Happy Tails:

Happy Tails are stories of pets adopted from
CAHS who have found their "forever homes".

My boyfriend and I adopted two kittens from CAHS in November: Mercury and Apollo. I had my own cat, Ty who was adopted in March 2005 from a shelter in Massachusetts, where I was living at that time. Mercury "Murky" and Apollo were welcome additions to our home! Although not technically brothers, Murky and Apollo had been together all their life. Originally Rob, my boyfriend and I were only looking for one cat, as a companion for Ty. However when we met these two, we couldn't decide which one to adopt so we adopted them both! And I am very glad that we did, as I can report a 3 cat household is great! Murky is the gray tiger, who just loves water. He sleeps in the bathroom sink and will hang out on the side of the bathtub if you're in it. He's very energetic and outgoing and gets into a ton of mischief! Just last week, he got out a window, whose screen was loose, onto the roof! Rob and I had fun getting him off! He may have learned his lesson.. I hope!
Apollo is black and white, like Ty and is much more introverted than Murky. He's shy, but once he knows you, he loves attention and to play. His jumps are legendary! He can jump about 5 feet straight up! Apollo also has the habit of getting lost in the house, and then meowing to find you. I call it his game of "Marco - Apollo"! They have been great company for me, as I'm a recent transplant from Massachusetts. I'm also a college student so I'm at home alot. I'm attaching three pictures of them. One is all three of them asleep on my bed, the next one is Mercury in the sink, and the third one is Apollo (who HATES getting his picture taken)

Thank you so much,

Meg Medlinskas and Rob Lightbown

A week before my brother told me to go to the shelter to get a new kitten. I had a couple friends that had friends that had new kittens. My brother said those ones will find a home faster than the shelter ones do. Was uptight going there to see all those cats, but I went. I am so glad today that I did. I got sisters there and they are so precious. There names are Abby and Haley.

They will be indoor cats. As when this was all going on with Garfield I read a lot online. I read a spayed or neuter cat will live longer. Indoor cat will also live longer. 2 cats growing together lives longer. Wish I knew all this when I got Gar. Gar was neuter and an indoor cat.

These kittens have given my so much laughter. I love having 2 as this is a first for me. Had Kippy for 17 years, Garfield 18 years, hopefully I have Abby and Haley for 20 years.

Diane Fay
Fort Fairfield

Christmas 2003:

"I need to let you know how much of a difference the beautiful cat that I got from your shelter has changed my life. She is the best friend and companion I could ever wish for. I thank all of you form the bottom of my heart."

--Janet King

"My family has had the privilege of adopting not one but two beautiful adult cats at CAHS. Ben, the yellow tom, was the first to come to our family. The second cat we acquired a couple years later was a beautiful coon mix female “queen” who was about 3 years old at the time. We named her “Chilli”. These cats have made wonderful additions to our family. It seems most people that visit the shelter are looking for kittens but I would encourage people to give the many adult cats that come into the shelter a chance for a home. Generally adult cats transition very easily and adjust to dogs, other cats and children over a short period of time. And, they are less rambunctious than kittens (well usually, Ben likes to wrestle with our dogs ! ) Here are photos of the two spoiled cats that have blessed our lives

(did I mention, they really like naps??)

Tracy, Kori and Jonas
Presque Isle

"A year ago this past February, My husband and I came to CAHS looking for a companion for me. It was also my valentines day gift. Well, there I found Rosco. He was a stray that had been adopted out but sadly brought back that morning due to his not being housebroken and his suffering from seperation anxiety. Well, I just fell in love with him and we decided that he was the "one". Less then a full week later, Rosco (this is what we named him) was fully housetrained and after about a month he was also broken of his seperation anxiety. He is a loving, playful, friendly dog.......... but also a good watchdog. He has made an extremly wonderful impact on this family, and even though he was originally "my" dog........... he has become quite the "family" dog. In a perfect world , I would be able to adopt all the abandoned pets I could, but its not a perfect world, but I did adopt one animal who is like my baby and Im glad that I could at least do that. Thank you so much for that opportunity!

Sincerely-
The Bradstreet Family
P.S.............. Did I mention he's a very "spoiled" dog too?????????? :0)

"One day while shopping at Walmart, we came across a picture of an adorable little face on the pet bulletin board. That face belonged to a little rabbit. We called the CAHS from Walmart to see if he was still available to adopt. Thumper, as we named him, became an addition to our family. He is a wonderful pet and we love him lots!"

"Hi,
My name is Bodee Miller. There was a wonderful young lady that adopted me in early December 2003. Oh what a wonderful Christmas I had that year. I even got my picture taken with Mr. & Mrs. Santa. I also learned how to catch a small cat ball when my owner's sister came home for Christmas. She spent lots of time with me. Grampie was the one home most of the time so I got to spend a lot of time with him.

Well, my owner got married in December of 2004 so I asked her if I could stay here with Grammie and Grampie. I knew they would be sad if I left because their daughter (my owner) was leaving too. You know what they say about the Empty Nest Syndrome!

So I spend most of my days sleeping, just waiting to tear around when they get home from work. (Of course I don't do any of that while they are away.) As you see in the picture, one of my favorite things to do is protect the pool when Grammie isn't floating in it. I haven't dared to jump in yet.

I am very spoiled, get lots of attention, and love my treats… I get lots of them. I do not like the outdoors much but I do go out, but just inside the pool fence. I like to sleep on Grammie and Grampie's bed (between them of course) and also sit in the bedroom window to stand guard while they are sleeping. I am also a wonderful alarm clock so they never over sleep.

Thank you for letting me be adopted into such a wonderful family. "

Sincerely,
Bodee Miller
Mars Hill

"Here are our two adoptees . . . Gracie adopted in the spring of 2002, and Shep in the spring of 2003. Both spoiled . . . but probably not as badly as our five human babies!!"

Janet Marr Verhoff

"Soon it will be 2 years since we adopted our German Shepard Mix from your shelter. His name is Brownie. He is just absolutely the best dog anyone can have! We love him to death, and he is happily spoiled rotten! We came off to a rough start with medical problems and anxiety, but he has overcome all of these problems, and is now a very healthy and happy dog today. I have to say that I would adopt a dog from CAHS again any day. The service and the help with this dog was incredible. I could tell on the day that I picked him up, and even visits after that, that this dog was truly cared for and loved by all working there. Thank you so much for everything."

Sincerely,
The Ouellette Family and Brownie too!

" I would like to tell you a story about how two wonderful cats came into my life. About five years ago on a warm July day, I rescued a little abandoned kitten, just one day old, from a warm puddle outside a building on South Main Street in Caribou. The man who had a business in the building told me the mother was feral, and she'd taken all the kittens one by one from under his building to another location across the street, but that she'd dumped this one in a puddle near his door.

The little black orphan, which I named "Puddles," was a feisty little thing, and I fed her warm milk with a doll's baby bottle every three hours for weeks and weeks. In fact, I toted Puddles all over town as I carried out my work duties, bundled warmly in a basket purse. Every time I heard her tiny mewing, I'd take a few minutes from my work and feed her, rub her belly and stimulate her to do her business, clean up her little poops, change her bedding, and carry her around so she could see the world once her eyes were open.

Well, Puddles wasn't thriving as she should. She was so tiny and didn't seem to progress as a kitten should, so I took her to my vet who told me that she was a hydrocephalic kitty. This is why her mother had abandoned her and is a good reason for us to accept any mother's decision to let the sick or imperfect offspring die. It is hard fact to accept, but I knew then that I should have let Puddles die, too. But my heart couldn't do it. Many of you know what I went through that day.

Well, the vet told me I should take Puddles home and feed her, and either she would make it or not. She wished me luck, but my heart was heavy.

I cared for Puddles for four months, but she never was able to walk or do anything a normal kitten could do. One morning I woke to realize that she had not awakened me during the night for a feeding. I opened her basket to find her very cool to the touch and barely breathing. I looked into those little eyes that opened only once to look at her surrogate mother, and I knew that Puddles would be leaving us that morning.

My husband and I knew we would need to get another cat to fill the void that was rapidly growing in my heart. So we took off to the CAHS to get another friend. After checking every cage and every cat in the building, we chose a kitten about twelve weeks old. We brought him home and while he was creeping around, checking his new home out, we buried little Puddles in a beautiful spot under an ancient maple tree on our property.

Here is Cosmo settled in the rocker in front of the woodstove. Spoiled? No way!"
Thank you CAHS for making our loss less painful. and thanks for such a great cat.

Connie & Jerry Tucker
Madawaska Lake

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