9 Apr 2024

January – March Check-In

by | posted in: Adoptions, Fostering, General Updates, Spay and Neuter, Volunteers | 0

The first three months of the year have officially come and gone and spring is here! We wanted to share a few highlights from the first quarter of 2024.

Adoptions: 10 cats and kittens have found their forever homes so far this year, bringing our overall total since opening in June 2021 to 153 adoptions as of March 31st.

Current Residents: We have 12 cats living in the lounge right now: Charlotte, Dotty, Hanna, Noah, Pepper, Princess, Sassy (being adopted 4/11/24), Sizzle, Sophie, Spencer, Spice, and Star (being adopted 4/9/24). Princess has been with us the longest (14 months) and is also our oldest kitty (around 13+ years old). We have 5 kittens in foster who we pulled from the Apple Valley shelter: Catrina, Greycie, Harry Pawter, Ravenpaw, and Ron Whiskerley. They are roughly 9-10 weeks old and will be spayed/neutered once they hit 3 pounds. They are not yet available for adoption.

Lounge Improvements: We had safety film applied to the inside of all the front windows to increase their strength in the event of an earthquake or malicious intent on the part of a human. We also bought new cushions that were custom fit to the benches in the lounge. We replaced the original gray rugs with new blue rugs.

Medical Expenses: We helped Freya with two teeth extractions. During a vet exam for another reason it was found that she had two old fractures and we learned that those teeth needed to be removed. Freya healed well and is now living with her forever family! We also purchased more flea treatments, dewormers, and vaccines.

Volunteers: We have roughly 20 dedicated volunteers, including many who volunteer multiple times each week! Thanks to Jackie, Al, Robin, Brian, Shannon, Donna, Kay, Dani, Michele, Michael, Barbara, Bryant, Laura, Jennifer R., Jen F., Karla, Veaya, Marnae, Maddy, Beverly, and Melanie.

Food and Litter Donations: We have had roughly $2246 worth of food and litter donated so far this year! These donations help immensely and allow us to use the money the lounge brings in to cover rent, utilities, Internet, insurance, security, and vet bills.

TNR Support: Through front desk jar donations we have raised $164 so far this year to help local volunteer trappers with the crucial work they are doing to help curb the overpopulation of cats and reduce suffering. We have also donated dry and wet food for them to use when trapping and share with the kind-hearted people who will continue to feed the feral cats on their property.

18 May 2023

Anniversary T-Shirts

by | posted in: Adoptions, Fundraising, General Updates | 0

UPDATE: No more orders being taken. Shirts were ordered 5/29/23.

Michael’s adopter, Karla, and I (mainly Karla!) have been working on some new designs to help celebrate the lounge’s 2nd anniversary coming up in June. If you’ve been around a while you will remember Michael, Missy, Rachel, Jasmine (now Rose), and Jacob and Sadie. 🙂

There are several options: a shirt featuring 6 of our better-known cats (that shirt comes in several colors) and then individual shirts featuring each cat/pair of cats (those shirts come in a single color).

If you order using the link below your shirt(s) will be delivered to the lounge for local pick up. Shipping is included in the prices you see. We will earn about $8-$10 per shirt so this is also a nice fundraiser for us!

We most likely will open up a shop that will include other items like hoodies, socks, mugs, etc.

Please look over the PDF for all the choices and then fill out the Google form to place your order.

Please note that payment must be made in advance. You can go to the Donate page of the website for options or pay in person when you’re at the lounge in the near future.

BIG thanks to Karla for making this happen! We have custom kicker toys and other goodies coming to the lounge as well, all featuring her adorable drawings.

Order form: https://forms.gle/9dsbYbcs41Jd1bJM9

Please order by Friday, May 26th.

Anniversary-TeesDownload
21 Dec 2022

Information for Prospective Adopters

by | posted in: Adoptions, Education | 0

We hope this collection of articles and their resources will help you as you prepare to bring home a new cat or kitten!

Home Safety Check – this article is very thorough and this article has a nice checklist. If you have house plants consult this article from the ASPCA to be sure your plants are safe. Find a toxic one? Make a plan to re-home that plant.

Introducing a New Cat to a Current Cat – We love Jackson Galaxy’s advice and this article will walk you through it step by step! Absolutely worth the time to read through it and watch his videos as you get ready to bring home your new cat or kitten.

The Ride Home – most of our adopters have short rides home, thankfully, but any trip in the car can be unsettling and downright scary for some cats and kittens. This article has suggestions for minimizing the stress.

A Room of Their Own (to start) – even the most secure and extroverted cats can be scared when they get to their new home. Everything is different! This article talks about the benefits of starting them off in one room and how to set that up.

Food and Litter – we will let you know what kind of food and litter your new cat or kitten has been eating and using so that you can have that on hand to make the transition home easier for your new family member.

Suggested Products – this post has a collection of items that cats at the lounge have liked and that various volunteers have experience with.

2 Aug 2022

August Updates

by | posted in: Adoptions | 0

Congratulations to Montebella, Steve and Sam (together), Jerry and Elaine (together), Kramer and George (together), Paris, Cassie, Mango, Chloe and Katy (together), Jasmine, Ethel and Rey (together), and Athena and Zeus (together) who all found their safe, loving, permanent homes in June and July! We are so grateful when just the right adopter finds just the right cat and agrees with us philosophically on what it means to provide the best life for the cat(s) they adopt.

Our yard sale in June was a terrific success and we raised nearly $900. One of our volunteers started a Facebook fundraiser on our behalf in July to celebrate his birthday and raised over $1100. If you have a birthday coming up we’d be honored to be your chosen nonprofit if you decide to start your own fundraiser. For perspective, we had 13 cats and kittens go to the Humane Society in Ojai in July alone for spay/neuter surgeries, microchips, and FIV/FeLV testing. Each appointment costs us an average of $90. We did some calculations and figured that very conservatively we are spending about $230 per weaned, underage kitten we take in and house for 5 weeks. Every donation (food, litter, and money) helps us help them. This coming weekend we are hosting 12 jigsaw puzzlers in a tournament fundraiser. Stay tuned for updates on that! We think it’s going to be a lot of fun for everyone.

We are putting the word out for makers and crafters who might like to consign with us in November and December. We’re hoping to expand what we can offer in our lobby shop to holiday shoppers. If you are interested please contact us with your ideas.

We currently have 10 cats and kittens currently in the lounge looking for homes (and 1 pending adoption for Violet) as well as 6 foster kittens looking for homes. We really prefer that kittens go home in pairs or to homes with young, playful cats. If you’d like to adopt from us please start at our Available Cats page.