Yellow Pages
Kittens are born by the litter, though most people pick one — usually a tabby with tiger stripes, or the one that never stops purring or playing.
Volunteers from the organization Saving Pets One at a Time, or SPOT, don’t get to choose. For them, kittens arrive by the box and without a return address.
“The animals just kind of find you,” said SPOT President Teresa Steiner, who co-founded the group.
SPOT, which keeps dogs and cats in a network of local foster homes, is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Steiner and two others started the organization seeking an alternative to the traditional animal shelter.
The organization they built has a “no kill” philosophy and adopts out about 800 animals each year.
In January, SPOT volunteers assisted law enforcement officials in removing hundreds of neglected and starving dogs from two breeding kennels in Skagit and Snohomish counties. Many of the dogs went into SPOT foster homes and were eventually adopted out.
SPOT’s ordinary adoptions take place at local pet stores, during special adoption drives and increasingly through the Web site http://www.Petfinder.com.
Enough people are now aware of SPOT that foster homes, and even volunteers’ workplaces, have become unofficial dropping points for unwanted pets.
“It is not that we look for animals,” Steiner said. “They find the suckers. We emit some sort of a pheromone or something that says, ‘Hey, we will keep you safe.’”
The animals are housed in the organization’s 15-20 foster homes, Steiner said. Some stay for days or weeks; others remain in foster care for months or years until a permanent home is found.
None are euthanized for a lack of space.
Donations and volunteers poured in after the kennel raids earlier this year, and the group is steadily increasing the number of animals it adopts out, Steiner said.
“Based on the amount of support that we have in the community, we do believe that we are a fighting force for the animals,” she said.
Steiner was a veterinary assistant at the Humane Society of Skagit Valley when she started SPOT with Linda Hart and Joan Crane, who were also involved with the Humane Society, Steiner said.
Although SPOT has a “no kill” policy, Steiner said she supports euthanasia for certain dogs and cats that are uncomfortably ill or dangerous.
Burlington Code Enforcement and Animal Control Officer Robin Blair works regularly with SPOT. The city has a contract to transfer impounded dogs to SPOT, which adopts them out if no owner steps forward.
Blair said she likes the dogs to go to foster homes, not a shelter.
“They know about animals, they are very experienced handlers,” Blair said of the SPOT volunteers. “They are not just people that come off the street and want to take a pet home.”
Gale Omdal is not the typical SPOT member. She has five foster dogs and has lost count of the cats scrambling through her home.
“Right now, we have 33,” she said, only to be corrected by her daughter.
“Mom, I think we actually have 37,” Amy Omdal said.
The front room is awhirl with kittens — playing, fighting, dozing, hiding, snuggling. But to see the full impact, you have to go to the kitchen.
The mother and daughter lower plates of cat food to the floor as cats stream in three, four, or five at a time until the floor is blanketed.
“This is abnormal,” Gail Omdal, a school psychologist, said of her SPOT participation. “You don’t have to be nuts.”
Steiner said she expects her organization to continue to grow. Although it isn’t as well known and doesn’t assist as many animals each year as the Humane Society, Steiner said her organization’s goal isn’t about the numbers.
“I guess that is why we are saving pets one at a time and not a thousand at a time,” she said.
n Elliott Wilson can be reached at 360-416-2147 or at .
