Purrfect pals

Purrfect Pals

Motto	"Because every cat matters"
Founded	1988 by Kathy Centala in Arlington, WA
Type	Non-profit, No-kill shelter
Location	Headquarters in Arlington, WA
Services	Adopting out cats/kittens.
Fields	Adoption - felines
Key people	Kathy Centala
Website	http://www.purrfectpals.org

Purrfect Pals is a non-profit cat shelter and sanctuary located in Arlington, Washington, USA. Founded in 1988 by Kathy Centala, the shelter finds homes for more than 2,000 cats every year, performs more than 2,000 spay and neuter surgeries at the Purrfect Pals cat hospital, and provides lifetime sanctuary to more than 250 permanent resident cats. The no-kill shelter is governed by a Board of Directors and is run by an Executive Director. They rely entirely on public donations and support; Purrfect Pals receives no governmental assistance.

History

Kathy Centala founded Purrfect Pals in 1988 as a boarding facility for cats which also helped the occasional homeless cat. Centala found herself taking in more and more orphaned cats, overwhelming her small Brier, Washington home.

In the early 1990s Centala moved Purrfect Pals to a spacious 5-acre (20,000 m²) spread in rural Arlington, Washington. By converting her new home into a shelter, Centala was able to provide a sanctuary to hundreds of cats. Because of the rural location, Purrfect Pals has pioneered off-site adoption events and placement of cats in partner pet stores. In the early years, just a few dozen cats were placed every year, but now Purrfect Pals has grown to the point where more than 2,500 cats are placed every year through the shelter and more than 20 off-site locations across Puget Sound.

The sanctuary has places for feral cats, cats with Leukemia, cats with FIV, and cats with behavioral issues. In the late 1990s Purrfect Pals opened the Purrfect Pals Cat Hospital on campus to provide care for the shelter cats and also to provide free and low-cost spay and neuter surgeries to low-income families, as well as free surgeries for feral cats.

Annually, the Purrfect Pals veterinarians perform more than 2,000 surgeries. Purrfect Pals signature events are the Black Cat Ball and the Average Joe Cat Show. The Black Cat Ball is held on the final Sunday in October. A gala auction and gourmet dinner, the Black Cat Ball raises money for the shelter. The Average Joe Cat Show is a fun cat show for family cats. The Average Joe Cat Show is held every year in spring.

In early 2006 Purrfect Pals opened FIV-Land, a cat adoption facility for cats with FIV.

Adoptions

Purrfect Pals adopts most of its cats at pet stores that have partnered with Purrfect Pals. Purrfect Pals cats are in several PetsMart, Petco and Walker's Healthy Pet locations across Puget Sound; 24 locations in total. Since 1988, Purrfect Pals has adopted approximately 18,000 cats. In November 2006 Purrfect Pals placed its 5,000th through a Petco store and in early 2007 Purrfect Pals will place its 5,000th cat through a Petsmart store. In 2006, Purrfect Pals built FIV-Land, an adoption room dedicated to cats with FIV (cats which are typically euthanized in most shelters). In the first 10 months of FIV-Land, Purrfect Pals adopted more than 50 FIV+ cats.

Prison Kitty Program

Purrfect Pals No-Kill Shelter and Sanctuary, located in Arlington, Washington, was founded on the belief that every cat matters. Purrfect Pals provides foster and hospice care, in addition to adoption services, for homeless cats. Purrfect Pals' mission is to end over population through humane education, spay/neuter programs and permanent placement in homes. Old, fragile, injured, newborns, stray and unwanted cats are accepted at Purrfect Pals.

In the spring of 2006, a group of offenders at the Monroe Correctional Complex-Special Offender Unit (MCC-SOU) (a psychiatric prison unit contained within MCC) received the opportunity to provide foster care for young and/or feral kittens in the SOU E living unit that houses 96 mentally ill offenders.

Monroe Corrections Kitten Connections (MCKC) was developed as a way to provide kitten foster care while motivating offenders to make positive life changes. To qualify for the program, E Unit offenders must meet criteria which include good behavior, good hygiene, psychiatric stability, a pro-social attitude and a high level of participation in correctional programs. Once screened for eligibility, all prospective candidates are interviewed by the unit staff. If approved, the new foster parent receives training from Purrfect Pals Volunteers on how to care for their kittens.

The MCKC Program has reduced offender idleness, taught offenders about responsibility and increased their self-esteem. Since the program's inception, offenders have been motivated to enroll in school, obtain jobs, obey unit rules and improve their hygiene so that they may become MCKC participants. The presence of animals on E Unit has added a new calmness to E Unit's therapeutic milieu and strengthened its community spirit. Countless kittens, that might otherwise have been euthanized, have all been altered and adopted. Purrfect Pals pays for all the costs related to the program such as food, litter, crates and veterinarian care.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Purrfect pals.

Official website