First Ever Valentine Day Critter Carnival

On Saturday, Feb. 11, the first even Dog and Cat Shelter Critter Carnival was held at Landon’s Greenhouse from 1 – 4 p.m. A good crowd turned out for the event.

Cindy Popp, operations manager at the Dog and Cat Shelter talked about this year’s event.

One popular booth was the Puppy Kissing Booth, where people could get ‘kissed’ and kiss the puppies. Emi Whiting, the Dog Lead at the Shelter, and organizer of the Critter Carnival event, explained the kissing booth.

As well as the kissing booth, there was a cat cuddle booth where several cats waited for people to cuddle them, like Ashley Spradlen who was cuddling Opal.

Sue Johnson of the Shelter described the cuddle booth cats.

There was also a duck pond where youngsters could pick out a plastic duck, and if it displayed a heart on its bottom, they could pick out a stuffed animal.

Denise Stussi and her two youngsters, Jayden and Serenity, helped with the duck pond. When asked if they planned to adopt any animals, Jayden said they already had pets at home, and Denise talked about the booth that they were working at.

For each booth there was a small donation which goes to help the shelter take care of the animals there.

Mar Ecceles dog trainer at the dog and cat shelter was helping with the event as well.

Cindy Popp added that they not only accepted donations and that they hoped to adopt animals. She said that if someone wanted to adopt and animal, they have to fill out an application with their information and the name of the animal they want to adopt. After a day or two, the potential pet parents are notified by the shelter about the status of their application.

There were also applications for volunteers. “We always need volunteers as dog walkers and people to help with cleaning. Cleaning is mainly with the cats and other small animals.” The shelter currently has a guinea pig and around 30 mice currently to adopt out. There are around 100 cats and around 40 dogs at the shelter that are looking for ‘furever’ homes.

Due to the interest this year, the shelter and Landon’s are talking about making the ‘Critter Carnival’ and annual event. “It has gone very well and something different for us,” Keith Kershaw, owner and manager of Landon’s. “We are already talking about next year.”