My name's Lovely the Cat and I'd like to tell you how I narrowly escaped becoming a Statistic. I'm just an ordinary, plain, little cat who wants to share how my life was spared. I hope that my true story can show how other animals can have the same happy fate.
You see, about 50% of the cats, dogs and rabbits entering Oregon's shelters never make it out alive! Don't think the shelters are at fault, though--50% of the kittens born outside don't survive, either. But, if you keep reading, you'll see there IS a solution....
One day I suddenly found myself playing Russian Roulette with my own life--and with a 50/50 chance of survival. You see, I was abandoned like thousands of other former pets. My situation was desperate because I was also a single mother of 3 kittens. How was I supposed to take care of them? I couldn't even take care of myself!
They were 8 weeks old when we were thrown out into an empty field. It wasn't just that we all needed a permanent solution for food, shelter, medical care and love. We also needed our spay or neuter surgeries right away. I knew I could get pregnant even while they continued to nurse. And kittens can get pregnant themselves as young as 4 months--we had only 8 weeks to find a solution!
I felt scared to death out there, like someone had punched me in the stomach. I was sick with worry. It was as though I'd gone to the doctor and heard, "I'm sorry, but patients with your family's condition only have a 50% survival rate." I couldn't watch my children die!
I felt like we were in a war zone for homeless, intact animals. Only being cared for, including getting fixed, would bring us the peace and security we craved.
Even though I was broken-hearted and wary of putting my trust in humans again, I knew I had to do something quickly. I made friends with a lady who started feeding me and then made sure we ALL got our spay/neuter surgeries. Then, new homes were found for each of us. She knew it wouldn't have done any good just to give away the kittens intact--at 4 months, they could have gotten pregnant and spread the devastating plague of overpopulation to their new neighborhoods.
My cute kittens found homes soon enough, especially since their adopters were thrilled that they were already fixed. But my body had been ravaged by the incredible burden of having to care for litter after litter of kittens--up to 3 litters every year! My hair was falling out because I kept giving all my nutrients away in my milk. I was undersized and underweight, and I had a bladder infection from stress and poor health. The scariest part was I had potentially deadly mammary lumps that could have been prevented if I'd been spayed earlier. Luckily, the tumors were benign and a very special family took me in and promised to care for me forever. I feel much better now, and have even started playing and running around the house!
One of my adoptive family members is Celeste Crimi, who volunteers for POPPA (Pet Over-Population Prevention Advocates), Inc, Oregon's only statewide, nonprofit spay/neuter referral and assistance service for needy cats, dogs and rabbits.
I was helping Celeste as she was sending an email the other day about how this year POPPA is getting more calls than ever and helping more animals and people than ever. Calls, expenses and animals helped have all doubled since POPPA started in 2001--they're up to about 80 calls about 250 animals EVERY WEEK--that's a weekly expense of $6,000!!! That's a lot of mamas, daddies and babies getting to have one less thing on their weary minds!
I saw an email from a POPPA recipient, the cats she rescued could have been me and my kittens all over again. Thank goodness she was able to have a happy ending, too:
"Thanks to you folks, Lolita, May and Tex are all fixed and home recovering. The kittens came through great, but the momma cat looks a little tired and sore. I think I speak for all of us when I tell you how grateful we are that your program exists, and I look forward to the day when I am able to repay your generosity. In the meantime, I'm telling everyone how great you are and encouraging them to shop your garden store.
Thank you so much for your help, and for working so hard to make sure that those of us that are down on our luck are able to enjoy our (fixed!) animal companions."
This year the kitten and puppy seasons came late and hit hard. The rush is on to get entire extended families sterilized before the problem gets even worse in a month or two.
I started thinking about all my brothers, sisters, and my kittens from other litters that are still 'out there' needing their life-saving spay/neuter surgery. Even my parents!
I started thinking about how all cats are connected; house cats, once abandoned, can revert to acting feral (no longer tame, scared of humans) after just years of being alone. The offspring of stray cats, unless handled by humans as kittens and given homes, will also grow up feral. This is a big deal because 60% of tame kittens come from feral or stray mothers--mothers like me! That's why I'm asking for help for POPPA to help asap!
Usually, POPPA can hold their own with plant sales and other fundraising events--but this season they need a boost from the community in order to continue to say, "Yes!" to every needy caller caring for cats, dogs or rabbits. The demand has just been huge and they don't want to lose this opportunity to help callers right away.
POPPA doesn't ask for donations unless they really, really need it. They have made surgeries possible for over 6,000 pets, strays and ferals. As little as $15 to $50 of POPPA funds completely pays for one surgery.
The more funding POPPA raises, the more 'happy endings' we can ALL be proud of! Once enough people join in to help make sure animals are precious again and overpopulation is an issue of the past, things will be so different...imagine if when I was abandoned my family's survival chances had been 70%...or 80%...or even 100%!!! That's a real possibility for the future as we all work together.
If I could knock on your door and ask for help to increase homeless pets' chances to better than 50%...would you do anything in your power to help? What if I told you all it would take were a little money and effort?
For the sake of all my animal kin out there still waiting for assistance, please donate TODAY. Even $15 would make a real difference.
Thank you for caring and for taking action right away!
Whiskerly Yours,
Lovely the Cat
p.s. Please don't forget my dog friends, most of whom require a $50 donation for their surgery. POPPA gets lots of calls for dogs...stray dogs, rescued dogs, dogs who used to be bred for profit, puppies, dogs who belong to homeless or needy guardians....the large dogs are mostly Pitbull, Rottweiler, Labrador Retriever and German Shepherds and mixes of those breeds. Also, lots of senior, disabled or homebound individuals have toy breeds needing to be fixed...Chihuahuas, Poodles, Miniature Pinschers, Shih Tzus...you name it! |
