NatalieRose Bunton, a fifth-grader at North Bend Elementary School, asked her dad if she could get a dog if she raised more than 1,000 pounds of pet food.

For Bob Bunton’s answer, see the first paragraph.

Next thing you know, Bunton had raised 1,092 pounds in about a month. The puppy is not hers yet, but she already chose it.

The pet food drive, NatalieRose’s mom Kim said, “was a way to show us she’s responsible enough to have a dog.” NatalieRose’s hamster died on Christmas and her fish once jumped out of the tank.

The project also helped the Bellevue-based Seattle Humane Society and fulfilled some of her Leadership Club requirements.

“I love the Humane Society,” NatalieRose said.

At first, NatalieRose wanted to make dog jackets for the society, before realizing that a pet food drive would help more people.

“The Humane Society gives the pet food to people who can’t afford it,” she said.

The drive began Jan. 24. Friends, family and strangers donated either money or pet food.

Some days, NatalieRose stood outside Safeway and QFC, asking people to donate. She raised about $300, which she used to buy more pet food.

“At first I wanted 500 pounds, then 1,000 pounds, and I beat that, too,” she said.

It wasn’t easy to raise the money or food, but it wasn’t easy to say no to NatalieRose, either. Safeway gave her a gift certificate for $25.

“The hardest part was getting people to donate at QFC,” she said. “People would say they would donate and then go out the other end.”

Accidentally, Kim once caught one of those fugitives.

“She was so embarrassed,” Kim said with a smile. “When she saw me, she said, ‘Oh, we forgot!”

Certain donations touched NatalieRose, like her bible study teacher’s.

“She’s been going through a hard time right now,” she said. “It felt really good that she actually donated.”

Grandmas and grandpas donated less than dads and husbands, Natalie Rose said, but more than wives and moms.

“Most people I got 20s from were from men my dad’s age,” she said. “Most of the moms would give me a one.”

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.

Stan Cavers plays with Koda, 5, a male Siberian husky, at Beaver Lake Park. Cavers said Koda’s annual pet license to King County costs $30. (Photo by J.B. Wogan)

UPDATED — 12:05 p.m. Dec. 11, 2009

This version has been modified from the print version, which cited an old figure for how much the Seattle Humane Society would charge municipalities for housing animals.

Susan Schlosstein watched Cocoa, her long, chocolate, mixed-breed dog bound through the off-leash area at Beaver Lake Park Dec. 2. Cocoa is officially licensed because Schlosstein paid a $30 fee to King County. However, she is in a distinct minority of pet owners.

The lax rate of pet licensing is one factor contributing to a coming shake-up in how the county handles animals. Yet, with a deadline for changing the system six weeks away, no one knows how things will work or what it will cost.

County officials estimate that about one-fourth of pet owners license their pets in King county.

The fact that such a low percentage of people pay their licensing fees prompted the county to announce this fall that it would no longer provide animal shelters as of Jan. 31, 2010 and stop providing animal control by June 30, 2010. When Schlosstein heard the news, her reaction was simple: “Someone has to pick it up.”

So far, no one knows who that “someone” will be. Duncan Wilson, city administrator for North Bend, said that the city is considering contracting with Seattle Humane Society for its sheltering needs. No cost has been discussed.

Abandoned or dangerous animals are the city’s priority, he said.

North Bend is also considering contracting with the county, which may offer services for “full cost recovery” so it doesn’t lose money. Other options would include partnering with nearby cities to hire a private contractor for animal control services.

Today, King County Animal Care and Control provides sheltering service, education for pet owners and help with pet adoption. It also handles animal code enforcement for unincorporated King County and contract cities.

Pet owners pay for the majority of these services through licensing and other fees. However, in recent years, fees haven’t covered expenses, and the county has had to use tax dollars to keep shelters open.

Elissa Benson, deputy director for strategic planning and performance management, said licensing fees generate about $4.5 million in revenue for the county, not nearly enough to cover the department’s expenses (about $5.7 million). In the past, the county has dipped into its general fund to cover the difference.

Kurt Triplett, who was the county executive until late last month, announced in September that the county would stop providing those services as part of budget cuts. The King County Council agreed, and on Nov. 9, directed Triplett to get the county out of the animal business.

The responsibility of resolving the issue now falls to the new King County Executive Dow Constantine.

Sheltering

Kendall LeVan, project manager in the King County Office of Strategic Planning and Performance Management, said the county might continue to provide animal control services. If so, it would negotiate a “full-cost recovery” contract with cities. She added that the county has not provided a definition of what full-cost recovery would mean.

Mike Sauerwein, Sammamish’s administrative services director said he’s heard the suggestion that cities would contract with the county for full-time animal control officers. He said bigger cities like Bellevue and Seattle are likely to influence the solution the county proposes.

The county is also in talks with a handful of private groups about taking over sheltering services, said LeVan. So far, those talks haven’t yielded a solution.

Brenda Barnette, CEO of Seattle Humane, said she isn’t optimistic about the county transferring the sheltering services to other agencies by the Jan. 31 deadline.

“We’re pretty concerned that they’re going out of business without a plan in place,” she said.

According to Wilson, North Bend only needs shelter services for a few animals each month.

Cities like Auburn and Kent will likely be hardest hit since they tend to have high costs (because of large sheltering demands) and low revenues (because a low percentage of pet owners license their pets), Barnette said.

“Other cities have been subsidizing them,” she said.

Kay Joubert, PAWS’ director of companion animal services, said even if PAWS and local groups take over animal sheltering, they wouldn’t have enough space — leaving 4,000-5,000 animals with nowhere to go.

“There’s a very large gap,” Joubert said.

For now, Constantine is weighing the options, including extending the deadline until solutions can be put in place, said Frank Abe, a spokesman for the executive.

SnoValley Star reporter Tara Ballenger contributed to this article. J.B. Wogan: 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.

“I’m an only child, so he was like my brother,” Newton said.

Upon moving from California to North Bend in 2003, she and her boyfriend, Ron Denaro, got a shorthaired grey cat named Putnam. Although she and Denaro both agreed to move to the Pacific Northwest, Newton said the change was at first difficult for her and it was the cat that made her days shine.

“I was very depressed when we first moved up here. I wanted to move, but leaving my friends behind was really hard,” Newton said. “Putnam was kind of my lifesaver. I was sleeping a lot, like a depressed person does. He would climb under the covers with me.”

Then, one day, Putnam did not come inside when called. The couple feared a coyote had eaten him. 

North Bend resident Dotti Newton serves as a volunteer group facilitator on a pet loss support group that meets at the Seattle Humane Society. *

Not much later, Newton saw a notice in the newspaper about the Seattle Humane Society’s Pet Loss Support Group. Both she and Denaro went to a session and were relieved to talk about their loss with people in similar stages of grief.

“It was very helpful to have somebody to talk to that understood what we were going through,” Newton said. “Lots of tears were shed. That made us feel a little better. We were able to move on.”

The support group so impacted Newton, she decided to volunteer as a group facilitator. After several weeks of training at the Seattle Humane Society, she began leading some of its support groups.

Newton said people normally come to talk about their cats, dogs and birds. Anybody is welcome at any time and allowed to attend as many sessions as needed. 

The Pet Loss Support Group meets every Saturday at the Seattle Humane Society at 13212 S.E. Eastgate Way, Bellevue in the CEO’s office at 10 a.m.  There is no fee and no registration. 

Sometimes no one shows up and other times five people come, but the session is always available, Newton said.

During each session, a facilitator allows participants to talk about their pet and their loss. 

“A lot of people come in because they don’t have anybody to talk to, and/or if they do, it’s people who don’t understand that pets are family members, too,” Newton said. “Many times, they’ll be sympathetic to a point and then they’ll say, ‘Get over it, it’s just an animal.’ These people feel like they don’t have anywhere to go.”

In addition to telling their story to others and hearing of other’s experiences, participants are supplied with reading materials. Attendees are given pamphlets explaining the Kübler-Ross model of grief, which includes the stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. 

The materials also explain that several areas in a person’s life may be affected by grief. A person could experience physical grief, like crying or stomachaches, or emotional grief, including sadness, anger or guilt.

The support group helps people set appropriate expectations for their grieving process. The loss could trigger old feelings of loss, but with support and knowledge of how to handle the grief, the person can take the next step in life.

In materials written by Gail Bishop, a grieving person can learn how to cope. People should give themselves permission to grieve, rest and exercise. They should surround themselves with sympathetic friends and family who do not dismiss their feelings. 

Writing a poem or painting a picture of the pet can also help a person deal with loss.

“We tell people a loss is a loss,” Newton said. “It can be a human, a dog or a cat.”

Now, Newton and Denaro have two new cats. She encouraged other Snoqualmie Valley residents to take advantage of the Seattle Humane Society’s services. To learn more, call 641-0080.

Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

* This caption contains corrected information.

Teri Mead of North Bend grew up with her own cats and Labrador retrievers, but for the past five years, she has been raising animals that eventually find homes with other people. 

As a foster parent for the Seattle Humane Society, Mead cares for felines waiting for adoption. Other local foster parents, like Lisa Santee, take charge of both cats and dogs until an adoptive parent steps forward.

Residents of Snoqualmie Valley are happy to participate in a foster parent program with the Seattle Humane Society. As part of the program, they take care of dogs like these.

These Snoqualmie Valley residents are two of 85 dog and 150 cat foster parents working with the Seattle Humane Society.

“Foster homes literally expand our shelter walls,” said Amber Yoo, marketing communications manager for the Seattle Humane Society. 

Cats typically breed in warm weather, especially in July and August. 

“We always seem to have a shortage of available foster homes during that time,” Yoo said. “During heavy kitten seasons, we can get upwards of 400 cats in our shelter at any given time. Only 150 to 200 cats can comfortably be housed in the shelter, which means the rest need to be in loving foster homes.”

The humane society places animals in foster care for a variety of reasons, like if it is short on space or if the animal is sick or has behavioral problems.

“We had a cat recently who came to us very aggressive, but we knew the cat was just scared, so we put the cat in foster,” said Yoo. “This cat did a complete 180 and that was because of the foster parent.”

Seattle Humane Society provides supplies, from kitty litter to leashes and carriers to food, at no cost to the foster parent. The only thing the society asks for is free rent for the animals.

Mead converted an office in her house into a cat boarding house. Every time she cares for a new feline or litter, she places them in a carrier until they are more adjusted to their living space. 

Once, Mead sheltered three mother cats that had 12 kittens amongst them. Mead helps cats with infections, as well. A cat in a foster house usually has an easier recovery and will not infect its brethren at the humane society.

If the cat needs medication Mead feels queasy giving, like an IV, she drives the cat to the humane society in Bellevue for a veterinary checkup.

“They never have you do anything that’s out of your level of comfort,” Mead said.

One kitten, Itty Bit, has changed from border to a permanent resident in Mead’s house —  “a tiny little thing barely clinging to life and now he is quite the social character,” Mead said.

Mead may have rescued Itty Bit, but he saved another kitten with his gregarious behavior. One orange kitten at Mead’s house could barely walk because of his deformed legs.

“The other cats were around and playing,” Mead said. “He wanted to get out so bad.”

Itty Bit began playing with the orange youngster. After a little rough-and-tumble recreation, the orange cat learned to walk without a limp and was adopted soon after. 

People fostering dogs can enroll in free dog-training classes at Seattle Humane Society. If they are uneasy with an untrained puppy, the humane society will place them with a well-behaved dog.

“We try to match up the right animal to the right person,” Yoo said. 

Santee estimated she has fostered 15 dogs and 10 cats in the past five years. As the humane society recommends, she keeps her permanent pets separate from her foster animals unless she is within the vicinity. 

People wishing to learn more about fostering for the humane society can attend two free hour-long classes — Humane Society Orientation 101, which teaches people about the shelter’s mission and goals, and Animal Handling. Once a foster parent is placed with an animal, humane society coordinators call the family once or more a week to learn of the animal’s progress and determine when the animal can come back to the humane society for adoption. 

To learn more, visit www.seattlehumane.org or call 641-0080.

“It’s a wonderful experience just learning about the different animals and breeds,” Santee said. “It’s a joy seeing them adopted.”

Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.

Snoqualmie Middle School students donated hundreds of pounds of cat and dog food to the Seattle Humane Society Dec. 10. On a class field trip funded by the PTSA, the 14 eighth-graders who organized the pet food drive visited the humane society to get a tour of the facility and learn how they could help animals waiting for adoption.

Snoqualmie Middle School student Marisela Valenica pets a cat during a field trip to the Seattle Humane Society.

“What you can do is almost more important than the volunteers that come here,” said Dorothy Blauvelt, a Seattle Humane Society volunteer who lives in North Bend.

Students were told the Seattle Humane Society needs more people to do three things —adopt, donate food and animal supplies and, most importantly, spay or neuter their animals.

The class started the project after teachers Constance Clarke and Diane Wilson asked them to organize a service project. Students wrote essays about animals that were special to them and started collecting pet food in the lunchroom. 

They also made posters and read announcements about the drive to the whole school over the intercom. 

The Seattle Humane Society reciprocated, bringing the Maxmobile to Snoqualmie Middle School and teaching students about cat, rabbit and rodent care.

Blauvelt praised the students for holding the pet food drive and encouraged them to collect even more supplies throughout the year.

In addition to pet food, the Seattle Humane Society accepts blankets, towels and small carpets that provide not only bedding for animals but also washcloths for animal baths. Other animal merchandise, including animal carriers, toys and medicine are also needed.

All donated items are accepted whether they are new or used. The humane society thoroughly cleans the donations before they are given to animals. 

“Anything you have, even old towels, we don’t care if they’re ripped,” Blauvelt said. “We need them to wash the dogs.”

Seattle Human Society is different from the animal shelters run by King County, which came under scrutiny in April after veterinarians learned some shelters were over capacity, among other problems.

The Seattle Humane Society visits King County animal shelters once a week and saves animals on “death row” to give them a chance at adoption. The humane society only euthanizes severely ill or aggressive animals. 

On the tour, the students learned how volunteers walk, play with and wash the animals. 

On average, dogs stay at the humane society for seven days before they are adopted. Cats are another story.

Seattle Humane Society has so many cats, it is waiving the adoption fee for cats over a year old during December. 

A pair of breeding cats can have 12 kittens in a year. If all of those kittens reproduce, by year ten there will be more than 80,000 new cats — a number that turns the staff and volunteers at the humane society pale.

“You have a tremendous responsibility as future owners of pets,” Wilson said. “Make sure they’re neutered so they don’t have puppies upon puppies.”

Students learned the dog cages at the humane society are scrubbed every day to prevent germ and odor buildup. They also saw the outdoor play area where people can visit with dogs up for adoption.

Before heading into the cat rooms, Blauvelt warned the students to whisper.

“Cats hear five times as loud as we do,” she said. “We’re going to talk very quietly.” 

Marisela Valencia made best friends with a fluffy brown and white cat. The cat happily flopped on its side and purred as Valencia scratched between its ears.

“I like cats,” Valencia said. “I had one before.”

Alex Anderson, who has a beagle named Ginger, said he would like to volunteer at the humane society once he turns 18. 

“I think it’s upsetting,” eighth-grader Chelsea Link said as she passed by the cages. “I feel bad for all of the animals that don’t have any love or care.”

Clarke and Wilson hope to make the drive an annual event. To learn more, visit www.seattlehumane.org or call 641-0080.

Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.