Loving care* A Place to Belong * a Home For Life®
Home For Life® is a care for life sanctuary
Home for Life®, an internationally recognized care for life sanctuary, and in 2019, voted one of the 10 Most Amazing Sanctuaries in the country by USA Today, offers a service to animals in need like no comparative organization. Many shelters and rescue organizations aspire to find a home for every animal and dream of the day when there will be no homeless animals. At Home for Life®, that's what w
e want too—and that's what we provide—for dogs and cats that are overlooked for placement. Home for Life® has created a new idea, the care for life sanctuary—a life-saving and life-affirming alternative for dogs and cats who have not been able to find a home or keep the home they had and for animals who have lifelong special care needs, that most adopters cannot provide. We call our idea "The Third Door®" in animal welfare which gives at-risk dogs and cats, animals who might have been passed over for adoption, an alternative to an undeserved death. The dream of a home should be an opportunity that is available for all dogs and cats, and now with Home for Life®, and the innovative model we have created at our prototype sanctuary in Star Prairie, WI, it can be!
Blaze settling in tonight. He let our vet do the blood test for feline leukemia/ fiv earlier today and tonight is chiling out for some pets. He will be neutered at the clinic due to his age.
Blaze is Home for Life! Good night!
More about Blaze: https://www.facebook.com/homeforlifeorg/posts/918540963645598
The title of this post is The "Ts" and "Jo" for tea and coffee, a cup of joe. We realized that some of the recent animals we have helped all had names starting with the letter T and we also had a Jo.
- Teddy & Tangi: Teddy age 3 and Tangi age 1, pets of a single mom from Brooklyn Park, a suburb of Minneapolis, whose new baby was allergic and who no longer had the financial means to provide for them. She tried everywhere for help to place them, before calling us at the end of July. We hoped at their young age, they could be adopted so asked for photos. We also tried everywhere, and were ignored or turned away with them. Finally one rural rescue agreed to take them on. Great! but then inexplicably this shelter went off the air, nonresponsive after agreeing to help them. As a sanctuary, we should not be helping age1 and age 3 year old cats, but there was nothing else to do for them and their owner, who had tried and made an honest effort to work and cooperate to do the responsible thing and find help to care for them and find them a home. In the end, it was probably for the best as Teddy was upset and scared and became a bit fractious his first night with us. Had he done that somewhere else he might not have had a second chance. He has settled in and both cats like the sanctuary and have made friends already as they await the North cat run remodel to be completed. Also Tangi is not spayed so that is still to be done in early September.
- Trapper & Jo: another family in desperate straits who found every door closed to them. These two bonded brothers, age 14, and shy, were the pets of a woman who had developed dementia and had to move into memory care. Her daughter took the woman's cats in where she lived, a rental apartment. She called everywhere she could think of and was advised to contact, to find help. We suggested senior rescues, rescues local to her near Red Wing and she gave them all a college try. We also called many organizations on their behalf, and thought one who finally responded was going to follow up. A couple of weeks later, we learned the daughter had been ghosted, with no response. We reached out again on her behalf with no response. Apparently there was no foster but who knows for sure. What did happen as the landlord who had been patient had had enough as the apartment had a "no pets" clause. It became a matter of urgency to move them. The brothers have had a lot of upheaval, and were shy at the apartment too. They are still mostly hiding with us, but are eating well and once they realize they don't have to be uprooted again, we're sure they will become more settled and at ease. After losing their longtime owner we're happy the two brothers and friends can stay together for their golden years.
-Teddy; this cute 5 year old is toy poodle mix, probably with schnauzer. His owner became very ill with long covid and has had a tough time recovering. "Teddy, our 5 year old mini 13 pound poodle, is a wonderful and gentle soul but I can no longer care for him on an everyday basis as I have Long COVID which can be debilitating. He is fully house trained and knows his command for SIT, STAY, WAIT COME, and GO but is becoming more and more possessive as my condition degrades. He is now barking and growling at my husband when he comes in to care for me and doctors are advising I may not recover for many months to years. With his increased possessiveness, we can no longer keep him in the house.
We have contacted several rehoming groups and none have foster parents available for him. We have boarded him with our vet for the next 10 days while we look for some organization who can care for him...ultimately we will have to euthanize him if no other option is available.
We need to find a sanctuary for Teddy with people who can love and has the ability to care for him. He appreciates other dogs but is very shy. He loves to please and is crazy smart. Home for Life offers so much more than we could have hoped for, for Teddy, and for us. We just love being able to stay in touch with him and see him as he ages ."
" As cute as he is and young, it was surprising he was not able to find rescue, But in the end, the owner said she felt better with a sanctuary placement: "If at all possible, we would like Teddy to go to a sanctuary for the rest of his life. He has become highly possessive of me and may do that again with another person. We would hate for him to lose another home because of that or face euthanasia. We feel, given his current personality, that living out the rest of his life with a great pack of other dogs may be best for him". Teddy fit right in at Home for Life, as if he had already been with us all his life, and loves the other dogs and all the activity. With so much to occupy his mind he hasn't had to worry about getting possessive or protective. Teddy is home for life!
-Trixie : Trixie the Shih tzu mix is another old dog who finds her senior years are golden now that she is Home for Life. Her former family, a n elderly couple, faced the inevitable life changes that come with age. The husband had passed away in his early 90s and the wife had been hospitalized at the age of 88 and could not longer live alone at home, let alone take care of Trixie, age 14, who was blind and hard of hearing. The woman's adult children told us they would need to place Trixie as the family home was going up for sale and they would send her off to the first place they could find. They did not have time with all going on to call around all over- they had tried a few places and been turned away. Trixie came to us in pretty tough shape- the worst dry eye, and ungroomed with very long fur and nails. She is also in kidney failure and has elevated heart enzymes on her cardiopet and was not eating well no matter what was tried. She has lost 4 lbs that she couldnt' afford to lose by the time she came to us. But Trixie was well loved by her family who did their best and arrived with two boxes of toys that she had loved to play with over the years and plenty of food. Although we can't reverse her age, Trixie has responded to medical treatment and appreciated her grooming and new pretty collar. Instead of her lids being sealed shut with matter, she now is much more comfortable with daily treatment and cleaning to keep her eyes bright and moisturized. She is on medication to help some of the symptoms causing nausea related to kidney failure and to stabilize her heart condition. Trixie loves to get outside on the grass for walks every day and to soak up the warm sun. She is eating a variety of foods well- rice with ground meat, and some canned foods designed especially for small dog breeds. We have been able to keep in touch with Trixie's family, sending updates and photos, which they share with her former owner who is now discharged from the hospital and in a nursing home, where she was not able to bring her beloved dog.
For Trixie and all the "Ts" and Jo, helping these dogs and cats at the critical times for their caretakers saved the lives of these special animals rather than compounding their circumstances and challenge with an avoidable tragic loss of the pets.
Have you heard about the system?
Maybe that's the explanation for what is going on lately....
as Home for Life has had to intervene to save not less than 8 cats- not including our orphaned kittens- who became or were homeless. Working with their people the last several weeks to attempt to find help was fruitless. As much for the people as the cats, we took custody of these felines in need to prevent a sad fate for them. Here are the first four. Our assistance surely helped their people as much as the cats themselves-good and kind people - not organized rescuers- who came across cats in need or had a cat themselves and were in a desperate situation- who sought to do the right and responsible next step to protect their animals- instead of throwing them out the window like the person( using that term loosely) did to our Rue when she was apparently unwanted.
-Blaze : found in suburban Twin Cities, stray and fed and cared for by a kind retired couple unaffiliated with any rescue, just trying to help stray cats in their area. Blaze is unneutered- of course! with bad eyes. He needed help but was turned down everywhere. The caretakers were desperate and demoralized- trying to care for him, trying to find help and blockaded at every turn. They knew he couldn't be turned back out and was not feral but scared. Turning backs on people who are kind and trying to do the right thing is how you make them cynical and unwilling to help another vulnerable animal. Instead, they know now their efforts to help Blaze were not futile . We are waiting for leukemia/fiv results and will get him neutered and go from there but he is now safe and Home for Life.
- cat #2 is Shadow: his owner had to give up her apartment. We've been trying to help her find rescue resources since early August. " Unfortunately my life has been tipped upside down and I need to rehome my 2 male cats 😥
Shadow is about 3 years old and ocean is about 4.
I will be having a major surgery soon and have to move due to upcoming financial issues. Ocean is very loving to people but not so much animals. He is mainly an indoor cat but will go out sometimes. He loves to cuddle.
Shadow is mainly an out door cat but he will come up for food and pets.
Please let me know if you can take them 😥 I don’t know what I will do if you guys cannot take them. I don’t have any other options.
I’ve heard many great things about your sanctuary" Today Nicole had to turn in her keys for her place. Ocean the cat found a place with a relative but they put Shadow outside of the apartment building, with nowhere else to go with him. She emailed us one last time. Although our cat runs are under remodeling now, we agreed to take him- realizing that leaving him outside of his old homebase, is probably a prescription for disaster- death by car, starvation, cruelty or unwanted at an animal control. As she faces this next challenging chapter in her life, at least she won't worry about Shadow's fate.
-the black fluffy brothers: these resemble Shadow, but are unrelated, just a year old. They are believed to be siblings, and are older kittens, a year old and not much more, also unneutered. They were abandoned on a hobby farm near Cambridge MN. In this picture, they are seen in the bathroom of the homeowner of the hobby farm, who took them, noticing they were struggling to find food, hungry and thirsty. We've also been working with her - for weeks. She thought she had a home for one of the brothers, but he was unhappy in this new placement and apparently missed his brother. So the two cattens were reunited but back in the bathroom, safe and fed, but cramped. The kind people who had given them refuge were desperate and like Blaze's helper, demoralized at being rebuffed for help everywhere they turned for help. We told her to contact us again if they could not find a place for the two brothers- so they did. They were dropped off with us Monday. We have tested them for leukemia/fiv and did preliminary exams. We will get them neutered. We have them now in a foster home, and hoping we can work them into a rescue in Wisconsin. They are friendly, as black cats almost always seem to be. The kind people who took them in, who were at their wit's end, beginning to believe no good deed goes unpunished, are relieved and happy to have their bathroom back.
None of these people were declared rescue organizations but thankfully, did not turn their back on the cats in need when they required help. We think kind people who are trying to do the right thing by animals who, in many cases, are not even theirs, or people who have fallen on desperate times, that but for the grace of God, could be one of us, should be supported. Else, next time, they will believe that doing the right thing is futile lest they be left stuck, suckers, instead of empowered. We aren't a rescue doing adoption but a sanctuary, yet we view changing the ethic to help all dogs and cats in need and authentically answering with creative ideas and solutions instead of giving a perfunctory, AI response- or no acknowledgment at all- is mandatory and mission critical for any animal welfare organization intent on making a difference. Doing so helps animals and the people who care about them.
It looks like the universe has seen fit to send these special cats to Home for Life, along with a few more who couldn't find help and whose story is yet to be told. We hope their tails will inspire YOU or a rescue you support to welcome the next cat or kitten the universe brings across your path who needs help.
Read more about The Universal Cat Distribution System here: https://www.yourtango.com/self/what-is-the-universal-cat-distribution-system
Her following has been clamoring for an update on Rue, the cat thrown from a 12th floor balcony who lived to tell.
This was a momentous week as she went thru the procedure to remove the bonding from her canine teeth. As some will remember, the surgeons enlisted the help of a human dentist to create an innovative solution to repair the broken jaw on the little cat without invasive and painful traumatic surgery: her pointing canine teeth were bonded together to hold the jaw stationary, to allow the fractured TMJ joints to heal.
Rue's bonding was removed successfully and her jaw palpates strong - no abnormal motion and not apparently painful. While she is still on "rest" the next few weeks for her limb fracture, we will ensure she is monitored for any difficulty eating or moving her jaw (opening/closing) now that the bonding is off. Her doctors recommend continuing with softer food (canned or water added to kibble) for the next two weeks to allow those weakened jaw muscles (from being immobile) to strength and to ensure she has no issues. Rue's range of motion was limited in that she doesn't have full opening range, but this is likely due to the muscles being inactive (which is why we want to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't have issues moving forward - her being comfortable and able to eat is most important) vs due to the subluxation and fractures she did have.
Rue is now able to eat, but is restricted to canned foods mixed with water, for hydration and so can more easily eat the food without further trauma to her jaw, and also the several teeth which are broken off from the impact of the fall. According to her surgeons, one of her canine teeth (upper right) that was fractured suspected from the fall is slightly mobile, too. With these new findings, it we will plan a full dental cleaning and radiographs in the next 2-3 months to treat dental disease and ensure no extractions are needed (whether from dental disease present, or injury due to the fall). While it is early, hopefully we can prevent further dental disease and extractions by being proactive.
The vets are concerned about her right front leg. Rue had fractures of her right radius/ulna and left metacarpal bone. They rechecked radiographs today, and thankfully her left paw (metacarpal bone 4) is healing great, there is closure of that fracture which is exciting to see and with minimal displacement. At this time, her doctors think there no need to rebandage or continue to splint that left paw. It will take time for her soft tissues (tendons and muscles) to adjust to no longer being splinted, but by what they saw in the clinic she is still able to get around just fine and it doesn't seem to bother her too much. Rue is on pain medication as needed as she adjusts and rebuilds her strength in that leg. We will try- i f she allows, warm packing her limb and doing passive range of motion exercises (stretching - extending and flexing the limb) but not all cats will tolerate this= and Rue is getting impatient with all this healing up stuff.
The concern is her right radius/ulna. They are both misaligned (termed malunion healing), or in other words the bones do not line up straight. Her radius is not nearly as bad as the ulna, which is actually good because this is the weight bearing bone and the most important one in terms of walking. The ulna is quite displaced, but again a callus is forming, so it should still "heal" but won't be properly aligned. . In general these fractures will still heal and what's most important is her ability to use the limb. Right now, even with this deformity the limb is functional and she seems to get around just fine, despite it being "angled" inappropriate. The concern is if this limb was not functional, or causes her issues in the future.
We have opted for a more conservative course, to let Rue heal with continued confinement and rest as well as continuing to bandage, but with a soft bandage (versus hard splint as she has been in) that will allow her to move more readily and put pressure and be weight bearing on that limb, which is needed to strengthen the healing bone underneath. This will not fix the malunion, but will allow full healing as is (again the limb will remain deformed) but the fact that it is functional often this will still be okay. In this case, her surgeons recommend rechecking x-rays once more in 2-3 weeks to ensure the bones are healing and fusing together. So we will be looking at least another month of quiet and healing for Rue. However, her progress has been nothing short of miraculous, defying the odds and the cruelty with which she was so heartlessly treated and discarded.
Read more about Rue and her remarkable survival as well as the amazing media coverage in the aftermath: https://www.homeforlife.org/cat-thrown-12-story-building
On Tuesday,we took in this little cat from Minneapolis Animal Control. Named "Tetra" by their staff, she has been waiting for help since the last week of July. Certainly blind, and most probably deaf as well, she- unbelievably- was found as a stray!
The write up from animal control:
"A374518 Tetra, 2yr old, FS, DSH that came to MACC as a stray on 7/25. Staff immediately noticed her abnormal appearance and we quickly realized that she is blind. She has some cranial nerve deficits (absent menace, absent dazzle, incomplete PLRs), but the remainder of her physical examination was unremarkable. Blood work has not been performed yet because Tetra became sassy at the time of intake examination (not a fan of restraint), but she is otherwise a friendly cat. She is eating and drinking normally, using the litterbox well, and a very interactive cat. Our vet thinks that Tetra may have hydrocephalus based on her appearance, but she would need more extensive testing to confirm this suspicion. Tetra is available for rescue due to MACC’s inability to diagnose the cause for her blindness and abnormal appearance"
Looks like we have another project on our hands. Poor girl has an upper respiratory still brewing, despite treatment at the shelter and she was dehydrated. We have switched the antibiotics to see if we get her feeling better and eating well. Thankfully, she's was found to be leukemia and FIV negative before she came to us. The MACC staff believe she is spayed.
Today, she was seen by our vets who agree that, with the dome shaped head and clinical signs (blindness), hydrocephalus is certainly up on the differential list. Unfortunately the only way to definitively diagnose this condition will be via CT/MRI imaging to confirm increased pressure and fluid on the brain. It's tough to determine, without a known history, if she had trauma at some point in her life or if she was born this way. If she is really all of age two, it is hard to believe she could have survived as a stray in this condition.
Hydrocephalus is much less common in cats, but when it does occur most of the time is congenital. On her exam, she did not respond to the typical tests for hearing, so the vets suspect she may be deaf as well as blind. Our vets were able to get a skull radiograph to help determine/confirm the shape of head and thinning of cortical bones - all were consistent with hydrocephalus. Now the goal will be to figure out the underlying cause (if possible) realizing it is probably a condition she was born with.
While she gets settled and gets over her upper respiratory infection, we will monitor her for now, and start working on a referral to specialists for advanced imaging and possible treatment if that will be possible, otherwise the management of her quality of life and any development of associated symptoms.
One of our staff described her as looking like an alien, and it does seem a mystery how this little cat came to be a stray on her own, as if she dropped down from some remote planet. After surviving as a stray, so vulnerable and on her own, then for weeks at an animal control our little ET is now home for life.
Thank you Dog-Friendly Minneapolis-St Paul (Sidewalk Dog) for the great article about Home for Life's Beach Party! See the article here: https://tinyurl.com/5n7kw48r
See you at the Beach Sunday September 8th! Reservations available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/home-for-lifes-beach-party-tickets-943295410967
Flower cats: what better way to show off our blooming gardens then highlighting them with some of our beautiful cats? Our cats got out for a walk in our perennial gardens yesterday, before the heat and humidity came back today...
11 reasons why Dog Beaches are the BEST beaches! https://tinyurl.com/4f4auu2y
Don't miss Home for Life's Beach Party! Reservations available right here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/home-for-lifes-beach-party-tickets-943295410967
See you Sunday September 8th, at the Beach!
The late summer photos of August from Mark Luinenburg were some of the our most loved that he has ever taken of our animals. Although the focus that day was swimming in at the Apple River, he also got many beautiful portraits of the dogs and cats on land! Here we share a few of our favorites along with Mark's album of his latest visit to Home for Life Sanctuary, last Tuesday, August 6th
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fgT8bwtTSVia1B4eA
A good way to end the week- photos by Mark Luinenburg from Tuesday afternoon, swimming with our dogs at the Apple River
Preview of summer photos from Mark Luinenburg's visit to Home for Life on Tuesday. Although we got some swimming in, I wanted to highlight these beautiful photos of our two border collie puppies,, who were born with hypoplasia cerebellar. Our staff have worked with them religiously all summer, taking them out to the meadows to work on their movement and coordination. April and August have become so much more athletic with the opportunity to develop their stamina and strength, and working on skills, like stepping up on hammocks, running and focusing to chase toys.
If you missed it, here is the first video of them shortly after they arrived at the sanctuary:
https://www.facebook.com/homeforlifeorg/videos/492066126614750
More photos of these two sweet pups and many others from Home for Life to come....
The storms ended, the rain quit, the sun came out and so, we went swimming today at the Apple River with the dogs and photographer Mark Luinenburg came with!
We have an update on Rue, the cat thrown from a 12 story balcony as well as new photos!
Tomorrow she will go in the vet to have her splints and bandages changed on her front legs and to have her broken jaw checked, which is now bonded to stabilize it for healing.
Rue was long over the nasal gastric feeding tube and insists on eating on her own. She makes a mess, eating a slurry of wet food, but it is touching to see her try so hard to regain her independence. Her fighting spirit is very moving to see, considering the cruelty she survived. She is also bored with her leg splints and wants to take them off and has managed to a few times. See the photo where she still tries to wash her face with her splinted leg and paw and to stand- my heart! These photos don't convey how small and tiny she is. Rue's exact age is unknown as she was abandoned- in the most heartless of ways- but seems not much older than a year. To keep her engaged her foster takes her outside for some fresh air and time on the grass, as well as socialization with her senior cat- that is Peregrine- originally from MACC also, and being cared for by our foster and employee and her husband!
See his story here: https://www.facebook.com/homeforlifeorg/posts/815016870664675
and our original post on Rue and all the media who responded to her plight, and sought to bring attention the animal cruelty she suffered, when no prosecution was forthcoming for the person who threw her off the balcony. We are also grateful to In Defense of Animals for putting up a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who hurt Rue: https://www.homeforlife.org/cat-thrown-12-story-building
Rue is in a holding pattern now, giving her the time to heal and regain strength after the trauma she went thru. We have had many inquiries about adoption but will need to defer those to after we have had the chance to assess her healing with the veterinarians to be sure of what she may need in terms of ongoing therapy and treatment.
yes it's been hot out at Home for Life but we still thought the dogs, especially the active ones, would want to get out to the meadows to stretch and sniff around. But - they had other ideas- like lounging in the air conditioning all day. CC was the only one who left the comfort of the indoor air conditioning to further cool off in her pool. Stay frosty everyone!
Cooling off at the Home for LIfe Beach Party sounds like a a great idea after Friday's humid temperatures and high sun RSVP today! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/home-for-lifes-beach-party-tickets-943295410967
Trillium Veterinary Acupuncture and Chiropractic was out for the monthly sanctuary visit, providing therapy to several of the dogs with orthopedic issues including XiaoXiao, who came to us from China, and Luca from Afghanistan. Both dogs were injured in their home countries and came to Home for Life for enhanced and long term care we provide. Xiao Xiao received the more traditional acupuncture with the small needles while Luca received both the traditional and electrical impulse acupuncture. All of our dogs love Dr Stacie and have improved greatly in their mobility and comfort with the therapy she provides!
The latest from Pooches United with People from Standing Rock South Dakota. Home for Life partners with them to provide much needed dog and cat food for the animals of the Standing Rock Reservation, which Pooches United with People transports and then distributes as part of their well animal clinics. As always, it means a lot to receive these reports and photos to see the animals and people too that this endeavor assists!
"Thanks to Home For Life many families who came to our wellness clinic went home with a bag of quality dog food. We vaccinated, dewormed, and flea and tick treated 45 dogs."
Photographer Mark Luinenburg's last visit was to get first portraits of some of our new dogs, but we had a few of our long time residents who were there to represent too, like 2 legged Ace, originally from the Happy Endings Voluntary Animal Rescue Group who has been with us since 2019! He is more gray now but more happy and relaxed after the bleak future he faced. Read more about Ace, who was found terribly injured and left in the desert to die. Both his legs were broken and his spine fractured. https://www.facebook.com/homeforlifeorg/posts/2204469319643679 and https://www.facebook.com/media/set?set=a.2235990659824878&type=3
See all of Mark's photos from his visit earlier this month. He will be back next week for some Apple River swimming photos- that sounds refreshing in his high heat and humidity!
https://www.facebook.com/homeforlifeorg/posts/897675105732184
On this balmy summer weekend we can't help but look forward to the best day of the year, Home for Life's Beach Party, coming at you September 8th at White Bear Lake Beach, Dellwood MN. Reservations are now available! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/home-for-lifes-beach-party-tickets-943295410967
See you at the beach!
We have a bittersweet update about Velvet and her kittens, all leukemia positive. Out of the family of 6, who came to us around this time, last year, only two are left.
As some might remember, Velvet was what is referred to as a community cat, who had been trying to survive outside in Minneapolis along with two friends. No one would help the people trying to care for them, feeding them and attempting to find an organization who would get them off the streets, as the cats were tame. These supporters, who were really dog people and knew us through attendance at our events, finally called Home for Life. By the time we took Velvet in, she was the only one still alive of the group of three cat friends. One just disappeared and one was found hit by a car and dead in the road. Read about how Velvet came to be part of Home for Life: https://www.facebook.com/homeforlifeorg/posts/675016194664744
Velvet was so small and thin when we took her, but it soon became apparent that she was pregnant and, in a few weeks, gave birth to five kittens, 4 girls, which included one who looked just like her, a long hair black kitten and two tortoiseshell twin girls with extra toes and a little brown tabby boy. Velvet was a wonderful mother and took loving care of her kittens. After their difficult start in life, the babies grew into healthy and beautiful kittens, without even ever having a cold. They were spayed and neutered and received their first shots. It was a heartbreaking shock to learn the entire family- not only Velvet but every single one of her kittens- were positive for the leukemia virus. Velvet had obviously acquired the virus while trying to survive on her own outside, from exposure to another positive cat allowed to roam. And she passed on that deadly virus to her five kittens. They all looked so beautiful and healthy, with no symptoms that the diagnosis came as a complete surprise.
Still the family remained robust and healthy through the winter. Yet, the leukemia virus is like a time bomb in a cat. The week of my husband's funeral Velvet was observed not eating and sitting apart from her kittens. Closer examination revealed that her chest was heaving- she was obviously struggling with every breath. When vets x-rayed her she was found to have lungs full of fluid, which turned out to be blood when her chest was tapped to try to give her some relief. She had been sedated for this process and ended up dying on the table- on the day of the funeral. It was all almost too much to bear.
It was just a few weeks later that one of Velvet's twin daughters, Isotta, the shyest of the kittens, became jaundiced and didn't want to eat. Within a few days, she became so thin and was so quickly declining that there was no choice but to let her go humanely before she died a suffering death, a terrible end of a kitten not even a year old. The diagnosis was probable lymphoma or tumor of the liver. Then unbelievably a few weeks later, Pia, who looked the most like her mother was found unable to walk, with rear limb paralysis. Within a day she could not go to the bathroom on her own without being expressed and stopped eating. There were no signs of injury or trauma, so the vet thought the most likely cause was lymphoma of the spinal cord. To see these two kittens take these severe turns when they had been in such robust health not 24 hours before was shocking. But not as shocking as when we found the second twin, Isabella, stretched out on the floor, dead, when she had been healthy the day before. There were no words to describe the devastation.
Isabella, Roberto and Elettra, the three surviving kittens, had been moved to Home for Life a couple weeks after Pia died. With the best of intentions, we had thought they would love new experiences, meeting other cats, including young playful cats like them, and the opportunity to run and play outside in the large cat run attached to our feline leukemia cattery. They had a spacious isolation area within the cattery, and access to an outdoor catio to allow them to adjust. We thought these older kittens, with natural curiosity, would love this new environment. . But they didn't adjust and when we found Isabella dead less than 24 hours after being moved, it was a severe and confusing setback. Now only Elettra and Roberto were left. We decided to give it another 24 hours but they spent that next day hiding. When the vet was there and did the routine checks, it was heartbreaking to see them tremble uncontrollably while being handled, although they were not receiving any invasive procedures or shots.
We had been waiting and looking forward to doing a celebratory post with lots of great photos, when Velvet and her kittens moved to the sanctuary. But at this point, it no longer seemed worth the gamble to bet on their adjusting to the sanctuary, regardless of the amenities it offered and opportunity for new experiences. We didn't want what time they might have left to be spent hiding under the couch, knowing how suddenly their mother and sisters became fatally ill. As we always remember with our leukemia cats "life may be short, but it's wide". We wanted to give them the best quality life we could for whatever time they had. Apparently the two adolescents had decided they would be happiest back in their foster home. Immediately upon returning 4 days later, they seemed grateful and relieved to be back.
Looking back at the kitten photos, it seems like Roberto and Elettra always were close friends among the siblings although Roberto loved all his sisters. All the kittens were bonded to their mother, and after her precarious existence on the streets, hungry, often with no shelter and seeing her companions hurt and killed, before she came to us, they had absorbed her cautious and wary outlook on life. She had finally found stability and a place to belong with us, and apparently that stability and familiarity is what her two surviving kittens wanted more than anything too. Right now, both are beautiful and healthy. Leukemia kittens born positive generally don't have long lives, but we had one that lived 11 years (Osgood) So the two kittens, now about a year old, will receive the feline version of a Make a Wish Foundation experience and will remain in foster care for whatever time they have.
Read more about Home for Life's philosophy about caring for cats positive for feline leukemia in our blog post "Going Viral": https://homeforlifesanctuary.blogspot.com/2021/07/a-new-family-for-new-year.html.
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Home For Life Animal Sanctuary posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Send a message to Home For Life Animal Sanctuary:
Blaze settling in tonight. He let our vet do the blood test for feline leukemia/ fiv earlier today and tonight is chiling out for some pets. He will be neutered at the clinic due to his age. Blaze is Home for Life! Good night! More about Blaze: https://www.facebook.com/homeforlifeorg/posts/918540963645598
Her following has been clamoring for an update on Rue, the cat thrown from a 12th floor balcony who lived to tell. This was a momentous week as she went thru the procedure to remove the bonding from her canine teeth. As some will remember, the surgeons enlisted the help of a human dentist to create an innovative solution to repair the broken jaw on the little cat without invasive and painful traumatic surgery: her pointing canine teeth were bonded together to hold the jaw stationary, to allow the fractured TMJ joints to heal. Rue's bonding was removed successfully and her jaw palpates strong - no abnormal motion and not apparently painful. While she is still on "rest" the next few weeks for her limb fracture, we will ensure she is monitored for any difficulty eating or moving her jaw (opening/closing) now that the bonding is off. Her doctors recommend continuing with softer food (canned or water added to kibble) for the next two weeks to allow those weakened jaw muscles (from being immobile) to strength and to ensure she has no issues. Rue's range of motion was limited in that she doesn't have full opening range, but this is likely due to the muscles being inactive (which is why we want to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't have issues moving forward - her being comfortable and able to eat is most important) vs due to the subluxation and fractures she did have. Rue is now able to eat, but is restricted to canned foods mixed with water, for hydration and so can more easily eat the food without further trauma to her jaw, and also the several teeth which are broken off from the impact of the fall. According to her surgeons, one of her canine teeth (upper right) that was fractured suspected from the fall is slightly mobile, too. With these new findings, it we will plan a full dental cleaning and radiographs in the next 2-3 months to treat dental disease and ensure no extractions are needed (whether from dental disease present, or injury due to the fall).
Thank you Dog-Friendly Minneapolis-St Paul (Sidewalk Dog) for the great article about Home for Life's Beach Party! See the article here: https://tinyurl.com/5n7kw48r See you at the Beach Sunday September 8th! Reservations available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/home-for-lifes-beach-party-tickets-943295410967
11 reasons why Dog Beaches are the BEST beaches! https://tinyurl.com/4f4auu2y Don't miss Home for Life's Beach Party! Reservations available right here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/home-for-lifes-beach-party-tickets-943295410967 See you Sunday September 8th, at the Beach!
Cooling off at the Home for LIfe Beach Party sounds like a a great idea after Friday's humid temperatures and high sun RSVP today! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/home-for-lifes-beach-party-tickets-943295410967
On this balmy summer weekend we can't help but look forward to the best day of the year, Home for Life's Beach Party, coming at you September 8th at White Bear Lake Beach, Dellwood MN. Reservations are now available! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/home-for-lifes-beach-party-tickets-943295410967 See you at the beach!
Reservations are now open for Home for Life's Beach Party! Get yours here! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/home-for-lifes-beach-party-tickets-943295410967
Tomorrow! Reservations open for Home for Life's Beach Party! Get your tickets here for the best party of the year! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/home-for-lifes-beach-party-tickets-943295410967
Back in February, we were contacted by a rescue in Oregon who knew of two puppies, small border collies, with cerebellar hypoplasia, a condition similar to cerebral palsy. We have been in touch since and finally had the ability to take them in late June. April and August who are brother and sister came from a tough situation with a caring owner who nevertheless had many health issues herself starting with emphysema, and was unable to care for the puppies, who were are very affected by their condition. The rescue representative wrote " This poor lady has 5 dogs peeing and pooping inside her house and is in VERY bad health herself. She can’t lift these pups up and the stench of pee is overwhelming and bad for her emphysema amongst other major health issues. She is on her deathbed and has been pouring out her heart to anyone that will listen. She wants these pups to be nurtured, happy and loved. She can barely care for herself let alone 5 dogs 2 of which have special needs. She has been looking for placement for them, or a vet who will euthanize them, because she can’t take it anymore. ". We had planned to take them in this late summer, but when the rescue contacted us again about the deteriorating situation and health of their owner, and with a great transport person available, we decided the time was now and not to delay any further, even though we were overwhelmed with the addition of Haruki and Snowflake who had just arrived. The most concerning aspect of this whole story is the extreme difficulty this owner had trying to get her dogs spayed and neutered. Appointments were out months, or not available at all, and too expensive for someone in her siutation as well as many rescues. So both puppies will need to be fixed after they settle in. April is the smaller of the puppies, and August her brother, a bit larger, They are very gentle and sweet, attesting to the good heart of their loving owner. But they will need special care for the rest of their lives. If
Back in February, we were contacted by a rescue in Oregon who knew of two puppies, small border collies, with cerebellar hypoplasia, a condition similar to cerebral palsy. We have been in touch since and finally had the ability to take them in late June. April and August who are brother and sister came from a tough situation with a caring owner who nevertheless had many health issues herself starting with emphysema, and was unable to care for the puppies, who are very affected by their condition. The rescue representative wrote " This poor lady has 5 dogs peeing and pooping inside her house and is in VERY bad health herself. She can’t lift these pups up and the stench of pee is overwhelming and bad for her emphysema amongst other major health issues. She is on her deathbed and has been pouring out her heart to anyone that will listen. She wants these pups to be nurtured, happy and loved. She can barely care for herself let alone 5 dogs 2 of which have special needs. She has been looking for placement for them, or a vet who will euthanize them, because she can’t take it anymore. ". We had planned to take them in this late summer, but when the rescue contacted us again about the deteriorating situation and health of their owner, and with a great transport person available, we decided the time was now and not to delay any further, even though we were overwhelmed with the addition of Haruki and Snowflake who had just arrived. The most concerning aspect of this whole story is the extreme difficulty this owner had trying to get her dogs spayed and neutered. Appointments all over the state of Oregon were out months, or not available at all, and too expensive for someone in her situation as well as for many rescues. So, both puppies will need to be fixed after they settle in. April is the smaller of the puppies, and August her brother, a bit larger, They are very gentle and sweet, attesting to the good heart of their loving owner. But they will need special care f
Dachshund Grace came to visit us at the sanctuary today and it was a like miracle to see how well she is doing. Grace was adopted by a family from a local rescue but then became paraplegic after she was attacked by a larger dog in the home who had become jealous. The rescue had no fosters available after Grace was injured so couldn't take her back in her condition and, Grace was facing euthanasia at only a couple of years old without help. We are so grateful to longtime volunteer Christine who is a dachshund person, and agreed to foster Grace for us after the owner called us last fall to help. Chris had had a doxie who had become paralyzed and she worked with Dr Becca of Perpetual Motion | Animal Chiropractic to restore that dog's mobility. Chris felt she could help Grace, so Home for Life agreed to cover all vet and therapy costs, and Chris got her to the therapy sessions, and did all the rehabilitation work at home between appointments. In the course of several months, with alot of patience and hard work, Grace steadily made progress, and Chris and her husband soon believed they wanted to adopt Grace to continue to work with her. Today's visit was so incredible, to see Grace be able to move with so much energy and actually run, remembering that when we took her in as part of Home for Life, she could only drag herself along and was incontinent. We are so grateful to Chris and Dr. Becca for this restoration of Grace's mobility and quality of life after such a close call! Read how it all started here: https://www.facebook.com/homeforlifeorg/posts/717655080400855
Last year we created what we call chutes on the east and west sides of the main dog building's south dog runs. The chutes, fenced in and accessible by dog doors give our dogs the ability to enjoy the mid run and upper exercise run which were constructed on a slope of a hill, like tiers. We used to have staircases, with no risers on the stairs which made it hard for our fearful dogs and older, arthritic dogs to access the upper runs, that are all connected by gate systems. The chutes built on a gentle slope now make it easy for our dogs like Samson, who is fighting degenerative myelopathy to still get to the larger exercise runs to stretch his legs and play with his friends. With DM dogs it's so important to encourage them to stay active as long as possible. Samson also gets acupuncture and special supportive medications and supplements to foster his mobility. Other dogs of ours like Peter who has epilepsy found the staircases without risers intimidating to use. So we have a ramp with a deck leading up to the south cat run that works great for Peter and his roommates Makwa, who came to us a paraplegic, Perilla who was also paraplegic and had reconstructive surgery on her feet so she can now walk and Louie, one of our Redbone Coonhounds who is nearly age 10 and struggling with prostate cancer. . See the photo of the deck constructed this spring in comments below. More on Samson: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=635841418582222&set=a.340509884782045 More on Peter, a black shepherd mix who has epilepsy: https://www.homeforlife.org/node/934
Some may have been following the journey of nearly 300 cats and dogs from Kabul Small Animal Rescue to the United States where they will join rescues across the country to find new homes. Two of the dogs, Snowflake in this video, and puppy Haruki, will be coming to Home for Life, a care for life sanctuary. Snowflake is fear aggressive, and has been known to bite unfamiliar people. Placement was attempted for him, but there were no takers due to this behavior. Haruki the puppy suffered trauma to his chest and ribs and will need medical care upon landing here, although he was cleared to make the international flight. Both dogs suffered terrible abuse: Snowflake was abandoned by his family during the fall of Kabul, then the people who took over the house where he had been left tied him to a tree outside, and amused themselves throwing rocks at him, barely feeding or watering him, let alone taking care of his long coat. Finally, after weeks of watching this, a gardener at the property, stole Snowflake in the dead of night and brought him to Kabul Small Animal Rescue, begging the staff not to say where the had obtained Snowflake as he was scared of retaliation- apparently the people who had moved into Snowflake's abandoned family home were police. Haruki was kicked in the chest as a small puppy and his ribs crushed. He barely survived the pneumothorax that resulted. See the video of his intake below. He is healed, and a leggy adolescent with many people who have followed his story, and it is possible he may be able to find an adopter but needs to have further medical care which no other rescue was able to assure Charlotte at Kabul Small Animal Rescue that they would obtain for him. So he is also going to be coiming to Home For Life Animal Sanctuary, at least to start with and we will go from there. I want to address one factor concerning our taking these dogs in. Home for Life has received none of the generous donations that were raised to help with the air lift from
Buddy, a 1 year old Shiba Inu mix who was code red at Minneapolis Animal Control, was tagged by Home for Life in the nick of time. There was a lot going on for me personally at the time, but we didn't want to lose the opportunity to save the life of this deserving young guy. Our update on Buddy is that he has been at Your Dog's Best Friend in Minneapolis, so he could be taken off the medications he was on for his behavior and so we could get a better idea of his temperament and behavior challenges, to stabilize him before we took the next step to help him. Head trainer Max Bitterman thinks he is a terrific dog and after a month now, it is time for Buddy to take the next step in his life. Tomorrow he will be neutered at Mission Animal Hospital, and then a potential adopter, a person well known and trusted by us, will meet him to see if he might be a fit for her family and home which features a large fenced yard, older children and a laid back young cat! As always, once under the sanctuary umbrella, Buddy will always have a home for life with us if placement does not work out. Below is a video of Buddy with his best friend at the boarding and day care, shared by Max of Your Dog's Best Friend . Wish Buddy luck tomorrow as he takes the step on his journey to a home for life! Read our original post about Buddy, when his life hung in the balance and he was saved in the nick of time. Indeed, he was released unneutered as it was such a close call, MACC did not want to do the procedure if he was only going to be humanely euthanized.in the end. We are so happy that was not his fate! https://www.facebook.com/homeforlifeorg/posts/838397628326599
It was good to see the sun the rest of the week after the anticlimactic eclipse we had due to the cloud cover. Ollie & Roxanne are two dogs who had tough lives before arriving at Home For Life Animal Sanctuary so it's especially heartwarming to see them enjoying the nice weather and running together- with their brindle coats and love of speed they surely have some sighthound heritage. Both started life as street dogs and Ollie, who has the more curly tail. in particular faced much hardship before being rescued - a large scar on his side from what looked like a knife wound, half of one of his ears missing, probably from being cut off with a knife or scissors and the trauma of being attacked by a pack of other dogs. His life was saved by a little boy who saw the melee and drove off the bully dogs. He then hailed a taxi and persuaded the driver to transport him with the injured Ollie to Kabul Small Animal Rescue where Ollie was taken in and received medical treatment. But as a result of repeated traumas, Ollie was extremely shy, and nearly catatonic, terrified of people. He was one of 7 dogs who came to Home for Life before the fall of Kabul. Read the incredible story of the rescue of Ollie and the other 6 dogs here: https://homeforlifesanctuary.blogspot.com/2021/12/doing-impossible-afghanistan-dog-rescue.html
Want your business to be the top-listed Pet Store/pet Service?
