2009 ANNUAL REPORT - Washington Animal Rescue League

An ever-growing number of people come to the League to adopt pets. To
meet that demand, the League doubled the adoption staff in 2009 and
instituted a more streamlined adoption process to make it more customerfriendly.
The fundamental Meet Your Match program, which successfully
pairs animals and people, remains a hallmark of the League’s rehoming
efforts. Over 1,400 pets from the League found homes in 2009.
A New Lease on Life for Three Old Cats
One of the hardest things an owner can face is
finding new homes for animals who can no
longer be cared for. is was the case in December
2009 when Shay, Schmitt, and Posey’s
guardian, who had terminal cancer, contacted
one of the League’s board members and asked
for help in placing the cats—all three of
them—in a single new home.
“is is only the second time in my experience
with the League that I have adopted three
cats to one home,” says Marq Nelson, the
League’s long-time cat specialist.
Considering that most people are looking
for younger, more active cats, Shay, Schmitt,
and Posey were facing an uphill battle. eir
ages ranged from 10 to 14 years, and they were
all overweight—with the lightest weighing in
at 13 pounds and the heaviest at 28.
Aer arriving at the League, the cats were
examined, given blood workups, and put on
a diet.
According to Nelson, 2 percent of cats
turned over to the League are obese. Overweight
cats are at risk of diabetes, liver disease,
arthritis, and premature death. e optimal
approach is for a fat cat to lose one pound
every two months. Otherwise, there can be
metabolic problems. e cat’s body can think
it’s starving, or the cat stops eating and goes
downhill. “Our approach,” says Nelson, “was
to give them two meals a day but lower the
quantity of food and the number of calories in
the meals.”
Within a month of their arrival at the shelter,
Shay and Posey met a potential new
guardian—a man living on Capitol Hill who
wanted older cats. Once the two cats climbed
onto his lap and began playing, the decision to
adopt them became a no-brainer. at’s when
Nelson mentioned that there was a third cat,
Schmitt, and that the League had been hoping
the three cats could remain together. To the
new owner’s credit, he decided he simply
couldn’t leave Schmitt behind.
To call it a miracle might be an exaggeration,
says Nelson, but the cats probably wouldn’t
agree.
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