Sunday, July 26, 2009

Cat socializing for the day

It was my first day as a volunteer at Pet Orphans. This is a an independent "orphanage" for cats and dogs in beauutiful Van Nuys! I spent the day with the cats in the two room cat house that was fully airconditioned (otherwise, it would have been a hair-raising coughing congested experience in the valley heat). It seems that more volunteers spend time with the dogs so I'm happy I got the two rooms largely to myself for about an hour. There were all kinds of cats - black, calico, long haired, short haired - But what really distinguished each of them was their eyes. Two of them had the saddest eyes - as if they had misplaced something but they didn't know what it was - It broke my heart. For a few moments, I just sat and observed the territorial behavior of the cats - particularly amongst diva-esque Tilly - a super friendly cat to people, who doesn't get along with any of her fellow felines. When I checked her name info card outside the door, I noticed that she had actually been returned from a home - possibly because she didn't get along with the owner's other cats. One cat was sooo incredibly thin she was all skin and bones - A beautiful little calico who I believe was called Priscilla.

Please visit the petorphans website and see if any of these beauties speaks to your heart. There are also little kitties in the "Not Feline Well Center" who are getting strong enough for adoption. Of course, there are also dogs of all sizes - and their photos are all on the website as well:

www.petorphans.org

Don't be fooled by the picture below - Although Tilly looks victimized by the black cat, she was actually on her way to get another cat who was up behind the TV (can't see in this photo). It was like gang warfare for a few moments in the cat house!

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