Silicon Valley Pet Project: Winter/Spring 2017 Newsletter

• Subscribe
• Share
• Past Issues
• RSS
• Translate

SVPP relies on our community to help us save local at-risk shelter pets through rescue, community service, and education. Thanks to your support, we've been extra busy these past few months and have collected some highlights in this quarterly newsletter. Read on to learn about our recent activities and adoption tales, as well as opportunities to help us during kitten season. And again, on behalf of everyone at SVPP, we thank you for caring about homeless pets and helping us to make a difference. Welcome Our New Board Members! SVPP is pleased to welcome two new members to our Board of Directors: Maureen Cunningham and Samantha Williams. Maureen has two dogs of her own (Jett and Meiko) and comes to SVPP with over 30 years of experience in the financial sector. She will serve as the Director of Events Management. Samantha has over seven years of experience in finance and recently adopted a rescue pup named GB (short for "Good Boy"). She will serve in her role as Treasurer.  Ready for Adoption Since launching in February of 2015, Silicon Valley Pet Project has rescued and placed over 491 dogs and cats! We are very proud of our successful adoptions. Here are a couple of special pets who are still looking for their forever homes. Jojo Jojo is a love bug who enjoys cuddling, burrowing under the covers, and hanging out on the couch while you watch your favorite shows. Give this sweet senior girl a chance. Click here to meet Jojo.  JC JC is a 12 year old cat cat who loves people and taking naps in a warm lap. He also likes to let his inner kitten loose and play! Click here to meet JC.  Adoption Success Story Within 12 months, Pierre and Dana sadly lost four of their feline companions and two elderly dogs. They were hesitant to adopt again after so much heartbreak, but learned about The Dancing Cat and had to check it out! There, they met a Maine Coon mix who had been found in a backyard with much of her fur missing and infected sores covering her body. They felt an immediate connection and returned, where they fell in love with her sense of mischief and easy affection. Renamed Princess Leia, this feline warrior now resides happily with her forever family (which includes a kitten sidekick named Bruce Lee). It's Kitten Season!  Kitten season is upon us, and we need your help taking care of all the kittens that have arrived on our doorstep. Here are the top three ways that you can lend a helping paw:  Foster a kitten (or two!): If you have extra space in your home, consider taking in some kittens until they can be spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and put up for adoption. We need folks who are willing to take care of these little bundles of joy until they're about 2 months old.  Refer a friend: Have friends who are cat lovers? Ask them if they'd be interested in signing up to foster.  Donate kitten supplies: If you can't foster a kitten, you can provide supplies for our foster parents! Our need for food, litter, and other essentials is growing every year.  Amazon Kitten Wish List Foster Application Volunteer Spotlight Volunteer Steve Ashford developed our Foster Appreciation Program and does a beautiful job of hand crafting frames and plaques for first time fosters and foster champions. Thank you so much for your creative contribution, Steve! A huge thank you to Michelle Walker for responding to all adoption inquiries and assisting our team with finalizing adoptions! SVPP and all of our furry friends are so grateful for your hard work.   P.O. Box 6145, San Jose, CA 95150 | T 408.641.8745 We hope you enjoy receiving our updates, but in case you don’t, unsubscribe and we’ll remove you from our mailing list. You can also update subscription preferences here.

Fostering and Caring for a Family of Cats

Why did I originally decide to foster a litter of kittens and their mom? It’s because I wanted to adopt cats of my own. 

Why do I continue to foster cats? I love helping cats find their forever homes while connecting with other people who love animals as much as I do!

My name is Elysse, and I’ve always been an animal lover. I really wanted to get kittens of my own (a fun fact: kittens do better in pairs!). My fiance on the other hand wasn’t sure if he was “a cat person.” I had an interest in fostering because of my love for animals and thought it would be a perfect trial run. If we decided cats weren’t for us, then we would still be helping them find their forever home and would get to take care of cute kittens for awhile.

I found out about Silicon Valley Pet Project through Facebook, and when I saw a picture of Lulu and her three kittens, Snap, Crackle, and Pop, who needed a foster home, I reached out to SVPP and filled out a foster application.

Our first fosters (if you look closely there are three kittens in this picture!)

You might be wondering what it takes to be a foster cat parent. Overall it’s pretty simple – socialize and provide them with a safe and loving home until they find their forever home.

SVPP gives you food, toys and all the info you need to foster. You are also responsible for taking them to medical appointments and adoption events. The last part of fostering is helping select their forever homes.

We realized right away that my fiance and I wanted to adopt two of the kittens. A friend of ours came over to our apartment when he found out we were fostering cats and fell in love with Crackle. I still get to see Crackle (now named Shelby) and it’s awesome to see how she is as an adult cat. Lulu also got adopted from a family when she was at The Dancing Cat.

(top) Shelby the day she went to her forever family   (bottom) Me visiting Shelby all grown up in her home!

Since our first fosters we have fostered another litter of five kittens as well an adult cat for a short time. I still keep in contact with most of my past foster cat families. For me it’s so rewarding seeing animals thriving in their forever homes and knowing that I helped give them their start to a happy life.

Silicon Valley Pet Project is always in need of fosters, especially with kitten season around the corner. If you are interested in fostering or have more questions about what it takes to be a foster parent please reach out to info@svpetproject.org.