Horsing around at summer camp

If your kids love animals, this summer camp is for them.

Fiego Farms Horse Day Camp is held 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. every Wednesday until school starts. Geared toward children from kindergarten through sixth grade, it's only $35 a day.

For more information, see my Talking Pets column in Friday's Neighbors section of the Herald.

 

Photo courtesy Fiego Farms                                                                                                             Photo courtesy Fiego Farms

Photos courtesy Gail Lynch Judah

Don't let sleeping cats lie

After my blog and column last week about kitten season, information started rolling in about other cat adoption events around town in addition to Kitty Korner. So here are a few more:

 

• Humane Society of Manatee County is running adoption specials through Wednesday. The Seniors for Seniors program waives all fees for people older than 50 who adopt a cat older than 2. Also, anyone can adopt two cats or kittens for $90, a $30 discount. Fees include spay/neuter, vaccinations and microchips. Call 747-8808 for more information.
• Manatee County Animal Services is also running a two-fer special, offering Cats in Pairs for $76. The 55 for $55 program allows anyone 55 or older to adopt any cat - or dog - for $55. Fees includes health check, spay/neuter, vaccinations, a county license certificate and tag, microchip, and an adoption kit. Call 742-5933 for more information.
• Gulf Shore Animal League is having an Independence Day Kitty Adopt-a-thon 11 a.m.-4 p.m. July 3 at Tractor Supply Co., 4404 State Road 64 E. Special fees include spay/neuter, vaccines and microchip. Call 747-2284 for more information, or visit http://www.gsalinc.org/.

 

 

                                     Photo by PAUL VIDELA/pvidela@bradenton.com

These young cats are waiting for new homes at the Humane Society,

which is running a two-fer special through Wednesday.

It's kitten season

Female cats have kittens year 'round, but this is the most prolific time of year for cats in Florida.

The gestation period for a female cat is short, 63 days, and as soon as she stops nursing her kittens she goes back into heat, so she can have litters three or four times a year.

Shelters and rescue groups are overrun with kittens, and you can help save countless of them by adopting one (or two ... or three).

In Manatee County, Kitty Korner is a division of Animal Network made up of people who are committed to rescuing, spay/neutering, and adopting cats in our community. Kitty Korner runs a program for trap-neuter-release of "community cats," spaying and neutering as many felines as possible.

Cats and kittens that are adoptable are put into a foster program and offered for adoption once they are spayed/neutered. Those that are returned to their cat colony are put under the watchful eye of a guardian who feeds and monitors the colony every day. These folks also take cats from Manatee County Animal Services and place them in the foster/adoption program.

Some of Kitty Korner's cats and kittens are housed at the adoption center at Petsmart, 4425 14th St. W., and can be seen during the week. Many more of the program's foster cats are are shown 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at Petsmart. You can also view adoptable cats at www.petfinder.com (search for Animal Network, Bradenton). The standard adoption fee of $75 includes testing, spay/neuter, current vaccines, microchip and a post-adoption vet visit.

This is a community problem, and as a community we should do all we can to get these cats off the streets and into good homes. 

A pet project

People have all kinds of pets -- dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, rodents and more -- and they love to talk about them. Did your cat do something hilarious? Dog do something outrageous? Bird say something you wish it hadn't? The world wants to hear about it! So we started this blog.

I have two dogs: Reba, who was 14 at the end of March, and Ella, who just turned 16 months old. They are rescues who each now live the life of Riley in the house we share in Bradenton

Pop quiz: Can you tell why I named them what I did?

I'll give the answer in my companion column, also called Talking Pets, debuting Friday in the Herald's Neighbors section.