Off to a Good Start

Today I heard something I have never heard at the shelter. A woman came in asking to look at cats, and one of the workers replied, "We only have a few available, there are almost none left."
Almost no cats! December was an absolutely amazing month for adoptions.
We had at least 25 small animal adoptions in December.
To compare, in November, we only had 14!
And there are only about 7 cats left available for adoption. The rest are all adopted, just waiting to be spayed or neutered (we can hardly keep up with the demand!). I know it will fill up within a few weeks, but right now there are empty cat rooms, empty rabbit cages, and I can actually see the table-top in the small animal room. What an awesome way to start the year.
The first surrenders of 2011 arrived at the Room yesterday. And they're not something we see every day - a pair of zebra finches! They are adorable. When I was a kid, I desperately wanted a zebra finch, so I have a special place in my heart for these two.
Twitter (top photo) is a fawn mutation, while Tweet (bottom) is a wild-type. Tweet is the noisier and more easily offended of the two, while Twitter is quite shy. Their owner passed away recently, and his daughter couldn't keep them as her cat turned out to be very predatory. They came with a big beautiful cage, full of toys and nests, and they've clearly been well loved. I hope they don't have to wait too long!
We've also had our first adoptions of the new year! Cocoa & Cinnamon the rabbits were adopted last week, and this week, Luna, Ebony and Marbles the hamsters were all adopted! Luna went to a home with a young boy who is happily spoiling her. Ebony and Marbles went to the same home, although they will of course be kept separate.
The hamsters were all adopted out from our Pet Valu, which is run by superstars! I think we will be able to do so much more in 2011 thanks to Pet Valu. The Room at the shelter is very small - having another whole room at the store makes such a huge difference.
Ok, I know better than expect this to last - let's see how long it takes to fill back up!