Monday's News

Today certainly had it's ups and downs! This is my first week cleaning the condo on Mondays; Judith was supposed to be off today, but ended up at the shelter twice. She picked up Draper this morning to transport him to the vet to have the rest of his tail removed, then picked him up at the vet to bring him back to us. He is in the education room looking quite perplexed. I think he's a little sensitive about the way his back end is looking right now, so please try not to stare!

Kiara and Walter were moved from the back cat room into the condo. Kiara is fitting in nicely--she swats at everyone who dares to pass her cage! She and Walter will be altered tomorrow on the Assisi van. Mister, the big fluffy cat with the big fluffy head, will also be altered and more than likely shaved. I wonder how much of him is just fur?

Thank goodness for Nicole showing up today! She helped me tremendously by cleaning the office cats' cages and scooping the condo litter boxes. She also loved on Coconut and bathed Robin, one of the Waggin' dogs, who had very bad diarrhea and walked all over it. Nicole bravely administered a big dose of Pepto to Robin and managed to only get a little on herself!

Noodle, who was allowed into the general population on Saturday, has adjusted nicely to her surroundings. She is also now one of the escape artists, so watch out for her!

We received 8 new cats today. The first two that came in are huge and fluffy! One is a 6 year old purebred blue point Persian named Silver Bells Jingle, a.k.a. Mr. Jingles. He was already named when he arrived. Mr. Jingles arrived with Jasmine, a gorgeous black and white long haired kitty. She has black tipped fur with a white undercoat. Both cats are altered, and the owner claimed they are UTD on shots. We are awaiting confirmation.

A kind citizen brought us Mary and her 3 very tiny kittens. Mary is a mostly white calico; she kind of the darker version of Fiona. She says her neighbors moved out and abandoned her with 4 kittens, but one of the kittens did not make it. Mary is VERY sweet and is a good mother to her babies. Rebecca and I vaccinated her, and she was happily feeding her babies when I left this evening.

Another kind citizen brought us Pepper, a big gray male cat. He really likes to MEOW! He was vaccinated and singing a duet with Mister when I left.

Brook arrived in a trap, so I thought she was feral at first. Boy, was I wrong! She is very friendly and sweet. She looks like she may already have URI, as her eyes were somewhat goopy. Brook was also vaccinated today.

An employee from Towne & Country vet clinic in Christiansburg came in today and picked up 2 of our cats from the back room. T&C apparently picks up cats from us on occasion, alters them, and finds them responsible homes. Today, they selected a big male Tuxedo, whose name might be Tom, and Edith, a little gray and white kitty (dilute tuxedo? semi-formal?). Sadly, Tom was FIV+ and was euthanised. As we all know, sick kitties are difficult to place, and sitting in a cage for months is no quality of life. The employee from T&C plans to return to pick up one of our friendly yellow cats (there are 2 in the back currently) and she would also like to take Mary and her babies.

Other unfortunate news: Sugar, our black and brown hound, was returned to us today after being adopted last Thursday. The new owners had changed her name to Maisie. They claimed that she was "aggressive" when they tried to take a bone away from her. She may be food aggressive, so please try to keep a little food in her bowl at all times!

Our shelter received a very nice compliment today. A man came in to drop off an application for assistance and commented on how clean and nice-smelling our shelter is! He said he expected there to be some smell due to all the animals, but our shelter didn't even have that! He mentioned another local shelter, and said their facility has a horrible smell. It may sound silly, but it says a lot about all the hard work that is put into that shelter every day to make it the nicest one around!

Our hearts go out to all the people who have lost a loved one at VA Tech today.

Everyone please take a moment to read about Clementine (article below), our most recent 3-legged animal. Rebecca did a very nice and informative article, and we all need to be aware of the information she presents. Plus, there's a warm and fuzzy story! Thanks Rebecca!