If ever a tiny soul, fought so hard to live, it is this little, small framed lady named Springroll. It was an uneventful Saturday while doing cleaning at the Sanctuary when a man walked in with a barely breathing skeleton, literally draped over his arm. At first glance she looked dead. The skin was hanging off her visibly emaciated body. Her muscle and flesh were gone and all that was left was fur over bones. She had no strength to walk or stand, was severely dehydrated, vomiting, had severe loose stools and her body temperature had dropped to what felt like ice. She was in the final stage facing death. To try and keep her warm I made a sling which held her motionless body against my skin. I kept her under my sweater to provide body heat and allow me to feel her faint, shallow, labored breathing. Trying to keep her alive until the clinic opened the following morning I fed her tiny sips of water and a half teaspoon of baby food every few hours. This tiny girl that had been left on the side of the road, motionless, for a full week was not yet ready to give up the fight. The next three weeks that followed were living hell. She was on an I.V. Hookup and antibiotics through the day at a clinic and returned to my home for the nights, upon which I gave subcutaneous fluids until the following morning, when she returned to the clinic for her daily I.V. Hook up. This routine became 24 x 7 for 21 full days and nights. Finally she attempted to take her first step and immediately fell over. At least she was trying. What looked like the road to recovery quickly turned and Springroll was suddenly on the downhill slide again. Her stools became loose and she lost the precious 3 ounces we had worked so hard for her to gain. Had this little 2 lb., 8 year old cat, weighing less than a three month old kitten, decided to give up the fight?

I don't know but she deserved a second chance. She was again rushed to the clinic and put on I.V. For three straight days and nights with a multitude of last resort medications under the watchful eye of the night nurse. It was a sleepless night for me as I stayed by the phone and the nurse kept me informed at regular intervals. Much to everyone’s surprise and delight Springroll survived those three days and was released to my home care. Again we started the routine of feeding a teaspoon at a time, hydrating every 2 hours which continued for many weeks.

Months later and not yet out of the woods this lovely lady continues to gain ounce by ounce for which I am very grateful. Others brought to the Sanctuary in emergency states were not so fortunate and for those who did not have the strength to survive we have cried many tears. Every cat that comes to the Sanctuary has a heartbreaking story and you might ask why do I do this? Well the answer is that some like this little lady Springroll, do make it. They show us a fight for their life and we are there to lend a helping hand in this unbelievable struggle to live. She made me believe in miracles. We are also with those that don’t make it, right until their last breath. They die knowing they were not alone, and yes, somebody did care. And every once in awhile a little creature like Springroll comes along and when the outcome is positive you get a true feeling of being so blessed to have shared in their fight for life. The feeling of joy cannot or never will be put into words; there are none to describe it.

Springroll would now like to ask you to visit the Sanctuary website and if you have room in your heart and your home please adopt one of these little survivors. There are many special needs residents like Springroll who need sponsors to help with their ongoing health care expenses

From Springroll and the kitties at the Sanctuary

Thank You From the Bottom of Our Feline Hearts.

          Hello, my name is Dolly. I once was a beautiful cat but due to human neglect and severe abuse I am now missing my tail and one ear has collapsed. Someone brutally cut off my tail leaving only two inches of a stump and then dumped me out on the side of a road in the heat of summer. When I was found in a garden my tail was bleeding, severely infected and I was in unbearable pain and shock. The folks at the Sanctuary were told of my poor condition and immediately came to the rescue of myself and my kitten, now named Molly. It took many months of dedicated daily care to clear the infection on my tail, because it had taken a great hold on my already weak body. Every day my tail stump was soaked in a healing solution, dried, an antibiotic cream was applied and I was given antibiotics. As much as it hurt I never complained, I knew the people at the Sanctuary were doing all they could to help me. In return, I was motherly to abandoned kittens that came to the Sanctuary just after my being found. Even in all that pain and discomfort I knew the kittens needed my help, so I nursed them with milk I still had in my teats. It was just part of my even, kind nature to be giving. After many agonizing months even hearing talk about totally amputating my remaining stump; it started healing got a crust on it and infection disappeared. It now has a soft covering of hair. They say I look like a bunny rabbit. The people at the Sanctuary gave me all the love and care I needed to bring me back to health. The only thing they could not do was save my ear.

It is believed my ear became disfigured from damage in past years from being left out in cold weather frost. They say I am one of the sweetest natured cats on this earth and should have a family to shower me with love. They say I am forgiving and never showed any anger after my stressful trauma of being dumped out like garbage. They also say I am happy and healthy and ready to be adopted into another, hopefully lifelong home. Before coming to the Sanctuary life had not been very kind to me but that is in my past.

DOLLY PASSED OVER THE RAINBOW BRIDGE !

With the heaviest heart and deep sorrow we have to let all the caring people who took part in Dollies life know that we lost Dolly. Her passing away did not have anything to do with her recent surgery, matter of fact because of the surgery she had the most wonderful happy and joyful time. She was back to her normal sunshine personality, eating, playing and doing all the things she loved to do. Then suddenly almost overnight she slowed down and although she continued to eat her appetite was not the same. We took her right away to the clinic and were devastated with the diagnosis .... She had liver failure due to a tumor which must have been a fairly active one since we had her all checked out before her surgery and there was no indication of it.

We are sure you can appreciate how hard this decision to let her go was... Especially when she came through so much hardship and medical emergencies. Now everything was behind her and she was enjoying her new found happy life to the fullest. It breaks our heart that it was so short and we could not give her more of it.

Now looking back we sadly realize that the last few months was our final gift to her which we could only facilitate because of the help we received from of all the kind and caring people. We would like to thank you ALL for contributing to her happiness; Thanks to YOU she enjoyed this period of utter bliss and we are eternally grateful to YOU for giving her this precious present. Her last months were spend in playing, running, enjoying a warm spot in the sunshine..... All the things she could not or felt not doing before her surgery. She was our miracle girl, our sunshine and our "foster mommy " to scared little kittens. She was a true loving and kind cat with a giant heart and enormous capacity to love.

She surely will be missed terribly not just by us but also by anybody who knew or met her personally and I am also sure by you, who cared enough to share her victories and helped her to have them will miss her too.

We are so sorry to give you this news but YOU were one of the people who was in her life and made her happy.

         Although each and every rescue is important this particular one was extra special. You see it was on Christmas Eve, December 24th, 2008. It was a day where many tears had flowed because earlier one of the rescued cats could not be saved, she was to far gone and for the good of this cat she was humanely euphemize. She then crossed over the Rainbow Bridge to become an Angel. For many weeks prior to this day a cat that had been literally dumped at the dump had been spotted a few times but nobody could get near her. She was elusive in a mountain of garbage as far as the eye could see. Daily Gwen would climb through rotting piles of garbage trying to find, follow and catch this terrified creature that would quickly disappear into this mountain of throwaway trash. Food and water were left out in various places hoping that this little lady would eat before all of the dump scavengers, but in an area that large, it looked like she never found it. Every night she managed to elude the, coyotes, fishers and whatever else lurked in the dark. Through the day she would dodge huge dump trucks, heavy machinery, metal crushers that rammed, crushed and pushed piles of trash in every direction. The thundering strange noises must have been deafening and terrifying to this poor little creature. As Gwen watched each and every pile of metal get crushed she could only pray the cat was not in that pile hiding. Then on Christmas Eve just after work, feeling great despair and sadness Gwen spotted that tiny head appear from a heap of garbage and the little bone rack of a cat softly meowed to Gwen and slowly started walking towards her. We don’t know if it was the spirit of Christmas that had looked down and taken pity on this little creature but somehow she knew her little life was nearing an end. And somehow she knew Gwen would save her. Gwen waited patiently as the little skeleton of a cat came closer and closer until Gwen scooped her up into her arms and let out a huge sigh of relief. This cat was not wild or feral she was just bewildered and scared. Up until a few weeks earlier she most definitely had been somebody’s house pet until she became trash at the city dump. Not knowing how to find food, catch mice or seek shelter she suffered the elements of each cold, lonely night. Until being thrown out like disposable garbage she had slept on a nice warm bed instead of cold steel and wet rotting garbage in the cold of December. She was emaciated, filthy, dehydrated and weak but she was finally saved. With proper health care, food and most importantly reassuring love this beautiful, loving little lady is now the picture of health and for obvious reasons was appropriately named “Noel”.

On this Christmas Eve it truly was a night to rejoice and sing out her special song, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel born is …………..

If you can find room,
In your heart and your home for this beautiful Christmas miracle,
You will truly have a piece of the real Christmas spirit.