Have room for two cats?  Muffins (left) and Mittens (right) are sweet 1-year old littermates looking for a loving home.  They were given up by a family moving to an apartment and inadvertently made it into our barn cat adoption program.  Because of their sweet, warm personalities we'd like to see them indoors with a loving family.

Cat Assisted Activity
In April, Silver Maples of Chelsea participated in our first cat-assisted activity session -- bringing the joy of cats to the elderly.  About 17 residents came out to sip punch and pet the cats and a good time was had by all.  Our guests were entertained by the unabashed antics of our felines who in turn were rewarded by extra petting and attention -- definitely a "win win" situation!  Our farm provides us a unique setting for bringing cats and people together and we hope to do more of this type of activity in the future.  If you'd like to help us develop this program, please give us a call.  The benefits of cat assisted activity are many and we'd like to share our crew with those who no are longer are able to care for their own cats.

Our Special Thanks
DONORS: Michael Allemang * Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation / Candis & Helmut Stern * Jane & Robert Cooch * Jean Finkbeiner * Laura Gemellaro * Doris Harris * Carol Hayford * Rebecca Levenson & Karl Dyke * Susan Miller * Michael & Marvella Muzik * Peggy Rogers * Bruce & Sharon Sharer * Silver Maples of Chelsea * Nola Stiver * Judy VonBoncel & John Holmes * Lyndon & Angela Welch
IN LOVING MEMORY OF Lovella Vance by Juanita & Michael Brunett and Jay & Patricia Geiser.
CAT MEMORIALS: Charlie -- "A great pal 1982-1996" by Virginia Forsythe * "Toots who lived a long happy life" by Joannne Zinn
FOOD: Atlas Feed & Grain * Joan Knoertzer
VOLUNTEERS: Cheryl Blackwell * Julia Bommarito * Heather Bryant * Lee Bullock * Carol Burton * Mary Capriatti * Carol Carson * Becky Cook * Bill Dergis * Holly Diener * Paul Epstein * Barbara Faust * Anne Fischer * Al Gallup * Karen Gallup * Debbie Garrett * Terri Geitgey * Jane Glass * Eric Goldberg * Kristi Golightly * Debora Granneman * Catherine Hayes * Sivana Heller * Karen Hughes * Cynthia Jones * Amanda Jordan * Andy Jordan * Kitty Louis-Goff * Vicki Landau * Betsy Mall * Jack Mall * Amanda McMillan * Angela Morris * Pat Naffin * Anne Perry * Mary Poerner * Andrea Prieur * Alicia Dwyer Pratt * Sue Ransom * Elaine Rosenthal * Nate Rosenthal * Maggie Sadoff * Terri Sarras * Bill Schultz * Nancy Schultz * Rachel Seid-Arabi * Valerie Simmons * David Smalley * Laura Spera * Katie Talik * Kim Vandenberg * Kathy VanKoevering, DVM * Jan Wahl * Judy Wan * Julie K Ward
STAFF: Ashley Allemang * Amy Marcinkowski

Want to volunteer?  Call or e-mail for details

Dear Friends,
It's so easy to hear a statement and take it at face value.  After, when you think about it, you realize it doesn't hold up under scrutiny.  As beloved as cats are to many people, they frequently lose out to knee-jerk thinking.  Take for example orphaned elderly cats -- many are reluctant to adopt them because they are "so old".  Yet, a 10-year old cat is equivalent to a 53-year old person.  Given an indoor home and balanced diet, cats live to 20 years or more.  Feral cats are also mistakenly caricatured as vicious animals that will "attack" you with no provocation.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Feral cats react in an opposite way.  They hide and are very timid -- coming out generally at night when the shroud of darkness conceals them from human sight.  To move toward a time when all companion cats have loving indoor homes and all feral cats live in managed colonies will require rethinking some of our truisms to get a clearer picture of the problem -- let's hope we can do so!
Kitty Zimmer