Hi again NEASTers… it’s time for our wrap up!
This time of year is hectic for nearly everyone – the weather is warming up and the days have gotten longer, and yet it seems like there’s less hours in the day? I don’t know about you guys but I enjoy getting out in the veggie garden, and the abundance of food that comes from that… what I DON’T enjoy is having to check the yard for snakes every time I go out with my dogs! Brrrr it gives me the cold shivers. But that’s living in rural Australia for you… you take the good with the bad!
I hope everyone is keeping themselves and their pets safe from our reptilian friends – remember, keep all your lawns short, weeds down and remove any hiding places that may attract them! (Wood piles, sheets of tin, etc). If you see one in your yard and have any doubt at ALL that it may have bitten your pet, we recommend that you pop along to your vet immediately – even if they’re showing no symptoms. Your vet can do a test to see if your pet has been bitten and treat it accordingly. Having watched the very long process of a dog recovering from a snake bite, it’s definitely better safe than sorry!
So, on to our update!
First up – thanks to EVERYONE who supported us in our annual raffle – we raised a tidy sum of cash to go towards the completion of our cattery, plus the ongoing costs of taking in surrendered kitties – you’ve all helped us out enormously and enabled us to take in more animals and ensure that they wont be adding to the ongoing population issues in Tasmania – thanks so much! And a super big thanks to our wonderful donors of our prizes (Helen Fellows – Norwex Independent Sales Consultant, Furbabies and Friends Photography , Wombat Burrows Frames, Tidelines Bicheno, Pasini’s of Bicheno, Tsunami Tattoo and Louise Muddle), whom we could not have held a raffle without ❤ You’re all champions!
Our results were as follows…
First prize: Leone Downey (who generously asked us to redraw her prize, which was then awarded to Sammy Millar) Second Prize: Brenda Wagner Third Prize: Barb Jones Fourth Prize: Hazel Shields Fifth Prize: Gill Morgan (and Gill generously donated the bed back to us at the sanctuary – thanks Gill!)
We have some update news on our available pets too – Sally the beagles dental work is now complete and her and Louie are 100% ready to move into their new home! So if you’re ready to welcome an elderly beagle (or two!) into your life and yard for their retirement years… please, contact us! These two may be senior but they’re healthy and have plenty of time in them yet, and deserve a home ❤ They’re outside dogs but love your time and attention, and would be perfect for anyone who likes to spend some time muddling outside in the garden, but doesn’t really want a dog living inside.
And of course, like all shelters in Tassie at the moment we’re taking in lots and lots of KITTENS, as as Gertie, Humphrey and Georgie here. Yes, they ARE as adorable as you would expect, and many of them are ready to leave the nest and move into the world… are you ready to meet your new family member? You can see what we have available for adoption at the moment by clicking HERE which will take you to our Available for Adoption album on our Facebook page, where you can see current, up to date photos. We’ve got girls, we’ve got boys, we’ve got black, tabby and tortoiseshells, we’ve got baby kittens and we’ve got older cats. But what we don’t have on there is…
Colin.
Remember Colin? He came to us as a stray and for the life of us we could not understand how his owners weren’t missing him. He was definitely a domestic, friendly, sociable, loves people, cats, dogs, everything! He has become the NEAST version of a Walmart greeter – he just loves to park himself next to the door and await the next person to come in, to have a chat, rub around their ankles and see what next exciting installment awaits him! And so many people came and went through our door leading up to this kitten season and no one adopted Colin 😦 And then the kittens started rolling in, and this caused much delight for our Colin… MORE visitors, MORE fun, MORE cats and now TINY MINI CATS TO PLAY WITH! And he’s so gentle with them, washing them and gentling wrestling with them… and we realised – he’s the perfect pseudo-dad for our intakes. This is why no one has adopted him… because he’s the sanctuary cat. He is our best babysitter, nervous-cat-settler, greeter… Colin is not up for adoption. Colin is staying with us. So you can expect to see his big goofy face a lot more now!
And finally, a building update!
This weekend Rob and Noel got stuck into some more of the exterior of the cattery, after Rob built the new frame for our screen door. They had the tricky job of cutting the tin just right to fit in around the windows and eaves, and did a terrific job – we’re really hoping that with a lick of paint, this tin may stay on as our permanent cladding which will save quite a bit of cash! Whilst they did this, Michelle sanded back the last of the plaster so it’s all ready to start painting (messy messy work!) and Megan built the screen door (badly! Please don’t look carefully at it!)
We here at NEAST hope everyone is doing well and that you’re all keeping cool and enjoying all of your pre-Christmas celebrations!
Megan x
