@AWSKennebunk had a 50th birthday carnival

The Animal Welfare Society in Maine recently had a 50th-anniversary celebration and they invited the community to join them in celebrating their 50th birthday. I found out about via their Facebook announcement and thought it would be fun to stop by and see what was going on. I know they are doing a major renovation to the shelter and was looking forward to seeing how far it had progressed.

They set up a little fair in the field by the Boston House and had a number of blow up bounce houses and slides for the kids. A few food stands and "The Snake Guy" who bought some snakes and some small wildlife skeletons to educate the kids about local wildlife. They even had a local DJ playing music.

It was an absolutely beautiful day for it and it looks like it was quite a hit.

This was new for me. I didn't realize they had a credit card reader donation thingy. How freakin cool is that. According to the sign if you insert your credit card it automatically charges your card $10.

They also had a birthday party going on in another part of the shelter. Talk about a twofer for that party

Because of the construction on the front of the building they were routing visitors to the side of the building. They had a volunteer standing at the door opening it for people and directing them to what they were looking for. Unfortunately for me, the cat rooms were locked due to the events going on. It was for the protection of the kitties which is totally understandable but it made for very poor photos. I didn't want to get in the way just to take a few photos, so we ended up leaving. It is good that they have enough staff and volunteers that they haven't needed to call me in over a year, but I do miss being close to the shelter that I'm fostering for.

Making a difference - thinking outside the box when donating to an animal shelter

My sister in law got married this past weekend. She held the service at her brother's house and they did a lot of the prep themselves. They put up a large white tent and rented tables and chairs. They ordered food from Olive Garden catering. They bought lots of veggies for appetizers and had multiple choices for desert.  It was a lovely and quite touching ceremony, and not just because my husband officiated.

The prep team prepared for 120 or so guests and while we didn't actually count we guessed that there was about 90 or so there. As does most families, my husband's family tends to buy far more food than they think will be necessary, and in this case, there was so much left over food that the hosts were in a bit of a panic as to where they were going to put it all.

I did my best to help prep the food to make it easy for guests to take food home, but I knew they would still be swimming in food, so I started thinking what I could do to help.  I made plans to take what we could use at the house. I thought of my parents who enjoy a meal at Olive Garden, so I took what they could use. I looked at the mountains of food left, including an entire table full of over 20+ bowls of salad. I tried to think of other people I could 'pawn food off on' and while I was cleaning up the tray of vegetables it dawned on me that the small animals at the shelter could use veggies. If I was going to make a run to the shelter for veggies, I might as well bring a few bowls of salad for the staff, and if I was going to bring salad, I should probably bring some dessert.  At this point, my car was full of food or I might have brought more.

Two grocery bags full of cut veg, two large bowls of salad - including two bottles of dressing and plastic tongs - and a box of desserts.

The staff wasn't quite sure what to make of my donation at first, I'm guessing they didn't quite understand what I was saying I was bringing in. When they got a look at the deserts they were all quite tickled. One gentleman even gave me a hug!  When I talked to the foster coordinator later she told me that people rarely bring in donations for the staff to enjoy.

Shelter works have very hard jobs, physically and emotionally. I have always thought that it was important to support the staff as well as the physical day to day running of the shelter - which is what most donations go towards.  A couple of boxes of popsicles in the summer.. a box of cookies in the winter.. little things are important.

Maybe you have a spare bunch of tomatoes, or your fruit tree was extra bountiful this year..  Or maybe you have a floral garden that makes a nice bouquet.  If you would appreciate someone bringing goodies to you, you know the shelter staff in your area would appreciate it too.



I took some time to take some photos at the shelter and I will share those with you tomorrow.

A final official check in for the kittens

This past Sunday the kittens took a little field trip and ended up back at the shelter for a final weigh in and the booster to their distemper vaccine (their rabies will be done when they are neutered since by law that needs to be done by a vet) and another dose of dewormer and another dose of flea preventative.  They are ready to be adopted save for the neutering which will happen tomorrow.

I was able to get photos of the girls, but I needed to help identify the boys and get another vaccine drawn up (let's just not get into why). They were very well behaved and they were a breeze to deal with. I was a little worried because the first round of nasal vaccines caused them to sneeze randomly for two weeks and so far that has not happened.

Once they were taken care of I went off to visit with Art3mis.  She is in the community room, so finding her is a bit of a challenge.  There were three or four mostly black cats in the room. There are different levels and many hidey holes for the cats so I had to wake a few up so I could take a look at their eyes before I knew which one was her.

But before I could, my search was interrupted by Spencer.

He has a very strong personality and commanded the room. Unfortunately, this 13-year-old boy had a rough time of it before entering the shelter necessitating a very handsome lion cut. This shaving also has the added effect of showing off his body which because he is hyperthyroid looks pretty sad.

He was working his way up into the bay window where food is usually kept for them.

He was sorely disappointed because the food had been removed due to a visitor to the community room. Jet, a diabetic cat, was given access to the room so he could stretch his legs and visit the catio and the bay windows. His expression reminds me of Waffles.

I ended up sneaking both Art3mis and Spencer a little snack - which of course when Jet showed up. He could smell the dry food from across the room and came over, nearly running. I had to keep him occupied while they ate.

I digress.  I found Art3mis up on a shelf again.

I spent some time with her. She does seem to be adjusting a bit to being there as it didn't take her long to ask for attention.

I don't like that she is always up on the catwalk, and often there are cats between her and the exit down to the food or the litter boxes, but she stresses out when I move her, so I left her there. When I was done I went back to the kittens who were so "stressed out" over the whole day.. so I carefully picked them up to not to disturb their nap and took them home.

Checking in on Art3mis

Last Friday I went to the shelter to check on Art3mis. She was not too pleased to be in the cage and have people invading her space. When I first open the cage door she didn't know what was going to happen so she hid in her cat bed and hoped no one would bother her.

I talked softly to her and reached my hand in to let her know who it was and she came out of her shell a bit.

She liked having her ears rubbed and slowly she came out even more. I had her eating a few treats and then I offered her a little food.

Her mammary glands had swollen up quite a bit and were actually so bad they were sticking out at least an inch on either side of her. Fortunately, she was dealing with it and it wasn't hot or obviously painful for her. I eventually picked her up and held her, which she didn't seem to mind, but she was still not quite sure of her surroundings and being out was more uncomfortable for her. I couldn't get her out on the cat tree, nor could I hold her for very long.

I went back on Sunday to see her again. This time, her cage was covered with a towel, an indicator that she wasn't dealing well with the stress of being there. I am sure it had something to do with the cage cleaning that the staff or volunteers do each day. Art3mis is a cat that likes to be asked permission to do things and whoever is cleaning wants to get in and out as quickly as possible. You can't really blame them for that, but it can cause a few things to not be done and putting up with a quirky cat can be one of them.  I learned that back when Abby was at the shelter, which is why I was making it a point to stop in and see her and give her some time with a human who she knew.

This day it only took a short time to remind her who I was and that I was willing to work on her schedule. I was able to pat her and she pushed into me as I scratched her ears. I reached in and picked her up, and for the first time, she actually snuggled into me and seemed to enjoy being held. I walked her around the room, giving her a better view of the other cats and the hallway to the other rooms as well as to the dog run. She saw the cat tree and she wanted to sit on it. I patted her and praised her and she seemed to soak it in. She wasn't comfortable with the some of the things going on, but for the most part, she was relaxed and it was very nice to see.

After a few minutes she seemed to get tense again so I put her back in her cage. She gave off the vibe that she wasn't happy about that, so I moved the cat tree over to her cage to see if she would come back out.

She was happy. She started rubbing on the tree and I gave her some loving. I tried playing with her feet and she let me. I finally got a good look at her poor feet.

If you look carefully at the first close-up of her foot, you can see I was able to pull some of the dead skin off. I asked the shelter what they are using for cracked pads, and they gave me some bag balm for it. I kinda wished I had brought my coconut oil. Ah well. In time, the dead skin will shed off and her feet will heal and be soft again.

As I was taking care of her, three staff members came in and talked to me about her. They asked if I thought she would prefer to be in a condo instead of a single level cage. I really couldn't answer that, but knowing that this would allow her to be away from whoever was cleaning the cage, I said it would probably be a good idea.  They also asked me if she liked other cats. I don't really know that either, but she was unreactive to the cats in the cages in the room with her (it is a good sign that she will but not necessarily a guarantee that she will). They asked me to stay with her while they set her up in a condo in another room. As I waited I saw signs that Art3mis was going back into heat again. It has got to be hard on her but being in heat will cause her to want to have someone touch her which has to be a good thing.

Once the condo was set up I picked her up and carried her down the hall. She took it very well. I put her in the cage and pointed out the amenities to her.

She could look out the bay window at the people or the birds. There were a few bunnies in the room waiting to be transported to a satellite adoption center, so she was able to watch the rabbits for a while. I warned the staff that if the bunnies weren't moved out before the shelter closed that they should take extra steps to secure Art3mis' cage. As a free roaming cat, I would imagine she hunted and caught her own meals for a while and bunnies might be too tempting for her. I doubt she would do it with the hustle and bustle of an open shelter, but when it was dark and quiet... I'd say all bets would be off. I was told they weren't going to be there much longer, but if that fell through precautions would be made.

The shelter was closed on Monday, so I'll try to stop by today or tomorrow to visit her again. I wish she would have been adopted by now, but I'm not shocked that she hasn't been. She does not show well at all (see that first photo) and she is going to be limited to the available homes that don't have children and are willing to work with her a bit. You never know when that right home will show up, but I'm expecting her to be there for a few weeks.

National Adopt A Shelter Pet Day #AdoptAShelterPetDay

Today is Adopt a Shelter Pet Day, an attempt to bring awareness that there are a lot of pets in shelters that are waiting for homes.

Here are some of the pets that were in the shelter when I stopped by recently.