chip in however you can to help out the Barn Cat Buddies!

Miss Cuddlywumps Converses: With Cat Cozy Author Mollie Hunt

Mollie Hunt is an author of cat cozy mysteries,
a volunteer with the Oregon Humane Society,
and more.
All photos courtesy of Mollie Hunt.

Welcome to this latest edition of Miss Cuddlywumps Converses. Please join me in welcoming author Mollie Hunt to the blog. Mollie is here to tell us all about her cozy mystery series, which of course features cats (because they all should, right?). Let’s get right into our conversation.

Mollie, we’re so glad you could join us today. Could you start out by telling us a little bit about yourself and how you got into writing cozy mysteries?

Mollie: Hello, Miss C. I’m excited to be here. As you know, I’m the author of the Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery series. I am a native Oregonian and live in Portland with my husband and a varying number of cats.

Though I read many types of fiction and nonfiction, I’ve always enjoyed cozy mysteries, beginning with Mary Stewart, Agatha Christie, and Dorothy L. Sayers. When I discovered there was such a thing as the sub-genre cat mysteries (Lilian Jackson Braun, Shirley Rousseau Murphy, Miranda James), I was happier than a cat in catnip. I’ve written in several genres, but cozies are my favorite (along with cat science-fantasy, but that’s another story). Everybody needs a happy ending once in a while.

Yes, happy endings are so refreshing, aren’t they? Please introduce us to the Crazy Cat Lady mystery series. Is the cat lady in the series really crazy?

As my hero Lynley Cannon will be the first to tell you, she isn’t crazy, yet. Sixty-something Lynley enjoys a quiet life of retirement. She is a dedicated cat shelter volunteer, a doting grandmother, and an active senior. She never looks for trouble, but it seems to find her anyway. Whether it’s a diamond heist that lands in her lap thanks to a curious cat (Cats’ Eyes), a cat counterfeiting ring that infiltrates her shelter, Friends of Felines (Copy Cats), or a crazy string of murders beginning in the tranquil setting of a famous animal shelter and ending up on her own doorstep (Cat’s Paw), Lynley’s cat-like curiosity gets the best of her every time.

Lynley isn’t in it alone though; family and friends (including a mystery-solving, 80-something mother, a sweet but way-smart granddaughter, a hunky animal cop who knows the ropes, a cat-savvy shelter buddy, and a lesbian lawyer to get her out of fixes) have Lynley’s back.

The first two books in the Crazy Cat Lady series,
Cats' Eyes and Copy Cats.

Wow, that sounds like quite a cast! The latest title is Cat’s Paw. How does this book continue the series?

Cat’s Paw (launched November 10) carries on where Copy Cats leaves off: After a brush with death at the hands of a serial killer who murders with a lethal cat-like claw (Copy Cats), Lynley is ready to relax. She attends an elite art retreat at the world-famous Cloverleaf Animal Sanctuary in the San Juan Islands, but the tranquility is sundered by a shocking double homicide. Lynley is briefly accused, and once released, she can’t get home to Portland  fast enough, but the murders aren’t over yet. Suspicion falls on a dear friend, and Lynley must fight through fear, assault, and her own anxiety disorder to keep from becoming the next victim.

Can you tell us about the cat or cats in these stories? Are they talking cats or “normal” cats, and what role do they play in the plots?

Though no one loves a talking cat more than I do, the cats in this series are normal cats. That said, I believe cats are truly gifted with a full array of superior senses, and if sometimes those senses help solve a crime, why not?

Cat's Paw is the newest book in the Crazy Cat Lady series.
In the center right, author Mollie Hunt poses with Tinkerbelle the cat.

Cats are superior in many ways, aren't we? Are any cats in your stories based on real-life felines, or are they all totally fictional?

Several of her cats—and Lynley has many: 8 at the moment!—are or have been my own wonderful kitties; others are cats I’ve fostered for the Oregon Humane Society where I volunteer; and still others are made up though based on someone I’ve known personally.

Are you working on any new writing projects you’d like to tell us about?

Yes! I’ve just finished the initial draft of the next book in the CCL series, Cat Call, where Lynley takes over as cat wrangler for a television show after a friend is injured by a mysterious “hex” that is sabotaging the set. (I’m applying my own experience as an assistant cat handler for the cult classic Zombie Cats from Mars.) The fifth in the series, Cat Café, which revolves around a mystifying murder in a cat lounge, is in the planning stages right now. I previously mentioned cat science-fantasy: I have been working on a tetralogy involving sentient cats saving the world from various unthinkable fates. Divergent from the cozies, these are works of pure imagination and very close to my heart. I hope to publish them someday.

Mollie Hunt relaxes with four cats, all of whom show up in
her stories. The cats are (from left to right)
Tinkerbelle, Dirty Harry,  Little, and Big Red.

We hope you do publish them, because we’d love to read them—they sound like such fun, and we think more cats should get involved in science and fantasy. Do you have any other thoughts you’d like to share with us?

Thank you. I would like to note that though my books are full of kitty-fun for the reader, I try to inject a bit of realism as well. Since Lynley is a shelter volunteer, she is in the perfect position to explore such subjects as the plight of homeless pets; the crisis and control of animal abuse and neglect; and other issues relating to animal advocacy. At the beginning of each chapter, I include an interesting cat fact or tip, such as “If you think you smell cat pee, you probably do.”

I’d also like to spotlight my fabulous cover art, done by cat artist Leslie Cobb. Check out her website at Cat Art by Leslie Cobb.

Yes, we will be sure to check out Leslie’s site, and we hope our readers will too. Thank you for being here today, Mollie. We’ve had such fun conversing with you and learning about your books!

Thank you so much, Miss. C, for having me. I’ve enjoyed our conversation immensely.

Adopt – Volunteer – Love!

Mollie Hunt

Connect with Mollie Hunt

You can find Mollie Hunt’s books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and if you’re in Portland, at Another Read Through Bookstore.

Visit Mollie online:

 Facebook

Mollie’s website

Book Review: The True Tails of Baker and Taylor

You know what the world needs more of? Library cats. This is what we have concluded after reading the delightful book called The True Tails of Baker and Taylor, by Jan Louch, with Lisa Rogak. More library cats would make dramatic improvements in the world. Don’t believe me? Read on.

The story

On July 22, 1982, a new branch of the Douglas County Library opened in Minden, Nevada, and soon after, the staff discovered there were numerous mice outside it. Naturally, they decided they needed a cat to, you know, protect the books. And while they were at it, they thought they’d better get two cats to, you know, keep each other company. This was a totally, 100% professional decision based solely on a desire to safeguard the library’s assets. A desire to have cats at work had absolutely nothing to do with it. (Ahem.)

Of course, cats need names, and what better names for library cats than Baker and Taylor, after major library wholesaler Baker & Taylor?

Baker sleeping on duty, and on a
box of voter registration forms.

Photo courtesy of Jan Louch.

Soon enough, two Scottish fold cats took up residence in the Minden Library. Baker (pictured at right) arrived first and proved to be the social butterfly of the pair. He liked to hang out where he could greet the public. Taylor (pictured below) was more reserved, preferring to nap at Louch’s desk. Louch describes the cats as a sort of feline odd couple, with Taylor playing the neat freak and Baker “the good-natured, hedonistic slob.”

Even in that age before social media (back when people used to talk to each other), it wasn’t long before patrons started walking into the library and asking for the cats. Thus began their popularity, which really took off after Baker & Taylor the company began using Baker and Taylor the cats in their marketing campaigns. Louch takes us behind the scenes of photo shoots with the cats, and we learn—surprise, surprise—that they hated these sessions of being posed repeatedly and exposed to flashing bright lights.

But without those photos, which were reproduced on posters and shopping bags, the cats’ popularity might not have exploded at library trade shows, where librarians were soon flocking to the Baker & Taylor booth to pick up their own poster or bag or what have you. The posters went up in libraries all over the country, news stories were written, and almost before the Minden Library staff knew what was going on, their cats were famous and had their own fan club (made up of second graders who sharpened their writing skills by sending cards to the cats; and yes, the cats answered, with Louch’s help).

Changes, changes

But as it turns out, Baker and Taylor’s story isn’t just about a couple of cats. It’s also about the many people whose lives they touched, it’s about Jan Louch, and it’s about the area of Nevada where they lived.

Taylor enjoyed sitting in a "Buddha pose."
Photo courtesy of Jan Louch.

See, sometimes you’re changing and you don’t even realize it—as in Louch’s transformation into something of a sourpuss after her divorce and then  her reemergence as she softened and learned to laugh again with the help of a certain pair of cats. Other times you know things are changing—as in the Carson Valley’s period of rapid growth, when quite a few Californians transplanted themselves to what had been a pretty sleepy place. The library staff saw change firsthand (literally) as new technology crept in and they had to type information from the card catalog into the new computer system.

Cats hate change, and we’ve found that most people are really not that crazy about it either. But if a person has a nice soft kitty to pet when things get rough… What’s more healing than that?

The verdict

I could write and write and write about all the little things we enjoyed about this book. The True Tails of Baker and Taylor is a page-turner not because it’s suspenseful but because it’s just such a pleasure to read. Of course we enjoyed reading about the cats and their quirky habits, but it was also fun (and enlightening) to get a peek into the life of a librarian. She of Little Talent enjoyed the book for its time period, when a much younger old SoLT loved her local county library and spent a fair amount of time haunting its stacks and searching through the card catalog. The only problem with that library was, it did not have a cat.

You know how sometimes when you finish a book, you hold it for a while and flip back through the pages because you really don’t want it to be over? This is one of those books. We feel like we know Baker and Taylor, and Jan Louch and Minden, Nevada. We wish more libraries had cats, because cats and books just belong together, don’t they? The True Tails of Baker and Taylor is also a reminder that cats can do some pretty amazing things, like make a library a more welcoming, happier, homier place; soften a wounded person so she can laugh again; help children learn to read and write; inspire people to travel to a library just to see them; and cause librarians to descend en masse onto a trade show booth to grab some cat-themed tchotchke.

This is the point in our reviews where we usually point out some flaw, large or small, that could be improved in a book. But the only problem we can think of is that reading about Baker and Taylor made us long for a library with a cat. Because wouldn’t it be just perfect to be browsing through the stacks and come across a cat waiting to be petted?

That would make the world a better place.

Very highly recommended! And don't miss the video [below] of members of the Baker and Taylor Fan Club singing their song about the cats!

A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good read; two paws is for a great read. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!

Announcing the Acatemy

People and cats: a centuries-old bond.
This man shared a special moment
with his cat back in the mid-1800s.
He would've been in the Acatemy for sure.
Photo from the Library of  Congress.

People and cats have been bonding and sharing special moments for thousands of years. We know this from the amazing works of cat-related art that have survived from ancient Egpyt, Greece, Rome, and other cultures...and from more recent items like the photo at left.

Maybe some cats even wandered into Plato’s famed Academy and stayed to enjoy that lively society-who knows? Maybe…Plato was a cat person and had a less well known group called the Acatemy, where he got together with other cat lovers to learn and share news and insights about their feline friends.

Okay, that probably did not happen way back in 380 BC or thereabouts when Plato was around. But you know what? The Acatemy is happening today, and you can be a part of it.

What is the Acatemy? It’s a one-of-a-kind society for cat lovers to learn fascinating expert insights, see cat-related news, and get special perks, and it’s brought to you by Meow Mix (come on, sing the song with me: “Meow meow meow meow…”). I'm a proud member—along with many other top cat bloggers, authors, and “pet personalities.” The best news is that you can join too: You know those six thousand cute photos and videos you have of your cat? Just share one and you’re in! Plus, all new members get a FREE bag of Meow Mix's new Irresistibles Treats, and you know your cat will love that.

Curious? Watch the video below to find out more. I’ll see you at the Acatemy!

Sign up at: https://irresistiblemoments.com/acatemy

This is a sponsored post.

A Man and His Cat, Nineteenth-Century Style

Wordless Wednesday

Portrait of a man and his cat.

It seems that even in the nineteenth century,
people liked to include their pets in their portraits,
as seen in this daguerreotype of an unidentified
man with a cat, c. 1840–1860.
Of course we’re not sure this cat actually belonged
to this man, but it would be odd for the man to
pose with someone else’s cat.

Via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Division.