Vincent, the Teacher of Love

     Vincent is one of the happiest little boys you'll ever meet. Vincent came to Rikki’s Refuge in Orange, Virginia a little over ten years ago. He’d been badly damaged in a car accident which took one hind leg, part of his tail and left the other hind leg twisted. Spinal injuries made if difficult for him to use the litterbox and he needed a lot of medical attention and rehabilitation the first two years. Thru it all he was so loving and sweet. Never growling or biting even during painful procedures.
     Volunteers came to hold and comfort him. He’d put his arms around their neck, nuzzle and purr into their ear. They found HE was comforting them! Vincent became a hero to the sad or depressed.  Nobody could talk to Vincent and not go home a happier more hopeful soul.
     Vincent is now an Educational Spokes Kitty who travels to schools, scouts, groups and events; teaching love, compassion, kindness, the value of speuter (spay/neuter), and that challenged individuals, no matter their species, are wonderful worthy beings! Though Vincent will need supportive medical care for life, he continues to warm the hearts of thousands every year.
     I love meeting his fans who tell me, “Vincent told me to spay our puppy and I told my mom and she said if Vincent said it’s the right thing to do then that’s what we’re doing!” 
     Seeing the positive changes he makes frequently brings tears to my eyes.  On a return visit, a little girl in a wheelchair told me, “They (the other kids) used to tease me and not want to be my friend. After Vincent told them I’m just the same and they should love me and care about my feelings, they do! And now they all want to be my friend, too!”

Kerry Hilliard
Executive Director, Rikki’s Refuge

DUKE THOMAS PEABODY

Duke Thomas Peabody appeared out of nowhere. He was wearing a collar and a leash and bumbling about aimlessly. Nobody stepped forward and claimed to be his friend. He was born with undeveloped eyes making him virtually blind. As the majority of the world is sighted, it was decided that one who was not had no value to society, and did not deserve even the chance of finding a home and someone to love him. Thankfully, someone intervened, and he came to Rikki's Refuge. Loving, trusting, the sweetest, most gentle personality you will ever meet, Duke has joined our program to help others appreciate the handicapped.

LITTLE ROB Once upon a time a poor little, underfed, baby piglet joined Rikki's Refuge. Big Rob was one of those special humans who loved to help out at Rikki's Refuge. This little baby piglet took a special liking to Big Rob, and before you knew it they were sharing pizzas. They only shared a few months together at Rikki's Refuge, when Big Rob, much too soon, crossed the Rainbow Bridge. The poor little baby piglet soon was christened, "Little Rob", in honor of his two legged friend. Little Rob's goal in life is to prove that nothing in a grocery store is inedible and one can never be too large.

NANNY GOAT Nanny Goat has spent many long years at Rikki's Refuge. She says they feel even longer, since she is fed a diet woefully short on Oreos. She continues to insist that Oreo cookies are the best diet for goats. Poor Nanny Goat is forced to eat unappetizing things like hay, nutritionally complete goat pellets (without chocolate), fresh fruits (no, chocolate covered cherries are not in the fruit category) and vegetables, whole wheat bread, and occasionally a few cookies as a snack.

PEEPERS So many of her cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles and even her mom met their fate at a Thanksgiving or Christmas feast that she turns in horror and runs at the thought of the holidays. Even though she's been safe here at Rikki's since she was ten days old, she still can't trust human kind around the holidays. She wants to remind you that Tofurkey is an excellent choice during the holidays. And that like you, her kind only want peace, love and the ability to live out their natural lives with their friends.

My sisfur Pepper Kitten Face is one of the many differently abled kitties here at Rikki’s Refuge who’s ready for adoption and looking forward to her very own forever home.  Don’t get me wrong now, I love it here at Rikki’s and I’ll stay her for the rest of my natural life.  I need a lot of special care that requires me to have hoomans in attendance and a very special doc who loves me too!

When Pepper first arrived she had problems that required a lot of care.  Now she’s doing great and with a few modifications could live happily forever in a regular home. Now in this special interview I will introduce you to her. - Vincent

Peppers, tell me how you came to Rikki's Refuge, and how old you were at the time? How long have you been there now?

I joined the Rikki’s Family back in May 2010. I was about twelve weeks old when I was lucky enough to come to Rikki’s.  My mom had been dumped for having “yet another litter of kittens”.  I don’t understand how that happens when a trip to the Speuter Clinic solves that forever!  A nice lady took us home. I had brofurs and sisfurs. We were all black and white. Even mom. 

At first the hooman I was with didn’t notice that my hind legs were different.  I had a birth defect.  I was born with the joints on my back legs fused together and they sort of bend to the side. When I was a few weeks old she took me to her vet, a doctor that Vincent’s mom knew and used back when she lived in the city. The doc knew all about Rikki’s Refuge and knew that differently abled kitties can have wonderful lives.  She told the hooman who had my family not to kill me, but to see how things went and she was sure I could live at Rikki’s if I needed too.  I was really glad that hooman took me to a nice understanding doc.  I didn’t want to get killed just cuz my legs were different.
Then the hooman we were living with said I wouldn’t use the litterbox and I also had sores on my legs from scooting about so she took me back to the doc to kill me.  The doc called Vincent’s mom and she said, yes I was very welcome at Rikki’s and she was sure my sores would heal and I’d build calluses as I got older. The hoomans at Rikki’s have a lot of experience with special needs kitties, and doggies and chickens and rabbits and guinea pigs and horses and all kinds of animals.  They knew how to make sox for my legs so I wouldn’t get sores while calluses grew. 

Are there certain things you have a harder time doing than other kitties?

I sure don’t have trouble being one of the first to the food bowl in the morning!!!! 

At first it was very hard for me to get to the litterbox.  When I was little I just couldn’t climb over the edge of the box.  Now that I’m getting to be a big girl I have no problem.  Well, not much.  I reach up with my hands and grab the side and sort of flip into the box!!!

I get around almost as fast as my friends.  I kind of scoot, though I’m learning to stand up and sort of hop too.  A lot of things may change as I grow.  My best friend is Callie.  Her hind legs are deformed too!  She’s a manx and has a lot of other problems and needs help being able to potty. 

Since I can’t stand up and dig right in the litterbox sometimes I get poopy on my legs or tail.  I have to get a bath almost every day.  But I’ve learned that water isn’t as scary as my mom told me!

It’s harder for me to climb up kitty trees.  That’s why they don’t clip my claws as much.  I need that extra clinging power to really have fun! 

Tell me a little bit about your life at Rikki's Refuge.

It’s lots of fun!  There are a lot of us.  I live in the 9th Life Retirement, Assisted Living and Psychiatric Center at Rikki’s Refuge. Lots of hoomans work and visit here so I get to play with them all the time too.  I love sitting on laps.  I love chasing the vacuum cleaner too.  I think cleaning time is play time.

We have kitty doors that go out to a Day Room.  That’s like a protected outdoor space.  It has a fence, even on the roof!!!  We can lay in the sun and see the different weather.  That’s really nice too.  I’d never seen a chicken when I came here.  Now I’m used to them talking to me thru the fence, though I still get a little scared when a rooster crows loud right next to me.

My day starts at 4 am when we get our breakfast.  It’s yummy.  We have all the dry food we want but for breakfast and dinner we get canned nums.  I love my canned nums!!  Six platters are served to us in the 9th Life Retirement, Assisted Living and Psychiatric Center and I run from one to the next and try them all! 

After breakfast I usually curl up on the quilt with Vincent and some others and catnap till the cleaning crew come in around 8 am.  Then I race and chase the vacuum and get help and loved.  I especially liked Thursdays all summer when the Teen Program kids came out to work.  I got a lot more loving on those days!! 

In the afternoon I usually get a bath and I get held while I’m drying off.  Then I scoot around and play with Callie and the other young folks while the old folks nap.  About 5 pm we get dinner and I get to sample all the platters again. 

Sometime in the evening I like to go out in the Day Room and watch the sun go down and listen to the different sounds at night.  About 10 pm it’s lights out and mom gives us all a kiss.  There’s a big quilt that a whole bunch of us sleep on and I love to snuggle up with everybody!  Some of the kitties like to go off and find their own private place but I love to be right in the middle of the bunch.  It’s so warm and cozy!

What are your favorite activities?

Oh, sampling platters is the best!!!  And I love to play.  Catnip is sooooo good and volunteer Catnip Candy makes these great sacs with organic nip we can play with and toss all over.  I love laying in the sun.  Watching all the different kinds of animals.  And I really love being with my friends.  I love string pull too!!  And feather jumper.  And follow the red dot!  That’s so cool when all of us charge from one side of the room to the other and all slide into each other!

If someone wanted to adopt you, what would they have to do that is different than with other kitties?

I have to have a pretty smooth and slick area to get about on.  I can’t live on carpet cuz my legs would get carpet burn and if I get sores it’s hard to heal cuz I don’t want to stop scooting about.  I have vinyl and that’s purrfect.  Can’t have bumps and lumps on the floor like thresholds that I could get hurt sliding over. 

And I can’t be near things with small openings in them.  Like a basket with a really lose weave or wrought iron decorative table legs or anything.  It’s easy for me to get my legs caught in things and since they don’t move well, I can’t get out on my own. I could be stuck and the circulation cut off if somebody wasn’t there to help me right away.

Also I can’t be left alone with string toys, like feather hangers or even like a sweatshirt with strings.  I love them and I like to roll and play and they get tangled around my legs.  So I need a hooman to play with when we use those kind of toys.

My hoomans also need to accept that my claws need to stay longer and pretty sharp so I can climb.  I’d hate to have them trimmed short and then not be able to get on the couch or up a cat tree. My hooman must be understanding and nice about cleaning up poop if I accidentally get some on my legs and smear it on the floor.  And they have to give me warm bottom half baths!! 

I don’t know what might change as I grow to my full body size, so they’ll have to be ready to grow and change with me.

What do you think would be the best part of finding a new home?

A home of my own?  A real forever home?  Oh my, that would be so wonderful.  Where I was loved forever and ever no matter what!  I’d have to have kitty friends, at least one and hopefully several, cuz they mean a lot to me to play and sleep with.  I’d get so much one on one attention.  I’d miss my friends at Rikki’s but it’d be so cool to have a forever home!

Gibson !!!   LIVE and in Catson doing the Happy Dance !!! After almost a year and a half of confinement, healing from traumatic wounds, Gibson tastes freedom at last!

In February of 2009, Gibson was out for a stroll on a dark and starry night.  He stumbled onto a pile of garbage while looking for something to eat.  While digging thru the trash he got caught up in a monofilament onion bag.  It grabbed first one leg, and as he tried to struggle free, it grabbed his other front leg and then wrapped around his neck.  He rolled and kicked and fought, and it only wound tighter.  So tight he could hardly walk.  So tight he could hardly breathe.  It was cutting deeply into his armpits and across his chest.  He thought the monster would win and he’d die alone.

He was hungry, skinny, he’d been on the streets trying to survive for awhile.  He smelled tuna.  Tuna?  Tuna!  There was a nearby trap where a feral colony was undergoing TNR.  Maybe the feral colony is why his hoomans chose this place to dump him.  It happens to house kitties a lot.  Their hoomans don’t want them anymore and dump them where they see other cats.  But house kitties don’t have street smarts, they don’t speak feral, and they often die when dumped. But Gibson’s story, though pretty dire now, was going to end on a very, very happy note.  It was just going to take another year and a half. 

He dragged himself to that tuna baited trap, hoping to have just one last meal before this monster wrapped around him either strangled the life out of him or cut deeply enough for him to bleed to death.  WHAM ... he was trapped.  This only added to his fright.  He rolled that trap, he fought the monster wrapped around him, and now this giant metal monster.  Soon parts of the onion bag became entangled in the trap, causing it to cut deeper and deeper under his arms and across his chest.

In the morning - I hope it was just the next morning - a hooman came to check the traps and found a blood soaked badly damaged cat.  He certainly looked dead.  As she stared in horror, he lifted his head enough to hiss and let her know he was still alive.  But certainly not a patient for a Speuter Clinic.  She took him to the local pound.  Gibson used his last strength to hiss and snarl and try to lash out at the hoomans, who he didn’t understand were now there to help him.

He had to be anesthetized before he could be untangled from the trap.  It took surgery to cut the strings of that onion bag out.  Deep, deep wounds under his armpits.  Crisscrosses on his chest cut almost to the ribs, over and over.  Cuts between his fingers where he’d entangled his paws trying to escape the onion bag.  Thankfully the cuts on his neck were not as deep, or he wouldn’t be here today to tell his story.  It took hours of surgery to cut out all the string and stitch him back together.  The surgery didn’t even begin to address his bashed nose, swollen face, torn nails, where he’d slammed into the cage walls trying to free himself.

In the morning when the staff arrived they found a frantic cat; screaming, lashing out, howling, snarling and throwing himself against the cage door.  They realized they would not be able to care for him.  Wounds like this require frequent handling and care to heal properly.  He needed antibiotics and pain meds.  When they tried to put the meds in food, he slapped the bowl away.  He was totally terrified.  He must be feral.  And they needed the “feral people” over at Rikki’s Refuge.

Soon Gibson was screaming and trying to tear out of our hospital cage.  It was so hard to hold him still enough to dress his wounds without causing further damage or ripping out some of the hundreds of stitches he had.  But at Rikki’s Refuge the hoomans do what ever they have to, to save somebody’s life.  They get bit, they get scratched, and they are so happy when they see a happy, healthy, healed patient.

He’d already ripped out some stitches under his arm before he got to Rikki’s Refuge.  Soon the other armpit had a raw hole too.  As he began to heal, he began to calm down.  A couple weeks went by and the hoomans learned he wasn’t a feral kitty afterall.  He was a terribly frightened, hurt, but friendly kitty.  Someday he would purr again.  And when that day finally came, every hooman at Rikki’s Refuge held him and sobbed into his fur.

Weeks went by, then months.  He had another surgery, then another.  His chest healed up.  His neck healed up.  The arms and feet healed.  But those dawg gone armpits were real problems.  He’d have another surgery to close them.  And he’d stretch and rip it open.  He had to be kept confined in a small area where he couldn’t climb, because climbing he loved, and he’d reach way up and stretch his arms out full length, and rip his delicate new skin. Have you ever tried dressing the armpits of an angry kitty?  It’s not an easy job!  And bandages can’t be left on.  If they’re tight enough to hold, then when he’d move, they’d cut into his tender healing flesh. 

It was a very long slow process.  Three steps forward, one back.  He was in a cage or being held for almost a year before he was healed enough to start getting about.  Still, he had to stay in a relatively small area.  Now he began some normal stretching.  And a tender spot would open up.  Physical therapy was started to keep the skin stretched out during the final healing.  At first that was painful since the scar tissue was so tight.  Eventually physical therapy time grew into a fun belly rubbing stretching purring time.

And today, after almost a year and a half, Gibson knows freedom!  He’ll be living in the 9th Live Assisted Living Section while he gets used to doing normal kitty things again.  He no longer needs physical therapy, but he will be receiving occupational therapy!

Climbing the shelves was his first activity of choice! For a year and a half, Gibson had not been allowed to climb!  Now he can explore the tippy tops of everything!!!  And thru it all, he never forgot the Happy Dance!!!

Translated and written by Vincent D. Cat, Official Spokes Kitty of Rikki's Refuge, no-kill, life-care, multi-species, peaceful sanctuary.   If it warms your heart to know that kitties like Gibson have a place to go, please make a donation so we can continue to do our work.  http://www.rikkisrefuge.org/donate.php  We thank you!