By Jennie Ellis
When I met my new friend, Bonnie, at the flea market she told me she had a property with 20 unaltered cats, 3 dogs and 3 puppies. As soon as she began to explain, I knew I needed to do something. It was my human duty to see that they were spay/neutered and received rabies shots. As soon as the plan began to unfold in my mind, I knew who to call…..the most supportive, helpful clinic I know- TLC PetSnip.
TLC PetSnip provided 20 metal carriers so we could catch the cats, stack them in my husband’s truck and get them to the clinic safely in the cab of the truck because…well, it was about 40 degrees that morning. We had another truck to transport the dogs and puppies.
At 6 am we started to catch the cats and found 16 of them. The other 4 were nowhere to be found. These were all strays who had smelled food and made this property their home. There was no knowledge of where they had come from but many had been there for years and some came and went but all were without owners.
We loaded the dogs into the other truck and by 7:30 am we were headed to TLC PetSnip. We were greeted by all hands on deck staff ready to receive the animals and prep them for surgery. By the time I got there, I felt numb and completely overwhelmed so their willingness to organize this venture was so appreciated.
At 4:00 pm the animals were ready to go. I walked into a room where the cats were fed, had a clean paper in their cages and were all awake from anesthesia. Because the cats were going to be returned to the property (where they are fed and cared for) and it was going down to the 30s that night, TLC offered to let the cats stay at the clinic until the following day. That required more cage cleaning and feeding after-hours and more staff manpower but for the sake of the animals, they were glad to help. I was blown away by their kindness. We loaded up the dogs and the owner took them home to heal and I took the puppies for the week until they could go to a rescue and find their forever families.
The next morning I returned to TLC and found a bunch of warm, happy cats. I stacked the cages in the truck and returned the cats to their outdoor home….except for Gregory who is actually a female and he had the perfect temperament to be an emotional support animal for a boy with ADHD and other special needs.
Sometimes it takes a village and sometimes it takes a bunch of caring people in a nonprofit clinic to say YES to extraordinary acts of kindness. I am forever grateful for the gift they gave to our community and anticipate many more adventures to come.