Causes for Cats: Volunteers help felines find good homes
Michelle Walthour holds 9-year-old Helmut at Petco in Bethel Park.
Seven-year-old Smudge is being fostered by Sally Lamond as he awaits adoption.
Seven-year-old Zena is a seasonal cat for October.
Bailey and Ash are a “bonded pair,” to be adopted together.
Karen Kubany with Catniss
Helmut relaxes at Petco.
An Upper St. Clair family adopted Evie, now 14, from Bette Morton of Monongahela in 2002.
A small dark spot on an otherwise pink nose perhaps served as impetus for his name.
“That is my foster Smudge, world’s most perfect cat,” Mt. Lebanon resident Sally Lamond said, introducing an otherwise orange-and-white 7-year-old. “He went with me Sunday to the blessing of the animals. He actually listened to the service, quite attentively.”
When he’s not in church, Smudge spends a lot of time in the cat adoption room in the back of Petco Animal Supplies on Fort Couch Road – just behind the cat food aisle, naturally – waiting for someone to take him to a permanent home.
The same goes for about a dozen cats at any given time at the Bethel Park store, as volunteers from Animal Friends, the Ohio Township shelter with which Lamond is affiliated, and the East Liberty-based Animal Rescue League make sure their feline friends are fed, played with and cared for as they catch the eyes of potential owners.
“This is Petco’s first successful offsite adopting center,” Lamond said, with justifiable pride: She and her husband, Chuck McDermott, initiated the center in 2002, and it averages about a hundred adoptions per year.
Providing adoption opportunities for cats extends far beyond simply handing them over to whoever expresses an interest.
“We do a pretty thorough check on people to make sure they’re going to the right homes,” Pittsburgh Cat Adoption Team volunteer Tarra Provident said.
An arm of the regional Homeless Cat Management Team, which focuses primarily on spay/neuter efforts, the adoption group – yes, CAT is the acronym – has an extensive application posted online through its Facebook page. Applicants must agree to a series of terms, including providing nourishment, shelter and regular veterinary care.
In turn, if the adoption doesn’t work out “for any reason whatsoever,” cats are returned to the group to be cared for until another opportunity arises, with volunteers always looking for good matches.
“We have really good bios on our cats that say everything you need to know,” Provident explained. “They’ve all been in a foster home at some point.”
Many were fostered following the May discovery of hoarding case, or what she called an “abandonment situation,” not far from her Brookline home. Of the 40 cats involved, a neighboring resident took one and five went to Animal Friends, leaving 34 in the care of CAT volunteers.
Provident is happy to report that nearly 30 have been adopted.
No matter what the circumstances, there always is a need to place cats, as Bette Morton will attest. A founder of the Valley Pet Association in the mid-1980s, she has been fostering felines in her Monongahela home for decades, welcoming visitors who might want to add a new pet.
“We’ve found some great homes for these cats,” Morton said, and often those who adopt give her repeat business, so to speak. “They’ll call me back when that cat passes away, and they’ll get another one.”
Or perhaps people simply choose to add to their number of pets, as are Bethel Park residents Gary and Michelle Walthour, who are regulars in the Petco cat room and have adopted several of the felines they’ve met there.
“Easy maintenance,” Gary said about his affinity for cats. “I grew up with dogs, and I’d love to get a dog. But cats are so much easier.”
As for Michelle, her preference for the type of cat to take home: “I have a bleeding heart for the older ones.”
They’re usually the ones spending considerable time waiting for adoption, compared with kittens, and sometimes their health issues complicate the process.
“We really try to support adoptions,” Kellie Roberts, Animals Friends director of placement services, said. Her group, for example, tries to help those who adopt cats needing special food.
“We order it through here that that they can buy it at cost, for a lower price than they would pay retail,” she explained.
Animal Friends has adoption specialists on staff to help gather as much information about the cats as possible, in order to pass it along to potential adopters. The same occurs at places like Petco.
“We’re very open about any issues the cats have,” Lamond said. “We don’t want to just throw them in a box and hope for the best.”
As such, visitors to the store will find printed materials accompanying each of the cats there, such as the report by the Animal Rescue League on an older black female named Aileen:
“Owner said she was aggressive with other cats,” it states in part. “”Owner said she would not use pan if it was not clean. They said they cleaned the pan once a week. We strongly recommend scooping pans once or twice a day. She has not had litter pan issues at the main shelter or out here. We also recommend more than one pan and Cat Attract litter if needed.”
On the other hand:
“Very affectionate, loving cat who will give kisses.”
So is Tiga, it would seem, but Animal Rescue League volunteer Karen Kubany will be honest about one of his character traits.
”He can’t go home with little kids,” she said, “because he play bites.”
Speaking of playing, Gary Walthour is one who can’t resist teasing the Petco cats with toys whenever he visits.
“They’re all nice kitties out here,” he said after a session with Smudge. “Tell everybody to come and get one.”