One less homeless kitty!

A quick good news update. Snowflake, a 7-year old lady cat who we were sponsoring for adoption at a local shelter was adopted the day after Thanksgiving. Maybe she got some turkey leftovers. And hopefully she’ll have a wonderful holiday season while settling into her new forever home.

I hope the three other kitties we are sponsoring find their forever homes soon.

My participation in sponsoring kitties for adoption was prompted by a local businesswoman who is sponsoring all adoptions until the end of the year at the Front Street Animal Shelter in the city of Sacramento, CA. The news of this effort has gone nationwide and the response has been so overwhelming that the city shelter is transferring animals from surrounding municipal and non-profit shelters in order to keep up with demand. Due to the large volume of adoptions, additional businesses have joined the effort and have guaranteed that all adoption fees for animals at the city shelter will be covered. The article in the Miami Herald is actually very interesting. It states that animals who are adopted at a discounted or free event are no more likely to be returned than any other animal.

The shelter I sponsored the kitties at said they did not feel the adoption fee was a barrier to adoption, but if it prompts a potential adopter to give an older or “less adoptable” animal a second look, I’m all for using my donation in that manner.

National Adoption Day (for humans)

National Adoption Day is intended to bring attention to children in foster care who need permanent homes, but we thought we’d share some cats in our area of Northern California who need to find forever homes.

Sandy is a 4-year old boy who was rescued from a feral colony. But he’s not feral, he’s a love bug. He’s best pals with Sasha, a 2 year-old guy who needed major ear surgery to clear up an infection.

Pepper is a 9 year-old male who would love to be your house panther. And Snowflake is a 7-year old laid back gal who enjoys a good brushing.

We chose to sponsor the adoption fee for these kitties because they are adults or because they may be overlooked because of their color or missing parts. Both of our recent adoptions were “less adoptable”.  Sammi was 10 years old with only 3 legs, and Raven was a 4 year-old black kitty, but both of them have been wonderful additions to our family.

These kitties, like so many others, need homes. If you can’t adopt any more (like us….Raven enjoys being an only since Sammi passed away), maybe you can help your local shelter with some volunteer time, a bag of food, some toys, or by volunteering some other talent you have that could help them in their mission to help homeless animals.

And if you’re inclined to help humans, I know the local childrens’ charities are grateful for any support or volunteer talents you can offer. We participate in our local Children’s Home holiday gift drive that helps ensure local foster children have a fun Christmas and don’t feel forgotten.

p.s. I know I promised to share photos of Raven’s fur growing back, but I’m stalling so she has time to grow some more furs to show off!

The Garden, The Stabby Place, and Bootsie’s Auction

Happy Monday everyone.

This is my garden. Over the last few weeks, that sunflower on the right started growing. We think the birds took a sunflower seed from the bird feeder and planted it in the strawberry bed.

The flower is really pretty, and it attracted a bee. We hardly ever see bees anymore, so mom & dad think they might plant a bed of sunflowers next year to help attract bees to the garden. Look at how much pollen the bee has collected on his legs!

If you look closely in the photo below, you can see two finches. They enjoy eating the seeds off the overgrown basil. We haven’t seen finches in a couple years (the bigger jays are probably chasing them away) so we’re glad they’re back. Can you see both finches? One is easy to see on top of the wire cage.  The second is one rung down, to the left, with his back facing us.

It’s fun and relaxing to watch my garden, but today it was interrupted by a trip to the stabby place. I decided to be brave and explore the counter & shelves.

After that, I was stabbed with a rabies vaccine and with some medicine that should help alleviate my itching. My vet is really good at stabbing kitties, so I barely even felt it. Mom hasn’t shared any photos, but I’ve been itching and I’ve bitten all the fur off the underside of my tail, my tummy, and my thighs. I’ve also been licking my tummy so much that I have a couple raw spots. The vet thinks I’m allergic to something and the shot should help.

I’m lucky to have access to great vet care and mom’s Visa card, but not all kitties are so fortunate. If you haven’t already seen the info around the cat blogsphere, there’s a fundraiser and auction for Bootsie to help pay for his medical bills for his traumatized ear. Mom donated some super sparkly earrings so if you like sparkly ears, you can check them out at the link above.  And here’s the info on Bootsie’s YouCaring fundraiser.
http://www.youcaring.com/fundraiser-widget.aspx?frid=404486

Caturday Art – Drawing of Raven by Funds4Cats

Today I’m sharing a drawing of Raven done by Ans of Funds4Cats. If you look at their Facebook page, you’ll see some amazing artwork. This drawing was done as a thank you for donating to Lorchen’s medical fund at Angel’s Cat Sanctuary.

I think Raven’s eyes were captured beautifully and I’m happy to be able to share this one of  a kind drawing of her.

Athena’s Caturday Art blog hop. There are lots of great anipal artists who participate.