This week, Luther lost his battle with cancer. Luther was a beautiful black cat who was feral. The Ark was his home for nine years. Luther came to us from a feral cat colony here in town. His shelter was an old abandoned school bus and his food source was whatever he could find.
These past few months have been challenging with all of the animals we have taken in that have required extensive vet care. Three dogs needed to be neutered, spayed and vaccinated. One had substantial hair loss, severe dental issues and something called oronasal fistula (he has a hole in his mouth).
As many of you know, The Ark is home to many feral cats. Caring for them can be difficult at times, especially when they are sick.
A few years back, the Ark Animal Sanctuary took in 15 cats from a hoarding situation. The conditions they came out of were not good and many of them were sick and none were altered.
In this article I would like to talk about some of the kitties who are long term residents at The Ark. Cats who have special needs or health issues are often difficult to ever be placed. It is not because we do not want to place them.
With another year coming to close we at The Ark are on a fundraising mission. Not knowing what the immediate future holds, and if we are going to go into lock down again, we want to make sure we are in a position to be financially stable.
Lately a lot of kitties have gone missing. It seems like we get messages or phone calls daily. There are so many predators out there and they are coming closer and closer to town. At the sanctuary alone we have seen bobcats, lynx and yes even bear.
As many of you are aware The Ark has been without a veterinarian since the pandemic hit. Due to COVID-19, the US-Canada border has been closed so we have not been able to go to our regular veterinarian.
With all of the craziness going on in the world today, sometimes we just need to take a step back and breathe. We need to realize what is really important like human compassion and love and the willingness to help each other.
Just when we thought we were out of the woods with kitten season, it has hit full force. The past few days have been difficult answering the phone and hearing the stories of why people have litters of kittens they need to surrender.