News from the Bungalow

Tinker Bell

Mowgli's Bungalow is fully operational and the kitties are in and LOVING it!   10 new cats and kittens were brought in from the cold and the kittens that didn't get adopted this summer are growing into young adults with their new friends!

Ceasar and Mojo are busy keeping all eyes on the herd of kittens that have taken up rough housing and wrestling as their favorite activities.  We thought Bowie might help the grandpas keep order- but he's as bad as the kittens!!  Thankfully Pussy Willow and Golden Boy have stepped up as reinforcements!  Every time a volunteer or visitor steps into The Bungalow, they are charged by a heard of kittens and their supervisors- it's quite an experience!  

Soon The Bungalow will be giving a home to many more homeless northwoods kitties.  What we thought were going to be 80 cats coming from one situation turned into over 150 cats!  Once their 3 month holding period is over about 50 cats will be descending on Catkins and our two catteries!  The next several months will be spent making sure that both the Bungalow and the Hideout will be ready for them!!  In the meantime, here are some pictures of the kitties enjoying their new digs!

Persephone and Dinero 

Playing Hide 'n' Seek

Pussy Willow and Aries

Getting Cozy

Making a Difference!!

The first weeks of November have been VERY busy here at Catkins!!  Armani's article came out in Nov 17 issue of Woman's World and everyone that knows him was super proud to see him recognized for his heroism!

Catkins and Helping Paws also have been very busy in a joint effort to help an estimated 120 cats that have all been living at one location.  So far over 100 cats have come into our rescues and been tested for FeLV.  All negative kitties will be held in quarantine for 3 months before being re-tested.  The city of Washburn has been exceptionally generous in allowing our rescues the use of the old Washburn pound for many of our quarantine kitties.   We're very hopeful that after the 3 month quarantine is up we can find all of these great kitties loving homes- but even if it takes awhile they're always welcome here!  Which brings me to my third piece of news... Mowgli's was finished this week and some of the residents are in!

We finished painting and laying the vinyl last week and moved in some of our kitties on Thursday.  Everything looks great and the cats are really beginning to enjoy themselves!  We are planning on adding lots of structure for the cats to play and climb on, but for now they are moved in, safe and sound!  I hope you all like the pictures!

The walls are painted and the vinyl is ready to go!

The vinyl is in and once the mopboard is up the kitties get to move in!

The toys are in and The Bungalow is ready for its residents!  I'll have pictures of playing kitties soon!

Progress

Well, the insulation is all in, the wiring is complete and the roof is on!  The volunteers are coming back on on Sunday 11/2/08 to put up the walls and the ceiling- then it's up to me to paint, paint, paint!!  Once the paint is on, the vinyl will go down and the cats will go in!!  We're hoping the Mowgli's Bungalow will be welcoming residents by the end of this week!!  

The insulation is up and the lights are on!

The floor is insulated and the panelling is in!

The metal roof will be ready to take on the winter snow!!

Mowgli's Bungalow

Mowgli's Bungalow

The new cattery is becoming more of a reality everyday!  I was inspired this summer by a tiny kitten with a genetic defect that made him impossible to adopt out.   This little kitty lived with my family for about 3 months before suddenly and swiftly leaving us.  Despite being six months old, Mowgli never grew any bigger than a 12 week old kitten.  Mowgli's tiny size didn't stop him from getting into all kinds of trouble and ruling the roost while he was here.  Mowgli was the official greeter at my house- whenever we had a new arrival, he would run and greet them (even if they hissed).  When it was dinner time Mowgli would crawl up my leg until I set him on my shoulder so he could help make the food.  Even though Mowgli was physically the smallest member of our household, but he more than compensated for his size with his personality and heart.  While thinking of what to call this new cattery, Mowgli's memory kept coming back to me.  Since so many of the kittens that will be living in the Bungalow grew up with Mowgli- I thought it would be fitting for Mowgli to move there with them!

Day 1

Two great volunteers (Billy and Leon) came over for a few hours to level the skids that Mowgli's Bungalow will rest on.

Day 2

Billy and Leon returned with Frank, an experienced builder who is also volunteering his expertise.  Within a few hours the floor of Mowli's Bungalow was constructed.

Day 3

Leon, Billy and Frank put in almost twelve hours today to get the shell of Mowgli's Bungalow erected.  The walls are up, the windows are in and the roof is on!

Day 4

The volunteers are back and this morning they papered the roof, ran the electrical wiring for the outlets and switches and put in the door!  Now it's my turn to do some insulating and when the metal for the roof arrives, building will resume!

October at Catkins

Simba

Well I am excited to announce that our second cattery is about to become a reality!  Three generous and talented Price County residents are donating their carpentry skills to the project and we are finalizing the plans and the budgeting!!  This second cattery is not coming a moment too soon!  We are currently working to help some local residents with an overwhelming cat problem (population estimates are at about 85 cats).  Obviously one small building will not house all of these cats, but it's a start. 

Our vet is coming down to vaccinate all of our cats for rabies in just a few days.  She will be accompanying me to assess the health of this particular stray cat population and we will be drawing up a "plan of attack" for population management and cat placement.  I will try and keep updating you all as we get a better handle on this situation.

As long as our vet is down here, Catkins and Helping Paws (a rescue managed by our vet) will be undertaking a grant writing storm.  We will be looking into funding for everything from kennel construction to low- cost spay and neuter initiatives. 

Finally, Catkins has ordered the first batch of microchips for our rescue animals.  It has long been a goal of mine to have every animal that goes through the rescue microchipped- and it is about to become a reality!!  This way, if any animals from Catkins end up being picked up by or turned in to another organization, we can be sure to get them back safe and sound!!  In addition, we will have a scanner at our cattery that will allow us to reunite microchipped missing pets with owners much more quickly.  

Fall is bringing a whirlwind of activity to Catkins and we're doing our best to keep up!  

I hope you all are finding time to enjoy the fall weather with your furry friends!!

Laura

Congratulations August and September Adoptions!

North

Congratulations to these cats and dogs for finding their new forever homes in August and September!!

Kizmit, the sweet little papillion, who required (and received) extensive knee surgery to guarantee her a fun filled life in her new forever home.

Zion, the Siberian mix kitty, who travelled to Chicago to meet his new parents.

Toby and Vitamin, the two best friends who refused to be parted after meeting at a local shelter.  These buddies ran out of time and faced death together rather than being parted.  We are so happy that they are now enjoying their new lives together at their new forever home!!

Buddy the dachshund wasn't part of his family's moving plans, so we him found a new family that doesn't leave him at home alone and will never leave him alone without a home!! 

West moved into his new apartment in September and graciously allowed his new mom to stay there.

South is looking forward to tiring out all the kids in his new forever home.

North is quite pleased with having snagged a new family to spoil him rotten!!

Hermione has figured out that dogs are great buddies and has decided to teach her new "siblings" that she is top dog. 

We were also happy to help place Simba, given a 48 deadline, through a courtesy listing.

Congratulations!!

Big Goings On

Hi Everyone!

So far September has been a BIG month for Catkins- BIG!  I can't wait to share this exciting news with all of you!!  

It looks like we will be adding a second cattery to Catkins so that we can comfortably house 40 cats on a regular basis!  This cattery will be targeted toward housing younger cats and some of our pickier residents.  The new  cattery will be a 12' X  20' insulated building with several windows to sun in and lots of room to play in!!  Next summer with hope to add a small window perch that will allow a few cats at a time to sit outside, but stay safe.  We are hoping with the addition of this building that we won't have to continually turn away litters of kittens during the spring and summer months.

In addition (yes, there is more!) we are replacing the doors on Harold's Hideout to include large windows and insulation.  This way our residents can watch the snow blow during the winter months without feeling the chill!!

We also are planning on having our veterinarian take a trek down from Ashland and visit our facility to give everyone their 1 and 3 yr rabies vaccines.  That will be about 30 vaccinations in 1 day!

Catkins has also been entered into the "America's Favorite Animal Shelter" contest on Care2.com.  It is super easy to go and vote for Catkins and the winner gets $10,000.  You can also recruit your friends in the US to vote and the 20 top recruiters will get $50 gift certificates.  Just follow this link:  http://www.care2.com/animalsheltercontest/72779/?refer=23403.03.1222201337.0748

I'll be back later this month to congratulate all of our August and September adoptions and with more exciting news and updates!

Laura

A National Hero

Armani 

(Picture courtesy of his Foster Dad: Randy)

Catkins has a hero and pretty soon his story will appear in the national woman's magazine, Woman's World.   Earlier this spring Armani saved one of his foster siblings from falling through the thinning ice!  Be sure to check out his story in a November issue (if they can swing it, Armani's story will actually appear in October to correspond to adopt a shelter dog month).   We're hoping that the publicity will help Armani- and maybe his brother, Giorgio- find their forever homes!  We'll keep you posted as we get updates regarding the story's publication!

Getting Creative

Dexter

With winter coming Catkins is feeling the time crunch to help as many homeless cats and dogs as we can before the cold weather sets in.  Despite caring for 40 animals on a daily basis, we still consider ourselves a small rescue without the resources we need to help even half the animals in need of our aid.  So we're trying to come up with more creative ways to raise awareness and earn funds for the animals!

This summer we began working with sterilizing and relocating feral cats.  While a grand total of three ferals doesn't seem like much, a female cat can have as many as five litters a year!  All three of those kitties were females, so if they were producing kittens, and their kittens were producing kittens.... wow!!!  So if we can prevent a few more kittens struggling to survive the northwoods winters, we consider that progress!

We've also managed to set up a PayPal account to accept credit card donations, started an online collection for Dexter at fundable.com and we've registered with GoodSearch.com.  Powered by Yahoo, GoodSearch.com is a search engine that donates money to any registered charity that you specify.  Every time $100 is raised for a charity, they mail a check to the organization.  So next time instead of google- check out goodsearch!

I've almost completed assembling all of the rescue's donation boxes and our current fundraiser is going to help Dexter, our allergy dog, get his allergies tested and start a treatment program.   With the help of a phenomenal volunteer, the donation boxes should be distributed throughout Price County and begin their work shortly.

The big projects for this winter will be getting out a newsletter, maybe speaking at some schools and getting doing some grant writing!  The grants will be aimed at receiving funding for spay and neuter projects- and maybe to begin looking ahead to a facility for the dogs and cats of the northwoods!

 

Kismit's Very Happy Ending!

Tiny Kismit has many heros today! She has recovered from her double knee surgery in record time and has missed hardly a tail-wag. What a joy to see such an excellent little dog get to make so many people smile every day. Everyone who contributed to her surgical expenses and supported Laura in her decision to help Kismit can feel very proud today!

Kizmit

Some Catkins adopters still like to keep an eye on our Petfinder page (Thanks by the way!), but I wanted to share this amazing story with all of you that may not be able to keep up with everything going on with the rescue.

I made the decision to take in a happy-go-lucky little Papillion from a local animal control facility.  Unfortunately, it no longer surprises me when people don't show up to claim their lost pets, but after getting to know Kizmit it became apparent to me that this little girl would not stray far from her family.  So I began to suspect that they may have "dumped" her somewhere for someone else to find.  The big questions was why?  Here was a happy, LOVING, healthy little girl that knew how to sit and was housebroken.  Why would someone not want her?

About a week later I found out the answer.  We brought Kizzy into the vet to be scanned for a microchip, updated on her vaccines and spayed.  I got a call from my vet about an hour later, so I knew that whatever I was going to hear wasn't going to be good.  

Kizmit had grade 3 luxating patellas, this meant that within two years she would have such debilitating arthritis that she would have a hard time walking.  Basically, her kneecaps don't stay where they should in her joint and move to the inside of her knee joint when she walks.  If we could get the surgery taken care of within the next couple of months, no arthritis would have developed in the joint and she would be able to lead a normal happy life.

Well, the answer was simple:  we need to get the surgery done.  Not so simple was the answer to: how do we raise $1500 in a few months?  I still don't know how we did it, but thanks to all our Amazing doners, we raised the necessary funds to get this puppy her life back!!  

Kizmit is currently living with a loving family and is scheduled for surgery on August 12th!!  I will definitely post updates as they come in, but I can't thank all of you enough for giving this girl such a happy ending!!

This was Catkins first big fundraising effort and the end result was being able to save the life of a needy animal!  With the help of everyone here, we are making a difference for the animals in the north woods!!

So again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all!

A Whole Year Later!

It's been a little over a year since Jasper and Bryce came home to be with their new family. They are both active (very) and friendly with everyone they meet. Jasper was such a little fluff of fur that I never really thought he'd grow so much! At a great 14 pounds, Jasper is a big boy. He loves to sit on my shoulder. He's also a fantastic alarm clock. He wakes me up every morning around 5!

Bryce loves to play with Jasper. They race all over. Bryce also enjoys doing my hair! He grabs my head and shoves his nose right into my scalp, sometimes with teeth!

Both are great additions to the family!

Congratulations June Adoptions!!!

I would like to congratulate these cats and dogs and their new people!!  Way to go on finding each other!!

• Bob and Rain, two beautiful siamese mixes, went from living in darkness without food and water to living in the lap of luxury- in Oklahoma!!!

• East, was one of four "directions" born on May 1st and born to be the apple of her mom's eye!!

• Reggie, an orange and white tabby kitty, took his time (almost a year) finding just the right home- and now he plays dress up!!
  

Congratulations everyone!!! 

ZooToo Rescue Makeover

By going to www.zootoo.com/rescues/ you can register as a supporter of Catkins Animal Rescue- or any shelter/rescue of your choice. By writing reviews (of Catkins, pet supplies stores, foods, etc) and adding pictures to your ZooToo profile as a registered supporter,  you can help our rescue gain points.  

The Fine Print:

"Each supporter must be a validated registrant on ZooToo.com, upload one user photo and submit one review on a pet product or service on the website."

The rescue with the most points wins $10,000 to help the animals!  There is a second prize of $3,000 and thirteen third prizes of $1,000.  The cats, dogs and volunteers of Catkins could really put that to good use!  So if you have an extra minute, be sure to check it out!

Thanks!

Laura

Congratulations May Adoptions!!!

I would like to congratulate these cats and dogs and their new families!!!

Versace Border Collie/Newfoundland Dog

MacGyver Rat Terrier

Summer DSH Dilute Calico X

Spice DSH Black and White

Sammie DLH Black

Smokey DSH Grey and White adopted out from the CHA

Versace was hit by a car speeding down the highway, he returned to his home later that night. 

We were scheduled to pick up several puppies early the next morning and we were able to take Versace too.  He spent about a month recovering and now he is as happy and active as we could hope for and is spending his life in a new forever home!!

Sammie waited over a year for the perfect home and he finally found it!!  Sammie was one of five cats we still have from when we first officially started our rescue in December of 2006.  He had been found with an arrow in his leg and then had been taken to animal control.  It is cases like his that made us realize what we needed to do!  Congratulations Sammie!!

Snack Attack!

Hi! It's time for Snack Attack again. Each year my first grade class at Sacred Heart School in L'Anse, MI sells a snack at morning recess. We keep it simple and have pretzels or cookies and a drink. This year we raised $160. That tops last year! Both years we have donated our money to Catkins Animal Rescue. Thank you, Laura, for everything you and your volunteers do! I'll post a better picture later. But of course for now I had to include a picture of Jasper and Bryce!

Congratulations!!! April Adoptions!!

Dulce- Border Collie/Black Lab

Mozart- Sheltie

Friday- DSH Orange Tabby

Kora- Korat X

Our Courtesy Listings and Transfers:

Sasha- Boxer

Snuggle and 3 kittens- DLH Orange Tabby

McGonagall- Egyptian Mau X

Vera/Lilly

We adopted Vera on Good Friday, and on the 2 hour trek home we brainstormed and came up with a new name. My husband and I could only think of Vera from the old show "Alice" from back in the 70's early 80's. So my son suggested Lillyanna, or Lilly for short. Which fits her perfect. She has her main bond with me, so she follows me around faithfully. She loves to run and play and we are currently taking her to obedience classes. She is such a wonderful dog and I hope that the rest of her siblings are adopted soon!!!

Jasmine

just letting you know that jasmine is just the cutes, squishy cat ever. Love the sagging apron too...she just hates when i poke at it. I promise to post pictures when i get a chance.

The importance of one little letter and four numbers

To all of the supporters, volunteers and adopters of Catkins Animal Rescue, I am proud to report that today we received our official 501(c)3 status!!!  This means that all donations made to the rescue are tax deductible!  Of course, there is still A LOT of work ahead of us (zoning for the kennels and the cattery, licensing for the dogs and registering with the state), but Catkins is more determined than ever to serve the homeless and needy animals of the northwoods!  This is an incredible day for us and all of the animals and volunteers are celebrating!!

With this good news and some special donations, we are now able to take in three "junk yard" dogs that are living chained in feces and standing water.  The dogs, Calvin, Klein and Bono should be appearing on our website shortly.  We are also excited to begin working with several other local shelters and some new out of state rescues!  Every animal that is safe is a success story and the more people we can work with the more animals we can save!!!

PS. The above picture was Calvin's home before Catkins was called for help.

A special Thank You!!

Things have been VERY busy here this month in both good and bad ways.  We've had wonderful adoptions, a fabulous spay day and as "director" I've made some wonderful connections in the rescue world that have been able to help animals that Catkins doesn't have room for.  At the same time Catkins has seen a lot of human callousness this month and sometimes the frustration feels overwhelming.

What keeps me and my volunteers going?  

You guys and your adoptees!  On one of the roughest days of the month I got a notice in my mailbox that there was a package too large to deliver.  I went and picked it up to discover a wonderful lady with a heart of gold sent the doggies several months worth of treats and dental chew bones.   Deb was helping to care for some stray kittens and asked Catkins to help find them loving home when she had move all the way to Georgia.   Even half a country away, she is still thinking of us and our animals waiting for homes.  

Jasper and Liz's card was another perfectly timed piece of mail that both the volunteers and I needed after a heartbreaking day.  Remembering how much fun (and trouble!) those kittens were and how happy they are now, helps us continue what we do.   Additionally, we can't thank Liz enough for all of the awareness she has spread about appropriate animal care to her students!

The pictures and stories we see here remind us that no matter how frustrating a situation may be- the light at the end of the tunnel is the wonderful homes you guys provide for these critters.

So thanks to all of you for keeping me and my volunteers going!  

Congratulations!!! March Adoptions!

What a great month for adoptions!!  We had three of our longer term residents home this month!

A special congratulations to Breeze, a wonderful bluetick coonhound who waited nearly six months for the perfect home- and she found it!!

Also a special congratulations to Phoebe, a brown tabby kitty who waited six months at a local shelter before running out of time there and coming  to us and waiting for another six month before finding a fabulous new mom!

AND a special congratulations to Nora, a russian blue kitty who was lucky enough to find a fabulous new dad after waiting with us for almost an entire year.

Of course, as happy as I am to report that each of those three pets got wonderful new homes, I am equally happy to congratulate:

Gabana (Border Collie/Black Lab)

Vera (Border Collie/Black Lab)

Jasmine (DSH Tortie)

I wish all of these great pets and their new families lots of the very best!!

Happy Birthday, Jasper!

Today is a special day. It is Jasper's birthday. If you haven't read all the posts I've put up about him, you need to know he's a very special boy. He's sitting right here as I'm writing this, making sure I get it right! I adopted Jasper from Catkins almost a year ago. His mother, Hera, was alone and was about to be shot when Laura rescued her. I'm so grateful to Laura for taking such good care of Jasper (Cumquat) until I could bring him home. It is also Grizzly's birthday (Jasper's sister). Happy Birthday, Grizzly!

In the news!!

Check out the article written about the successful Spay Day that Northland Veterinary Services put on for Ashland/ Bayfield Animal Control, the Chequamegon Humane Association and Catkins!!

Spay and Neuter Day Rescues Animal Shelters

March Madness!!

March has been a crazy rescue month so far- and we're not even halfway through!!  We had a very exciting Spay Day on March 8th: 13 of our kitties were fixed and all 4 of our puppies were too! It was also a very exciting day for two special kitties: Jasmine and Cooler Ranch.  Jasmine was spayed and once she was fixed, her charming personality won her the heart of one of the vet techs at Northland Veterinary Services!  We were so excited to see Jasmine go phenomenal home- but no sooner was she headed to the home of her dreams then we had a new kitty in need of our help! 

The Northland Veterinary Services in Iron River was kind enough to spay a feral female kitty so that she could go back to living outside but not contribute to the cat population.  They were in the process of shaving her belly when they found the head of a .22 bullet under the tissue of her abdomen.  The bullet was safely removed prior to Cooler Ranch's spay surgery- we all considered it a miracle that the shot hadn't caused injury to any internal organs!  Prior to surgery a close check over revealed that Cooler Ranch had wounds all over her body from what appeared to be barbed wire, so after surgery the wounds were cleaned and the hair around them shaved.  Now Cooler Ranch is spending her recovery time with us and we are working to see if she can ever be an inside cat.  If she truly is feral, then she will be released with a family that cares for several outside cats.

Versace, the border collie that had been hit by a car, also had a big week!  This Monday it was time for his X-rays!  It was the moment of truth when we walked into the vet's office.  After Versace charmed the pants off of everyone he met, it was off to get his radiographs.  To get clear radiographs, Versace had to go under anesthesia and we had to leave him with the vet to sleep it off.  We were greeted by an ecstatic staff when we got back!  Versace's leg looks great!!  So he is now ready for adoption and a new home- but as his foster mom, I have to admit that I'm not ready to let him go!!

We have also had a few other dogs pass through our doors- and our cars recently.  Being on of the very few rescues in the area, we've recently begun taking in animals on a temporary basis for other rescues and foster organizations.  We were proud to assist an American Staffordshire Terrier get out of a tricky situation that would have had him euthanized in under a week- within 24 hrs we had him in a wonderful foster/adoptive home and we were blessed enough to have several larger state organizations and national organizations offer their assistance in placement!  It involved a full day of driving, and luckily our four legged passenger was a very good sport, and seeing him in a safe and loving home may the adventure more than worthwhile. 

We also have assisted an elderly lady with her beloved Doberman, Andy, and we are very excited that after spending a few days with us he will be under the experienced care of Wisconsin Doberman Rescue.  

 A year ago today I lost my beloved cat, Harold.  He was 21 years old and he was the reason I first got involved in rescue.  After I lost him, I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to continue in animal rescue.  Just looking at the past couple of weeks and everything that Catkins has accomplished, I think that Harold would approve- and maybe even be mildly impressed.   So far March has brought a lot of changes!  We've had some great adoptions, been able to work with some wonderful rescues and had a hugely successful spay day!!  I am very excited to see what the rest of March has in store for us!

Congratulations!!! February Adoptions!

I would like to congratulate these cats and dogs and their new families!

King (above) (Chihuahua/Terrier)

Kong (Chihuahua/Terrier)

Secret (DMH black and White)

Shadow (DSH black)

Snowball (DSH Grey)

Bear (DSH Black)

Aurora (DSH Dilute Tortie)

Beauregarde

Hi! My name is Beauregarde. I'm not from Catkins like my cool brothers Jasper and Bryce, but I was homeless and was adopted by their mom. When I was born my cat-mom was living in an abandoned house. Lucky for me the lady next door works for the vet and took us in when we were about 6 weeks old. They say if I had been left alone much longer I would have been feral and unadoptable. I'm still a little afraid of people and tuck my tail between my legs when I am picked up, but my family is great! I wish all the kitties at Catkins, and pups too, could find great homes! My mom heard about Harry and Hermione. They're kind of like I was. No one should be afraid to adopt us because we're a little scared of people. I know I love my family very much!

Designer Dogs

So we've all heard about designer dogs: the labradoodle, the puggle and the bug are just a few. Well we have our own designer dogs!!  Giorgio, Armani, Vera, Dulce, Gabbana and (of course) Versace!!  These pups and their dad (Versace) came from a home with over sixteen dogs!!  All of these dogs were being cared for by a kind hearted gentleman who is over 80 years old! Apparently all the people of this gentleman's town know that he will take in any dogs that are abandoned at his house- and that is how Versace ended up there!  Our big man quickly found a girlfriend and before you know it, five little designers were born!

Catkins was called in to take the puppies and we didn't really know what we would find when we got there.  We had heard that this gentleman fed the dogs home cooked meals, but there might be as many as 35 dogs!  We were happily surprised to only find 16 dogs and our five kids were in very good health!  

While we were discussing how best to plan a massive spay and neuter project with the owner, he asked us if we worked with a vet.  "Of course!  We work with several!" was the answer.  "Could you take 'Goofus' in?"  he asked, "He got out last night and was hit by a car."

Less than two hours later we were rushing all of the puppies and Goofus (now Versace) to the vet.  

After we took X-rays of the injury it turned out that poor Versace had a very serious dislocation of his left hind leg.  We got his leg in a sling in the hopes that with everything held in place we can avoid surgery.  In three weeks our papa dog will be headed in for more X-rays so we can determine how well his leg is healing.  If things are not going as we hope then Versace will be headed for surgery-so lets all keep our fingers and paws crossed for him!  

Since we had to have Versace heavily sedated for his X-rays and to have his leg placed correctly- we decided to go ahead and do the neuter at the same time.  We love all of our designers-but we don't need anymore!

All of our puppies are going through a socialization crash course (which began today with all of the vet techs giving them lots of love) and will be ready for new homes soon!  Versace will be ready for adoption once we know the status of his leg- and I promise I will keep you all posted on his progress!!

Congratulations!!! January Adoptions!

I would like to congratulate these cats and dogs and their new families!  

Gizmo (above) now Bella       (Boston Terrier)

Frosty now Sparky                 (Ragdoll)

       Timmy now Cazaril                 (Maine Coon mix)

            Lucy now Lacey                        (Redtick Coonhound mix)

Also very exciting news (to me anyway), we now have thick fluffy pillows and blankets  donated from 16 cabins out at Boyd's Mason Lake Resort.  We have so much warm, cuddly stuff that I will be driving several boxes to the shelter and the animal control facility in Ashland!

Grizzly's Twin!

This is Grizzly's brother, Jasper. I guess you can tell taking my baby's pictures is a favorite pass time for me. He's a very friendly cat who loves to sit on my shoulder. He's got great balance...he sits on my shoulder even when I'm walking! Sometimes he jumps straight up from the floor to find a perch on me. The fantastic thing is that he is so gentle he does it without a claw! When I look at Hera I notice that he looks so much like his mother. When I saw Grizzly's picture I went looking for this picture because he looks like her, too! What a sweet baby!

Grizzly

Hera gave birth to six beautiful kittens on 3/31/07 and we were adopted by Grizzly about 30 seconds after she could walk.  I have raised more than my fair share of kittens, and while I fall in love with all of them, I try not to get too attached to any of them.  Grizzly decided to test my resolve and everywhere I went she followed.  I found her sleeping in my slippers or under our dog, whenever I would sit down she would crawl up my pant leg and plop into my lap.  When Grizzly was finally ready for adoption I couldn't let her go- and shockingly my husband didn't argue!  Now, nine months later, Grizzly is still small in stature- but she is constantly growing in girth.  I don't think she'll ever be as big or as elegant as her brother, Jasper, but we love her anyway and are so happy to have her in our lives!