How I'm spending your money, Part I

This past few weeks we have received some rather overwhelmingly generous donations. Like: "I'm sorry, am I reading this check correctly?" donations.

Amazing. Amazing. Overwhelming. Incredible.

Merry Christmas, kitties!

Some of them were adoption donations that were above and beyond our $50 request for the vet fund. These donations were made out to our vet. Poof! The $353 balance is gone, and we have a $200 buffer, which is great because we have promised to help spay/neuter at least three shivery girl kitties who are being rescued from the street by people who are willing to keep them but weren't expecting a big vet bill right after Christmas. It is much cheaper for us to pay for vet bills than to end up taking in the cats ourselves, especially adults who will sit here for months before adoption.

Some were Amazon.com donations from the button at the right, which go into our Wildrun checking account and are used for vet bills as well. We received $170 via the Amazon button this past month, which also will save the lives of at least two cats. Thank you, blog readers!

Then there were the "out of the blue" donations (for which I will be sending out thank-you's today!). These are from past adopters and landowners we have helped. It is always amazing that the biggest donations come from the "help thyself" folks. These are people who called us from help, but really did most of the work themselves (by providing homes to the adult cats dumped on them, catching cats themselves, doing a lot of the running around). And then they give US money!

Incredible.

I don't like spending donation money on food and cat litter. That should come out of my pocket. I figure if people give us money, it should literally save a cat (pay for spay/neuter or other vet bills), or provide some improvement to the cat facility.

So I thought I would blog what I purchase with these recent incredible donations so you know what you all have bought us!

First up is something we have desperately needed for the carpet in the cat room. Shelters really ought not have carpet (they have to be thrown out if there is a serious disease outbreak), but the cat room is the long-term room and we like it to be as home-like as possible. While the rest of the facility is vinyl floored, this one room has a big, thick, Scotchgarded carpet.

We have needed a wet vac/deep cleaner for about a half year now. I was going to get an affordable SpotBot and just resign myself to being on my hands and knees for a few hours every four months, but it hasn't happened. A few weeks ago I looked at rental cleaners, but they are huge, and the thought of dragging one up the stairs, and only having it for one day--and then having to rent one again every 4-6 months, was a concern.

So because of you I was able to purchase this yesterday:



It also cleans bare floors, so the vinyl will get a serious washing as well. And it will be available whenever we need it. I got the Bissell instead of a Hoover because Bissell is a Petfinder.com sponsor.

I have never been so excited about cleaning a carpet in my life.

So that's purchase #1! Thank you all!