January 27, 2026

𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟕: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐆𝐨

I am sure this won't surprise anyone that I have been unable to keep up with my blog daily. However, I started this for me to help me have a place to talk about what my work life is like. It's been good for me. It's helped me purge and move on from things I would have normally held on to.

Nothing especially noteworthy happened over my weekend (Thursday and Friday). My team continued to manage our medical cases. Nothing new to report except for some run of the mill kitty colds. Mycoplasma is going through the shelter currently. It's typically easier to treat than some of the other versions of upper respiratory infections. It's harder for the public to witness because they have bloody nasal discharge with suspected mycoplasma. (I am not a doctor so I cannot diagnose it as mycoplasma. )

Saturday was nothing to write home about. In the grand scheme of Saturdays, it was pretty slow. I am perfectly okay with that!

Sunday brought a day of preparation. While our doctor is enjoying her honeymoon, we had a doctor come fill in so we could get some spays and neuters done. Lots of paperwork had to be completed to get ready. We had to prepare surgical packs and the surgery suite. Nothing new to us! My team could do that in their sleep.

Monday, we were able to get 5 spays done and 7 neuters! One of our spays was our suspected pregnant mama. She was NOT pregnant! What she did have was an infection in her uterus. It presented itself like a pregnancy would but was absolutely life threatening! She is recovering beautifully and on some good pain management and antibiotics. We removed 1.5 pounds of infected tissue from her young little body. She was 7.8 pounds before surgery and 6.3 pounds after surgery. She's only about 8 months old. This is one of the many reasons why spaying is so important. Had she continued to live outside like that and be suspected pregnant, she would have died from the infection! We are so thankful and she is very lucky that she was brought to us! We were able to get all of our new kids their intake exam so they could start their lives whether that be in foster or in the shelter.

Today was the icing on this whole year so far! We had an injured stray brought in to us today. This sweet lady posted a fundraiser for the intake fee. For someone to do that for a cat they found is unbelievable! It didn't stop there. Surprise! The cat had a microchip!

The story is a long one so I will keep it as brief as I can.

The stray kitty turned out to be 11 years old and adopted from a local shelter in 2014! Unfortunately, he was an indoor/outdoor cat and he vanished around Christmas. His family never posted him as lost because they assumed a predator had gotten him. After his owner got off work, she came to the shelter to retrieve him. I spoke with her for a bit about the dangers of him being indoor/outdoor. I showed her his wound and that it was infected and bleeding and told her he needed to go to the vet as soon as possible. The whole thing wasn't sitting well with me but what could I do?

I got up the courage to continue my honesty and asked her if there was any way she would consider leaving him with us. She looked at me and I was ready for her to get upset with me. She looked at her cat that I was holding in a towel, on his back like a baby, she looked back at me and then said she needed to talk to her family. I continued to hold him while she made the call. Much to my surprise, she came back in and said they all agreed he could stay with us. She admitted that where her doggy doors were and how her house was set up would not allow for her to keep him safely inside. I thanked her and let her say goodbye and began his treatment for his wounds.

The intake coordinator had her fill out surrender paperwork and we were doing our thing in the back with him. I was absolutely shocked that not only did she put his needs first, she left us a nice donation on top of it. Most people we are faced with are not rational and are led by emotions. She did the right thing.

I was okay until I went up front to tell Holly what had happened. I handed her back the cardboard carrier and told her she could put it back in the closet. She just looked at me and I told her he was ours. She jumped up to hug me and I lost it.

We did a good thing today!

I left work tonight feeling completely fulfilled and proud of the difference I got to make in that cat's life today. I do feel for the family who had to say goodbye to their friend of 11 years but thankfully she loved him enough to want him to be safe.

Tonight, I will sleep well. Tonight, I will sleep happy. Tonight, I can breathe. I make a difference in their lives every day. Today was just different and left me completely drained and happy. I am thankful we were there and that we actually had a rational person come to our door. Now all I have to do is love him and nurse him through his injury.