This was a very big weekend - Friday was the 2008 Turtle Derby at work to benefit the Children's Center (our lab's turtle, "Neuro Ned" came in 2nd in his heat, but didn't get to go to the finals); Saturday we went climbing again after literally YEARS of not doing so (awesome, but I'm very sore now); and today was a Petsmart Grand Opening in Abingdon. There were giveaways (we snagged some on Saturday after climbing, along with some good opening-day deals on the staples - dog food, cat food, cat litter). In addition, Luna's House was there both days for an adoptathon. What's great about Petsmart is that they don't sell cats, but do have a cat area...for rescues to put their animals in. They generally work with one rescue (makes life easier) for each store and Luna's House won the right to have our cats/kittens featured at this Petsmart. They have such awesome cages (which I forgot to get a picture of) with plenty of room to roam and lots of cubbies for the kittens to play in. It also features an easy-to-clean surface that they put fluffy beds on.
Above, you see the greeter for the Opening Day festivities - the Petsmart dog. He was a hit with the kids, but the dogs HATED him...they all went ballistic when this guy roamed around. Guess they've never seen a dog that big.
This sad-looking gal is Margot, who was my charge for the day (when we are well-staffed, we pair people with particular animals so that you can be the go-to "expert" for people interested in that particular pet). And yes, she has two ears...she's just one of those dogs that has 1 floppy ear and 1 erect one. She is very shy, about 3 years old, and luckily had an adoption pending on her. She actually left early in the afternoon for a "home visit", which is the last chance for a rescue's trained volunteer to take a look around the home to be sure it is a good place for that pet. By then, the adoption application had already been approved and any other dogs may or may not have met him/her (any dogs the family has must meet the potential adoptee before everything is finalized, to prevent any fights or returns b/c they don't get along).
We had about 4-5 dogs at this event and plenty of cats. We did well - enough kittens were adopted that we had to have someone bring in new ones from foster homes. In addition, a couple other dogs were in Margot's position with an adoption pending a home visit. Timmy (above) is a pit-lab mix who was a typical ball-of-fire play-play-play puppy. He found great amusement tearing up that piece of rope and trying to get everyone he met to pay attention to him. He did finally zonk out in the afternoon and then we pushed him around in a cart with a balloon tied to it. He and another dog, Darcy (puggle mix), both had serious inquiries with applications by the end of the day. They're getting neutered/spayed tomorrow and then, fingers-crossed, they can go to a forever-home after their 5-day recoup time. Pretty good event!
Sati is a huge fan of plastic bags. She often steals them when we bring in groceries. Can you find her ear poking out of the one above?
She likes bags enough that she didn't even notice when she ran off and it was still hooked on her tail. See, she's perfectly calm with her bag-pants despite Peach getting quite excited. A few seconds after the photo op, he pounced on her and the bag was no more.
Please note: plastic bags can be very dangerous to cats just like they can be to children. NEVER leave a cat (or dog or child) alone with one. It's okay to let them play with them, as long as you're monitoring them.
Here's a safer and equally fun alternative: the paper bag. Sati approves.
