Small Rewards

It doesn't happen very often, but I went to the shelter today with NO crates. I was just going to assess a few cats and report back to potential adopters.

Anne Marie called me about a cat she saw on the Animal Control website. His name is "Gordon". AnneMarie is a lovely person who adopted a cat from me out of this shelter last year. She's amazing and lives almost 3 hours from here. "Gordon" caught her eye because she felt that he was a cat that looked like he needed the most help.

She was right:

Certainly, Gordon wasn't blessed with the prettiest markings in the world. But he sure was sweet:

Gordon is hanging out in my guest bathroom tonight. Anne Marie is making the trek from up north to my house to pick him up. He has a forever home. :)

The next assessment was for a very sweet retired man in downtown Toronto. He was looking for a declawed cat. I jumped for joy thinking that he and Emily Grace could be a match! But he had his heart set on a orange guy....it was a wonderful day for "Kirby":

I drove Kirby to downtown Toronto this afternoon. I love playing "Stork". Delivering Kirby and watching the look of delight from his new Dad "Bernie" was a high like no other. Bernie thought Kirby was "The most handsome cat"! Kirby explored his apartment and climbed into the washroom sink. He looked like he was waiting for somebody to turn on the water. He gave us a look...."Um....don't you see that I'm thirsty?" Bernie was happy to oblige. I think this is going to be a great match. :)

(Update: As I was typing this blog post, an email came in from Bernie - he had renamed him "Jake": "Jake has settled in quite nicely and made himself at home. In less than two hours he was up on my lap purring. We have become very good friends. Thank you very much for bringing him to me."

There's a pair of sisters at the shelter that really need help. Kim has them in the dog holding area so that they can be together. I'm not 100% sure they are bonded, but they are all they have left. Their family abandoned them at the shelter because...."We just don't have the time to spend with them anymore." How I *hate* that excuse.

I climbed into the cage and sat with them. What darling, sweet girls! They were starved for attention. Oh, to be *touched* again!

Mittens has little white feet. She was SO happy to feel me pet her.Mittens and Misty have been in the shelter for SIX WEEKS in a dog holding cage. They need to get out of there.

There's a Pot Bellied pig in the holding pen next to theirs oinking and snorting. They don't seem to mind.

The hardest part was saying goodbye to them:

Their eyes seem to plead with me to get them out of there. Whomever fosters or adopts them will be very fortunate. They're so loving and deserve so much more. They've been in the shelter too long and they were looking depressed this afternoon.

Emily Grace is still there. I saw her today - she looked so hopeful.

It was a rewarding day today despite the sweet faces I left behind. I told them all that I was working hard each day to help them.

And I meant every word.