Hello Friends,
Alberto here. Every week my purrsonal assistant brings me the best of feline stories on the internet and I select my five favorites. This week is all about creative ways humans are working with shelters to help felines find furever homes and make the time the cats do spend in the shelter much better. Does your shelter do anything newsworthy for felines? I’d love to hear about it!
Purrs & Head Bonks,

Cats in the Office Can be a Stress Reliever – The Virginia Pilot Online

I picked this story because it covers two of my favorite topics, cats with jobs and new, creative ways to help shelter kitties be adopted. The Law Offices of Waldo & Lyle, have three office cats, all rescues and all beloved by the staff and clients. The office administrator says this about the effect of the working legal felines, ““They bring joy and they brighten our day,”  They all have different personalities and love people. Even Hilde, who hides during the day, wants to be around you when it’s quiet and calm.”

And then there’s the Harbor Gallery who has gallery cats (and sometimes a gallery dog). The gallery owner says, “They lay in the front windows and entice people in, I believe they make the gallery more home-like, friendly and warm.”

If your shelter hasn’t found creative ways to help shelter cats, purrrhaps you should suggest a working cat program.

Don’t Touch that cat: Humane Society program focuses on felines’ minds, not their cuddles – CBCnews

Two paws up to the Winniepeg Humane Society for their new program that focus’ on felines mental well-being. Shelter cats get bored and even depressed or stressed. These shelter employees and volunteers are being trained to broaden the range of activities for the felines in their care.   After working hard to enrich the environment and life of their shelter cats, the shelter director has noticed that the cats are now more engaged with visitors, sitting in the front of their cages and looking to be touched by visitors. Improving the mental health of the cats improves their physical well being.  Watch the video and see how happy these shelter cats are with the new program.

This idea is excellent for the cats in your home too. Are you at work all day? What does your kitty have to play with while you’re gone? Are there window sills to sit in, places to climb and toys to distract? We felines only have two speeds, fast or stop so when we’re not “stopping” (aka sleeping) we want to have some fun.

//www.cbc.ca/i/caffeine/syndicate/?mediaId=1115036739615

Even a 2-Year Old Human Can Make a Big Difference for Cats! – LoveMeow

Dear humans, this is the way you train future adult humans to care for and about felines-start early! Sam is a two year-old boy who so far, has helped to foster 17 kittens. His mom brought the first group of fosters home from Cat House on The Kings. Sam doesn’t do his fostering alone, it’s a family affair.  Sam is gentle with the kittens and is learning about the importance of fostering to help cats find furever families (My brother Oliver and I were fostered). Sam’s mom says, “Any time we get new babies, Sam looks at them and says, ‘Hi little boo boos, they are so cute, so precious’.”

Be sure and watch the video with the article and purrhaps Sam’s story will inspire some of you human parents out there to teach your kids about fostering.

Felines, Coffee Relieve Stress at Library – The Daily Tribune News

My readers know I love a good cat cafe story and this is one of the best!

Since the Christmas season can be a stressful time of year, the Bartow County Library System in Georgia is offering a way to relax and unwind while helping the shelter find furever homes for their felines.

The Cartersville Public Library partnered with the Etowah Valley Humane Society to host its first Pages & Paws Cat Cafe. The cafe took place from 1pm-5pm and was a great success (and coffee was donated by a local company). Now that is innovative thinking and I’ve always said there is a littter-ary side to every feline!

Does your local library and shelter partner for occasional cat cafe’s?

Finding Homes for Elderly Felines – The Riverdale Press

Cats on Wheels was founded by New Yorker, Susan Wolfe who has been an active  volunteer at the Manhattan Animal Care Center, playing with the cats, cleaning their kennels and writing short biographies about them. Her passion is to find loving homes for cats who’ve celebrated their eighth birthdays, the ones often passed over for adoption.  She said, ““I realized when I was volunteering at the shelter, these incredibly wonderful, beautiful cats were at risk of being euthanized,”  “It just became a mission for me to find a home for as many of them as I could.”

And this was why she co-founded Seniors 4 Seniors Cats on Wheels with fellow volunteer Brooke Smith. The organization  offers prospective pet adopters rides to the center to and assisting them in finding a cat to adopt.

She also works to debunk the myths about older cats, especially the idea that they won’t be around long. Cats can live up to 20  years.  Another belief is that health care costs of an older pet are prohibitive. All shelter cats receive thorough health exams from veterinarians.

Two paws up for the Seniors 4 Cats on Wheels program and the creative humans who go above and beyond to help these older kitties find furever homes!

What creative things does  your shelter do to help felines? I’d love to hear about them and feature them in my Wednesday wanderings.