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This week’s featured pet is an excellent example of a a cat who would make a wonderful companion after recently having some bad luck. Blackie’s elderly owner could no longer care for him so he was surrendered to the shelter. 

Blackie is only six years old and a big lover!  He loves attention, and just can’t get enough of it. If you pick him up and put him over your shoulder like a baby, he will snuggle into your neck for a cuddle, purring the whole time. He has lived with other cats so if you are looking for a companion for your cat, Blackie would be an excellent choice.

The Seattle Animal Shelter is currently full of adorable cats looking for homes.   If you have room in your heart and your home for a pet, please consider adopting an adult cats instead of kitten.  It’s a myth that adult cats end up in shelters because they are a problem. The vast majority of cats at the shelter are not there because of behavioral issues but because their owners passed away, were deployed, were forced by ecomonic circumstances to move into housing that doesn’t allow pets, or simply were not up to the commitment of pet ownership. In other words, these cats end up at the shelter through no fault of their own! 

Unlike a kitten, an adult cat like Blackie is unlikely to climb your drapes or keep you awake all night running around the house. Cats that are kept safely indoors can live to age 20 and beyond, so a six year old cat still has lots of happy years ahead. 

Blackie has been waiting at the shelter since April 26 for someone to take him home. Nine weeks is a long time to spend in a small cage! Please head down to the shelter and meet Blackie - you won’t be disappointed!  Visit the shelter’s website at www.seattleanimalshelter.org to see Blackie and other animals available for adoption.

What could be cuter than a picture of your pet on Santa’s lap?  “Santa Claws” will be at the Seattle Animal Shelter in Interbay on Sunday, Dec. 7 from noon to 4 p.m., to pose for holiday photos with pets and their owners. With a suggested $25 donation to the shelter’s “Help the Animals Fund,” each pet owner will receive print and digital photos.

“Many of the orphaned animals arriving at the shelter are sick, injured, malnourished or abused,” says Seattle Animal Shelter Executive Director Don Jordan. “Seattle’s ‘Help the Animals Fund’ gives these animals a second chance by paying for veterinary care through our Foster Care Program. This event is the perfect way to help Seattle’s orphaned animals during the holiday season and receive a holiday keepsake of your pet.”

Photos will be taken in the shelter’s upper floor conference room accessible from 15th Avenue West. The shelter is located at 2061 - 15th Ave. W., approximately one mile south of the Ballard Bridge. Pets and their owners should enter the building on the 15th Avenue side, not from the parking lot. All dogs should be on leashes and cats and other furry critters should be in carriers.

In the past year, a lot of owners have been crossing the road with their chickens — only to leave them at the Seattle Animal Shelter in Interbay. According to the PI, nearly every day at least one rooster has been in one of shelter’s large pens. In a year, more than two dozen roosters have been left there.

It’s the owners, not the birds, who have been laying eggs. They thought the chicks they bought either for their lovable looks or for their potential to provide breakfast were hens.

“It’s hard for people to tell if they’re hens or roosters,” according to animal care officer Michael Kokernak. “Even people who claim to be experts make mistakes.  It’s sad, because people think they’re disposable,” said Kokernak.  He says they have gotten roosters from all Seattle neighborhoods. 

It’s legal for some Seattle property owners to have roosters. But it’s the noise that really causes problems.

Magnolia and Queen Anne residents tell staffers at the Interbay shelter they can hear the roosters from their homes. When volunteers arrive at 7 a.m., the roosters are announcing the morning — and have been for hours.

Last week, the shelter had four roosters. But they adopted out one by saying whoever took two peacocks that had been left at the shelter should take a rooster, too. Kokernak said the Seattle Animal Shelter doesn’t have a specific timetable for adoptable pets, so the roosters won’t be killed. They do, however, interview potential adopters to make sure the roosters will have enough space.