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For the Love of Pets

Loki Finds a Home

This story starts with Wilma and ends with Loki. Wilma was our cat for 15 years. She passed away last April at 22 years old. I KNOW!! We attribute her long life to low stress and Fancy Feast salmon food. After Wilma’s passing and our return to the Wood River Valley this summer, we decided it was time to get another kitty.

We headed to the Animal Shelter of the Wood River Valley on the day of the Trailing of the Sheep earlier this autumn. Yikes. Picked a bad day for traffic in the Valley. Oh well, we had a mission. We arrived at the shelter with a few ideas of who we had in mind, but open to taking anyone home.

There are four enclosed areas at the shelter, with two to five cats in each space. There was a cage of TINY kittens in the middle of the room. OH MY GOD! It was hard to not look at those little guys and not fall in love immediately. But, we wanted to take someone a bit older home, and give him or her some much-deserved love.

Immediately, “Creamsicle” was vying for my husband Peter’s attention. He was meowing at him like his life depended on it. “Jones” was irresistible too — he had white feet and dark tabby stripes and acted like a bass player in a band. Suuuuper cool. Next was “Kiwi.” Her motor went into high gear when I picked her up and she had the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen — one eye is even a bit crossed and she has a stub tail. The next area had “Sienna.” Sienna is a tiny thing, petite and demure. She was very shy, but loved being held and was after my heart in a big way.

I looked at Peter and said, “How do we decide??” This was much harder than I thought it would be. After filling out paperwork to avoid making the decision for a bit, Kiwi bonked her head into the cage and gave me a look that was heart wrenching. We decided then that Kiwi would be our next family member.

 

Julie Molema and Loki at the Wood River Animal Shelter, getting ready to go home.  Loki basks in the sun in her new home–life is good.

 

We got her home unscathed, just a bit of panting and hyperventilating in the car, (not me! the cat!) and she immediately fell in love with our three flights of stairs. Kiwi tears after a paper ball like it was her job. She found her litter box immediately and soon claimed the bay window area to be her spot—I mean, who wouldn’t? View of Baldy? Right next to kitchen and open to the living room? She was named Kiwi at the shelter and came there as a stray, so we didn’t feel too bad about changing her name to “Loki.” (Norse God of Mischief) which is extremely fitting for this little creature.

We are so happy to have an animal in the house again. It’s definitely easier not having pets, but they sure do make a place feel like home. And that is just what being back in Ketchum feels to us. Home.

The Animal Shelter of the Wood River Valley is located at 100 Croy Creek Road, about 1.5 miles west of Hailey in Croy Creek Canyon. It’s hours are Tues-Friday 10-6, Saturday 10-4 and Sunday 12-4. It costs $65 to adopt a cat. All cats are vaccinated, microchipped as well as spayed or neutered. They can be reached at 208-788-4351 or at www.animalshelterwrv.org.