FARMINGTON – The staff of Franklin County Animal Shelter discovered a small cat carrier on the shelter’s doorstep on July 4, 2002. The carrier contained a mother and six kittens. A note said the anonymous owner was sorry but they could not take care of them. The cats were friendly but also skinny and dehydrated.

Over a year later, Tootsie and her daughters, Yoko and Linda, are still at the shelter. Fortunately, her four sons were all adopted but the staff wants the whole family to find new homes.

Tootsie is a black and white tuxedo cat, one of her daughters has the same markings, and the other is solid black. They like to bat their toys around and love to sleep in the large plastic bowls that the shelter provides. All three are friendly with Tootsie the most affectionate.

The staff asks that someone consider adopting one or two of these pets. They want to give their sad story a happy ending.

Recent pets of the week, Loki and Ghost, have been adopted.

New dogs at the shelter include a young female black lab mix from Farmington with no collar, a young male border collie mix from Farmington with no collar, a neutered male black lab mix from Avon with a cloth collar and a male black lab mix from Jay.