Anyone who has ever shared their home with kittens knows how unpredictable life can be. One or two kittens can turn your world upside down; so imagine juggling EIGHT of the little darlings

One of our intrepid fosters, Andi Apple-Robey, did just that. Eight little black kittens were rescued from a postal facility in Sterling in April. There were two litters, one about 7 weeks old and another 5 or 6 weeks old.

The “Clue” kittens are named after the characters from the board game, Clue. Andi used colored collars to tell the kittens apart and she started calling them by those colors. Clue is a murder mystery board game with suspects that have names like Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, etc., so it just seemed appropriate. Boddy is the name of the victim and Wadsworth is the butler.

Recently Andi had to handle some medical emergencies with kittens Mr. Peacock, Professor Plum, and Wadsworth.

The Humane Society of Loudoun County (HSLC) is dedicated to caring for all our animals as if they were our personal pets. This means providing the funds for whatever medical procedures are needed, sometimes causing budget overruns. But the safety and well-being of our animals are always our priority.

Here is how Andi explains what happened…

“About an hour after I brought the first of the kittens to be neutered (Messrs Peacock, Green and Boddy) home from Towne Animal Clinic, I was relaxing with some water and a snack of trail mix. Mr. Peacock stressed his incision, and was bleeding heavily (all over my kitchen!), so I immediately took him back to Towne.  They fixed him right up, and when I got him home, I found Wadsworth and Plum with their faces in the now empty bowl that had held my trail mix! Since the trail mix had both raisins and chocolate in it, I had to immediately gather them up and go back to the vet with them!  They tried to purge them, but the boys were stubborn and refused to vomit, and so they were transferred to The Life Center (TLC) ER for three days of IV fluids to try to flush their systems and prevent kidney damage (from the raisins, they weren’t as worried about the chocolate).

Since their blood work stayed stable during their time at TLC, Wadsworth and Plum were transferred BACK to Towne after just two days for Towne to perform their scheduled neuters and the third day of their IV fluid therapy. Once they were transferred and TLC was cleaning their cages, it was discovered Wadsworth likely had eaten part of his IV catheter. So not only did Towne have to finish his fluid therapy and perform his neuter, they had to X-ray him to see if he HAD eaten some of the hard plastic parts. Fortunately they didn’t find anything.”

We’re happy to report that the kittens are now healthy and happy. Only Mr Green is left waiting for his forever home.

Mr. Green is our adorable crossed eyed kitten. This challenges his eyesight but not his personality. He is a committed lap-cat and bed-time snuggler, with a little bit of a food thief thrown into the mix. He’ll sneak a piece of broccoli off your plate given half a chance! It’s a good thing he’s cute about it.  Learn more  on our adoption page.

 

 

Each Humane Society is an independent organization; “Humane Society” is just a descriptive word — like the word ‘bank’ is in US Bank and Bank of America. They are not connected to each other. It can be confusing!

Many people even mistakenly think that the Humane Society of the United States runs all humane societies. They do not! They do help animals through legislation and in disasters, but do not have a shelter themselves.

Some Humane Societies, like the Humane Society of Loudoun County (HSLC), are “limited admission”. Limited admission organizations sometimes have their animals for many months, and use foster homes.   That means they do not have to euthanize animals to make room for new pets they take on. And many, like HSLC, have other programs that help the local animal population, like a pet pantry (Loudoun Pet Pantry) so families in need don’t have to surrender their pets simply because they can’t afford to feed them, partial help when medical emergencies arise, and resources for behavioral issues. The Community cat program is major part of HSLC, helping to reduce the numbers of feral cats while improving their health and quality of life.

And some Humane Societies are “open door” with animal control contracts, just like a city shelter, so they do euthanize to make room. Many “open door” humane societies run programs that have helped reduce pet overpopulation in the cities they serve.  They may have the pets for many weeks, and know more about their behavior and health than a city shelter.

So it’s important to understand the nature of your local animal rescues and support them for the benefit of your community. We all work together to help animals but we are separate, independent organizations.

Yesterday Lily went over the rainbow bridge. She came to us as a grumpy old lady with health problems. After spending some miserable time in the kennel, she came home with me 3 years ago, 2.5 of them as a hospice kitty. She was not necessarily the standard loving cat – set in her ways, all bark but little bite. And so strong-willed she lived a wonderful life for 2 yrs more than anyone expected.

Lily wasn’t always easy – she hated my 3 cats, suffered all the side effects of kidney disease, and preferred staying in only 2 rooms in the house. And I loved her in all her grumpiness and crazy ways.  Knowing that I would experience the sadness of sending her over the rainbow bridge rather than sending her to a loving family and a forever home was hard.  However it was also such a rewarding experience, because I got to provide a loving home while she was healthy enough to enjoy it.

Would I do it again?  In a heartbeat.

Be at peace Lily. You were loved and will be missed.