Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Where are the kitty grass folks?
In the "no kill" world (follow that link to read what "no-kill" means to the East Bay SPCA) our kitties can sometimes take a long time to find a home.This is a lot different from the days when, sadly, cats only lived in shelters a few days, and then were either adopted, or....well, you know.
Yay! More time to find them homes! But in return, we've had to spend a lot of time coming up with ways to keep cats healthy and stimulated for long periods. Cats who are caged or kenneled for months on end sometimes don't do well, so we needed to be creative, if we were going to keep them healthy and happy for that long.
When we installed our new, larger cat habitats in Oakland this summer, we had the room to add items to their habitats to make their lives more interesting and bring them amenities they might find outside or in the home.
One of those items is "kitty grass." Not quite as intoxicating as our state's semi-legal mood altering substance, kitty grass is supposed to (and this came from some retailer's website) "promote and assist in the elimination of fur balls, naturally maintain a well-balanced digestive system...help offset the environmental impurities that your pets are exposed to on a daily basis and will aid them in living a healthier life."
Now, we don't know if it does ALL that. But the kitties sure like it! You'll often see the kitties nibbling or rubbing up against their kitty grass with a blissful look on their face.
(I guess my photo isn't a good example of that, huh?)
But last week, we were asking each other, "what happened to the kitty grass people?"
You see, since we installed our new cat habitats, all our kitty grass, big flats of dozens of containers, have been donated by a nursery called Woodrose Gardens in Sebastopol. Out of the goodness of their hearts, they have, on a regular basis, silently been making sure our kitties have a non-stop supply of kitty grass to keep them happy and social.
We got a call from them last week; their greenhouse was destroyed by a storm over Thanksgiving. They called to let us know that they wouldn't be able to donate kitty grass for awhile, and they apologized.
Their greenhouse was destroyed--and they called to apologize to us!
So, thank you, Woodrose Gardens, and the entire East Bay SPCA sends condolences, and good wishes in getting your business back on its feet.
