A Special Place ...

While in Perth I visited the very special shelter Harvey was chosen from. This shelter houses 65 cats and 25 dogs – at any time, plus kittens, and is staffed by some amazing volunteers. I took the opportunity to let some of the wonderful ladies know how well Harvey is progressing. A couple of ladies told me about their surprise when they saw Harvey’s name on the list of re-homed cats, you can imagine how that made me feel. I took the opportunity to take lots of photographs at APS (The Animal Protection Society). This is a no-kill shelter and is always in need of volunteers, funds and donations.

This young cat was very affectionate, I seemed to find it wrapped around my legs everywhere I went, look at the gorgeous colours: ginger, black and white.

As I wandered around patting and clicking two of the ladies apologised that the lawns were due to be cut, however I delighted in the cats playing in the lush grass. On Monday there was an elderly lady sitting in the cat enclosure with her grand daughter, they spent a happy hour patting some very grateful cats, another ‘smile’ on the inside picture. Meanwhile one volunteer was raking through the sandy areas and litter trays (no more detail needed there) and another was washing food bowls. Looking around it was clear that these cats had lovely clean bedding, healthy coats and a safe environment.

However, none of the beautiful animals in these pictures have their own food bowl, heater to lie in front of or human to cuddle. I was, of course, more than tempted by several of the cats and wanted to bring them home with me, so I resisted asking (or checking) gender but I did fit in as many cuddles as possible, which may explain why I looked a little hairy when I arrived at Annie’s, oops.

Monetary donations can be made through the APS website and are tax deductible in Australia; these can either be general donations of take the form of a pet sponsorship – some of the long term residents (such as my Harvey) have benefited from this type of gift in the past. Both the website and blog are updated fairly regularly with pictures of the animals who are looking for forever homes.

Look at this old puss waiting on the table to be petted, so sweet and needy but dignified too.

The animal side of APS is headed up by Dawn’s lovely Mum, Clare; I will blog them later and perhaps you will find some of my other cat photo's appearing in the coming weeks.

This adorable old cat woke up when I took its photo, and I am so glad, because we enjoyed a long smooch and cuddle, just one more?....