Feline Frenzie Going Well!!

The February Feline Frenzy promotion is going very well. Lots of cats are being adopted from the Shelter - including some of our friends that spent some time at PetSmart. Rutgers, Petunia and Frannie all have left the Shelter in the last two weeks. Tiggers has been adopted, too!! Her new mom first saw her at PetSmart and then came to the Shelter to complete the application. She will be the only pet in the house and will have a wonderful life. as well!

In addition we had two guys go home this week from the store - Ivan and Ricky. Ricky will be the only pet in a house hold with three young adults. He will have a lot of attention. Ivan went home with a family that Leona (one of our volunteers) knows very well! Three young girls are very excited to add Ivan to their household. He is going to love stretching those legs out!

Two new cats arrived last night...Clyde and Sabrina. Clyde is a gray and white male who is a couple of years old. He is a very nice affectionate cat and should acclimate quickly to PetSmart. Sabrina is a brown striped tiger and white female with a cute little pink nose. She will sit next to you and purr away and loves attention! She struggles a bit when held but so do most cats! They are both smaller cats so will be fine in a cage alone while they get comfortable in their new environment. Here they are:

Our February promotion continues for six days. Adoption fees are $22 through February 28. On February 29 the adoption fee is $29.

If PetSmart employees do not wash the bowls for a day or two we should be fine as there are plenty of food and water bowls in the cabinet below the big cage. Please be careful not to push the stack of bowls to the back of the shelf where they are difficult to see.

Rationing the food has worked out well and really decreased waste. Thank you!

Please look ahead to March and let me know if you can fill in on any of the open days. Barring unforeseen cancellations we are covered for the rest of this month.

Musical Cats AGAIN!

Tiggers had a weepy eye, was lethargic and had some blood tinged sneezes so we brought him back to the Shelter. Candy was showing pretty much the same thing so she was brought back as well. She was adopted from the shelter shortly after arriving back! Her new family LOVES her! Tiggers is doing well and looks great! Hopefully he will be adopted soon, too.

Lil' Cat and Laura were both adopted from the Shelter and went home today!! Oh, and I just approved an application for Rutgers. See...no need to worry when they come back!

Ron arrived on Friday and as of yesterday (Monday) he was still nervous and afraid. At the shelter he was friendly and social. Hopefully he will come around soon. He came into the Shelter when he was about two months old. He is about eight to ten months old now. If you have not met him already - here's Ron:

Ivan is arriving at the store on Wednesday. He is cute little guy and is very friendly! He is the sort of guy that will walk out of the cage and into your arms. He has been at the Shelter since July and is about eight months old. He is a tiger with very pretty markings. As a result of basically living almost his entire life in a cage you will see that Ivan is a tad bow-legged. Let's make sure he has some time to stretch those legs out at PetSmart. He will be fine with other cats, dogs and kids. He should settle in quickly however look for signs of stress and give him privacy until he appears comfortable. Here's Ivan ( he was difficult to photograph!):

Looks like we have finally figured out how the food and water bowls will be disinfected. Those who clean in the morning will pull all the bowls and replace them with clean ones located in the cabinet underneath the big cage. PetSmart management has set up a cart on wheels for us in the back store room near the mop sink. The soiled bowls will simply be placed in the container on the top of the cart. It is clearly marked. PetSmart employees will clean the bowls and place them to dry on that same cart on a drain board. When you leave the dirty bowls take any cleans one back to the cage room and store them. As for litter pans and toys...we will continue to pull them all on Thursdays mornings and bring them to the Shelter to run through the sanitizer.

As for those little locks on the cages...good news...we no longer need to use them. As long as the first door is locked and the door to the cage room is locked we do not need to use the little locks. Each cage has a little lock still on it secured to a bar. In the event we need one it will be accessible. One less thing to worry about!!

There is a measuring cup in the food canister in the adoption room. In the morning please allot only one half cup of food per bowl per cat. In the big cage put one cup of food in one bowl. It is not necessary to put any more than that in the bowls. If it is properly measured out then the evening cleaners can tell how much was actually eaten. If, in the evening, half of that allotment is still in the bowl then there is no need to add to it. We need to be mindful of waste. Also, if a cat is in a cage by itself we can see if it is eating. The same goes for the litter - please do not overfill the boxes.

The adoption event went well! Thank you to all the volunteers who assisted with it. Our dogs received a lot of exposure!

Our February Feline Frenzy promotion appears to be going well. The month is halfway over - let's hope this continues!

There is one opening this month...next Friday, February 24 in the morning - in addition to this Thursday, February 16, in the evening. (Toni and Irene...you guys back yet??)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

An Adoption and New Arrivals

Jade left Wednesday night. It is always so nice to see the senior guys get adopted. She will be living with other cats and will have plenty of company.

Even after the thorough scrubbing of all cages and the entire adoption area a couple of the cats showed eye irritation this week and were brought back to the Shelter. Mo and Laura showed the same weepy eye we keep seeing. Hopefully they will be back shortly. Lotti did not show any eye issue so we left him. Please, for a few days, keep him isolated from the rest and see how he looks.

While Mo and Laura convalesce at the Shelter these four cuties will be at PetSmart. Zazu and Carlos are wonderful littermates who spent the first couple of months in one of our best foster homes. Both are males. They lived with other cats, dogs and kids. They should adjust just fine in any home. These two love each other so much that we are requiring that they go together. Once you see how they interact you will understand why. The below is not a great picture but you will get a glimpse of them at least. Zazu is the medium haired black one and Carlos is the gray guy. They are in the big cage. They are a a tad nervous right now but should be fine in a day or two.

The other two, Candy and Tiggers, are not litter mates but we had them together at the Shelter because we needed the cage space. They are now sharing two cages at the store. They will be just fine if adopted separately. Candy is a black and white female about six months old. She was surrendered by a family who could no longer take care of her. She is soooo friendly and sweet! Tiggers is a white and tabby male about the same age as Candy. She was a Christmas gift given to someone who could not keep her so they brought her to the Shelter. Both of these kittens will adjust to a household with cats, kids and dogs.

Remember we have special adoption rates through the month of February. There is a flyer posted in the adoption room with the rates and you were all emailed a copy of the flyer. Our existing policy stands for these rates...the adoption fee is waved if you adopt a second cat. These rates still apply to the reduced fees. In addition Hartz has donated cats toys to the Shelter. Every cat gets a "Kitty Casters" when they go home. These are in a litter pan on one of the shelves above the cages.

Hartz also donated beautiful large dog bowls to the shelter as well as flea control, dog toys and vitamins!

I spoke with Stacey at PetSmart and they have not set up the new system for sanitizing the food and water bowls. I'll let you know as soon as that is up and running. The system in place for sanitizing the toys and litter pans is working well.

Kitty was picking up a couple more rolls of brown paper and dropping them off on Wednesday. I assume they made it there! Thank you, Kitty!

Seems no one likes to volunteer on Thursdays and Fridays - except Christine S, of course!! Please hurry home, Irene and Toni!! Patty H, we miss you, too!! Below is the days that still need coverage for February:
Feb 9, Thurs, AM Cleaning
Feb 10, Fri, AM Cleaning
Feb 16, Thurs, AM Cleaning
Feb 17, Fri, AM Cleaning
Feb 23, Thurs, AM Cleaning
Feb 24, Fri, AM Cleaning

Reminder: this Saturday the dogs will be at PetSmart from 12:00-3:00pm.