We finally delivered the Happy Cat Toys, made from orphaned socks and cat nip, to the cat shelter this weekend. Only McKinley was able to come along on our visit to the Peninsula Humane Society in San Mateo.

We arrived at the shelter and went in to check out the cats. There were several cats right out front by the desk. There was a beautiful gray tabby kitten that we would have adopted had we not already adopted three cats two years earlier.

A young woman at the desk helped us and once we explained what we were doing there and what we had brought, she invited us back to personally deliver the Happy Cat Toys to the cats and kittens. I hate seeing all of these black kittens and cats at the shelter – people are afraid of adopting black cats for superstitious reasons, which drives me crazy!!! They end up staying at the shelters for a long time.

There are two main rooms with cats and we visited the room where the cats had been at the shelter the longest and McKinley delivered the toys in person. Once McKinley put the happy cat toy in the cage, the cats gathered around it and then one of them would attack the sock before it got away. The kittens we saw usually ended up laying on the sock and licking it, trying to get at the catnip inside.

McKinley took such joy at being able to give the toys to the cats personally and then watching them play with the toys. I highly recommend this project to scouting organizations or other groups. It is a quick and easy service project.