19 cats and kittens went to their forever homes in April! The month’s group ranged from approximately 14 weeks to seven years old – several of these cats and kittens arrived to our rescue due to unfortunate circumstances that were no fault of their own, while others were humanely trapped as strays thanks to our community cats efforts. Additionally, three bonded pairs went to their forever homes this month.
Our rescue relies heavily on donations from our amazing supporters to help us give the cats in our care the best possible chance at long, healthy lives where they are cherished by their forever families. In response to the cats in our program’s needs, we have created our Forgotten Feline program to help scared and under-socialized cats regain trust and confidence. We have also created The Lazzy Fund, which gives a second chance to those cats who have been neglected and forgotten, including cats in need of critical and lifesaving medical care. The Forgotten Feline program and The Lazzy Fund help many of our cats during their time in our rescue.
Lily’s story had a happy ending this month. At only two and a half years old, Lily entered our rescue under-socialized and scared. Lily’s foster dad, Kevin, began fostering her in April 2021, and he did an incredible job socializing her and helping her understand that the world wasn’t as scary as she thought! When asked about his experience with Lily, Kevin said, “My home office doubled as a foster room, and for the first month, Lily was clearly scared, and spent most of her day inside her carrier, which was inside of a crate. One evening, I caught her on the cat tower staring out the window, and I audibly gasped. It was just so exhilarating to see! After that, it was just a matter of patience and encouragement, always with her favorite squeeze-up treats as motivation. She started exploring the rest of my apartment later that fall, complete with naps on the living room ottoman. She was still relatively nervous and would run away if I got too close, but over time, she tested the waters.
Fast forward to my last weeks of fostering Lily, and you would not believe the transformation. She played with catnip mice! She begged for pets with sweet little meows! She rolled around and showed her belly! All of this was completely unthinkable when she first arrived a year ago, and to finally see her do “normal” cat things was really rewarding. I highly recommend fostering to people who work from home. Lily responded so well to the constant passive interaction (i.e., me typing away at my computer while she watched or slept), and giving her treats/pets was a nice way to break up the work day.”
This month, Lily found her forever home! We recently received an update from her adopter, who told us Lily is doing incredibly well! “I can’t believe it has already been one week since she arrived home. She has accomplished so much in so little time, which I wasn’t expecting at all. She has made my office her home, and now feels very comfortable there. She lets me scratch, pet, and brush her a few times each day. She’s an accomplished biscuit-maker and purring/drooling machine when she gets her daily scratches. Her appetite is also really good. In the past two days, I’ve opened the office door to the living room for supervised exploration in the evenings while I’m sitting on the couch.” We are truly grateful to Kevin for his patience as Lily’s foster dad, and for Lily’s adopter for giving her time to blossom in her forever home.
Nadia was a friendly stray who was being cared for and fed by one of our volunteer’s mothers starting in 2019. She had already been Trap-Neuter-Returned (TNR’ed) during this time; however, she was re-trapped in January 2022 because she appeared to be injured and wasn’t eating. Within days of her feeder notifying us, Nadia was humanely trapped, and the daughter of her feeder, Sherry, became her foster mom. Over the course of several months, Sherry nursed Nadia back to health. Nadia loves other cats. so once she was fully vaccinated, she fit right in with Sherry’s resident pets. Little by little, Nadia gained her cat-fidence, and Sherry tells us that she is truly a sweetheart. Sherry realized she couldn’t say goodbye to Nadia and adopted her this past month! Today, Nadia is thriving in her forever home, and spends her days with Lacey, a Ten Lives alum, and the rest of Sherry’s pack.
Nebraska was humanely trapped in April 2021 as part of what our volunteers called “Feral Fiesta” – as part of our Community Cats effort, we worked in conjunction with Providence Animal Control to offer TNR services to many cats in our community. Nebraska was returned to his colony with his amazing feeder, who has helped us save 19 cats! Over time, Nebraska became social and friendly, and with his feeder’s help, he was able to be re-trapped in March 2022 to join our rescue, receive additional vetting, and to find his forever home. Nebraska spent a month in his foster home enjoying the comforts of indoor life, and was adopted at the end of this past month!
Congratulations to Bodell, Cindy, Gizmo, Huey, Lily, Lizzo, Lois, Maxie, Missy, Nadia, Nebraska, Oreos, Peter, Pixel, Poppy, Pretzel, Pumpkin Spice, Twiggy, and Von for finding their forever homes!
Are you interested in adopting a cat from Ten Lives Cat Rescue? Take a look at our adoptable cats!
How can you help the cats currently in Ten Lives’ care? Sponsor a Forgotten Feline, become a foster, apply for one of our volunteer opportunities, donate to The Lazzy Fund, or purchase a needed item on our Wishlist.
