December 2011 Sanctuary News

"Amazing Grace"

This past summer we worked to help clean up a cat colony in Island Falls.

We caught all but one of the cats which happened to be a female. We
altered all of the cats and placed them all, as well as all of the kittens.

It was a long process and difficult but so worth it in the end. We kept
trying to get the last female but were unsuccesfull, then in October we
noticed she was injured and limping around on three legs.

A few weeks ago the phone rang and she was captured, she had walked into a
cat carrier with food and started to eat. This was almost too easy for such
a feisty cat that had managed to allude us for months,Then came the next
problem, we had no room for her we were out of foster homes and the fact
that she was semi-feral didn't help. After making numerous phone calls
we came up with a solution, I called the vet told them we had an injured cat
coming in and that she also needed to be spayed, they agreed to see her the
next day. Karen, a volunteer for us, agreed to take her as it was my day off
and I was going away.

Once at the vet, they asked permission to sedate her so they could take
x-rays and we agreed. About an hour later, the phone rang and nothing could
prepare us for what we were about to hear. This little cat weighing no more
than 6 or 7 pounds had been shot twice, had 4 fractures in her pelvic area
and a leg that was broke in 2 places. She had been out there approx. 3
weeks with these injuries, and there was no one to help her. She was
semi-feral and afraid of humans and I can't say I blame her after being shot
twice. No wonder she walked into the carrier with food, she was tired, in
pain and hungry. Maybe she could sense that we wanted to help her and she
finally decided to trust us.

After speaking with our vet, it was decided that the cat would have surgery
on Mon. as this was already Friday, the cat was heavily sedated and resting
comfortably. On Mon. she would have the bullets removed, be spayed and her
hind left leg was so badly damaged it would have to be amputated. The
pelvic fractures would heal on their own. As near as we could tell she was
shot twice and must have ran out into the road to get away and was hit by a
car which caused the other injuries.

We wanted to give this little girl a name that suited her and it was decided
that she would be called "Amazing Grace", after all it was truly amazing
that she survived all of these injuries and was finally rescued. Amazing
Grace's surgery was going to be quite costly so we put out a plea to the
public and 2 days later we had raised enough money to pay for the surgery.

That Mon. we all waited anxiously to hear how the surgery went, the phone
call came, she did wonderfully. Everything went as planned and she would be
coming back to us on Wed. Her recovery time would be about a month, but she
would not be able to be released back, she would have to be an indoor cat.

Every day Grace becomes a little more trusting, I can scratch her ears and
head and even her belly. She never offers to bite or growl or even move
away. She is recovering quite well from her surgery and moves around just
fine on 3 legs and she has a big appetite. Grace is waiting for just the
perfect home where she will never again have any worries.

My first reaction after hearing about Amazing Grace's injuries was anger
towards the person that shot her, what were they thinking? Clearly they
weren't thinking, as time has gone by my anger has turned towards sympathy
for this person to think their heart is so cold and empty that they could do
something like this. You may have shot this little cat but she did not give
in she is a survivor.

Thank you to everyone who helped with Grace's surgery we are forever
grateful.

For the month of November the Ark took in 2274.00 in donations and
fundraising our expenses were 2723.08

We took in 4 cats and adopted 3 cats out, we lost one kitten to tiny to
survive.

We currently have 66 cats.

We took in 9 dogs adopted 3 and currently have 9 dogs.

We would like to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season and thank
you for your continued support.

Thank you for reading our column.