NOVEMBER 2011 SANCTUARY NEWS

Every day we work to make a difference in the lives of so many animals. We
do what comes natural to us, some days are difficult but most days are very
rewarding.

The story I am about to share with you was a difficult and sad experience.
So why am I going to share it with you? Because I hope it will help educate
everyone on the importance of neuter and spay.

I received a phone call from a young lady who was very upset, her cat had
recently had 6 tiny kittens, they were about 10 days old and the mother had
stopped nursing them. I could hear the kittens in the background crying. I
asked her how quickly she could get them to me and she was there in about 15
minutes. I had already prepared for their arrival by plugging in a heating
pad and getting formula in a syringe with a nipple on the end to feed them.

When they arrived they were cold and hungry, I knew I had to get their body
temperature up before I could feed them so I placed them on the warm heating
pad. They were so tiny, they looked like the size of kittens that had just
been born that day, but their eyes were open, it was clear they had been
born pre-mature. I explained to the girl that we would do what we could but
in all likely hood kittens that small very rarely survive unless they have a
mother. I also explained that there was a reason that the mother refused to
nurse them, probably because she knew there was something wrong with them.

I called our vet to find out how much and how often to feed them. They were
to get 3 ml's. of mothers milk every 2 hours and then we would need to
stimulate them to pee after every feeding(this is something a mother would
normally do) The kittens also had fleas so we had sit and pick them off
because the fleas could make them anemic if they hadn't already. The
kittens ranged in weight from 3 ounces to 4 1/2 ounces.

The alarm clock was set for every 2 hours, we had our routine down to a
science. We sat up 2 crates as we fed them and stimulated them we would
place them in one crate so we could keep track of who was done, once
everyone was done, then they would be placed back in the crate with the
heating pad to sleep for another 2 hours.

There were 4 black kittens and 2 orange. The tiniest was a small black
female kitten named Lucy then there was Tiny, Minit, Little bit, Chance and
Uno. The kittens came in on a Wed. That Sat. little Lucy passed away, she
was just too tiny to fight. We now had 5 tiny lives to try and save. Early
the following Thurs. morning 1 week after they had come in we lost 2 more
within minutes of each other, Tiny and Minit closed their little eyes and
went to sleep.

Half of the litter was gone, but we were determined to help these tiny
creatures in any way that we could. We were disappointed and sad that we
had lost 3 but we couldn't dwell on the loss we had to move forward and try
and help the remaining 3 .

It was becoming more and more difficult to stay positive, we were doing
everything the vet told us to do, they were critical care babies and the
odds were stacked against them. They were eating but not gaining any weight
we would weigh them every day and they hadn't gained an ounce. On Sunday
Little Bit lost her fight and passed away. The only two left were the
orange males Chance and Uno they would cuddle together and sleep, they would
cry when they were hungry and we changed their feeding schedule to every
hour in hopes they would gain some weight, On Tues. Chance closed his eyes
and joined his siblings. Uno was the sole survivor, he would look at us
with those tiny eyes and just melt our hearts. He had started purring and
kneading , it was clear that he was lonely so we placed a clock along with a
stuffed animal in his crate to comfort him, he would curl up in the arms of
the stuffed animal and sleep. That Thurs. morning in the early morning
hours Uno went to sleep and our tears would not stop.

The hours invested in trying to save these babies was of no importance, it
was just time and we have plenty of that, the bond that was established and
the emotional attachment to these babies meant everything to us and that is
why it was so hard to loose them. Did we make a difference in their lives?
I ask myself that question everyday, I believe we did, when they died they
were warm and their bellies were full and they were surrounded by people who
loved them. Should they have been born? Absolutely not, the mother was not
healthy enough to have kittens she should have been spayed. As a result 6
tiny , sick baby kittens were born, they had a strong will to survive and
gave it their best shot but in the end they were too sick to survive. Was
the cost of a simple spay worth the pain endured by these kittens, what do
you think?
I f you take nothing else away from this article please know that there are
some things that we can't control , but we can control the unwanted pet
population simply by being responsible pet owners and neutering and spaying
our pets.

This whole ordeal left us discouraged and left us with so many questions.
Are we making a difference ? Do people really know what a responsible pet
owner is or even care? Our questions and doubts were soon to be answered.
The next morning the phone rang and we needed to place 2 dogs together a
little 4 year old shih-tzu and a 15 year old lab mix who had never been
separated. We knew placing the 4 year old was no problem but almost an
impossiblity for the lab. Then the unthinkable happened another phone call
and a wonderful couple said they would take them both and they hadn't even
seen the dogs. It was love at first sight. The dogs couldn't have asked
for a better home they are living like royality, the shih-tzu is scheduled
to be spayed and the lab mix has already been to the vet for a check up..
Another phone call a lady had found kittens under her porch, she could hear
the hesitaion in my voice and she said, we want to keep them and get them
altered, we just wanted to know if we could get some assistance.I gave her
some information and hung up with a smile on my face. A gentleman walks
thru the front and hands me a check for $100 and said Here I have something
for you, you do good work!! Later that day someone came into adopt a cat
and met Yevette. This little kitten and been found and was not in good
shape at all, she was malnourished loaded with fleas and very sick and
clearly not ready for adoption. The lady inquired about her and I explained
she was too sick to adopt, she offered to take her to the vet and care for
her until she was strong enough to adopt. Yevette is doing much better and
is officially going to her new home on Sat. All of these people chose to
step up to the plate and help an animal, they didn't wake up that morning
looking to own another animal, they were all put in situations where they
could just walk away and do nothing or they could make a difference and do
the right thing , so they decided to do the right thing and be a part of the
solution.. We no longer have any doubts, We do make a difference every
single day.
For the month of October our expenses were 1943.88 and we took in 2178.50 in
donations and fundraising.
We took in 4 dogs and adopted 3 we currently have 3 dogs.
We took in 11 cats and adopted 10, 6 kittens passed away, we currently have
66 cats.

The adoption fee on all neutered and spayed cats will be waived again for
the month of Nov. to approved applicants.

Please join us for a bake sale on 11-19 outside Hollywood Pet Salon 11-3.
Dec. 3 will be Miracle on Mechanic street 11-3 and we will be doing the
Twelve Dogs of Christmas again the is year from 12-2
Thank you for your continued support and thank you for reading our article.