Beginning a journey.

Summer Newsletter 2012

Your support has made the difference for many animals since the Ar-

temis Project began in 2001. We work exclusively with Lincoln

Square Veterinary Hospital (LSVH) at 140 W. 67th St.in Manhattan.

By donating to Artemis, you have helped to bring joy to many people

and a fresh start for many stray and abused animals. Thank you for

your kindness.

This issue of our SummerNews is devoted to the kittens — those little

balls of fluff that bring us joy and laughter. They can have an aston-

ishing impact on those whose lives they touch.

Dorian Rence

Athina

IN THIS ISSUE: Athina Pgs. 1-2

Slightly Imperfect Pgs. 2-3

The Marmalade Kittens Pg. 4

Adoptable Animals Pg. 5

Donation Form Pg. 6

The Artemis ProjectThe Artemis Project Helping Homeless Animals in NYCHelping Homeless Animals in NYC

Sometimes it’s the little things that make all the differ-ence.

I met Athina on the island of Santorini in July 2000. I was on a chamber music tour of the Greek Islands. There were stray animals everywhere. I tried not to look.

One afternoon as my friend Eileen and I were returning from rehearsal, we heard a loud, persistent mewing. It was a cry for help. I couldn’t ignore it.

Eileen and I investigated a vacant lot. There, under the scorching summer sun, was a tiny kitten, yelling her lungs out. Her eyes were sealed shut with some horrible infec-tion. She was effectively blind. Beneath a scraggly bush was another kitten, too sick to stand or even make a sound. We found one more kitten plus the mom in a near-by hut. We asked where the closest vet was. There was just one and she was a 30-minute drive away.

It was high tourist season and impossible to find available taxis. Eileen cajoled a friendly Greek wearing a Budget Rental Car uniform into taking us to the clinic, free of charge.

The clinic was over-run with sick, emaciated and injured animals. It was hard to see such misery.

The veterinarian examined the family. They all had an Upper Respiratory Infection. The mom and one of the kittens had mild cases. However, our little screamer and

her brother were very sick. We watched as the veterinari-an cleaned out the girl’s eyes. Eileen exclaimed, “Look, one eye is yellow and one is blue!” I looked and fell in love. That’s the moment I named her Athina.

As for Eileen, all her maternal instincts were directed to-wards the little boy. She named him Oskie. The veterinar-ian sensed chemistry. “I’ll treat them with antibiotics but what are your intentions?”

I stammered, “Well, we can’t take them back to the U.S.”

“Why not?” she replied.

As we continued our concert tour, we stayed in contact with the vet. The family was responding to treatment. The mom and the other kitten had (Continued on page 2)

already been released back to where we found them. Ei-leen and I decided to adopt Athina and Oskie. The day before our return to New York the vet sent the kittens to Athens. We picked them up at Air Cargo. They were so tiny they fit in one carrier with room for food, water and a litter box filled with shredded newspaper. They also had their health certificates.

No animals were allowed in our hotel so we draped a scarf over the carrier and used the back stairs. We hung out the Do Not Disturb sign and let them stretch their legs. We were treated to a display of feline martial arts as the kit-

tens tumbled and played hide-and-go-seek in the curtains.

In the end, it was a three-day trip for our kittens. We missed our connection in Zurich due to engine trouble so Swiss Air put us up overnight at a local hotel. At least here they had no problem with animals. I felt free to ask the concierge for a newspaper.

“German or English?” she asked.

I chuckled as I answered, “My cats don’t care.”

The kittens made their trek to the U.S. like little troopers. They mostly slept. Swiss Air was wonderful in allowing them to travel with us in the cabin.

Eileen took Oskie home. He eventually lost one eye to the infection but it hasn’t cramped his style. He’s a big lug of a cat with the same loud voice as his sister. Eileen tells me she can hear Oskie’s meow from outside the house.

Athina graced my house with her beauty and sweetness until this past April. As her liver failed, she began to shriek for help just as she’d done so many years ago. I helped her the only way I could. I released her.

Japanese folklore says odd-eyed cats bring good fortune. She certainly brought good fortune to me. Rescuing the kittens was a life-changing experience. Eileen and I founded Artemis to help stray, sick and abused animals here in New York City. Since 2001, we’ve helped over 400. That’s quite a legacy for two tiny cats. Sometimes it really is the small things that make all the difference.

Page 2 Athina (cont.)

Last summer someone contacted Artemis about a very young kitten she’d res-cued in Harlem. His eyes were a mess. She didn’t think he could see out of either one of them. She needed help. We told her to bring the kitten in to LSVH.

The kitten arrived. He was impossibly small, weighing less than one pound. And his eyes WERE a mess! One protruded from the socket and the other floated in a pool of nasty goop.

The kitten was suffering from an Upper Respiratory Infection that had infected his eyes. It was clear that the protuberant eye would have to come out. What wasn’t clear was whether the other eye could be saved. A one-eyed cat is not a big deal. A blind cat is. We needed a specialist.

The staff christened the kitten Emilio Largo after a one-eyed movie character. Emilio and I went to Brooklyn to see a veterinary ophthalmologist. She deter-mined that his bad eye would indeed have to come out but it could wait until he

Slightly Imperfect

Life in America.

Emilio

Page 3 Slightly Imperfect (cont.) was bigger and stronger. Putting such a tiny cat under general anesthesia would be tricky. As for Emilio’s other eye, it still responded to light. With strong antibiotics and eye medications, Emilio had a shot at keeping that eye. As I put Emilio back in his carrier, the ophthalmologist said something I hadn’t considered. “Medications and TLC won’t insure a good outcome. Emilio needs to be doing the things any kitten his age would be doing. He needs a playmate.”

When Emilio began feeling better, we tried to get other Artemis kittens to play with him but no one seemed interested in playing with a kitten that had goopy eyes and wore a satellite dish around his head.

Meanwhile, a new situation was developing. I feed feral cats in Riverside Park. One evening I heard a loud mewing. Much to my surprise, I dis-covered it was coming from a woman named Eleanor. Eleanor had seen a kitten hiding beneath some bushes. She was trying to lure her out. Elea-nor and I searched for the kitten. We gave up at nightfall.

Armed with a trap and net, I returned to the site at first light. I saw noth-ing. The trail had gone cold.

I was elated when Eleanor called me later in the day. She’d finally gotten the kitten. However, the kitten had an injury to her mouth. She needed medical attention.

I took the kitten to LSVH. They named her Solara. What looked like a cigarette burn to me looked like an animal bite to the vet. Solara’s lower lip had been bitten off and it smelled. She got cosmetic surgery immediately.

In just a few days, Solara looked perfect. She was gorgeous. For whatever reason, Solara started playing with Emilio. They became best friends. Emilio’s spirit soared. He gained weight. He thrived.

Emilio eventually got his surgery and didn’t miss a step. One eye was gone but he was strong and he had a friend.

A lovely couple came in looking for one kitten. They left with two. Solara in now aptly named Bella and Emilio is now Mick. Although both started out “slightly imperfect,” both are now perfect additions to their new family.

Solara (now Bella) and Emilio (now Mick).

Solara

Page 4 The Marmalade Kittens Page 4 The Marmalade Kittens It was the end of December. Artemis got a call about a colony of cats uptown. Local folks were feeding them but the cat population was exploding. One mom cat had produced twenty kittens in just one year.

Currently, she had three marmalade kittens about four months old. The mom needed to be TNRed (trap/neuter-spayed/returned.) It would be great if we could catch the kittens and place them in good homes.

Artemis volunteers brought traps to the site. We quietly set and bait-ed them. Then we crouched in the cold, waiting for the elusive cats.

Just as our toes and our fingers began to freeze, we saw one cute orange face followed by another and then another. They were captivated by the alluring smell of cat food. We trapped them all.

We also trapped an adult male, probably from an older litter. Then we saw the mom, moving cautiously towards the site. Trapping cats is hard. The mom had both the experience her kittens lacked and the uncanny ability to sense when some-thing’s not right. She fled the scene.

Eventually, we surrendered to the cold weather. We loaded up our four captives and took them to LSVH.

They were examined, declared healthy, de-wormed and given their shots. The staff named the older male “Satan”. It was obvious he was too wild to get a home. He would be neutered and returned to the site.

The three younger marmalades were in a jam. At four months, they were on the cusp of being too old to socialize. It didn’t help their cause when George (subsequently christened George the Biter) bit a techni-cian plus the head vet. Still, it was hard to turn the kittens out onto the streets at the start of a New York winter.

The vet took the first step. He ordered a leather gauntlet more com-monly used in training falcons. That’s how we began working with the kittens.

The kittens were not amused. Anyone who opened their cage door was treated to a chorus of hisses. Using the gauntlet, the volunteers and staff spent hours getting them used to touch. Their personalities began to emerge. George liked to be rubbed on the side of his face. The little female Tangerine liked to play with a certain toy. The other male Sun-ny liked food and attention. We all worked extra-hard to turn these kit-tens around. In the end,

George (now Bailey) enjoys watch-ing tennis in a volunteer's home. Tangerine (now Nala) is finally being accorded the diva status she so richly deserves. Sunny (now Cal) is learning to love being pet, the smell of fish tacos and sitting in a window, watching the world go by.

Through the efforts of a lot of peo-ple, the Marmalade Kittens are no longer in a jam.

Trapping the colony.

Sunny (now Cal).

George (now Bailey).

Tangerine (now Nala).

York is a beautiful, gentle cat. She was found living in the Bronx in a park near East Tremont, with her litter of 5 kittens. She is a young mom, but a very responsible and good mom to her babies. York is under a year old, and her kittens will be weaned in mid-July. York is very calm, loving, and purrs like a motorboat when she is picked up, cuddled, and petted. She is affectionate, and has a coat that is su-per silky.

Page 5

This is Anikin, quite possibly the sweetest, gentlest cat ever. She is a young, petite girl, probably around 6 months old. Anikin's story is quite interesting. Our founder was called by a reporter from Eyewitness News. The crew was out covering a story when they were charmed by this sweet little kitty, and the reporter found us through a producer at Channel 7, and brought Anikin in to us. She has tested negative for FIV and FeLV. She will be spayed and vaccinated in the coming weeks.

Adoptable Animals

Anikin York

Skittles

Duane is an extremely sweet cat, with lots of playful energy. He was found at Park West on West 82nd and Columbus on Jan 8. He has gorgeous, green-blue eyes, and is about 8 months old. He is very playful, curious and affectionate.

Duane

“Neighborhood”

Kittens

Bronx &

Manhattan

To find out more about these

animals, e-mail:

info@artemisprojectnyc.org,

or visit artemis.petfinder.com

Chelsea, TriBeCa, Harlem, and SoHo are 2 month old kittens found with their young mom (York) in a Bronx park. They were brought to us at 2-weeks old during Me-morial Day weekend, and have grown strong-er, more playful and full of curiosity every-day!

Found underneath a patio in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, these two to three month old mackerel tabbies, Bronx

(male) and Manhattan (female) are super playful and sweet.

Life on the outside is tough and young Skittles obviously fell in with bad company: he came to us with a bone-deep gash in his "elbow." Now safe, secure and fully mended, the handsome young cat is ready to take on the hearts of more nurturing companions. He's affectionate and full of fun, with a whole lot of energy to burn. A little of the street tough lingers while the sweet lover-boy steadily emerges; being in a good home with human playmates is just what Skittles needs. Are you his safe haven?

Your gifts to the Artemis Project provide food, medical care, and shelter for

Artemis animals. Visit our online donation page or mail in your donation. Either

way you give, every dollar provides our animals a chance to live to the fullest.

Thank you.

Visit: http://bit.ly/ArtemisDonation or http://bit.ly/ArtemisOnlineDonations (Facebook)

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318 West 77th Street, #1B

New York, NY 10024

Enclosed is my gift of: □$25 □$50 □$100 □$250 □$500 □$1000 □Other_______

Please email info@artemisprojectnyc.org if you are interested in our adoptable animals!

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The Artemis Project

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