Donna's Memories with Animal Aide

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Donna's Memories with Animal Aide Donna's Memories - Through the Years with Animal Aide Animal Aide has been a very large part of my life for the last 18 years.

I have met many wonderful people and so many, many cats and kittens during that time. I can't say that I have a photographic memory or even an eidetic memory but I do have amazing recall for a lot of these animals. I have been writing stories about them for several years and this year, 2013, marks Animal Aide's 20th Anniversary. To help celebrate, I decided to put my stories together, with a begin

ning chapter and an ending chapter and I had hoped to have it published. All proceeds were intended for Animal Aide, but unfortunately, it was too expensive and the expected interest in my stories was thought to be too low so the book didn't happen. It's been months since I finished the book, but over this last weekend, I decided to start posting some to see if there is any interest out there. Maybe adding the stories here will still inspire people to donate, to volunteer, to foster or to adopt for Animal Aide. Thank you to everyone who has been enjoying my stories - I have so many, many more already written and still more I could write. I really appreciate all the support!

14/12/2022

This page is closed as I am now retired. Take care everyone!

11/12/2022

My Final Thoughts

My Years with Animal Aide 2003-2022

Sometimes, it feels like just yesterday that I started with Animal Aide and other times, it feels like I don’t remember my life before Animal Aide. March 2023 would have marked my 20th Anniversary volunteering for Animal Aide. I have done everything from dishes, laundry and cleaning cages in the center, to bringing in needy cats, to vet runs and PetSmart runs to admin work to being on the Board. I have spent countless hours fostering – first, there were the scared, abused, neglected and feral adults to the more recent kittens. I can’t tell you who my favourites were because they have all left an imprint on my heart. The many resident cats that I had the pleasure of getting to know during my Saturdays from 2003-2010 when I worked in the center will always be a part of me.

There are so many ways to look at animal rescue. There are the bad things and there are so very many that it scares a lot of people from doing it. I don’t want to dwell on those bad things but I will repeat what I have always said about it – I have heard things I can’t unhear; I have seen things I can’t ever unsee and my heart has been broken a thousand times over the ones we couldn’t save. On the bright side, I have made countless friendships with people who have adopted cats from Animal Aide; I have made friends with the people who also volunteer for Animal Aide; I have met other rescuers who have also been beaten up by the horrible parts of volunteering but just can’t stop. I have a lot of respect for each and every one of them. There were a lot of years, I felt the same – that I would just never stop, but the time has come for me to pass the baton (so to speak) to the younger set.

I will miss my volunteering more than I can say, but I just don’t have the energy or time anymore. I have wanted to write my whole life and while this page has given me a chance to continue to write over all these years, I want to write about so much more. I want to take my dream vacation (I’ve never been anywhere) and that means working overtime at my full time job, which I can’t do without giving up something. I’m 60 now, an age where most women in my family on both sides for the last three generations didn’t get to so who knows how much longer I have to accomplish these other things.

I like to think that my nearly 20 years with Animal Aide has made a good difference in the lives of the cats and kittens I got to know. I like to think that all those years meant something I can be proud of and I like to think that I can move over and give others that same chance.

Animal Aide will go on as they did before I started. No one is indispensable and with newer, younger people maybe they will bring in updated thinking and better ideas that will keep Animal Aide going for many years to come. Animal Aide will celebrate it’s 30th year in 2023. That’s a long time for any one rescue to be in the business. Animal Aide has done a lot of good over the years and will continue to do so. I hope that all of you will continue to support them any way you can.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone I have met over the years that has helped Animal Aide and animals in need however you have helped. Whether that help came in the form of fostering or adopting or rescuing a cat or kitten you found on your own. Whether it was by donating money or things that help the shelter to go on when funds and supplies were in short supply. Whether it was by buying tickets or calendars (which we used to sell). Animal Aide can’t do what they do without each and everyone one of you. Take care everyone and lastly, I want to thank each of you who have read and enjoyed my stories. It’s been quite a ride.

My favourite residents from my days of volunteering in the center. I wanted to take this opportunity to recognize each a...
11/12/2022

My favourite residents from my days of volunteering in the center. I wanted to take this opportunity to recognize each and every one of them - they are all gone now, but they were all very special to me. They were such a huge part of the center when I was there every week. There aren't many people left at Animal Aide that ever even met them now. I love and miss them all very much!

07/12/2022

I'd like to thank all of you for joining my page as I reminisce about the cats and kittens I've met in my nearly 20 years with Animal Aide. I am retiring from Animal Aide this month and will no longer meet anyone to write stories about. I'm 60 years old and feel I no longer have the energy after working a full time job. Animal Aide will continue on without me and I hope you will all continue to support them. I hope to write one final story this weekend. Again, thank you all for your support. Take care. Donna McKenney

This handsome guy was Ambrose. We took Ambrose out of the pound just before Halloween in 2007. Ambrose was a sweet guy t...
22/10/2022

This handsome guy was Ambrose. We took Ambrose out of the pound just before Halloween in 2007. Ambrose was a sweet guy that our vets guessed to be around 3 years old. I like Ambrose – I liked the name, I like the cat. He had an adorable half white upper lip that I found gave him an air of cuteness. His black and white fur was glossy and it was clear that he had come from a home at some point. I don’t know what happened to that home or how he ended up at the pound and clearly, he didn’t either. Like a lot of cats that come into our care, they are confused by what happened to make them lose their home. The only difference is that I can only guess how Ambrose ended up there and Ambrose knows but couldn’t tell us. This sweet guy was with us for 1 ½ years before we noticed that something wasn’t right about him. He was acting differently and clearly just wasn’t himself. I was shocked when I heard that the vet found that Ambrose had cancer and it was started to attack him aggressively. Sadly, we had to let him go in May 2009. I still think of him from time to time.

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