Columnist Susan Snyder: FLOCK is pick of the litter

Tuesday, July 17, 2001 | 8:19 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

Even Sunday brings no rest for Renee Lyss and Grant Greene.

"Everybody's been stopping by today," Greene said. "Renee is out there trying to capture one of the escape artists."

The escape artist had four furry feet and whiskers, and he didn't get far. Lyss, 69, has been running the FLOCK cat sanctuary way too long to be outsmarted by one of her feline charges.

FLOCK, short for "For Love of Cats and Kittens," is a nonprofit sanctuary for ferals and strays that Lyss started more than 10 years ago. She and Greene moved the operation out of Las Vegas when it became too urban about six years ago. They now keep the cats on a piece of desert near Sloan.

"I was out giving the kittens their medication," Lyss said, emerging breathless and a bit wind-blown from the fenced cat yard. "There are five of them. Someone found them at the Holiday Inn without a mother. We get a lot of calls from the hotels. They always call us (about strays)."

Clark County Animal Control came calling, too. Officials have asked FLOCK to take in the kitten that made headlines a couple of weeks ago when someone tossed it from a car. You may recall television footage showing it biting a Metro Police officer during the rescue.

The cat can't be put up for adoption because of the bite.

"But there was such enormous public outcry, that they couldn't put the cat down either," Lyss said. "So animal control had to come up with another solution."

The kitten, which Greene named Rainbow, was at the veterinarian Sunday recovering from an upper-respiratory infection, Lyss said.

It's not the only recent inquiry animal control officials have made. Eight days ago a field worker showed up on FLOCK's doorstep for a surprise inspection.

"They did not issue a citation," Lyss said. "But they said if we don't have the place in better shape there would be consequences. And they said if we don't get more volunteers we run the risk of getting closed down."

On a good weekend Lyss says she'll have 16 volunteers to help clean litter boxes, wash the blankets and rugs the cats sleep on and scrub the interiors of the half-dozen mobile homes that have been gutted and outfitted with shelves for snoozing and air conditioners.

But those weekends are rare. And the daily routine calls for dumping and refilling the dozens of litter boxes and washing the cat houses with bleach and water in addition to feedings and other cat care.

The inspector also said an outdoor gazebo the cats use needs to be reinforced with the posts set in concrete.

The gazebo does need carpentry help. But on four unannounced visits over the past year I've found the place odorless, the floors and sleeping rugs clean and the cats clear-eyed and well-groomed. Maybe an inspector looks for things an untrained eye can't see?

Most weekends FLOCK puts some cats up for adoption in the PetsMart at Charleston and Decatur boulevards. Prospective sanctuary volunteers can call John Stewart, 360-3170. Donations may be sent to FLOCK, P.O. Box 94917, Las Vegas, 89193-4917.

But don't send cats. Lyss' intake cages stand empty because she has "a few more" than the 150 she's allowed -- one of which is a kitten animal control had no place else to keep.