As we approach the end of 2024, it’s a perfect moment to reflect on all that we’ve achieved together. This year has been full of both challenges and heartwarming successes, all made possible by the dedication and generosity of our community. Thanks to you, Furry Friends has continued to be a safe haven and fresh start for so many deserving cats and kittens in our area.

I hope this letter finds you and your Furry Friends happy and healthy! We have had many amazing things happen this year within Furry Friends and have saved a lot of kitties! As of this writing we have 115 kittens and 69 adults under our care, which is a record for us. We are also on track to break last year’s adoption numbers, creating another record for Furry Friends growth. To think we went from around 200 adoptions in 2019 to 700 this year is a crazy number to wrap your head around. Many things have contributed to this growth:

Wow what a great and challenging year Furry Friends has had! I will share our many amazing accomplishments in 2023 in this letter. First, I would like to send out a very heartfelt THANK YOU to all our supporters, volunteers, sponsors, and donors! Together with our Board of Directors, Leadership, Staff, and YOU, we have made a difference in so many lives and in many cases, we have saved lives! Give yourself the credit you deserve!

What an amazing year 2023 has been for Furry Friends! We have faced many challenges—and many successes-- throughout the year, but the one thing that has always shined through is our commitment to the cats in our care.

I know it seems really contradictory to say not all rescuing is responsible rescuing. Rescuing, by definition, means “to save,” so how can anyone rescuing an animal not be doing what is right?

Furry Friends is a nonprofit no-kill cat rescue and adoption organization based in Vancouver. Serving the greater Vancouver-Portland metro area, Furry Friends seeks to provide local cats in need with proper medical and emotional care while waiting for a forever home, rescuing abused, abandoned, or otherwise unhoused or unadopted cats with a safe place to stay while searching for their perfect human companion.

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?