Pettie Award Nomination 2011: How to Reduce Cat Overpopulation – Part Three

Scotty and Cher – two of the twenty plus cats in the Riverfront Cat Community that Christine feeds each day

Despite working several jobs just to pay her own bills and to feed and care for her Riverfront colony of 20 plus cats, despite the overwhelming task to educate a community on the epidemic of cat overpopulation, and despite all the tragedy and heartache Christine Michaels often has to bear, this incredible Cat Crusader and Guardian Angel to the feline species would not have it any other way, as the love returned and possibility for a better day far outweighs the pain and effort. She is completely devoted to the well-being of these creatures and is relentless in her pursuit to make the world a better place for them. And that is why, in a nutshell, she is my chosen benefactor (via the Cat Network of South Florida where she volunteers) of the $1000 prize if I win the Petties 2011 Awards in the category of “Best Designed Blog.”

In the last of my “Making a Difference” series, I wanted to delve into a typical day in the life of someone whose entire life revolves around being a philanthropist in every sense of the word so that you can understand why this money would mean so much to her and how far it could go to help out. So, without further ado, please join me for a day with Christine!

Geisha is one of the lucky ones – Christine has adopted this beautiful stray who is thrilled with her new forever home with Christine!

Christine gets up early every morning to get ready for one of her many jobs, as well as to take care of her five own cats, two foster cats, and her dog. When she attends to feeding the Riverfront cats in her community, it takes about 45 minutes to feed them. She has four different locations around her building and she does not just “feed and run.” Christine is adamant that these cats deserve some love, time, and respect so that they can trust her and not just be a “food source.” Her biggest victory is when someone like “Tom Cat” will finally let her pet him, or “Lion King,” who, after two years, finally lets her hand rest inches away from him as she spoons food into his dish. She says at this point, “She feels like Cinderella when all the animals come out and surround her with song and dance.” She continues, “It is more than just a love story about finding ones prince. My prince are these cats. Prince of Peace. They bestow a peach and serenity because they remind me how little they need to be happy…”

Not all is this charming or Disneyesque however. Christine has to deal with the harsh realities of life on the streets with gut wrenching consequences. She remembers one time that she found an abandoned kitten. Her fur and skin was torn from her muscles, just dangling. She was screaming in pain from a wound that was days old and had a fractured leg. She was separated from her Mama and scaling a cement wall with her nails, trying to climb and squeeze through a hole to get to the other side of the wall where her mother was. Christine named this little sweetheart “Gretel” and with her brother “Hansel” she also found, she nursed Gretel back to health and both of these kittens are now in a foster home waiting for adoption.

Hansel and his sister, Gretel. You will see that Christine has done wonders to nurse little Gretel back to health!

So, Christine does the best she can to ensure her Riverfront Cats are well loved, feed, and protected. She gives them the dignity to live on the streets as best she can. She is a regular at the local supermarket – stopping three or four times a week to stock up on food that she pays for out of her own pocket. She also ensures that as the Human Queen of the Colony, that these cats are spayed and neutered so that the colony will not explode in overpopulation. As a member of the Cat Network, she gets a reduced price for altering her cats and she is also busy fostering cats such as “Johnny Walker” and  “Audrey Tiffany Hepburn” in hopes they will find a new forever home.

Johnny Walker and Audrey Tiffany Hepburn – two cats that Christine is fostering -it is so hard to believe these sweet babies have not been adopted into permanent homes yet.

Her most current project is to try to raise money to have a carpenter build a large cat house to protect her colony from the harsh elements of South Florida – intense heat and torrential rain storms. Right now, most of her cats go under bridges or storm drainage when the weather is bad. In one tragedy, a cat was electrocuted because sometimes when there is heavy rain, they will seek shelter in a transformer room. Christine would like a large cat house to be built, raised off the ground, with a sun/feeding deck, windows, and a door to easy entry and exit. Nothing comes easy and nothing is free.

A typical image of the Riverfront cats after Christine has feed them

She is relentless in her cause – she prints flyer’s to hand out to her local community members, she talks verbally to anyone who will listen, she maintains the Riverfront Cats website to keep her community informed, she writes letters and emails and rallies with local civic entities to try to raise public awareness and money to help educate them on the epidemic of cat over population and the critical need for spaying and neutering – she literally lives and breathes cats 24/7. Sadly ALL of her pleas to her condo association have been completely ignored. She asks, “What’s 66 cents per unit a year to spay/neuter any new cats that appear? 66 cents a year?”

She says as well, many people say they want to help – that they will donate food or money, but more times than not, they simply forget, out of sight out of mind, once again leaving the responsibility to Christine. If Christine happens to need to leave town, she either has to find volunteers to help her, or she has to pay for someone to help out, which once again, comes out of her own pocketbook.

Christine Michaels is a super hero in every sense of the word and I am so hoping I can donate money to her cause. She is the ultimate “Cat Woman” and I cannot speak more highly of her. I wish I could do more for her, but I thank her for educating me. I have been a cat lover my whole life, but I must admit even I did not understand the magnitude of the problem. Together we will rally, and together we will win…

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  1. OMG about little Gretel. It’s heartbreaking and yet hopeful. Thanks writing this. Will share.

    • Deb says:

      I know Layla – it was very hard for me at many times to share Christine’s story. Poor little Gretel, trapped in a world of pain and despair, just doing her best just to be with her Mama. I am so grateful that Christine was able to save her and her brother, Hansel, from a life on the streets. They still need a forever home and I pray they find one soon.