The ASPCA has information on animal hoarding.
Pet Haven cats recently rescued 13 cats from a hoarder. They were just the tip of the iceberg.
Scrabble and Jenga had lost hair due to flea allergies and poor nutrition.
Jenga has a very poor hair coat with sparse, thin hair over most of his body. A lack of nutrition and reaction to fleas are the causes. He is underweight for his size. Scrabble has been losing hair in chunks along his back where he has been itching and licking
from fleas.
A 6 month old kitten named Wendy has had repeat herpes infections in both eyes. She has some vision in her right eye but the third eyelid has attached itself over the eyeball, covering all but a small corner so she can mainly see 'up'. The other eye has ruptured due to a lack of care. She has had an enormous amount of pain in her brief life.
Wendy is a good natured little girl - weighing 3# 1 oz when she came to the vet for the first time. Even in a small cat we would have expected her to weigh 4-5 pounds, most often 6 pounds at 6 months.
Because of her limited eyesight and no access to a litterbox in her former home, Wendy is having to figure out what a litterbox is. She is confined to a cage most of the time and has graduated from having the complete bottom of the cage covered in a litterbox to having one small one there which she has conquered.
When she came to us and for a week or so after she would pee and poop and settle down into it for a nap. She was covered in filth and needed daily baths, usually more than one to prevent urine scalding to her skin. Even with her limited eyesight she would have been capable of learning what a litterbox was for if the hoarder had provided one and shown it to her.
She loves to come out and play and is put on the floor to circle around until she finds one of the many toys arrayed for her to pounce on.
Wendy has been to the opthamologist. She is being treated for her herpes infection with drops and ointment 3 x a day until it can be determined if she will be able to use a litterbox in larger spaces. If she does, one eye will be removed and the other will have the third eyelid released from the eye. She will have scaring on that eye but will be able to see more than she can now.
Mom, Kari, has no undercoat from poor nutrition. She was a walking skeleton and you could feel every part of her backbone as you pet her. Her coat is greasy despite two suds filled baths.
These are some of the kittens taken from the hoarder. They were not socialized at 5 weeks of age and weighed 8 and 9 ounces when they should have weighed at least one pound. Two of the litter of 6 were euthanized as they were dying the day they were rescued. After being force fed 3 or 4 times a day and given sub q fluids for 3 weeks, they are eating dry kitten on their own and continue to be hand fed canned kitten. All will now come and swarm around legs while they wait for their turn for the canned food. They purr and are playful.
Jenga and Scrabble have been joined by two well socialized kittens from another source. They are similar in age and the hoarder kittens are learning how to run through the house and romp and play with toys. They had an advantage in that they were used to people and had been pet but had no idea what 'play' was.
Friends help friends -
volunteers are rewarded by the growth they see in their rescues -
others who are unable to foster can help by joining the volunteer team to promote spay and neuter, make fliers, publicize, educate, advocate and donate.
Please join us and other rescue groups and humane societies!
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