Meet Kitten!

I hope you've enjoyed my cats-in-need profile series. You've met Fuzzy and Brad, then O.J. and Max. I would be completely remiss, however, if I didn't tell you a little more about my Sneaky pal Kitten, a.k.a. Jennifer of Kittredge Candles, the person behind all the wonderful photos and bios of the cats. Here's a little bit about her. You'll see why I was inspired to try and do my part to help these particular cats, when you read about her:

I've loved kitties all my life, so when a Petsmart opened nearby in 2004, I jumped at the chance to volunteer with its affiliate cat shelter, Feline Friends. I started out just cleaning and feeding but it quickly progressed to doing adoptions, taking cat photos, running our website and answering all the emails, which can range from 20 a day during quiet times up to 100 or more a day in kitten season. We are a no-kill shelter and don't have our own facility. We just use the Petsmart adoption center and a handful of foster homes. My husband and I have fostered 85 cats and kittens over the past 4 years, working primarily with bottle babies and semi-ferals. It is extremely rewarding and extremely time-consuming. We are fortunate that our own kitties are so accommodating, too.

Right now we are in the quiet period- the time BK (before kittens)! Kittens will soon be back, with the numbers gradually increasing through the summer and into fall. We seem to hit our peak in September and October and often still have a handful of kittens waiting to be adopted at the end of the year. Now is the time to try to find homes for our adult kitties, many of whom have been with us for months or even years.

For more about Kitten, including the extensive list of scents her candles come in (I can recommend her Granny Smith Apple and Tomato Plant jar candles from personal experience), please visit her Etsy shop's profile.

Even though this series is over, we still need your help to find these cats permanent homes! If you know anyone who wants to adopt a cat, and they live in New England, where Feline Friends is located, please encourage them to apply for adoption, which they cat do at www.felinefriendsnh.org/adoptions.html

Here are some other ways you can help:

• Send your friends and family a link to this blog post to help spread the word! Tweet it and/or facebook it, too!
• Purchase one of Kitten's handmade cat-shaped soaps (Honey the oatmeal soap cat and Coco the coconut soap cat are pictured here); proceeds are donated to Feline Friends.
  
• Make a purchase from my Etsy shop. I'm donating 50% of my Etsy shop's sales between now and March 31st to Feline Friends Rescue/Adoption League. In addition, I'm going to include a free little gift, handmade by me, with every order placed during this time. We've been over this before: do not argue with the birthday girl; I can give you presents if I want to! Please type "kitty" in your Message to me during the checkout process.

Thanks for reading these kitty profiles! I encourage each of you to volunteer at your own local rescue organization if you can, and for goodness' sake, spay/neuter your pets!