We had some nice, spring-like weather for our adoption event on Saturday, 3/23, at the Wheaton PetSmart. The sunshine and moderate temperatures were very welcome after the many cold and rainy events we have had over the last few months.
3 kittens (Echo, Buzz & Woody) and 4 adult cats (Aviva, Jasper, Missy, George) were the stars of our show. Everyone did very well. We were at the front of the store by the dog training area, but fortunately there were no dog training sessions conducted. While there were dog adoptions in the store during the first half of the event, the barking was not overwhelming.
Jasper displayed his normal charismatic personality, greeting and pawing at everyone who stopped by, looking for attention. Aviva, George and Missy took a more passive approach, but gladly accepted petting from our guests and volunteers. This was Echo's debut appearance at an event. He took it in stride and gradually relaxed as the day progressed. He will be posted on PetFinder shortly.
Woody & Buzz spent no time in their cage as their pre-approved adopters arrived at the start of the event and their foster mom took them directly to a get-acquainted room. The adopters brought their 3 yr old dog along to test interactions. The meeting went well and Woody & Buzz headed home with their new family.
We were subsequently visited by two other pre-approved adopters and handed out cards to several other guests. We also received a volunteer inquiry from a gal interested in helping socialize and care for our cats & kittens. Follow-up is underway.
Many thanks to PetSmart for hosting the event and for the generous food donations. They also offered to display our board of Adoptable Cats & Kittens outside of events to help draw more interest!
Adoptions have continued to proceed outside of our events as well. Saturday, 3/23, marked the start of spring break for many local schools and this has impacted the timing of our adoptions a bit.
- Keenan was adopted by a wonderful family in Glen Ellyn. They have 2 cats, one of whom is a 7 mo old female kitten whom they rescued from outside, so Keenan will have a playmate his own age. They will be taking Keenan home the first week of April.
- Currant will be going home with a terrific family in Lombard as a Foster to Adopt following spring break as well. They have a 2 yr old male cat who will be Currant's buddy as well as a 19 yr old female cat who can just watch the boys play.
- Evian has finally adjusted to the other cats in her foster home and her wonderful foster family in Bartlett has decided to keep her. She is a lucky girl!
- There is an approved adopter interested in Keogh. The visit & dog test are targeted for the week following spring break.
- There is another approved adopter interested in meeting Dante sometime next week. So lots of good possibilities!
Many thanks to the volunteers and fosters who made this event a success (Sara, Steve, Candy, Diane, Amanda, Rita, Cheri). With fewer cages and an experienced team, set-up and clean-up occurred in record time!
Many thanks also for all of the other valuable contributions to this event - to Candy for the excellent photography & videography during the event; to Connie, Stephanie and Ted for promoting the event on our Facebook page and web site; to Steve for the professional-looking cage cards; to Debbie and Mike for the on-going updates to the Adoptable Cats & Kittens board and binder; to Sara for helping with adoption counseling and the laundry; to Steve for entering our adoptions into the PetSmart iPad; to Sara/Steve for coordinating our lunch run.
Our next major event is the Kitten Shower on Sunday, 4/7, at the Villa Park VFW at 39 E. St. Charles Rd, in Villa Park, 12noon-4pm.
Our next adoption event will be Saturday, 4/13. The location is being finalized, so please stay tuned.
Thanks,
Sue