#Blaugust 2023 #26 – Adoption event extended until tomorrow!

Ear tipped brown tabby with bright green eyes looks up at me. — *Calvin, one of our regular TVAR cats at home, greets me after work. 🙂*

Today’s Clear The Shelter event was every bit as busy as expected, and they’ve decided to extend it until tomorrow. This is great news for the animals waiting for good homes! I haven’t heard the final numbers yet, but we were at 85 animals adopted near the end of the day. I know our goal was 100 animals, so I’m curious to see how close we got today and where we end up after tomorrow!

That is not great news for today’s blog entry as I’m pretty wiped and also pretty work- focused. But it does mean more animal pics, so it’s a win on that level. 🙂

A long haired black cat reclines on a raised bed. She has been shaved along her body so only her head, tail, and "boots" are floofy. — *In this pic, Fancy was shaved to help combat some extreme summer heat while she was still an outdoor feral.*

Even our beautiful Fancy girl got adopted today! She was an outside shelter feral for a long time, then moved into an office during bad weather. She never did move back out of the office this last time, and was eventually socialized enough to be adoptable. We are going to miss her so much, but we’re all so happy she is able to have her own home now. ❤

Even a really good shelter, as I consider mine to be, is not an ideal place for animals to stay long term. Even if they are able to be an office pet. It’s a stressful environment, and disease transmission is always a danger no matter how many precautions you take. Shelters are designed to be temporary homes for animals, not places to stay long-term.

On a purely selfish level, I would have been happy for Fancy to stay with us. But sometimes, what’s best for the animal is much more important. I hope she does well at her new home, and is able to run the household like the queen I know she is. ❤

Two staffie mix puppies, one black/white and one tan/brown/white. — *Foster puppies from a little while back – I didn’t have time to take new pictures during the event today.*

I have so much love and respect for all of our foster families. We literally could not do the work we do without them. Shelters are especially dangerous for young animals as they are not fully vaccinated yet, don’t have fully developed immune systems, and just generally need more care than most adults. Plus, shelter environments are not ideal for trying to socialize them. Puppies like these ones have such a better chance when they can get out of the shelter environment and into foster homes. ❤

Smol brown and white tabby kitten. She has an injury on her lip. — This was one of my special little hissy boppers. She was so angry when she came in, but with gentle persuasion she warmed up to being touched and cuddled. Her lip also did eventually heal, though it will likely always have a scar. She came in like that, so we don’t know what happened to her.

Hissy kittens, giant tomcats, and one-eyed cats are some of my favorites to work with. 🙂 There is something that goes straight to my heart when one of these little ones goes from being terrified of people to head butting and wanting scritches. It’s like…I’ve shown this small little life that the world doesn’t have to be so scary.

Brown and white tabby kitten. He is on his back with his front legs stretched out and has his head almost resting in his food dish.

A very tired medium hair tortie mom is curled around her black medium haired kitten. The kitten has just a little white on his chest and forehead, and his eyes are still blue. — *Such a tired mama!*

Two brown and white tabby kittens curled up with each other.

Ear tipped brown tabby mid-roll, showing his belly and with neck stretched out. — *Calvin again, from when I got home today. He is a dear to come home to and is often waiting by the back door for me, yowling for petting and attention.*

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