How Big Is Puffy Paws ?

How Big Is Puffy Paws ?

Two Buildings. Almost 3,000 sq feet. A Purffect fence outside area for the kitties. Funds are needed to complete the project. All the kitties living in Harmony. 

ABC News 7 & The Sarasota Herald Tribune has called Puffy Paws ' A Bed & Breakfast For Cats".


All the major media companies have been in the Haven and they say the same thing.


The Haven is spotless and no cat odor. 

You may read all about it in our Press Section. 

PLEASE SHARE !

http://www.puffypawskittyhaven.com/id165.html

Yesterday I had a gentleman who used to run a Habit for Humanity Store. He saw our many ads on craigslist. He wants to get in the Thrift Shop business for himself  and came down to see our operation and was totally amazed in how we operate, in regards we have to take a donation for each item ,instead of out right selling it.

He could not believe we are actually doing  it all for the kitties and that the funds went to the kitties daily needs and instead of the funds going in our pockets in the name of a salary,  like most nonprofits, he sees out their.

He said we had the best location being 50 yards from the Englewood's Walmart
front door.

Sometimes I can not see how good we have it and it was nice and refreshing to get mad props form a total stranger who worked in the business.

Even tho the Thrift Shop does not do as well as we want on some days If we did not have it , we would have been closed down almost two years ago because of lack of funds.

I'm trying to get the kinks out of Mission Fish so we can sell on eBay.We are having problems logging in.

The future is bright as long as we pay the current bills.

Today I will be working in the office as Ken will be running the Shop with Community Service Personal help.

We have a Van load of stuff to be process and more to be picked up.

Today I'm grateful and fearful at the same time.

Not Out Of The Woods Yet

From Tuesday April 12, 2011 - From Our facebook's Post

UGRENT: FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT JUST TURNED THE POWER OFF AT THE HAVEN: http://www.puffypawskittyhaven.com/

We just paid $817 dollars to Florida Power and lights last week when the truck came out . They told us to pay $817 and we did and someone will call us back to tell us what we have to do to keep the power on.

They never did g... et back with us and around 1 o'clock today a FPL Truck showed up and cut the power off at the pole.

.Chrissy begged them to find out what was going on and what we have to do.

They said - The collection department refused to turn the power back on and the truck left without giving us any more information.

I just got off the phone with a rep from FPL and I just got back from the FPL pay station.

We have to cover the deposit to get and keep the power back on of $1301.00.

We are waiting for a call back from FPL to tell us when they are sending out the FPL Truck to turn the power back on today.

They said if they could do it today.

I contact SSN6 ,The Sarasota Herald Tribune and waiting for call back from them.

Also FPL informed me that after the $1301 is covered we owe $1269.00 for power used since January 1st and that will be billed on April 22, 2001.

Why could they not tell us last week in what we have to do , so this would have not happened.

I should have called them.

We beg of you please share on Care2 and all other Social Networks and blogs.

Please donate if you can the kitties need the power.
http://www.puffypawskittyhaven.com/

Sincerely,
Rick Kingston Puffy Paws Kitty Haven 

GOOD NEWS: The power was turned back on at 5pm today. All the kitties are fine. It got up to around 78. 80 in some rooms in the Haven. Chrissy is the most shook up up by today's event, so I'm in the dog house.

I made over twenty calls to different people at FPL get the power turn on. Some of the FPL people were telling me, tomorrow that... they will be out. I even called their Media office line, to inform them of a definitive PR disaster for them & us, if anything happen to the kitties.

My pleas were finally heard by a nice lady in a a different department and she got the reconnect order expedited to today.

They sent out a Emergency responses unit, who were very nice and understanding.

We are still raising funds to cover the $1301 I gave them. If the funds are not their ,they will be out to turn it off.

Also we owe FPL we owe $1269.00 for power used since January 1st and that will be billed on April 22, 2001.

Today started off great as you can read by the previous post. Also the blog for today just goes to show we can advert this stuff from happening again as long as we can get local volunteers to take us to the next level.

We have everything in place accept the additional help we need.

We have two AC Units , one old and one new one that was subpar for the Haven.

We had FPL out twice to analyzed the problem with the high bills.

We have brand new installation the attic in the Haven.

We are putting some of the stuff we need on our Amazon list such as Window Tint and white roof paint for the places that are tarred down.

This will bring the bill down.

We need help in writing those grants for 2 new AC systems.

Mad Kitty Love goes out to you all for being their once again.

Thank you for donating sharing and praying.

I will be updating through out the night.

Rick

From Start To Finish

My wife and I are only two people running Puffy Paws Kitty Haven along with a few volunteers and the court order Community Service Personal. These people are folks that got into trouble and are trying to pay their debt to society.

Why is it that the so called social rejects of society are doing more for the unwanted kitties under our care, than the normal God fearing good people of the Community ?

We were on the radio , in the Newspaper, asking churches to help us put adoption events on at their church. NOT ONE CHURCH CALLED !

We have been  begging this Community for help for years. Help with adoptions , PR, & fund raising events.

We finally have a handful of volunteers to put on a monthly adoption event but that is not enough we need more people.

While the Humane Society and other rescue groups in the area enjoy paid employees and a host of volunteers, we do not.

Don’t blame it on me. I’m who I’m .

Proof in  point.

We I ran my music media organization . The newspaper  “ The BackFlash “ and  the TV Show “Underground TV “  both  endeavors were promoting the local music scene in Rochester NY.

In two years I put out 24 issues with 10,000 copies coming over the press each month .

I had two TV show going on at  the same time. One was a half hour. Underground TV and the other was a hour long.” Underground TV Rocks Rochester ”.

I had the TV show in 250,000 homes in 5 New York Counties.

I had no problem in recruiting volunteers and assigning them projects to complete from start to finish.

From Video Taping a local music show down at the Penny Arcade, to editing the Newspaper, to proofreaders,  to reporters going on interviews to interview some of the biggest bands in business,.

Bands like Marylyn Manson, Candle box, Nine Inch Nail, Bo Diddley, Green Day and more.

I only have 6 college credits of education yet folks with , Masters , Bachelors,  and Associates degrees were volunteering their time to make the music scene a better place for the local musicians.

All under my direction.

They understood I could not do it all by myself .

Neither can Chrissy and I today with Puffy Paws.

Chrissy hauls in 600 pounds of cat litter around the Haven daily & takes it back out. She washes over 50 cat litter boxes daily. Every four hours she puts out the wet cat food at 18 feeding stations, like our Vet told us too.

She vacuum & mops and dust daily. She gives out meds. She brushes the kitties. She tends to the sick ones. She runs to the Vet and the store for supplies too. She does this day in and day out. She does the work of a paid staff of 10.

My job is to raise the $250 dollars a day to take care of the kitties daily needs, plus the operating expensive, every single day.

On most days I work up to 15-20 hours a day to accomplish this.

I run the Thrift Shop. I raise funds on-line. I take care of the Media. I run to the Vet. I'm our Web Master. I do all the graphic art work. I update on fb everyday. I pick up the kitties daily supplies in the evening. I pay the bills. I pick up donations for Thrift Shop. I put out the SOS's for help.

Our plates are full.

I put out all the fires that pop out daily. I'm my wife's venting post. I'm the fixer.

I’m in a fight for the kitties lives. If I fail at raising the funds needed to take care of the 230 under our care there will be no other option but to close down.

What choice would we have ?

It’s not fair but life is not.

There is not enough hours in the day for us to take on anymore

That is why we have been begging for help.

Asking folks to take on projects from start to finish.

Shame on this community for not stepping up to the plate with adoptions, PR and fundraising events for their unwanted cats.

Instead this Community tried to kill the cats and take away the cats by calling Code Enforcement and shutting all traffic down to the Haven.

Do you know how many more cats we could have adopted out if we could have folks come to the Haven for adoptions ?

I will put it this way. We had over 200 adoptions when we had open House at the Haven
three times a week.

Now we are struggling to find people to complete projects start to finish and for all the events we need to survive and take Puffy Paws to the next level.

But we will improvise , adapt and overcome and the Puffy Paws kitties will live another day.

The very sad reality is that the  only ones who suffered and that were killed by the hands of others were the community cats that we could not help  because we could not take them in because we are full because the community shut the adoptions at the Haven down.

a olive branch

I just came back from this meeting . I went their to offer a olive branch one more time to EARS. Their has a been bad blood between EARS & Puffy Paws for years. Through no fault of our own.

Today I want to start a new beginning with the new Board members.

My first concern is that we should work together in scheduling our adoption even...ts on different weekends,as to give all our cats a fair chance of being adopted out. Also teaming up on certain adoption events together.

The second item of concern that was addressed . All the rescue groups that
had or has bad blood with EARS and who would like to start anew and put this stupid infighting aside, it was decided we should have a monthly meeting with all the groups together.

For the record. Our euthanasia policy came up in the meeting.

We are a Cat Hospice - We have many sick cats and we provide the care they need until their quality of life comes to an end.

Loving Care Animal Hospital does our euthanasia for $22 dollars each.
The kitties are cremated and there ashes are scatted in the Gulf of Mexico ,when we use Loving Care.

Lets squash this rumor right now that came up:

" The AWL does not kill our cats. We do not need a team of 3 people to tell us when a kitty needs to be euthanize."

Facts - The Animal Welfare League provides a free service to Puffy Paws. They know funds can be tight and a kitty that needs some help to go over the rainbow bridge, we can not wait until we raise the funds needed to for euthanasia.

For this service we are grateful.

Chrissy and I have been rescuing and taking care of kitties since 1996.
We know when it is time for a kitty that needs a little help to cross the rainbow bridge.

We do not need a team of 3 people to tell us when a kitty needs to be euthanize.

At that point if we do not euthanize because of only pain and suffering ,it will be animal cruelty.

So once again Puffy Paws Kitty Haven Is A Common Senses No - Kill

Here at Puffy Paws Kitty Haven we do not put down any animals for behavior problems, space or adopt-ability issues. Yet Puffy Paws Kitty Haven never has and never will let any kitty suffer with any medical condition that only allows pain & suffering and no chance of survival.

You will always know when we have to euthanize a kitty because we will always publish that fact here on facebook, when we have to make that fateful decision.

Lets see what happens......with today's meeting.

Is it going to be the same old -same old or are things really going to change.

Only time will tell.......

For the Background information on this groundbreaking development
Please read the following article.

As Published In The Englewood Edge:

The trou­bled Engle­wood Ani­mal Res­cue Sanc­tu­ary, pro­nounced dead by its own board direc­tors, may be ready to show just what “no kill” means.

A new board of direc­tors com­pris­ing EARS vol­un­teers will try to resus­ci­tate the shel­ter­less shel­ter that has a strict no-kill pol­icy and accepts both cats and dogs.

After the for­mer board announced plans to shut down EARS once and for all, the vol­un­teers drew up a busi­ness plan and bud­get show­ing that, if reor­ga­nized, stream­lined and reen­er­gized, the orga­ni­za­tion will be suc­cess­ful. The plan was pre­sented to the board, which told vol­un­teers that if they felt cer­tain about EARS’ future, the board would not stand in the way of the vol­un­teers recon­sti­tut­ing the board and tak­ing over management.

The new board mem­bers are Deva Bal­lan­tyne, Petra Kurpeski, Bobbi Austin, Susan­Reilly and Sarah Katz.

An open meet­ing will be held at 10 a.m.Wednesday, March 16, at the EARS facil­ity, 145 W. Dear­born St., to dis­cuss how EARS will move for­ward and to get pub­lic input. The meet­ing is open to the public.

EARS has called itself a sanc­tu­ary since it was founded sev­eral years ago by Peggy Haupt­man, who visu­al­ized a sanc­tu­ary based on the Best Friends model in Kanab, Utah. Ani­mals would live com­mu­nally, with­out cages, in a care-for-life set­ting. But EARS has been a sanc­tu­ary in name only. The group has never had a build­ing despite rais­ing hun­dreds of thou­sands of dol­lars and own­ing land in two coun­ties at dif­fer­ent times.

EARS intended to build on a 10-acre par­cel off Artists Avenue, but the res­i­den­tial neigh­bor­hood proved unwel­com­ing. EARS sold the prop­erty and bought a 25-acre par­cel in rural DeS­oto County with the inten­tion of build­ing its sanc­tu­ary there. The group held major fundrais­ers and devel­oped a high profile.

But the orga­ni­za­tion ran into prob­lems. Alle­ga­tions that all was not right with the non-profit group’s finances began to per­co­late. And, when the group pre­pared to go before the DeS­oto County Com­mis­sion for a spe­cial exemp­tion per­mit to build its shel­ter, those alle­ga­tions bub­bled to the sur­face rais­ing ques­tions as to why , from 2003 to 2006, only about $2,100 of the approx­i­mately $310,000 taken in went directly to ani­mal care, accord­ing to an analy­sis of EARS’ tax returns for the DeS­oto Board of County Com­mis­sion­ers pre­pared by DeS­oto County Admin­is­tra­tive Ser­vices Direc­tor Jan Brewer.

That was in 2008. In spring 2009, EARS fired its exec­u­tive direc­tor and hired Dee Ann Roberts, who ran the orga­ni­za­tion until its recent deci­sion to fold. Roberts spoke con­tin­u­ally about the dam­age done in the fundrais­ing arena by pre­vi­ous direc­tors, taint­ing the group’s name.

Now a new group will attempt to revive EARS and con­tinue its mis­sion of pro­vid­ing shel­ter and find­ing homes for ani­mals that might oth­er­wise by put down.

The Thrift Shop is like a bad Co-dependent ex-girlfriend.

Sorry for not posting this weekend. The Thrift Shop is like a bad Co-dependent ex-girlfriend always requiring constant attention and care. Once again the Court Order Community Service guys busted their asses and got the job done.

Special thanks goes out to Ken, Gino , Rasha, and Joe. The inside joke is Puffy Paws Thrift Shop is realy ...a daycare for felons.

I have a special bond with the CSP. I decided to clean up my life 27 years ago when I put down the drink. I been where they have been. They respect me for this. I truly care and I try to help them ,maybe that's why the come back and help out when their service is done.

A Big Shout out goes out to Richie our Puffy Paws truck hauler.

The Book Sale is over and over 1 ton of books were hauled away.

The loft is getting full of great quality donated items for the tables. We picked up van load after van load of stuff this weekend and we processed the Rummage Sales leftovers from last week.

Wow what a weekend. Also I spent all night on Friday and Saturday hunting down the kitties wet food until the wee hours of the morning and we spent well over $100 in gas and the extra cost of buying it else were. AHHH !

This week I have Ken B watching the Thrift Shop while I round up some more business with the Printing Division and junk cars.

Also the first segments of the TV Show will be in the taped, so stay tuned.
We will be Live Streaming Through out the week.

And getting ready for the adoption events. Big week ahead ahead of us.....

Stipend

Special Announcement: Please leave some comments to give Chrissy hope that this to shall pass.

Stipend n. A fixed and regular payment, such as a salary for services rendered or an allowance.

Image you wake everyday taking care of 246 kitties by yourself in your home.

You world is looking down at a cat litter box so that the kitties under your care live in a clean and healthy environment.

Newspapers reporters and news crews from ABC, NBC & SNN Local News have visited your home year after year , comparing your home to a ‘Bed & Breakfast For Cats”

Your home was featured in the New York Post..

Time after time, the media has said, no odor and your home is spotless and the kitties are happy and well cared for.

All because you work 18 hours a day in and day out.

You lug 660 pounds of cat litter around a day, Cleaning up, moping, vacuuming and feeding the kitties takes all of your time away from family and friends.

You need help but how can you get help when the County you live in banned all your volunteers from helping ?

The love for the kitties under your care keeps you going but than, you are tried, hope is seems to be fleeting .

What to do ?

Well Chrissy and I have decided that we are willing to pay out of our pockets a small stipend to get the help Chrissy needs tot take care of the kitties.

Her grueling schedule commands that she can not do it by herself anymore.

The last time I checked this is America and people pay other people to take care of their pets.

So we are doing the same. So please call me if you want to help Chrissy out.

If you have a few hours to spare a week ,please call me at 941-623-8904 to set up an interview.