Adopt Don't Shop : National Animal Advocacy Day*

April 30th is National Animal Advocacy Day, and I thought it seemed like a good time to talk about my furry children and how they came to join our family.

So first up, this is Ashen. He's a rottweiler-ish mix, roughly 9 or 10 years old, and a total dork. He's incredibly soft, his favourite things in life are his blanket, a dinosaur teddy called Clive, belly rubs, and daffodils. My husband adopted him before I knew him, from a wonderful local rescue centre called The Ark Animal Rescue. They have a donate button down at the bottom of their website to donate via PayPal if you want to donate to a small local charity that really need all the help they can get. Ashen basically loves anyone who has time for fusses, so he took to me right away, who could resist that beard?!

Next up the cats. The next two came as a pair, the black cat is Stitches, and the tortie is Patch. Patch is actually Stitches Aunt!

These two don't quite have the traditional adoption story. Stu also had these lovely creatures before I met him, and he ended up with them almost by accident. He rented his last house from a friend of his who had emigrated abroad. She had been unable to take the cats with her immediately, so asked Stu if he would take care of them for her while she got settled, until she could send for them. He happily agreed and well, she never sent for them. When we moved out of the house they came with us (with Stu's friends approval and admittance that they were happy with us and totally now our cats).

Patch is the old lady of our troupe, we think she's probably around 15 now. She has 3 teeth left, and spends most of her time curled up sleeping. Her favourite place is my knee and she always knows when there is ham in the fridge. She's a feisty thing, definitely the boss in the pack, but also the first to stick up for the other cats too. Last year Stitches was bitten by a fox and badly injured, and she came home mildly wounded too. The vet thinks she probably leapt in and saved Stitches life considering both their injuries, hero!

Now this is probably the photo that best sums Stitches up to be honest. He is the sweetest, derpiest cat I've ever met. Black cats are the actual best, and also the least adopted due to superstitions. If you are looking into adopting a cat, you can not go wrong with a black cat. Stitches loves chin scritches more than anything in the world, and loves to curl up next to you rather than on your lap. The poor mite has had it rough, he once had PVA glue dumped all over him by... idiots.... and he's been left pretty weary of strangers since then, but he sure loves me. The other thing Stitches loves, is to meow at me till I pick him up like a baby and carry him round. I'm the only one he asks to do it and I absolutely love it. He seems to know when I'm sad, and he comes and shouts at me until I hold him and it just fills my heart every time. He has a snaggle tooth and a croaky meow that make him so unique.

Last up, is Lemmy Katmister.

Now Lemmy may look sweet, but don't let him fool you. He is aptly named because he is the loudest cat I have ever met. He never shuts up! He came from another small local rescue called Cuddles Cat Rescue. They only rescue cats and do an amazing thing for our local area. Lemmy was their longest boarder when we adopted him. He came from an animal hoarders house, there were over 40 animals in the house, a mixture of cats and dogs, none of them neutered, all underfed. He'd had to fight for food every day and it's one of the big reasons he meows now, he's always worried about not having food so shouts as soon as he has eaten the top layer of his biscuits so he can have more! 

Lemmy also loves to sit on my lap, so usually shares the space with Patch. Lemmy would prefer to sit right in my face and suffocate me with his love but I worry one day he will actually kill me, so that's not happening.

We donate monthly to both of these charities, they are very near and dear to our hearts. Please do check out their websites and consider donating if you can! If you want to take the extra step to become an advocate for the cause consider hosting a nonprofit fundraiser! The combination of community donations and increased awareness for the organization will truly make a large impact, thanks to you.

Do you have any adopted pets? How did you meet yours?

Much love, 

Kitty xxxx

*not a paid or sponsored post, but written in collaboration with EventBrite who inspired this blog post!

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