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)

The Lost Dogs’ Home is celebrating a very exciting, landmark event – the completion of our newly constructed $2.35 million The Lost Cats’ Home.

The Lost Dogs' Home - Cat Condo (inside)

Its opening marks the culmination of many years of planning, funding, and of course building a structure that is going to mean an enormous change and improvement for cats here at the Home. The facility commenced operation on Wednesday December 22, with a more formal open scheduled for a little later in the year.

“We are very excited by this state of the art, innovative and attractive new cat shelter. We expect to increase the lost cat claim rate and also to increase the adoption rate.” said the Home’s Managing Director Dr Graeme Smith.

The Lost Cats’ Home has been built on the premises after the acquisition of a factory space next door to The Lost Dogs’ Home at 2 Gracie Street North Melbourne, and it will double the number of lost cats we are able to hold.

Here at the Lost Dogs’ Home, we love our feline and canine tenants equally, but the cats have undoubtedly been in need of a bigger and better base from which to have treatment and assessment while they wait for their owners to claim them.

They will now enjoy state of the art facilities, in the form of 200 new air conditioned ‘cat condominiums’. And, we must admit, they will probably breathe a collective sigh of relief to have their own separate shelter, removed from the boisterous barks and yaps coming from the dog-end of town.

Since the Domestic Animals Act was introduced in 1996, there has been a huge increase in the number of cats and kittens being admitted to the Home. Councils began to implement a range of cat collection programs, and this has meant that in recent times we have had years where the number of cats admitted has exceeded the number of dogs. This dramatic rise simply had to be met, and we are thrilled that the support of so many donors and benefactors has enabled us to do this.

When our donors and benefactors learnt of the need to upgrade and improve our cat facilities, the Home was overwhelmed by their giving and their generosity.

The new facility will make a huge difference to the level of care we are able to give to vulnerable cats and kittens. By housing them in our purpose built cat condos – which each house up to four kittens or one adult cat, and have in-built temperature and ventilation controls, as well as en suite bathrooms – we will be able to drastically limit the incidence and spread of cat flu.

WATCH: Channel 10 News – The Lost Dogs’ Home – Cat Condo

Cat flu is a problem in most cat shelters. The cat condos should reduce the incidence of the condition from 15% to 3%! “This world class facility will set a benchmark for the rest of the country,” said Dr Smith.

Having a separate shelter building for our cats and kittens also gives us the perfect opportunity to increase awareness of some of the Home’s less high profile tenants.

We take in approximately 10,000 cats and kittens per year. While previously they may have lived a little in the shadow of the dogs, our new Cats’ Home will ensure that these animals in need have a solid profile in the community.

“I am very proud to see the completion of the vision to both raise the profile of cats here at the Home, and to significantly improve their living condition while they are under our care awaiting their owners to claim the.” Said Dr Smith.

The Lost Dogs' Home - Cat Condo (left side)

The Lost Dogs' Home - Cat Condo (wide)

The Lost Dogs’ Home has been caring for cats since 1986. Since 2007 we have experienced a 40% increase in the number of cats coming to us in need of care and shelter. We fear that this trend will only continue due to environmental and social changes.

In fact, cat and kitten admissions now exceed that of dogs and puppies – more than 10,000 a year. Our priority, as the leading animal welfare organisation in the country, is to ensure that we provide stray and abandoned cats with the highest level of care. Your donation to the Lost Cats’ Home will help shape the future for lost cats and kittens and offer them the best chance at a happy and healthy life. The shelter promises to be a state-of-the-art facility, where cats and kittens will be housed in a secure, quiet and welcoming environment, away from the noise and bustle of our main shelter in Gracie Street. The current facilities for cats and kittens at the Home are far from ideal and were only ever intended to be a short-term arrangement for much fewer numbers. There are four areas within the Home where cats are housed: two buildings for strays, one room for ill and injured cats and an adoption room. Although each area has been updated as required and complies with necessary Codes, in our eyes it is not good enough for the animals. Current facilities also place a strain on staff – cat flu is an ever present concern. This highly contagious virus is aggravated by stress and staff are constantly monitoring all cats and kittens for the first signs of flu, which then requires moving them to the ‘isolation’ area. We have purchased the property adjacent to the main shelter and have had plans drawn up for the development of The Lost Cats’ Home. When completed the shelter will occupy 617 metres square. – over four times the size of the current cat shelter area – providing the space needed to care for cats now, and well into the future. The Lost Cats’ Home will represent one of the most important achievements the Home has made for cat welfare. By making a gift, you will be a part of this pioneering project. Within the new purpose-built shelter, each cat and kitten will be housed in individual ‘cat condos’. These condos feature temperature controls and state-of-the-art, separate ventilation systems. We have 30 condos in use and have already witnessed a massive decrease in the spread of cat flu and the stress of animals. By housing every cat in this manner, we will be able to minimise any outbreak of cat flu, thus saving lives. The condos are easier to clean and keep hygienic. Cats are also given an ‘ensuite’ where the litter tray is kept, allowing them privacy and also minimising odour. It makes for a much more comfortable, cleaner, quieter and welcoming shelter. A more welcoming, quieter and lighter space will not only benefit the cats, but people looking for their missing cat will also be able to view stray cats much more easily. It is hoped that by developing The Lost Cats’ Home, more cat owners will be aware of its existence, therefore the pitifully low claim rates may begin to improve. We are very excited about this project. For far too long cats and kittens have been overlooked in the community. We now have the opportunity to turn their lives around and give them the care they deserve. I hope you are able to join us by making a gift.

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