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New Year's Eve: Keep your Cats inside please

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Purry and safe Mew year for you and your kitties!

News! Street Roots gets office cat

The main editorial and corporate office of the Street Roots newspaper now has its own Store Cat.

Israel Bayer, the newspaper's executive director, yesterday put up a frantic Facebook post stating that he will be returning the Cat "back to the skids" after 24 hours. Later, this evening, he made a confession on Facebook again: "I kicked the cat out this morning and when I returned tonight it was shivering on my door. So, the Street Roots family gets a new cat."

So there it is. Street Roots gets a Kitty. It is a small independent non-profit newspaper with a tight budget, so your donation of Cat food, Catnip and various Cat supplies are certainly needed. The office is in a storefront space of a historic Old Town-Chinatown building that also houses the C.C. Slaughters gay bar and Darcelle's (more precisely, 211 N.W. Davis St., Portland).

Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to reprimand Israel Bayer, whose newspaper is an organ of propaganda for advocating the rights of homeless and low-income persons, for abandoning a Cat in a below-freezing temperature in the middle of a busy nightlife district. It is a crime in the State of Oregon to abandon a Cat, a Class B misdemeanor (ORS 167.340; 161.615, 635). I hope our readers can see the irony in this. A tireless homeless advocate who should know better, abandoning a Cat when the temperature was below 32 degrees Fahrenheit and a day before snow.

167.340 Animal abandonment. (1) A person commits the crime of animal abandonment if the person intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or with criminal negligence leaves a domestic animal at a location without providing for the animal’s continued care.

(2) It is no defense to the crime defined in subsection (1) of this section that the defendant abandoned the animal at or near an animal shelter, veterinary clinic or other place of shelter if the defendant did not make reasonable arrangements for the care of the animal.

(3) Animal abandonment is a Class B misdemeanor. [1985 c.662 §8; 2001 c.926 §11]

Once again, if you are able to drop off Cat food and such, the office should be open normally from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays.

The least you can do for kitties

Are you a Facebook user? Do you start your day checking on your friends' status lines? Here is one more thing you can do to make a real difference in the lives of two cats--and it'll take only 100 seconds of your time each day! Locally, Save-A-Cat is affiliated with the Humane Society for Southwest Washington, in Vancouver, Washington.

Herding Cats!

Bigger corporations use cats for TV commercials. Small business owners, too, in this age of Web 2.0 can make a short movie clip and promote your business with it by posting it on your Facebook business page and tweet links. Like this TV commercial you will enjoy (below) people are forwarding and sharing links to this video and soon it will be a phenomenon on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube.

Kitty and snow!

Store Cats: a low-cost fringe benefit that promotes employees' wellness

It is known that big corporations such as Google, Intel, Apple, GM and Motorola have free yoga classes and studios for their employees, but for a small business owner, a Store Cat provides a low-cost alternative.

Singapore Community Cats recently wrote, "pets can provide excellent social support, stress relief and other health benefits—perhaps more than people!" Indeed, some studies suggest that the vibrational frequency of purr may promote healing.

What is your 2009? See it through Facebook's eyes

A bit off-topic here, but apparently Facebook keeps an archive of past status lines you write on your Facebook profile page and now there is an app that can ostensibly read that archive going as far back as Jan. 1, 2009. While privacy advocates may cry foul over this, it is also interesting to look back and see it as the Facebook app picks what events were most important.

Store Cats and your business: Should you take an extra liability insurance?

Rachel from Troutdale, Oregon (a pretty little town) asked Store Cat Lady regarding Store Cats and liability:

Does having a store cat increase the business' insurance premium substantially? Are any extra coverage recommended for various cat-related accidents, such as damage to merchants, cat bites on a customer's toddler if he pulled the cat's tail and the cat got mad, if an employee or customer gets sick due to cat allergy, etc?

I have contacted a few local insurance agents and business liability and/or workers' comp attorneys in the region. Here is an answer from Julie Cooper, a Farmers' agent in Southwest Portland:

While I do know of several people who bring their cats to the their business, I have never before been ask about the liability side of the issue. So I had to do some investigating!

This is what I found out. This information of course may not apply to all insurance companies, as all policy may vary. Farmers would pay for any medical expenses up to the policy limit such a $5000.00. The liability would be considered on an individual bases and an investigation would have to take place before the claim would be considered. Each person should check their commercial policy and contact their agent for more information.

I hope this information is helpful.

Julie Cooper

Cooper Insurance Agency, 503-227-1300

Are you a business owner or manager who has experiences in this issue? Are you an attorney or insurance agent who knows more on this topic? Let us know -- our email address is shown on the right-hand side of this page (see http://storecats.info if you are reading this in your RSS reader). You can also add your discussions on our Facebook page!

Standard disclaimer: Anything you read here is provided to you as general information. Your mileage may vary based on various factors, circumstances of incidents, and insurance policies. Read your insurance policy and ask your agent for details specific to yours. This is not a substitute for any professional or legal advice (we are neither insurance agents or lawyers), and any materials contributed to StoreCats.info by professionals in these fields are also to be understood as a generalized pointer to understand the overall concepts, rather than advices specific to your particular situation. If you require further help, contact a lawyer, an insurance agent, or your local Small Business Administration office or Small Business Development Center. Lewis and Clark College's law school has a Small Business Legal Clinic for disadvantaged small business owners in Portland, Oregon.

Truth about declawing

Some business owners fear the liability issues over cats potentially injuring customers or their children by scratching. They also may have concerns that the natural feline tendency to scratch certain objects may result in damages to merchandise, furniture and equipment.

Like some household pet owners they may have contemplated declawing to create a "harmless" cat that can never scratch anyone or anything. For some time this procedure has been popular, but animal welfare experts, veterinarians and even some government officials are raising concerns.

According to Dr. Wong Hon Mun, an official of Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, says cats' scratching is a normal instinctive behavior that helps them mark their territories, and declawing adversely affects the natural feline behavioral patterns. While declawing is not forbidden in Singapore, Dr. Wong only recommends the procedure as a last resort, or if the cat's owner has an immuno-deficiency issue (in which case the cat can cause a life-threatening infection if the cat scratches the owner).

Singapore SPCA's executive officer Deirdre Moss said to the local blog Singapore Community Cats, "Declawing is an extreme and harsh measure which takes away cats' natural defences, just as debarking takes away a dog's voice, their main form of communication."

There are a number of alternatives to declawing, such as claw caps (nail caps, soft paws), and indeed the latter is less expensive.

And of course there are more low-tech solutions, as suggested by PETA's Ingrid Newkirk:

1. Get as many scratching posts as you can (the horizontal ones work as well as the vertical), trying different surfaces and styles. Put catnip on them once in a while to make them super-inviting. Don’t just buy ones at the store; try to pick up the occasional log, the taller the better, or a large fallen branch. Shake it out well to dislodge insect life, then leave it outside, in the sun if possible, and up off the ground on a piece of newspaper for a couple of days, just to be extra sure. Make sure any log you bring home is anchored so that it can’t fall on your cat while being used.

2. Smear a little cologne or flea dip on any fabric area where you do not want your cat to scratch. Sometimes covering a piece of furniture temporarily with contact paper or something else that’s slippery, will stop the behavior.

3. If you have a steady hand and good eyesight, buy a pair of cat nail clippers and use them. Gently squeeze each nail out, look for the quick (this is vital), and snip the hook off only, just above the quick. If you are unsure, go to a gentle veterinarian or groomer and insist on staying with your cat while his or her nails are clipped.

Sources: Singapore Community Cats, Singapore SPCA, PETA Prime

College dorm cat: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT cat policy