The Lost Dogs’ Home ended 2011 with a record number of adoptions in December and it seems the trend has continued well into the new year.

We are now halfway through January and already 171 dogs and cats have been adopted into new homes from our North Melbourne shelter – a fantastic result!

“We expected a good response to our half-price adoption promotion in December, but to see the adoption rates remain steady into January is really encouraging!” said General Manager of Operations Sue Conroy.

171 dogs and cats adopted so far - The Lost Dogs' Home

“Recent media coverage and the December promotion has helped raise awareness for our dogs and cats needing new homes, but also we just hope that the message is getting through that adopted pets are best!”

There is nothing better than seeing a wagging tail and an excited and dedicated new owner leave the Home side-by-side. Though a little less enthusiastic leaving in their travel boxes, we have been ecstatic to see so many of our deserving moggies find homes over the past few weeks.

Last weekend in particular 19 cats and kittens were adopted into new families, along with others looking, it made for a steady couple of days in cat adoptions.

“Kittens are always popular but it has been lovely to see quite a few adult cats find homes over recent weeks,” said Cat Shelter Manager Karina Bailey.

However there is still one cat we would all love to see find a new home very soon and that is long-term resident Scout. We cannot understand why this lovely girl has failed to capture the attention of her perfect owner – but we will not give up on her.

With a couple of weeks of school holidays to go, giving new owners  time to settle in a new pet, we hope many more people will choose to adopt from the Home. And we are desperately hoping that one of these people will be a new owner for Scout!

To view all dogs and cats for adoption please visit our website.

The two kittens found in a box being couriered across Melbourne finally went to their new home this week.

Courier worker Geoff waited over a month to adopt Wilbur and Tinks, who he discovered underweight and tiny in a cracker box on November 15. At four-weeks-old, the kittens were far too young to be taken away from their mother and after being assessed by vets at The Lost Dogs’ Home, they were put into foster care to gain weight. On Wednesday their ‘guardian angel’ came back to the Home to officially adopt them and give them a new start to life.

“Geoff was the one who found Wilbur and Tinks and we are so thrilled that it’s he who will be taking them home,” Manager of The Lost Cats’ Home Karina Bailey said. “We often give the finder preference for adoption, since they have done the right thing by bringing them in to the shelter.”

In their foster home, Wilbur and Tinks developed a strong bond, with foster carer Amber saying, “They absolutely love each other; love to cuddle together, hang out together and play together.” Karina said it was the Home’s wish to see them adopted into the same home and staff were elated to hear Geoff would be adopting both.

“Wilbur and Tinks have given each other support and comfort throughout this entire experience and seem to have a very special bond,” she said. “We’re so glad we haven’t had to separate them and they can continue playing and cuddling together for the rest of their lives.”

As Geoff adopted the now desexed, microchipped and vaccinated Wilbur and Tinks during December, he received 50 per cent off the price of adoption, meaning he got two for the price of one! However, like everyone wanting to receive the discount, he first had to complete the Pet Licence test to ensure he was aware of his responsibilities as a pet owner.

“Guardian angel or not, everyone can learn something from taking the test, as being a responsible pet owner is what it’s all about,” Karina affirms.

To find out more about half-price adoptions during December.

The Home would also like to thank everyone who called to enquire about Wilbur and Tinks and our Foster Care Program.

When both of Anne’s parents sadly passed away within weeks of each other earlier this year, she and her husband Doug felt the need to bring some life back into their house. Being long-time lovers of cats, they had been continually checking The Lost Dogs’ Home adoption page, watching the kitties come and go as they all went on to find new and loving homes.

All, that is, except one.

“We monitored the website for about three months but didn’t come in to adopt one because we were always travelling to visit my mum and dad at the time,” Anne said. “But every time we went online, we noticed a ginger cat named Floyd keeping popping up! He had been looking for a home for so long and he was so adorable, we couldn’t believe no one had taken him.”

Anne said she and Doug became very familiar with Floyd over the months, with a simple ‘Floyd is still there’ needing no further explanation. At long last, Anne decided to call the Wingecarribee shelter in New South Wales – where Floyd was being held – and enquire about him.

“I had never envisaged getting a cat without at least meeting him first!” the St Kilda-based Anne laughed. “It was a big gamble but I spoke to the girls at the shelter and they said he was such a beautiful cat. In the end, we decided to just go for it and thought, ‘Well, hopefully he likes us!’

After lots of negotiations with staff at the shelter, Anne and Doug arranged for a pet courier service to collect Floyd and bring him to their Melbourne home. Anne said she was expecting an extremely grumpy cat waiting to be collected by them; the reality was just the opposite!

“After driving for so long, I was expecting a ginger bundle of angry cat to come flying out of his cage, but he just walked calmly out and started smooching with me straight away,” Anne said. “It was just purr, purr, purr the whole time. He clung to me all day; I was trying to work from home and it was just absolutely impossible!”

In the time since Floyd came to live with the couple, he has kept them in hysterics with his antics. Doug, who has owned cats for most of his life, said he’s never had such an active cat before and Anne describes him as ‘dog-like’ in the way he follows her around and chews on their thongs.

“He’s always exploring; for his age – about 16 months – he still acts like quite a kitten,” Anne said. “We think he might have had a bit of a deprived kittenhood, because he always seems so fascinated with everything. And we live in a townhouse so he’s always up and down the stairs. His favourite toys are ping pong balls, he goes crazy over them.”

The fluffy ginger boy has also proven to be quite the food connoisseur, only eating food that passes his unique testing system.

“When given any new food that he is unsure of, Floyd bats it with his paw and then licks his paw to see if it is acceptable,” Anne laughed. “Doug says this is really unusual, as cats generally sniff and lick to test.”

Floyd’s antics haven’t always been so amusing; he once almost gave Anne a heart attack when he decided to inspect what she was doing in the kitchen!

“In the second week we had him, he almost lost one of his lives when he decided to jump up onto the stove top!” Anne said. “I reached out and deflected him as he jumped – lucky, as he would have landed square in the middle of the frying pan, in amongst the chops! One of his paws touched just the edge of the pan and when he landed, he was swiping it furiously and then spent hours licking it.”

At the end of a long day, Floyd loves nothing more than stretching out between his two loving owners for a nap.

“It’s so funny when we let him inside at night, he just collapses,” Anne said. “He’s so exhausted from his busy day. He stays inside at night and is very affectionate in the morning. I’m normally woken up by a little paw on the face and a smooch.”

“There are certainly worse ways to wake up!”

From the very first encounter with lovely Lucy, staff at the North Melbourne Lost Cats’ Home had stars in their eyes, dazzled by the easy charm and prim elegance of this beautiful white cat.

A rendezvous with Lucy in her pen at the Home includes: dozens upon dozens of purrs, a minimum of 3x smooches for any who dare discontinue stroking, 2x gorgeous bright green eyes, expressing perfectly the pleasure of this dainty feline, and 1x fur covered set of clothing (Lucy loves to get close and personal!).

House trained, wormed, desexed and vaccinated, Lucy seems the perfect addition to any familial home, and she is certainly the type of versatile, easy-going and amenable cat who could fit seamlessly into the daily routine of just about anyone. She is even perfectly happy to buddy up with other four-legged friends, so for enchanting Lucy, a full house presents no obstacle.

The 18-month-old sweetheart was picked up as a stray in early November, waited eight days for her previous owners to search her out and take her home and then, when nobody came, was sent to the adoption pens.

Alas, at the Home Lucy has stayed, and staff are simply perplexed that she is yet to go to the loving and caring family she deserves, where she would thrive and quickly win hearts with her grace and manners.

“It’s just such as shame that people pass by the opportunity to adopt older cats like Lucy, to take on a kitten instead. They’re missing out on the established personalities and low-maintenance of older cats who know how to cuddle up, and how to do their own thing,” Karina Bailey, manager of The Lost Cats’ Home said, “and this is absolutely true of Lucy.”

All Lucy asks for is a loving home for the years to come, the providers of which will be rewarded tenfold with her stunning character and decorum, and the not-so-occasional smooch!

Lucy’s (anticipated) adoption ties in nicely with the half-price adoptions up for grabs at The Lost Dogs’ Home, as the staff members hope very much to ensure that as many dogs and cats as possible find comfortable homes and a return of their love before Christmas. This is especially now as 35 cats and 10 kittens already wait at the Home for adoption, before the holiday season is even in full swing. Any prospective adoptive pet owners would need only to complete the Pet Licence Test to be able to bring home the greatest Christmas present this month, for themselves and their new pet.

If you think Lucy is the cat for you, call the North Melbourne shelter on (03) 9329 2755 and quote Animal ID number: 894986

The travel bug must be spreading around The Lost Dogs’ Home, as we recently received an update on yet another one of our globe-trotting pussycats! Sasha was adopted from the Home nearly two years ago by Ebonny and her husband David and has since made a big journey up north to live in chilly Germany. Here, Ebonny shares the story of how Sasha came to be in their lives.

I have always lived in a home where I was surrounded by animals, so when I moved out of home over a year ago, it was a big adjustment not having any animals with me every day. After much deliberation, my partner and I decided to adopt a cat from The Lost Dogs’ Home. I have supported the Home for many years and since I was living in Victoria, I could actually visit and see firsthand the difference The Lost Dogs’ Home is making to help animals in need.

We visited the North Melbourne location and the first cat that we were greeted by was Sasha. She was very smoochy and seemed like she was eager to go home with us, so there was no doubt we were going to adopt her.

Since being adopted, Sasha has been enjoying her new life ruling the roost. Her favourite place is under the dining room table where she can watch everything that is happening and play with her favourite toy, a hedgehog. Sasha has become part of the family and we couldn’t imagine life without her. She has picked up a quirky habit which involves her waiting for you to get out of the shower so she can groom your wet legs. She also enjoys playing hide and seek; she has a very playful nature.

My husband, Sasha and I have now relocated to Germany for two years. Sasha has settled in quite well, she misses living in a house with a backyard though (Germany is full of apartments) and she took some time getting used to the different seasons. We are now experiencing winter and she has puffed right up for the freezing temperatures.

I hope that people can continue to enrich their lives by adopting animals in need. The love you receive from an animal is unconditional and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The little kittens that were sent in the mail have now gone into their foster home, where they will stay until they are big and strong and ready for adoption!

Foster Carer Amber collected Wilbur and Tinks from The Lost Dogs’ Home on Monday and reports that both are doing extremely well.

“When we first took the kittens home on Monday, we could see that they were very nervous,” Amber said. “They were quite skittish and cautious, but even by Monday evening they had become a fair bit calmer.”

Like most kittens, the pair needed a bit of time to settle into their new surroundings; however it didn’t take long for their natural kitten curiosity to come out.

“They run around A LOT and love to investigate everything in the house,” Amber said. “They seem to really love each other too; they play together, hang out together and cuddle up together. It’s very sweet.”

Amber said as each day passes, their little personalities continue to grow – and so do they!

“Wilbur especially is a hungry little guy!” she said. “He sometimes muscles in on Tinks during dinner and tries to eat her food after he’s polished his own off!”

Tinks has become very talkative in her foster home and will often fill Amber and her partner Dirk on every event of her day. Amber said both kittens are extremely affectionate and trusting towards them – unusual, given their age and background.

“They both love being tickled and cuddled,” she said. “We’re really pleased with how affectionate they are with us – you wouldn’t blame them for being a little wary of people after what happened to them.”

Wilbur and Tinks will be coming back into the Home next week so vets can weigh them and check their progress. The Lost Cats’ Home Manager Karina Bailey said she was thrilled to see the photos of Wilbur and Tinks playing and behaving like any other kitten in their foster home.

“It’s a big change from the tiny, scared little things that turned up in a cracker box,” Karina said. “It’s so wonderful to have the support of people like Amber and Dirk to help give these two a better start in life.”

If you think you have what it takes to be a Foster Carer, please visit our website for more information. 

Most cats go bolting at the first sight of water, but not two-year-old Lucky. Adopted from a Best Friends Pet SuperCentre over a year ago, Lucky has kept his new owners in fits of laughter with his antics, which includes positioning himself underneath the shower and waiting expectantly for them to turn it directly on him.

“It can get pretty bizarre in my household at times!” Lucky’s owner Jill laughed. “He’s just a really fun cat. When my daughter has friends over, they love playing with him so he often ends up in the doll’s pram! He’s really good with kids, so easy-going.”

Jill, her partner and their daughter Joanna weren’t looking to adopt a cat the day they walked into the Maribyrnong store 15 months ago – in fact, they were only there to buy food for their goldfish! But when they spotted the cats’ enclosure, they couldn’t resist taking a quick peek and that’s when they first laid eyes on Lucky.

“He was in there with another cat, but for some reason, Lucky really stood out to us,” Jill said. “He just seemed so sweet and relaxed. But we didn’t give it much thought at the time, because we didn’t go in with the intention of adopting a cat.”

However once the family were home, it soon became clear that they had all caught Lucky fever!

“We kept saying to each other, ‘Oh he was so nice, wasn’t he?’” Jill said. “We really liked him but we wanted to be sure he was right for our family, so after thinking about it for a week, we went back in to Best Friends to ask some more questions.”

The family had always said if they adopted a cat, it would be an adult and would come from a shelter. When they heard how Best Friends Pet SuperCentres acts as a satellite adoption centre for cats and kittens from The Lost Dogs’ Home, that really sealed the deal for Lucky.

“We wanted to adopt; we didn’t want to go through your typical pet shop,” Jill said. “So we thought it was great that Best Friends have the adoption program. We were really impressed with the whole experience, especially because they seemed to really know each cat’s personality and could tell us whether Lucky would be suitable to us. They were very helpful.”

Staff at Best Friends told the family how Lucky had been up for adoption at another store for quite some time before he was moved to the Maribyrnong store.

“Luckily for us!” Jill said. “It all seemed to work out just right, because Best Friends said they normally only have kittens but Lucky was six-months-old, which suited us perfectly. It was quite coincidental that he ended up at our local store.”

Another box Lucky ticked for the family was the fact that he had been raised as an indoor cat. Jill said there are quite a few cats living in their street and they didn’t want a cat that would run off with them all the time.

“Lucky seems perfectly content to spend all his time indoors,” Jill said. “And our vet said it was probably a good idea, given his colouring. He’s nice and white and we want to keep him that way!”

While not a lap cat, Lucky is very affectionate with his owners and loves to rub himself up against them and receive pats.

“He’s pretty endearing and lots of fun to have around,” Jill said.

There is nothing better than capturing the perfect photo of a loved one. However often our pets are not as cooperative as other family members, resulting in a blurry smudge of paws and fur in every happy snap!

This Christmas, The Lost Dogs’ Home, along with experienced pet photographers Roka Photography, will help you get that special photo of your pet you’ve always wanted.

Our Pet Portraits event will be conveniently held across two days on Saturday, December 3rd and Sunday, December 4th from 10am to 4pm in the Home’s new Thelma Hoult Training and Education Centre.

Each sitting time is 15 minutes long and owners are welcome to bring along more than one pet for a group photo, as well as individual photos. Human family members are also welcome! We want to help create a special family memory you can treasure this Christmas and always.

Bookings are essential – to secure your sitting time, please go to either our Saturday, December 3rd booking form or Sunday, December 4th booking form. A non-refundable sitting fee of $20 applies for each 15 minute session. Afterwards you will be able to choose from a range of photo packages starting at $49 and individual prints starting at $15.

Roka will kindly donate all sitting fees to The Lost Dogs’ Home which will go towards helping lost and abandoned dogs and cats.

Optional Christmas decorations and dress ups will be available; however owners are welcome to bring along their pets own special outfits.

For cats, and those more nervous pets, we have allocated several special (and hopefully quieter) times when they will be amongst other like-minded, shy pets. Please check our booking form for these times.

We ask that owners, pets and family members to be photographed arrive around 10 minutes before their booked sitting time. Please ensure your pet is on a lead or in a secure pet carrier. We will have water and poo bags available.

We ask all owners to supervise their pets properly and be courteous to all others.

Please share our event with other pet owners. By taking part in our Pet Portrait event, not only will you get a wonderful photo to treasure forever but your support will go towards helping the thousands of lost and abandoned dogs and cats The Lost Dogs’ Home cares for every year.

For more information, please contact Gisele Greig in our Fundraising Department on (03) 9321 8744.

Entering the cat adoption at The Lost Dogs’ Home can be quite the experience. With so many beautiful, whiskered faces staring at you and little paws stretching out to say hello, it’s hard to know where to start, let alone who to take home with you!

Yet despite the insistent meows coming from each enclosure, often one cat will stand out from the crowd to truly capture your heart. Whether it’s the crazy kitty who loves to play chasey with their toy mouse, the chilled-out old softie who is content to curl up in your arms or the smooch machine who wants to pepper your face in tiny nose kisses, there is a little personality just waiting to become a part of your family.

At present, there are 33 little personalities who are looking for homes. Thirty-one of these are adult cats who, our past adoption figures tell us, have a harder time finding a home than their wiggly kitten cohorts. With the breeding season upon us, we desperately need to find homes for our more mature moggies, as once the kittens start coming in, the older guys tend to get lost in the shadows.

“We have some absolutely gorgeous cats at the moment, but it’s the kittens that are walking out the door,” The Lost Cats’ Home Manager Karina Bailey said. “It’s so hard to see when you know these older cats – most of whom aren’t so far out of kittenhood themselves – could be just as fantastic a companion as the little guys.”

Among the cats who have had a bit of trouble finding a home is Bessie, an eight-year-old domestic shorthair who was once the beloved companion of an elderly owner. Despite being featured in a story on the website two weeks ago, no-one is yet to express an interest in the gentle girl.

“Bessie would be a wonderful companion for another elderly person, as she is very relaxed and happy simply to curl up in a lap for a snooze,” Karina said. “People have been put-off by her age but the average life expectancy for an indoor cat is around 12 – 15 years. So Bessie definitely has plenty of years still ahead of her.”

Another cat who has failed to grab the attention of a prospective owner is the shelter’s biggest cat, aptly named Big Bobby. This gentle giant isn’t fazed by anything, including other cats and would be a welcome second addition to any home; however at seven-years-old, Bobby is often brushed off as being ‘too old’ by adopters.

“Big Bobby is such a special boy, he’s completely relaxed and enjoys the simple things in life,” Karina said. “He’s an enormous cat but so sweet too. He will make a terrific family pet.”

And then there is Lucky, the three-legged wonder cat! When she arrived at the Home with a severely broken leg, vets had no choice but to remove it or else Lucky may not have survived. While we hoped an owner would show up to collect the beautiful girl, no one did and she was put up for adoption.

“We gave her the name Lucky because if she wasn’t found and brought into us when she was, she wouldn’t be here with us today,” Karina said. “Now we just hope she will be lucky enough to find a family who really love her, three legs and all.”

More and more cats are coming in every day and we need to find homes for our current cats now, so please take a moment to look through our adoptions page. There are cats of all sizes, ages, colours and temperament so you will be sure to find the right feline friend for you.

Cats for adoption at The Lost Dogs' Home, North Melbourne

On Tuesday morning, in a disgusting display of cruelty and thoughtlessness, two kittens not yet old enough to be away from their mother were discovered in a courier box by staff at a distribution centre. The box had been collected from a household in Melbourne’s western suburbs the day previous and the kittens had been in the box without food, water or padding to protect them for well over 24 hours.

After making the shocking discovery, staff contacted the City of Melbourne who immediately called upon The Lost Cats’ Home to collect and care for the kittens. Cattery Manager Karina Bailey said she was outraged when she heard about the incident.

“Any number of things could have happened to those kittens while they were in transit,” Karina said. “The box could have been squashed, it could have been dropped or roughly handled, and at such a young age, these kittens are already extremely vulnerable.”

Luckily the young male and female appeared to be unharmed, although they were underweight for what they should be at four-weeks-old. Veterinarians at the Home assessed the pair upon arrival and they have been carefully monitored this week to ensure their health doesn’t deteriorate.

“They should never have been taken away from their mum at this age,” Karina said. “Cats weaned off their mother’s milk too early can often have weak immune systems later on, so we wanted to make sure these kittens are getting lots of nutrition to make up for that.”

With the kittens still too young to be out up for adoption, Karina is appealing for members of the public to act as foster carers for the pair over the next four weeks.

“We want them to be strong and healthy by the time we put them up for adoption, so we need someone who will be able to provide them with the best quality care,” Karina said. “They are eating well and don’t appear to have any medical problems. Fattening them up and making sure they become lovely, socialised cats is the main thing!”

Anyone who believes they can provide a loving, temporary home to the two kittens – or to any of our sick, injured or underage cats and dogs – are encouraged to contact Foster Care Coordinator Amanda Huggins on 9329 2755 or download the foster care application form on www.dogshome.com.

“They are adorable kittens, very sweet and cuddly, which is surprising at their age,” Karina said. “It makes me sick that someone could do something so abhorrent to two innocent kittens. But hopefully we can give them a fresh start to life and they will grow up to become healthy, loving cats.”

An investigation into the incident is currently taking place.

Read more about this story in the Herald Sun (Reporter: Aleks Devic)