Machu

We've had Machu since May.  He's the most popular cat on our website.  He gets more hits than any other cat on our petlist.  It's been obvious to us that he isn't happy in our adoption center.  He is simply, by genetics, the king of the jungle.  He doesn't want to share his space with 50 some other cats.  We just brought him to the vet and got him a clean bill of health.  He needed one tooth extracted and tarter removed from his teeth.  His blood work was perfect.  He had all of his nails clipped and had his ears checked.  He also had some mats removed from his tummy.  He's basically clean and shiny and ready to have a fresh new start for 2013. His dream home would be a home without other pets.  Let us remind you that he is the is the king of the jungle.  He loves women.  His favorite day of the week is Sunday because Mindy, a hair stylist comes in.  She grooms him and he flirts and flirts with her.  He loves fresh air.  Window sills and open screened doors enchant him.  A screened in patio would be his nirvana.  He will even perch himself by our a/c vent to have the cool air ruffle through his mane.  He's stunning and deserves to have the regalness of his heritage respected.  Please come meet him and get him out of this far reaching realm where his lineage is not respected.  

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  So...obviously you haven't heard anything from us for a while.  We've changed our website and our method of posting news.  This is sort of a test.  I think I can blog!  I will attempt to insert images tomorrow.  It's amazing how much can happen in more than four months.  Honestly, we've had so many kitties come and go...mostly in a good way.  Lots of adoptions!  We've also lost some beloved older kitties and some amazing human friends like Jeff, our mailman, who has kept us laughing since the day we moved into our downtown Deerfield Beach adoption center.

The task of starting to recreate the last many months seems overwhelming, so I beg all of you to visit our FB page:  www.facebook.com/felinefriendsfl , (and please "like" us!)  Many people journal.  I don't.  But I have "journaled" for Feline Friends for 14 years.  Even when our website was under construction, I've continued to record our history on our FB page.  It's been a good year.  We have a lot of things to be grateful for and we are most grateful to you, our supporters and friends!  Happy holidays!

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July 29th Updates

First let’s start with the featured pets. We’d always expected to put Marigold up next. She’s blossomed in our office. She loves people and even seems to love kittens. She’s soft and pretty. We are planning to get her a dental appointment soon to make sure she’s ready to start a new life feeling as good as she looks! Then Teeka did something really special. She paid it forward. Someone saw her online, read her story about how she’s never been happy living here in a multi-cat environment and about how much she missed the only cat here she’d ever cared for, Fumanchu, who has passed away. She felt sorry for her. So Debbie came in to rescue Teeka and walked out with a cat who needed her even more! Our abandoned, blind, declawed kitty, Cashmere, who lived in our operatory room! Teeka was crucial to getting Debbie into our adoption center and helping Cashmere live what sounds like a charmed life. We will share any and all updates we get from these two. So, we decided we would just have to make room for two featured pet listings right now.

As for adoptions, Cashmere was the biggest. We all did cartwheels and back flips! Well, not really! We also adopted Izzy and Flip Flop together to a wonderful family! Samantha and Jerome were adopted. Frangelica, while still with us is definitely going to be adopted by our volunteer, Anne, as soon as her new home is finished sometime in August. The last kitty we adopted has a great story.

OK. So here's a normal day in the life of Cindy and Beth. We finish a long day at the adoption center and start to lock up. Once outside, we hear a man screaming, "Don't move! Stop!" Then we see a lady in a car paralyzed with fear. Is she being robbed? Should we call 911? Then we hear the scream of a baby kitten. The man screams, "There's a kitten under your tire!" Cindy bends down and plucks out Rocky Road, a tiny, baby kitten who's pretty messed up. We have no room for him, so we proceed to pay to have him boarded and nursed back to health at a veterinary office. A couple of weeks later, he was adopted by a family for their son Dominic’s 10th birthday! What a great new home! Just 24 hours after his adoption, we learned the following: Dominic's birthday party went great. Rocky Road was not intimidated by the party. Dominic is part of a large Italian family of 17! Rocky Road wanted to be out and part of that party and family instead of being closed up in Dominic's bedroom. He is now part of the family and has been renamed Rocko. He went from being almost squished by a car in front of Deerfield Beach's City Hall to becoming Rocko! Score!

On the sad end of things, No Boots passed away. We had our friend, Dr. Laura from Lap of Love come by and it was very peaceful. On their website, a memorial has been posted for No Boots. There is a tiny typo, but he wouldn’t have minded. http://www.lapoflove.com/default.aspx?did=54 Dr. Laura wrote on FB, “Here in South Florida, we help a cat rescue facility (Feline Friends) when one of their furry friends need our services. Last week Dr. Laura A helped a kitty named "No Boots" - the rescue submitted a pet memorial about No Boots and I think it was so sweet - that a cat that was apart of a rescue group was so loved and cherished - even though it wasn't a typical home - he had a great family! Feline Friends in Deerfield is great and they have many wonderful older kitties that need homes. Anyway - here is No Boots memorial - it's too cute!

Approximately a year and a half ago, a wonderful man named Marc Yelner fell in love with a difficult girl on our website. Her name was Roz. She never felt safe or comfortable with other cats and lived mostly up on our counter. By the age of six, she had had pretty much no luck at all. We told him that since he had two cats at home, she might not be the best match for him. He said, “But wouldn’t it be better for her than 50 + cats?” So, home they went. He was a great dad! He took great care of her when she got sick, (only once I think!) He always wrote or called to give us updates. He even sent us the following in one of his notes with the pic below. Here's a pic I took for you of me holding Rozzy. It’s not the best quality, but I think it conveys how much we love each other....and I do absolutely love her. And she loves when I hold her so I do that everyday (of course I love it, too).

With the light from the flash, I think they both look like Angels! Well now, Marc is. We received an e-mail from a friend of his a few weeks ago. It said:

“Hello. My name is Jack. Last week a close friend, (Marc), suddenly passed away from complications from a gastric procedure. He was the owner of 3 cats. Luckily, we have found a home for one, (That was Rozzy!), but am having trouble trying to find homes for the other 2.”

Well, we were so sad about losing such an amazing person and so sad for Rozzy losing the love of her life, but we were going to go all out trying to find a home for the other two. Luckily, Marc’s sister must have been cut from the same mold as her brother, because she realized she could make room in her home and heart for his two remaining cats. We know for sure that kitties can help people heal and people can help kitties heal so Marc would be very happy to know that the people and kitties he loved are now all helping each other! Below are some pics of all of the kitties mentioned above.
     

May 2012 Updates

In the last two months, we unfortunately lost two more of our older kitties. Scary Spice went first. Then, just a few weeks later, her sister Baby Spice followed. We miss them very much but are glad that the Spice Girls are together again.
As for adoptions, two cats who were well on their way to becoming "lifers", got out! The first was Reese. She came in almost six years ago. Although she was the most beautiful kitten in her litter of four, she was the only one not adopted. As the years went by, instead of getting friendlier, she became more withdrawn. The only thing that brought joy to her life strangely enough was cheese! Donna, a long time volunteer moved back up to Massachusetts and left just enough room in her Mini Cooper to include Reese. She now has to live with only six other kitties instead of a whole adoption center full and she's adapting quite nicely.
The other kitty who was well on his way to becoming a "lifer" was Wellington. We'd had him for four years. Why he was never snatched up in all of these years is inexplainable. He was huge, handsome, and sweet. We told his adopter, Kathy, everything we knew about him and his personality. We told her he had what we call "Poodle" eye and needed to have his eyes wiped twice a day to keep them clean. We told her he was a big baby and was afraid of thunder, and construction. We even told her he'd been know to mark his territory in our multi-cat environment. She said he sounded perfect! What an amazing adopter she is!
We adopted out all three of The Brits! Duchess, Lulu, and Sir Lancelot were all adopted into loving homes. Lulu actually went with two of our favorite people, veterinarian Dr. Sela and his wife, Stephanie. Many years ago they adopted one of my favorite cats ever, Albert, and a beautiful boy named Bandit. Sadly, Bandit passed away. They didn't want Albert to be alone so to make a long story short, they came to our adoption center...Lulu picked them out...Albert loves her...They love her...and her new name is Lulu-Licious! We adopted out a kitty named Langston who came to us and went out so quickly it was almost a blur. I never even got a picture of him! We wish all adoptions were that easy! We also adopted out two beautiful sisters. We had someone do something so kind and generous for Feline Friends, that we didn't know how we could possibly thank her. So, we named two precious kittens after her. Mae and Bee. She must have brought them good luck because we found them a wonderful home right away.
Another adoption we did was a big one! Once again we had a kitty who had survived a fire. On January 24, 2012 the following happened: Kittens Rescued From Apartment Fire
Then, on March 16, 2012, WSVN News came to our adoption center and did a follow up story on the kitty who is now named Burnadette. Cindy and Mary were both interviewed.
WSVN Interview
Minutes after the story aired that night, our phone started ringing. (We were closed!) Cindy listened to the messages first thing the next morning. One sounded very serious. She called the people back and let them know that we'd be open at 11:00 am. They were so serious that they literally came one hour early and waited patiently outside to make sure they were the first to meet her. They were a beautiful family with two beautiful children...and the rest is history.
We still have an amazing, beautiful, blind, declawed kitty named Cashmere. She is our featured pet. Please check out her picture, (The last pic below...her eyes are beautiful!) Her bio, and video are available on our pet list. If we could find her a home now, our Spring will be complete!
Here are some pics of the kitties mentioned above:
         

January Updates!

Well, one year rolled fairly smoothly into the next despite what the Mayans said! ;-) Our news is all adoption related so that's a good thing! The Manx siblings, Clarence and Camden went together. Then Mad Max, our featured kitty and resident lovable brat, was adopted with his best bud Carson! Last week, Red Fred got a home! So...all is good. Marigold is settling nicely into the office. Hannah and Pepper got dentals and feel like a million bucks. I hope the rest of the year continues just like this!

    

November 2011 Updates!

Well, there is always good and bad news. The bad is that we lost two more of our older kitties, Farrah and Ali. They were two of our most feral cats, but they were happy at Feline Friends with the other cats and didn't mind us too much as long as we provided them with baby food and treats and then left them alone! The good news is that we found homes for my boyfriend Jason, and Barcelona, and Countess Chocula! We also helped "re-home" Blues, a kitty we'd adopted out years ago. Then, since I had been planning to bring Jason home this Fall but he was already safe and happy in a great home, I took our two office kitties, Bria and Charlotte! They had once been the pariahs in our shelter. When Chokolate was adopted out of our office, we moved Bria and Charlotte over for their own safety. For a year and a half, they've thrived and blossomed. During that time, of course, a new pariah was in the making. Marigold. It's been painful to watch. She always had scratches on her nose. We had to sneak food to her. She wasn't allowed to use the litter box without being attacked by one cat or another. Now, in the office, it's wonderful to see her enjoying the finer things in life...cat nip, feather toys, quiet peaceful meals and a safe litter box. Hopefully, she too will thrive, blossom, get adopted, and then pass the baton on to another kitty in need.

     

We also want to thank all of our volunteers and donors! First, thank you for supporting our fundraising efforts! Thank you for buying and helping us sell the Macy's Shop for a Cause passes! Second, thank you so much for coming out to The Whale! Strangely enough, I had my camera in my purse that night, but didn't take it out once. I was too busy enjoying the wonderful company of so many friends, (and figuring out the trigonometry involved in organizing a raffle table. That was hard!) The last great bit of news is that with the direct help of our supporters, we have completed many projects this year that greatly improved the happiness and health of our cats and volunteers. Michelle, the owner of Roadrunner who passed away in April, visited in June. She knew we had been wanting to paint. She gave us a donation that helped us completely repaint the inside of our shelter! Then, an amazing married couple that has been volunteering for years, gave us a donation that allowed us to build more cat shelves, perches, and walkways throughout! THEN, (that's the last then, I promise!) we got the best donation of all: a new state of the art air conditioning system that not only keeps us cool, but also has an ionizer/deodorizer that kills viruses and neutralizes odors. Since we always measure our success by the happiness of our kitties, we've had a very successful year! We and the kitties are grateful! Check out our new look!