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Cats of the Month: Buffy & Sookie
Buffy and Sookie are BFF's and have lots in common
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1. B
oth were found abandoned under (separate) porches in Samantha's hometown of Princeton, IL.
2. Both were 3 weeks old when Samantha took them under her care.
3. Both are August Birthday Girls.
4. Both were bottle-fed by Samantha and brought up and trained together - so it's natural that they
would bond and become BFF's.
5. As BFF's they love spending time with each other!
Buffy's greatest talent lies in ball balancing. Sookie is known for her weaving, shopping and playing chimes. Both cats are recognized for their focus on the task at hand and professionalism on stage, although Sookie has been spotted taking an impromptu audience look-see during a purr-formance
every once in a while. We celebrate them both as the August Birthday Girls!
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Training:
Coaching, Cultivating, Communicating, Conditioning, Cherishing
Training a puppy (or in the Acro Cats' case, a kitten) is like raising a child.
Every single interaction is a training opportunity.
Ian Dunbar~Veterinarian
Samantha Martin has been training animals for 20+ years. She is a specialist in feline behavior and training, but has worked with over 40 different species. Ahi Tuna (above left) and Albacore Tuna (above right) and Dixie (lower center) are the most recent beneficiaries of her dedication and skills. Samantha believes training our animal companions results in more meaningful and fulfilling relationships for animals and guardians alike. She advocates for clicker training using positive reinforcement like treats, verbal encouragement and frequent physical contact and petting. Samantha trains with the Acro Cats troupe members every day (even when they aren't on tour) to keep them all conditioned and on point with their skills and proficiencies. The newest members of the troupe are already purr-forming in the shows! There specialities include:
Ahi Tuna on xylophone
Albacore Tuna on cowbell
Dixie as understudy for Jax to do whatever Jax doesn't feel like doing at the time
and
Griffin on flag raising and gong ringing!
More training mews to come!
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BIRTHDAY MEWS
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Birthday
Sookie-August 20
Buffy-August 31
Oz-September 9
Happy Birthday to All!.
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We Love
World's Best Cat Litter!
Thank you for
sponsoring the
Acro Cats
for another year!
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Birthday Girls and BFF Buttons
Each button in our Acro Cats button collection features one of the Acro Troupe members doing one of their favorite things.
For our BFF Cats of the Month, Buffy is balancing on her purple ball and Sookie is shopping as seen in Acro Cats purr-formances!
Buffy-2.25" diameter
Sookie-2.75" height
$4 each+S&H
Acro CatsTraining Kit
Click Your Way to a Better Cat
Training Kit
Includes Training instructions, a post card Pawtagraph of Tuna, two-toned whistle, the new Amazing Acro-Cat Clicker, a metal clicker, target stick, and bios of all the cats.
$20 + S&H
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Thank You to All Those Who helped in the Move to Griffin!
The move to Griffin wouldn't have been possible without the help of our dedicated friends and family. Thank you to all who helped including:
Carolyn and DK
Corkey Miller
Suzanne Edwards
Rebecca Avans
Seunga Park
John Guido
Bobby Hall
David Verdon
JJ Prestino
Fabulous Moving Crew
and of course all the Acro Cats staff.
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Our newest foster kittens are Bobbie (top), Georgia (middle) and Mac (bottom.) They are from the Meow or Never-Atlanta Cat Rescue which advocates for TNR, Spay/Neuter Assistance and Foster and Adoption efforts. All three kittens are on tour with the Acro Cats and being trained, socialized and looking for their fur-ever homes!
Samantha Martin encourages cat lovers everywhere to follow her example
a
nd work with local rescue and shelter organizations to foster needy kittens to prep them for fur-ever homes. During the foster kittens' time with Samantha, they interact daily with the Acro Cats troupe learning basic skills and behaviors that will help them for the rest of their lives. When you foster kittens, maybe you'll fall in love with one of your fosters and adopt a kitten yourself! That's called "foster failure" but it's really a fostering win-win!
Fostering and finding fur-ever homes for orphans, shelter and rescue kittens is an important part of the Amazing Acro-Cats work. Through her efforts with orphans, strays, rescue and shelter kittens, Samantha Martin has found fur-ever homes for 203 kittens since 2009...and still counting
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In addition to finding fur-ever homes for our foster kittens, a portion of ticket sales from Acro-Cats purr-formances goes to help shelter and rescue cats
and kittens.
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| TOUR MEWS |
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Amazing Acro Cats Fans -
We're On The Road Again!
Aug 10-20: Portland, ME - St Lawrence Arts Center
Sept 2-4: Arlington, MA - Regent Theatre
Sept 7-10: Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Music School
Sept 14-17: Philadelphia, PA - Painted Bride Arts Center
Sept 20-24: Baltimore, MD - Creative Alliance at the Patterson
Oct 3-9: Herndon, VA - Next Stop Theatre Co
Oct 10-16: Pittsburgh, PA - Bricolage Production C
o
Oct 19-22: Chicago, IL - Vittum Theat
e
Oct 25-28: Madison, WI - Bartell Theatre
Tickets available soon!
Nov 9-12: Springfield, IL - Legacy Theatre
Tickets available soon!
Dec 1-17: New Orleans, LA - Theatre at St. Claude
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Meowy Manor Mews
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| Cluck Norris' New Habitat in Griffin |
The move to Griffin, GA is complete and the animals were able to spend some time in their new home before leaving on the 2017 Fall Tour. Samantha's first order of business for the house was "catification." The Meowy Manor features 3 large rooms detailed and finished specifically for the Acro Cats' safety and well-being. 1st there is the Training Room. Large and roomy and furnished with equipment and tools for training and conditioning the animals for their health and for the tour. 2nd there is the Dining Room, a
climate
controlled space with an HVAC system and lots of windows that are screened and storm secure for inclement and cold weather. The Dining Room is where the cats dine together and and also sleep. It has an old-fashioned porch swing which the cats all share as their favorite sleeping spot. There is a newly built pass-through from the Dining Room to the 3rd space, the screened in Sun Porch, which is a security-enhanced screened-in porch where the cats run and play in fresh air and watch and observe the 6 acres of yard and trees surrounding the Meowy Manor. The cats can travel back and forth from the Dining Room to the Sun Porch. All the rooms have ceiling fans to maintain proper airflow and circulation.
Cluck Norris has a new habitat as well - seen in the photo above. Designed to reflect Cluck's midwest farm origins, it has a Red Barn farmstead appearance. Cluck's new home is open-air and screened-in with a protected 2nd floor hen-coop where she nests and stays safe from the elements. She has her own personal bale of hay and a 360 degree view of the Meowy Manor acreage.
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Catification Project Donations Needed
Next in line for the Griffin, GA "catification" project is an indoor/outdoor kitty run and playground which will allow the Acro Cats and our fosters to run and chase each other outside in an elevated, secure, open-air space just for them. The photographs above provide an example of the design and installation ideas for the cat run and playground.
We need your help to make it happen.
If you'd like to donate to the "catification" project, click the link below:
Below are a couple ideas being considered
for the indoor/outdoor kitty run and playground.
Thank you for your ongoing support!
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Tour Bus Mews
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Tour Bus Major Backers Plaque Example
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The Tour Bus Plaques honoring major Kickstarter backers are installed on the bus!
We would like to thank all the Kickstarter backers once again for their enthusiasm and support for the Acro Cats Mobile Foster and Kitty Tour Bus. In addition to the customized backer rewards, major backers are being honored with recognition plaques featuring their choice of kitty space and their names. An example of the plaques is pictured above. We thank the following backers for their generosity and support:
Christina Mociuk
Amy and Carl Swanson
Sherri Voight
David L
Martha Cade
David Verdon
Corkey Miller
Thank Mew Very Much!!
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Production Mews
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| Acro Cat Nue in a Purina ad |
Animal Owners in the Atlanta Metro Area
Amazing Animals by Samantha is expanding the talent base for our
animal talent agency to include its new location in Atlanta.
We look forward to hearing from your pet and you!
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Acro Cats Hooman Mews:
Debra Baumann
Charmaine Evonne
David Karbley
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Debra and Captain Patch
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Debbie is brand new to the Amazing Acro-Cats! She recently joined the team with her beloved companion feline, Captain Patch. She hails from Asheville, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband, 7 cats and 2 guinea pigs. She has worked in the veterinary field for over 11 years and is also a board member for an up and coming safety net and retention program called Asheville Cat Weirdos Emergency Fund. She is an accomplished violist and has played with the Blue Ridge Orchestra for over a decade.
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| Charmaine in an Acro Cats Show |
Charmaine Evonne of Pittsburgh, PA joined the troupe about a year and a half ago. She came to us from a part-time job at a Cat Sanctuary in Ohio, and has a long history as an entertainer; she sometimes still does shows as a musician and fire performer. She loves working with the cats and has done several design projects for the troupe, most prominently the logo and current tour bus wrap graphics. Including Little Big Eye Tuna whom she adopted on the road and trained, she has three cats; Jillian, Jojo and Vynil, who stay with her family while she is traveling.
A single father with four children, David Karbley decided one day to take to the road in order to help pay for the youngest two to go to college. He had a friend in the entertainment industry who turned him on to this website that featured different jobs driving for roadshows. He ran across Samantha Martin and the Amazing Acro-cats. He applied for the bus driver position and when hired, his life changed forever. Directly from David, "Not only is it an honor and a privilege to work for and with Samantha Martin, I get to travel all over the country with all the amazing acro cats, the amazing woman of the amazing Acro Cats, and get to meet a lot of beautiful people along the way. I really am living my dream. This is sooo cool!!"
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The Acro Cats Partner with
ZenbyCat to Fight FIP
Samantha and the Acro Cats have partnered with ZenByCat to help in the fight against FIP by supporting FIP research and clinical trials which are showing promise in the search for a cure. The Acro Cats lost one of our tiny foster kittens to this horrible and almost always fatal disease, so this is a cause that is close to our hearts and family.
Please donate if you are able.
Watch this video for information on FIP:
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Acro Cats, LLC® WISH LIST MEWS
VOLUNTEERS!
In each city on the tour, the
Acro Cats, LLC® always rely on the kindness of cat-lovers to assist in setting up the merchandise table, to wrangle cats, to help with props and set and as street teams to distribute post cards and posters around town. Our volunteers get to see the show for FREE and also meet the animal troupe before the audience members do! If you or someone you know are interested in volunteering to help when the
Acro Cats, LLC® come to town, please check at
www.circuscats.com to complete a volunteer form or contact
info
@amazinganimals.biz leaving your name, contact info and the city and dates you're available to volunteer for and we'll be in touch!
Meow-ny thanks!
Once the
Acro Cats, LLC® arrive in our destination cities, we need a spot to park our fleet - the tour bus and the Honda Element with the Tuna on top. The tour bus needs access to a 50 amp regular outlet to keep the generator live and operating. The new bus is 13.5' tall and 45' long. The Element needs to accommodate it's 9' growth spurt in height. Please contact us at
[email protected] if you have parking that would meet our needs.
Meow-ny Thanks!
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Until our next Mewsletter, Lots of Hugs and Whisker-Kisses!
Samantha & the Whole Gang at the Amazing Acro-Cats, LLC®
The Amazing Acro-Cats, LLC® are a nationally celebrated domestic cat troupe who delight and astound audiences of all ages as they purr-form remarkable feats of agility - pushing carts, riding skateboards, rolling barrels, ringing bells, turning on lights, walking tight ropes, jumping through hoops, and much more! Most of the troupe members were rescued and adopted from shelters as kittens and trained by Master Trainer, Samantha Martin, who continues to foster and then find fur-ever homes for rescue kittens as part of her tours across the country.
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Thank you, World's Best Cat Litter for supporting our mission!
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