Volunteer Spotlight: Sara Lugo

Volunteer Spotlight: Sara Lugo

Sara Lugo, a Furry Friends volunteer since 2019, often rolls up her sleeves to clean the kitties’ house. She is the Team Lead on our Tuesday morning shift and frequently helps others on their shifts. Sara adopted a cat from Furry Friends several years ago, and shortly after retiring she made the decision to volunteer!

Furry Friends Fur-Ever Tail: Bruce and Mike Prato

Furry Friends Fur-Ever Tail: Bruce and Mike Prato

“Bruce, boasting a Batman cape as befits a cat with his name, is the first kitty I’ve had on my own,” says Mike. “And Bruce is and always will be his name!
“As someone living alone, and needing an indoor kitty, the fact that Bruce was FIV+ made him an ideal fit. When I met him, it was love at first sight. His adjustment to living with me was almost immediate. It only took him about 30 minutes to explore his new environment and start making himself at home.

Volunteer Spotlight on Kelli Thompson

Volunteer Spotlight on Kelli Thompson

Introducing our new Volunteer Coordinator, Kelli Thompson! Kelli has been volunteering with Furry Friends for a little over a year, and initially started out as one of our kitten foster
parents. In that amount of time, Kelli and her husband, Josh McClellan, have fostered 8 different litters of kittens! You may have also seen them at the Halfway House, since Kelli and Josh have
recently been working as House Shift substitutes as well.

Furry Friends President’s Report for 2022

Furry Friends President’s Report for 2022

“What a year it has been! We have had many successes and many challenges along the way, but despite those challenges we have saved hundreds of cats and kittens and continue to make an impact on the community we serve.
One of the challenges that we are facing is that we are now feeling the full effect of the veterinarians partial closures from the past couple years of COVID19. With the community having limited to no access to spay and neuter services for 2020 and part of 2021, we are now seeing the result of that. It Kitten season ALL-YEAR-LONG. 

Furry Friends Fur-Ever Tail: Boo and Alexis Kolar

Furry Friends Fur-Ever Tail: Boo and Alexis Kolar

“I’ve had cats my whole life,” Alexis says, “and as soon as I got my first solo apartment I knew I wanted to adopt a cat. Although she was called Dove when I adopted her, I changed her name to Boo and it suits her personality purr-fectly. I chose her because she needed to be an only pet in a quiet home and I knew I could provide that environment for her.

A Happy ending for a litter of kittens

A Happy ending for a litter of kittens

It was brought to Furry Friends attention in early September that at Frito Lay in Vancouver some of their workers (Chris and Will) had been feeding a stray cat for over a month. This particular day another worker (Josh) saw four-week-old kittens in a trailer that was stuffed full and probably 120 degrees inside.

Furry Friends Fur-Ever Tail: Maizie and Blaize and the Garvers

Furry Friends Fur-Ever Tail: Maizie and Blaize and the Garvers

“I adopted Maizie first,” explains Jaimie, “and when she came home to meet the rest of the family, she sat and growled at everyone. Our resident cats wanted to sniff her, of course, and follow after her, and amazingly, a few hours later, I found Maizie sitting in the middle of the living room with the other cats around her as if she were holding a meeting! After that, they all got along fine.

Volunteer Spotlight on Amanda Kadell

Volunteer Spotlight on Amanda Kadell

Meet Amanda! She started volunteering with Furry Friends back when she was in high school, in order to complete community service hours for graduation. She took a break from volunteering after that, but started back up last fall after adopting one of our kitties, Leia. Unfortunately, her senior kitty wasn’t able to accept a new cat in the household, so Amanda and her family had to make the hard decision to relinquish Leia back to Furry Friends. Even though this meant she couldn’t adopt any more cats herself, she started volunteering in order to help the many other rescue kitties in need of forever homes!

Furry Friends Fur-Ever Tail: Stanley Hudson and Megan Benavides

Furry Friends Fur-Ever Tail: Stanley Hudson and Megan Benavides

“I adopted Mouse now called Stanley Hudson from ‘The Office’ on January 24th, 2022. I named him that because he had a grumpy looking face. Lol!

“He is the best decision I ever made. I lost my ginger baby Duke of 16 years on December 5th, 2021. The pain, honestly, was unbearable, and my remaining cat Lena, also adopted from Furry Friends, was devastated. Although I knew it was too soon to adopt another cat, hearing Lena cry and cry and call for him was breaking my heart. They were bonded.

Declawing is a Bad Idea

Declawing is a Bad Idea

Let’s talk about Onychectomy! What in the world does this word mean? Declawing. This is an operation to remove an animals claws surgically by means of amputation of the end bones on an animals toes. Popular misconception is only the nail is removed since the name means “nail excision” but since the phalanges are removed it would be better termed as a phalangectomy or surgical removal of the phalanges. Would this deter people from declawing if they knew it was similar to cutting off your own finger up to the first knuckle and not just removing your nail?

Furry Friends Fur-Ever Tail: Mustache and the deHilsters

Furry Friends Fur-Ever Tail: Mustache and the deHilsters

“This is the first pet my husband and I have had together,” explains Addie. “Originally, his name was Keenan, but we decided to change it because, strangely enough, my sister once had a beloved cat named Keenan and we thought it would be too confusing. Our kitty is now known as Mustache (nickname Moose). He has cute little black markings above his mouth that reminded us of a gentlemanly mustache, so we went with it.

Keeping Kitties Indoors

Keeping Kitties Indoors

At Furry Friends we get a lot of questions on why we adopt out of kitties to indoor only homes. Many people feel guilty thinking they are depriving their cat the pleasures of being outdoors. Along with the freedom of being an outside cat comes may risks for your furry family member. We will discuss some of those below:

Volunteer Spotlight on Lisa Baxter

Volunteer Spotlight on Lisa Baxter

Lisa Baxter is one of our long-time volunteers. She has been volunteering with Furry Friends since 2013 as our auction procurement lead. Her son, Austin, volunteered for us for his senior project and she was so impressed by the volunteers and the annual auction she jumped in with both feet. This volunteer position is quite the job gathering items for our big annual fall auction while keeping track of donors and coming up with ideas for future auctions. 

Furry Friends Fur-Ever:  Cheshire and Aime

Furry Friends Fur-Ever: Cheshire and Aime

“I gravitated toward Cheshire because he was one of the longest residents at the shelter and because he matched my lifestyle. I knew I would be away much of the day for school and eventually for work, and the fact that he’s content to spend most of his time simply watching the birds from my window is ideal. Also, when I first met him, I apparently stayed with him longer than other visitors did, allowing him to work up the courage to play with me.

Furry Friends Fur-Ever Tail: Surri and Marion Ward

Furry Friends Fur-Ever Tail: Surri and Marion Ward

“I’m a cat lover and have had cats ever since I was a young girl,” Marion says. “I adopted Surri after losing my cat Precious two months before, and because I’m an older woman living alone, I looked at six different cats at Furry Friends who were between the ages of 10 and 11.
“I chose her because she was beautiful, with these marvelous marbled markings, and because she seemed very affectionate. I didn’t change her name since Surri seemed to suit her so well.
“It wasn’t evident in the shelter that she was Miss Personality Plus with plenty of energy! She’s 11 years old but she still thinks she’s a kitten and LOVES to play. She also loves classical music, especially Beethoven. We’ve bonded utterly and completely and she follows me into whichever room I happen to be in. She needs plenty of attention and enjoys being petted, makes the most wonderful companion, and is relatively friendly with visiting guests.
“She also has a sense of humor: she knows the best way to get my attention is by sitting or lying down in the middle of my computer keyboard at the most inconvenient times!”
______________________
Furry Friends Fur-Ever Stories are compiled and written by Nomi Berger who is the bestselling author of seven novels, one work of non-fiction, two volumes of poetry, and hundreds of articles. She is a volunteer writer for Furry Friends in Vancouver, WA and also volunteers her writing skills to animal rescue groups in Canada and the USA. She lives with her adopted Maltese named Mini.

Volunteer Spotlight on Jim Grafmyre

Volunteer Spotlight on Jim Grafmyre

Jim has been a volunteer for a little over a year now and has become invaluable as our jack of all trades and handyperson. This year he has repaired gutters, cleaned the roof, made a door for our hot water heater, helped to make improvements to get the commercial occupancy permit, fixed the outdoor lights, fixed a few catios, weather sealed windows, built/installed new interior doors, and continues to take care of whatever needs done. He says he has a long wish list of Sandi and Jenn’s projects to still complete. We keep him busy! 

Furry Friends Fur-Ever: Bonnie and the Pallisters

Furry Friends Fur-Ever: Bonnie and the Pallisters

“Although she was originally called Sweetheart when we adopted her, we chose to re-name her Bonnie instead,” Erica Lee explains.

“While she entered our home as an extremely shy and scared kitty, she opened up quickly and blossomed. We have two other cats and two small children, and not only did Bonnie promptly begin interacting with the cats, she instantly fell in love with our children.

Furry Friends Fur-Ever: Cow-Cow and the Johnstons

Furry Friends Fur-Ever: Cow-Cow and the Johnstons

“I’ve had cats as pets for close to forty years,” Claire says. “My new cat, Cow-Cow, is number four. My last cat, Mink, died in December of 2020, at the ripe old age of nineteen. I was heartbroken at her passing and wasn’t sure I would ever get another one. But ten months later, I started looking at shelter websites for a new kitty, although not whole-heartedly.

Volunteer Spotlight on Freya Fisher

Volunteer Spotlight on Freya Fisher

One of our many dedicated volunteers is Freya Fisher. She has been volunteering with Furry Friends for the last year and a half. She began volunteering right after she moved to Vancouver, even before she found a house to live in! She came from Fairfax, Virginia where she volunteered at multiple animal shelters.

Pregnant Cat & Newborn Kitten Facts

Pregnant Cat & Newborn Kitten Facts

 1.     Cats can get pregnant when they are only 4 months old! So by the time they hit 1 year they can have up to 4 liters of kittens!
2.     Cats are only pregnant for around 63-65 days
3.     The process of preparing for kittens is called “queening”

Furry Friends is a nonprofit cat adoption organization. Its mission is to help homeless, relinquished and abused cats by providing spaying and neutering, medical care, and foster shelter for as long as it takes to find their forever home. Copyright © 2013 – 2020 Furry Friends. All rights reserved. Website design and development by Christina Roberts.