Donna's Memories with Animal Aide

14/12/2022

This page is closed as I am now retired. Take care everyone!

11/12/2022

My Final Thoughts

My Years with Animal Aide 2003-2022

Sometimes, it feels like just yesterday that I started with Animal Aide and other times, it feels like I don’t remember my life before Animal Aide. March 2023 would have marked my 20th Anniversary volunteering for Animal Aide. I have done everything from dishes, laundry and cleaning cages in the center, to bringing in needy cats, to vet runs and PetSmart runs to admin work to being on the Board. I have spent countless hours fostering – first, there were the scared, abused, neglected and feral adults to the more recent kittens. I can’t tell you who my favourites were because they have all left an imprint on my heart. The many resident cats that I had the pleasure of getting to know during my Saturdays from 2003-2010 when I worked in the center will always be a part of me.

There are so many ways to look at animal rescue. There are the bad things and there are so very many that it scares a lot of people from doing it. I don’t want to dwell on those bad things but I will repeat what I have always said about it – I have heard things I can’t unhear; I have seen things I can’t ever unsee and my heart has been broken a thousand times over the ones we couldn’t save. On the bright side, I have made countless friendships with people who have adopted cats from Animal Aide; I have made friends with the people who also volunteer for Animal Aide; I have met other rescuers who have also been beaten up by the horrible parts of volunteering but just can’t stop. I have a lot of respect for each and every one of them. There were a lot of years, I felt the same – that I would just never stop, but the time has come for me to pass the baton (so to speak) to the younger set.

I will miss my volunteering more than I can say, but I just don’t have the energy or time anymore. I have wanted to write my whole life and while this page has given me a chance to continue to write over all these years, I want to write about so much more. I want to take my dream vacation (I’ve never been anywhere) and that means working overtime at my full time job, which I can’t do without giving up something. I’m 60 now, an age where most women in my family on both sides for the last three generations didn’t get to so who knows how much longer I have to accomplish these other things.

I like to think that my nearly 20 years with Animal Aide has made a good difference in the lives of the cats and kittens I got to know. I like to think that all those years meant something I can be proud of and I like to think that I can move over and give others that same chance.

Animal Aide will go on as they did before I started. No one is indispensable and with newer, younger people maybe they will bring in updated thinking and better ideas that will keep Animal Aide going for many years to come. Animal Aide will celebrate it’s 30th year in 2023. That’s a long time for any one rescue to be in the business. Animal Aide has done a lot of good over the years and will continue to do so. I hope that all of you will continue to support them any way you can.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone I have met over the years that has helped Animal Aide and animals in need however you have helped. Whether that help came in the form of fostering or adopting or rescuing a cat or kitten you found on your own. Whether it was by donating money or things that help the shelter to go on when funds and supplies were in short supply. Whether it was by buying tickets or calendars (which we used to sell). Animal Aide can’t do what they do without each and everyone one of you. Take care everyone and lastly, I want to thank each of you who have read and enjoyed my stories. It’s been quite a ride.

11/12/2022

My favourite residents from my days of volunteering in the center. I wanted to take this opportunity to recognize each and every one of them - they are all gone now, but they were all very special to me. They were such a huge part of the center when I was there every week. There aren't many people left at Animal Aide that ever even met them now. I love and miss them all very much!

07/12/2022

I'd like to thank all of you for joining my page as I reminisce about the cats and kittens I've met in my nearly 20 years with Animal Aide. I am retiring from Animal Aide this month and will no longer meet anyone to write stories about. I'm 60 years old and feel I no longer have the energy after working a full time job. Animal Aide will continue on without me and I hope you will all continue to support them. I hope to write one final story this weekend. Again, thank you all for your support. Take care. Donna McKenney

22/10/2022

This handsome guy was Ambrose. We took Ambrose out of the pound just before Halloween in 2007. Ambrose was a sweet guy that our vets guessed to be around 3 years old. I like Ambrose – I liked the name, I like the cat. He had an adorable half white upper lip that I found gave him an air of cuteness. His black and white fur was glossy and it was clear that he had come from a home at some point. I don’t know what happened to that home or how he ended up at the pound and clearly, he didn’t either. Like a lot of cats that come into our care, they are confused by what happened to make them lose their home. The only difference is that I can only guess how Ambrose ended up there and Ambrose knows but couldn’t tell us. This sweet guy was with us for 1 ½ years before we noticed that something wasn’t right about him. He was acting differently and clearly just wasn’t himself. I was shocked when I heard that the vet found that Ambrose had cancer and it was started to attack him aggressively. Sadly, we had to let him go in May 2009. I still think of him from time to time.

13/10/2022

The first thing I remember about Amber is her bright gold eyes, always alert, very large and paying attention to everything and everyone in her vicinity. Amber found herself outside, having to fend for herself for everything. Food and shelter are not easy to come by and you often have to outsmart or out-fight to get them. Amber was one of the lucky ones because one of our previous adopters found her and new right away that she needed help. She brought her to us. Amber was a bit nervous at first. Imagine finding yourself with total freedom but at a huge cost where everyday is a repeat of the next just hoping to survive. Then imagine being picked up and brought to a place where your every need is not only always at hand, but often anticipated. Amber could be held when she came in but you could tell it had been a while since she had been cuddled. Amber was with us for 6 months before being adopted into her furever home. I was so happy for her.

03/09/2022

I’m quite the proud foster mother of these four very sweet kittens. I knew from the moment Ashley sent me their pictures when they came into Animal Aide that they were the ones for me. I brought them home almost immediately. They have huge purrs and my apartment sounded like I had a vehicle in it all the time with these four around. They are very loving, very playful and very smart kittens. Ivy was the smallest but she never let the other three push her around. Iggy was the only male, but he treated the girls with kindness and respect. Ila loved to play and was constantly laying beside me on the couch, anxious for me to play with her. Izzy could always be found trying out something new, whether it was something I wanted her to do or not. I lovingly refer to her as the Instigator. I had these wonderful babies from June 4 until August 30 and then I took them to Animal Aide and Ashley took them immediately to PetSmart in St. Thomas. I have fostered many adult cats and kittens through my nearly 20 years with Animal Aide but these kittens really bonded with me. I was ready for them to go and get homes of their own but after they were gone, I missed them terribly. On the other hand, my own adult cats are thrilled to have them gone. I wondered how long they may sit in a cage waiting for someone to see how loving and sweet they are and adopt them. Since they are black, I knew there was a chance that they could sit there into adulthood. I am thrilled to say that all four of my sweet babies were adopted Friday, September 2,2022. It was a great day for me. I’ve already heard from the new mother of my Iggy and he is doing very well and she loves him already. I hope to hear from the moms of my other kittens at some point. I hope they all live long, happy, healthy lives.

21/08/2022

Africa came to us in July 2009. He was a very vocal, very loving and cuddly cat who would squirm if you held him for what he considered to be too long. He never seemed to be affected by being at the center; he was happy in his cage or having his free time outside the cage. He got along with other cats and he seemed to love everyone and everything. This boy had it all and at just two years old, you would think that it would be easy for him to find a new home of his own. However, you would have been wrong. Because Africa was a black cat, he stayed with us until nearly the end of March of 2010, almost 8 months! During those eight months, I saw such a happy cat, nothing seemed to upset him. He was finally adopted and he lived a happy, healthy life until we received word that he died in July of 2019. I think of him from time to time and I’m glad I got to know him. He was such a sweet boy – RIP sweet boy!

14/08/2022

Poor Scruffy came to us mid-June 2008. He was found on a highway, limping badly and clearly in pain. He was taken directly to our vet who gave him pain medication that made him feel much better. Scruffy, wanted to be gentle, I could see it in his eyes. Unfortunately, whatever trauma he had been through made him not trust people and he was often aggressive towards us. Over time, his limping stopped as his leg healed and he wasn’t in any pain anymore. We couldn’t put him up for adoption just yet though, because of his aggression. We worked with him, but he wasn’t having any of it. We tried brushing him, thinking that the matts he had were causing him pain still and that might be why he was still aggressive but he wouldn’t allow us to brush him out either. He was a very handsome guy that our vet felt was about 2 years old. Scruffy was one of those cats that I felt really bad for and wished he could tell us what he’d been through and how we could help him, but that just wasn’t possible. We tried to socialize him for a little over a year but his aggression only seemed to get worse as time went on. He began hurting the volunteers and when that happened, we knew we couldn’t risk the volunteers and we had to sadly let him go. No matter how many thousands of lives we have helped over the years; no matter how many happy endings we have helped; no matter how many have lived long healthy, happy lives, it is the ones we couldn’t help that linger in our minds and our hearts. I’m so sorry we couldn’t help you, Scruffy.

18/07/2022