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!

It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white… or tabby or torti or ginger or grey.

Michael Jackson once sang about the importance of accepting everyone, regardless of colour, and this weekend we hope everyone embraces the King of Pop’s mantra at The Lost Cats’ Home!

With a virtual rainbow of cats in all colours, sizes, shapes, ages and temperaments available for adoption, no-one will walk away saying they couldn’t find the purrfect puddy-tat for them! At present, the North Melbourne shelter has 30 adult cats and 17 kittens who are all seeking a human to call ‘theirs’.

Like Gizmo, the four-year-old giant with the chilled out personality. Nothing much fazes this handsome boy and he will quite happily be pulled up for a cuddle – that is, if you can lift the heavy boy! He’s all fluff and floppy limbs and seems comfortable around other cats. We don’t even think a resident dog could ruffle this guy’s fur!

Then there is five-year-old Ingrid. Ahhh, poor old Ingrid. One might say she is the feline equivalent of Bridget Jones – lonely, bored and an emotional eater. Ever since Ingrid arrived at our shelter and was put up for adoption – which, sadly, was quite a while ago – Ingrid has gulped down her food quicker than lightening, leading to a little bit of plumpness around the girl’s middle. She has been placed on a strict diet to improve her health but staff know what Ingrid really needs is a new home.

“Shelter life can be tough on some cats and Ingrid’s problem is just that she is bored,” Manager of The Lost Cats’ Home Karina Bailey said. “She eats because it gives her something to do! If she were in a home, she would be exploring, interacting with family members, climbing, playing, getting cuddles… she’d be much happier and probably wouldn’t eat so much.”

Of course, it’s not only the bigger, older cats who need homes (although it’s fair to say they are significantly less popular than their kitten counterparts!). Sugar is a sweet, one-year-old kitty who also hasn’t had much luck finding the family of her dreams. Being pure white, Sugar requires an indoor-home, where she won’t suffer sun damage to her nose and ears. This sweetheart loves her human companions and tolerates her feline ones, but ultimately just wants to be the centre of attention.

If you ever considered adopting a cat, this weekend is the perfect time to act! With so many cats and kittens to choose from, you won’t walk away empty handed. For more information, see our adoptions page or call the North Melbourne shelter on 9329 2755.

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.