Legend of the Phoenix
You're probably familiar with the basic legend of the phoenix, the mythical bird that lives for 500 years, builds its own funeral pyre, is consumed by the flames, then rises anew from the ashes. This legend supposedly symbolizes the rising and setting of the sun, as well as immortality, resurrection, and life after death. Like all good myths, it has a number of versions and many layers of interpretation.
Well, this Phoenix is a cat, not a bird.
I volunteered Saturday at Seattle Animal Shelter's Cat Adopt-a-thon held at the Miller Community Center on the east side of Capital Hill. It was my first kitty adoption marathon, so went early to help set up and learn all the ropes so in the future I could help with any portion of the event.
Potential families began entering the large multi-purpose room at noon. They were pre-screened by volunteers outside, so had already completed an application and were pretty much good to go if they happened to find a cat that tickled their fancy.
One of the team leads asked me if I would sit with a cat whose foster "mom" happened to be Sandy, one of the animal officers there to final adoption applications and make the adoption formal. She was fostering a beautiful little girl kitty, all shiny black with piercing beautiful green eyes. Her name was Phoenix, and she had a story.
Phoenix was staying with Sandy because the long-term foster parent was on vacation. She came with a full page of history, very rare to find in cases like this.
Here's Phoenix's story:
Last October, someone found this poor little broken up kitty on the side of the road, after being hit by a car. They scooped her up and took her to a vet before she could crawl off and die.
The vet determined her pelvis was crushed and required major surgery if she was going to survive. They performed the surgery needed to save the kitty's life, even without anyone able to pay for it.
The vet then contacted the Seattle Animal Shelter because they knew SAS had a strong foster program. This poor little kitty needed 6-8 weeks of crate confinement, to allow her pelvis and other broken bits to heal. She was matched with a suitable foster home who could give her the care it needed.
Seattle Animal Shelter's Help The Animals Fund then stepped up and paid the bill for kitty's surgery - over $3,000.
This survivor was dubbed Phoenix by shelter volunteers and staff. This little gorgeous kitty has been recuperating in a quiet foster home. She made several visits to the vet during this period. She was finally dubbed healed and ready for her forever home in February.
So I am sitting with this little kitty that looks so much like our cat Switch at home (altho half the size) and petting her. She is curled up in her little cup bed but is watching over the rim at all the things going on. The noise volume is pretty high, with 31 foster cats waiting for adoption, and at least 80 people milling around (each cat has a foster sitting with it, and lots of visitors).
Two little girls come up to me to see the kitty. I recognize them immediately - they visit the shelter every weekend because the smallest girl wants a kitten and has been looking since Thanksgiving. She's about 10 or 11 and the other girl’s mother brings them down to look. They are very respectful to the animals and very sweet to talk to. She wants to adopt a kitty because she and her best friend are also adopted (from China). Today her own mother has come for the first time, and the cat carrier is in the car she tells me.
She asks to pet Phoenix. They pet her while she lies in her bed and they smile and talk about how pretty she is. I tell a little bit about her story - and then give them the sheet of paper telling them all about all of the people who have been involved in saving Phoenix's life.
The mom finds us and the little girl says Mom, I want to adopt Phoenix. The mom is wary because for months the girl has been saying "kitten, kitten, kitten" and Phoenix is not a kitten (she's maybe 2). I ask the mom if she would like to take a closer look, and lift Phoenix out to hold her for them. She never once struggled against me (unlike my cats at home...), she is very used to being held and is very sweet. I give the mom the info sheet with Phoenix's story.
I ask her if she would like to hold her. She is cautious to hold her because of her injuries - now totally healed but you still have it in the back of your mind and you gingerly pick her up, you can't help it. I give her a chair and lay Phoenix in her lap. Phoenix curls up into a little ball and lies down. Three sets of hands reach out to stroke her and she's not bothered by it a bit.
After awhile we put Phoenix in her cup bed and the little girl holds the bed on her lap and pets Phoenix. She does some wheedling with her mom, but careful to not push too much. The mom leaves to ask questions of Sandy, both of the adoption process and the expected care of the cat. They have not had a cat before, and live in a condo and wonder should they let her go outside? Sandy says absolutely not! People didn't spend over $3,000 making her well to let her go outside and get hit by a car again (or some other equally disastrous fate).
The little girl comes back to report mom has said maybe, "which means yes," she says with confidence.
I put Phoenix and her cup bed back into the cage and pet her now and then while the mom and the little girls are talking to Sandy. My friend Tracy arrives (we decided to go out to lunch, we went to Julia's on Broadway), but I don't want to leave quite yet, waiting to see if this is going to happen or if I need to find another volunteer to come and sit with Phoenix.
After a few more minutes the girl comes bounding back to me excitedly to tell me mom said yes!! She was so happy. I give her a congratulatory hug and tell her I will miss their visits to the animal shelter. She says they probably will still come to look sometimes. She gives Phoenix a few more pets, and then heads for the car to get the pet carrier.
15 of the 31 cats at the adopt-a-thon go home with new families. Two cats who attended from the shelter find foster homes with people whose foster cats were adopted.
The SAS cat adopt-a-thons have been very successful. There is a huge line waiting to come in half an hour before the event starts. It is well publicized by the local media and seems to really work, connecting families with adoptable kitties. I look forward to the next one, being held in April in Lake City.
My experience that day, up close and personal with foster cats and also the people they stay with, convinces me that when I have the room at home, instead of adopting a new cat, I want to be a foster home to help make room in the shelter for cats needing a place to be. By making more room in the shelter, more cats are saved and find great new homes. I can't do it right now because of Cheerio - she is almost 16 and would be susceptible to colds and other things brought in by strange cats (not to mention she wouldn't accept them very well). But I have strong hopes that Havana and Switch, my own beautiful black kitties, would be very willing to share their home with someone new to play with.
More information Help The Animals Fund
Established in 1977 to receive gifts and donations for the purpose of promoting animal welfare. Contributions could be used for such activities as developing public education videos or advertisements that promote responsible pet ownership, purchasing toys and treats for animals at the shelter, providing animal carriers for low income or elderly persons, providing extraordinary veterinary care for animals that have been subjected to cruelty and to pay for extensive medical care associated with rehabilitating sick and injured animals through the shelter’s Foster Care Program.
http://seattleanimalshelter.org/programs.htm
Well, this Phoenix is a cat, not a bird.
I volunteered Saturday at Seattle Animal Shelter's Cat Adopt-a-thon held at the Miller Community Center on the east side of Capital Hill. It was my first kitty adoption marathon, so went early to help set up and learn all the ropes so in the future I could help with any portion of the event.
Potential families began entering the large multi-purpose room at noon. They were pre-screened by volunteers outside, so had already completed an application and were pretty much good to go if they happened to find a cat that tickled their fancy.
One of the team leads asked me if I would sit with a cat whose foster "mom" happened to be Sandy, one of the animal officers there to final adoption applications and make the adoption formal. She was fostering a beautiful little girl kitty, all shiny black with piercing beautiful green eyes. Her name was Phoenix, and she had a story.
Phoenix was staying with Sandy because the long-term foster parent was on vacation. She came with a full page of history, very rare to find in cases like this.
Here's Phoenix's story:
Last October, someone found this poor little broken up kitty on the side of the road, after being hit by a car. They scooped her up and took her to a vet before she could crawl off and die.
The vet determined her pelvis was crushed and required major surgery if she was going to survive. They performed the surgery needed to save the kitty's life, even without anyone able to pay for it.
The vet then contacted the Seattle Animal Shelter because they knew SAS had a strong foster program. This poor little kitty needed 6-8 weeks of crate confinement, to allow her pelvis and other broken bits to heal. She was matched with a suitable foster home who could give her the care it needed.
Seattle Animal Shelter's Help The Animals Fund then stepped up and paid the bill for kitty's surgery - over $3,000.
This survivor was dubbed Phoenix by shelter volunteers and staff. This little gorgeous kitty has been recuperating in a quiet foster home. She made several visits to the vet during this period. She was finally dubbed healed and ready for her forever home in February.
So I am sitting with this little kitty that looks so much like our cat Switch at home (altho half the size) and petting her. She is curled up in her little cup bed but is watching over the rim at all the things going on. The noise volume is pretty high, with 31 foster cats waiting for adoption, and at least 80 people milling around (each cat has a foster sitting with it, and lots of visitors).
Two little girls come up to me to see the kitty. I recognize them immediately - they visit the shelter every weekend because the smallest girl wants a kitten and has been looking since Thanksgiving. She's about 10 or 11 and the other girl’s mother brings them down to look. They are very respectful to the animals and very sweet to talk to. She wants to adopt a kitty because she and her best friend are also adopted (from China). Today her own mother has come for the first time, and the cat carrier is in the car she tells me.
She asks to pet Phoenix. They pet her while she lies in her bed and they smile and talk about how pretty she is. I tell a little bit about her story - and then give them the sheet of paper telling them all about all of the people who have been involved in saving Phoenix's life.
The mom finds us and the little girl says Mom, I want to adopt Phoenix. The mom is wary because for months the girl has been saying "kitten, kitten, kitten" and Phoenix is not a kitten (she's maybe 2). I ask the mom if she would like to take a closer look, and lift Phoenix out to hold her for them. She never once struggled against me (unlike my cats at home...), she is very used to being held and is very sweet. I give the mom the info sheet with Phoenix's story.
I ask her if she would like to hold her. She is cautious to hold her because of her injuries - now totally healed but you still have it in the back of your mind and you gingerly pick her up, you can't help it. I give her a chair and lay Phoenix in her lap. Phoenix curls up into a little ball and lies down. Three sets of hands reach out to stroke her and she's not bothered by it a bit.
After awhile we put Phoenix in her cup bed and the little girl holds the bed on her lap and pets Phoenix. She does some wheedling with her mom, but careful to not push too much. The mom leaves to ask questions of Sandy, both of the adoption process and the expected care of the cat. They have not had a cat before, and live in a condo and wonder should they let her go outside? Sandy says absolutely not! People didn't spend over $3,000 making her well to let her go outside and get hit by a car again (or some other equally disastrous fate).
The little girl comes back to report mom has said maybe, "which means yes," she says with confidence.
I put Phoenix and her cup bed back into the cage and pet her now and then while the mom and the little girls are talking to Sandy. My friend Tracy arrives (we decided to go out to lunch, we went to Julia's on Broadway), but I don't want to leave quite yet, waiting to see if this is going to happen or if I need to find another volunteer to come and sit with Phoenix.
After a few more minutes the girl comes bounding back to me excitedly to tell me mom said yes!! She was so happy. I give her a congratulatory hug and tell her I will miss their visits to the animal shelter. She says they probably will still come to look sometimes. She gives Phoenix a few more pets, and then heads for the car to get the pet carrier.
15 of the 31 cats at the adopt-a-thon go home with new families. Two cats who attended from the shelter find foster homes with people whose foster cats were adopted.
The SAS cat adopt-a-thons have been very successful. There is a huge line waiting to come in half an hour before the event starts. It is well publicized by the local media and seems to really work, connecting families with adoptable kitties. I look forward to the next one, being held in April in Lake City.
My experience that day, up close and personal with foster cats and also the people they stay with, convinces me that when I have the room at home, instead of adopting a new cat, I want to be a foster home to help make room in the shelter for cats needing a place to be. By making more room in the shelter, more cats are saved and find great new homes. I can't do it right now because of Cheerio - she is almost 16 and would be susceptible to colds and other things brought in by strange cats (not to mention she wouldn't accept them very well). But I have strong hopes that Havana and Switch, my own beautiful black kitties, would be very willing to share their home with someone new to play with.
More information Help The Animals Fund
Established in 1977 to receive gifts and donations for the purpose of promoting animal welfare. Contributions could be used for such activities as developing public education videos or advertisements that promote responsible pet ownership, purchasing toys and treats for animals at the shelter, providing animal carriers for low income or elderly persons, providing extraordinary veterinary care for animals that have been subjected to cruelty and to pay for extensive medical care associated with rehabilitating sick and injured animals through the shelter’s Foster Care Program.
http://seattleanimalshelter.org/programs.htm
posted by Wendy Hughes-Jelen @ 10:15 AM
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