Heather Steinmann has a rich history with Furry Friends.
She and her husband Jon joined the cat rescue organization about nine years ago after they adopted a kitten and its Mamma from the non-profit. When the couple learned that Furry Friends had a shelter, Heather said, “Oh there’s somewhere I can volunteer, and I started.”
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?
I’m unique in that I volunteer my writing skills to this amazing rescue in Vancouver, WA from my home in Toronto, Ontario, Canada! As for the journey that brought me here? Words are my passion and were my profession. A journalism graduate from The American University in Washington, D.C., I’m the bestselling author of seven novels, one work of non-fiction, two volumes of poetry, and hundreds of articles.
Nothing gives Betsy Sanford more joy than getting to know the cats who live at the Furry Friends house and giving them “cuddles and a little fun.”
“They are each so unique,” she said. “I really enjoy trying to help a cat adjust to human touch and maybe relax a little if they are stressed.”
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.
April 30th is National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day and we at Furry Friends ask that you consider saving a life by adopting a pet – purr-eferably one (or two) of the fabulous felines WE shelter.
Don’t let the Easter Bunny forget about your fluffy feline when he comes a hopping down the bunny trail. Remember the kitties with a basket filled with goodies they will like.
For the container, use a plastic basket or bucket, a decorative box or container made with untreated wood. Some of the purchased Easter baskets may be treated with toxic chemicals or paint. Handling the basket may be okay, but if your pet likes to chew on these tempting baskets, he/she may end up with an upset stomach.
When Jack and Rayne, both 14, passed away, Donne was “not in a position to get a new cat”; so she researched volunteer opportunities with cats in Vancouver and found Furry Friends. She has been a member for a year and is a shift lead on Wednesday nights.
A true animal lover, Lorien Kelly owns five cats and fosters others as needed, and she has a “little back patio sanctuary” where she feeds a family of raccoons and a pair of opossums. Lorien became involved with Furry Friends in April 2018 while she was caring for an injured stray that showed up one day on her patio.
Fury Friends and our supporters are ending a most challenging year as 2022 draws to a close. The aftereffects of Covid on the veterinary profession and on animal welfare overall caused many trials, but we have risen to the challenges and look forward to growing and improving in 2023 with the help of our many dedicated volunteers.
When Sandra learned that Furry Friends is a no-kill cat rescue, the animal-lover who has devoted her life to helping animals knew that the organization was the perfect place for her.
Furry Friends is lucky to have hundreds of amazing volunteers who dedicate hours upon hours of their time caring for our cats. Cathy McCanta is one such volunteer; she spends three mornings a week at our Halfway House shelter making sure our cats are fed, their rooms are cleaned, and most importantly that our cats are happy and healthy!
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!
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.
“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.
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.
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!
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?
Jay has been a volunteer for Furry Friends for the past year. Starting out as a socializer she quickly took on other roles such as: transporting, fostering, and is our new Friday pm Halfway House shift leader.
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:
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.
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!
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.
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”