EVERETT – Tina Gleaton and Victor Timmons have a whole room in their Everett home dedicated to abandoned cats and kittens.
The room, with vinyl floors and kitty condos, is a safe haven for the nine kittens and two cats living there.
Gleaton and Timmons are members of the Animal Rescue Foundation, or ARF, of Everett. They’re also foster parents for a high-energy brood of pets: 17 animals are currently in their care.
“Believe it or not, the more you have, the easier it gets,” Timmons said.
ARF is a nonprofit group created by volunteers at the Everett Animal Shelter. The group provides medical treatment and care for animals the shelter would typically have to put down.
There’s Rosa the cat, who uses a two-wheeled cart attached to her back legs to get around because of a spinal injury.
The cause of the injury is not clear, but has something to do with Rosa’s tail and spine, Timmons said, perhaps the result of a young child trying to catch her.
And there’s Cocoa the dog, ARF’s official mascot, who is rehabilitating a torn knee ligament. He was found tied up at the shelter after it had closed.
“There’s a lot of good animals that would otherwise be euthanized,” Timmons said. “ARF has really done a lot to save animals.”
Over the past two years, Gleaton and Timmons estimate they’ve taken in 20 dogs and 50 cats and kittens. They focus on rehabilitating and socializing the animals.
The pets are introduced to one another in steps, Gleaton explained. Little by little, they learn to get along with one another, and with humans.
Rosa and Cocoa even go on walks around the block together, Rosa zooming along in her cart and Cocoa tugging at his blue leash. Timmons wants to spruce up Rosa’s cart with flame decorations.
“She can scoot along pretty good in that thing,” he said.
Giving the animals up to permanent homes is always hard, Gleaton said. She and Timmons screen potential families before sending them home with a new pet.
Families often keep in touch, sending e-mails and pictures of the pets to their former foster parents.
“It’s a bittersweet thing,” Gleaton said.
Timmons agreed.
“It’s great to see them go,” he said, “but (it’s like), ‘Hey, going to miss you, buddy.’ “
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