Savannah's Paw Tracks

The plight of those cast aside #remembermethursday

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

Today is a special day for my blog. I do not post on Thursdays, but this Thursday is unique. Tell me in comments how many of you are aware of this GLOBAL awareness movement and describe how you pawticipate.

Join the Remember Me Thursday® Awareness Movement

(the following is taken from the Remember Me Thursday website)

“180 countries support Remember Me Thursday

Now going into its seventh year, Remember Me Thursday® aims to unite individuals and pet adoption organizations around the world to be an unstoppable, integrated voice for orphan pets in need of forever homes.

“Millions of beautiful, adoptable pets will lose their lives in 2019,” states Mike Arms, President and CEO of Helen Woodward Animal Center. “We all come from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds, but together, we can raise our voices and share one life-saving message and literally save millions of pets on this one day.”

In the previous six years of the campaign, 180 countries supported the movement with hundreds of thousands of individuals and more than 700 separate animal welfare organizations around the globe holding candle-lighting ceremonies of their own, spreading the message on social media, visiting the Remember Me Thursday website, or lighting a virtual candle.”

Mom L lights candles each year for our fur family members who have crossed The Bridge. We would like to say we have pawticipated in #remembermethursday every year but that isn’t true. But we do try to join whenever we can and this year we can!!

Katie is our special feature rescue fur family member we want to honor and share this year. She is an example of those cats who are tossed aside by humans who only want the kittens. And once those kittens grow up, they are used to breed more kittens. That was going to be Katie’s fate until Mom L and Dad P found her in a cat hoarder’s apartment. At five months she had already had a litter of kittens. Mom L found eight dead kittens at varying degrees of decomposition in that one bedroom apartment’s closet. She could tell that at least two were likely Katie’s.

Imagine, at five months old, to have been bred, deliver kittens in a dark dingy closet with little food for all the cats present and only one litter box. Mom L found thirty cats/kittens alive and dead over the course of about three weeks. Katie had to be caught in a towel as she ran terrified all over the place until finally cornered.

Every where feces, urine

This is the environment where she spent her first five months.

But let’s fast forward a bit. Katie was caught, spayed, vaccinated and fostered by Mom L and Dad P. They worked for five months to get her to a place where they thought she was adoptable, to the proper family. She was still afraid, but she was learning to play and enjoy pets and brushing.

Long story short, Katie was put up for adoption, along with another younger kitten who was by far more social, and Katie was returned TWO times. Shocking!!! The adopters were told she was shy and she was returned because she was SHY!!

We in the USA are a “throw away” society when it comes to the cats we adopt and learn that they might need time to adapt to our homes. What do we do? Toss them away. Many are abandoned on streets, in public parks and outside animal shelters. Fortunately Katie was returned to the rescue where Mom L and Dad P placed her.

Katie returned to us for further socialization. She had many health issues early on from two bouts of ring worm to juvenile gingivitis to a permanent limp on her right front leg.  X-rays showed that she received some trauma in that apartment in her early weeks that destroyed the joint her right leg ought to have attached to.

Katie is now in her forever home, right here in my castle. We all knew, Mom L, Dad P, TKS and me, that she would always be cast aside by adopters because she suffered from such a traumatic early life. But then, that is what “rescue” means, right? Helping a kitty through previous trauma. Giving love, patience and safety and never expecting the kitty to be more than what she can be—allowing her to show her REAL SELF as she become more and more trusting.

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Katie is our #remembermethursday rescue kitty story. She is NOT A CASTAWAY KITTY!! We know our family gained the bestest furamily member ever and all those who cast her aside before missed out on the sweetest, funniest, most loving Kit Katie ever!!

RUN, DON’T WALK, TO YOUR CLOSEST SHELTER AND TAKE FUR KID HOME! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT EVER!!

Please share in comments photos and stories of your rescue fur family members. Give me permission and I will feature them on my blog and Facebook page.

PAW PAT, SAVANNAH