Hello, my name is George.

It’s… George.

No it’s not Cheeseball.. it’s George!

Not sure why humans pick such weird names…

I am a little nervous going to this new place and meeting all these new people. Riding in a carrier has never been one of my favorite things. Am I at the vets office? Ok this doesn’t look like the vets office. I see rooms with fun things to climb on and I can smell there are other cats here. I wonder if I will make some new friends. I’ve been living outside for so long it would be nice to have some company.

A nice lady is taking me out of the carrier and I don’t know what she is looking for but she is looking EVERYWHERE! My ears, eyes, teeth, skin, and even my umm… well you get the picture. She wants me to take this medicine, it’s a pill. I think I heard her mention something about worms. That’s quite the assumption but I guess if it makes them feel better I will take it. I did get three needle pokes which I didn’t much like but they seemed happy about it. One was a blood test. They sure are careful with making sure I don’t have any diseases here! Another was a microchip so I will never get lost again!! I let them listen to my strong heart and lungs and even showed them how loud I could purr. They really liked that and gave me some wet food because they liked it so much. They gave me some medicine to prevent fleas which is good because being outside so much I couldn’t help but catch fleas. It is quite nice not being so itchy. I’m eager to see what other things they have in store for me because so far all this love and attention is ok by me! I can see other cats in here and they look happy so I think this place is ok. I think I can trust these people. I see a feather toy… I’ve got to go, feathers are my favorite!

About the Furry Friends Intake Procedure

Although this may be how the cat sees a Sunday intake at Furry Friends, it is a much more in-depth process involving many volunteers. Our intake coordinators, our note taker, our vet assistants, our vet tech, and our Furry Friends president, Jaimie Garver is there for all medical procedures to ensure smooth operations and to help wherever she is needed.

From the time a new cat comes in we are perceptive on what each particular cats needs are by doing our research, asking questions, contacting past vets the cat has been seen by, etc to gain as much knowledge of each cat before they come in as we can. We then have a cat specific game plan set up. All cats cannot fit into one box so they all need to be treated for their individual needs.

While the paperwork is being filled out the cat is taken back to our medical team where kitty gets their initial intake exam. We really do look EVERYWHERE and listen to everything, much to the cats dismay. If they have no prior medical history they will get drontal tabs (the pill) for worms, flea medicine, fvrcp vaccination, blood test for FIV/FELV, and microchipped if they do not have one.  If they have any other issues they will be treated for those; such as ear mites which are very common for strays. We try very hard to make it as calm as possible for the cats. If they are getting too worked up we will let them calm down in a quiet area and finish up their medicals when they are less scared later that day. Cats are already scared from huge changes in their life; we try not to add to that more than needed.

All cats that come into our care get the best care that we can give them. If they need anything we cannot provide at our shelter then an appointment with one of our veterinarians is set up. We work closely with veterinarians at Claus Paws & Columbia River Veterinary Specialists(CRVS). We have built a strong relationship with these veterinarians.

While every cats story is different our goal is to give them all a happily ever after.

Once a cat is deemed healthy we put them up for adoption. Our adoption fee is $100 for a cat over one-year-old or $150 for a kitten. We spend way more on these cats and kittens then we ever make on the adoption fees. Some cats we have spent thousands of dollars on and still adopt them out for $100.

About Furry Friends

Furry Friends is a volunteer run, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, no-kill cat rescue serving Clark County, Washington and the surrounding metro area. Most of the cats that we take in just need routine care such as spay/neuter, vaccinations and pest control. A handful of cats need dental procedures costing us $300 to $3000, and occasionally we end up with a very sick cat that we feel can be made healthy and can cost thousands of dollars. To find out more about Furry Friends visit our website www.furryfriendswa.org or contact us at information@furryfriendswa.org or (360) 993-1097.

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We would like to thank Jenn Hutchman for writing this article. She has been volunteering with Furry Friends since 2019 and has been an amazing contribution to the Furry Friends team. She has fostered over 50 cats and kittens so far for Furry Friends, and not just the easy ones. She has fostered several bottle baby kittens that require feeding every two hours and has taken on some of the difficult medical cases. She also is the lead person for the Furry Friends email/voice mail team, plays a significant role on the medical team and has done a number of other tasks including fundraising. For 2020 she put in about 570 volunteer hours for Furry Friends. We are so grateful for all she does.