WAIT FOR IT . . . WAIT FOR IT . . . IT’S HERE!!

When you live in the Chicago Area, one of the many things you learn is patience. You wait in traffic. When you finally get to where you’re going, you probably wait in line for something. You wait for the elevator. You’d better wait for the “Walk” sign, or you’ll be sorry. You wait for people to call you back and return your email. You wait for 5 o’clock. You wait for the weekend. Next on the Wait Agenda is “nice weather,” so you can leave the house without boots, a heavy coat and gloves. We think that the Wait for Weather is over at last. It’s nice out—it has even been hot! Hooray! Your patience has paid off.

Our patience here at Precious Pets has paid off, too. Some of our long-time Precious Pets have found loving furrever homes. We were so happy to see MAX go home with his loving new “dad” after many months of foster care and trips to the vet, sometimes once a week. We pulled that handsome tabby from animal control hoping that he’d fly out the door due to his sweet personality. Unfortunately, Max was shell shocked and didn’t understand where his other family was or why he’d been left at the pound. His response, which is not at all unusual, was to “shut down” and stop eating. There was nothing that would coax him to eat because he had given up. Our only choice was to have a feeding tube inserted and hope that tube feeding, along with some anti-anxiety drugs, would turn things around. Slowly but surely, this seemed to work, but then we hit another bump in the road. The skin around Max’s feeding tube had become infected and it had to be removed. He needed weekly trips to the vet to monitor both his wound and his weight. Max was a real champ about his situation. He needed to be picked up at his foster home, endure a car trip to the vet, and then get settled again in his foster home. When it seemed safe to do so, we took Max to PetCo and hoped that someone would fall in love with him, just like we had. When that special person came along, we were thrilled that Max would be back in the comfortable environment of a permanent, loving home. Congratulations Max!

PRINCESS LILY was part of a feral colony but she was anything BUT feral. Although this sweetheart had lived on the street for who knows how long, she had obviously been part of someone’s family at some point, as she was calm and affectionate, in addition to being a Senior Catizen. Finally, after months of gazing wistfully from her cage at PetSmart at everyone who came in the Adoption Center, her beauty and personality caught someone’s eye and Princess Lily has moved to the suburbs! Yesss!

REBEL had a somewhat long and convoluted history with us. He was part of a feral colony, but also a “friendly,” so he was brought in for possible adoption. Because of his history of being outside for a long time, Rebel was found to be FIV-positive. This is not necessarily a problem if a cat assimilates into a home where he is calm and doesn’t fight. Unfortunately, Rebel lived up to his name, even after the best efforts of his foster mom, who loved him. However, Rebel’s luck had not run out—he was adopted and is in a home where he is King! As they say: Long Live the King!

GOT ANY PLANS FOR THE SUMMER?
What better way to spend a warm, summer day than looking through other people’s stuff and finding a special treasure? It’s even more fun if you find it at our booth at the Carmen-Winona Neighborhood Block Sale on Saturday, June 18, from 9am-6pm. We’ll be at the east end of the sale closest to the lake, so “shop” us first! We’ll be there with all the terrific items donated to Precious Pets for the benefit of our animals. Stop by, say hi and buy something. It helps pay the bills.

If you would like to help out or donate your own precious goods, please contact us at admin@preciouspetsalmosthome.org.

(MORE SUMMER FUN ON THE BACK. DON’T MISS IT!)
ATTENTION ALL “CATAHOLICS” (read that carefully)
ATTEND OUR 7TH ANNUAL BEACH BLANKET BENEFIT
SATURDAY, JUNE 25 6-8 PM
TRADER TODD’S 3216 N. SHEFFIELD

Stand up and proudly proclaim “I am a cataholic!” Join us and meet other people just like you, share cat photos on your phone and relate cat stories that “other people” just roll their eyes at. Dogaholics welcome too.

There will be Silent Auction Prizes, Raffle Prizes and, for the 1st time, our Meow Market, where you can shop for cat toys, handmade items, books, tote bags, and lots of one-of-a-kind things donated to help support the work of Precious Pets.
A raffle favorite is our Dinner for Four at Schwa. It has a value of $480 and is a dream come true for foodies. Separate raffle tickets, $20 each, for this GRAND PRIZE are available. If you can’t attend but still want a ticket, please contact us at admin@preciouspetsalmosthome.com. Winner need not be present.
Another new and different Silent Auction prize for Wine Lovers in the group is our Wine Tasting (Eight Bottles) for 12! A Wine Consultant will come to you with a fabulous selection to sample and will spend time sharing her knowledge for two hours. What’s left at the end is yours to savor and you can order your own for delivery later, if you’d like.
Other Raffle prizes include Gift Cards and Baskets from Goddess & Grocer, Wheat’s End Café, Wheat’s End Artisan Foods, Chicago Diner, and many other exciting prizes. Watch our Facebook page for updates.
Open bar and snacks for $25, the fun starts at 6 pm, and we have Goodie Bags again!
And now for something completely different (any Monty Python fans?). Some charming poetry from “I Could Pee on This, and other Poems by Cats,” 2016 Wall Calendar.

MY EVERYTHING
You’ve been my person
For as long and I can remember
You’ve been my mother
Since I’ve been a kitten
You’ve been my teacher
For as long as I’ve been a student
You’ve been a disaster
At showing me how to stalk and hunt
Which is why I’m now crouched low
On the kitchen counter
Waiting for that donut to make the first move
************
Thank you for your continued support,
Aurora, Kari, Debbie and Sid