Trip To Best Friends & Pics

In late April I got the chance to visit Best Friends after being in
Vegas for a work conference.

It's exactly as it looks from their website. The people are friendly
and the pets get excellent care. My first day there, I worked in
Benton's House, which has cats with various issues - mostly physical.
The first room I worked in was the white cat room. There weren't just
white cats in this room but it is named that because the screened
porch, which every cat room has one, is specially screened so the cats
don't get skin cancer from the sun.

The first cat I came across was Todd, a white siamese. He was a mess
- he had had ringworm so a lot of his fur was missing, his eyes were
weepy, and the staff said he had IBS issues. They have to put him in
a cat cage at night so he doesn't dirty all the beds.

There are rooms with names like Incontinental Suite & the Geriatric
Room (cats 10 + yrs.) I was only tempted to bring back 3 cats : )

The cats have it made there. The rooms are probably 8x10 and each has
access to its own screened in porch, which is probably the same size
as the inside room. There's lots of furniture to climb on, cubby
holes to sleep in and beds and toys everywhere. Feral cats stay in
the rafters out on the porch and the staff climb up to put their food
and litter boxes up there.

The dogs have a good set up too. They can get to a large fenced in
area from their kennels, where they can lay in the sun, lay under a
canopy or play in a plastic pool. The sanctuary has their own dog
park, I think it's 2 acres and there is a pool there that gets drained
and cleaned regularly. The dogs get to go to the dog park 1 day a
week.

I've posted some pictures of the sanctuary and my trip to Zion
National Park if anyone cares to look. Warning: there are some D-O-G
pictures there

http://community.webshots.com/user/pawspal

Purrs,
Theresa

theresa wrote:
In late April I got the chance to visit Best Friends after being in
Vegas for a work conference.

It's exactly as it looks from their website. The people are friendly
and the pets get excellent care. My first day there, I worked in
Benton's House, which has cats with various issues - mostly physical.
The first room I worked in was the white cat room. There weren't just
white cats in this room but it is named that because the screened
porch, which every cat room has one, is specially screened so the cats
don't get skin cancer from the sun.

The first cat I came across was Todd, a white siamese. He was a mess
- he had had ringworm so a lot of his fur was missing, his eyes were
weepy, and the staff said he had IBS issues. They have to put him in
a cat cage at night so he doesn't dirty all the beds.

There are rooms with names like Incontinental Suite & the Geriatric
Room (cats 10 + yrs.) I was only tempted to bring back 3 cats : )

The cats have it made there. The rooms are probably 8x10 and each has
access to its own screened in porch, which is probably the same size
as the inside room. There's lots of furniture to climb on, cubby
holes to sleep in and beds and toys everywhere. Feral cats stay in
the rafters out on the porch and the staff climb up to put their food
and litter boxes up there.

The dogs have a good set up too. They can get to a large fenced in
area from their kennels, where they can lay in the sun, lay under a
canopy or play in a plastic pool. The sanctuary has their own dog
park, I think it's 2 acres and there is a pool there that gets drained
and cleaned regularly. The dogs get to go to the dog park 1 day a
week.

I've posted some pictures of the sanctuary and my trip to Zion
National Park if anyone cares to look. Warning: there are some D-O-G
pictures there

http://community.webshots.com/user/pawspal

Purrs,
Theresa

I really like the Best Friends organization. I sponsored a cat and a parrot
a couple or three years ago. Unfortunately I can't continue that largess
but it's nice to know the animals have nice accomodations and are treated
well! And some really great photos, Theresa!

Jill

theresa wrote:

In late April I got the chance to visit Best Friends after being in
Vegas for a work conference.

[snip]

I've posted some pictures of the sanctuary and my trip to Zion
National Park if anyone cares to look. Warning: there are some D-O-G
pictures there

http://community.webshots.com/user/pawspal

This sounds awesome, Theresa - Best Friends *and* Zion National Park!
When I get a chance I'll peruse your photos and dream of the day when
I get it together to go there.

Did you stay on-site at Best Friends? Do they finally have on-site dorms
or other housing for visitors?

Joyce

I've posted some pictures of the sanctuary and my trip to Zion
National Park if anyone cares to look. Warning: there are some D-O-G
pictures there

http://community.webshots.com/user/pawspal

Purrs,
Theresa

That was sweet! I would so love to go there and volunteer. LOVED the
pics...what beautiful country too.

PatM

On May 25, 2:49 pm, wrote:
theresa wrote:

In late April I got the chance to visit Best Friends after being in
Vegas for a work conference.

[snip]

I've posted some pictures of the sanctuary and my trip to Zion
National Park if anyone cares to look. Warning: there are some D-O-G
pictures there

http://community.webshots.com/user/pawspal

This sounds awesome, Theresa - Best Friends *and* Zion National Park!
When I get a chance I'll peruse your photos and dream of the day when
I get it together to go there.

Did you stay on-site at Best Friends? Do they finally have on-site dorms
or other housing for visitors?

Joyce

They have cottages onsite but they were already booked by the time I
found out I was going there. There are some motels / hotels not far
from Best Friends that usually give discount to Best Friends
supporters. I stayed in a motel for about $45/night, it was small but
clean. I know there was a Best Western down the street a little ways,
along with some other privately owned motels.

Theresa

On 25 May 2007 04:18:47 -0700, theresa wrote:

In late April I got the chance to visit Best Friends after being in
Vegas for a work conference.

It's terrific that you could get to BF. Thanks so very much for
sharing. I loved reading about it. How long did you stay? Were you
doing volunteer work? Maybe we could compare notes? My son and I
spent 10 days there a couple years ago; it was the experience of a
lifetime, bar none.

It's exactly as it looks from their website. The people are friendly
and the pets get excellent care. My first day there, I worked in
Benton's House, which has cats with various issues - mostly physical.

We spent a few hours in Benton's House near the end of our stay. I
just *had* to meet the famous Oscar whose story is my favorite. He
was a pure delight and a real ham for having his picture taken! He
was over 20 years old at the time and has since died so I'm glad we
took time to visit.

There are rooms with names like Incontinental Suite & the Geriatric
Room (cats 10 + yrs.) I was only tempted to bring back 3 cats : )

Oh, boy, which three cats? Sam, George, Audrey, Lucy, Cedric...? If
you were in the Incontinental Suite and Geriatrics you must have moved
to the Kitty Motel which is down the road a bit from Benton's House.
We spent *all* our volunteer time with the Geriatrics! My favorite
was Peanut Butter, a sort of nondescript little Tortie with a
permanently cocked head and a knack for mischief. She loved playing
tricks. She also liked to bite my hand or fingers, then lick them to
"make them well". I'd say "OW!" and she looked so pleased with
herself - - she didn't have a tooth in her mouth but what the heck?
She had fun with it.

The cats have it made there. The rooms are probably 8x10 and each has
access to its own screened in porch, which is probably the same size
as the inside room.

I think the porches are a bit larger than 8x10 (I know, I had to mop
them every morning!) and there were 22 cats at the time. The Rafter
cats are skittish and timid but not true ferals who have their own
house called "Wild Cats." Did you see it while you were there? At
the Kitty Motel, we also spent a lot of time with the Lobby Cats who
had free run. A misnomer since they couldn't run. They were Special
Needs cats with an assortment of pitiful handicaps, like Scooter who
was born with no back legs, Weebles who couldn't walk without falling
over, Valentino who dragged himself around by his front legs - and
Bobby who was so pathetic it brought tears to my eyes, but with a
personality such that the staff affectionately called him "Sir
Robert."

Oh, my, I could write 42 pages about our times at BF but mainly wanted
to let you know how much I enjoyed reading your post. I'd love to
hear more.

Jeanne

Did you stay on-site at Best Friends? Do they finally have on-site dorms
or other housing for visitors?

They have cottages onsite but they were already booked by the time I
found out I was going there. There are some motels / hotels not far
from Best Friends that usually give discount to Best Friends
supporters. I stayed in a motel for about $45/night, it was small but
clean. I know there was a Best Western down the street a little ways,
along with some other privately owned motels.

Theresa

Forgive me for butting in here but FWIW, but there were cabins
on-site when my daughter and son-in-lawI visited for a day two years
before my 10-day volunteer session. We used a downtown motel. For
the longer stay, we chose to use a cabin but reserved it months ahead
- I think it was 5 or 6. Cabins are located behind the far side of
the horse pasture. It cost $125 a day for members and another
discount for using it for the longer period. All total, $900+.
Expensive, yes, but worth every nickel. Roomy, comfortable, clean,
attractive, basic amenities, closer to our volunteer work area. No
cramped up in a small room with a tiny bathroom (cabin bathroom was
quite large), no need to spend time and money in restaurants, no car
wear and tear and gas for the 10+ mile round trip to downtown for 10
days, and most importantly, the pure relaxation, sitting on the back
porch after a day's work watching the glorious sunset, the colorful
canyon background, the horses and burros at their stable area on the
other side of the pasture (though I admit at first it was a bit
unsettling to be wakened by a burro braying at 3:00 a.m. most
mornings), peace and quiet, no traffic noise, absolute bliss (for us,
anyway). How we hated to leave!!! Still working on ways to get back
there, up to and including moving to Utah!!

I haven't heard of any plans for dorms though it may well be in the
offing. There are many groups of school children and the like coming
to BF for various projects and a dorm sounds like a good idea.

I'm sure you found Zion fantastic. I'd seen it before when my
daughter took me along for their canyon tour (through Utah, Arizona,
New Mexico, etc), every canyon from the Grand to unheard of local
sites until I swore I never wanted to see another canyon in my life.
My son had never been west so we spent one of our days at Zion. He
could only mutter "Awesome!!!". And I fell in love with canyons all
over again. I had planned to take another day off to let him see the
Grand but he opted against it - said it would take too much time away
from the cats!!

Jeanne

Again, pardon the intrusion. jbh
I

JBHajos wrote:

Forgive me for butting in here but FWIW, but there were cabins
on-site when my daughter and son-in-lawI visited for a day two years
before my 10-day volunteer session. We used a downtown motel. For
the longer stay, we chose to use a cabin but reserved it months ahead
- I think it was 5 or 6. Cabins are located behind the far side of
the horse pasture. It cost $125 a day for members and another
discount for using it for the longer period. All total, $900+.
Expensive, yes, but worth every nickel.

That does sound nice, but I would be happy with something more basic
and affordable. It seems a bit wasteful for them to use so much space
for a cabin when they could accomodate more people in less space.

The only issue I have with dorm-style accomodations is that you don't
have a place to keep your stuff safely. I've stayed in youth hostels
(long after anyone could consider me a "youth" LOL), and I kind of like
being in a room with other people (depends on the people, I guess). But
you had to keep your suitcases locked in a closet, separate from the
dorm room. I found that a big pain in the butt. Private lockers would
solve that problem.

(Tangential youth-hostel story: years ago, before moving to San
Francisco, I travelled here with a friend, and we stayed at a hostel.
It was a beautiful place (at Fort Mason, for anyone who knows SF),
overlooking the Bay - a gorgeous view. Each room contained 4 bunk
beds and accomodated 8 women.

My friend had a major snoring problem - probably had sleep apnea -
and it could get very loud. The morning after our first night there,
she told me she'd had a miserable night because every time she fell
asleep, someone would come over and shake her arm - her snoring was
bothering them.

Later I was in the dining area by myself, and I was sitting near
a group of German women. I could hear one of them saying "Blah blah
blah blah blah snoring [said with strong German accent] blah blah
blah..." Since I don't speak German, this was kind of like the "blah
blah blah Ginger" cartoon to me. For years I used to tease this
friend about causing an international incident.)

Roomy, comfortable, clean,
attractive, basic amenities, closer to our volunteer work area. No
cramped up in a small room with a tiny bathroom (cabin bathroom was
quite large), no need to spend time and money in restaurants, no car
wear and tear and gas for the 10+ mile round trip to downtown for 10
days, and most importantly, the pure relaxation, sitting on the back
porch after a day's work watching the glorious sunset, the colorful
canyon background...

OK, I can't argue with that!! (So the fee includes room *and* board?
It doesn't sound so pricey when you factor that in.)

I haven't heard of any plans for dorms though it may well be in the
offing.

No, I was just asking whether they had them. I think it would be a
sensible way to house volunteers cheaply (or - what a concept - free?
since these folks are volunteering, after all). Not that they couldn't
also offer nicer cabins for those who prefer that and can pay for it.

My son had never been west so we spent one of our days at Zion. He
could only mutter "Awesome!!!". And I fell in love with canyons all
over again. I had planned to take another day off to let him see the
Grand but he opted against it - said it would take too much time away
from the cats!!

Aww, nice kid.

Again, pardon the intrusion. jbh

I can't speak for anyone else, but I like hearing about your experiences
there!

Joyce