Kittens Take Over the Library

Shelter Hosts Kitten Adoption Event

Photos courtesy Georgetown Animal Shelter and Linda Lam

Each year, Library Assistant Linda Lam looks forward to the Georgetown Animal Shelter’s Kittens in the Library event. “It’s really nice to see people adopting the kittens. They have the biggest smiles on their faces.” This year, one particular fur ball caught her eye — an orange tabby named Kolache. “Kolaches are one of my favorite things to eat,” she says with a laugh. “I told myself if no one had adopted him by the end of the event I would adopt him. Sure enough, he was the last one. I said, ‘Okay, he’s mine.' "

Energetic, cuddly, loving, and playful with “the loudest purr I’ve ever heard” is how Linda describes her new furry friend, adding “kitten cuddles are the best.”

FINDING FOREVER HOMES

The Georgetown Animal Shelter is the municipal animal shelter for the city and takes in all stray and surrendered animals in the city limits. Even as the city grows exponentially, the shelter has maintained a save rate of 90 percent or more for the past eight years, classifying the shelter as a nokill shelter.

Kittens in the Library is just one of the initiatives the shelter uses to find loving homes for an often-overwhelming number of dogs and cats. Since May, the shelter has taken in 191 adult dogs, 140 of which were strays. “The number of strays is especially concerning, as it is a 25 percent increase compared to the same time frame last year,” says Shawn Gunnin, marketing coordinator for the shelter. She adds that the main concern has been with the number of dogs, as the cat population has been fairly manageable with the exception of a few peaks of kitten litters.

LEND A HAND

Besides alleviating the shelter workload through adopting, another way to help out the facility is by becoming a volunteer. “Volunteers are important to everything we do at the animal shelter — animal care, outreach, adoptions, events and more,” Shawn says. In addition to taking care of and socializing cats and kittens or taking animals to adoption events, one of the

most important volunteer roles right now is getting the dogs out of their kennels twice a day for their mental health. “Even in this extreme heat, our dedicated volunteers take them on short morning walks or into play yards. One day recently, there were 32 dogs and four volunteers, which means eight dogs per volunteer. No wonder the dogs love them so much!”

pets.georgetown.org