Tasmyn Petlansky was pretty sure the kitten she chose at Friends of Felines was special, but she didn’t know how special until she filled out the adoption paperwork.
That’s when the staff told her little Gracie was No. 20,000 in long line of cats and kittens to find loving homes through the Keizer-based rescue organization.
“This is such an exciting time for us,” said Chelsey Marks, executive director of Friends of Felines. “Each cat we’ve adopted out has found a family that truly loves them. Reaching 20,000 adoptions shows how much our community cares about adopting their pets.”
Gracie, the kitten with the lucky number, is a sweet long-haired gray who joins three other cats in Petansky’s Salem home.
Since adoption, Gracie’s been renamed Suede by the oldest of the three children in her new family. Landyn, 13, has a best friend named Gracie, so it seemed complicated. Graysen, 11, Estelle, 8, and their dad Tyler agreed with the switch to Suede for the soft kitty.
“She’s a great addition,” Petlansky said. “We are so in love with her.”
Petlansky wasn’t aware of the possible milestone when she went to adopt a kitten. She knew about Friends of Felines because the two senior cats living in her household came from the Friends 16 years ago.
Wanting to bring a younger cat into the fold, she turned again to Friends. She first had her eye on a kitten named Misty in a litter of five. She watched them on the website and figured Misty was the one.
At their meet-up, however, Misty turned out to be a bit more energetic than what Petlansky had in mind.
“I already had one of those,” she said, referring to her 3-year-old male cat, a rescue. “This time I wanted a cuddly kitten.”
Then she saw a little gray kitten sort of hiding behind the others.
“I picked her up, and she just started purring,” Petlansky said. “She was the one.”
Petlansky did the paperwork and then learned, from tearful staff, that Gracie was No. 20,000.
To celebrate, the staff sent Petlansky and the kitten home with a big gift basket of cat toys and a cat tree.
Gracie’s littermates, including Misty, also have been adopted, but people looking for a feline companion have plenty of others to choose from. Marks said, there were 60 cats and kittens in the Friends’ care, 15 of them at the adoption center and ready for homes.
The nonprofit, founded in 2004, takes in strays and owned cats from situations where owners experiencing life changes can no longer keep them. The Friends also help home some cats from smaller operations that need help placing cats, but they don’t take in feral or untamed cats.
“Our organization is devoted to providing vital services to felines and their human companions throughout the Willamette Valley,” said Marks.
The adoption center at 4157 Cherry Ave. N.E. welcomes visitors who want to meet the cats and kittens, or they can be viewed online. Business hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Saturday.
Friends of Felines also offers a feline spay/neuter clinic to help control the cat population, and affordable wellness and vaccination services.
Marks noted that the organization is a 501(c)3 nonprofit and relies on financial support from the community. For information about ways to help or information about fostering, volunteering and how to donate, visit the website www.sfof.org.
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