Safe House Animal Rescue League

Roxie Sunday night, before surgery.

This is Roxie. She’s had a rough go of things so far, though you’d never know it to meet her. Roxie is remarkably sweet, gentle, and so happy that she smiles.

Roxie came to us through Quincy K9 Connections, a rescue transport group from Southern IL who moves dogs out of high-kill pounds and takes them to no-kill shelters. As is the case with many of the dogs we receive, other shelters couldn’t or wouldn’t take Roxie and so she found herself next on the list for euthanasia. Quincy was honest and told us Roxie had some issues: she was 8 years old and she had glaucoma that went untreated for many years. But we had a foster home open and we couldn’t see letting any dog be killed when we had a safe spot for her to go. So we crossed our fingers and pulled Roxie from that dreaded list.

Roxie’s back story is what made us love her from the moment we saw her on Quincy’s webpage. You see, Roxie had been loved all of her life but she lost her beloved human to the depths of alcoholism. Unable to care for himself properly, he could no longer care for Roxie. This man’s friend tried to help and took Roxie home, but with pets and a family of his own, he soon found himself overwhelmed and took Roxie to the shelter. Roxie had been a loyal and devoted family member for 8 years, but through no fault of her own, she landed on Death Row due to addiction.

When Roxie arrived, we learned that she was morbidly obese. Like 150 pounds obese! Her coat was a wreck, her left eye was bulging out of its socket due to the glaucoma, which creates painful pressure and fluids, her teeth were severely neglected. Roxie was urinating blood because she refused to soil her kennel at the Quincy animal pound and had to hold her bladder for so long that she developed a UTI. She went right to vet, who confirmed that there would be no saving the eye, Roxie couldn’t see out of it anyway, it was painful, and needed to go.

Roxie headed to foster with volunteer Caroline.

While waiting for her eye surgery, Roxie went into a foster home and began to shed pounds as quickly as she shed her overgrown coat. Her foster took her on 1 mile hikes throughout the day, got her on a diet immediately, and antibiotics cured her UTI. Roxie began to come to life before our eyes, walking better each day, wagging her tail, playing with other dogs, and giving kisses to everyone she came across. Her foster mom said it best when she said “This past week she has actually begun to SMILE.”

Yesterday was Roxie’s big day – she went in for eye surgery, a full dental, and x-rays to check her hips and knees. She was in surgery for about 2 hours. The prognosis? Roxie’s eye surgery went great, she will have no more trouble with that pesky eye or with glaucoma. Roxie’s teeth are now sparkly and white! Roxie’s xrays revealed that her hips are in remarkable shape for her age, but her knees aren’t so hot. They don’t require surgery or treatment, additional weight loss and inexpensive joint supplements will benefit her the most.

Roxie today, after surgery.

Her eye doesn’t look very pretty today, but she’s on good pain meds and the dull constant pain of the bulged eye is now behind her. In front of her she has about 2 weeks of recovery, more dieting and weight loss, and hopefully, a forever home to live out her golden years. Roxie is now accepting applications to be your best friend, your low-maintenance companion, couch buddy, snuggle hound, or even a walking partner if you also need to shed a few pounds. Roxie loves car rides, lazy afternoon naps, and leisurely strolls around the neighborhood. She is excellent with other dogs, cats, and children.

One of the joys of adopting a pet is the experience of unconditional love. Our pets don’t care what we look like, if we get old and gray, if we choose to watch bad tv, or eat popcorn in bed. Roxie is hoping a love like that exists for her too – someone who doesn’t mind that her puppy years are behind her, someone who can overlook her minor cosmetic flaw, someone who will love her just the way she is and love her for all the years she has left. Roxie did not expect to be looking for a new home at this stage of her life, but life throws unexpected challenges at us sometimes. She is willing to take a chance on you, if you’ll take a chance on her too.

If, like us, you think that every pet deserves a second chance at life – even the seniors, the overweight ones, or those with treatable medical conditions – please help us cover the cost of Roxie’s medical care, around $850. When we agreed to take Roxie in and spare her from being killed in that southern pound, we knew she might be expensive. But we also knew that we have amazing supporters who believe, like we do, that these pets are worth saving. Please help us continue to take these animals in when others say “no” and make a donation to Roxie’s Fund. No amount is too small. If you prefer, you can also make a payment on Roxie’s bill right to the vet clinic, Fox Valley Vet Hospital (815) 434-0363. As always, your donations are tax deductible and are so very appreciated.

No one to come home to after a long day of work? Tired of trying to find someone who is a good listener, supportive of your choices, and doesn’t mind when you lay around in sweats for days upon end watching reality tv? We have your valentine, right here waiting for you.

Your Valentine, adopted from Safe House Animal Rescue League, is guaranteed to love unconditionally. Your valentine won’t mind the extra 10 pounds you picked up over the winter, is happy to watch whatever you want on tv any given night, and thinks you are purrfect just the way you are. The time is right to adopt your new best friend, your new companion, the best valentine you’ve ever had.

Adoption fees on all cats is just $14 from 2/8 through 2/14. Check out all of our beautiful felines just waiting for you to fall in love with them, submit an adoption application, and take home the kitty of your dreams.

While you’re snowbound this weekend, why not clean out the closets, basement, and garage for a good cause? Safe House is having a Winter Wonderland Rummage Sale on February 4th and 5th at the Mendota Fireman’s Building.

Donations happily accepted Friday, February 3rd from 7-9pm, just drop off your donated items at the Fireman’s Building. Then don’t forget to come shopping for lots of great items including: pet supplies (lots of brand new ferret cages, bird cages, pet strollers, and carriers), new with tags women’s plus sized clothing, household and garden items, modern junior clothing, and more! There may even be visits from adoptable Safe House pooches or kittens, so stop by and see us!

Please limit your clothing donations to 1 bag per person, and no books please. Don’t forget, your donated items are tax deductible so get a head start on spring cleaning and help us raise money for the Building Fund!

PDF Flyer – please download and hang it up in your office or store!

Shadow is our most senior kitty at Safe House, earning him the prestigious title of Eldercat. He is twenty years old, and some of you may recall that he came to us this summer when we worked a hoarding case. Shadow was living outside in bushes, as he could no longer jump up onto the nearby porch to get into shelter or eat with other resident cats.

At some point, Shadow had a family who neutered and declawed him. How he ended up in the bushes at a mentally ill person’s home is a mystery. How he survived outside in the bushes for so long, is also a wonder.

Shadow has lots of the problems you might expect for an Eldercat. He is deaf. He is in advanced renal failure. He can see, but not so well. He has a neuropathy that causes him to walk on his forelimbs instead of his paws. And sometimes he can only make it half way to the litter box before he’s just gotta go.

Shadow spends a lot of time napping and is a fan of cushy beds. He is a lover of laps and will start making biscuits as soon as he even suspects he is going to be picked up. He eats with gusto and will holler and holler (not being able to hear himself) to remind you that it’s time for his canned food. His time left on earth is clearly limited, but we think it’s a pretty good life for an Eldercat.

Shadow lives in hospice foster with an extra-special Safe House foster parent who enjoys  tough cases. Shadow shares his home with another special needs foster cat, a pug, children to stroke his long black fur, and his foster mom who dotes on him. Shadow will stay in this home for all of his remaining time until the day comes when he leaves this earth, and we’ll ensure he does so with dignity. We hope that day is far, far away.

Caring for special needs animals and those who will remain with us for the rest of their life, like Shadow, is something we do for many Safe House critters. Because this is normal day-to-day business for us, however, we often forget to tell you their stories and focus on the new arrivals or the day’s adoptions. But wonderful, beautiful pets like Shadow the Eldercat are always behind the scenes too.

Caring for these special needs animals isn’t easy emotionally, or even logistically. It takes a very special person to foster a hospice pet, someone to knowingly open their home and heart to an animal they know will die soon. It takes a large financial commitment to tend to their unique medical, nutritional, and comfort needs. But animals like Shadow are why we named our organization Safe House. Because it’s safe whether you are a highly adoptable purebred puppy, or a 20 year old cat in renal failure, like Shadow. Or an 8 year old cat with terminal jaw cancer, like Seymour. Or an emotionally broken, former breeding chihuahua who can’t be potty-trained, like Bambi. We even have a hospice rooster.

We’re able to help these special animals only with your support. We recently set up a pet sponsorship program that allows you to give monthly at varying levels, including a Senior Pet option for animals like Shadow. Please consider sponsoring a pet this holiday season. These small monthly gifts are what allow us to provide care, peace, and dignity to the many special needs animals who are always with us behind the scenes.

Happy Holidays from Shadow the Eldercat, and all of the Safe House critters.

In early fall, Bella came into Lee County Animal Control. She was picked up as a stray and over her 7 day stray hold she waited patiently for her owner to come for her, but no one called, no one came looking. So, like many others, she became a Safe House dog.

Bella came to Safe House wearing a thick metal chain for a collar almost embedded into her neck. She came to us with a urinary tract infection, an ear infection, and obvious physical signs of being bred constantly. She also came to us with severe signs of abuse including flinching, fear biting, cowering, and absolute panic if anyone raised their voice around her. When trying to get her out of the animal control truck, she was so fearful she cowered in the corner and, when that didn’t work, she unsuccessfully tried to bite in self defense.

Bella went into foster. Her first foster kicked her out for inappropriate urination and for aggression. We got her to the vet who diagnosed and treated her UTI. Bella went to Foster number two.

Foster two was making great progress with Bella, but Bella came down with a terrible ear infection. We got Bella to the vet for treatment, they were a little forceful with her, and she tried to bite the vet and vet tech. Bella’s foster, confident that she was making progress, took Bella back home and kept working with her to overcome her anxiety and fear.

By late fall, Bella had become very attached her to foster mom. She was the first person who was kind and took time to bond with Bella. Unfortunately, Bella saw the foster mom’s son as competition and bit him in the hand. It was not a nip. She bit him and broke skin. On her way out of the foster home, she bit the boy again on the other hand. Bella needed more help than we were giving her.

We reached out to several rescue partners and dog trainers. Many of them had the same advice: “euthanize her”, “she’s unstable, you have to put her to sleep”, “she’s an adult, she cannot unlearn what’s been done to her.” Most dog training facilities outright refused to accept her as a student. Bella was our first ‘problem dog’ and she now had a bite history. She was truly fearful, in a constant state of anxiety, and we questioned what quality of life she might ever have. At Safe House, we have never euthanized an animal for behavior issues. We have always gone the extra mile to find the right home. We have driven behaviorally challenged pets all over the country and even into Canada. We know the day may come when we might have to put a truly vicious dog down, but the day hadn’t come yet and we were unanimous that we weren’t going to euthanize anyone unless we were 110% positive that everything possible had been done. So we kept reaching out and looking for options.

Through a rescue partner, we found a board and stay training program in Chicago who agreed to take Bella on. Bella spent two weeks there and got glowing reviews. Bella excelled at clicker training, greeted guests politely, and was making great progress.

Her ear infection came back and really took hold. Bella’s equilibrium was off and she didn’t want her head touched. Bella’s trainer suggested the ear infection might have even caused her bite incidents. We ran a culture on Bella’s ear and were told she would need to be on antibiotics for 6 weeks.

Bella started her new meds and continued in training. Within days there was another phone call though – now Bella had developed kennel cough despite being vaccinated against it. Bella could not catch a break. She came back home to Safe House, where we put her into foster number three, followed her trainer’s advice to provide clear pack structure by giving her a safe place of her own like a crate and not the couch or bed, and we continued the 6 weeks of antibiotics plus treatment for kennel cough.

Bella made remarkable progress. She was happy. Once a fearful, anxiety ridden dog, her eyes now shined. She engaged visitors and other dogs. She ran and played instead of cowering. She learned to ‘sit’ on command. She gained confidence. She finally met enough people to understand not all of us are bad, not all of us are going to hit her, and that maybe the human race deserved another chance. The dog we know today as Bella is not the same dog we pulled from Lee County Animal Control. It just took a while longer for her to make her journey. It took more time, more money, more effort. It took giving her a chance.

In hindsight, we are thankful that we let our hearts guide us with Bella and that we did not listen when trainer after trainer told us that she must be euthanized. It makes me very sad to think of the many Bellas across the country who are not given this chance. How might you react if you were chained and beaten for 4 years? How long would it take you to trust again? Personally, I don’t think I’d ever be able to. I think Bella has me beat in the forgiveness department.

In a few minutes, Bella has an adopter coming to meet her. An adopter chose her specifically because she has these issues, which he understands and has experience with. She waits beside me now with tail wagging and her head in my lap, with complete trust in me. Many people ask rescuers how we do this work, how we suffer the heartbreak and stress. It’s for moments like these. There’s a chance this lovely girl starts the next leg of her journey tonight.

Update – 8:15pm: Bella has just gone home with her forever family. It was love at first sight.

Safe House is participating in the annual Mrs. Santa Cookie Sale fundraiser sponsored by the Mendota Chamber of Commerce. Every Saturday in December, non-profits sell delicious homemade goods at participating Mendota banks.

Our bake sale date is Saturday, December 17th, from 9-12, at Midland State Bank in downtown Mendota.

We need bakers to contribute their favorite baked goodies (any kind, we are not limited to only cookies). Please whip up as many cookies, pies, breads, and treats as you can and help us raise funds for our community’s most at-risk pets! You can drop them off to Monica at The Groom Stop (617 Main St., Mendota) on Friday 12/16 from 8am-5pm or Saturday 12/17 from 8-9am and she’ll ensure they make it to the sale.

We also need a couple of volunteers to work the bake sale table on Saturday 12/17 from 9-12.

If you can help bake or work the event, please let us know! With the holiday coming quickly, we’re working to get as many pets into homes as possible. Please help us make it happen!

Look out world, she’s on the move!

Today Grace got to take her first walk as a 3-legged kitty, as she starts slow physical therapy and recovery to learn to walk anew. Of course we captured it on video!

Looking for a thoughtful stocking stuffer for the animal lover in your life? These unique, paw-made holiday ornaments are individually painted by the paws of rescued pets with 100% of proceeds benefiting IVCT shelter pets.  Each ornament comes in a unique box with a story and photo of the rescue pet who made the ornament. No two ornaments are alike! You can select from an ornament made by a cat, or made by a dog.

This holiday season, give a gift that will warm your heart and also help a homeless pet get home in time for the holidays. To purchase, visit this Etsy site!

Ornaments were handcrafted and generously donated by While You Were Out Pet Sitting Service, Milwaukee’s premier pet sitter.

At 5pm tonight we picked up Grace from the emergency clinic. This little girl has been described by the vet team as “amazing”, “incredible”, and “inspiring”. She awoke from sedation this morning purring, walking around, and eager to eat. She rubbed all over her surgeon this morning, and if it was possible for her to thank him, she did so with a ‘meow’. This afternoon she began to wean off the morphine that’s been controlling her pain, and onto a longer term pain management drug. No one expected Grace to bounce back so quickly. But then again, this cat who defied a horrendous act of cruelty is nothing short of a miracle.

This is Grace’s X-ray which reveals over 50 bullet fragments. Experts have identified the ammunition used on Grace as frangible ammo. “Frangible bullets break up into very small pieces upon impact with the target. The penetration of this type of bullet is limited and the inflicted damage is typically near the surface of the target. Frangible bullets are normally used to kill animals weighing less than approximately 30 pounds by creating significant damage within the first few inches of the impact point”. In short, once the bullet hit Grace, it shattered into hundreds of tiny metal shrapnel pieces which tore through her muscles, skin, and bone and left behind what the vets called ‘hamburger’. Speculation is that the weapon was a .380 and Grace was shot at 50-60 feet.

And this is what it took from Grace, her entire left front leg and shoulder. It left her with two drains and dozens of staples. It left her with several weeks of cage rest, doctor visits, and pain control medication. But the criminal who shot Grace did not take away her dignity, her spirit, or her will to live. In fact, Grace will be fine. She will go on to live a normal, happy life. She will be loved by a family. She will run and jump and play. Because her will to live is stronger than the cowardice and hatred of a disturbed individual with a gun. Grace will be fine. It is her abuser who is weak.

As I type this, Grace has wolfed down her bowl of chow with gusto and is sleeping contentedly in a fluffy bed. Lee County animal control wardens are pursuing the case and we will be asking the Lee County Sheriff’s Department to pursue it to the best of their ability as well. There is a lead on the suspect. We will do everything in our power to not only give Grace comfort, but to give her justice. For those who might read this and think that shooting cats isn’t a big deal – be forewarned, it is a big deal and we aren’t going to let it go. We aren’t going away. This won’t happen in our backyard, on our watch, without a fight.

Grace goes back to the vet in one week for a check on her drains. She goes back in two weeks for potential staple removal. She is out of the woods and stable, but has a long way to go to fully recover. Below is a photo of her medical bills as of tonight. We updated her Chip-In to reflect the higher surgical cost than anticipated and she will have at least a few more visits to the vet, even if all goes well – so if you want to contribute to Grace’s care, please do so via the Chip-In ‘donate’ button, or send checks marked “Saving Grace’ to:
IVCT
617 Main St
Mendota, IL 61342

Thank you to everyone who has donated, shared, and retweeted for Grace. You have made it possible for her to live.

Grace’s bill – 11/21/11

“I’ve escaped death so many times, I know I’m only living by the saving grace that’s over me.” – Bob Dylan

On November 16th, a .22 caliber bullet ripped through Grace’s left shoulder, shattering her scapula into at least 4 pieces. The nerve that controls her ability to wiggle each toe, to stretch, to climb, severed. In that fraction of a second, an extreme act of cruelty changed Grace’s life forever. But she is stronger than her would-be assassin understands.

On November 17th, Grace limped onto the porch of a Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan took Grace to her veterinarian who recommended immediate amputation of the leg. Being unable to afford this expensive surgery, the Good Samaritan took Grace home instead and started her on antibiotics prescribed to fend off infection from the bullet wound. And then she called us.

Right now Grace is at the emergency clinic. Dr. Lynette of the Princeton Animal Care Clinic heard Grace’s plight and offered to come in immediately to ensure that Grace was stable and pain-free as she heads into emergency surgery tonight or Sunday morning. Grace’s entire left leg and shoulder must be removed; they are destroyed beyond repair. But Grace is strong. She is young, friendly, and she has a whole life ahead of her that we intend to make sure she sees. Grace is someone’s future pet – perhaps the love of a little girl’s life, maybe a lap cat whose purrs brings comfort to a senior citizen, perhaps her missing leg will inspire a person struggling with their own disability. Wherever Grace ends up, she has a place in this world, her life has meaning, and it will not be taken away by a coward with a rifle.

Grace’s estimate for surgery and hospitalization is $1,000. Please help save her. We only need 40 people who believe Grace is worth donating $25 to, but no amount is too small.

With luck, Grace will be home from the hospital by Thanksgiving. As you sit down to dinner with your loved ones, please take just a moment and give any amount you comfortably can to help Grace – a small brown tabby cat from rural Illinois who needs a little help this holiday season. If you can’t donate, please share her story. Your donation is tax deductible; please click on the Chip-In link above to donate via PayPal, or send checks (marked “Saving Grace”) to:
IVCT
617 Main Street
Mendota, IL 61342

On behalf of Grace, thank you all. Please watch our Facebook page for updates.

*Additional note: animal cruelty, such as the crime committed against Grace, is illegal in all 50 states. IVCT has alerted local police and animal control officials of Grace’s situation in hopes that the shooter can be brought to justice. Please speak for those without a voice – always report animal cruelty. It’s not ok and it rarely stops at animals.

Grace on her way to the vet.