The CARES Adopt-A-Thon at the Langley PetSmart was not yet an hour old on Saturday, and volunteer Lynn Hewitt was already nursing an accidental scratch.
A rambunctious young male tabby had tried, ambitiously, to jump from its scratching post to the top of the holding kennels inside the CARES adoption centre.
The cat fell short of its mark, bounced off the kennel and fell.
Hewitt tried to catch the wayward tabby on its way down and was nicked in the process.
Hewitt brushed it off, calmly walking over to the sink and running warm water over the scratch.
It comes with the territory for Hewitt, an owner of a domestic long-haired female cat.
She usually spends four hours each weekend, on Saturday mornings, volunteering at the enclosed CARES adoption centre inside the local PetSmart.
“I love it,” Hewitt said. “It’s great. You get to meet all of interested cat people. They like cats and talk about cats.”
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Last weekend, Oct. 15 and 16, CARES hosted its adopt-a-thon with the focus of finding friendly forever homes for some of its abandoned, surrendered, and homeless cats and kittens.
All proceeds will go towards defraying costs at the shelter, which was formed in 1993 when a group of animal lovers wanted a shelter for animals that were homeless.
Since then, the shelter has been providing for cats in a cage free environment in Milner. There is a no kill policy at CARES, therefore, any animals that are not adopted will be able to live the rest of their natural lives at the shelter.
In February 1998, CARES partnered with PetSmart in Langley.
Cats that are rescued, receive quality food, shelter and veterinary care and many of those cats are then taken to the PetSmart adoption centre in the Langley store.
Hewitt has volunteered with CARES since July 2008. She was a frequent visitor to PetSmart because her mom used to live in Walnut Grove.
“When I had time I decided, why don’t I see what I can do,” Hewitt said. “I love cats.”
And there are lots of felines with CARES that need families.
The society has about 120 cats in total between foster homes and the shelter, noted CARES treasurer Carol Briner.
“Most of the shelters are full, so we need to find new homes [for the cats] so we can take other abandoned cats in,” Briner said. “We need homes for good kitties.”
For more about CARES, visit carescatshelter.com.