With Valentine’s Day coming up this week, animal advocates are hoping Beaufort County residents will be looking for a new friend to cuddle up with: young cats in desperate need of homes.

This Valentine’s adoption fair will be held Friday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon in the waiting room at Pamlico Animal Hospital.

Those looking for homes are rescues that Washington Cat Rescue founders Leslie Steele and Nancy O’Neill have been fostering in their own homes.

“They are fully vetted, very healthy, very social, very affectionate,” Steele said.

The young-adult cats to be featured at the fair are spayed/neutered, up-to-date on all shots and have clean bills of health, Steele added.

Steele and O’Neill started the Washington Cat Rescue nonprofit in October of 2013, though both shelter volunteers had been fostering cats for longer. Steele said it’s often difficult to find foster homes for cats, so she and O’Neill have been taking them into their own homes, with the hopes of the right cat owner coming along.
With the Valentine’s adoption fair, they hope to resolve the issue — and make room for more rescues.

“We’re full up,” Steele said. “We’re hoping to get a lot of people to come see our kitties.”

One of the cats at the coming adoption fair has a unique, and heartbreaking, story, according to Steele. The Belhaven owner of three cats died and the animals were turned out of the rented house during bitterly cold weather. The owner of the house found one of the cats badly injured: both back paws had been mangled, the cause unknown. According to Steele, the injuries could be frostbite-induced, or may have occurred when the cat was warming itself on a car engine that was started. The man who found the cat and Washington Cat Rescue are splitting the bill for the cat’s care, and the animal will be fostered, but Steele is hoping to find the injured animal a permanent home this weekend.

“He’ll never be able to jump or climb, but he can get around,” Steele said. “In the meantime, this wonderful couple from Belhaven is going to take care of the cat. … That’s the kind of person — to me, that’s a Valentine’s Day story.”

Steele said adopting an animal is all about heart, and having one big enough to invite an animal into it.

“If you take responsibility of a dog or cat, it should be a forever situation,” Steele said. “Valentine’s Day is a time for love and caring, just being appreciative of your family members. And your family members include your animals.”

Pamlico Animal Hospital is located at 3005 John Small Avenue, Washington. As a fundraiser, Washington Cat Rescue will also have raffle and have cat-themed items for sale at the adoption fair. For more information, contact Leslie Steele at 252-833-4347 or Nancy O’Neill at 252-495-1857.