Houdini the kitten and his ‘seeing eye kitty’ Phoenix are two of 70 cats in need of homes
Born in the thorns of a blackberry bush near Collins Lake in Mason County to a litter of ferals, Houdini the kitten was discovered hung up on a fence, needing help to get free.
His rescuers soon realized Houdini’s vision was severely impaired, struck by corneal ulcers in both eyes, most likely the result of a bacterial infection. After surgery to remove his eyeballs, he was paired with Phoenix, a female orange tabby kitten, who acts as Houdini’s seeing eye kitty and friend.
“They are kind of a unique duo,” Katherine Johnson, Humane Society of Mason County president, said Thursday. “Definitely a conversation starter.”
Houdini and Phoenix are two of about 70 cats for which the society is searching for permanent homes, in addition to about seven dogs that all have medical needs.
Houdini and Phoenix, about 3 months old, have bonded, and Johnson said they should be kept together and go to a home that wants them both.
The push to adopt the influx of cats comes as the society is preparing to open a larger office in Belfair, at 24070 Highway 3.
“It’s not gigantic, we will still be pretty squished, but it’s going to be pretty amazing,” Johnson said. The society intends to hire a veterinarian and a veterinary technician and hopes to begin providing services at the location in September. Starting on Valentine’s Day, the society’s mobile clinic has performed more than 800 surgeries so far this year. Currently the society is based in Allyn.
The number of cats and dogs on hand keeps rising, and during a phone interview Thursday with the Kitsap Sun, Johnson’s phone kept dinging with news of more pets in need of assistance, including a clutch of days-old German shepherd puppies whose mother was not nursing them.
“It never stops,” she said.
The influx of cats may have to do with the season, Johnson said, starting from mother cats that already gave birth this year – and afterwards were not spayed.
“They get pregnant right away again and have a second litter and people don’t have any more people to give the cats away to,” Johnson said.
Also the society’s volunteers have taken in adult cats that need new homes after their owners fell ill or died.
The society does not have a shelter and instead relies on a network of foster homes – including private homes and with inmates at Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women, a minimum-security women’s prison outside Belfair. In addition to donations to keep the society running, Johnson said foster homes that can take care of neonatal animals and large dogs are needed.
Needed more than anything are people who want to adopt. So far this year the society has adopted out 185 pets. Before the cats and dogs go to their forever homes they are spayed or neutered, vaccinated and implanted with a microchip to help find their owners in the event they stray from home.
Johnson said having the cats and dogs already with people – where they have constant contact with adults, children and other animals – often makes them more socialized than pets purchased from breeders, pet shops or shelters.
It also means that those looking to adopt have somebody to answer detailed questions about individual pets’ care and behavior.
“Foster parents spend so much time with them, you can literally ask them anything,” Johnson said.
To learn more about adoptions, to donate, become a foster parent or to view a photo listing of pets currently in foster care waiting for a home, go to the Humane Society of Mason County’s website at hsmcwa.org or send an email to: info@hsmcwa.org.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Blind kitten has his own ‘seeing eye kitty,’ 2 of 70 who need homes
