First, a brief recap of 2023: KCAW used AKI funds to help dogs and cats who live on Kingston’s streets and who belong to families with no/very low income. AKI donors covered about 75% of KCAW’s operating costs in 2023 which helped about 1000 cats and dogs. KCAW used AKI funds to purchase cat and dog food (about 60%); for surgeries and other vet care (25%); and the remainder for purchasing meds and other vet supplies, mainly anti-parasite and wound treatment.
In 2023, AKI funded the spay/neuter of 52 dogs and cats (36 females and 16 males, 40 cats and 12 dogs) living on Kingston’s streets or with impoverished families.
Previous AKI Blogs describe many of their stories.
And KCAW has had a busy start to 2024!
The first new addition to KCAW's street animal feeding list was Grady, who Deborah saw during the 1st week of January. After seeing him a 2nd time, she found out that he had no home. He was scrounging in someone's garbage at their gate and the home owner came out and chased him away.
Deborah stopped the car, grabbed a bowl of dog food, and fed him. He ate 4 bowls, one of them laced with a Prazivet de-wormer tablet and some vitamin tablets.
Grady is quite an old dog. The pieces of the puzzle were coming together. This happens to many dogs when they get old and the owners want a younger pet. They throw the old one out.
Grady is named him after the hill where Deborah 1st saw him (Belgrade hill).
Now he gets a good, healthy KCAW meal at least a few days a week.
Also early this year, in February, when Deborah stopped to collect an order from a restaurant, she saw a tiny kitty wandering around. It turns out that Bitsy lived behind the restaurant where she fought eight other cats for food. She was so tiny and there were so many cars going and coming. The parking attendant said she was the only one left out of a litter of four, the others hit by cars.
So off Bitsy went with Deborah to a foster friend who is keeping her until a permanent home is found, which won't be long because Bitsy is really sweet and irresistible!
Deborah has already gotten two of the other restaurant cats spayed--the tame ones. The others are feral and fearful and will have to be trapped. We all agree--no more kittens should be born in that dangerous car park.
Just in time for Valentine's day, KCAW got a call about Zulu.
The caller needed help for a stray cat who he and his wife had adopted but who was suffering with a horrible skin condition. The couple didn't have money, but had grown to love Zulu, and they hoped KCAW could give advice about what to do.
It turned out the kitty had sarcoptic mange, very contagious and can be harmful to the cat if left untreated.
Deborah took the cat to the vet clinic, where Zulu was given injections and topical treatment and then returned to the clinic for three more weekly injections. KCAW was happy to help especially when they declared how much they love him!
Zulu was also neutered (Thank you to Kim for donating to neuter Zulu and s/n four other cats and three dogs).
On March 6, Deborah told us that "Today I met the sweetest girl searching for food to feed her little pups. I stopped for a refreshing coconut and she just came up to me and said 'hey ! Dog lady! I know you have food in your car. How about you give me some so I can go feed my pups!' So I told her sure just hang on a second lemme finish my coconut water. Well she wasn't the most patient dog! 'Look,' she said, 'I got a bunch of hungry pups in that yard over there so could you just hurry it up!!' So I left my coconut and dished out her food. She ate as much as she could and off she went to nurse her babies."
This is one of KCAW's regulars, an adorable little girl who waits for her KCAW meal from on top of a wall. The garage below is filled with cat hating dogs so she dare not fall off! KCAW also feeds the dogs regularly and she is never too far at feeding time!
At the end of 2023, Deborah received an urgent call from one of her animal rescue contacts, who works in a warehouse that stores lots of chemicals. A kitty has been hiding and living there for a few weeks and she had been feeding him. Then he began losing control of his little body and convulsing.
Deborah continued telling us the story, "Of course nobody was willing to take him to a vet so she called me. It was quite a distance from Kingston but when she sent the picture of him I knew I had to help! When I arrived he was leaning against a wall and could barely move. He was so dehydrated and weak with bouts of vomiting. I put him in my cage and off we went. He spent 2 days at the vet and he was already better when I brought him home. I named him Scotty."
At the end of 2023, Deborah "as usual was driving along when I spotted a lone pup searching a dump along the road side for food. Of course I stopped and took out my plate and got food from my trunk. He ran into a yard under a fence. Not to be daunted-after 35 years of doing this nothing deters me anymore-not even a locked gate! I found a way in through the fence and followed him into am empty yard with nobody in sight. I scraped the food onto a concrete area and he came running...with 2 more behind him ! They ate it all and I went back for more. They ate that too. I de-wormed all 3 and left a pan of water. I fed them every day for 3 weeks and already have homes for all of them. And Yaaaaa! Spay and neuter when they are a bit older! Thanks AKI for all ur support! I really appreciate it and couldn't do so much by myself."
"Would you believe as I was leaving the 3 pups I ran into this starving young girl. I saw this girl who looked like she was recently nursing pups. She was searching through the SAME garbage dump as the lone pup. It never ends. Thank goodness I had some food left. She wouldn't stop eating! I still see her sometimes not everyday but often enough so that she gets a good meal a few times a week."
It's now time for her pups to get a real home and for the young mama to be spayed!
Here's a happy Christmas story about a kitty who was left in a box for Deborah to find at one of her cat feeding stations at the Liguanea club. Annemarie had fostered the kitty, but she had passed away last year (a huge loss of a friend and a loss to the animal rescue community: https://www.animal-kind.org/post/kingston-community-animal-welfare-update-april-2023).
Luckily, kitty Rudie didn't have to be homeless for long. A new family was quickly found, just in time for Christmas.
Deaf Katie was just a little kitten when KCAW rescued her and her three siblings abandoned at the Liguanea country club. They were starving and were barely hanging on. The workers at the club didn't like them and one of them kicked little Katie in her head: https://www.animal-kind.org/post/kingston-community-animal-welfare-update-april-2022 --we wrote about Katie's story in April 2022.
Deborah rushed her to to the vet, where they discovered she was deaf. Almost 2 years later, here's Katie now, safe and happy with her new owner, and living the best life!!
We wrote about Sunny's amazing rescue and adoption story here, https://www.animal-kind.org/post/kingston-community-animal-welfare-rescue-escapades-august-october
And this is Sunny now (he adopted Sunny for his daughters.....)
Remember these kids?
And these dogs?
The brown with white was was just a pup when we 1st met them, almost 2 years ago. Now she's a big girl. Food is scarce with so many people living in one yard, but KCAW helps with that and makes sure they eat at least 3 good healthy meals a week.
Their story is here, https://www.animal-kind.org/post/kingston-community-animal-welfare-unbelievable-part-1
and the kids with the brown and white dog feature on the AKI website home page, at the top, on the "slide show" here, https://www.animal-kind.org/
It's always SO good to see how so many of the old KCAW cats and dogs are thriving!