Wednesday, February 8, 2012

kittykind’s Cryptic Crap

kittykind continues to earn their moniker “Kitty Mean” – clearly there is no remorse over the mean treatment of a potential Adopter and again over a Volunteer Foster person’s identical mistreatment.  Afterwards, there wasn’t even a weak attempt at good Public Relations, just a crude attempt to denigrate and discredit both persons.  (all original posts follow).  Non Profits are supposed to be aware of Good Stewardship but kittykind totally misses the mark.  kittykind’s response expresses the poster's feelings about these 2 incidents and the people involved:
1.  kittykind writes:  “I spoke with Mike Philips the head of UCL and Cathe the volunteer coordinator and they don't know who you are assuming your name really is carmen.”
God Forbid you should believe anything anyone claims to have done (or even their identity) considering all the cover ups I witnessed while an adoption rep at KittyKind!  You had to ask Mike Phillips AND Cathe, the volunteer coordinator, if they knew this person.  I understand your lack of paperwork but am disappointed over your claim that Mike Phillips has no record of this person.  UCL is so much better than that.
2.  kittykind writes:  “Being a foster home is not the same thing as being a volunteer and that may explain why they don't have a record of you on their volunteer list.”  
Your denial that Foster is a volunteer is a mockery to the spirit of Volunteering:  According to the American Heritage College Dictionary:  2nd edition:
Volunteer:  A person who performs or gives his services of his own free will 2.  A person who renders aid; performs a service, or assumes an obligation voluntarily. 3.  A person who holds property under a deed made without valuable consideration
Or, does kittykind consider Foster Homes nothing more than Warehouses where they put their cats into storage?
Even James T (in his reponse) shows that HE knows what a Volunteer does.  Maybe your volunteer (DAWN) needs to learn this – "she is supposedly there of her own free will" and answering a person’s questions does not need to be responded to with sarcasm – this is apparently her trademark.
3.  kittykind writes:  That you would lower Kittyind's rating because of a simple response I gave to you is immature.
Is this Stephen X responding or DAWN herself?  The original complaint was about extreme sarcasm not once but everytime the girl went in and asked questions about the cat(s). 
Then again by James T over questions asked.
Now you post “That you would lower Kittyind's rating because of a simple response I gave to you is immature  The simplistic responses were supposedly given by DAWN.  Has she changed her name to Stephen X?!
How immature is it to post under a false identity and call SARCASM a simple response?  Civilly and socially it IS a simple response (immature) but I doubt that’s what you meant since Socially Backward is more to the point.
4.  kittykind writes:  “Doing this serves only to hurt adoptions, which means less cats get rescued, something you obviously don't care about.”
YOUR behavior and lack of responsibility hurts adoptions and how you mistreat the people who ask questions about the cats is something you obviously don’t care about.  True to kittykind protocol poor judgment and exposed poor actions are immediately and publicly denied, denied, denied.  
When people ask Questions – it’s because they are interested in learning and probably care enough to try to get answers.
5.  You have a culinary boner? Disgusting really.
Their reply was:
Subject: Theme in, unjaundiced a rule
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kittykind writes:    Theme in, unjaundiced a rule
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How very mature!  Don't go to that url - it may be a virus loaded site!
What kind of Cryptic Crap is that?  The only rule here is:  Deny; Discredit; Denigrate/  no more KK for you – it’s now DDD
Here’s the original Thread:
Somebody replied to your LiveJournal post in which you said:

This was Originally posted on Yelp. With Permission from the original Poster, I'm adding it here for the Public to see. Because:
1. It makes it clear that nothing has changed with them since I was an Adoption Rep in 2001 (despite a new Board of Directors of former volunteers).

2. Their last remark was totally unrelated and just meant to be hurtful - the true face of KittyKind > KittyMean.

3. This is KK's response to CK and the same whenever anyone exposes them or even complains about their behavior:

. . . Doing this serves only to hurt adoptions, which means less cats get rescued, something you obviously don't care about.

4. When people ask questions, KK thinks these people are using my forms which I post to educate the public.

The forms prepare the potential foster/adopter so that KK and other unscrupulous people like them can't exploit them (or at least have a harder time doing so).

Get your copy of the forms and of kittykind’s abusive past at: (http://KittyKindaJourneyofaThousandLies.yolasite.com)

FOLLOWING IS THE REVIEW I RECEIVED VIA EMAIL THAT WAS REMOVED FROM YELP.COM

Here are my reviews - hope it helps!

Removed Review:

1/27/2010
Here's what I have to say about Kitty Kind - and I want to preface it with, "It ain't good". I know the Union Square Petco gets super crowded. I know a lot of people just like to look at kitties and not adopt - so on some level, I understand the frustration.

HOWEVER, I have been in there a few times (all with the intention of either asking to volunteer or actually adopting) and each time, this dumb blond bitch with frizzy hair (I believe her name is Dawn) mocks me endlessly in a sarcastic, undercutting tone. I have several issues with this but mostly they are:

a) Hey Lady, you are a volunteer. No one is forcing you to be here.

b) When I'm asking serious questions about adoption, maybe you shouldn't be such a C-U-Next-Tuesday by acting like you're somehow above them. I don't think it's ridiculous to ask questions about the cats behavior, if they are ready to be adopted today, or what their diet is like.

I am not some random NYU child who is going to store her cat in a mini fridge in her dorm room. I am grown. Can you please take me seriously, or at the very least, not act like a cynical bitch? 20 bucks says shes divorced in a house full of cats.

That being said, let's not punish adorable kittens for her wrong doings. There was another volunteer there (some guy) that was really nice and more patient, so avoid frizzy blond big foot at all costs.

If you want to adopt cats from nicer women, try Urban Cat League. I volunteer for them and they are awesome.

2/6/2010
Hi Kitty Kind
James T. - should you need to check my references, perhaps you should get my name straight. I do volunteer as a foster for UCL - I actually had one of their kittens in my care last week that got adopted by a wonderful girl. Feel free to contact all the happy cat-owners I've worked with in the past.

To set the record straight, the Yelp community should know that I've never gone through an adoption process with KK. I never got that far because I was so turned off by that woman that I chose not to move forward, despite making a connection with one of the kitties. I was with other friends who were also appalled by the shaming I received for asking normal adoption process questions.

As I mentioned previously, the awful volunteer at Kitty Kind should not deter you from adopting a cat in need but just avoid Dawn since she'll treat your serious inquiries with mocking sarcasm.

Here is the private message Stephen X sent me:

I spoke with Mike Philips the head of UCL and Cathe the volunteer coordinator and they don't know who you are assuming your name really is carmen.
Being a foster home is not the same thing as being a volunteer and that may explain why they don't have a record of you on their volunteer list.

That you would lower Kittyind's rating because of a simple response I gave to you is immature. Doing this serves only to hurt adoptions, which means less cats get rescued, something you obviously don't care about.

You have a culinary boner? Disgusting really.
Their reply was:
Subject: Theme in, unjaundiced a rule
[url=http://www.001casino.com]casinos online[/url]

Monday, November 28, 2011

KittyKind Memorial Site Adding My Own Memorial

  I find this site to be unbelieveable, both in intent and in sheer credibility.  I wonder whether KittyKind ever considered posting even one line about or for the 250 cats their former President, Marlene Kess, had in Garbage Bags rotting in her back yard.  All Friends of KittyKind post lovely things about cats that were loved and given the dignity of Humane Euthanasia - what about the cats taken home by Ms. Kess (who is now in Park Slope in Brooklyn) and never again seen for adoption at Petco?   What about the cats that another former Board Member had in her home under same conditions - so much was hush hush and denial.  When she ended up in the hospital with a stroke, a volunteer had to have some of the cats humanely euthanized because they were in such bad condition.

This Memorial Site by KittyKind makes a mockery of all those animals who would not have been discovered if not for the New Jersey authorities.  How much more of this abuse is going on that no one knows about?  How many other groups have their own Marlene Kess' and cats dying behind closed doors?  When will Humane Law Enforcement catch up to them?

Let me take this opportunity to post a memorial to 2 kittens Killed (one by Suffocation and one by overdose of Subcutaneous Fluids) by the President of another group in Brooklyn - yes a good friend of Marlene Kess.  She is heard on voicemail admiting to killing the kitten and yet the authorities who know about her did nothing.  How does someone like that run a non profit?  This same person is constantly posting about how she will have to suspend services to the animals because she doesn't have the money to continue.  I wish she would just shut down and go away - God only knows how many other animals she has suffocated or overdosed with Sub Q fluids or killed in some other heartless way.  I understand that the spa in brooklyn that boards her dogs does it at no charge to her - what a sweet deal for a Piranha.

This person condemns the CACC yet put an 8 week old kitten into a plastic bag and claims it only took 30 seconds for it to die.  Was she timing the event?!  How do we stop this madness? 

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Is KittyKind STILL looking for Foster Homes?!

Why not just buy a warehouse? Other people are already warehousing many KittyKind cats. The ASPCA, CACC, Humane Society, Bide A Wee and other organizations know when to say "we just don't have any room right now". That is the responsible and reasonable thing to do vs. getting people to foster so many sick cats at one time that they include a variety of transferable health problems.

This is when KittyKind says, "we can't take him back right now - he's still sick".
This is how KK turns people into hoarders. See http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeyfg4f/kittycatfosterpitfalls.

Then a Marketing Plan has to be devised for how to get adoption events going for the Older cats, the Special Needs cats, the Shy, Feral . . .

Another Marketing Plan to make people want to participate in bottle feeding Kittens. Any education going with that package? How to hold the kitten and why, what kittens that young need to survive, what to expect of kittens that will not survive? What to know about distemper (KK calls it Fading Kitten Syndrome) - the emotional downside of medically unrecoverable kittens and cats.

Is there a numbers race going on for the adoption group with the most cats waiting to be adopted for the longest period of time?

Oh, going back to the warehousing issue: How many are warehoused that are totally not adoptable because you know they have FIP; FELK; FIV or some other condition that KK doesn't have a Marketing Plan for.

Stay Awake People - Don't get emotionally blackmailed into becoming a KK warehouse of poorly tended KK cats just so KK can get an intake fee and later an adoption fee while you actually do the rescue work and end up keeping cats you never planned to adopt.

KittyKind Acknowledges yet Lacks Understanding of Diabeties in Cat

I've had plenty of hands on experience with diabetic cats and I've got to tell you, it's not as simple as giving the cat a shot. Before adopting a diabetic cat read the website posted below it is comprehensive and written by people who know what they're talking about. It is important to know what to expect in the long run with a diabetic cat. It is important to know that the road will be rough. If after knowing what to really expect you feel you can and want to do this type of adoption then full steam ahead and God bless you!
Will the diabetes go away? KittyKind makes it sound as if most of the time it does. The following insert was taken from a very informative website : http://www.petdiabetics.org/contents.htm :
(Note: If the hyperlink doesn't take you there, copy it and get to it from your browser. This website is worth finding.) "This is a complicated question that depends on a lot of factors. Secondary diabetes means that the diabetes is the result of a primary condition. Primary conditions that may result in diabetes include acute pancreatitis, acromegaly, or a tumor of the pancreas. Secondary diabetes can also be the result of a side effect of drugs such as steroids. If the diabetes is secondary, it might go away after the primary condition is under control. If the diabetes is the primary disease and it is the result of obesity, the diabetes will most likely improve a great deal, or completely resolve once the pet's weight is under control. If the diabetes is the primary disease and obesity is not a factor, most likely the diabetes will not go away. But it can be successfully managed. Some cats experience transient diabetes.
What does "Honeymoon" and Transient Diabetes" mean? Transient diabetes is not a new concept for all our cats out there in diabetes land. It is the proper term for most people to use when their pet intermittently requires no insulin. Most cats who are termed "on a honeymoon" are actually a transient diabetic. Insulin needs will wax and wane in about 20% of diabetic cats. One theory about transient diabetes in cats is that the diabetes is subclinical (you don't see physical signs) until the pancreas is stressed by inflammation, a systemic illness, or an insulin-antagonistic drug (insulin secretion becomes reversibly suppressed). Hyperglycemia itself can also impair insulin secretion. This effect of glucose toxicity is reversible by correcting the hyperglycemic state. So with insulin given to correct the high glucose state and then also the correction of the condition or drug which caused the increased glucose in the first place, the diabetes resolves and the pet does not need insulin. Future requirements for insulin depends on the function of the beta cells and the presence of any other conditions or drugs that may again cause hyperglycemia. Honeymoon is actually a different concept altogether and often gets misused. It is just a popular -- just like all facial tissues get called kleenex. Honeymoon is an event which can occur in both cats and dogs, as opposed to transient diabetes which rarely occurs in dogs. It is called "honeymoon" because it occurs at the *beginning* of the diabetes diagnosis, usually within the first weeks to months after diagnosis. With honeymoons, there is a temporary reduction in insulin requirement but rarely a permanent or semi-permanent discontinuation of insulin. This probably has more to do with fluctuations in beta cell function than anything else. In a Type I diabetic, the beta cells usually die off and hence the end of the honeymoon."
The site itself explains much more about diabetic care and experiences likely to occur to a diabetic cat. From my experience: you need to have a bottle of Karo syrup readily available in case the cat goes into seizures. Monitoring on a monthly basis by a vet is very important: A fructosamine test is taken to see how "management" is going. Urine samples must be test in the morning and a blood glucose monitor is needed just like for people. The cat may need a special diet and its food and water intake monitored. Some cats respond well and some have an ongoing battle with insulin correction. If your cat has a hypoglycemic seizure and despite Karo syrup seems to be stiff and dead take it to the vet - this is something that might happen and the cat needs to be stabilized by the vet.
Again from the website:
"However, symptomatic hypoglycemic events require more intense treatment. It is important to get the glucose up quickly. Something quickly absorbed should be used such as corn syrup (Karo syrup) which is applied to the gums and oral mucosa (inside lining of the mouth). This should always be followed with regular food as the action of the syrup is often not long lasting and the hypoglycemia will recur. Therefore, close monitoring of the pet is required even when everything seems OK. The vet should be alerted of this and depending on the severity of the symptoms and your ability to monitor blood glucoses, the pet may need to be seen in the vet clinic for closer monitoring. If the hypoglycemic event is severe, hospitalization and treatment with IV glucose maybe required. Hypoglycemic events severe enough to cause serious symptoms such as extreme lethargy or seizure should be cause for admission in most cases---for blood glucose monitoring and the ability to administer IV glucose due to the very high likelihood of recurrent hypoglycemic events after initial treatment. Severe hypoglycemia can result in brain damage or death."
These are the FACTS about diabetic cats.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Seniors Adopting Senior Cats: KittyKind No Stranger to Breach of Contract

There is a General Business Law that protects Seniors from intentional misrepresentation - I'll post it on my website: http//mysite.verizon.net/vzeyfg4f/kittycatfosterpitfalls

If KittyKind promises medical care and follow up after adopting Senior or Special Needs cats from them BE SURE TO GET IT ALL ON PAPER AND SIGNED TOO.

I fostered a cat that needed meds etc. actually received an email promising me vet care for the cat and 3 mos later the vet received a letter saying they would no longer pay for his vet care. The cat has one kidney and a compromised bladder.

Seniors are on fixed incomes and Senior animals have special needs that must be addressed too. Old animals need care of Teeth and Blood testing on a regular (annual) basis. The blood test is a CBC and can cost $65, dental work can be much more expensive. Kidneys are usually starting to fail at this time. KittyKind has an income of 1/4 of a million dollars or more and can accommodate these issues.

Who is Liable if a Cat Misrepresented as Shy is Feral and Attacks You

This information is a Community Service. If you need the article, and trust me, you do, print out a copy and email copies to your friends, ask them to email their friends. If you adopt a cat listed as Shy and it is actually Feral, you may be in a dangerous situation if you are not a rescuer yourself. Both cats require a different approach. Anyone who traps knows that a Feral cat may attack you if you insist on "being a friend" and don't protect yourself. A feral will do you the favor or hissing at you, hiding and trying to keep you at a distance but when it runs out of patience that cat will attack your legs, face, arms and bite right through your clothing. For more information on Ferals visit a site that discusses trapping and you'll get an idea of what they can do when pushed to their limit. A shy cat may initially hide but will eventually accept the comfort of being indoors and of your company. The whole process of becoming a member of your family will be totally different. It is important that people adopting what they expect to be a companion animal be aware of current health problems that will prevent them from enjoying their newly adopted pet until it is properly examined by a vet, medicated and long term health problems are discovered.

Is This a Healthy Animal A Few Tips

KittyKind will say it's just a cold, but if you are looking at a cat or kitten and it's **sneezing,** it's time to check the nose. Is there mucous on the nose? This cat/kitten has an upper respiratory infection. A vet will recommend an antibiotic depending on what type of bacteria is causing the infection. KittyKind will insist on giving antibiotics without a vet exam for practically everything - that is not the way to "treat" a cat.

Look at the **gums** too. If they are pale it means the cat is not getting enough oxygen or is anemic. If the gums are blue - this cat needs a vet ASAP because it is really low on oxygen and may have heart or other complications.

Look at the **ears**. Are they dirty? Does the cat shake its head alot? See if the swabbed ear comes up with gritty, black stuff that looks like coffee grinds. That is ear mites. It is treated for 2 weeks with one product and for 30 days with mineral oil.

Does the cat have **diahhrea**? It is not always due to change in diet. Diahhrea can be caused by parasites and must be diagnosed by a veterinarian. Diahhrea that smells extremely awful can be attributed to Coccidia a parasite that can kill a kitten within days. Another extremely awful smelling diahhrea is caused by Giardia. The cat loses weight and has projectile diahhrea everytime it eats. Cats with Diahhrea usually are also somewhat **dehydrated** because of the fluids they keep losing with the diahhrea. The vet may want to give the cat subcutaneous fluids. KittyKind recommends raw meat diets or tells you to give the cat rice. While you're doing this the cat is just getting worse.

Look at the **eyes** and see if they are clear without mucous. Look at the **teeth** to see what condition they're in. A cat with dirty teeth that are not cleaned by a vet can develope mouth infections that cannot be cured but need regular care for the rest of its life.

Be sure the cat has been checked for **fleas**. VERY important, and finally be sure to receive paperwork showing dates of deworming and vaccination. Be sure to get all medical files on your newly adopted pet. Be aware that some of the above conditions can be easily treated by a vet. However, if you adopt a cat and think it is healthy the vet visit never happens and the cat only suffers in silence until it's health becomes seriously compromised.

KittyKind also doesn't seem to know what Ringworm is when adopting out cats. If you are adopting a cat and it has lots of round, rough looking bald spots around the ears, eyes, neck and paws. Stop a minute. This could be due to a liver/kidney problem or it could be Ringworm. Ringworm can be treated. It is actually a fungus that attacks the cats hair and can spread over a good portion of the cats body. It is contagious to other cats and people can get it too. While at KittyKind I saw many cats adopted out with this condition and many people who came in after catching it from the cats. It can be treated with Athlete's Food Cream or a lotion called Fungisan. I recently used an ointment of goldenseal and myrrh and the results were FAST. A vet can give the cat a pill and a skin ointment to help get rid of the problem. Ringworm is itchy and looks like hives on a person. Always wash your hands after handling a kitten or cat with RingWorm.

***Always*** Get Medical Records to take home with you of newly adopted animals. Some adopters expect you to take the animal to the vet after adopting what you expect to be a healthy animal