{"id":26719,"date":"2018-12-25T17:30:19","date_gmt":"2018-12-25T23:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=26719"},"modified":"2018-12-25T17:28:04","modified_gmt":"2018-12-25T23:28:04","slug":"meet-wilf-the-cat-another-apsu-paws-to-care-success-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2018\/12\/25\/meet-wilf-the-cat-another-apsu-paws-to-care-success-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Wilf the cat, another APSU Paws to Care success story"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Austin Peay State University (APSU)<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-324279\" title=\"Austin Peay State University - APSU\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Austin-Peay-State-University-APSU.jpg\" alt=\"Austin Peay State University - APSU\" width=\"250\" height=\"64\"\/><strong>Clarksville, TN<\/strong> &#8211; Scott Shumate thought he was going to get a cat.&nbsp; The IT analyst for Digital Services at Austin Peay State University\u2019s Felix G. Woodward Library had a cat lined up last summer \u2013 his friends had a stray but weren\u2019t allowed to have pets.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_441162\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Meet-Wilf-the-cat-another-Austin-Peay-State-University-Paws-to-Care-success-story-1.jpg\"  class=\"thickbox no_icon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-441162\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-441162\" title=\"APSU student Scott Shumate adopted Wilf from Paws to Care.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Meet-Wilf-the-cat-another-Austin-Peay-State-University-Paws-to-Care-success-story-1-480x320.jpg\" alt=\"APSU student Scott Shumate adopted Wilf from Paws to Care.\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\"\/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-441162\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">APSU student Scott Shumate adopted Wilf from Paws to Care.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said I\u2019d be back to get her on Tuesday, and by Tuesday, they had talked to their landlord and decided they were going to keep the cat,\u201d Shumate said. \u201cI was thoroughly heartbroken.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had picked a name and everything. I had ordered a bunch of stuff from Amazon. I had been to PetSmart. I had all of this stuff to get ready for a cat that I wasn\u2019t going to have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shumate took about a week to catch his breath then reached out to Paws to Care, an APSU nonprofit group that cares for the feral cat colony on campus.<\/p>\n<p>A few weeks before Christmas, Shumate introduced his new cat \u2013 a skinny, gray feline named Newt who showed up on campus malnourished \u2013 to his new home. Shumate renamed him Wilf in honor of \u201cDoctor Who\u201d character Wilfred Mott.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s just a big ol\u2019 sweetheart,\u201d Shumate said. \u201cI immediately knew he was going to be a good fit. He\u2019s been my early Christmas present.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>What Is Paws To Care?<\/h3>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"APSU Paws to Care\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/N2dzSTmFmZ8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Austin Peay has about 20 feral cats and kittens \u2013 cat colonies are common on college campuses. The cats are all over campus, but you might see them mostly at the center of campus, near Harned Hall, Browning Administrative Building and the library.<\/p>\n<p>The Paws to Care mission is to keep APSU\u2019s colony stable by providing spaying, neutering and vaccination, and treating them for common feline illnesses. Volunteers also maintain feeding stations around campus and catch, socialize and adopt out kittens.<\/p>\n<p>[320left]\u201cThat\u2019s ultimately our goal is to not have any more kittens,\u201d Corina Ravenscraft, who runs the day-to-day operations of Paws to Care with Tina Reid, said. \u201cIf we can stop that, we will have been successful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nearly all the adult cats are too wild to tame, but if their population is stable, the cats provide a valuable service to campus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe cats are territorial, that\u2019s the thing about a feral cat colony is that if they\u2019re secure in their area, they\u2019re territorial, so they usually do a pretty good job keeping other cats from coming in,\u201d Ravenscraft said. \u201cIf we were to create a vacuum, then all the neighborhood cats would come in, and they wouldn\u2019t have been fixed, and we\u2019d have kittens to deal with all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>The Campus Cats Have Been Here A While<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_441163\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Meet-Wilf-the-cat-another-Austin-Peay-State-University-Paws-to-Care-success-story-2.jpg\"  class=\"thickbox no_icon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-441163\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-441163\" title=\"The cat colony that Austin Peay Sate University\u2019s Paws to Care maintains has about 20 felines.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Meet-Wilf-the-cat-another-Austin-Peay-State-University-Paws-to-Care-success-story-2-480x320.jpg\" alt=\"The cat colony that Austin Peay Sate University\u2019s Paws to Care maintains has about 20 felines.\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\"\/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-441163\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cat colony that Austin Peay Sate University\u2019s Paws to Care maintains has about 20 felines.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The cat colony has been on campus for decades, Debbie Suiter, operations manager for the Physical Plant, said. Before she and Dr. Sherryl Byrd, former vice president for Student Affairs, founded Paws to Care in 2012, Suiter took care of the cats herself.<\/p>\n<p>By herself. For more than 25 years.<\/p>\n<p>Suiter first learned about the cats in the late 1980s, about five years after she started at Austin Peay. Cats dotted campus much like they do today, but there were up to 40 cats at the football stadium.<\/p>\n<p>[320right]\u201cI started feeding the cats around campus,\u201d she said. \u201cThere were a bunch around Harned, some around Browning, some over by the little house on Drane Street. For years I fed them myself, and I was kind of doing it in secret, because I didn\u2019t know if I\u2019d get in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The cats weren\u2019t always popular.<\/p>\n<p>In 2007 \u201cthey wanted me to get them off campus,\u201d Suiter said. \u201cWe actually built a building at my house.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Suiter at first housed three adult cats and 19 kittens relocated from Harned Hall. She still has cats from that relocation, and the oldest mother cat still won\u2019t let her touch her.<\/p>\n<p>In 2012, Byrd advanced the cause of caring for and stabilizing the colony on campus to then-President Tim Hall. She showed how other universities, including Auburn University, supported cat colonies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe gave us the approval to spay or neuter them and put them back on campus,\u201d Suiter said about the formative days of Paws to Care.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>President Alisa White has continued to support the program, and the colony population has kept around 20 since.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Role Of Donations, Volunteers<\/h3>\n<p>Paws to Care is a success story. Volunteers and donations are at the heart of the story.<\/p>\n<p>About a dozen people \u2013 faculty, staff, community members and students \u2013 now work directly with the group, and more than 50 help indirectly, whether by helping adopt kittens through social media or by donating through University Advancement.<\/p>\n<p>The Humane Society spays and neuters for $65.00. Then there are veterinarian exams and treatment. And the group buys and maintains shelters and feeding stations (Ravenscraft and Reid, who both work in the library\u2019s Access Services, have winterized shelters in their office ready to place on campus).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe rely strictly on donations,\u201d Ravenscraft said. \u201cIt isn\u2019t cheap either, to feed the animals. Tina has some feeding stations. We\u2019re starting to build up a pretty big base of students who help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One important volunteer doesn\u2019t want attention.<\/p>\n<p>[320left]\u201cHe comes every day, even when it\u2019s rainy and sleety and icy,\u201d Reid said. \u201cHe volunteers and donates. That\u2019s his money. That\u2019s his food. He\u2019s provided some shelters, some of the feeding stations.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And students in the residence halls recently had penny wars and raised $100 in change for the program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe support is definitely growing,\u201d Reid said.<\/p>\n<h3>Let&#8217;s Get Back To Wilfred<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_441164\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Meet-Wilf-the-cat-another-Austin-Peay-State-University-Paws-to-Care-success-story-3.jpg\"  class=\"thickbox no_icon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-441164\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-441164\" title=\"Wilf has explored every inch of Shumate\u2019s residence and has settled in.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Meet-Wilf-the-cat-another-Austin-Peay-State-University-Paws-to-Care-success-story-3-480x320.jpg\" alt=\"Wilf has explored every inch of Shumate\u2019s residence and has settled in.\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\"\/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-441164\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wilf has explored every inch of Shumate\u2019s residence and has settled in.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Shumate\u2019s new cat, Wilf, has transitioned from being feral to being a pet well, but signs still show up of his wild past.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has a bit of an issue with jealousy, he wants to be king of the roost,\u201d Shumate said.<\/p>\n<p>[320right]And whenever Shumate walks through the kitchen, near Wilf\u2019s food dish, the cat dashes to the bowl.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe goes up and over the bowl to cover it and to protect it and to look around,\u201d Shumate said. \u201cYou can tell he\u2019s had to scrap for food.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A feral cat like Wilf doesn\u2019t come along a lot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe felt that Wilf was friendly enough that he could be socialized and there was a good home for him,\u201d Ravenscraft said.<\/p>\n<h3>How To Help<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>If you want to donate to Paws to Care, go to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/apsu.edu\/paws-to-care\/index.php\" >www.apsu.edu\/paws-to-care\/index.php<\/a> and follow the instructions in the \u201cHow You Can Help\u201d section.<\/li>\n<li>If you\u2019d like to help in other ways, contact Reid or Ravenscraft at <u><a href=\"mailto:reidt@apsu.edu\">reidt@apsu.edu<\/a><\/u>or&nbsp;<u><a href=\"mailto:ravenscraftc@apsu.edu\">ravenscraftc@apsu.edu<\/a><\/u>&nbsp;or by phone 931.221.7285 and 931.221.7193.<\/li>\n<li>You also can find Paws to Care at <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/APSUPawstoCare\/\" >www.facebook.com\/APSUPawstoCare\/<\/a> or <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/apsu4paws\/\" >www.instagram.com\/apsu4paws\/<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Austin Peay State University (APSU) Clarksville, TN &#8211; Scott Shumate thought he was going to get a cat.&nbsp; The IT analyst for Digital Services at Austin Peay State University\u2019s Felix G. Woodward Library had a cat lined up last summer \u2013 his friends had a stray but weren\u2019t allowed to have pets.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[22711,23,14199,13218,12765,11642,6831,262,32995,825,32996,24662,4737,1017,11808,4064,32997],"class_list":["post-26719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","tag-alisa-white","tag-apsu","tag-apsu-browning-administration-building","tag-apsu-campus","tag-apsu-harned-hall","tag-apsu-president","tag-apsu-woodward-library","tag-austin-peay-state-university","tag-cat-paws-to-care","tag-clarksville-tn","tag-corina-ravenscraft","tag-debbie-suiter","tag-drane-street","tag-felix-g-woodward-library","tag-scott-shumate","tag-sherryl-byrd","tag-tina-reid"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-6WX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26720,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26719\/revisions\/26720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}