Pet Talk

by Cathy Davis
www.houltonanimalshelter.com
    What a perfect July 4th weekend, we could not have asked for any better weather and the parade was awesome, our critters did very well on their walk through town, and we want to thank all our volunteer walkers for taking part in this event!
Pioneer Times photo/Ben Austin
PUPS LOOKING FOR A GOOD HOME — The Houlton Humane Society marched these shelter pups in Houlton’s Fourth of July parade on Friday in hopes of attracting potential adoptees.
    If you missed out on the strawberry shortcake in the park on Saturday I have great news, we’ll be doing it again Thursday night! I’m sure most of you attend the weekly band concerts so this week you’ll have an opportunity to listen to some great music and eat some delicious shortcake. All the proceeds benefit the animals and help us care for them until new homes are found.
    We continue with a busy month on Saturday, July 12 with a huge adopt-a-thon and litter drive in the Wal-Mart parking lot. We will be teaming up with Schwans who will offer a truckload sale right there with us and donate a portion of their sales to the Shelter. We are very excited about this event. If you are visiting Wal-Mart and would like to go inside and purchase a bag of cat litter and donate it to us, the cost is about the same as a fancy coffee and litter is one of the items that we go through by the ton.
    Of course we’ll have a small tent up to protect our animals and we’ll bring as many cats and dogs as we can for you to visit with, but remember, the shelter is only three miles from Wal-Mart so if you don’t see anything you like at the adopt-a-thon, it’s a short trip out to visit the rest of the animals.
    We have so many beautiful animals to adopt, it would be impossible to mention them all here. Every once in a while, someone will ask me “what do you have for cats at the shelter” and all I can tell them is we have black cats, we have an almost all white cat with blue eyes, we have yellow long haired kittens, we have “Red” who is a gorgeous long haired red tabby with a bit of an attitude but very loving. We have black cats with green eyes and black cats with gold eyes; we have longhaired calicoes and shorthaired calicoes. We have Maine Coon cats, longhaired black and white cats, shorthaired black and white cats, tiger cats, and torties. 
    We have older more sedate cats and little kittens and everything in-between. The adoption fees are reduced right now to help place as many animals as possible. The normal adoption fee is $60, which only covers the cost of the spay/neuter surgery and all the shots, so technically your cat is free. Dog adoption fees are slightly higher as the costs of their surgeries are generally higher. 
    Also, along with your “free” cat, you receive a bag of Hill’s Science Diet food – this is an $8 value and you also receive a free month of Pet Insurance through our Pet Point program. This is a brand new program available to all new adopters starting July 14 and we are delighted to be able to offer this. 
    If you’ve adopted from us in the past and have photos of your new companion, we would love to build a scrapbook of pictures and stories. All of us who work with the animals tend to bond with them and it’s great to be able to hear from you and know how they are doing. Quite often we receive letters from our former residents, telling us how much they love their new homes. We have many posted on a bulletin board and we thoroughly enjoy reading the news of their transition and hearing how spoiled they are.
    You can send your letters and photos to P.O. Box 548, Houlton and just tell us how your pet is doing.
    Hope to see you Thursday in the park and again Saturday at Wal-Mart! Thanks for all your support!