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Welcome to our 3rd annual
Mother's Day/Queen for a Day contest (you can also view contestants from 2006, and 2007)
This year's contestants
are listed below, and each of them will share their story with you. Under each
animal's photo is a button which will allow you to "vote" for that animal
with a donation made in their name (which will be used to care for all
our animals), by either credit card (no Paypal
account required) or by Paypal
account. On May 12th (day after mother's day), we will add up all the donations
raised by
each animal and
crown our "Queen for a Day" (and share it on our website).
In addition, if you make a
"vote / donation" online, you will have access to a Mother's Day PDF card
we have made (just print it and fold it), which you can
use to honor your mom as well. If your donation is at least $15, we
can even post an "In Honor of" or "Memorial" to your mom as well
on our website.
Also, as a special bonus
this year, the person who submits the largest donation will also be
given the opportunity to name the litter (two boys and two girls) of
one of our newest mothers, Marissa (in the case of tie the winner's
name
will be picked from hat).
Now, let's meet this
year's
contestants.........
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Annie
Hi, my name is
Annie, and they told me you were having some kind of contest, and
wanted to know my story. About a month ago, I was living at this
house with lots of other cats. The lady who took care of us was
very nice and did her best, but it seemed like there were more and
more cats every time I turned around. Since she lived on about an
acre of land, some cats would just appear, sometimes on their own
and sometimes because other people would put them there, and she
would do her best to feed them.
But
unfortunately, the number of us was just getting overwhelming, so
she contacted some group called Animal Outreach. They came out to
examine the situation. They inspected all of us, and determined
that we were physically well cared for, and most of us were very
friendly. They then told her about two of the programs they ran
which could help her.
The first program
is called Rescue, Foster, and Adoption, and they said they had
placed over 2400 cats into new homes through this program (and all
of them were altered before adoption so the adopters didn’t
eventually get overwhelmed as well). The second is a program
called TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return), and it’s useful for those cats
who unlike myself will never be able to be real human-friendly
because they’re feral (there’s a number of those guys running
around here as well), but who still deserve to live. It’s a great
program, and the only technique which has proven to be effective
and humane in actually reducing the number of cats in this
country.
Anyways, back to
my story. The day the Animal Outreach people arrived was quite
special timing for me. I was just giving birth to four kittens in
this cupboard that day. They said they didn’t have a foster home
available that day, but two days later they came back and whisked
me and my 4 kittens into one that had become available. They also
took five other cats with them as well that day (and have taken
even more since then), and are still working with that nice lady
to help her TNR all the feral cats on the property.
There is a
picture of me and my four little ones there on the right, aren’t
they adorable. I’ve been spending a lot of time nursing them, and
when they’re old enough, they will be adopted, and so will I.
So that’s my
story. I hope you vote for me for Queen for the Day, but I already
feel like one. |
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Juno (a.k.a. Junebug)
Hi, my name is Juno. I used to live in
a small town called Ringwood. I spent a lot of time hanging out
with my sister, basically chilling. Unfortunately, after we got
involved in some shenanigans....well let’s just say both my sister
and I wound up preggo. The people we were living with already had
three other young adult cats besides ourselves, and one of them
had given birth a few months earlier to four of those totally boss
polydactyl kittens, so combined with my sister’s and my five kittens
each, all of a sudden five young cats became 19.....Yikes!
 Thankfully,
these really cool people from Animal Outreach were able to help.
First off, they took both me and my sister, and our brood of 10
kittens, as well as the four polydactyl kittens (who were older than
ours and already weaned), and got us nice spots in foster homes.
They also made sure that the three remaining cats in my old house were
spayed/neutered pronto, no more population explosions there.
I’m really
enjoying my time with my kittens, their names are Panda, Flower,
Chicklet, Sandy and Rocky. I thought I was going to be one of
those really laid back moms, but turns out I’m pretty good at
keeping the kids in line when they rough-house too much or go
where they shouldn’t.
They say soon,
I’ll be up for adoption myself after I’m um....modified. I think
it’s great there are people who volunteer to help cats like me and
my spawn. I’d love to win this here little contest, but even if I
don’t, no biggie. I’m just hoping soon I’ll find my family who
won’t see what anyone can see.....in anyone else......but me.
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Little Feather
Hi, they call me Little Feather and I’d like to tell you my story.
In the summer of 2007, I was living in this tree stump with my
four babies. I was doing the best I could, but I had grown really
skinny, and I was having a rough time. I was also a bit confused,
as I used to have a home. I’ve always been very sweet and friendly
to people, so I’m not sure how I wound up in this stump.
Anyways, this group of friendly people
 called
Animal Outreach took me in. It was really nice, they assigned me
and my little ones to this place called a volunteer foster home. I
had a good time there, as I got to provide for my babies, and even
was able to get myself back up to a healthy weight. My foster
family named my babies after some characters in some book called
Little Women, but I’ve never read it. I’m not a big reader.
Once they were old enough (and altered), my
little ones were ready for their own homes. Joe and Beth actually
got adopted together, and Amy and Meg also found great homes. Then
they said it was my turn.
They took me to this place called Petsmart,
and I lived there for a while. It wasn’t quite as cushy as my
foster home, but I got to inspect many prospective families, and
they got to see how great I was in person (that’s hard to beat). I
even got to help take care of some other kittens that would come
in on weekends to be adopted. I really enjoyed helping. It took me
a long time to finally meet my people, but Animal Outreach never
gave up on me, even when I got a minor urinary infection. In
fact, many of the volunteers were a little sad to see me go as
they had become quite attached to me and my loving purrsonality.
So there you have it. I really hope you help me win this
contest so Animal Outreach can help more moms like me, but I’ve
already got my mother’s day present, loving homes for me and my
babies. |
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Misty
Hi, they call me Misty. My fortunes
have changed quite a bit over the last year. In late spring of
2007, I was living on the street with my 6 young kittens, five
boys and one girl named Little Joe, Eddie, Leo, Kyle, Alex and
Lexi.
Someone who saw
us contacted some organization called McHenry County Animal
Control, and they brought us in. Unfortunately, they get lots of
calls like this (particularly in the spring), and they often wind
up with more animals than they can help. I was fortunate though,
as animal control works with this other group called Animal
Outreach, who over the last few years has been able to help animal
control by taking over 330 cats from them when they were short on
space.
 Once
Animal Outreach took me they sent me to a volunteer foster home
with my little ones. There I was able to take good care of them,
and ultimately they all got adopted. The great thing about Animal
Outreach is that even we adults get cared for until we’re adopted,
even if it takes a little longer than those cute kittens. So I
patiently waited my turn. They put me on something called
petfinder.com on the internet, and I spent some time at a bright
place called Petsmart. At one point, I had a pretty bad infection,
but it didn’t discourage those Animal Outreach volunteers. They
took care of me, and in a little time I was good as new.
Eventually I
found my new family, and I’m very happy. If I win this contest,
I’ll dedicate it to all of you who help Animal Outreach help
animals like me. Happy Mother’s Day Everyone!
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