31/10/2024
Great news for this kitty and Stray Animal Success Story! We are proud to have funded this cat's care and are thrilled to hear that she's in a furrever home 😻
Help us save more animals like this. Your gift, no matter how much, helps us save the lives of deserving animals in MA: www.mvmacharities.org
The importance of our Norfolk Animal Gift Account, and why we hope to receive your continued support:
On June 3rd, 2024 a call was placed to our department that a very young, stray cat had shown up at a resident’s house a few days prior and was intent on staying. The reporter stated that the cat appeared thin, pregnant and so they took her to a vet and that vet told them she was approximately 45 days along. The family was not equipped at that time to birth a litter from a stray animal in their home.
Norfolk Animal Control agreed that it would be best to bring this animal in during her pregnancy and her subsequent birth and nurturing of kittens. The family at that time had already expressed an interest in adopting her if her owner was not found. They had already named her Buttercup.
After about 2 weeks we noticed at the shelter that there were no signs of pregnancy that should have been present(increased appetite, changes in belly and/or mammary developments) so we took her to the vet for a wellness exam, combo test, blood work and an ultrasound to confirm whether she was in fact pregnant.
Lo and behold Buttercup was not pregnant, she was combo tested/vaccinated and her bloodwork showed crazy liver values. Being only approximately a year old, the vets were stumped, we were stumped, but we knew we needed to get to the bottom of this for this super sweet ginger. The first plan was to give her another dose of de wormers, change her diet a bit, and see what happened on another blood draw at a later date. Seeing as we were looking at a lengthy stay until we would hopefully find the root cause of all of this, the reporting family was happy to foster her as she did not have kittens in tow.
This was the start of the rollercoaster blood work and treatment plans for Buttercup. Each time we treated her for one thing, the values improved – and then a few weeks later elevated again to abnormal. After many blood draws and watching the number ping pong in every direction it was time to hit her with an aggressive regime of medication to try and knock out what was obviously off kilter for Buttercup. The vets also wanted to perform a fasting/feeding uptake exam w/ultrasound imaging to see the changes in her liver function/shape. This was also the time that we reached out to Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA) looking for some partial relief of our vet bills as this was becoming cost prohibitive. We don’t like to base animals’ life or life ending decisions on finances available and we will utilize as many options available before faced with making that decision. Our normal municipal budget is limited for cat care as the MA Gen Laws do not supply a lot of support towards cats. This is why we have the Norfolk Animal Gift Account which I will explain in depth at the end of this post.
The decision was made to not have the prospective family be in charge of her medication regime as there were so many meds that we knew that Buttercup would start associating people to her medication schedule and subsequently strongly take offense to whomever was giving her her meds. We took her back to the shelter; we don’t mind being the bad guys in this situation. Over the following 2+ weeks Buttercup received 5 medications a day at 3 different times and she did learn a distrust (and disgust) of us. We expected this and were glad that she associated us with “oh man, not them again and not more meds” instead of her new family.
When she was done with her meds, she was brought back to her foster family with the hopes we could get her into a safe liver range. Sure enough, at her next appointment she was given the go ahead for her spay with an exploratory surgery during the same time. Although her values were not perfect, she was stable.
More than four months after our initial handling of Buttercup as a stray intake through Norfolk AC, on October 17th Buttercup went in for her spay and exploratory surgery. The surgeon checked her organs out while spaying her and found everything to be as healthy as they should be.
Yesterday, Buttercup was officially adopted by her foster family. She has integrated beautifully into her environment and has a best friend named Marty, a shepard mix dog, and she adores each and every human family member.
So how was all of this costly care that was in the thousands made possible for a little stray cat? The answer is from two sources.
The first being our Norfolk Animal Gift Account. This account needs replenishment support at this time. The account was set up by the town to help animals in need where our budget normally would not support. This is for strays, neglect/cruelty cases, and many other things. Without this account, we would be in a situation where euthanasia was a regular topic due to lack of funds. The Gift account is a separate account that the town cannot access for other municipal shortfalls, it is only for animals in need, and stays intact when we roll from one fiscal year turnover to the next fiscal year. This account is based off of donations made by you (the public) and/or moneys raised from fundraisers such as low cost vaccine & microchip clinics, etc. Donations may be tax deductible so check with your tax advisor for your particular situation. At this time, we need to replenish our cushion for the next animal in need, so we are hoping for your financial help. Directions for how to donate will be at the end of this post.
The MVMA Charities Program is a blessing. The MVMA does offer assistance to each and every municipal animal control department in the Commonwealth yearly. The assistance amount is a flat amount assigned to each town/city and it is based off the population of each town/city. Without the MVMA, many animals may face euthanasia instead of treatment options due to costs associated with treatment. We are so lucky to have this partnership with MVMA Charities and that Buttercup was able to be helped partially by them. If you are an ACO and do not know how get set up with MVMA Charities please send me a message and I will send you their contact information.
If you would like to donate towards the Norfolk Animal Gift Account here is how you can do so:
If you’d like to write a check please make it out to Town of Norfolk Animal Gift Account and mail to C/O Norfolk Animal Control – 33 Medway Branch, Norfolk, MA 02056.
If you would like to donate cash we ask that you come in to the animal control office during office hours as mailing cash is risky and we would like to be able to give you a receipt right at the time.
You may donate on line as well by visiting our Town of Norfolk web page here – please note there are associated fees when using the online portal - https://norfolk.ma.us/departments/animal_control/donation_for_animals.php
Thank you to Acorn Animal Hospital for your continued excellent care of all of our animals in need of veterinary care, and especially Buttercup during her stay with us.
Thank you to the public for your consideration and continued support.
