Despite terrible weather, the North Melbourne animal shelter was full of people playing with and ultimately being wooed by the furry inhabitants.
Prospective feline suitors were greeted by costumed attendants who introduced them to the potential soul mates.
Managing Director Dr. Graham Smith donned a dapper tuxedo and offered advice for people in choosing their companions. Any man who can pose for a photo cuddling a cat and a dog together obviously knows what they’re talking about. The CATsby lady attendants were also on hand to introduce the purring pals.
Some of the kittens were putting on a show as well; Jack seemed intent on showing everybody how cute he was whilst hanging upside down and eating his attendees boa.
Celebrating it’s 100th year of operation, The Lost Dogs’ Home currently provides a home and care to anywhere between one and two hundreds cats who have been lost or abandoned.
Communications and Fundraising Manager Kate Hoelter described their shelter cats akin to the protagonist in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famous novel.
“Like Jay Gatsby, our cats past live are often a mystery to us. What we do know is that each and every one of our stylish felines has so much to offer.”
The evening was no doubt a success with 14 cats leaving the shelter with their new families. Combined with the media promotion leading up to the event and people who returned over the weekend, the week overall provided a significant boost to cat adoption numbers.
“We would love to hold another adoption evening to make adoption more accessible for people who work full time and to give prospective owners another opportunity to consider a shelter animal,” said Ms Hoelter. “We think also the promotion of special adoption events raises awareness for the benefits and value of adopting a shelter dog or cat.”
Whilst Jack has found a new home and loving family, have a look here at the many other pawed friends who can you adopt from the shelter.
But in the meantime meet my favourite friends from the Catsby evening…
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Max Fin is a third-year Bachelor of Journalism student and the Photo Editor for upstart magazine. Follow him on Tumblr.
Photos – Max Fin
