Cat Camp highlights, measuring by animals & a bat to like

                                                                                    A clouder                                                     MSN pic                                      

When some kids go to camp, they soon beg their parents to let them leave.  But not when they attend “Cat Camp”!   

Last Saturday’s “spring forward @ home!” edition of Jackson Galaxy’s Cat Camp attracted hundreds of attendees, who from the get-go were excited to be there.  The multi-hour virtual event offered so much to see and learn, with cat specialists and cats of all kinds.  

(Rest easy if you’re only hearing about this now; it’s all still online for you: www.catcamp.com.)

Having heard about it for years without knowing its principles, I was especially interested in “clicker training,” and sure enough, the discussion and demo of this art convinced me to “just start,” as one speaker urged.

The clicker training session also attracted Sandra Obi, aka the “cat lady” with the Animal Protection League of NJ, and more formally, that organization’s TNR director.  It’s basically positive reinforcement training, she notes; it rewards the behavior you want so that the cat will repeat it.   

Domino

Every click (signaling the cat has done something desired) must be followed by a reward, which can be consumables (food), activities (pets) or play time (toys).  It’s best to train before a meal (3 a day are recommended), when the cat’s hungry, and it’s important to keep the edible treats “tiny” – remember: a cat’s stomach is about the size of a ping pong ball! 

Clicker training’s a bonding occasion for cat and owner as well as a confidence-builder.

Kitten crisis & fostering

“Kitten Lady” Hannah Shaw detailed her “full-circle strategy” to stop the kitten crisis at its roots.  With an estimated 80% of all US kittens born outdoors, it’s crucial to track rescue kittens back to where they came from, then possibly find more kittens and the mom too. 

Finally, if possible, re-unite moms with their kits to assure the best care, and spay the moms.  These steps can go along way toward stopping the annual kitten production at that site.   

A session on fostering picked up on that mom-kitten combo.  For new fosters, a good place to start is with a mom and her kittens.  That way, the mom takes care of feeding and training her own offspring – and she’s usually the best one for the job.

. . . And there’s so-o-o-o-o much more useful info from the Cat Camp sessions!  You can check the afternoon’s schedule at catcamp.com and take it from there.   

Everybody’s doing it!

Remember the sign using animals to remind people to stay 6 feet away from others?  It showed the required social distance space to be about 2 Great Danes or 7 Chihuahuas long.  Pretty neat.

At a nearby farm, I found another distance chart and of course it used a different animal.  (If you’ve

seen any others, please take a pic or tell us about them.)

Nudge Gov. Murphy

The trunk fighting bill (S975), which would ban a horrific practice, passed both houses and is now on Governor Murphy’s desk.

He has till May 10 to act on the bill --  sign it or not act on it and it becomes law; or veto it.  Please urge him to sign the bill into law.  

**    E-mail Governor Murphy constituent.relations@NJ.Gov

**    Message Governor Murphy through Twitter (@GovMurphy) and Instagram (@GovMurphy).

 We can do this for dogs!  

 Bats about ‘em

Sneaking back into print about bats, who some readers now automatically associate with viruses in general and Covid-19 in particular.  Not true!  There are myriad good bats in our world, and some who are even kinda cute.  Try this video from the Dodo (www.thedodo.com) and see:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFH0nj0evy0&t=12s

Ailurophobia

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