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Hi friend!
I'm writing this with three foster kittens in my office currently cycling between their only two settings. Either they're passed out, dead asleep — which is about 22 hours of the day — or they're absolute monsters, climbing curtains, attacking keyboards, and investigating things they definitely shouldn't be investigating. One just knocked over my coffee. Welcome to July.
The good news? Their batteries are short. They'll wreck everything in sight for a bit, then just… power down and pass out again for a few hours. Rinse, repeat.
But before we get into the chaos (photos below!) — quick quiz: When your cat pulls back its lips and makes that weird grimacing face at something it just sniffed, what's it actually doing? (Answer at the bottom!)
June was Adopt-a-Cat Month, which is great for awareness of the overpopulation problem — but here's the thing nobody talks about: kitten season doesn't respect the calendar. July is just as brutal for shelters. Foster lists are at capacity, intake is overflowing, and the kittens just keep coming. It's why Give a Cat a Box exists, and this month I have some genuinely good news to share on that front.
Also: 24 birthday cats, five Mission Meow grant recipients, and I'm going to be on a podcast tonight talking about all of this.
Let's get into it.
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Two months in, and here's where we stand:
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48 donations since launch
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205 boxes shipped to rescues across the country
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$2,960 raised
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43 unique donors — some giving once, some giving repeatedly, all of you making it possible
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20 shelters have received boxes
Since last month's newsletter alone: 18 new donations, 70 more boxes, and $1,085 raised. Every single one of those scratcher boxes landed in the hands of a rescue that needed it — during the hardest time of year for shelters.
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Thank you to this month's donors! Thank you to: Anela, Autumn, Betty, Edie, Erica, Jason & Adriane, Jenee, Kate, Kimberly, Lisa, Mattie, Nicole, Shaeghlyn, and Vanessa. Your support is coming at exactly the right time.
Two new shelter partners have also joined the program this month:
Go check out what they're doing and send a box their way!
If your favorite rescue isn't in our directory yet, point them here → become a partner (it's free). The more shelters that join the program, the more donors like you can find them.
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Back in the Closet — Two Crazy Cat Ladies
Topic: Helping Rescue Cats While They Wait with Carin from Give A Cat A Box
Tonight, July 1 — 5:00 PM Pacific / 8:00 PM Eastern
I'll be talking about why Give a Cat a Box exists, how the program actually works, what kitten season looks like on the ground, and how people can help without adopting (because not everyone can).
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The Two Crazy Cat Ladies are shining a light on people who are making a difference in the rescue world all month long. I'm honored to be joining them to kick off the month! Shelters are overrun, kitten season is in full swing, and they're bringing awareness to what's happening. If you tune in, say hi in the chat. I'd love to see you there. And who knows — my foster kittens may make an appearance as well!
Where to watch: YouTube — Two Crazy Cat Ladies
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Mission Meow just announced their July 2026 grant recipients — five organizations selected from nearly 170 applications, totaling $16,780.70 in funding. Hide & Scratch is a proud Mission Meow Partner, and these grants go directly to organizations doing the work on the ground.
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Coastal Cats & Critters — Foley, Alabama — $6,463
Lifelong sanctuary for medically fragile, senior, and special-needs cats on the Alabama coast. Grant funds a comprehensive care system including a Curadle bundle, oxygen kit, recovery cages, E-Z nabber, and a disinfectant station — especially for neonatal kittens with no local rescue support.
Big Apple Cats — New York City, New York — $4,500
Rescuing, rehabilitating, and rehoming NYC cats and kittens. Grant funds a foster equipment lending library, extended oxygen therapy, nebulizers, feeding syringes, transfer cage, rehab crate, heating pads, and bottle feeding supplies.
Barnie's Place Feline Rescue — Columbia, Missouri — $4,017.70
TNR programs and community cat rescue. Grant funds professional trapping equipment: drop traps with remote triggers, transfer cages, squeeze panels, heat seeker feral cat traps, gravity traps, and more.
Windsor Kittens — Charlotte, North Carolina — $1,500
Foster-based rescue focused on TNR and adoption in the Greater Charlotte region. Grant supports "Mr. Hill's TNR Makeover Project" — safety, stability, and long-term management of one of the largest community cat colonies they monitor. Mr. Hill is a disabled Vietnam Veteran on a fixed income who has described caring for these cats as his therapy.
Furever Feline Cat Rescue — Milwaukie, Oregon — $300
Building "The Hawk," an eco-friendly feeding station for feral cat colonies. The prototype is 75% complete.
Support Mission Meow →
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💰 Donate — every dollar funds the next grant cycle. Donate here →
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📋 Grant Applications — if you work for or know of a small cat rescue or nonprofit (501(c)(3), under $250K annual revenue), applications open the first two weeks of every month. Apply →
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🎂 July Birthday* Club Celebrations
24 cats in the Hide & Scratch Birthday* Club are celebrating this month! Happy birthday (or gotcha day!) to all of you.
🎂 = Birthday · 🏠 = Gotcha Day
| July 1 |
🎂 Stinky (21!) · 🏠 Ozzy Rose |
| July 4 |
🏠 Tortie (6) |
| July 7 |
🎂 Mikey (2) · 🎂 Razzle (1) |
| July 10 |
🎂 Max (10) · 🎂 Nuna (3) |
| July 11 |
🎂 Scheff (9) |
| July 12 |
🎂 Cruella (5) · 🎂 Houdini (5) |
| July 13 |
🏠 Aurora (9) · 🎂 Tigger (5) |
| July 14 |
🏠 Biscuit (4) |
| July 15 |
🏠 Belly (1) · 🏠 Oscar (5) |
| July 18 |
🏠 Shadow (8) · 🎂 Pantera (1) |
| July 24 |
🎂 Woody (10) · 🎂 Nala (2) |
| July 26 |
🎂 Milton Biscuit (4) |
| July 27 |
🎂 Ember (8) |
| July 29 |
🎂 Autumn (2) · 🎂 Pepper (4) |
| July 31 |
🏠 Muffin (2) |
👑 Special shoutout to Stinky, turning 21 on July 1st. Twenty-one. That is a genuinely extraordinary length of cat.
Not in the club yet? It's free, it takes two minutes, and when your cat's special day arrives, you'll get a little personalized surprise from me. Sign up here →
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Meet Biscotti. He's a Highland Lynx — those curled ears are the real deal — and his fur is a whole mood. Brown, cream, and grey tabby markings that look hand-painted, a fluffy ruff that rivals a Renaissance collar, and an expression that says "yes, I am aware I'm the most photogenic cat in this room." He was spotted lounging in his Hide & Scratch box like it was custom-built for him. Which, technically, it was.
Congratulations to Biscotti and @threelynxamigos. A free Hide & Scratch box is headed your way!
Want YOUR cat featured next month? Post a photo or video of your cat in their Hide & Scratch, tag @hideandscratch on Instagram, and you're in the running.
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🐾 July Cat Holidays
For the full list of cat holidays all year, check out our Comprehensive Guide to Cat Holidays. Here's what's coming this month:
July 10 — National Kitten Day
Peak kitten season. Every shelter in the country is drowning in them right now. If you've been thinking about fostering — even temporarily, even one kitten — this is when it matters most. Check your local shelter's foster program.
July 11 — All-American Pet Photo Day
Take a picture of your cat. Post it. That's the whole holiday. Bonus points if they're in their Hide & Scratch.
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I mentioned my foster kittens at the top. They're here because the foster network near me is completely at capacity — every foster home is full, and kittens are arriving faster than they can be placed. So I took three.
They're chaotic. They're loud. They've rearranged my office. And they'll (hopefully) be adopted out within a few weeks, which will be both wonderful and heartbreaking because that's how fostering works.
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But here's the point: if I can take three kittens while running a business and writing this newsletter, you might be surprised what you can do too. Shelters need fosters more than anything right now — even a few weeks makes a real difference.
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That's July. The kitten crisis hasn't ended just because June did. 205 boxes shipped to shelters, five organizations got funded, 14 new donors stepped up to help make some rescue cats a little more comfy, and I'm talking about all of it on a podcast tonight.
Thank you, as always, for being here and for your support — whatever form it comes in.
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Cat Quiz Answer: That weird grimacing face is called the Flehmen Response. Your cat has a special organ in the roof of its mouth called the vomeronasal organ — basically a second nose — that picks up pheromones and scents regular receptors can't detect. When your cat pulls back its lips, it's channeling air across that organ to get a better "taste" of what it smelled. It looks ridiculous but it's actually sophisticated olfactory analysis. So next time your cat grimaces at a shoe, it's doing serious scent forensics.
(Curious for more? We've got 141 cat facts on the blog.)
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www.hideandscratch.com
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