Help April raise money

Annex Cat Rescue is celebrating 25 years! I have been a volunteer trapper, socialization and assessment home, and foster home for two years. In 2022 alone, I have already trapped, spayed and neutered in excess of 175 cats. Some of those cats are lucky enough to find placement with rescues like Annex.

Aphrodite is one of those cats, and this year I bring you her story. 

Aphrodite was a 10 week old kitten who was trapped with her 8 sibling/colony mate kittens, two mother cats, and two adolescent male cats. Trapping the kittens took a few days and when I went back the last time I thought there was one left but out of the fence walked a tiny, emaciated little kitten. That was Aphrodite. 

It was late on Tuesday evening when I got home and got all the kittens set up with food. None of them were interested in eating but that is normal right after they are trapped. By mid-Wednesday it was clear that Aphrodite was not eating at all. She was skin and bones. I emailed the Annex foster team and explained the situation, as the long weekend was starting on Friday I was eager to avoid an emergency clinic. Aphrodite’s intake was accepted right away and an appointment was made with a partner vet for the following day.

Aphrodite ended up being transferred to an emergency clinic anyway, so much for my hope of avoiding that. It was found that she was very dehydrated and many of her blood chemistry values were off, more than I can remember. As the days passed, it was found that Aphrodite had a stricture in her intestines, a narrowing that was preventing things from moving through. She had surgery and the stricture was removed. Sadly, as the days passed by Aphrodite’s intestines never regained motility and the decision was made to humanely euthanize.

Aphrodite’s medical bills were in excess of $12,000. She should have survived, she fought like a tiny lion, but she had fought for far too long and her body had nothing left to give. It is a sad story and not the beautiful rescue endings you are used to hearing, but it is an important story. Without Annex Cat Rescue little Aphrodite would have suffered and died outside. It would have been a slow and agonizing death. Sometimes rescue means we protect these cats and kittens from suffering, sometimes it means we help them pass in peace.

My heart is broken for this little girl but I can happily report that all 7 of her litter/colony mates were accepted into rescue and are thriving. In addition, two of the older cats have also been accepted and are flourishing in their foster homes. 

Your donation helps cats like Aphrodite. Not all stories have a happy ending but she was loved and we grieve for her, and that is everything for a street cat.