Bob is a beautiful cat up for adoption at The Lost Dogs’ Home Melbourne Shelter. If you are interested in meeting Bob, why not come and visit us at 2 Gracie Street today!

For more information on Bob, please visit his profile at do.gs/Nz9v2C — at The Lost Dogs’ Home

As many grumpy-faced kids return to school and tired-faced parents return to work (all clutching the remnants of their Easter chocolate haul), The Lost Dogs’ Home has a reason to feel pretty darned pleased today.

As we speak, 141 dogs and 127 cats will be waiting for those kids and adults to return home this afternoon, after being adopted during our school holidays half-price adoptions promotion. That’s right: 268 animals now know what it feels like to be loved, adored, safe and warm. And we are over the moon about it.

“We love to offer half-price adoptions during the holidays, because it means new owners will have the time to settle their pet in at home and really get to know it,” said Sue Conroy, General Manager of the Home. “Of course, half price always means the shelter is doubly busy, but when you see figures like we’ve seen over the past two weeks, it’s so worth it.”

Those who wanted to receive the discount had to complete The Lost Dogs’ Home’s Pet Licence test first, which walks prospective owners through the responsibilities of owning a pet. Sue said she was ecstatic to see so many youngsters getting involved and helping to answer the questions.

“That is what we love to see – kids learning about responsible pet ownership from a young age,” she said. “Parents were sitting down with their kids and going through questions about vet care, exercise, training, socialisation, feeding and grooming… everything you need to know about looking after an animal. It’s fantastic to see.”

This promotion helped us to find homes for many of our long-term residents, our older residents and several bonded pairs, all of which are normally quite hard to rehome. We were particularly heartened to see so many adult cats go to new homes.

“The guys who are usually upstaged by cute puppies or kittens were given their chance in the spotlight and they found people who adored them for who they are,” Sue said. “There is no better feeling than seeing a perfect match walk out the door and knowing that cat or dog will be looked after for the rest of their lives.”

As Fletcher tossed a bag of rubbish into his building’s communal bins one Tuesday afternoon, he was surprised to hear a strange noise coming from amongst the trash. Stopping to listen, he heard the noise again and began digging through the piles of smelly stuff until he came across a tightly sealed plastic bag. Inside, he found a seven-week-old kitten.

“The bag was tied completely shut, so the little guy had no hope of getting out of there,” Fletcher’s wife Georgia – who arrived on the scene within five minutes of Fletcher making the discovery – said. “It was a boiling hot day so he can’t have been in there for that long because he just wouldn’t have survived.”

Understandably, the little kitten was extremely distressed and weak after his ordeal, so Fletcher quickly gave him some water to drink and a little bit of milk for nourishment. Georgia said it took a little while but the kitten finally started to calm down.

“In the beginning, he was meowing and meowing and was really agitated,” she said. “But, you know, there were three people sitting around, patting him, making soothing noises and giving him milk so he eventually relaxed.”

Given Georgia’s allergy to cat hair, the couple knew that they wouldn’t be the lucky ones who could offer the little man a home. However Georgia said if their circumstances were different, not even an allergy could have stopped her adopting him!

“He was very cute and I think if we had a bigger house or lived in the country, we’d have taken him without a doubt,” she said. “However we live in a block of flats and they’re about 20m2 in size. So there isn’t a lot of space for me and a cat that I’m allergic to!”

Georgia admits they had no knowledge of what to do when finding a stray; however a quick Google search led her to her council’s website, where she was instructed to bring the kitten into The Lost Dogs’ Home.

“Georgia and Fletcher did exactly the right thing by giving the kitten a drink of water, some sustenance and then bringing him into the shelter,” cat shelter manager Karina Bailey said. “They really saved that little kitten’s life because of their actions.”

In honour of the man who pulled him out of his predicament, the Home has decided to name the kitten ‘Fletcher’. He is currently up for adoption and is now desexed, vaccinated, microchipped and received the all-clear from the vet.

“We were really relieved when our vets checked him out and declared him fit and healthy,” Karina said. “The only thing wrong with him was that he was treated appallingly by humans who were supposed to care for him.”

As for Georgia, she said the incident has been a major talking point around her building.

“I don’t believe we’re actually allowed pets in our building, so it makes me think someone was trying to get rid of the problem,” she said. “It’s quite creepy to think there is someone who lives nearby who could do something like that to a kitten.”

If you’re interested in adopting Fletcher, please call the North Melbourne shelter on 03 9329 2755 and quote Animal ID: 902923.

When John and Glenys adopted Enzo – the little cat with the half-tabby, half-polar bear markings – from The Lost Dogs’ Home’s Campaspe shelter, they found her to be much like any other 18-month-old: shy and curious.

In the months since the couple had their hearts won over by this quiet girl, sitting down by herself in the shelter looking like the original ‘scaredy cat,’ John and Glenys have proved to be the consummate cat whisperers, working through all of Enzo’s quirks and foibles to make her the happiest country cat around.

In a little over three months, the couple say that Enzo has come to feel very safe and comfortable with them – almost to the point of taking them for granted!

“We’ve got a rumpus room where Enz spent most of the first week when she came home with us,” John said. “We had some old car seat covers in there, and this is where she retreated, with her head popping out every now and then.”

After about a week, John said you could stand at the door and if you spoke quietly, and didn’t move, she would come to you.

It then progressed to the point where John could pick her up and take her for laps of the house, getting her used to everything while her neck “grew about two inches” as she strained to see everything around her.

“You just don’t know what kind of life they’ve had,” John said – which meant he and his wife were more than happy to take a slow and gentle approach to helping Enzo settle into the family.

It was only when Enzo became a little aloof and disinclined to cuddle that John and Glenys found out that their little cat had become a bit too comfortable.

“We talked to Barbara at the Campaspe shelter – they were so helpful – and she asked whether we were leaving food out for her all day, and we said yes, we did have bickies out for her.”

Barbara then explained that Enzo’s calculating cat mind had decided that she had everything she needed, and could ignore her adoptive parents if she wanted to.

“Barb said she was snobbing us!” chuckled John.

So, after scaling-back the day’s smorgasbord, Enzo decided to scale-up the affection, and John says she is now acting like the loving sweet-heart she is meant to be.

But if Enzo’s arrival has taught the family one thing, it is that every cat is different. While their last cat Jessie was also adopted – and lived with the couple for 15 years – that’s where the similarities between the two cats end.

“Jessie was a huge female,” said John. “She was very even tempered and unruffled by anything.”

While Enzo is undoubtedly a different personality, she is filling John and Glenys’s need for a cat in their lives with her own distinctive style.

“She still has a fair bit of kitten in her,” John said. “She couldn’t care less for her proper toys, but give her a ball of wool or string, or have her playing under the mats in the lounge room, and that’s all she needs.”

John has also built what’s affectionately known as ‘Enzo’s Holiday House’ – an outdoor, enclosed play area decked out with scratching posts and climbing ramps covered in fake grass.

While Enzo was at first uncertain about her new place, John and Glenys took her out there for short introductions and would sit with her as she got more and more willing to explore.

In typical contrary cat style, John said Enzo doesn’t give much notice to her scratching posts, preferring instead to get her claws into the novel texture of the fake grass.

She’s also become great mates with the couple’s elderly Jack Russell, Tiny, who still has enough beans in him to bump noses and frolic with the youthful Enzo.

And, when Tiny’s dog treats are out, Enzo proves to have terrific hearing.

“She comes out to see what’s going on and purrs around you,” said John.

It seems for all her shyness, Enzo is one smart cat, and all the love and patience from John and Glenys should enable her to be the cheekiest cat she can be.

Jill and her family have always loved cats. So it was no surprise when, twelve months after adopting their cat Samantha, her son announced, “She needs a companion!”

Jill began an online search for potential friends for Samantha. She came across The Lost Dogs’ Home website and found a black, eight-week-old male kitten named Elmo who was waiting to be adopted from the Campaspe shelter in Echuca.

“I phone my husband and I said, ‘I found a kitten! The problem is he’s in Echuca!’” Jill laughed. “He replied, ‘You’ve got to be joking!’”

Concerned about the three hour drive from their home in Melbourne, Jill and her husband decided not to call the shelter straight away. However Jill found herself checking the website every day to see if Elmo was still there. Then, a few days later, her husband gave her a surprise phone call.

“He said, ‘I phoned Echuca and there’s a hold on Elmo. We’re going up tomorrow.’”

When Jill met little Elmo at The Lost Dogs’ Home Campaspe Shelter in Echuca, she instantly fell in love.

“I knelt down, held out my hand and said, ‘Come on’. Elmo darted out and rushed up to me and was really responsive… I picked him up and there was this throaty purr that was about ten times bigger than he was. He was just gorgeous.”

The three hour drive was not a problem for Elmo, as Jill and her husband brought along suitable cat transport and kept an eye on him to make sure he was ok.

Introducing Samantha to her new companion was not so easy, but once she realised Elmo was not going anywhere, she began to tolerate him. Twelve months later, she still ignores him in her ‘superior way’, unless of course he tries to play with her ‘feather duster’ of a tail!

Elmo likes to have his paws in the house work too! He’s been known to jump into the car boot when the groceries are being taken in to house, sit in the laundry basket and even help Jill ‘tidy up’ after dinner!

“He is a cat that wants to be in everything that you do. If you’re washing the dishes, he’ll walk along the sink and drink out of the tap.”

It was this curious nature that nearly got Elmo into some hot water – literally!

“I was in the laundry and he jumped up onto the trough and leant forward to drink,” Samantha recalled. “His paws slid and he went straight down, head first into the soapy water! I immediately pulled him out but it didn’t stop him! He has tried to drink the water out of the tap again since!”

The whole family is taken with little Elmo. Jill’s son dotes on him and her husband has even been spotted rubbing his belly.

Jill and her family have a long history of adopting animals from shelters and couldn’t imagine getting a cat from anywhere else.

“They need homes… Elmo’s an incredibly friendly cat, he’s very amiable and no claws ever come out. He’s just beautiful.”

Sounds like it was worth the trip!