Fall 2006
“Hi Everyone!
Now that the summer season has drawn to a close, I volunteered to be S.A.R.A.’s Official Spokes-cat to let you know what a busy time we’ve been having - rescuing, assisting and advocating for shelter animals!
First, a bit about me ….. my name is Nora, I’m about 7 years old, and was taken to LCAS (Lane County Animal Animal Regulation Authority) on May 9 of this year. The staff there thought I was pregnant, so they weren’t going to give me a chance at adoption and were going to immediately end my life.
Luckily for me, the SARA Cat Ladies, Melinda & Nicole, stopped by the shelter. They thought I was sweet and deserved a second chance, so they rescued me.
I looked like a brown cat until they gave me a bath, and then my beautiful white markings came out. Now that I’ve been on a high quality diet for several months, I feel so good that I play like a kitten! I also enjoy supervising the shop staff and volunteers, and keeping an eye on all the other rescued kitties, while I wait for someone to come in, fall in love with a dignified lady like me, and offer me my “forever” home.
It seems like there are more cats being abandoned this year than ever, so the Cat Ladies and their assistants and volunteers have been going crazy rescuing, caring for, and finding responsible, loving indoor homes for a record number of cats and kittens 152 so far! Each of us is health-checked, tested for Feline Aids & Leukemia, fully vaccinated, wormed, flea-treated, microchipped and of course spayed or neutered before being placed up for adoption.
As if that was not enough to keep everyone at S.A.R.A. busy, they’ve also been helping raise funds for the Willamette Animal Guild (W.A.G.)’s low cost spay-neuter clinic project, to ensure that every Lane County resident has access to affordable spay/ neuter services. The clinic’s goal is to reduce the local pet overpopulation problem, so that every kitten and puppy that is born will be able to find a loving home, and that feral cats can be provided the care and respect that they deserve. (www.wagwag.org).
And if that wasn’t enough, they’ve also been supporting the campaign to achieve a No Kill Community in Lane County, so that our local “shelters” can truly become the havens for abandoned and homeless cats and dogs that they were meant to be.
So, without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to a few of my rescued feline friends, and then give the dogs a chance to chat with you, too....”
HALEY
& HER
KITTENS
“I was practically a kitten myself, just one year old, out having a good time like young folk tend to do, when....oops! I became pregnant. It’s too bad that my people hadn’t been responsible enough get me spayed. Instead, when my babies were just 2 weeks old, they got tired of dealing with us, and took us all to LCAS.”
“It is a well known fact among cat care professionals that kittens ideally should stay with their mothers until they are least 12 weeks old, so that they can get the nutrition they need from their mother’s milk, and be taught good kitty manners, and should never, ever be separated before 8 weeks of age. In spite of this, the LCAS staff offered the S.A.R.A. Cat Ladies “you can just take the kittens if you don’t want the mom”! (I hate to think what my fate would have been had I stayed at LCAS!). So the kittens (Scout, Groovy, Kizzy, Rowdie, Rascal) and I all were rescued and have become healthy, happy S.A.R.A. kitties.”
Motherhood is a huge responsiblity - all that endless feeding and cleaning! As you can imagine, I was very relieved when the kittens were finally old enough to eat on their own, and then be spayed/neutered and ready for adoption themselves. Now we are all happily living at S.A.R.A.‘s Treasures, greeting the customers and waiting for our forever homes! Thank you for caring!”
“Hi, I’m Sophie, and I was found wandering in Junction City. Even though I had given my family at least 8 years of love and devotion, they never came forward to claim me.
As you can see, my family had allowed a flea allergy to get way out of control, and I was a bit of a mess. Fortunately, the S.A.R.A dog ladies Diana and Dallice were able to rescue me from the JC pound and thanks to you, the kind S.A.R.A. supporters, I was able to get the Veterinary care I badly needed.
I spent 2 months healing at The Waggin Inn and with loving foster parents Yolanda and Richard, and then was adopted by a wonderful family - Nancy and her sons Warren and Graeme were looking for a companion for their shy 8 year old Spaniel mix, Gromit, and I really “fit the bill”.
Not only did I settle in beautifully, but Nancy has found me to be a great “therapy dog” for her clients who come to her for counselling sessions. Thanks to you, a little “thrown away” dog like me has a happy home and a volunteer job that I just love! ”
S.A.R.A. dog ladies rescued me and I spent time at the Waggin Inn and with foster Mom Bette before being adopted by a wonderful family, 3 out of 4 of whom you see pictured here - Steve & Lollie and son John (daughter Gracie was away at Gymnastics class). Lollie and Gracie have been taking me to Jennifer Biglan’s “Good Dog” classes and I really enjoy my classes.
Thank you for helping S.A.R.A rescue me and find me the loving family that I was longing for!”
Kittens - narrated by Riley the kitten
“When we were just 3 weeks old, the father of our human family got tired of having us around, put us in a trash bag, drove to the river near Junction City, and threw us in! Luckily for us, a nice woman saw him doing this. Suspecting that he was “up to no good” she tried to get his license number, but was unable to. She and her nephew then quickly waded into the river to see what was in the bag. There we were - 10 little babies, all cold and stiff!! Desperately trying to save our lives, she rushed us to her home, and she and her family bathed us in warm water to get us back up to our proper temperature and gently dried us with a hair dryer.”
“She called S.A.R.A. to tell them that because she couldn’t keep us, she had been forced to take us to the LCAS shelter, but she was worried about our chances there. The Cat Ladies promised to check up on us, and to try to rescue us if needed. When Melinda and Nicole arrived at LCAS later that day, they found that we were scheduled to be killed because we had colds (so would those LCAS people if they had been thrown in the river!!).
Thanks to your kind support, the Cat Ladies were able to rescue us and find a loving foster home for us. Sadly, the ordeal was too much for my littlest brother, and he died, despite everyone’s best efforts. The other 9 of us, though, were able to be nursed back to health and we learned to socialize and play with the foster family’s cats, dogs and people. When we were were old enough, we were spayed/neutered, microchipped and came to live at S.A.R.A.‘s Treasures so that loving, responsible homes could be found for us.
Willy, Disco, Dijon, Clover, Freddie & Seymour have now been adopted to carefully selected homes, but Cheddar, Chipster & I are still waiting for our Forever families to fall in love with us and take us home.
Thanks for helping S.A.R.A. save our lives! ”
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