Thursday, October 22, 2009

A Halloween Warning



"It's not just an urban myth black cats if left outside can be prey to animal abusers particularly around Halloween time. I know this because of a small kitten, named Rowan, who was rescued shortly after Halloween. I was volunteering at the Hopalong office 3 years ago when a call came in from an employee at the Pet Food Express store in San Leandro. The employee stated that a woman had rescued a kitten from some boys who were abusing him in the parking lot. I volunteered to go and pick him up and bring him back to the office. When I picked him up another store employee mentioned that he was missing hair on his back legs.

Back at the office Andy checked him out and diagnosed that his back legs had been burned. I volunteered to foster him and give him lots of love and TLC. Hoping that I could help him to heal physically and emotionally. When I brought him home he allowed me to put aloe vera gel on his hind legs and to cuddle him, but he seemed to be in shock. When I let him down on the carpet he ran under my bed and I rarely saw him for the next 6 months. He still came out to eat and to use the litter box but then would run back under the bed. With time and patience he ventured out into the living room but would run whenever I got near him. He also avoided my cats. But one day things changed and I found him cuddled up with my senior cat, Hannibal, in one of the cat beds in the bedroom. It' has been three years and he's come a long way. He enjoys playing with the many kittens I've fostered and comes up to me occasionally to be petted. He also likes to smell whatever food I'm eating. Recently he's let me brush him a little bit. But he's still easily startled and at times still runs from me. I don't know if he'll ever feel totally safe but that's my wish for him."


Many people have heard anecdotal stories like these around this time of year. But this one is true. And this little kitten was lucky enough to survive and to find a loving home where he will never suffer from abuse again.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Lemon - Remember this Little One?

Despite facilitating the adoptions of over 1000 animals each year, we somehow find ourselves falling in love with each and every one of them. A particularly special bunch was Remy and her puppies. Remy came to us back in April from the Oakland Animal Shelter with 8 puppies - and they were all just as cute as can be. Naturally we were thrilled when we got this email from her fosters earlier this month:



When our dog of 11 years died, we were devastated. We went back and forth whether we wanted to get another dog for three years. We began to look on the Internet at the rescues and shelters. We found so many animals needed homes, and decided we would get a puppy from a shelter/rescue. We looked for a long time, and finally saw a litter of puppies on Hopalong, and knew that we wanted one. We applied, and they called us back right away. After reviewing our application, checking with our vet, we were approved to adopt. They recommended a certain puppy out of the litter for us (Lemon), one they thought would fit in with our family. We went to meet the puppies, and fell in love with Lemon right away. She was the runt, and very timid. We've had her six months now, and she is better than we ever hoped for. We get so many compliments on her, and on how Hopalong did a great job matching her up with us. She was clean, well-taken care of, and very sweet. We could tell her foster family also did a great job with her. We can't say enough good things about Hopalong and the people who work there!


We were even more thrilled when we got this picture to go with it




Lemon (now Cali) and her big brother taz!