One evening, Furry Friends received a call from two of our very dedicated fosters, Veronica and Sam, about a tiny baby kitten found in a fireplace by their friends, who knew the right people to call!

Studies suggest that one very safe and effective form of stress/anxiety therapy, with absolutely no side effects, is to simply pet an animal! With stress and anxiety at an all time high, animals are our best “medicine.” Petting a furry friend for 10 minutes has proven effects on lowering our cortisol (stress hormone) levels. Not only are animals helping us, at the same time we are benefiting them by giving them the love and attention they want and deserve.

Furry friends receives all kinds of requests for help, some of these include properties that have been overrun by our feline friends. This can start with 2 cats and good intentioned owners. All it takes is for the cats to not be spayed/neutered and it can turn into a 30 cat hoard.

If you adopt a pet, please keep in mind that this is a commitment for the life of that pet. This poem was written with Hunter, a cat that Furry Friends rescued in mind. Although we don’t know 100% if Hunter was dumped it seems likely. Jenn Hutchman wrote this for all the dumped cats like him. Maybe one day people will realize this is not a solution to re-homing your pet.*

I got a new family when I was a kitten
They spent time with me all day
They fed me and loved me
And they really loved to play

Most of the cats and kittens that come to Furry Friends just need routine medical care, which can still cost from $200 to $500 per kitty. But then there are the handful of other cats that need a lot more care. For 2021 we had to perform several eye removals, a couple amputations, many dental procedures and more. We have spent about $126,000 on medical for 2021 alone. Here is a story about one kitty that is currently going through a lot.

We would like to welcome Cynthia Johnson as the new Treasurer for Furry Friends. As Treasurer she will also be a part of the Executive Committee. She replaces Helen McCann who is newly retired and wishes to pursue some other interests at this time.
Here is what Cynthia has to say about herself:

Furry friends could not operate without the help and experience of all of our volunteers and fosters. Some have played many vital roles over the years. One of those amazing people is Chris Kiefer. She had this to say about her time with Furry Friends. 

What a year 2021 has been!  Furry Friends has many exciting things that have happened and even more exciting things still to come.  Some of our accomplishments include medical saves, amazing adoptions, spay/neuters, new services and the ability to hire paid staff.

Jazmynn Hoffman is our second paid staff member for Furry Friends! She is our House Manager and Volunteer Coordinator. She also assists with adoptions, intakes, babysitting kittens for fosters, and she recently started fostering kittens herself.

The adoption of Sofi and Sable from Furry Friends prompted Nanis and Philip Gilmore to build their own, scaled down version of a kitty “catio.”

The holidays are the perfect time of year to give back to the charities and organizations that you feel most passionate about — and if you’re a cat lover, Furry Friends is the perfect place to share some holiday joy. There are lots of ways to help cats & kittens during the holiday season and, really, anytime. For so many of us it seems like our homes are already filled with “stuff”, making us feel that it makes no sense to give one another even more “stuff”.

This is Ren (we called him Sadness because he always looked sad). Today (August 4) we had to be there for him while he crossed the Rainbow Bridge. He was my bottle baby and has been with me since he was a tiny baby. After many tests it was concluded that he had Intussusception which is where a part of his intestines slid into another part. This caused him to go into sepsis and his best option was to be humanely euthanized. He would not have survived the surgery he would have needed to repair it. Jesse was with him holding him. It’s heart breaking to lose him but at least he was loved while he was here. He was such a funny, sweet little boy. Rest in peace little sadness

We humans can only imagine what life is like for a cat that has a serious eye condition and needs to have that eye removed. They can’t understand why they have lost vision, why their eyes don’t work the way they once did.

Sweet Ulysses, one of Furry Friends’ kitties, is a cat that lost an eye. He doesn’t comprehend why he needed the surgery—or why he must wear two cones around his neck. (“Hey, humans, two cones are two too many!”). He also has no way of knowing the cost of his operation.

Salmon Creek Plastic Surgery will be holding a spa fundraiser for Furry Friends, from September 13 to 17. Salmon Creek Plastic Surgery will donate 20% of all Spa proceeds to Furry Friends. This fundraiser is held in conjunction with the Furry Friends annual auction.

It started out as a typical story for Furry Friends, a cat rescue in Vancouver, Washington. We received a call that there was a pretty grey mom cat that had seven kittens. We took the mom and babies in and they went to Veronica and Sam Roderick’s home for foster care. They named the mom cat Vaneesha. The couple cared for the babies making sure they were growing up healthy and happy so they could be adopted out. Veronica soon found out that Vaneesha was pregnant again. How could this be? The cat was not allowed to go outside while in her care. It turns out that cats can become pregnant while they are still nursing a litter. When we took Vaneesha in she was already pregnant. So Vaneesha was growing and getting ready to give birth to the next litter but there was a problem.

Debbie Baughman has volunteered with Furry Friends since August of 2017. She retired in 2016 and moved to Vancouver from Georgia. Wanting more to do in her down time and to get to know the area better she visited the Human Services Council in downtown Vancouver to find some volunteer opportunities. She saw Furry friends and knew that would be the purrfect fit. 

Kensie Broom Peterson is the Medical Director for Furry Friends. She has been with our organization since March 2021 and is our first ever employee working around 25 hours a week. We have saved so much in vet expenses by having Kensie as a part of our team. We are able to do more things in house and it allows us to use the savings to help even more cats. Kensie also has many connections in the Vet community which has enabled us to form even more partnerships. On top of her medical duties, she has also joined our Board of Directors to bridge the gap between the Board and the medical team ensuring everyone is on the same page and up to date with the care of our cats.
We had several questions for Kensie from Portland State University students that are writing grants for Furry Friends.
Question (Medical Funding for Seriously-Ill Cats): What is the capacity of the new Medical Director? I see they are able to aid in doing procedures in house, cutting costs. What are you able to do in house and what still needs to be done with outside partners?

Milkshake was a stray girl who found her way to a loving community member. Right away she knew that the cat needed help as she was very pregnant. She took her into her home and kept her well fed and comfortable while she contacted local rescues. She got in contact with Jenn at Furry Friends and we just knew we had to take this girl in. It was a time deemed as “kitten season” so Furry Friends had many requests to take in pregnant mama’s. Fortunately we had just acquired several new fosters and we decided that Milkshake (named while with Furry Friends) would go to new foster mama Danielle.

Karen Laksamana is one of our volunteers that works behind the scene. She has been involved with Furry Friends since about 2008. She designs our yearly print newsletter and she works on the fall auction fundraiser committee every year and volunteers at the event along with her mom Cherry Berry taking care of the data input. We asked Karen a few questions, here are her answers.

Ruby Deal is one of Furry Friends newer socilaizers. She has been volunteering for the last 5 months. As a socializer her tasks include not only petting cats (although that is a perk!) but to give extra attention to the kitties who come in scared, abused, depressed/lonely, or a little feisty. 

Nichole is the shift leader for our Monday evening cleaning & care shift. When asked what she does during her shift, she said “When I come in and before I leave I do a full inventory of the cats at the shelter. I am always spending time with the kitties that need special attention. I pay close attention if they are eating and using the bathroom properly. I rely heavily on my team to tell me if they notice anything out of the ordinary and then make notes about it and pass the information along to the proper people. I clean and organize a lot at the halfway house. I make sure everything that needs to be done is done before leaving. I am also available most of the time if I am needed to come in and help.”

Paris Woods is one of our Furry Friends medical team volunteers who has been volunteering every Sunday since Sept 2020. She also likes to come in and socialize with the cats that need some extra attention. 

When asked what her favorite part of volunteering was she said it’s seeing all the kittens when they come in for their medical checks. So many cute kittens!

Mike and Tanika Campbell started with Furry Friends in 2012 by starting a food collection/donation at their work. This led into volunteering to be socializers and enrolling their lab in the pet assisted living therapy program. When Furry Friends made its big move into the current location they assisted with the tear down of everything, moving to the new place, yard work, and random handy work around the Halfway House. They also helped with in person events and kept four feral cat colonies fed over the years. Currently they are fosters for our medically needy adult cats, pregnant moms, & kittens. They are very good at coaxing cats out of their shells and getting them to trust people.

Lisa Baxter has handled the procurement for our annual fall auction for at least nine years now. It is a year round job. She often puts in close to 400 hours a year handling this big important job for Furry Friends. Here is a little about Lisa in her own words.

“How I got involved: My son needed a senior project for high school.  One of the staff members in the school office, mentioned Furry Friends. That began in May of 2010 and he still volunteers today, when he has time available. That was my introduction to Furry Friends.  I was intrigued by the dedication and caring of the volunteers and wanted to help. This is my forth year on the Dinner Auction Committee.