Mews News: Winston's Way Back

May 31, 2022

Mews News:

Winston's Way Back

During a spay/neuter clinic in early March, Dr. Desai noticed a large gray and white kitty in a feral trap, waiting his turn for surgery. This kitty, named Winston, was in extremely poor health — congested, drooling excessively, and covered in fleas, with multiple wounds on his body. Despite his condition, Winston was nudging his body against the cage, asking for attention. Dr. Desai began petting him and remarkably he began to purr.

Upon closer examination, Dr. Desai found scars on Winston's head and BB pellets lodged in his neck and abdomen. It appeared that someone had been using him for target practice with their BB guns. Dr. Desai knew Winston needed help, so she asked his trapper if we could keep him and give him the second chance he surely deserved.

Over the next six weeks, we treated Winston for ringworm, mange, lice, and an Upper Respiratory Infection. He also received dental surgery at our clinic, routine vaccinations, and lots of TLC. He was finally deemed healthy enough for adoption, and graduated into a group room with other Nine Lives kitties.

Winston had a tendency to nuzzle up against the door of his group room, hoping to catch the eye of one of our Adoption Center visitors. This strategy paid off, and earlier this month — almost nine weeks after arriving at Nine Lives — Winston finally found his perfect match.

Today, Winston is settling into his forever home in Half Moon Bay. He loves watching birds and napping on his perch next to the window. We are thrilled that he finally met the person who is going to give him a lifetime of love and protection, which is nothing less than he deserves.

If you’d like to support our rescue efforts so we can help more cats like Winston, you can give online at ninelivesfoundation.kindful.com or designate a gift to Nine Lives via the PayPal Giving Fund.

Lucky #1,000

This month our spay/neuter clinic performed its 1,000th surgery of 2022. Say hello to Marvy and his adorable littermates Milo, Millie, and Maizy, who came to Nine Lives from one of our rescue partners in San Jose. Marvy holds the distinct honor of being #1,000!

Nine Lives is proud to offer low-cost spay and neuter services to other rescue organizations, stray/feral cats (TNR), and privately-owned cats in our community. You can find more about our spay/neuter services and the other clinical resources we provide at ninelivesfoundation.org/resources.

Calendar Contest

Our annual Calendar Contest is just around the corner! We’ll be kicking it off on July 1st this year — a little earlier than usual — so now is the time to get your cameras ready. Stay tuned for more information in our next newsletter.

Liam's Corner

Thank you to everyone who has donated to our Kitten Season Fundraiser! So far we’ve raised more than $20,000, putting us over a third of the way to our goal. Your gifts have enabled us to provide medical treatment, foster supplies, vaccines and more, but we still have a ways to go. With your continued generosity, we can meet (or exceed!) our goal to rescue 200 kittens this season.

Northern California is experiencing an exceptionally high-volume kitten season this year, and we are committed to helping as many of them as possible. In recent weeks we have rescued kittens from San Jose Animal Care Center, Stockton Animal Services, Tracy Animal Services, the Los Banos Animal Shelter, and local good Samaritans. We’ve even had a group of sick and injured kitties flown in from one of our rescue partners in the Fresno area (thank you, Pilots N Paws!).

Lemongrass (L), Peppermint (R), and their littermates came to Nine Lives from San Jose Animal Care four weeks ago. They are currently in a foster home and will be available for adoption soon!

These efforts would not be possible without the support of our fantastic foster network and our dedicated community of donors.

As I type this newsletter, we have over 90 kittens — in varying degrees of health — currently in our care. Day and night, our foster families make sure these kittens are safe, healthy, and happy, with full bellies. They spring into action when a kitten falls ill — which unfortunately is not uncommon — bringing them to our clinic or emergency veterinary partners for life-saving interventions. The time these kittens spend with their foster families helps them become well-adjusted and ready to find their forever homes.

We are grateful we've been able to save the kittens already in our care, and are looking ahead to the many, many more who still need our help. But in order to continue this momentum, we need your support more than ever. Please make a gift to support our live-saving efforts this kitten season. Let's continue to save lives — together!

Liam Montgomery

Executive Director, Nine Lives Foundation