Pamida Adoption Event!!

April 18th was a great day for the animals of Catkins!  Several of our cats and one of our puppies got to hang out in the Pamida Pet section and meet the public from 10am-4pm.  Our animals had a great time and got lots of attention!  Of course even though they had fun, the animals were hard at work educating the public on the importance of spay and neuter, adoption and the pet overpopulation problem.  Some of our animals were so convincing that they either found homes or convinced some Pamida shoppers to come out and volunteer!  Way to go guys and a huge thank you to Pamida for hosting us!!

February and March Adoptions!!

WOW!!  What a great two months for adoptions!!  We sent home some cats that had been with us nearly 18 months and some puppies that just turned 8 weeks!  Congratulations everyone!

Beowulf (above) - 3 year old DSH Buff and White Tabby

Yzma - 3 year old DSH brown tabby 

Elvis - 8 year old DMH himalayan / ragdoll X

Panda Bear - 2 year old DSH tortie

Simba - 2 year old DLH buff ragamuffin X

Wumpus - 16 week old english bull dog/ german shepherd dog X

Edward - 8 week old black lab/aussie X

Bella - 8 week old black lab/aussie X

Alice - 8 week old black lab/aussie X

Jasper - 8 week old black lab/aussie X

Rosalie - 8 week old black lab/aussie X

Emmett - 8 week old black lab/aussie X

Carlisle - 8 week old black lab/aussie X

Esme - 8 week old black lab/aussie X

We also had an exceptional SPAY DAY this year on March 13 and a huge thanks to Dr Brilla of Northland Veterinary Services and Dr Hom of Bay Area Animal Hospital.  We had SEVENTEEN cats sterilized and they are now ready for new homes!!

January Adoptions

Congratulations January Adoptions!!

• Giorgio- 1 year old Black Lab/Border Collie X  (above)
  
• Rhea- 2 year old Shepherd/Retriever X
  
• Alrai- 6 month old DSH brown tabby cat
  
• Adara- 6 month old DSH brown tabby cat
  
• Agena- 6 month old DMH brown tabby cat
  
• Keesha- 2 year old DSH tortie cat
  
• Pussy Willow- 2 year old DSH brown tabby tuxedo cat
  
• Merry Christmas- 16 year old DSH tortie cat

Congratulations, Mom!

I just wanted to let my fur-mom, Hera, know how happy I am that she's going to her forever home! Here are a few pictures of me when I was a baby. Now I'm a big grown up boy. I think I kind of look like my mom (and my sister Grizzly). I hope you get lots of toys, catnip, and treats! I love you, Mom. Your kitten, Jasper.

Saying Goodbye to Old Faces

It's true... adoptions were slow the last few months of 2008, but some of our longest residents found wonderful homes!!  So we'd like to congratulate these pets on finding their people!

Cinderella was one of our "founding kitties" and waited for 20 months before finding the ideal forever home: one where she is the only pet!!

Calvin waited for six months before finding the perfect family!  He now has a nice calm home and goes everywhere with his mom!!

Armani came to us as a puppy and waited eight months before being adopted.  He now gets to go to the doggy spa and even got a cake on his birthday!

Packer was turned in as a stray at a local vet clinic and watched as all his buddies found homes for 15 months until he charmed the pants off the kids he's now living with!  

Hera had it pretty rough before coming to Catkins:  she was pregnant, dumped on a strange country road and someone was planning on shooting her.  We think her luck improved when she came to us in March of 2007 and had six healthy babies (including Jasper, Grizzly and Petunia).  Hera's luck got even better when her new family saw her online and drove four hours to take her home!

For those who regularly visit our website, you probably didn't see Sye available for adoption. Sye's case became my personal mission.  We didn't have room for him at the rescue and he was slated to be euthanized if he wasn't moved out of the animal control facility holding him.  When I was contacted about Sye's case, I thought Sye had been through enough!  He had been held for a court case:  his owners split up and the woman in the relationship moved in with her mom. The man in the relationship ended up shooting both women and killing the mother.  The man went to prison and the young woman was in no condition to care for Sye.  This was one of those tragedies that rocked the northwoods community and the one comfort Catkins could offer this young woman making sure that her dog wasn't put down.  It took just over two weeks, but

 thanks to the internet, an experienced animal rescuer in the Chicago area was able to recommend Sye's family to me and put us in touch.  So on December 20th we all met in Portage and Sye went to his new home, where he is a big hit!

So we congratulate these pets on spending a new year in their new homes and we're getting ready to introduce you to some new faces!!

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!