Newest Fundraiser - "But What?"

Our Executive Director belongs to a facebook group called "oh my g-d what a f*cking cat", and a young woman named Amryn posted the below photo. 

Hundreds of people flocked to the thread to ask "why is there a shrimp ring on your wall?" to which Amryn replied "If answers are what you seek, you must earn them" and posted this photo:

Yes, that is a still. No, the original is also not a video.

Recognising that Amryn's chaotic evil deed could be turned to good use, our Director reached out to her and asked if she would like to actually make people earn the answer to the shrimp ring question. They settled on a reasonable goal for a group of 47,000 members to reach in a thread with about 700 readers, and the fundraiser was born. 

As an added (HUGE!) bonus, Tess Diamond of Art by Pastel Diamond will paint an original painting of the cat with a shrimp ring to be awarded to the person who makes the largest donation. She is a wildly talented artist whose art is captivating and whose pet portraits really mirror the essence of the companion animals she paints. 

To donate, either e-transfer here or simply send to our PayPal. Thank you so much!

What's Fostering Like?

We hear many objections to fostering around here. "I would get too attached", "I have no room", "My own cats/dogs/etc... would hate it", "I have small kids". What people don't realize is that these are all actually good reasons to foster.

"I would get too attached" is probably the most common objection I hear. Here's the thing though; we want you to get attached. We want you to really care for these little ones as though they were your very own. We want you to fret about their health, their happiness, their overall well being. You see, that's what makes a great foster family. Yes, it is hard to say goodbye at first. The first year of fostering, I wept every time I dropped kittens off at the place I was fostering for. What nobody told me was that eventually, I would welcome the surrender of my little wards because it meant that not only were they off to have wonderful lives, but that I now had room to save some more little lives. Yes, there are still the occasional foster babies who tug at my heartstrings when it's time to say goodbye (Wren, Gregory, and Moose come to mind), but even so they are meant for other families and other adventures.

"I have no room". Well, really everyone has room. We all have bathtubs, bathrooms, little unused corners of our homes that would make lovely little spaces in which to care for animals who need a temporary home while they wait for their always home. Look around you, you'll find so many spots. And you won't have to worry about paying for anything; rescues pay for the needs of the companion animal while it's in your care. That means you won't worry about the cost of food, litter, puppy pads, or anything else like that while they're your foster.

"My own pet would hate it". Well, fair. Nobody wants to put their pets through unnecessary stress. However, our oldest cats were 8 years old before we started fostering and while they weren't thrilled, they did get accustomed to the parade of little goobers through the house. It took some learning on all of our parts, but a good rescue will help and advise you through the process of settling your companion animals in to being foster siblings.

"I have small kids" is, if anything, an even bigger reason to foster! What better way to teach your children about how to give selflessly of their love and attention? They will also get to experience the wide range of personalities that animals have, and get to know about the behaviours of the animal you're fostering. Fostering with kids is a wonderful experience, and I could not recommend it more.

If you're interested in fostering or would like more information, please email us or download the foster application form here and send the completed application back to our email. We will contact you as soon as possible for a visit and discussion regarding your application. Thank you so much!

Exciting News! Also, let's talk about food for a minute.

Since the inception of our rescue's formation, we have fed our cats & kittens Royal Canin food. Even prior to that, the founder of our rescue has been a staunch supporter of and advocate for the feeding of Royal Canin. As of today, we are officially a Royal Canin shelter partner. That means that any time you adopt one of our companion cats or dogs, you get a sample of their food, plus some wicked coupons. It also means that your companion animal is coming to you with a balanced nutritional foundation.

I've been asked more than once why we don't feed a cheaper food. After all, it's a shelter (or in my own case, we have a lot of permanent residents) so funds are tight. And it's true, they really are tight. However experience with other foods has proven to me that with a few exceptions, Royal Canin has led to healthier coats, healthier GI systems, fewer instances of UT crystals recurring (our George got them terribly for a year or two, until one of our vets told us to try the RC Urinary S/O to prevent the formation of them. We haven't looked back from RC since then, and have used the range of foods to help sort out any issues our kitties were having (here's looking at you, CALM). That said, if you feed a higher quality food, you have fewer health issues which saves on vet bills. You also put a little more money up front for the higher quality food, but you're spending less on litter and food because the food is packed with more nutrients and fewer fillers than a lot of your lower end foods. Transitioning is fairly simple, by mixing 75/25 current food with new, then 50/50, then 25/75. This allows for the digestive flora to respond to the new food slowly rather than do a rapid truffle shuffle in order to "recognize" the new chemical makeup of the nutrient delivery vehicle. (Don't let "chemical makeup" scare you though; those words apply to literally everything in our world. Meat, vegetables, even your skin has a chemical makeup, and it doesn't mean it's been altered or is dangerous.) Transitioning slowly reduces the instances of diarrhea or vomiting, or of the food being rejected entirely by the animal.

That said, there are a lot of families struggling to make ends meet right now, and can't even afford to feed a lower end food let alone a really good one. No animal should ever have to go hungry, and with that in mind we still collect food donations. Those donations go back into the community by helping to feed the companion animals of families who need that leg up, for as long as they need it and for as long as we have the food to give. If you or someone you know is in need of food for their companion animal, please feel free to drop us a line.

What COVID-19 means for our rescue

Since the outbreak, it has been difficult to decide how to approach our operations both with regards to day-to-day as well as events such as adoption, fund raising and awareness campaigns. We are a particularly sensitive group with regard to dangerous contagions, given that we were blessed with a panleukopenia outbreak within weeks of formation of the rescue.

 Right now, we have no way of showing off our little lovies who are available for adoption and that has left our foster homes overloaded. If you are interested in possibly adopting, we are currently allowing for foster-to-adopt on all of our adoptable companion animals. Simply fill out a foster application, email it to our rescue with a note saying who you're interested in fostering, and we will get you started.

We are also hosting a fun little fundraiser. For $20, you can get a pet portrait painted by one of our volunteer artists. Here's the rub; you don't get to pick your artist. Your artist is first chosen randomly, and then for further mystery, we will run a random generator to determine if the portrait will be done with the artist's dominant or non-dominant hand. Here is a collection of examples based on the same photo of our Audrey;

As you can see, you have to have a pretty good sense of humour and a broad appreciation for art in order to enjoy participating in this fundraiser. To participate, either email a photo to us or send it to us over facebook messenger. We are all looking forward to seeing what comes from this fundraiser, and it complies with the isolation protocols in place.