The Owl House Foster Spot

02/02/2026

Here is a look at some of the important dates and themes coming up! We'll have more info and showcase additional days as we progress through the month. 🐱

02/01/2026

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1098612X251379219

This is a fascinating study of FeLV testing and survival, and while I'm copy/pasting the Discussion on survival, there's a lot more to explore in this article if FeLV is on your radar! (Please do NOT share the copy/paste info below without linking to the full research article).

The longest an adopted FeLV-positive TNR kitten survived in our TNR efforts was 14 years. The landowner decided to keep 6 FeLV positive kittens from their colony as indoor pets, and Rhett beat the odds. His siblings survived only a few months to a few years.

"Our findings from this prospective study of adopted FeLV-infected cats revealed an overall median survival of 2.8 years, with high positive cats having the shortest median survival of 1.4 years and only 2/90 cats still known to be alive at more than 7 years. The low positive cats had not yet reached a median survival, with 19/29 cats still alive. Because the cats were admitted to the shelter with previously acquired FeLV infections of unknown duration, the survival times represent intervals since study enrollment, not total survival times since initial infection. Reported median survival times for naturally acquired FeLV infections in a study of over 800 FeLV-positive cats and 7000 age- and sex-matched uninfected controls were 2.4 years and 6.3 years, respectively."

Objectives Thousands of cats in the USA are newly diagnosed with feline leukemia virus (FeLV) each year, and known FeLV-infected cats are increasingly adopted f...

01/28/2026

Need a movie? A Street Cat Named Bob is free on YouTube.

Based on the International Best Selling Book, A STREET CAT NAMED BOB is a moving and uplifting feel-good true story.

01/26/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1845pqgzDs/
The amazing Humane Society of Schuyler County received a grant to help meet the new NYS shelter/rescue temp regs.

The Humane Society of Schuyler County recently received a $75,000 grant from the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) The grant will further the organization’s compliance with New York state’s new animal protection laws, sometimes referred to as the “Companion Animal Standards Act“ which became effective on December 15, 2025. The new laws create uniform care standards for animal shelters and rescues with mandatory licensing, inspections, and enforceable daily care requirements.

This funding will be used by the Humane Society to upgrade its heating and ventilation system, specifically to address the specifications in the new law that temperatures in animal care facilities range between 60 and 80 degrees. ASPCA® award amounts ranged from $20,000-$75,000.

“We are thrilled to be a recipient of this generous grant funding”, says Board President Kimberly Manning. “This funding will help us to be in full compliance with the capital requirements of the new standards and to continue to provide a high standard of care for the animals who come to us in need”.

01/26/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AR21WXX4M/

01/25/2026

THREE big pieces of cat furniture, FOUR lockable whiteboards, a label maker, POV camera, air quality monitor, SIX bags of cat food (which I didn't realize was on the wish list when I added the licensing-upgrade items), turbo toys for enrichment (their old ones have scratches, and scratched plastic isn't allowed), and two new stick vacuums I purchased myself. Thank you, everyone, and assembled pics with donor attributes to come!

01/25/2026

A potential adopter asked to 'hold' Benedict for a month while they traveled for the holidays, and then adopted a different kitten elsewhere. In the meantime, Benedict grew up from a highly adoptable kitten into a less adoptable teen. Sigh. Every rescuer knows how tenuous the 'will you hold him' appeal is...but they seemed serious about adopting him. Please, no bad mouthing the potential adopter. It happens all the time, which is why I should know better. And any kitten adopted is a kitten in a safer place. Lesson learned (again!)

BUT that means sweet, playful Benedict needs a home. He was found behind a veterinary clinic in PA and was featured at Petsmart until he was spoken for. He is neutered, vaccinated, treated for common parasites, and FeLV/FIV tested. He's now fostering with me and can be visited here. There will be a $75 adoption fee to the adoption organization we are fostering him for.

01/25/2026

The first assembly job of my Snow Day Weekend is something I purchased myself (as it's not strictly cat related, $30 Temu). I move into the woodstove room each winter so that I can heat the cat rooms upstairs instead of the Glorious Great Room downstairs where I normally 'live' (10' ceilings, fantastic huge windows, but heated with electric 🫨 ) and figured since I'd be doing more recordkeeping, I may as well do it from bed!

Onto the cat furniture!

One thing that has changed over 40 years of cat rescue. I used to love assembling things and seeing the finished project But after 20 years of assembling cat stuff (since the previous 20 years it all came in one piece) I've grown weary of bolts and Allen wrenches. One upside: It's lighter to carry upstairs in pieces! I used to wrestle those great big 2x4 cat trees up the stairs, and then drag them back down again and to the dump when they'd passed their healthy life (usually after one or two sisal rope replacements).

Still, there's still the same satisfaction once it's all done!

01/25/2026

I'm taking advantage of a weekend plus snow day to begin the upgrade to my 3 upstairs cat rooms with all the amazing wish list items you've sent! Thank you Gretchen and an unidentified angel for all of these turbo toys and extra scratchers!! (more to come as I assemble or test the furniture and equipment you've all sent!!!)

01/18/2026

Thank you, thank you, thank you! For the non-porous cat furniture, the POV camera, the ammonia monitoring, cat enrichment and more, to hopefully meet NYS regs There are a limited number of items on the list so if the list is empty, it is because the need has been met. Thank you!!! (Toss a pic of your cat in the comments instead -- we would love to see!)

01/18/2026

I've been quiet. Why? Home cat rescue is now illegal in NYS. So I've been sponsoring spay/neuter and adoption over the border in PA.

I've been rescuing and adopting out a handful of cats each year since 1993. There were a few years when I had insanely wonderful people helping where we were spay/neutering hundreds of cats and adopting out almost a hundred a year. But I'm 63 and was hoping to retire into a comfortable pastime of finding homes for a handful of cats for friends and neighbors when the local shelters turn them away. I'd like to think finding homes for a box of kitten left on my doorstep would be legal. But...

That's illegal in NYS now, without a shelter-standard-level license. Did you rescue a litter of kittens and give them away on Facebook? That's illegal now. I called Ag and Markets and asked if a farmer who regularly has kittens dumped on them has to be a licensed rescue to fix them and give them away on Facebook and they said YES.

I wanted to say "F**k it. I'm old. I've done my bit. Shove your inspections and license. It's OK to breed and sell up to 9 dogs or cats year, but I can't adopt out 2-10 cats a year during TNR? I'll just help pay to help other people get their cats fixed." But shelters KEEP TURNING CATS AWAY. And kind people who can't even always provide for their kids the way they like are finding kittens in their lawn.

So I'm going to apply to get licensed. I don't expect to pass (based on feedback from other rescues) but I'll do my best. Even though I plan to sell my house in the next year or so, I don't want to worry about branded an "unlicensed rescue" in the year I'm still here. Or God Forbid, if I kick off unexpectedly. What a nice death notice, huh?

You all know my place. You've been to my home and seen my rescue. What you've seen is now illegal in NYS. I haven't monitored the temperature and ammonia levels weekly. I don't play with and record that I play with each individual cat for 20 minutes each and every day although they do have enrichment toys and I'm cleaning and talking to them daily. My cats don't get strict day/night photoperiods, because when I get home from work after dark, that's when I turn on the lights and spend time with my cats. My neighbors haven't completed training programs to play with cats or photograph them (they will now). My long term cats don't get TWICE-yearly vet visits (because one-yearly is the norm). But they will now. My expensive but well-loved pastime will now become more expensive and less of a joy and more of a paperwork chore.

If anyone wants to help me buy a few of the things I'll need to divest of "porous surfaces" and monitor ammonia, and verify enrichment periods, I have a few things on my wish list. Otherwise I'll chip away at them.

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3MFAC8RKG4ZVS?ref_=wl_share

Honestly, I was less angry about all of this last year when these regs were first suggested. But I'm seeing more and more cat rescues quitting, and more and more Animal Welfare Advocates encouraging shelters to provides less and less care for cats (advocating against FeLV/FIV testing, for example). And the whole larger issue of people who just want to promote kindness for other humans being targeted. I want to be CLEAR that these regs were put in place long before all of these national unrest and are not at all related. But I can't help but have all this emotionally all rolled into just trying to help people and cats, and being told I have to meet and PAY FOR the privilege of providing the care that NYS does NOT provide for. Dog control has funding. CAT control does not. It is all voluntary. Whether shelter or rescue, it's all voluntary. And I'm being told to PAY NYS to rescue cats and adopt them out for FREE. Yup. In addition to rescuing cats, we have to pay NYS $150 each year for that privilege. How many tax dollars do you spend for cat control in NYS? $0 What might have cost taxpayers $2 a year so shelters can actually help cats is costing cat-loving rescuers $150 if they want to be "legal" when they pick up a terrified kitten and take it to a vet. (And I get it. I actually spoke at a NYS assembly forum and was told "We an't even get money for people. So who is going to approve money for cats?" Nonetheless, shall we squeeze those dollars out of average citizens who love cats?

So I'm going to jump the hoops. Can a home rescue with a 501c3 connection pass NYS regs? I surely hope so.