Adoption Event!

Although the weather was a bit gloomy in the morning, it cleared up nicely during the day for our adoption event on Saturday, 9/10, at the Pet Supplies Plus at 720 E. Ogden Ave. in Naperville.

We had 28 wonderful kittens (Scuba, Scrumptious, Scallop, Scrabble, Schnapps, Beau, Bernie, Benson, Redford, Raider, ChaCha, Channing, Evee, Grayly, Rider, Rihanna, Rikki, Amber, Blue, Sugar, London, Lottie, LouLou, Tanner, Tamale, Bali, Moose and Leia) at the event. Everyone was adorable and handled the experience very well. There was some nervousness initially, but as the day progressed and the kittens were played with and held, everyone got more comfortable.

Foot traffic was a bit light in the store, but we did have several people stop by to meet our kittens. Three adoptions were finalized at the event.

• Lou-Lou and London went home with a wonderful young couple from Villa Park, who had been pre-approved. They will be this couple's first "children" and have each other to play with while the couple is at work.
• Tamale has been a joy to her foster parents in Westmont and a great playmate for their dog. So they decided it was time to adopt her.

We also handed out cards to several other potential adopters. Two potential adopters completed applications. One family is interested in Leia as a companion for their 11 yr old daughter. Another gal is focused on Tanner as a possible companion for her 4 yr old female cat. Follow-up is underway.

In addition to the in-store activity, the advertising for the adoption event also brought in a number of applications from folks who could not attend the event. It seems folks had a lot of conflicts this weekend. Three kittens (Scooter, Scarlet, Schmooz) were adopted on Friday evening. Visits are being scheduled early next week for potential approved adopters for Rihanna and Scallop. I also received inquiries on Evee and Amigo yesterday. So, all in all, a very productive event.

Fiona, our animatronic cat, was sporting her Party Hat, knitted by Debbie. Auctions of these cat hats will start soon to help fund the spay/neuter surgeries and medical care for the many, many kittens we are encountering. Details to follow on our web site.

Many thanks to the fosters who brought their kitties to the event, specifically Marissa, Jan, Cheri, Catherine, Candy, Marjorie, Diane, Peggy, and Karen. Special thanks to Marissa, Jan, Marjorie, Diane, Peggy and Karen who stayed during all or some of the event to meet with potential adopters and promote their kitties. Thanks also to Candy for staying to help with the clean-up.

Many thanks to the volunteers who helped with the event - Sara, Debbie, Bernie, Lauren and her daughter, Marina. Everyone did a great job helping with the set-up as well as engaging visitors and potential adopters. We need to bring our own tables to Pet Supplies Plus, so it is a bigger production. Lauren took the initiative to create cage cards in advance for many of our kitten participants, which was a huge help, considering the number of kittens we had at the event. Sara did a great job of completing the adoption contracts. Debbie was a big help with the clean-up as well as transporting Catherine's and Cheri's fosters home from the event.

Many thanks to Connie, Sara and Ted for the great publicity and real-time coverage of the event. Thanks also to Mike for updating our Adoptable Cats & Kittens binder, and to Debbie for updating our poster board - there were a lot of new additions again this time, as well as several adoptions! Thanks also to Tammy and Judy for stopping by to support the event and vaccinate several of the kittens.

Our next adoption event will be Sunday, 9/18, at the PetSmart at 63 Rice Lake Square in Wheaton, 11am-3pm. It is PetSmart National Adoption Weekend, so I'm hoping we will get a lot of good foot traffic at the event.