by Paula Hunsaker
Feral Paws Rescue Group in Fresno shares with us some of their animal rescue adventures every month. Check out KRL's article about Feral Paws to learn more about them.
Feral Paws is known to all the shelters in California, we pull cats from them. When we come into a shelter, we walk the kennels—not looking for the perfect, pretty, healthy kitties—we are looking for the ones that have been marked to be put down, or have a medical issue, or are just not perfect. We don’t judge if they are friendly, old, young, or feral, because it’s our goal to give the ones that won’t make it out of the shelter a second chance to have a safe and loving forever home.
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What makes it possible for our rescue to pull these types of kitties from the kill shelters? It is our amazing vet Dr. LeRoy LeBeuf of Kings Canyon Veterinary Foundation in Fresno. He isn’t just our rescue vet, but a board member as well. Dr. LeBeuf will go that extra mile to help the cats we pull from high-kill shelters. He has never once said a cat needs to be put down without trying to do what he can to help fix the problem the cat is having.
For example, Andy, who was rescued from CCSPCA. Both of his front legs were crushed because a brick wall fell on them. Dr. LeBeuf put pins into his legs, and Andy wore casts on both front legs for a long time. Once the casts were taken off, Andy had to learn to walk again because, with the pins in his front legs, they weren’t able to bend normally. Through tender loving care, Andy did well in learning to walk again and had an amazing recovery. After eight months with our rescue, Andy was able to move on to his forever home. Andy’s new mom and dad don’t mind his handicapped walking. I don’t think Andy ever looked at it as a handicap himself. He learned to walk, jump, and do everything a normal cat could do.
Then there is Katie, pulled from Lancaster Shelter. She was going to be put down because she had a huge abscess on the side of her neck. When I took her to Dr. LeBeuf he examined her and said that he would have to perform surgery. The abscess was so huge that it would have to be cut out of her neck. At the time I pulled Katie from the shelter she wasn’t even able to hold her head straight. Dr. LeBeuf felt that once he performed the operation, Katie would do well. Well, he did the surgery and Katie had a long time in recovery. During this whole process Katie was always sweet and loving towards everyone who handled her at the vet’s office. All the effort and extra time at our rescue meant that Katie was able to find a forever home with a loving family.
And Mike, who was shot with a dart. He was pulled from a shelter, and had to undergo extended medical treatment. After months convalescing at our rescue, after being treated by Dr. LeBeuf, Mike has moved on to his new forever home.
This is why Feral Paws Rescue Group exists. Rescue is a Lifestyle! It’s not a hobby. It’s not a passing fad. We live with it, we breathe it, we love it 24/7. Our purpose for living is to change the lives of shelter cats, one at a time, cats who would not live without our rescue efforts. If you don’t get that, you don’t get us. So please: Adopt, Don’t Shop!
Check out more animal rescue stories in our Pet Perspective section on Kings River Life, and the Pets section here on KRL News & Reviews. Check back every month for another animal rescue adventure from Feral Paws. Advertise in KRL and 10% of your advertising fees can go to a local animal rescue. Learn more about Feral Paws on their website.
We also have a brand new pets newsletter that will be going out once a month letting our readers know about all of the pet and animal rescue related articles that went up that month so you never miss a thing. We hope to send the first one out in May. We also hope to provide some additional content and maybe even some pet related giveaways. You can use this box to subscribe!
I wonder what Dr. LeBoeuf thought of that young woman veterinarian in Arizona (?) who shot and killed the feral cat with an arrow? How can one veterinarian be so conscientious while yet another is so wicked? Are schools of veterinary care so very different?
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