Published: December 24, 2008 10:35 am         

Children make Christmas happy for cats and dogs

While 10-year-old Maddie Gay was making yarn balls as a gift for her cat, Gage, she decided to do something that would brighten Christmas for other cats, too.

Gay and her friend, Maia Cruse, made posters that they put up around Skyline Elementary School asking students for donations for animals at Stillwater Humane Society. They called the drive “Merry Christmas Cats and Dogs.”

The girls told a few other friends who joined their efforts, and together they raised enough food and kitty litter to fill the back seat of a Honda Fit. They also made toys and asked neighbors for donations, which they delivered to Stillwater Humane Society on Friday afternoon.

“I heard that the pets at the Humane Society didn’t have anything to do all day long, and me and my friend just decided to help,” Gay said.

Pam McGraw, a Humane Society board member who serves as a liaison between the board and the shelter, said the cats were waking up from a nap when the kids arrived Friday. McGraw said cats don’t get as much exercise as dogs at the shelter do, so many of them perked up when they saw their new toys.

Gay and her friends dangled feathers and yarn balls dipped in catnip in front of the cats, who swatted at them.

Natalie Gay, Maddie’s mom, said the cats came over to the edges of their cages to see the new toys, and the kids were having so much fun they would have stayed all night if they didn’t have somewhere else to go.

McGraw said the society could not survive without the help of volunteers, who assist with just about everything, from cleaning the building and mending fences, to socializing the animals, which McGraw said was their most important duty.

Natalie Gay said she was proud of the girls’ efforts, and surprised by their organizational skills and the amount of support they received from classmates, friends and neighbors.

She said the girls are already making plans to go back for another visit, and she hoped others would be inspired to visit the animals as well.

“That’s what they really wanted to do,” she said.

“They wanted to spur more people to help.”

     

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