Speaker 1: This is pet Life Radio. Let's Talk Pets.
Speaker 2: Hello, cat Levers, Welcome to Cataitude. I'm your show host,
Michelle Berne. Happy Monday. We're recording this on a Monday,
and if you're listening on a Monday, Happy Monday, or
whatever other day of the week, you're listening to us.
So today we have an author who wrote a book
and this subject is near and dear to my heart,
rescue tn R. It's so important we cannot, you know,
educate ourselves enough or our children. So stay tuned. We'll
be right back.
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Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone. I'd like to welcome Vanessa Nitez. She
is the author of the Adventures of PuppyCat and the
Lost Name. Welcome Vanessa, Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 2: Very happy to have you. So what inspired you to
write the Adventures of PuppyCat and the Lost Name.
Speaker 3: So the Adventures of PuppyCat and the Lost Name was
inspired by my real life rescue cat, SNAr, who I'm
super excited to tell you more about. But even before
I met Snark, I'd always loved animals, and I think
I've kind of always been a bit of a storyteller
on the Mexican side. Like the older relatives, they kind
of passed that down to me. You tell your story,
use your imagination, you kind of pass it down. So
since Snark is my rescue cat that I actually just
found in the garbage one day, I have no idea
where she came from, so I kind of started just
creating a story in my mind, like what what she
could have gone through? You know where she came from,
and that's kind of where the story came from.
Speaker 2: Okay, thanks, So wow you said you found starf in
a garbage can.
Speaker 3: Yes, I found her in the garbage one day.
Speaker 2: Doesn't just blow your mind that people just take living
creatures and just throw them in the garbage. I can't
even fathom that, but it happens, right.
Speaker 3: I can't even imagine how she exactly ended up there,
And that's kind of part of the book, Like how
how does this beautiful cat end up in a garbage can?
Speaker 2: It's really shocking to me. I mean happens very often
with kitties, which is horrific, and puppies too, and grown
dogs and cats now for sure. So tell us the
story of how you actually found Snarf and how that
moment stayed with you.
Speaker 3: So, you know, just to preface the story, I just
wanted to share that I've always loved animals, but I'm
actually allergic to cats, like pretty allergic to them. So,
you know, despite this fact, I always think it was
passed down from my family, Like I would like to
feed straight cats, but I wouldn't kind of get too
close to them because I was a little concerned for
my health. So one day in March, I'm in my
neighborhood and I hear some rustling and noise coming from
the garbage can. So I look a little closer and
how tumbles this super puffy, fluffy, long haired cat from
the garbage So already I'm shocked. I'm like, I've never
seen a cat like this, know arout other people, but
usually when you see a straight cat, it's usually not longer.
That was like the first time I ever saw a
cat that looked like her. So she was just like
beautiful and unique, and you know, I just saw her
and I was just like, Okay, she's nowling, she's madded.
You know, I know she needs help. But it was
difficult because I was a little confused because I wanted
to take her in right away, but I have allergies
and I have asthma, so I didn't want to also
have an anasthma attack. So what I did was right
away I ordered a cat condo, like an outdoor cat condo,
just just to figure out what I would do with
her in the meantime. But I knew she needed help,
and I got her into the vet. So when I
got her into the vet, they checked for a microchip,
and she had no microchip. She did kind of look
like she had something. It looks like she had a
collar around her neck that may have been removed because
the hair around there was like kind of pressed in
her neck, so who knows what happened to it. So
in any case, from there, I contacted family and friends
and local animal shelters, and nobody could take her, they
didn't have room. And then in the process, what I learned,
because I you know, I didn't know until I met Snarf,
is that a lot of these shelters they don't take
in the grown cats. They taken kittens. And I got
a lot of no's, and you know, we need kittens.
And how old is she? Perhaps because you know, it's
not as much of a demand, I'm not too sure,
but you know, they wouldn't take her in. So I
just decided, I said, you know what, all these doors
are closing, maybe it's for a reason. So I made
the decision. I said, you know what, I got to
get allergy shots. And it's a huge commitment. It's shots
once a week for one to two years, and then
after that once a month for three to five years.
But now she's mine and she doesn't make me sneeze,
and I'm just so happy we're I don't regret one
shot that I had to take for her.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm glad to hear it. And allergies and cats
vary a lot. I'm allergic to cats and I have
asthma too, but it's not the same. So I don't
get itchy, I don't sneeze I just get wheezy, right.
So I have three cats in the house, and I
had two dogs at one time, so that was a
lot of hair and dander and stuff. You know, as
much as you clean, you just don't get rid of it.
But all allergy, you know, the effects of allergies are
all different, and yours was more, way more extreme than
mine was. At one time, my spouse wanted me to
get another cat inside, so four cats inside, and I said, yeah, well,
if you want me to breathe, that's not going to happen.
So it was so we didn't do the fourth inside,
but we adopted because the litter one of my cats
came from was three, so we had found homes, legit
good homes for two. But I commend you because that
is definitely taking on a lot of responsibility to save
your cat. So thank you for that.
Speaker 3: And there is truth.
Speaker 2: Especially we always say April through October starts kitten season,
but like a lot of things, it's starting earlier this year,
or it's been starting earlier, so now it's really like
March through October. And I think a lot of shelters
they have concerns because they either are full or know
they're going to get full from kittens, you know, from
all the faro cats not being spade and so, and
it is harder to adopt a grown cat. And a
cat might have just been a year old, you know,
or maybe technically still a kitten. But once it's past
the little cutesy stage, a lot of people are like
they don't want to adopt it, or they only want
they don't want an adult because they assume an adult
cat might have issues, which is not the case, right.
Speaker 3: I think it was more so like of a demand thing,
like maybe they thought if they would take it in
it would be harder to adopt. So I kind of
understood where they're coming from, but she still needed help, So.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, absolutely. The title says the Adventures of Puppy
Cat and the Lost Name, So what does the lost
name mean?
Speaker 3: So? I wanted to be pretty intentional about that because
I kind of feel like, whether you're a human or
a creature, anything, really, you start and and everything with
your name. It's part of your identity, your story, It's
kind of who you are, right. So when I wrote
this story, I just started thinking about just like a
cat who had an owner, their identity was they were
somebody's pet, and all of a sudden that's taken away.
So one of the lines in the book is I
don't know who I am. I don't know where I'm from.
I was dumbed to the streets and my owners are gone.
So I was intentional about it because I wanted to
show the effect of what happened when a cat loses
their home. It's dumped on the streets and now theur
just trying to figure out who they are.
Speaker 2: So what is one of the things in writing the
book that you really hope children and then parents, because
many parents, you know, read to their children take away
from this story.
Speaker 3: So I really hope that when they read the book,
children will learn to have more and more compassion and
empathy for animals. And I hope it gives them a
glimpse of how rough it is on the streets as
a stray cat. But at the same time, like you know,
seeing puppy cat, I hope they realize that they're these
amazing and curious and beautiful creatures and very important. I
want them to learn that it's not just kittens we
need love. It's grown cats. It could be a senior cat,
a special needs cat, and after that, I want them
to learn about friendship because in the book, she encounters
a dog that is not her species. It looks nothing
like her, and the dog is just trying to be friendly,
but she's she's weary. She's suspicious, right, because you're taught sometimes,
oh this person looks like this, you're not supposed to
be their friend. So I hope this kind of teaches
them to just give people a chance and to look
past their looks and like, look at who they are inside.
Speaker 2: You just mentioned one of the wonderful parallels in this story.
Do you think with more and more books being written
about head adoption, about understanding what it's like to adopt,
to understand spay and neuter, that maybe I don't know,
might not be the next generation, might be a couple
of generations, that this will really have an impact on
less cuts being euthanized.
Speaker 3: That's what I hope. Then that's why I decided to
make it a children's book, because they're very young, and
they can they can learn, like from the very beginning,
to have this compassion to not look past the straightcat,
you know, to help feed them. So maybe ask their parents, hey,
is it okay if we put out some food for them,
and then later, Yeah, you're right, then they can teach
them more about staying and neutering and controlling the population. Unfortunately,
like there's so many kittens and there's not enough homes.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Okay, we're gonna take a short break and we'll
be right back.
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Speaker 4: Let's talk past.
Speaker 1: It, Let's do about life.
Speaker 3: Radiot life Radio.
Speaker 4: Pet Life Radio dot.
Speaker 2: Com, Welcome back everyone. We're talking to Vanessa Benitez and
we're talking about her book, which is the Adventures of
PuppyCat and the last name based on her real life cat,
her rescue cat, Snarf. So rescuing Snarp was the real
life experience that influenced this story. Do you have any
other rescue stories that played into or rescue stories you
read about that might have played into your story.
Speaker 3: So it's kind of interesting because you know, like I said,
I had the allergies, so I always fed animals, but
I kind of did it from afar, So before Snarp,
I didn't have maybe those up close and personal experiences.
But after I met Snarf and I started getting the
shots number one, I started getting better, right, so I could,
you know, be a little closer to them, And I
started having these, like you're saying, like closer experiences with
strays because I was able to get closer to them
and I learned how to do T and R. So
in the process, I would name every cat that I
that I trapped, right humanly trapped. I made sure I
give them a name, and then you know, i'd make
sure they got the medical care and I would bring
them back. In the process, I kind of saw like
all of the stuff they were going through, Like these cats,
some of them would be limping, they would have you know,
patches of firm missing, they would be always hungry. So
those experiences when I wrote the book. Although Puffy Cat
isn't sick in the book, she's very hungry. So I
kind of wanted to show that that, you know, these
cats have these strong needs and I don't want them
to be forgotten. So that was kind of like my
whole thing when I wrote this book, like I want
you to remember those cats that you pass by you
might ignore. I don't want you to ignore them anymore.
I want you to see what they're going through. I
like that.
Speaker 2: You also have partnered with Four Animals Inc. Can you
tell us about the work they do for stray cats.
Speaker 3: Yes, I'm so excited to partner with them. So Four
Animals Inc. Is a nonprofit organization and what's great about
them is there a small organization and so you know
the big ones, you know, kudos to them. I'm so
happy that they're getting the funding and the recognition that
they deserve. But this is just a small one in
Queens New York and they service New York City. You
can contact them and if you have these feral cat communities,
they can go in there and they can humanly track
all of them. They'll get them vaccinated, they'll of course
get them stay neutered, they'll make sure they're okay help wise,
and then they'll return them, you know, because it's important
to return them to the same area so other cats
don't go. It's like a vacuum effect. But then in
addition to that, if they catch a cat or a kitten,
doesn't matter which one. If the cat is like somewhat
friendly and you can touch them, they will put them
with a foster parent and they will do their very
best to get them adopted. So I partner with them.
So what I'm doing is every time you buy the
adventurous cat a puffy cat on the lost name, I'm
going to donate a portion to them so they can
help more cats.
Speaker 2: Oh that's wonderful. Now you mentioned tan R for those
which is trapped need a return. So why for those
that don't know, why is that so important?
Speaker 3: So shop need in return is really important because it
helps control the plot population. Because I was reading a
statistic that they were saying, if a cat remains unstayed
in a lifetime, they can have between one hundred and
one hundred and fifty kittens. So I can't even imagine
what they would due to the poor cat's body and
then all these little kiddies on the street and not
on a pone. So it helps control the population. In
addition to that, both male and female cats, it helps
them reduce different types of cancer. So for the female
cats it can reduce breast cancer bearing cancer, and for
male cats it helps reduce testicular cancer. So not only
does it control the population, but it keeps the cats
that are already around, It keeps them healthier.
Speaker 2: Yes, it does. Have you trapped any cats yourself?
Speaker 3: Oh? Yeah, trapped plenty of cats. Once I got the
ALGA shots, I became cat crazy, so I've got a
dozen of them.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Did you ever run into any challenges?
Speaker 3: It was more so like getting the hang of it,
Like you know, I would see stuff online. I also
knew people who were doing it, and I was trying
to kind of skip steps, like I wouldn't put the
newspaper in the in the cage, or I wouldn't put
it in an area that you know, other cats can
kind of get to the fool because they fight for
the foods. You know, it's a little difficult. Sometimes you
have to fend off one cat throwing pro checken of them,
and then try to lure the other cat in. But
it's more so just getting the hang of it. But
I got I will say I got pretty good at it.
I've saved a lot of cats, thank god, and I've
gotten a lot of kiddies' homes.
Speaker 2: Oh, that's wonderful. I think there's a special talent because
when who was it that I had a trap? Molly's mom,
Sammy could not trap her. Sammy and Jethwa have passed
on since, you know, they've been gone about a couple
of years now, unfortunately. But Sammy was this skinny little
cat that I thought was a kitten, and I had
a higher a cat trapper I tried. I caught the
baby daddy twice. I caught a raccoon once. No, no, Sammy,
she was so tiny she was able to like put
her paw in and clever put her paw into the contraption,
move the food. So I actually all a cat local
cat trapper, you know live you know, in the South.
It's yes, we have kitten season, but it's warm all
the time, so there's always stray cats. And I knew
the numbers. I knew if I didn't catch her, she
would have another litter. Baby. She had a second litter
while I was trying to catch her.
Speaker 3: Oh wow, so that's how fast.
Speaker 2: Because I don't know offhand the gestation period. I want
to say it's about three months or something.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's around three to four months.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so it's very short and it took that long,
you know. Okay, she just had the babies. Okay, all right,
so let me and it wasn't even kitten season. Let
me try to capture her. No, no, so interviewed and
she used like a roadrunner type. So if you guys
date myself, it's in an old cartoon, look up roadrunner
and that's kind of a drop trap. But boy, I
even asked her success rate. She said, you have to
follow my directions with a certain food, do this, do that,
and you know it worked. She went on to live
four good, healthy years that I don't think she would
have had otherwise, and then there would have been more kittens,
you know, gone, because even in the wild while they
might not be euthanized. There's you know, straight animals, There's
I live in the suburbs, but there's still there's coyotes
around in the suburbs and raccoons and they get in
fights and cars and all this kind of stuff. So
I'm really happy you are do T and R. Thank
you so much for that. What was the process like
going from the idea of writing about snarf to actually
publishing the book?
Speaker 3: So this thing all started me taking the subway, So
when I was taking the train to work, the story
was kind of coming to my head. So what I
did first before I wrote the book because I kind
of had like ideas, but I wanted to like figure
out the characters furs. So first I already knew PuppyCat
was the star, right, but I wanted to figure out
who would Puffy Cat's friend be. So it was really
just researching like really adorable dogs, and I was looking
up all different types of breaths, and I absolutely fell
in love with polly dogs because I think they're hilarious looking.
They remind me of mops and they have the little
the little the hair that drops to the floor. So
I figured out, okay, that that seems like a very
likable character. So that's where I started. And then every
book needs kind of like that bad guy. So I
had to figure out what type of what type of
character would be the person that Puffy Cat might have
some problems with, right or the or the creature, I
should say. And so when I was looking it up,
I didn't want to like pick a big dog because
I felt like that would be like just like a stereotype,
and then before afraid of the both, so I didn't
want to go there. And then I just thought about
the chihuahua, this like spicy little dog, and I figured, okay,
let's make the Chihuahua Chico. Let's make him the bad
guy in the book. So then after that, that's kind
of when the story unfolded. And I only wrote a
little bit in the morning, a little bit in the
morning on my commute, a little bit home on my commute.
So I work in a school, so it pretty much
took about an entire school year, and then that's kind
of when the story unfolded. Once I had I had Chico,
I had a twisty dog, and then I had Puffy Cat,
and I already knew I wanted it to start for
pumbling from the garbage and then from there. You know,
I wrote the story within a year.
Speaker 2: And it's very well illustrated.
Speaker 3: Oh thank you, and you know what, I've never met
the illustrator.
Speaker 2: But you did well in describing what you needed because
the illustrations are great.
Speaker 3: And yeah, story.
Speaker 2: Well, so there's maybe a little bit of people out there,
not too many that might think, well, talk about teenare
the kids that might be a bit much What would
you say to those people? I know it sounds crazy,
but I do think there's some that might say, oh,
you know, it should be all snowfla and no, that's
not the expression snowflakes and rainbows or lollipops, you know,
when you're talking to kids. But and even little kids though,
you know, I disagree with that that sunshine lollipops because kids, unfortunately,
even little kids, have to experience things that are not
always you know, happy, even small things like if they
drop something and break it that they like that's a
small thing, but they still have to experience that too.
So talking about T and R and kind of explaining
it in the way that kids relate, what would you
say to those that say no, we shouldn't tell our
kids that.
Speaker 3: Well, first I'd say, read the book and you can
see how it's kind of written. But also I think
that you can touch on things in a way that
you don't have to use like language that's going to
scare them. So the book itself is written in verse,
and I I made it a point to do that
because I wanted to introduce a little bit of a
heavier subject in a light, lighter way, like a light,
more fluffy way. And if you look at the illustrations,
you know, you see like a very happy dog, you
see a really cute cat. So it's kind of it's
a way that you can teach them something that is
very important and can be very beneficial to the lives
of different cats and help them also when they grow,
like you know, keep that compassion from like a young child.
But it's a way to do it in a fun way.
So I just think committed to that because I knew
that I was going to teach kids something, and it
was going to teach them in a fun way. There's
always a way to teach kids like heavy lessons in
a way that is going to be easy for them
to understand and not going to scare them.
Speaker 2: Okay, thanks? What should our listeners do, especially if they're
kids with them and they see a stray cat in
their neighborhood.
Speaker 3: So it really depends on what you're able to do,
right because you know, like we talked about, some people
might have allergies, you know, and some people maybe they're
in different financial situations. We don't know, right, but at
the very least, I would say if you're able to
give some food and water, that might be a good start.
You can always take a pet to the vet, and
that's a free service, and you can see if they
have a microp chip because they also might be a
lost cat, right so if they're lost, you want to
try to reunite them with their owner. And hopefully, if
they're listening to this before anything like that happens, they
can research a different organization, like in their neighborhood that
can help them. So maybe they can't do t and R,
but maybe there's an organization out there that can do
t and R or help a cat get adopted or fostered.
And to just reach out to your network of family
and friends, you know, there's a lot of people who
might even want to take the cat in maybe you
can't take the cat and belily they can. So it's
important just to keep a strong community, and you know,
research different animal organizations and speed them. They're so cute.
Speaker 2: Hopefully you can do that, yes, of course. So how
is Snarf doing today?
Speaker 3: So Snarf just her eight years old. She's doing amazing.
I had a little cat celebration for her. I'm not
going to say a party because a part of me
and I invited guests and I didn't go that far.
But I decorated her cat tree, and I gave her
dry treats. I gave her tuna treat I gave her
a little cat nip toys, so you know, she has
a great life. Her favorite toys are really just a
cardboard box and a grocery bag. So you know, she
stayed humble. That's what she likes. And you know, she
makes my day happy almost every day just being around.
And I hope I make her days happy by you know,
just getting her a cat mama.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you do. I had a laugh that cardboard
box and plastic bag. You know, you could spend so
much on things. I mean, you need a cat tree,
so that's not a toy. Though, but then you get
a box or a plastic bag the best thing ever
for a cat.
Speaker 3: Right, that's their favorite thing. Yeah, they go buy them
the toy, but they want the box.
Speaker 2: They want the box and the canaan and they make
themselves spit no matter what the size, which is crazy. Okay,
where can people find out more about the adventures of
PuppyCat and the last name? And also where to buy
your book?
Speaker 3: Okay? So it's being sold right now online on Amazon,
Barnes and Noble and Wilmer on their website. And I
have a website called Puffycatbooks dot Com where you can,
you know, find all the links. They're easy if you
need to. If you're local. There's a cat cafe called
Esperso where they actually spell the book hard copy if
you want to, like like fun stuff and you want
to see the real Puffycat. I have a TikTok and
an Instagram or should I say smart does and the
handle is snarf Underscore aka Puffycat and also for animals
like if you want to learn more about them for
animals dot com and they also have the same name
for TikTok and Instagram.
Speaker 2: I want to thank you Vanessa so much for coming
on Catitude and congratulations on your book, The Adventures of
PuppyCat and the Lot's Name.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2: I want to thank my guest Vanessa Benitaz for coming
on Catitude and telling us all about her book, The
Adventures of PuppyCat and the Lost Name. I want to
thank all my loyal listeners of Cataitude. I've been hosting
the show, coming up on nine and a half years,
so thank you so much. Thanks of course to my
cat crew Dennis, Charlotte, Molly, all rescues. Thank you to
all the furbabes in my life that were rescues, Miss c,
mister Z, Sammy and Jethro. And of course the show
would not be the same without the magic of my producer.
Thank you so much, Mark Winter for all you do.
And hey, remember lose the attitude, Have Catitude.
Speaker 4: Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on petlight
Radio dot com.