By Jenn Hutchman

Furry Friends Executive Director

The kittens and cats that Furry Friends rescue come from a number of places. Here is just one story of people with a big heart rescuing a litter of kittens and their mom that would surely die if it was not for their efforts.

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.

They all had a feeling that this kitty they had been feeding must have had babies. This area is very dangerous for kitties with semi-trucks driving around, the dangerous trailers they could get locked in, and the heat. Another worker, Michelle, took action first and recruited some help from her co-workers, Trenton and Zack, and they started digging through the piles of items in the trailer to get these babies. Michelle was able to get the first baby around 4:00pm and gave him to Mike and Tanika Campbell (who work at Frito Lay and are also two of our Furry Friends foster parents) who then brought the baby to our Executive Director, Jenn Hutchman. By 7:00pm three more babies were caught and it was time to set a trap for the mama. Heather Williams, another Furry Friends foster, brought a trap and set it up to wait for the mom. At 9:00pm the mom was caught and Tanika brought the three kittens and mom to Jenns house.

All was back to normal at Frito Lay until around 1:00am when Will went back into the trailer and found another baby! The baby was scared and didn’t make a peep and just got as small as he possibly could. This kitten was then brought to Jenn by Tanika around 4:00am to be reunited with his family.

Frito, Ruffles, Cheeto, Funyun, Dorito, and Mama Sun are all safe now thanks to the work of multiple shifts and crews at Frito Lay! The kittens are young enough to be socialized and the mom seems like she could be friendly once she is more comfortable in her surroundings.

But the Frito Lay story didn’t end there….

The following night Michelle, who grabbed the first baby Frito, ended up scooping up another young friendly kitty on the property. This kitty was given to Mike to bring to our shelter the following morning so that we could scan for a microchip. Once arriving at Furry Friends it was found that the kitty was chipped! We called the owners registered to the chip and found out that their cat, Pickles, had disappeared 5 days prior and they assumed something bad had happened to her. She was found at Frito Lay over 2 miles from her home! How she got there no one knows but the owners were thrilled that she had been found and Mike then drove her home! Perfect example of why microchipping your pets works!

I am sure there will be more stories coming from Frito Lay in the future but this one had an all-around happy ending thanks to the village of kind-hearted people looking out for our Furry Friends!

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Furry Friends and other shelters are dealing with a record number of kittens for 2022. Our maximum amount of kittens to care for has been 100, but currently we have 133 in our care. There have been so many emergency situations that we just could not say no to. This amount of kitties stresses our organization. We only have so much money to take care of the cats in our care. The kittens cost Furry Friends $300 to $500 each to feed, take care of medical, spay or neuter and get to a place where they can be adopted. Some cats and kittens need expensive surgeries costing $1000 to $5000. We depend on the kindness of others to keep our door open. We do not have any state, county or city funding. Our funds come from sponsorships and donors like you.

Furry Friends is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit no-kill cat rescue serving Clark County, Washington and adjacent counties. Founded in 1999, we are a volunteer run organization that rescues and adopts out homeless, relinquished, and abused cats. We shelter and care for them as long as it takes to find them forever homes. We provide medical exams, medications, spay/neuter, food, and litter for up to 460 cats each year.

Mailing Address: 6715 NE 63rd Street, Suite 450, Vancouver, WA 98661 Physical address is not published, call for an appointment.

(360) 993-1097 Message Phone

information@furryfriendswa.org

www.furryfriendswa.org