Orientation Meeting

October 9, 2001

  1. Eight people attended the UNT Feral Cat Rescue Group meeting at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday afternoon in the Eagle Student Services Center. This was our first meeting of the semester. We were happy to see some new volunteers (and welcome back to Dallas Newell!).
  2. Discussion followed:
    1. Feeding organization: Stacey Ewing is now in charge of the FCRG feeding program (Nancy Viens helps with training new volunteers, as well as checking the food bin at the Science Library). Stacey’s e-mail is:[deleted for web version].
    2. Betty Monterroso explained the trapping, which she has been working with faithfully lo these many years now. Betty said that there are four-five people who help out every week (except in inclement weather) in our “trap/treat/release” program.
    3. Claudia Lynch mentioned the fact that it has been over three years since we initially vaccinated the feral cats against rabies, and asked if it would be possible to re-vaccinate (as there supposedly is a three-year limit to the vaccinations). Dallas Newell said that once a feral cat has been trapped, it is almost impossible to trap it again, and that in spite of the high incidence of rabies reports in Denton County, no cats have tested positive for rabies. [Note: the average life span of a feral cat is 3-5 years.] Any cats that we happen to re-trap in our program will be taken to the vet for vaccination.
    4. We talked about starting up the table in the Student Union again. This is done through the “Campus Cat Coalition,” the student membership of our group. Chuck Norton will be able to help us again with that when the spring semester rolls around. In the meantime, Lucy Giles may be able to help get this started again. It seemed to be quite successful before in getting out information about our group.
    5. Betty reminded us to look up and use the volunteer page and a contact page on the Website (http://orgs.unt.edu/feralcat). To subscribe to the e-mail listserv, go to “subscribe” and click on it.
    6. Dallas Newell is coordinating the UNT Feral Cat Rescue Group and Campus Cat Coalition silent auction, to be held November 14th in the Silver Eagle Suite in the Union. Everyone is being asked to obtain at least one donated item. We need volunteers to help out with the auction. Tables are donated by the Union, but we still have to pay $100 to the Union for the use of the room.
    7. Betty Monterroso discussed the possibility of changing the name of the Campus Cat Coalition to Feral Cat Rescue Group. Dallas mentioned that Lucy Giles was in favor of combining the meetings of the Campus Cat Coalition and the Feral Cat Rescue Group. It seems that people on campus sometimes confuse the two groups and it might be more effective if we were known as one and the same group. (Lucy Giles is the president of the Campus Cat Coalition.)
    8. Dallas talked about how funds are raised to support the group, such as selling T-shirts, the silent auction, fund raisers like garage sales, and donations. She also mentioned that PetCo has nominated our group to receive donations. Also, PetSmart in Frisco will pay us $5 for every animal that our volunteers adopt out there. We also have our kitty condo at PetCo in Lewisville, as well as our ongoing adoption program (a condo) at PetCo here in Denton.
    9. The money that we raise is spent on: food, medical bills for shots, leukemia testing, spay/neutering, building shelters, purchase of ant-proof bowls, water towers, and Sevin Dust (to keep out the fleas and ants from cat shelters and traps).
    10. Chuck Norton suggested that we might donate to the SPCA to help the Search and Rescue dogs in New York City. We might be able to do so if funds are available after our necessary expenses.
    11. Our low-cost spay/neuter program will be available soon for UNT students at a cost of $10.

This was a very successful meeting. We hope to get together again with the Campus Cat Coalition, to plan more about the silent auction, as well as starting up the FCRG table in the Student Union. Thanks to all who attended. The 5:15 meeting time seems to be a better time for people to meet. Time for our next meeting will be announced.

Recorded by Nancy Viens