No strangers to Furry Friends, Sam and Katelyn adopted their first cat from us, now an easygoing and relaxed male who’s presently nine years old. Then came Opal, an outgoing and independent five-month-old female tabby! Meow about the most purr-ecious pair of pussycat polar opposites.  Eager to add a feline companion to their household, the couple was thrilled when the two kitties bonded within weeks of their initial introduction. Happily, and not surprisingly, they are now the best of “furry friends.” Supremely sweet, sublimely social, and appealingly affectionate, Opal especially enjoys ..read more

Linda Rader gives new meaning to the term “everyday hero.” While some might call her a crazy cat lady, we, at Furry Friends, call her “an angel here on earth.” Now, after 23 remarkable and memorable years with us, Linda is retiring. A recent retiree from her own job, Linda joined Furry Friends in 2001, two years after our founding as our first Adoption Coordinator. She handled the intake of all of the cats, coordinated their care, interviewed potential adopters, oversaw those cats in foster homes, and handled each cat’s adoption. With so few other volunteers at the time, some of Linda’s addit ..read more

Volunteering at Furry Friends since 2019, Kailen, who’s always loved cats, works two hours a week and subs from time to time as well. A shift lead on the Thursday PM crew, she enjoys making the wet food and mixing together flavors to give the kitties something different to eat. Not surprisingly, what she finds challenging is trying not to adopt every cat coming into the shelter. What she loves, though, is seeing the different personalities of the kitties who arrive, and feeling that satisfaction and excitement when they eventually find their forever homes. She’s also deeply appreciative of th ..read more

“Mr. Floofmeister is our third kitty,” says Laura. “We have two female kitties named Catmeat and Diva. We had no plans to get a third cat, but we were browsing the Furry Friends website (as one does) and instantly fell in love with Mr. Floofmeister. We kept his original name so we wouldn’t give him an identity crisis. While his name is Mr. Floofmeister, he likes to go by Floofy for short. “When we saw his picture, he was so adorable that it was impossible to think of anyone else taking care of him besides us. Then we read his cute bio and knew he would be a blessing to our family. Mr. Floofm ..read more

When Lyla and her husband moved to Vancouver, she longed to become part of the community, and began volunteering for us in March 2022. Because of her husband’s severe cat allergies, they have no cats of their own, and volunteering felt like a way for Lyla to be around them, which she missed. It was also a way of getting to know fellow cat lovers and to spend her time giving back in a positive and beneficial way. She has worked the same shift once a week since she started and despite a few volunteers coming and going, several of them have been there the entire time. They’re very chatty and lov ..read more

Mary started working the Thursday evening shift at the Halfway House in February of 2020 with an awesome crew who has been together for ages. She also picks up the Tuesday voicemails and is on the auction committee. Three young cats showed up in their backyard around 2019, and her cat sitter who, at the time, was a volunteer at Furry Friends, helped her get the cats spots in the Halfway House. She was so thankful that she started dropping off items at Woodin’ You Pampered Paws, and then decided to start volunteering. Her biggest challenges are not spending all of her money buying auction item ..read more

“We adopted Butter and Chevy (formerly Batter) in December of 2022,” says Mira. “We both grew up with lots of kitties and having moved out on our own, we only had one kitty, Turbo, who was a bottle baby I had rescued. “Neither of us had ever had the experience of owning an orange cat, so we set out to find him an orange companion. We quickly found Butter on the Furry Friends website after deciding to support a local non-profit group. As it happened, our sweet little Butter had a sibling, and we absolutely couldn’t separate them. And so, the adventure began! “It only took a few days before we ..read more

I have been with Furry Friends for 5 years. I had looked online for volunteer opportunities when I got close to full retirement and Furry Friends looked like a good fit. Although I had been volunteering at the Humane Society, I wanted to focus more on cats. I always volunteer on Friday mornings — cleaning, feeding and socializing our kittens and cats. The biggest challenge for me is overcoming my fear of anxious and/or hostile cats, and I derive the greatest sense of satisfaction when those cats calm down and begin accepting all of the love we have to give them. After suffering a severe wrist ..read more

“After we lost our cat Pearl, I wasn’t sure if I was ready for another pet,” explains Kathy. “Plus, we still had two other cats, Tiny and Bean, and Lucy, my daughter’s cat, since my daughter had moved back home. “But when she showed me the Furry Friends website, I became interested in meeting one of the kittens who was actually Lily’s sister. When we arrived at Furry Friends, Lily and her siblings were in one room with some other cats. Lily’s sister chose to remain in her cat tree, but Lily hopped up right away on my husband’s lap and was very friendly and social. I was also interested in me ..read more

After Joshua and his wife Kelli began fostering for Furry Friends two years ago, they quickly got involved with the Halfway House. Joshua then signed up to be a permanent sub, but soon found himself as a regular full-time shift volunteer for two hours on Wednesday nights. He trains many of the new volunteers, a duty he and his wife split and occasionally do together. As fosters, they have a room in their house dedicated to kittens. He likes to joke that it’s 90% Kelli and 10% Joshua, but it’s truly “all hands on deck” and they share the joy, the cleaning, and the hardships together. His bigge ..read more