Updated October 28th 2007

I think the most exciting thing that's happened to us this year is not cat related. That's why it's so exciting! We are the proud new owners of an office! With no cats! We are renting the small space right next door to our shelter. We have a computer, printer, file cabinets, etc...and can actually do important paper work. Imagine trying to do these things in the middle of 75+ cats for years and you'll see why this is so big. We are probably the most organized we've ever been. When you are in the homey, yet proffessional office, you would never suspect that just a wall away exists the wilderness of "Cat Kingdom"!

In this last year, we have possibly become the  "forever home" for several cats that might be deemed unadoptable.  Here are just a few:  Sage, at close to a year weighs only two pounds.  The left side of her face is slightly deformed and she might have kidney problems in her future, but right now she wants nothing more than to sit in our laps for hours on end and eat Whiskas packets. 

Chestine was the result of a "false" pregnancy.  Hmmm.  That's what we were told by her collector owner.  Probably as a result of a lot of inbreeding, she was diagnosed as having mega esophagus.  She also weighed only two pounds up until about seven months of age.  We were told there was no hope, but now at 14 months, she weighs six pounds and is the self proclaimed princess of the shelter. 

Sassie at some point had an untreated herpes infection.  When we got her she was almost completely blind in one eye and living in a shelter environment was causing problems with the other eye.  We now have the problem under control with medication.  Half of a Famvir pill once a day when needed does the trick and luckily for us, she has an addiction to pill pockets, so it's a win, win situation. 

Chelsea has fused vertebrae in her neck possibly as a result of having been hit by a car and not having the injury heal properly, so even though she's less than a year old, she moves like an old lady from Boca.  She has a hard time keeping herself clean but has two very handsome boyfriends who keep her spit shined.  She's so shy that it takes at least 15 or 20 minutes to gain her trust enough to pet her, but then she's a doll! 

Finally, there was Spirit. He didn't want a shelter with 75+ cats to be his forever home. He was sick of shelters. He was like the angry young man that was failed by the foster system.  Every time he started to get comfortable somewhere, he was bounced to the next place.  He lived his whole life as a perpetual orphan.  By the time he got to us, he was miserable.  From having lived in shelter environments for five years, he had chronic sinus problems.  He was black with runny eyes, a loud snort and a botched ear notching that was not very attractive.  He didn't like or fit in with our cats and vice versa.  We knew that the only time he'd ever seemed truly happy was at another shelter, (which closed down) where he chose to live with the horses instead of with the cats.  So we found him a horse farm...a fairyland of a horse farm in White Lake, MI.  We spent six weeks getting him ready to go.  He got a dental cleaning, new vaccinations a microchip, etc...  We even had a cancer scare.  His new owner, Gloria, told us that even if his biopsy came up positive, he could still go live out his last days with her and her horses.  It was benign.  He flew.  We were all holding our breath until the moment she saw Spirit for the first time.  She looked at his goopy eyes, messed up ear, and heard him snort and said that he was, "gorgeous"!  Spirit really won the lottery!  The updates from her have been so sweet.. Fairytales really can come true!   

Updated August 18th, 2006

In late June, I was trying to concentrate 100% of my energies on helping our tongueless cat, Ballou.  Unfortunately, I still had to go to work and this is where my distractions began. 

I had to fly into Atlanta on the 25th to spend the night in a hotel so I could work an early trip to Mexico on the 26th. At 6:30 on the 26th  I heard a pitiful sound outside of my second floor room.  I opened the door and a nine week old tortoiseshell kitten ran in.  She was desperate to get in out of a terrible storm and sat in my lap, purring while I put my makeup on.  Although I would strangle anyone who called me that early, I tried two of my friends that live in Atlanta to see if they could help out.  One answered, but she was in Florida on vacation.  The other didn't answer.  I went down to get her some milk from the breakfast area and found out from reception that she'd been abandoned by a family two days prior.  I brought her down with me when I checked out and was told, "No pets are allowed."  Since they had already told me she'd been abandoned there a couple of days before, it seemed silly to explain that she was not my pet, but theirs, but that I was willing to take responsibility for her if they could just keep her safe until I did my two day Mexico City trip followed by a day of standby duty. 

They looked at her like she was a cockroach that they wanted out of their lobby immediately.  I asked them to at least point me in the direction of the safest place to put her out.  I had to walk outside in a torrential downpour with thunder and lightning, pry each of her tiny paws off of me, set her down and walk away while she screamed and I sobbed.  The shuttle driver, a wonderful woman named Patricia, saw that I was very upset.  I explained why and she promised to try to keep an eye on her if she could find her when she got off work at 3:00 that afternoon.  I did my Mexico City trip and grieved the entire time knowing that I'd left a nine week old kitten who'd turned to me for help outside in horrible weather with people who despised her to probably die. 

Well, Patricia came through for us!  As soon as our plane touched down back in Atlanta the second day, I checked my messages.  The important one said, "I've got the kitty.  Do you still want the kitty?''  God, did I want the kitty!  The following morning, I bought a soft sided carrier at the post office in the airport.  Then Patricia dropped the kitten, now known as Georgia, off to me curbside.  We spent the day in the Delta flight attendant crew lounge in a very nice supervisor's office.  She set us up with a litter box filled with paper from the shredder, food and water.  She also gave me a special letter allowing me to travel home on the flight attendant jumpseat with a rescued animal. 

We got home late on the 28th.  I took her directly to the shelter where Cindy had a cage all set up for her.  Unfortunately, the mouth that I'd been trying not to see caught Cindy's attention as soon as she saw her the next day.  She took her straight to the vet where we found out that she had a fractured jaw, a tooth broken off at the root, and split gums.  Sometime between me putting her outside and Patricia getting to her, she'd been kicked in the mouth!  Well, despite her first nine pretty sucky weeks of life, she spent only ten days at the shelter before her new mom, Susan, fell madly and deeply in love with her and promised her that no one would ever hurt again.  With a few more trips like that one, I'm going to need to retire early because a person can only take so much!   

And so...my attentions turned back to Ballou...Click here to read his story.

Updated June 2, 2006

It's a win, win situation!  According to one of our volunteers, Amy Fischer, helping the kitties can help you back.  Please click here to read the wonderful article that appeared in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Monday, May 29, 2006 edition.

Updated January 26, 2006

Our special needs kitty, Rain-Beau, also had a holiday miracle which deserves a much more in depth story.  Please click here to read Beau's Travel Diary.  It will give you your daily, maybe even weekly dose of hope.

Updated December 24, 2005

So far Feline Friends has had an amazing holiday season. Several of the adult kitties who've been with us for years...kitties who were considered to be permanent residents, are now starting new lives in real homes with real families. Shania, Fantasia, Gabby, Sylvia, Belly, and Tip Toe were all adopted. This is in addition to all of the normal kitten adoptions we usually do this time of year. Our special needs kitty, Rain-Beau, also had a holiday miracle which deserves a much more in depth story which I will try to share with you in the next couple of weeks.

After years of being our featured pet, Kit Kat, our one-eyed kitty, was adopted! Dr. Meredith would have loved that as she was one of his favorite patients. Her new mom, Kate, has a huge heart and we wish them many years of good health, and feather toys!

Updated Wednesday April 14, 2005

We are saddened to inform you of the death of Dr. Don Meredith. He collapsed Tuesday evening at Lund Animal Hospital right before heading home for the night. Despite the efforts of Kristy Lund, other staff members, and paramedics, he could not be resusitated. He leaves behind a large hole in the heart of our shelter, both professionally and personally. There will be other veterinarians in our future but no other who will know our 100 + cats by name, help scoop their litter boxes or stop by at 9:30 at night to see how they're recuperating from one of his brilliant surgeries. We were blessed that he shared in our passion. D.M., (as he always said, Dr. Meredith was his father) we hope that you now find yourself fishing by day and surrounded by nothing but healthy kitties by night with self-scooping litterboxes. Feline Friends will never be able to thank you for all that you've done for us. We'll miss you very much!

We also need volunteers:

ARE YOU ONE OF THOSE STRANGE PEOPLE WHO FINDS CLEANING RELAXING? Well, everyone knows that cats are relaxing. Imagine what a combination of the two could do for you! We are much cheaper than therapy too! In other words, we are in huge need of volunteers to help out in the mornings between 9:00 and 12:00 or so. The cats throw nightly parties after we turn out the lights and we need help erasing all evidence of this in the morning... so that guests can come in and like what they see and smell....so that they can adopt....and so the cats have a clean fresh start for their next night's big bash! Please help the vicious cycle continue! Go to the "contact us" section of our site to volunteer. Thanks!