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February Visitors

Furkids had some wonderful volunteer groups visit in the month of February. 
They are our ♥♥♥ VALENTINES  ♥♥♥

Girl Scout Troop #29316 brought some donations and sponsored Pirate & Rico for the month of February!  Thank you, girls!

Nicholas is 7 years old and in the 2nd grade.  He and his dad brought some donations from the First Montessori School of Atlanta. Not pictured is Madeline — she is 8 and was the main coordinator for the class who found us on the web and chose Furkids for their Valentine’s Day donations project.  They collected and donated three boxes of beds and blankets for the cats!

Kennesaw University’s Omega Phi Alpha chapter had two groups of young women volunteer at the main shelter and the FIV House on February 19th.

At the FIV House | Back row: Angelica, Malorie, Christabeth, Emma, Moeko | Front row: Teigan, Angelica, Lauren, Ann

Kennesaw's Omega Phi Alpha group at the main shelter -- with Pat the Cat! Back row: Jessica, Carly, Heather, Syndey, Priscilla, Robyn | Front row: Julie, Katelyn, Tiffany, Thi

Do you have a group of people you’d like to come volunteer with at Furkids?  Get everyone organized and contact out Volunteer Manager, Belinda Kach, to arrange a date for your group visit.  Her e-mail is volunteer@furkids.org.  We’d love to welcome you!

Domino | Featured Furkid

Meet our little Domino — “Cats” Domino, that is.  :-D

Furkids rescued this sweet little guy from Coweta County Animal Control.  He is approximately 1 year old and is a little ball of energy!  He loves to play with other cats, especially a few others who were also rescued from Coweta County — Falco, Clooney, and Mattie.  He would love to find a forever home that would take him in along with one of these friends, but he is perfectly fine to go it alone or join a family with other pets.

Domino is cat number 11725.  If you would like to meet him to get to know him a little better, please contact us to make an appointment to come to the shelter.  If you know you would love a cute, young, playful, tuxedo kitty, you can apply to adopt Domino now!

2012: Year of the FIV+ Cat

Mr. T in da house — da FIV house! Mr. T is cat #10244. He loves to play.

No, it’s not officially “Year of the FIV+ Cat,” but it certainly is here at Furkids, Inc.! 

We have collectively and concertedly activated our super powers to declare that our most ardent resolution for 2012 is to do everything we can to get our FIV+ cats adopted into forever homes.  We love them and they deserve it!

Our plans are to:

  1. Feature FIV+ cats more prominently on our web site and Facebook pages.
  2. Host scheduled open houses and encourage visits by appointment to our FIV House for anyone seriously considering adopting an FIV+ cat.
  3. Offer educational information on Feline Immunodeficiency Virus to help dispel many myths and concerns.
  4. Ask our supporters who have adopted FIV+ cats to share their stories of love and companionship with their pets.

To kick off our efforts, we earnestly invite you to become better acquainted with our FIV+ cats.  Please consider either bringing one of these sweethearts into your home, or sharing this information with family and friends who may be thinking about adopting a cat in the near future. Also, please:

Finally, and most importantly, learn more about exactly what FIV is  — and what it is NOT.

More to come…please continue to check back in with us!

Volunteers Wanted: PETCO Sandy Springs

Furkids is excited to now be at the PETCO Sandy Springs adoption center, located at 5938 Roswell Road NE.  We need volunteers to help support the center full-time.

Currently, we are housing adoptable cats at this location Fridays – Sundays only.  We would like to start being there full-time as soon as we can in order to give our cats more exposure to potential adopters — thus possibly expediting more cats into forever homes.

Volunteer duties would include:

  • Socializing with the cats.  This includes letting them out of their cages, engaging them in play, grooming them, petting them, giving them individual attention, allowing them to stretch their legs, etc.  Socializers also do light cleaning duties and talk to potential adopters about the cats and Furkids’ adoption policies/procedures.
  • Cleaning the cat cages and the adoption room in which the cats are housed.  This includes refreshing litter boxes, refreshing food and water bowls, making sure the cat beds and other cage linens are clean, wiping down all surfaces, sweeping and mopping the floor, cleaning windows, etc.
  • Volunteers would also be asked to make observational notes in a notebook about each cat after each visit and work with the volunteer coordinator to ensure supplies are well-stocked and managed.

You can work as little as 1 hour per week or you can volunteer multiple days per week.  The amount of time you want to commit is up to you.  The work is highly satisfying and great fun to do in pairs!  So grab a friend, spouse, sibling, co-worker, child — whomever — and complete a volunteer application today.  After we receive your application, we will contact you for training and get you ready to start working with some great cats and people at PETCO Sandy Springs.  To learn more about our volunteers please feel free to browse through our volunteer pages.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Existing volunteers do not need to fill out a new application.  Just contact us at volunteer@furkids.org and let us know if you would like to start volunteering at this location.

Angela | Featured Furkid

Angela is definitely a Furkids Angel! This stunning black and orange tortie came to Furkids in May 2011 when her owner passed away. Angela is the official door greeter.  She waits at the door to give you all the love in the world. Her favorite spot is in your lap, but she also loves to play in the water when the faucet is turned on. She is a great helper.  She happily gets involved in whatever tasks you are doing. You can’t ignore Angela’s beautiful blue-green eyes because she will let you know that she is there.

Sweet, gentle Angela gets along well with other cats, or would be fine as an only kitty who will give you her undivided attention. She wants nothing more than to find her forever home! Please consider adopting Angela before someone else scoops her up!

Angela is cat number 11223.  If you would like to learn more about her or make an appointment to meet her, please contact us.  Or you can apply to adopt her now.

Samantha Shelton: Heart Warming Human

Furkids’ Executive Director/Founder, Samantha Shelton, is named as one of the top 5 Heart-Warming Humans by Catster.com!!

A division of Dogster Media and founded in 2004 in San Francisco, Catster.com is an award-winning site that offers helpful online sources for all things cat related.  They offer knowledgeable and trustworthy expert points-of-view as well as a vast wealth of opinions, advice, and wisdom from our large community of dog and cat owners.  Their carefully selected publisher group represents the best in social media, humor, photo sharing, coupon delivery, image searching, pet adoption, information, mobile, video and retargeting. Dogster Media directly reaches more than 7 million pet owners monthly.  Read their story about the Henry County Cats that Sam saved in late November. 

A big well-deserved congratulations to Sam, and a “heart-warming” thank you to Catster.com for the accolade.  Let’s pay-it-back by “liking” them on Facebook, following their stories, and getting word out about the good work they do. 

This is a great way for Fukids to start the new year.  Warm hearts to everyone for 2012!

 

Aspen | Featured Furkid

Aspen is about 2 years old.  He is a very gentle, calm, sweet, laid-back cat who was abandoned by his owners, then rescued by Furkids volunteers. 

He’s a big boy!  A true gentle giant who is immediately loved by everyone and loves everyone in return.  Nothing seems to bother him.  He loves to just lounge around, quietly survey his surroundings, and welcomes all human interaction — whether it is affection, play, or grooming.  He is an ideal cat for anyone looking to add a lot of love to their home.

Aspen is currently located at PetSmart Northlake — where he is one of the favorites of all the Furkids volunteers who go there regularly to clean and socialize with the cats.  He is also a favorite among all the shoppers who stop by to see the cats.  They all comment on how big and handsome he is! 

Furkids volunteers regularly socialize the cats at PetSmart Northlake from noon to 2pm — that is, they let all the cats out of the cages to wander around and allow interested adopters to interact with the cats.  If you think you might be interested in Aspen, please stop by Northlake PetSmart to meet him and spend some time with him.

Aspen is cat number 11110.  He has demonstrated at PetSmart that he does well with children, dogs, and other cats.  He would make a great addition to just about any household.  You can fill out a printed adoption application at PetSmart Northlake or you can apply to adopt him now.

Two Recent Group Visits

Here at Furkids, we always look forward to having students from Ohio State University’s Buck-I-Serv program visit us for their week-long service trips.

The most recent OSU group was here the week of December 12. In addition to helping out at the main shelter, they also spent entire days at Small Dog Rescue, the FIV House,  Thrift Store, and helping with Santa pictures at Midtown PetSmart.

At SmallDog Rescue, they took EVERY dog (40 of them!) on a nice walk and also afforded many of them lots of playtime in the playroom. The dogs were tuckered out by the end of the day as you can imagine!  They also did some much appreciated cleaning throughout the shelter.  More pictures here.

A million thank-yous to these students for not only choosing to spend their breaks doing volunteer work, but also for choosing Furkids as the organization where they want to serve.

OSU_smalldog

OSU students at SmallDog Rescue

OSU_thriftstore

OSU students with Amy DeLettera at the Thrift Store

OSU_fivhouse

OSU students at the FIV House.

OSU_shelter

OSU students at the main shelter with Samantha Shelton.

We also had Girl Scout Troop #11536 visit us in late November.  Here they are, below, displaying their homemade toys they brought for the cats!! Thank you Ellen & the girls. We really enjoyed your visit. Please come back again!

Furkids and Good Mews Support DeKalb County Police by Accepting Animals in Cruelty Investigation

On November 29, in an animal hoarding investigation, the DeKalb Police Cruelty Unit removed dozens of cats living in unsanitary conditions from a home in Dunwoody. Some of the cats were suffering from conditions commonly found when large numbers of animals live together in a confined, unhealthy environment. The case is under investigation by the DeKalb Police Cruelty Unit.

In general, cats in a hoarding situation can suffer from upper respiratory infections, flea infestation, starvation, stress, and many other ailments.

We can understand someone’s desire to want to save animals from death, but a single family doesn’t have the resources to provide the proper care for a large number of animals, and that’s why facilities like ours exist.

Furkids has taken in over 40 of the cats and Good Mews has taken in over 25. Both organizations are medically caring for the cats and both have exacting adoption processes to appropriately match homeless animals with loving, adoptive families in lifelong homes.

If you look around you can see that shelters like Furkids and Good Mews are equipped to care for large numbers of animals and keep them healthy and happy.

Georgia has a major pet overpopulation problem and spaying and neutering is critical to better controlling the numbers of unwanted animals in our state.

These cats will soon be available for adoption. Please consider making a donation towards their care to Furkids or Good Mews. It costs approximately $200 per cat to provide their medical care and prepare them for adoption.

Seasons Greetings 2011

We’ve had an adventurous year here at Furkids! We are again honored to receive our 7th consecutive “Best in America” Seal of Excellence by Independent Charities of America. As the year comes to an end and the holiday season peaks, we are proud to demonstrate how we have served our community and earned the accolade.

We have:

  • Saved over 900 animals, spaying/neutering each one and providing all medical needs;
  • Matched over 800 animals with loving adoptive families;
  • Cared for over 685 animals daily, nursing the injured and ill back to health;
  • Provided resources and counseling to our adopters and the general public through our dedicated staff and volunteers;
  • Recruited and trained new volunteers, further strengthening our organization;
  • Operated our surgery clinic weekly, providing basic health needs;
  • Expanded our Thrift Store hours;
  • Added two PETCO stores and two PetSmart stores to our cat/dog adoption sites;
  • Acquired SmallDog Rescue & Humane Society, our most exciting accomplishment this year.

During this season of thanksgiving, we give thanks for our donors like you that make these important accomplishments possible. Furkids continues to operate as one of the foremost animal shelters in Georgia. This is because of your support and generosity and we thank you for your friendship.

We encourage you to explore the many different opportunities for ensuring that we get off to a great start in 2012. Please consider:

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