Holiday with the Humane Society

COEUR d'ALENE — It's going to be a merry Christmas for Weasley the orange tabby.

The 11-year-old feline has been in Kootenai Humane Society since Nov. 1, after his owner passed away.

But thanks to a little girl with a big heart for animals, Weasley will be warm and happy on the laps of his new owners on Christmas Day.

"We have a big orange cat that looks just like Weasley," said Sarah Burton, of Camas, Wash., Weasley's new owner. "We got him from the Humane Society quite a few years ago and he’s just the most loveable cat. The kids call him ‘Mr. Snuggles,’ and he’s huge — he’s a big fat cat."

Burton adopted Weasley in the Silver Lake Mall on Wednesday during "Holiday with the Humane Society," a pet adoption and fundraising event for KHS organized by 9-year-old Katherine Reiswig of Coeur d'Alene. Burton said Weasley would be a gift to her parents, who are quite fond of Mr. Snuggles. Now they will have their own orange cat to love.

“My husband and I said, ‘Well, why don’t we get them an orange cat for Christmas if we can find a really sweet one?’ So we looked on (KHS') website and saw the story about Mr. Weasley and how his owner had passed on and we thought he’d be a great cat for them," she said. "He is just really sweet."

Katherine was all smiles about Weasley's adoption success at her event. She contacted KHS about a week ago to see if she could organize the event, which KHS officials embraced right away.

"I really like animals a lot and so I wanted to help out at the Humane Society but they don’t let kids volunteer," Katherine said. "They said, 'You should get creative,' so I wanted to make a fundraiser to help out."

Katherine coordinated to have KHS volunteers bring adoptable animals to the mall to introduce them to potential owners. Animals that were adopted were adorned with ribbons and presented to their new families.

"I thought that pets should have bows on them to make them look like presents because people like presents a lot," Katherine said.

KHS development director Vicky Nelson said Katherine's event was a first for a young person hosting a holiday adoption fundraiser in the mall, but many times children who love animals — Katherine included — will ask their friends to bring donations for the Humane Society to their birthday parties in place of gifts. Nelson said Katherine's passion to help the shelter animals and find them homes for Christmas is "absolutely amazing."

"I would hire her today if I could," Nelson said.

Katherine's mom, Rachel Reiswig, said she is incredibly proud of her daughter, who, with the help of Dad, drew up a business plan to bring to KHS when she approached them about her idea.

“It’s totally on her own. I mean, I love animals, but it’s been always her drive, she wants to be a vet when she grows up," Rachel said. "She has always just had a soft spot for animals since she was a little toddler. She’s so kind and gentle with them. She’s wanted to volunteer at the Humane Society for a long time."

Katherine said she hopes everyone and their pets have a wonderful Christmas.

"I want them to all have a really merry Christmas and to have a lot of fun together," she said. "I think people should adopt more pets because they all deserve to have a home for Christmas."