Update on our former “Death Row” kitties.

Published January 11, 2010

Charlotte peeks out from her new hideaway in her new home.

As I wrote a few weeks ago, we took in several cats that, with other shelters or rescues, might not have fared as well as they have with us. In fact, Charlotte, Blue, and Michael came very close to being euthanized. Thankfully, we did not let that fate befall any of them. And now they’ve all got their own happy ending.

Charlotte's biggest concern now is playing with her new favorite toy.

First off is Charlotte, the gorgeous, fluffy (and very pregnant) Himalayan kitty who tested positive for feline leukemia back in October. The vet wanted us to retest her in three months, thinking that her pregnancy and other factors might be giving us a false positive result. Rather than automatically dooming her and all of her kittens to death because of the test result, we asked her foster mom, Kathy, if she would care for her until we could retest. Poor Charlotte had already had a bad start in life. She’d had two litters of kittens in six months, because her former owner was selling her kittens for drug money. With a positive test, many shelters would have euthanized her and her unborn kittens, not caring that this poor girl had never got her chance at a joyful life.

At the end of October, Charlotte had her kittens. And while we had had tons of people looking at her photos on Petfinder, no one inquired about her after reading that she had tested positive–no one that is except one very patient and persistent lady who wrote often wondering if Charlotte had been tested again.

Finally, just this past week, Charlotte was tested again and she was NEGATIVE–as were all her kittens. The persistent lady became Charlotte’s mom and now Charlotte’s biggest worry in life is keeping her favorite toy away from her new feline sisters and brother.

A happy ending for Charlotte.

Blue with her new family.

Our second happy ending goes to Blue. Blue is the Siamese that came to us from Capital Area Humane Society. Blue had been brought to the shelter in August as part of a hoarding case with 30 other cats. She stayed at the shelter while the case was prosecuted and was finally able to look for a way out in October when Capital contacted me. Because I work as a volunteer with Siamese Rescue, too, I had hoped to get Blue in there. But circumstances worked against that and to keep her from being euthanized, I took her into Black and Orange.

Blue had a deformed right eye, due as my vet told me, to her eye not developing correctly when she was a baby. Because of that, Blue could not see out of that eye. However, she had vision in her left eye and did not realize she was handicapped. She ran and jumped and played like any cat with sight in both eyes. Because of her “handicap,” however, she was deemed “imperfect” and would have been killed to make room for more “adoptable” cats. Luckily, we proved how adoptable she is.

Miss Blue turned out to be the friendliest and most loving cat we have ever met. Her early horrible life did not scar her and she found joy at every new experience. When a family from Michigan inquired about her, we worried about her going so far away. When the same family turned out to be wonderful, having nursed their other Siamese through the trials of a stroke (they bathed her and made her a special “wheelchair” so she could get around and massaged her legs so they would not atrophy), we told our girl it was time for a road trip. The family drove over four hours to pick Blue up and take her home with them. With tears in their eyes, they saw none of her flaws, only her loving nature.

Miss Blue in her cage at Capital wondering if anyone would save her.

Our final happy ending is for Michael.

Michael lounging in his new foster home.

Michael also came to us at about the same time as Miss Blue at the beginning of November. In fact, we saved both their lives in the same week. A family brought Michael (who was named Mittens at that time due to his white paws) to Riverside Drive Animal Care Center because they thought he was not acting right. They thought he had eaten some “chewing tobacco.” Michael had never had any vet care of any kind. He is one year old and had never been vaccinated or neutered.

Well, it turned out that Michael was having trouble peeing. He had crystals in his urine that caused him to become blocked. The family did not have the money to pay to have his system flushed out, so they told Dr. Wisecup to euthanize him. But Michael was so nice that no one in the office wanted to end his life–especially since he was only a year old and had never had much chance to enjoy his short time. Black and Orange got a call from Riverside asking if we would pay to help Michael so he would not have to be euthanized. Dr. Wisecup donated all of her time to do the necessary procedures. We said yes.

While at Riverside, Michael was also neutered, vaccinated, and tested negative for feline leukemia/FIV. Shortly after leaving Riverside for foster care, Michael did become blocked again and a special surgery was performed at MedVet to remove his penis so this would never happen again. Michael is recovered now and is doing really well. He does fine with dogs and is super with people. He also made friends with another kitty at Noah’s Ark where he was staying after leaving Riverside and MedVet.

Michael is now in foster care with one of the fabulous people from Noah’s Ark. He has new cat buddies in his foster home, as well as a dog friend. Everyone loves Michael and we are so glad we saved his life.