Burrito West Blog

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary Trip, Part 2 (Hang onto your hats, apparently I'm getting wordy!)

After our first day with the dogs, we had a lovely dinner in the nearby small town of Kanab - population ~5000. You can imagine the impact Best Friend's has had on that town, since they employ 480 people and are in fact the largest employer in the county. There is a surprising abundance of vegetarian options in town - not something that is typical in rural Utah, I imagine (though I could be wrong).

Day 2 we showed up bright and early at Cat Headquarters and since Kim isn't a cat nut like me, we asked for an easy assignment and they sent us to Casa de Calmar which is where the Feline Leukemia cats live. (It's also the newest of the cat buildings - though not for long as they are laying the foundation for a new cat headquarters!)

Calmar is populated by amazingly lovely cats - so beautiful and friendly and well mannered. The kind of cats that you're kind of stunned to find in a shelter because they're so adoptable. (See photo at left of me with Harlo, photo by Kim Werker)

That's were Fel.Leuk. comes in. In many ways it's far scarier than it sounds as cats with Fel.Leuk can live long, happy, healthy lives. Others do get bouts of illness, and some do die young. The tricky thing is that Fel.Leuk can be spread between cats via saliva, so the Fel.Leuk cats cannot live with non Fel. Leuk. cats, which makes it harder to find them homes and sadly means that a lot of shelters put down Fel. Leuk. cats because they simply cannot accommodate them or don't think they are adoptable. Best Friends takes in these cats - often perfectly healthy - that would otherwise be killed, and so Calmar is filled with incredibly wonderful cats that would make great pets!

We offered to do whatever task the Calmar caregivers needed help with so they set us to work cleaning a room - wiping down all the surfaces, brushing the cat beds, and mopping the floor. We did it (interspersed with cat cuddling) - but I have to say, I've never seen a place less in need of cleaning - it was spotless to start with! My 2 cats make more of a mess in my apartment than these 15 (?) cats did in their space. It was quite amazing. The caregivers clean the rooms like this every single day (and are much faster at it than we were!)

The facility was really nice - 3 bright, sunny rooms (plus lobby) with lots of ledges and cubbies and shelves (and rafters) - so the cats can be up high (see photo above). Some prefer to stay up in the rafters (there are cat-doors to the outside cattery, including a cat door at the rafter level). Rather than big windows in the buildings they put in lots of small windows so that there are loads of window ledges - no need to share, there's a window ledge for everyone!

Each room has an outside cattery which is amazing (see photo at left) - a very large concrete floor, fully fenced in, roofed area with loads of cat trees and ramps up to the rafters and chairs to sit on (all angled to the sun), and blankets. Even in chilly November, there were cats happily sleeping out in the sun.

The Calmar lobby is where Roxy the cat lives (see photo at left by Best Friends). A cat I probably would have scooped up and snuck onto the plane home if I could have. She's possibly the most adorable thing ever - she has Fel. Leuk. and also is a 'neurological' which means she wobbles a bit when she walks (just makes her more adorable). She came from a shelter in Manitoba that found her as a stray in the cold but the rescue couldn't care for a Fel. Leuk. cat so Best Friend's stepped in. Roxy is one of the Guardian Angel cats - which means that donors from far away contribute regular funds to take care of her and the caregivers at Best Friends journal her adventures online. So basically, she's famous. And would have been adopted in a nanosecond except finding a home with no other cats (or with other Fel.Leuk cats) that is appropriate for a neurological cat is tricky business. I'm pretty sure she'll get snagged for a forever home soon. She's a tiny ball of cute.

So the lesson from Calmar is this: if you don't currently have any cats and you're about to adopt one (or two!) - consider adopting a Fel.Leuk positive cat. They really really need homes and have a harder time finding them. You may face higher vet bills, to be honest, as they are more likely to have health issues, but you get the satisfaction of knowing you probably saved them from being killed simply for being infected!

(Photo at left by Kim Werker of me with Rafferty.)

The lowdown on Feline Leukemia: http://www.bestfriends.org/allthegoodnews/specialfeatures/leukemia1.cfm

After our morning shift we went to the cafeteria for lunch. Calling it a cafeteria doesn't do it justice - it's a beautiful space with an amazing view and you get a fabulous vegetarian lunch for $5. (See photo at left of the view from the patio.) It was very delicious and a wonderful facility - the fact that Best Friends provides such a fabulous space and lunch for their employees and volunteers, just goes to show what kind of place it is.

We took advantage of the wireless to tell everyone on Twitter and facebook how awesome Best Friends is, and then we headed back to Calmar to hang out with more of the wonderful cats there. The caregivers had cleaned everything by that point so we just hung out and played with the cats. It was relaxing and wonderful, if a bit furry. The funny part about the cat houses is the fact that there are essentially cats everywhere - in the lobby, in the laundry room, in the office. Everywhere you turn, there's likely to be a cat. I loved it!

At the end of the day we made arrangements to take two cats on a sleepover, The sleepovers are a wonderful idea - another example of how Best Friends thinks up great stuff - the animals get a night in a real home environment and away from the other animals in the shelter and the volunteers get a chance to fall in love with someone and adopt them. :) Everyone wins.

We took Bing and Frolo (see photo at left of me and Frolo), two buddies from Calmar. We packed them up with their overnight supplies and headed back to the cottage. It was very good to have cats around again (I'd been suffering withdrawl)! Our sleepover guests were wonderful.

Honestly, I would have been in danger many times over of wanting to take cats home with me but Peter and I had 3 cats for a time (our temp cat Seymour who now lives in Sweden) and it was just too many in a small apartment. Also, we're not allowed any more at our current apartment. So, that's the only reason I didn't come home with more adorable furry creatures. It was hard though!

Stay tuned for Part 3 - my day with the special needs cats at Benton's House.

In the meantime - more pictures!

Also - if you're at all inspired by the work that Best Friends does to save the lives of animals in need, please consider donating to them in December - someone had generously offered to double ALL December donations up to 2 million dollars!! So every dollar you donate will double! Even tiny donations add up.

(left - Bing enjoying lap time on the couch on our sleepover, right - Rafferty works it for the camera)












(left - Doug enjoys the outside cattery at Calmar, right - Bing explores the cottage on our sleepover)












Kim and Bing - this is what sleepovers are all about!

I've known about Best Friends Animal Sanctuary for so long I can't recall how I found out about them. But they are the kind of organization that you read a little about and then never forget, fortunately.

Going to visit was my idea of a relaxing vacation where I would get to do something useful. I spend a lot of time doing things for me - my dancing, my crafting, etc.... I wanted to do something for not-me. The trip lived up to my expectations and then went way, way beyond them!

We arrived at the sanctuary after a 4 hour drive from Vegas just in time for the last tour of the day. Our guide took a van full of folks around (Best Friends owns 3500+acres and leases another 30,000 acres) - we got a great overview of the place, some of the history, and a few happy ending adoption stories.

After the tour we checked into one of the cottages by the horse pastures - we were lucky enough to get 3 nights in one of the cottages on the sanctuary which was convenient and comfortable. The cottages made us feel right at home and the view outside of the horses was lovely. And at night - the stars - holy cow! Being in the middle of nowhere with no light pollution has it's benefits!


The photo at left (by Kim Werker) shows the view from the cottage.

After getting up early the next morning to meet with the volunteer coordinator (this was not a sleeping-in kind of vacation, fyi), we headed over to DogTown to spend the day working with dogs. We started at Old Friends where more senior dogs tend to be - since I don't have a lot of dog experience and we wanted to start with the mellow foofers.

We spent the morning walking dogs in the snow (see photo at left, by Kim Werker). Some were raring to go, some ambled along slowly and were happy to get back to the warm dog octagons. All the dogs have access to outdoor dog runs whenever they want, but I think they appreciate a change of scenery. They were all sweethearts. I think if I ever became a dog person, I'd want to adopt an older dog.

We also got to attend a shy dog socialization class where they have volunteers the dogs don't know sitting in a room offering treats - a way to get the dogs to associate strangers with happy things. Some dogs were very brave (and bold in search of treats), others were making brave, tentative first steps towards trusting people just by being near them.


(Photo at left shows the inside of one of the dog octagons - each kennel has doggy doors to its own large fenced run.)


One dog at the shy dog class - Melissa - stole my heart. She was feral and only recently started letting staff touch her. She's so beautiful and scared (see photo at left of her with her tail between her legs, poor thing). I'm confident the Best Friends staff can help her learn to like people so she can be adopted into a home and doted on like she deserves (and if she never gets to that point, she's got a home forever at Best Friends, because that's how they do it)!

The afternoon we spent at Fairway in DogTown, where we met more sweethearts. We helped with the feeding and poop scooping (glamorous stuff - but when you see how hard the caretakers work, you're happy to do whatever to help out) and just hung out with the foofers in their runs.

Kim fell in love with Braxon (see photo at left) and ended up adopting him!! He will be flying to Vancouver in January! Which means Best Friends will have space to take in another dog in need, which is fantastic! Braxon is a love bug (rolled over for belly rolls when I first met him), I can't wait to see him again.