August 8, 2025 • 42 mins
In this episode,Dixie sits down with Jonathan from Rescue Alliance, a Louisiana-based nonprofit committed to feline welfare. You'll hear Jonathan's inspiring story of how a single act of cruelty motivated him to start a rescue, and how that small beginning has grown into an organization that has saved hundreds of cats and implemented a wide range of life-saving programs.
Join us as we discuss:
- The Louisiana Pet Food Bank, which helps families keep their pets instead of surrendering them to shelters.
- Their disaster animal response efforts, including their work during hurricanes and floods across the Gulf Coast.
- The compassionate Cats for Vets program, which places adult cats with veterans, providing them with a much-needed companion.
Jonathan also shares what it's like to work in cat rescue—from the emotional highs of a successful adoption to the challenges of dealing with cat hoarding and animal cruelty. He highlights the incredible need for volunteers and fosters, proving that every helping hand makes a huge impact.
Tune in to this powerful conversation and learn how you can become part of the solution for cats in need.
#CatRescue #RescueAlliance #AdoptDontShop #FelineWelfare #animalrescue
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Animal Posse is your go-to place for everything animal rescue! Join us as we share heartwarming stories, crucial insights, and ways to make a difference for animals in need. We're proud to be powered by our 501(c)(3) non-profit, Unwanted Feline Organization, working together to bring animal lovers together and save lives.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dixie (00:02):
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
people and rescues making adifference in the lives of animals.
Today's guest is Jonathanwith Rescue Alliance.
hi Jonathan.
How are you
Jonathan (00:16):
doing Good, Ms.
Dixie, how are you doing?
Dixie (00:18):
I'm good.
Thanks for coming on the show.
I appreciate it.
Jonathan (00:21):
It's no problem.
Dixie (00:24):
So tell me a little bit about yourself.
Jonathan (00:27):
I'm the director of Rescue Alliance.
We started the rescue back in 2019after realizing that there's very few
cat Rescue in the state of Louisiana.
Dixie (00:43):
And what is your background?
What drew you to animal welfare andspecifically cat rescue to begin with?
Jonathan (00:51):
I was actually working for Walmart and I witnessed firsthand
somebody throwing a kitten out of amoving vehicle in the parking lot.
At that point I started volunteeringat the animal shelters and then decided
to actually start a rescue from thereafter seeing, how full the shelters were.
(01:13):
And there just wasn't enoughspace or help for the cats.
Dixie (01:20):
And did you have cats as pets before this?
Jonathan (01:24):
Yes, I did.
I.
And, I saw just how wonderful cats are.
They're lovable.
And they deserve the best life and havean opportunity to find their forever home.
Dixie (01:41):
I love your social media.
I think you have some really goodposts that you put out on social media.
So that's actually how I found you.
I do cat rescue as well, and you'reright, there are few people that speak
up for the cat, so I'm definitelyglad to see that you're around.
Speaking up for the cats.
So what kind of programs doyou offer with Rescue Alliance?
Jonathan (02:05):
With Rescue Alliance We we have the Louisiana Pet Food Bank,
we do disaster animal response andwe've got a Cats for Vets program,
which helps veterans find a companionto help 'em through a lot of the
ones that we placed and everything.
We've got veterans who are suffer fromPTSD and that companion animal just,
(02:27):
it makes their life a lot more amazing.
Dixie (02:30):
So you said too that you started this in 2019 and were all these programs
something that you started with orhow did they come into fruition?
Jonathan (02:42):
We started off in 2020 doing the disaster animal response team at the same
time as when we started the pet Food bank.
The Cats Vets Program is aprogram we started last year.
Through the pandemic we realizedthat, there was a need for pet food
and supplies and that the pandemicis actually what brought the start
(03:05):
to the Louisiana Pet Food Bank.
Dixie (03:08):
That's awesome.
So tell me about the pet food bank.
Jonathan (03:14):
Our pet food bank.
We provide cat food, dog food, andother supplies that are donated.
Our whole purpose is to give peoplean option to where, if they're having
to consider, to surrender theircompanion animal, if we can provide
them with pet food or suppliesto keep their pet at home, then.
(03:36):
It's a win, not only for the petoverpopulation problem, but it
keeps that pet out of a shelter.
Dixie (03:43):
Yeah, I totally agree with that.
So how do you secure your donationsfor the pet food and the supplies?
Jonathan (03:50):
We actually, we do Facebook fundraisers.
We actually accept donations from anyone,they're able to drop off donations at
the Pet Smart Gonzales or the PetSmarton South Mall Drive in Baton Rouge.
And from there, when people submitan application we've got one of our
board members that actually reviewsapplications and then from there they
(04:14):
schedule the appointment for the personto meet, to get the pet food and supplies.
We also get a lot of calls from theCouncil on Aging with a lot of their
senior citizens that are actually.
Just in desperate need and a lot ofthe, through the Council of Aging,
the Council of Aging will actuallydo the applications on their behalf.
Dixie (04:37):
And do you normally have a good stock of food for your pet food bank?
Jonathan (04:43):
This year has been very low.
This year, donations altogether are verylow, so we make do with what we can.
We get torn bags from Walmart.
And, we try to do as best we can.
We're not able to help everybody thatwe'd like to, we do the best that we can.
Dixie (05:02):
So you also mentioned that you do the disaster response.
So how is it that you got startedin the disaster response and
what disasters have you worked?
Jonathan (05:11):
We start, we started with Hurricane Harvey when Hurricane
Harvey hit we went to the hurricane.
We had the hurricane that hitTexas where we actually were right
in the middle of that hurricane.
We've had.
A couple of hurricanes thathit Louisiana and we've been to
Florida every year since 2020.
Dixie (05:35):
And how is it that you got involved doing that?
Jonathan (05:39):
I actually got involved with that because, I partner with a
bunch of organizations in, one of theorganizations that we had partnered
with actually got us started was theAnimal Disaster Relief Coalition.
They'd come down here to Louisiana andwe partner with them, and then we'd
go and we'd meet up with them to, andgoing into the disaster areas along
(06:03):
with a couple of other organizations.
Is how we got involved in goingand doing disaster relief.
Helping not only just rescue, butalso bring pet food and supplies
to disaster stricken areas.
Dixie (06:18):
And does that require that you have any kind of certifications to work
with them or train specific training?
I guess
Jonathan (06:25):
we've actually, we have gone through the FEMA training.
We've also gone through a trainingthat's available through the
A-S-P-C-A along with Code three.
So through all the different organizationswe've taken in to where we even have
volunteers that are certified inSwift Water Rescue, along with animal
(06:48):
cruelty and, so we even partneredwith the Cajun Navys to where whenever
there's a need, we're there to help.
Dixie (06:59):
How many volunteers do you have that do the disaster response?
Jonathan (07:04):
On average we have anywhere between 10 and 40.
Dixie (07:08):
Oh, wow.
That's wonderful.
Jonathan (07:12):
So it's all about partnership for the pets.
Is the more that we can come together,the more help we can provide.
Dixie (07:20):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And I saw on your Facebook that youjust did a collection of supplies
to go to Kerrville, correct?
Jonathan (07:28):
Yes.
We had partnered with Kerrville Pets Aliveand because of Brucey Animal Rescue to do
a donation drive to get more supplies outto Kerrville pets live after the flood.
To where we even had Sunbelt rentals,actually volunteered their services
to transport supplies for us.
Dixie (07:49):
Do you also take any animals from the affected area?
Jonathan (07:55):
A lot of times we do for Kerrville we did not, for this recent
flooding in Kerrville, we did not theyactually had a lot of resources set up
to handle and so they transported out atthe same time as they, they transported
out all the animals they had in house.
That way they could actuallytake in strays and animals found.
Dixie (08:21):
And how did you make all these connections with all
these other animal rescues?
Jonathan (08:26):
Honestly, a lot of it was done through Facebook.
Whenever there was adisaster, we would reach out.
We're actually currently,are Florida sarc.
Responders.
So whenever Florida actually needs aresponse, they actually send us emails
along with, we get emails from theA-S-P-C-A and along with a lot of the
(08:49):
other big organizations they send usrequests for volunteers and for services.
Dixie (08:58):
If anyone is interested in getting involved with this, can
they contact you and you can helpwalk 'em through the whole process?
Jonathan (09:06):
Yes, they can.
They actually, can even sign up by goingto our website, animal recovery.org.
And clicking on the volunteer tabor they can message us through
Facebook or reach out to us directly.
But we're always looking for volunteers.
We're always looking forpeople to do donation drives.
We've actually got one teenage childright now who's her summer mission is, to
(09:31):
collect as much pet food and supplies tohelp pets across the state of Louisiana.
Dixie (09:36):
Oh, that's wonderful.
Jonathan (09:37):
It is, anytime we can get the youth involved in helping with
animals, it's a big accomplishment.
Dixie (09:45):
So for volunteers, what is your biggest need for
volunteers in which program?
Jonathan (09:51):
Right now our biggest need for volunteers, because currently we're
not working in active disaster, iswe're looking for volunteers in our cat
care centers, which is gonna be at thePetSmart in Gonzales and the PetSmart
on South Mall Drive in Baton Rouge.
To where they come in, they clean,give the cats food and water,
and they socialize with the cats.
(10:14):
The other thing that we are alsolooking for currently right now is
adoption of volunteers to come andhelp with doing adoption events.
Dixie (10:24):
So how many volunteers do you currently have that help
with that, with the cleaningand also your adoption events?
Jonathan (10:30):
Right now our volunteers are low, so right now we've got
about five volunteers for that.
And we do need many more.
Dixie (10:38):
Yeah.
I see with a lot of rescues, that seemsto be the hardest thing is finding
the people to go do the cleaningand to actually go do the adoptions.
People like going to play withthe animals, but they don't like
necessarily doing the cleaning.
Jonathan (10:51):
Oh, yeah.
Cleaning is the part that it isthe hardest to find volunteers for.
The great thing about when people do thevolunteers to do the adoption events.
Is, adoption events are only from 10o'clock in the morning till two, three
o'clock in the afternoon on Saturdays.
And if we got the volunteers to doit, it would be on Sundays also.
But it just very rewarding becauseyou not only get to go there and love
(11:16):
on the cats the whole time, but youalso get the accomplishment of knowing
that you helped find this cat at home.
Dixie (11:24):
So can you walk us through the process of you actually
intaking cats and then getting theminto the petmarts for adoption?
Jonathan (11:33):
From the point of the intake, all of our cats before
they even go to PetSmart, they'regonna be spayed or neutered.
They're gonna be age appropriatevaccinated and microchip.
They're completely theyare completely vetted.
And, in order for 'em to gowith PetSmart it is required
that they are completely vetted.
(11:54):
They undergo, all the testing andthat's needed to make sure that
they're healthy and thriving to wherewhen they get in the home, it's a lot
easier for them to become comfortable.
Dixie (12:09):
I saw on your website that Rescue Alliance, you champion
feline welfare through rescueadoption and support programs giving
every cat the chance to thrive.
Can you elaborate on whatthat truly means for a cat?
Jonathan (12:24):
Thriving is, we work with the adopters not only up until the
time of adoption, but we remain aresource to where if the adopter has
questions or concerns, they're ableto call us and we'll do whatever
we can to answer their questions.
(12:45):
And provide the best resource tohelp, the cat adapt to being happy
and healthy in their new home.
So even at the time of adoption,we even provide a week's worth
of food to every adopter.
That way they're able to be weanedonto a different type of food,
(13:07):
whether if the adopter doesn'twanna keep 'em on hill signs diet.
Dixie (13:14):
Do you find that all of the post adoptive support that
you do helps from, say, having acat returned to your organization?
Jonathan (13:24):
We do still have.
Every now and then we do still have, anadoption that, the adopter has to return.
We had one just last week to wherethe person was actually gonna be
moving outside of the United Statesfor work and was told that they
couldn't take their pet with them.
So we did accept the cat back into ourcare to help find the cat a new home.
(13:51):
So it's not a true science, butany way that we can to help.
We do.
Dixie (13:59):
And where do you get your cats and kittens from?
Jonathan (14:03):
We actually we pull from across the entire state of Louisiana.
We get cats from as far as awayas Shreveport and Bastrop up in
north Louisiana, we get cats fromdown in Morgan City, Patterson.
We get cats fromCompanion Animal Alliance.
We even get cats fromCrowley in Lake Charles.
Dixie (14:27):
How many come into your program in a given year?
Jonathan (14:30):
On average we bring in anywhere between five and 700 a year.
Dixie (14:35):
Wow.
All spayed and neutered.
So imagine how many that number would beif they weren't spayed or neutered, right?
Jonathan (14:43):
Oh, yes.
When you sit back and you think aboutit on average for each litter, that they
have, it can be anywhere between four onaverage, between four and nine kittens.
And with that being said, we actuallyhad one mom that we took in who actually
came with her three litters of kittens
(15:03):
So in all actuality thatone mom had 26 babies.
Wow.
Who came with her
Dixie (15:10):
three litters.
Wow.
And what were the ages of 'em?
Jonathan (15:14):
They were all the way from 1-year-old down to newborn.
Dixie (15:19):
Of course I'm in cat rescue, so I know how fast they reproduce
and how young they are when theyreproduce, but that's amazing.
That many from one mom.
I've never seen that before.
Jonathan (15:29):
It gets worse when you sit back and think about.
Those 26, what would happen if those26 had already started to reproduce it?
They wouldn't come to us when they did.
Those 26 would've turned into hundreds,
Dixie (15:46):
right exactly.
Yeah.
And they can do it asyoung as four months.
Jonathan (15:51):
Yes.
And we've taken in a few cats thismonth, this year that are like four or
five months old and already pregnant.
Dixie (16:02):
And at that point do you do the pregnant spays?
Jonathan (16:07):
It depends on how far along they are.
A lot of times if they're four monthsold, , we're not gonna risk it.
So unfortunately we do.
But a lot of it all goes downto how far along they are.
And how we make that decision on,because we try not to, but at the
same time, if they're four months old,their coping mechanism to become a
(16:33):
productive parent is limited becausethey're still babies themselves.
Dixie (16:37):
That's absolutely true.
And a lot of people don't realizethat when they'll get a cat.
Throw it out on the street.
They don't think it can getpregnant until it's six months old.
Or some people even think maybea year and they don't realize
that it's babies, having babies.
And a lot of the timesthey don't know what to do.
Jonathan (16:55):
We actually, get a lot of cats that come to us that are
having a baby right at a year old.
And even at a year old, we seea lot of times , they still even
struggle understanding I'm notsupposed to lay on top of my babies
or, it's very traumatic work.
Dixie (17:11):
You have the issue too, where a lot of people will contact you
that they just found newborn kittens?
And want you to take all thekittens to be bottle raised.
Jonathan (17:21):
We get, probably, on average, between five and 10 calls a day.
Dixie (17:27):
So what is the advice that you give them?
Do you normally tell 'em toput the kittens back outside
first to see if the mom returns?
Jonathan (17:34):
We do.
We always do recommend setting up a boxwith a blanket in an area which that's
covered in shade with food and water.
To where it would give the mom anopportunity to come back and see
that there's food and water there.
That way they don'thave to go off hunting.
And at least give about 24 hoursto see if the mom even comes
(17:56):
back before pulling them inside.
Because a lot of times when the momleaves the babies in a spot, it's
because she's going to look for food.
Dixie (18:06):
Exactly.
Yeah, there's this misconceptionthat the moms stay with them 24
hours a day, which isn't the case.
'cause the moms have to eat too.
Jonathan (18:17):
Exactly.
And that's one of the reasons why in alot of our cat colonies, we've actually
we buy houses that have feeding systems.
To where we'll go and we can actuallypull, pour in about a quarter of a bag
of food and it's in a little chute andthen it's got the water hooked up to it.
We find that a lot of times whenwe show up to go check on our
(18:37):
colonies, that a mama cat's movedinto these houses just because
everything is provided right there.
Dixie (18:46):
Yeah.
I'd love to see your setup for that.
Jonathan (18:50):
I can get you some pictures for that.
And one of the other thingsthat we also do is we actually
also have an ultrasound machine.
We're one of . The small rescues thatwe've got access to a portable not
x-ray machine, a portable ultrasoundmachine to where we can actually go
and look at the moms to and check onthe babies even while in the field.
Dixie (19:10):
Oh, that's pretty cool.
Jonathan (19:12):
It's been a lot of work.
We have two ICU units that also have,that we would have the oxygen and
everything for, to where it reallyhelps with, helping them get over
having upper respiratory infections.
Dixie (19:29):
Yeah.
And I can see where thatdefinitely would help.
I'm actually working on that myself'cause I do a lot of bottle feeding.
And it's hard to find bottle feedersthat's over here anyway, that's for sure.
Jonathan (19:42):
Oh, yeah.
That's actually one of the things thatI actually do a lot of personally is,
I've got my one little bottle feeder,now he's just a brown little brat.
And his name's Hashbrown, but hewas dropped off and had no mom.
And, we took him in and, wesyringe fed him and now he's just
(20:03):
a hyper little ball of energy.
Dixie (20:08):
Yeah.
It's rewarding to feed him.
It's a little bit of a painsometimes, but it is very rewarding.
Jonathan (20:14):
Oh yeah.
And we use the foster care.
We use a little bit more expensive milk,but to us it's a better quality milk.
Dixie (20:25):
With all the kittens that you intake, how do you keep
all of their records and stufflike that straight before they
go into PetSmart for adoptions.
Jonathan (20:35):
We use a software called PET Established.
And with PET established, we can recordall their records and we we even do
their adoptions through PET established.
So even after adoption, all theirdigital records are emailed and
controlled through their microchip.
Dixie (20:57):
And do you let your fosters be involved in recording their records
or is that something that you havea specific person set up to do?
Jonathan (21:05):
We actually do let all of our fosters, are given access
to go input medical records.
They can go in there and we allow ourfosters to go and even write their
biography because who's better tosay, to tell us more about a cat than
the foster who was taking care of it?
Dixie (21:28):
The Fosters always know the personality, the behavior.
So they're also the ones that are, bestto say when their animals would do well,
say with another cat or dog or smallchildren or anything like that too.
Jonathan (21:43):
Yes.
And we do have a lot offosters that do also have dogs.
So it, with operating over the fosters.
It allows us to put cats in homeswith dogs to where if somebody wants
to adopt a cat and they have a dog,then we can speak more towards that.
This cat was fostered with dogs and wasokay with it, or if they were not okay
(22:08):
with it, we can even speak towards that.
Dixie (22:12):
Can you explain a little bit about your Cats for Vets
program and how that works?
Jonathan (22:18):
The Cats for Vets Program basically what that program is it's a
free program to veterans who served.
They come to us and they'relike, I'm interested in a cat.
And what we do is wewaive the adoption fee.
There is no adoption fee for a veteran.
Because a lot of times,they're coming to us.
They're on disability or, they needthat extra love and we just wanna
(22:42):
be able to help our veterans byproviding them, a companion animal.
We help 'em with pet food and suppliesjust to give them the opportunity to.
I had a fully thriving companion to helpthem through a lot of time, was one of
our clients suffers from PTSD and the catthat we helped him find was a love magnet.
(23:08):
So the cat required a lot of attention,so it went to him, and because of
that they perfectly bonded, which hisin intern helped him with his PTSD.
Dixie (23:23):
Are they requesting more adult cats or kittens or is it just depend a lot?
Jonathan (23:30):
A lot of times with our cats vets program, it's
been more of the adult cats.
'Cause they're not lookingfor too much hyperactivity.
They want a well established cat.
One who you know is okay with usingthe litter box we have one who actually
got one of our special needs cats whoactually only had one eye and they
(23:55):
bonded and they're best friends now.
Dixie (24:00):
When they select a cat, do they tend to select like a single cat or do
they ever do 'em in pairs or to put withan existing cat that they might have?
Jonathan (24:09):
We do have a few that have already had one cat and
they're just looking for more love.
We actually did have a veterancouple who actually ended up
getting three cats at one time.
And they're just the happiest.
We checked with them.
We make sure that that they don't strugglewith pet food or, we help 'em out their
(24:31):
vaccinations, just to make sure thatyou know that everything the cat needs,
they have the opportunity to have.
Dixie (24:40):
That's great.
And three cats in one home.
That's amazing too, to have themall adopted at the same time.
Jonathan (24:47):
And it's a lot of fun to have.
We make the joke and everything.
We can't even call you a catlover and everything, so you
got five cats and everything.
But it's all about one, knowing whatyou can handle, but for two, knowing
that by providing a cat a home.
You're taking on a best friend.
Dixie (25:07):
Absolutely, and I always say to add in pairs, I try to promote
that because honestly I find thatit's no more work to have a pair.
If you add in even numbers, itdoesn't seem to make a difference.
Jonathan (25:22):
We've noticed is it's actually a lot easier to take care of
the cats when you take them in pairs,because whereas the average person
goes to work eight to 12 hours a day,and what happens when you're at work?
The cats can get lonely.
The cats can get bored.
When they get bored,they become mischievous.
(25:43):
So if you adopt 'em out to where yourcat's got more than one cat in the house.
You're in turn giving them somebodyto have fun and play with Chase
around and keep them company.
Dixie (25:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
Do you support any kind of educationalinitiatives as well to promote responsible
pet ownership and feline wellbeing?
Jonathan (26:09):
We actually, do have what's called the CAT Club.
And the cat club, it's a classroomcourse that we actually have that is
the first Tuesday of every month at theHaven of Ascension here in Gonzales.
And it's about an hour and a half.
But, we teach everything frombottle feeding to, the proper
(26:30):
care and grooming of cats.
We actually have one of our, boardmembers actually leads that the CAT club.
Dixie (26:39):
Yeah.
I just started teaching a bottle feedingclass and it was, I was very happy to
see the amount of people that showedup and the engagement in the class.
Jonathan (26:50):
Oh yeah.
When we had our bottle of feeding class,we had three teenage girls come, and
that's, this is when we had just takenin hash Brown and Hash Brown was still
on the bottle, could fit in your hand.
And so we got to teach thesegirls that were between the
age of, what was it, 11 and 14.
(27:12):
On how to properly bottle feed a baby.
And they absolutely loved it to wherethey come to volunteer and, and even
when I was bringing Hash Brown toour adoption events, ' because Hash
Brown was being bottle fed they'dshow up and they were sitting there
in PetSmart bottle feeding this baby.
Dixie (27:31):
That's great to get them involved that young.
I know when I had my class.
Believe it or not, we couldn'tfind any bottle babies to bring.
And I'm like it's not really a problem.
I'm not gonna complain about that, butI had to bring a stuffed animal 'cause
we couldn't find any bottle babies.
But that's a good problem to have, right?
Jonathan (27:48):
Yeah.
It's always a good problem to havewhen you can't find bottle babies.
'cause if you don't have bottle babies,that means that they've all got a mom.
Dixie (27:57):
So in, so that's
Jonathan (27:57):
a very good problem.
Dixie (27:59):
Yeah, I was very surprised.
I reached out to three different rescuesand I couldn't find bottle babies
anywhere, and I said, I'm not complaining.
Jonathan (28:07):
Oh, yes.
One of the other things that we alsodo is, actually, me and my wife, also
sit on the board for the Louisiana PetOverpopulation Advisory Council, and we
actually meet at the state capitol in thelegislative room, and that's how we help
provide the animal friendly Louisianalicense plates goes towards issuing
(28:29):
grants to help with spaying and neutering.
Dixie (28:35):
That's great.
Jonathan (28:35):
We've got a meeting coming up next month at the state capitol.
Dixie (28:39):
Okay.
I didn't know that they had thatgoing towards grants for spay neuter.
Jonathan (28:44):
Oh yes.
We've been, a part of it nowfor I think almost two years.
I've been going and we meetat state capital like three,
two to three times a year.
And there's a new pet stamp that's comingout that is also gonna help go towards
cost the with spaying and neutering.
Dixie (29:03):
And how does that work?
Like how do they determine where it goes?
Does it go to like parish sheltersor does it go to individual groups?
Jonathan (29:11):
Basically when the application process is opened then from there for
shelters and rescues across the entirestate of Louisiana, they'll submit an
application with the financials andthen we actually go and we vote on
the groups that are gonna get awardedgrants like last year, I think.
(29:35):
It was 19 grants
to rescues and shelters across the state.
Dixie (29:42):
Oh, that's wonderful.
Jonathan (29:45):
And it's all with makes the animal friendly license plate so vitally
important that the more people they cango, they go to the DMV and get their
animal friendly license plate that is.
Revenue that actually helps withpet overpopulation in our state.
Dixie (30:05):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
I've always seen them, but I never knew,really where the funds went for that.
Jonathan (30:11):
Oh, yes.
That's one of them.
And that's what we're a part of.
And, we're steadily trying to growit because I think last year we had,
I think it was almost $20,000 worthof grants that actually went out.
Dixie (30:25):
Yeah, that's great.
In your experience, what are someof the most pressing challenges
facing feline welfare today?
Jonathan (30:34):
I think our the most challenging is when you have individuals who they
feel that spaying and neutering is wrong.
They don't understand that bynot spay and neutering, you're
making an overall critical issuethat we deal with in the state.
(30:57):
It makes it even worse,
it leads to cat hoarding situationswhere we actually took in 64 cats
from one house in a course of twodays because that's actually how long
it took us to catch all the cats.
Dixie (31:16):
Wow.
And were, they weren't spayed or neutered.
Jonathan (31:19):
None of them.
They had ne they had never even been toa vet, never had a vaccine or anything.
Dixie (31:26):
That's a lot of work right there.
Jonathan (31:28):
When going unchecked, not only does it become a big problem,
it becomes a big expensive problem.
' they tried, of course, thislady was in her sixties.
She was trying her best to providethe best care, that one little small
problem that started off as just a fewexploded into an even bigger problem.
(31:49):
And then it got to the point to where shewas steadily setting up more litter boxes,
but she was unable to properly clean allthe litter boxes that she was setting up.
Dixie (32:01):
Working in cat rescue can be incredibly rewarding, but
also emotionally challenging.
What keeps you motivated?
Jonathan (32:09):
Coffee.
Oh,
Dixie (32:11):
coffee and cats, right?
Jonathan (32:13):
Yes.
What keeps me motivated to do it is justseeing that like last year we did 550
adoptions as a small rescue, doing 550adoptions in one year, knowing that all
those cats are no longer on the street andreproducing it makes you wanna keep going.
(32:34):
When you got people from the communitywho do their monthly sponsorships that
you know every little bit that we cancome together knowing that we're helping,
it's also motivating to keep going.
Dixie (32:49):
Looking ahead, what are your long-term aspirations?
Jonathan (32:54):
We are in the process of trying to reopen another cat rescue center.
We had one, but the building that wehad just had too many problems with it.
So we are actively trying to raisethe funds to where we can go ahead
and open up a new cat rescue center,which would at the same time allow us
(33:15):
to take in more and help more, but.
It's just to expand our servicesto be able to offer more
resources to those in need.
Dixie (33:29):
Before we end, do you have any happy adoption stories
that you would like to share?
Jonathan (33:33):
Yes.
We had one cat that came tous and it was a Scottish fold.
Scottish folds are very sweet,very, expensive cats to if
you were to try to buy one.
And the great thing about thisis we brought this baby in.
It, it actually it cameto us infested with fleas.
(33:53):
All of its neck, itsbody was all scabbed up.
So we put this baby into foster homeand the amazing foster fell in love.
And decided, you know what, thisbaby needs to stay here with me.
So she decided that she was going toadopt that beautiful Scottish fold.
Dixie (34:17):
That's great.
You gotta love when you havethe foster failures, right?
Jonathan (34:21):
Yes.
That's what's happened to me.
I've got some of the mostamazing cats of my own.
Dixie (34:26):
Yeah, me too..
I've got a lot of themactually that were returned.
For various reasons and they endedup living their life with me now.
Jonathan (34:33):
Oh yes.
I took in one of, one of my personalswe took from the shelter that actually
had a drainage tube in his leg.
And Carlos came to us and hewas very sick and he wasn't
thriving in the animal shelter.
And what ended up happeningover the course of the past
year is he is gotten better.
(34:56):
He still suffers from on and offpneumonia, but from where he was
to where he is now, he is stillmuch more healthier and happier.
Dixie (35:06):
Yeah, and I think that's an amazing thing too, when you can
always see the before and aftersto see what an impact you make.
Jonathan (35:17):
And then we love when we get the wobbly cats.
And, because people think that, oh, wobblycats, we took in one, his name was Buddy.
And we took him in and everybody thoughthe was neurological, so we pulled him
out of PetSmart because we were gettingout there there's a neurological cat, and
(35:37):
he just had cerebral hypoplasia, but heturned out to be the most sweet loving.
Outstanding cat you could ever find.
He was very demandingfor time and attention.
It just goes to show that evenin their imperfection sometimes
they're still the best companions.
Dixie (35:56):
Absolutely.
I have one, and she wasborn without any eyes.
And she is absolutely amazingthe things that this cat does.
It's amazing to watch her.
Jonathan (36:09):
Oh yeah.
At one of our adopter's house.
She had actually adoptedout a cat from us.
A cat that has no eyes.
At all completely blind.
And the amazing thing is when Iwas over by their house to see
that this cat maneuvered throughthat house as if it had eyes.
Dixie (36:30):
Yeah.
It's amazing to watch 'em.
That's like mine.
What she does is she'll go walk intomy bedroom and jump on the bed, and I'm
like, how do you know the bed's there?
It's amazing.
We've seen her chasing flies.
She does everything.
Jonathan (36:43):
Oh yeah.
Now that's like with theblind cat and everything.
It has not a lack vision, but yetthey came running across the room,
jumped and landed on the cat tree.
' Dixie (36:54):
Cause it,
Jonathan (36:55):
it memorized exactly where that tree was.
Dixie (36:58):
Before we end, for listeners who are passionate about feline welfare,
what is the single most important actionthey can take right now to contribute
to a more compassionate world for cats?
Jonathan (37:09):
If you can't foster, donate, cat rescue, it's rewarding.
And if you're not able to foster or adopt,the best way to help is just to donate.
Dixie (37:24):
Thank you so much, Jonathan.
I enjoyed our conversation and I likedlearning about all the programs and
the great work that you do for cats.
There's not enough pioneersfor cats in the world, so we
need to get some more of them.
So I'm glad that you're outthere working for the cats.
Jonathan (37:39):
Oh, yes.
And we're willing to, if there's somebodywho is interested in starting up and
everything, we are always, up forpartnering and mentoring to help guide
on, helping from how to get the 5 0 1 C3and the processes to go to help become
more productive and making sure that notonly are you taking in cats, but you're
(38:02):
taking 'em into a healthy environmentthat continues to help 'em thrive.
Dixie (38:08):
And I'm so glad that you offered the help like that too, because I
know that, sometimes some groupsare a little bit reluctant to share
information, so it's good that you'reout there willing to be a mentor.
Jonathan (38:20):
Oh yes.
You know the reason why we named itRescue Alliance because as a rescue,
if we can come together and worktogether, we can save more cats.
And for those that do dogs, they cansave more dogs just by working together
than fighting one against each other.
Because that energy can be savedtowards getting animals homes.
Dixie (38:42):
Absolutely.
And I hope that this podcast actuallycan accomplish that and bring rescues
together in, in some kind of way.
If I help one animal, I find thatI'd at least be doing my job.
Jonathan (38:55):
Oh, yes.
And it all boils down to is as you getto thinking about, even if you help one
person become an advocate towards animals.
But you still gotta always think about asfar as with the litters, that one animal
can reproduce and become 20,000 over time.
So every cat we can saveis an accomplishment.
Dixie (39:17):
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate ittalking to you this evening.
Jonathan (39:22):
Thank you so much for having me.
Dixie (39:24):
That's all the time that we have for today's episode.
Thank you for listening andwe hope you join us next week.
If you know somebody that loves animalsas much as I do, please send 'em our way.
We would love to talk to 'em.
If you are enjoying our show, pleaseconsider leaving us a donation.
A hundred percent goes to our animals.
Suno (39:45):
Paws in
the night Claws in thefight Whiskers twitch and
tails
take flight
They’re calling in Stories to spinFrom the wild to the heart within
(40:12):
Broken wings and hopeful springsWe’re the voices for these things
animal posse hear the call.
We stand together.
Big and small Rescue tales We’vegot it all Animal posse Saving
(40:40):
them
all
The vet’s got tips The rescuer’sgrit The foster homes where love
won’t quit From a pup in the rain toa bird in pain , Every soul’s worth
(41:08):
the
strain
Animal posse
Hear the call
We stand together Big
(41:34):
and small Rescue tales We’ve gotit all Animal posse Saving them all
Every caller tells a tale, everyhowl a whispered wail, we rise up.
We never
(41:54):
fail.
This
is
the
bond
The holy grail
(42:15):
Animal posse Hear the call We standtogether Big and small Rescue tales We’ve
got it all Animal posse Saving them all
(42:39):
Every caller tells a tale Every howla whispered wail We rise up We never
fail This is the bond The holy grail.
Song by Suno.ai
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
people and rescues making adifference in the lives of animals.
Today's guest is Jonathanwith Rescue Alliance.
hi Jonathan.
How are you
Jonathan (00:16):
doing Good, Ms.
Dixie, how are you doing?
Dixie (00:18):
I'm good.
Thanks for coming on the show.
I appreciate it.
Jonathan (00:21):
It's no problem.
Dixie (00:24):
So tell me a little bit about yourself.
Jonathan (00:27):
I'm the director of Rescue Alliance.
We started the rescue back in 2019after realizing that there's very few
cat Rescue in the state of Louisiana.
Dixie (00:43):
And what is your background?
What drew you to animal welfare andspecifically cat rescue to begin with?
Jonathan (00:51):
I was actually working for Walmart and I witnessed firsthand
somebody throwing a kitten out of amoving vehicle in the parking lot.
At that point I started volunteeringat the animal shelters and then decided
to actually start a rescue from thereafter seeing, how full the shelters were.
(01:13):
And there just wasn't enoughspace or help for the cats.
Dixie (01:20):
And did you have cats as pets before this?
Jonathan (01:24):
Yes, I did.
I.
And, I saw just how wonderful cats are.
They're lovable.
And they deserve the best life and havean opportunity to find their forever home.
Dixie (01:41):
I love your social media.
I think you have some really goodposts that you put out on social media.
So that's actually how I found you.
I do cat rescue as well, and you'reright, there are few people that speak
up for the cat, so I'm definitelyglad to see that you're around.
Speaking up for the cats.
So what kind of programs doyou offer with Rescue Alliance?
Jonathan (02:05):
With Rescue Alliance We we have the Louisiana Pet Food Bank,
we do disaster animal response andwe've got a Cats for Vets program,
which helps veterans find a companionto help 'em through a lot of the
ones that we placed and everything.
We've got veterans who are suffer fromPTSD and that companion animal just,
(02:27):
it makes their life a lot more amazing.
Dixie (02:30):
So you said too that you started this in 2019 and were all these programs
something that you started with orhow did they come into fruition?
Jonathan (02:42):
We started off in 2020 doing the disaster animal response team at the same
time as when we started the pet Food bank.
The Cats Vets Program is aprogram we started last year.
Through the pandemic we realizedthat, there was a need for pet food
and supplies and that the pandemicis actually what brought the start
(03:05):
to the Louisiana Pet Food Bank.
Dixie (03:08):
That's awesome.
So tell me about the pet food bank.
Jonathan (03:14):
Our pet food bank.
We provide cat food, dog food, andother supplies that are donated.
Our whole purpose is to give peoplean option to where, if they're having
to consider, to surrender theircompanion animal, if we can provide
them with pet food or suppliesto keep their pet at home, then.
(03:36):
It's a win, not only for the petoverpopulation problem, but it
keeps that pet out of a shelter.
Dixie (03:43):
Yeah, I totally agree with that.
So how do you secure your donationsfor the pet food and the supplies?
Jonathan (03:50):
We actually, we do Facebook fundraisers.
We actually accept donations from anyone,they're able to drop off donations at
the Pet Smart Gonzales or the PetSmarton South Mall Drive in Baton Rouge.
And from there, when people submitan application we've got one of our
board members that actually reviewsapplications and then from there they
(04:14):
schedule the appointment for the personto meet, to get the pet food and supplies.
We also get a lot of calls from theCouncil on Aging with a lot of their
senior citizens that are actually.
Just in desperate need and a lot ofthe, through the Council of Aging,
the Council of Aging will actuallydo the applications on their behalf.
Dixie (04:37):
And do you normally have a good stock of food for your pet food bank?
Jonathan (04:43):
This year has been very low.
This year, donations altogether are verylow, so we make do with what we can.
We get torn bags from Walmart.
And, we try to do as best we can.
We're not able to help everybody thatwe'd like to, we do the best that we can.
Dixie (05:02):
So you also mentioned that you do the disaster response.
So how is it that you got startedin the disaster response and
what disasters have you worked?
Jonathan (05:11):
We start, we started with Hurricane Harvey when Hurricane
Harvey hit we went to the hurricane.
We had the hurricane that hitTexas where we actually were right
in the middle of that hurricane.
We've had.
A couple of hurricanes thathit Louisiana and we've been to
Florida every year since 2020.
Dixie (05:35):
And how is it that you got involved doing that?
Jonathan (05:39):
I actually got involved with that because, I partner with a
bunch of organizations in, one of theorganizations that we had partnered
with actually got us started was theAnimal Disaster Relief Coalition.
They'd come down here to Louisiana andwe partner with them, and then we'd
go and we'd meet up with them to, andgoing into the disaster areas along
(06:03):
with a couple of other organizations.
Is how we got involved in goingand doing disaster relief.
Helping not only just rescue, butalso bring pet food and supplies
to disaster stricken areas.
Dixie (06:18):
And does that require that you have any kind of certifications to work
with them or train specific training?
I guess
Jonathan (06:25):
we've actually, we have gone through the FEMA training.
We've also gone through a trainingthat's available through the
A-S-P-C-A along with Code three.
So through all the different organizationswe've taken in to where we even have
volunteers that are certified inSwift Water Rescue, along with animal
(06:48):
cruelty and, so we even partneredwith the Cajun Navys to where whenever
there's a need, we're there to help.
Dixie (06:59):
How many volunteers do you have that do the disaster response?
Jonathan (07:04):
On average we have anywhere between 10 and 40.
Dixie (07:08):
Oh, wow.
That's wonderful.
Jonathan (07:12):
So it's all about partnership for the pets.
Is the more that we can come together,the more help we can provide.
Dixie (07:20):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And I saw on your Facebook that youjust did a collection of supplies
to go to Kerrville, correct?
Jonathan (07:28):
Yes.
We had partnered with Kerrville Pets Aliveand because of Brucey Animal Rescue to do
a donation drive to get more supplies outto Kerrville pets live after the flood.
To where we even had Sunbelt rentals,actually volunteered their services
to transport supplies for us.
Dixie (07:49):
Do you also take any animals from the affected area?
Jonathan (07:55):
A lot of times we do for Kerrville we did not, for this recent
flooding in Kerrville, we did not theyactually had a lot of resources set up
to handle and so they transported out atthe same time as they, they transported
out all the animals they had in house.
That way they could actuallytake in strays and animals found.
Dixie (08:21):
And how did you make all these connections with all
these other animal rescues?
Jonathan (08:26):
Honestly, a lot of it was done through Facebook.
Whenever there was adisaster, we would reach out.
We're actually currently,are Florida sarc.
Responders.
So whenever Florida actually needs aresponse, they actually send us emails
along with, we get emails from theA-S-P-C-A and along with a lot of the
(08:49):
other big organizations they send usrequests for volunteers and for services.
Dixie (08:58):
If anyone is interested in getting involved with this, can
they contact you and you can helpwalk 'em through the whole process?
Jonathan (09:06):
Yes, they can.
They actually, can even sign up by goingto our website, animal recovery.org.
And clicking on the volunteer tabor they can message us through
Facebook or reach out to us directly.
But we're always looking for volunteers.
We're always looking forpeople to do donation drives.
We've actually got one teenage childright now who's her summer mission is, to
(09:31):
collect as much pet food and supplies tohelp pets across the state of Louisiana.
Dixie (09:36):
Oh, that's wonderful.
Jonathan (09:37):
It is, anytime we can get the youth involved in helping with
animals, it's a big accomplishment.
Dixie (09:45):
So for volunteers, what is your biggest need for
volunteers in which program?
Jonathan (09:51):
Right now our biggest need for volunteers, because currently we're
not working in active disaster, iswe're looking for volunteers in our cat
care centers, which is gonna be at thePetSmart in Gonzales and the PetSmart
on South Mall Drive in Baton Rouge.
To where they come in, they clean,give the cats food and water,
and they socialize with the cats.
(10:14):
The other thing that we are alsolooking for currently right now is
adoption of volunteers to come andhelp with doing adoption events.
Dixie (10:24):
So how many volunteers do you currently have that help
with that, with the cleaningand also your adoption events?
Jonathan (10:30):
Right now our volunteers are low, so right now we've got
about five volunteers for that.
And we do need many more.
Dixie (10:38):
Yeah.
I see with a lot of rescues, that seemsto be the hardest thing is finding
the people to go do the cleaningand to actually go do the adoptions.
People like going to play withthe animals, but they don't like
necessarily doing the cleaning.
Jonathan (10:51):
Oh, yeah.
Cleaning is the part that it isthe hardest to find volunteers for.
The great thing about when people do thevolunteers to do the adoption events.
Is, adoption events are only from 10o'clock in the morning till two, three
o'clock in the afternoon on Saturdays.
And if we got the volunteers to doit, it would be on Sundays also.
But it just very rewarding becauseyou not only get to go there and love
(11:16):
on the cats the whole time, but youalso get the accomplishment of knowing
that you helped find this cat at home.
Dixie (11:24):
So can you walk us through the process of you actually
intaking cats and then getting theminto the petmarts for adoption?
Jonathan (11:33):
From the point of the intake, all of our cats before
they even go to PetSmart, they'regonna be spayed or neutered.
They're gonna be age appropriatevaccinated and microchip.
They're completely theyare completely vetted.
And, in order for 'em to gowith PetSmart it is required
that they are completely vetted.
(11:54):
They undergo, all the testing andthat's needed to make sure that
they're healthy and thriving to wherewhen they get in the home, it's a lot
easier for them to become comfortable.
Dixie (12:09):
I saw on your website that Rescue Alliance, you champion
feline welfare through rescueadoption and support programs giving
every cat the chance to thrive.
Can you elaborate on whatthat truly means for a cat?
Jonathan (12:24):
Thriving is, we work with the adopters not only up until the
time of adoption, but we remain aresource to where if the adopter has
questions or concerns, they're ableto call us and we'll do whatever
we can to answer their questions.
(12:45):
And provide the best resource tohelp, the cat adapt to being happy
and healthy in their new home.
So even at the time of adoption,we even provide a week's worth
of food to every adopter.
That way they're able to be weanedonto a different type of food,
(13:07):
whether if the adopter doesn'twanna keep 'em on hill signs diet.
Dixie (13:14):
Do you find that all of the post adoptive support that
you do helps from, say, having acat returned to your organization?
Jonathan (13:24):
We do still have.
Every now and then we do still have, anadoption that, the adopter has to return.
We had one just last week to wherethe person was actually gonna be
moving outside of the United Statesfor work and was told that they
couldn't take their pet with them.
So we did accept the cat back into ourcare to help find the cat a new home.
(13:51):
So it's not a true science, butany way that we can to help.
We do.
Dixie (13:59):
And where do you get your cats and kittens from?
Jonathan (14:03):
We actually we pull from across the entire state of Louisiana.
We get cats from as far as awayas Shreveport and Bastrop up in
north Louisiana, we get cats fromdown in Morgan City, Patterson.
We get cats fromCompanion Animal Alliance.
We even get cats fromCrowley in Lake Charles.
Dixie (14:27):
How many come into your program in a given year?
Jonathan (14:30):
On average we bring in anywhere between five and 700 a year.
Dixie (14:35):
Wow.
All spayed and neutered.
So imagine how many that number would beif they weren't spayed or neutered, right?
Jonathan (14:43):
Oh, yes.
When you sit back and you think aboutit on average for each litter, that they
have, it can be anywhere between four onaverage, between four and nine kittens.
And with that being said, we actuallyhad one mom that we took in who actually
came with her three litters of kittens
(15:03):
So in all actuality thatone mom had 26 babies.
Wow.
Who came with her
Dixie (15:10):
three litters.
Wow.
And what were the ages of 'em?
Jonathan (15:14):
They were all the way from 1-year-old down to newborn.
Dixie (15:19):
Of course I'm in cat rescue, so I know how fast they reproduce
and how young they are when theyreproduce, but that's amazing.
That many from one mom.
I've never seen that before.
Jonathan (15:29):
It gets worse when you sit back and think about.
Those 26, what would happen if those26 had already started to reproduce it?
They wouldn't come to us when they did.
Those 26 would've turned into hundreds,
Dixie (15:46):
right exactly.
Yeah.
And they can do it asyoung as four months.
Jonathan (15:51):
Yes.
And we've taken in a few cats thismonth, this year that are like four or
five months old and already pregnant.
Dixie (16:02):
And at that point do you do the pregnant spays?
Jonathan (16:07):
It depends on how far along they are.
A lot of times if they're four monthsold, , we're not gonna risk it.
So unfortunately we do.
But a lot of it all goes downto how far along they are.
And how we make that decision on,because we try not to, but at the
same time, if they're four months old,their coping mechanism to become a
(16:33):
productive parent is limited becausethey're still babies themselves.
Dixie (16:37):
That's absolutely true.
And a lot of people don't realizethat when they'll get a cat.
Throw it out on the street.
They don't think it can getpregnant until it's six months old.
Or some people even think maybea year and they don't realize
that it's babies, having babies.
And a lot of the timesthey don't know what to do.
Jonathan (16:55):
We actually, get a lot of cats that come to us that are
having a baby right at a year old.
And even at a year old, we seea lot of times , they still even
struggle understanding I'm notsupposed to lay on top of my babies
or, it's very traumatic work.
Dixie (17:11):
You have the issue too, where a lot of people will contact you
that they just found newborn kittens?
And want you to take all thekittens to be bottle raised.
Jonathan (17:21):
We get, probably, on average, between five and 10 calls a day.
Dixie (17:27):
So what is the advice that you give them?
Do you normally tell 'em toput the kittens back outside
first to see if the mom returns?
Jonathan (17:34):
We do.
We always do recommend setting up a boxwith a blanket in an area which that's
covered in shade with food and water.
To where it would give the mom anopportunity to come back and see
that there's food and water there.
That way they don'thave to go off hunting.
And at least give about 24 hoursto see if the mom even comes
(17:56):
back before pulling them inside.
Because a lot of times when the momleaves the babies in a spot, it's
because she's going to look for food.
Dixie (18:06):
Exactly.
Yeah, there's this misconceptionthat the moms stay with them 24
hours a day, which isn't the case.
'cause the moms have to eat too.
Jonathan (18:17):
Exactly.
And that's one of the reasons why in alot of our cat colonies, we've actually
we buy houses that have feeding systems.
To where we'll go and we can actuallypull, pour in about a quarter of a bag
of food and it's in a little chute andthen it's got the water hooked up to it.
We find that a lot of times whenwe show up to go check on our
(18:37):
colonies, that a mama cat's movedinto these houses just because
everything is provided right there.
Dixie (18:46):
Yeah.
I'd love to see your setup for that.
Jonathan (18:50):
I can get you some pictures for that.
And one of the other thingsthat we also do is we actually
also have an ultrasound machine.
We're one of . The small rescues thatwe've got access to a portable not
x-ray machine, a portable ultrasoundmachine to where we can actually go
and look at the moms to and check onthe babies even while in the field.
Dixie (19:10):
Oh, that's pretty cool.
Jonathan (19:12):
It's been a lot of work.
We have two ICU units that also have,that we would have the oxygen and
everything for, to where it reallyhelps with, helping them get over
having upper respiratory infections.
Dixie (19:29):
Yeah.
And I can see where thatdefinitely would help.
I'm actually working on that myself'cause I do a lot of bottle feeding.
And it's hard to find bottle feedersthat's over here anyway, that's for sure.
Jonathan (19:42):
Oh, yeah.
That's actually one of the things thatI actually do a lot of personally is,
I've got my one little bottle feeder,now he's just a brown little brat.
And his name's Hashbrown, but hewas dropped off and had no mom.
And, we took him in and, wesyringe fed him and now he's just
(20:03):
a hyper little ball of energy.
Dixie (20:08):
Yeah.
It's rewarding to feed him.
It's a little bit of a painsometimes, but it is very rewarding.
Jonathan (20:14):
Oh yeah.
And we use the foster care.
We use a little bit more expensive milk,but to us it's a better quality milk.
Dixie (20:25):
With all the kittens that you intake, how do you keep
all of their records and stufflike that straight before they
go into PetSmart for adoptions.
Jonathan (20:35):
We use a software called PET Established.
And with PET established, we can recordall their records and we we even do
their adoptions through PET established.
So even after adoption, all theirdigital records are emailed and
controlled through their microchip.
Dixie (20:57):
And do you let your fosters be involved in recording their records
or is that something that you havea specific person set up to do?
Jonathan (21:05):
We actually do let all of our fosters, are given access
to go input medical records.
They can go in there and we allow ourfosters to go and even write their
biography because who's better tosay, to tell us more about a cat than
the foster who was taking care of it?
Dixie (21:28):
The Fosters always know the personality, the behavior.
So they're also the ones that are, bestto say when their animals would do well,
say with another cat or dog or smallchildren or anything like that too.
Jonathan (21:43):
Yes.
And we do have a lot offosters that do also have dogs.
So it, with operating over the fosters.
It allows us to put cats in homeswith dogs to where if somebody wants
to adopt a cat and they have a dog,then we can speak more towards that.
This cat was fostered with dogs and wasokay with it, or if they were not okay
(22:08):
with it, we can even speak towards that.
Dixie (22:12):
Can you explain a little bit about your Cats for Vets
program and how that works?
Jonathan (22:18):
The Cats for Vets Program basically what that program is it's a
free program to veterans who served.
They come to us and they'relike, I'm interested in a cat.
And what we do is wewaive the adoption fee.
There is no adoption fee for a veteran.
Because a lot of times,they're coming to us.
They're on disability or, they needthat extra love and we just wanna
(22:42):
be able to help our veterans byproviding them, a companion animal.
We help 'em with pet food and suppliesjust to give them the opportunity to.
I had a fully thriving companion to helpthem through a lot of time, was one of
our clients suffers from PTSD and the catthat we helped him find was a love magnet.
(23:08):
So the cat required a lot of attention,so it went to him, and because of
that they perfectly bonded, which hisin intern helped him with his PTSD.
Dixie (23:23):
Are they requesting more adult cats or kittens or is it just depend a lot?
Jonathan (23:30):
A lot of times with our cats vets program, it's
been more of the adult cats.
'Cause they're not lookingfor too much hyperactivity.
They want a well established cat.
One who you know is okay with usingthe litter box we have one who actually
got one of our special needs cats whoactually only had one eye and they
(23:55):
bonded and they're best friends now.
Dixie (24:00):
When they select a cat, do they tend to select like a single cat or do
they ever do 'em in pairs or to put withan existing cat that they might have?
Jonathan (24:09):
We do have a few that have already had one cat and
they're just looking for more love.
We actually did have a veterancouple who actually ended up
getting three cats at one time.
And they're just the happiest.
We checked with them.
We make sure that that they don't strugglewith pet food or, we help 'em out their
(24:31):
vaccinations, just to make sure thatyou know that everything the cat needs,
they have the opportunity to have.
Dixie (24:40):
That's great.
And three cats in one home.
That's amazing too, to have themall adopted at the same time.
Jonathan (24:47):
And it's a lot of fun to have.
We make the joke and everything.
We can't even call you a catlover and everything, so you
got five cats and everything.
But it's all about one, knowing whatyou can handle, but for two, knowing
that by providing a cat a home.
You're taking on a best friend.
Dixie (25:07):
Absolutely, and I always say to add in pairs, I try to promote
that because honestly I find thatit's no more work to have a pair.
If you add in even numbers, itdoesn't seem to make a difference.
Jonathan (25:22):
We've noticed is it's actually a lot easier to take care of
the cats when you take them in pairs,because whereas the average person
goes to work eight to 12 hours a day,and what happens when you're at work?
The cats can get lonely.
The cats can get bored.
When they get bored,they become mischievous.
(25:43):
So if you adopt 'em out to where yourcat's got more than one cat in the house.
You're in turn giving them somebodyto have fun and play with Chase
around and keep them company.
Dixie (25:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
Do you support any kind of educationalinitiatives as well to promote responsible
pet ownership and feline wellbeing?
Jonathan (26:09):
We actually, do have what's called the CAT Club.
And the cat club, it's a classroomcourse that we actually have that is
the first Tuesday of every month at theHaven of Ascension here in Gonzales.
And it's about an hour and a half.
But, we teach everything frombottle feeding to, the proper
(26:30):
care and grooming of cats.
We actually have one of our, boardmembers actually leads that the CAT club.
Dixie (26:39):
Yeah.
I just started teaching a bottle feedingclass and it was, I was very happy to
see the amount of people that showedup and the engagement in the class.
Jonathan (26:50):
Oh yeah.
When we had our bottle of feeding class,we had three teenage girls come, and
that's, this is when we had just takenin hash Brown and Hash Brown was still
on the bottle, could fit in your hand.
And so we got to teach thesegirls that were between the
age of, what was it, 11 and 14.
(27:12):
On how to properly bottle feed a baby.
And they absolutely loved it to wherethey come to volunteer and, and even
when I was bringing Hash Brown toour adoption events, ' because Hash
Brown was being bottle fed they'dshow up and they were sitting there
in PetSmart bottle feeding this baby.
Dixie (27:31):
That's great to get them involved that young.
I know when I had my class.
Believe it or not, we couldn'tfind any bottle babies to bring.
And I'm like it's not really a problem.
I'm not gonna complain about that, butI had to bring a stuffed animal 'cause
we couldn't find any bottle babies.
But that's a good problem to have, right?
Jonathan (27:48):
Yeah.
It's always a good problem to havewhen you can't find bottle babies.
'cause if you don't have bottle babies,that means that they've all got a mom.
Dixie (27:57):
So in, so that's
Jonathan (27:57):
a very good problem.
Dixie (27:59):
Yeah, I was very surprised.
I reached out to three different rescuesand I couldn't find bottle babies
anywhere, and I said, I'm not complaining.
Jonathan (28:07):
Oh, yes.
One of the other things that we alsodo is, actually, me and my wife, also
sit on the board for the Louisiana PetOverpopulation Advisory Council, and we
actually meet at the state capitol in thelegislative room, and that's how we help
provide the animal friendly Louisianalicense plates goes towards issuing
(28:29):
grants to help with spaying and neutering.
Dixie (28:35):
That's great.
Jonathan (28:35):
We've got a meeting coming up next month at the state capitol.
Dixie (28:39):
Okay.
I didn't know that they had thatgoing towards grants for spay neuter.
Jonathan (28:44):
Oh yes.
We've been, a part of it nowfor I think almost two years.
I've been going and we meetat state capital like three,
two to three times a year.
And there's a new pet stamp that's comingout that is also gonna help go towards
cost the with spaying and neutering.
Dixie (29:03):
And how does that work?
Like how do they determine where it goes?
Does it go to like parish sheltersor does it go to individual groups?
Jonathan (29:11):
Basically when the application process is opened then from there for
shelters and rescues across the entirestate of Louisiana, they'll submit an
application with the financials andthen we actually go and we vote on
the groups that are gonna get awardedgrants like last year, I think.
(29:35):
It was 19 grants
to rescues and shelters across the state.
Dixie (29:42):
Oh, that's wonderful.
Jonathan (29:45):
And it's all with makes the animal friendly license plate so vitally
important that the more people they cango, they go to the DMV and get their
animal friendly license plate that is.
Revenue that actually helps withpet overpopulation in our state.
Dixie (30:05):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
I've always seen them, but I never knew,really where the funds went for that.
Jonathan (30:11):
Oh, yes.
That's one of them.
And that's what we're a part of.
And, we're steadily trying to growit because I think last year we had,
I think it was almost $20,000 worthof grants that actually went out.
Dixie (30:25):
Yeah, that's great.
In your experience, what are someof the most pressing challenges
facing feline welfare today?
Jonathan (30:34):
I think our the most challenging is when you have individuals who they
feel that spaying and neutering is wrong.
They don't understand that bynot spay and neutering, you're
making an overall critical issuethat we deal with in the state.
(30:57):
It makes it even worse,
it leads to cat hoarding situationswhere we actually took in 64 cats
from one house in a course of twodays because that's actually how long
it took us to catch all the cats.
Dixie (31:16):
Wow.
And were, they weren't spayed or neutered.
Jonathan (31:19):
None of them.
They had ne they had never even been toa vet, never had a vaccine or anything.
Dixie (31:26):
That's a lot of work right there.
Jonathan (31:28):
When going unchecked, not only does it become a big problem,
it becomes a big expensive problem.
' they tried, of course, thislady was in her sixties.
She was trying her best to providethe best care, that one little small
problem that started off as just a fewexploded into an even bigger problem.
(31:49):
And then it got to the point to where shewas steadily setting up more litter boxes,
but she was unable to properly clean allthe litter boxes that she was setting up.
Dixie (32:01):
Working in cat rescue can be incredibly rewarding, but
also emotionally challenging.
What keeps you motivated?
Jonathan (32:09):
Coffee.
Oh,
Dixie (32:11):
coffee and cats, right?
Jonathan (32:13):
Yes.
What keeps me motivated to do it is justseeing that like last year we did 550
adoptions as a small rescue, doing 550adoptions in one year, knowing that all
those cats are no longer on the street andreproducing it makes you wanna keep going.
(32:34):
When you got people from the communitywho do their monthly sponsorships that
you know every little bit that we cancome together knowing that we're helping,
it's also motivating to keep going.
Dixie (32:49):
Looking ahead, what are your long-term aspirations?
Jonathan (32:54):
We are in the process of trying to reopen another cat rescue center.
We had one, but the building that wehad just had too many problems with it.
So we are actively trying to raisethe funds to where we can go ahead
and open up a new cat rescue center,which would at the same time allow us
(33:15):
to take in more and help more, but.
It's just to expand our servicesto be able to offer more
resources to those in need.
Dixie (33:29):
Before we end, do you have any happy adoption stories
that you would like to share?
Jonathan (33:33):
Yes.
We had one cat that came tous and it was a Scottish fold.
Scottish folds are very sweet,very, expensive cats to if
you were to try to buy one.
And the great thing about thisis we brought this baby in.
It, it actually it cameto us infested with fleas.
(33:53):
All of its neck, itsbody was all scabbed up.
So we put this baby into foster homeand the amazing foster fell in love.
And decided, you know what, thisbaby needs to stay here with me.
So she decided that she was going toadopt that beautiful Scottish fold.
Dixie (34:17):
That's great.
You gotta love when you havethe foster failures, right?
Jonathan (34:21):
Yes.
That's what's happened to me.
I've got some of the mostamazing cats of my own.
Dixie (34:26):
Yeah, me too..
I've got a lot of themactually that were returned.
For various reasons and they endedup living their life with me now.
Jonathan (34:33):
Oh yes.
I took in one of, one of my personalswe took from the shelter that actually
had a drainage tube in his leg.
And Carlos came to us and hewas very sick and he wasn't
thriving in the animal shelter.
And what ended up happeningover the course of the past
year is he is gotten better.
(34:56):
He still suffers from on and offpneumonia, but from where he was
to where he is now, he is stillmuch more healthier and happier.
Dixie (35:06):
Yeah, and I think that's an amazing thing too, when you can
always see the before and aftersto see what an impact you make.
Jonathan (35:17):
And then we love when we get the wobbly cats.
And, because people think that, oh, wobblycats, we took in one, his name was Buddy.
And we took him in and everybody thoughthe was neurological, so we pulled him
out of PetSmart because we were gettingout there there's a neurological cat, and
(35:37):
he just had cerebral hypoplasia, but heturned out to be the most sweet loving.
Outstanding cat you could ever find.
He was very demandingfor time and attention.
It just goes to show that evenin their imperfection sometimes
they're still the best companions.
Dixie (35:56):
Absolutely.
I have one, and she wasborn without any eyes.
And she is absolutely amazingthe things that this cat does.
It's amazing to watch her.
Jonathan (36:09):
Oh yeah.
At one of our adopter's house.
She had actually adoptedout a cat from us.
A cat that has no eyes.
At all completely blind.
And the amazing thing is when Iwas over by their house to see
that this cat maneuvered throughthat house as if it had eyes.
Dixie (36:30):
Yeah.
It's amazing to watch 'em.
That's like mine.
What she does is she'll go walk intomy bedroom and jump on the bed, and I'm
like, how do you know the bed's there?
It's amazing.
We've seen her chasing flies.
She does everything.
Jonathan (36:43):
Oh yeah.
Now that's like with theblind cat and everything.
It has not a lack vision, but yetthey came running across the room,
jumped and landed on the cat tree.
' Dixie (36:54):
Cause it,
Jonathan (36:55):
it memorized exactly where that tree was.
Dixie (36:58):
Before we end, for listeners who are passionate about feline welfare,
what is the single most important actionthey can take right now to contribute
to a more compassionate world for cats?
Jonathan (37:09):
If you can't foster, donate, cat rescue, it's rewarding.
And if you're not able to foster or adopt,the best way to help is just to donate.
Dixie (37:24):
Thank you so much, Jonathan.
I enjoyed our conversation and I likedlearning about all the programs and
the great work that you do for cats.
There's not enough pioneersfor cats in the world, so we
need to get some more of them.
So I'm glad that you're outthere working for the cats.
Jonathan (37:39):
Oh, yes.
And we're willing to, if there's somebodywho is interested in starting up and
everything, we are always, up forpartnering and mentoring to help guide
on, helping from how to get the 5 0 1 C3and the processes to go to help become
more productive and making sure that notonly are you taking in cats, but you're
(38:02):
taking 'em into a healthy environmentthat continues to help 'em thrive.
Dixie (38:08):
And I'm so glad that you offered the help like that too, because I
know that, sometimes some groupsare a little bit reluctant to share
information, so it's good that you'reout there willing to be a mentor.
Jonathan (38:20):
Oh yes.
You know the reason why we named itRescue Alliance because as a rescue,
if we can come together and worktogether, we can save more cats.
And for those that do dogs, they cansave more dogs just by working together
than fighting one against each other.
Because that energy can be savedtowards getting animals homes.
Dixie (38:42):
Absolutely.
And I hope that this podcast actuallycan accomplish that and bring rescues
together in, in some kind of way.
If I help one animal, I find thatI'd at least be doing my job.
Jonathan (38:55):
Oh, yes.
And it all boils down to is as you getto thinking about, even if you help one
person become an advocate towards animals.
But you still gotta always think about asfar as with the litters, that one animal
can reproduce and become 20,000 over time.
So every cat we can saveis an accomplishment.
Dixie (39:17):
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate ittalking to you this evening.
Jonathan (39:22):
Thank you so much for having me.
Dixie (39:24):
That's all the time that we have for today's episode.
Thank you for listening andwe hope you join us next week.
If you know somebody that loves animalsas much as I do, please send 'em our way.
We would love to talk to 'em.
If you are enjoying our show, pleaseconsider leaving us a donation.
A hundred percent goes to our animals.
Suno (39:45):
Paws in
the night Claws in thefight Whiskers twitch and
tails
take flight
They’re calling in Stories to spinFrom the wild to the heart within
(40:12):
Broken wings and hopeful springsWe’re the voices for these things
animal posse hear the call.
We stand together.
Big and small Rescue tales We’vegot it all Animal posse Saving
(40:40):
them
all
The vet’s got tips The rescuer’sgrit The foster homes where love
won’t quit From a pup in the rain toa bird in pain , Every soul’s worth
(41:08):
the
strain
Animal posse
Hear the call
We stand together Big
(41:34):
and small Rescue tales We’ve gotit all Animal posse Saving them all
Every caller tells a tale, everyhowl a whispered wail, we rise up.
We never
(41:54):
fail.
This
is
the
bond
The holy grail
(42:15):
Animal posse Hear the call We standtogether Big and small Rescue tales We’ve
got it all Animal posse Saving them all
(42:39):
Every caller tells a tale Every howla whispered wail We rise up We never
fail This is the bond The holy grail.
Song by Suno.ai
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