A Valentine’s Day Rescue Story for Cats and Dogs

Last December Heather, Melissa and I TNR’d and rescued 17 cats from the Armando Colony. Eight adult cats were TNReturned to him, and these seven kittens were placed into a no-kill shelter. The kittens were pulled just in time – you can see that some of them are sick here.

Armando is an animal lover who feeds cats, letting them go in and out of his basement window, and subsequently ended up with more cats than he could handle. He does not have the space or the finances to care for so many cats, but he has a huge heart.

On Valentine’s Day he called Melissa and Heather, asking for help with a kitten that followed his colony home last week. This kitten was clearly very sick.

Armando took her to the vet right away, and they told him her eye needed to be removed within the next few days. Otherwise the infection was going to move to her other eye, and possibly into her brain. An eye enucleation costs between $500-800, and without a payment plan, Armando can not afford that. He also has more than enough cats.

Heather called every rescue she could, and Specialty Purebred Cat Rescue (SPCR) agreed to take this kitten. In fact, she is already there, and her eye has already been removed. Thank you to Heather and SPCR for helping this cat so quickly!

Heather also saw that there was another cat there without an ear tip. She gave Armando a trap so that the cat could be brought into the clinic for his TNR package.

In the meantime, Armando also told Heather about his friend who was being evicted, and had nowhere to go with her four chihuahuas. She was desperate to find a place for her dogs. They also were all intact and not vetted, and very cute.

And they were all also bonded together.

This is why Armando’s friend was so scared to give these dogs up initially, even though she had to. Someone had told her bonded dogs would die of depression when separated from each other and their owner. Heather explained that because these dogs were still only a year old, they had a very good chance of being able to be happy in a new home that could properly care for them.

When you do TNR, a lot of times people will come to you for help with all kinds of questions and requests about their other animals, or even their own personal problems. TNR is not just about rescuing cats – it’s a community service that requires the community to come together and help each other out.

With SPCR’s additional help, Heather found placement for the chihuahuas in a shelter in Kenosha. Volunteers from SPCR are going to transport the dogs this Friday.

For me, this was the sweetest Valentine’s Day story ever.