Author: Ashley Douglas

We Were Adopted! 10/28 – 11/3

Posted on by Ashley Douglas

Minerva and 57 Pets Found Happiness this week!

Have you heard Minerva’s story yet?

After being adopted from us as a kitten in 2019, 6 months ago Minerva was surrendered to Bedford Animal Shelter. Once they realized she was our cat we arranged to have her transferred back to our care. Only when we saw her, she wasn’t the same tiny kitten we once knew. Minerva was 16 lbs of mush and love. We decided to put her on a diet and give her as much exercise as we could until she was adopted, but it wasn’t much.

Because of her special diet, she couldn’t be placed in the larger rooms, so her exercise was limited to her small crate. After months of no adoption interest, we decided to give her a shot in one of our offices with the Volunteer Coordinator. She loved it there! She was social, active, and talkative. As much as she loved it she still wasn’t losing weight, and customers were no longer seeing her. Minerva’s best chance of losing the weight was being adopted.

Finally last week after we moved her to the very front of our lobby she was adopted! We are so proud and excited for Minera, and so thankful to her adopters. We’d also like to thank Bank of the James for being this month’s banner sponsor.

Pets that were adopted October 28th through November 3rd.

Cats that were adopted:

Apple Bourbon, Belushi, Blossom, Boots, Bullseye, Caboodle, Cahoots, Cheez-it, Cherry, Doxie, Farley, Harbor, Hemlock, Hickory, Kermit, Limeade, Macy Gray, Maple, Martin, Mila, Minerva, Oakum, Oyster, pacific Cooler, Phione, Pika, River, Salma, Sassafras, Sugar Apple, Tadpole, Triscuit, and Waldo.

Dogs that were adopted:

Alfie, Blondie, Bowie, Charlie, Chilli, Chocolate Croissant, Copper, Delia, Dussell, Gabriel, Kona, Luck, Midnight, Millington, Nala, Pearl, Philadelphia, Priest, Reeka, Scooby, Simba, Stevie, Wild Bill, and Wishbone.

We Were Adopted! September 23rd – 29th!

Posted on by Ashley Douglas

Our longest stay cat, Pinhead, finally found a home!

We are so happy to report that our longest-stay cat of four years, Pinhead, has finally been adopted! You may be thinking, four years is way too long for a cat to be in the shelter. Don’t worry, Pinhead had a devoted foster who cared for him for the better part of those four years.

Pinhead was found as a kitten, he was sick with a cold and had diarrhea, which our medical team treated routinely. While we were able to get Pinhead’s respiratory problems under control, his digestive problems continued for months despite treatment. Our staff was perplexed but continued to search for a resolution. Finally, four months later, our medical team discovered Pinhead had megaesophagus. Megaesophagus is a condition that makes it difficult to get food down to the stomach.

This diagnosis is what kept him in our care for so long. At the beginning of his foster journey, he was on a liquid diet and needed to be fed at an angle until he was able to swallow. It took a lot of trial and error before he was healthy enough to be adopted, and after all that time, his foster couldn’t dream of bringing him back to the shelter. He was a second choice for many people, until this week.

A sweet girl saw him on our page and reached out. She got to meet him and speak with his foster, and she fell in love. After one more meeting to get them acquainted, she took him home last Tuesday.

Pinhead has come so far, and is practically eating like a normal cat! He still needs a soft diet and a stool to eat, but his new mom is prepared and willing to take on whatever’s to come. We are so grateful for Pinhead’s foster for caring for him for all those years, and his new adopter.

If this story speaks to you, and you want to help a kitty with megaesophagus, we have another one! Mouthra who’s also been waiting in foster for years, is ready for her happy ending. Just email [email protected] today.

Pets that were adopted September 23rd through September 29th.

Cats that were adopted:

Agatha, Archie Ray, Atticus, Bahama, Biscuit, Chamomile, Cinnamon, Cordelia, Dawn, Fitch, Honeydew, Izzy, Laffy Taffy, Marks, Mila, Perry the Platypus, Petunia, Pinhead, Rhaenys, and Rocky Balboa.

Dogs that were adopted:

Akira, Atlas, Avery, BamBam, Barney, Benji, Clarice, Elliot, Leo, Magenta, Poseidon, Socrates, and Stormy.

We Were Adopted! August 20th – August 26th.

Posted on by Ashley Douglas

Lux and 59 of her friends found happiness this week!

Lux came to us as a fearful, three-legged stray over a year ago. We do not know what her life outside was like or how she lost her leg, but she did not trust people. We categorized her as a barn cat or an indoor working cat who would rather be away from the company of people.

We learned quickly that Lux loved other cats. They seemed to help with her confidence, so we moved her into our porch room! She remained fearful of people for months to come but over time, she stopped hissing and stopped running away from staff. She soon started accepting chin scratches from staff members and started to learn that humans aren’t so bad.

Recently we decided to give Lux a chance in a more trafficked room, the living room. She quickly became friends with another living room cat named Hollis. When you walked into the room, you could always find the two of them together. Hollis gave Lux so much confidence! With the spotlight in the living room and some help from her friend, Lux got adopted over the weekend!

We are so happy for Lux and all of the pets who found happiness this weekend! Thank you to everyone who adopted and thank you so much to this month’s sponsor, Petco Love for their unwavering support.

Check out who all was adopted below!

Pets that were adopted August 20th through August 26th.

Cats that were adopted:

Belle, Bo, Buttercup, Cat Stevens, Cheddar, Colin, Daisy Duke, Dora, Dorothy, Firefly, Ghibi, Hip, Jaylen Hill, Jeff Lee, Kilimanjaro, Kitana, Knight, Little Rock, Lux, Maury, Miley, Naveen, Pip, Raiden, Roy, Scully, Seastar, Sequoia, Skinner, Smuckers, Sparky, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sugar Apple, Tamworth, Taylor Tot, Treelo, Wichita, Wilma, Winslow, Yuki, and Zuri.

Dogs that were adopted:

Allikai, Angus, Brownee, Cedar, Cowgirl, Curvy, Harmony, Judy, Keena, Lena, Marlow, Mimic, North, Poker, Rudolph, Shrek, Tuco, Unna, and Wallabee.

We Were Adopted!! August 13th – August 19th

Posted on by Ashley Douglas

Ollie waited over a year to Find Happiness, and 46 other pets also found homes this week!

Our most anticipated adoption of the year 🤩🎉

We are so excited to announce that after a year long wait, Ollie can officially say he has a home with these two! If you haven’t heard their story before, AnaGrace and Noah found and fell in love with Ollie last September. They knew from their very first petcation together that they wanted to take him home. However, being college students at the time made it impossible to adopt a dog so they hoped he would find a home with them a year later, but made peace with the fact that that just wasn’t likely.

Well, the universe had other plans because Ollie waited for them! They’ve spent nearly every weekend with him for the past year until they could finally take him home!

They have been the best parents to Ollie and they’ve only ever wanted the best for him. We are so grateful to our new friends and can’t wait for their forever together!

Congratulations and happy adoption day AnaGrace, Noah, and Ollie 🥹💚

Check out more of their story on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTNnGgAAe/ , and thank you so much to this month’s sponsor, Petco Love for their unwavering support.

Pets that were adopted August 13th through August 19th.

Cats that were adopted:

Aryll, Aurora, Bubbles, Chumpkin, Cinderella, Daddy Warbucks, Denali, Duck Donut, Ember, Emily, Everest, Evie, Groundhog, Hikari, Inertia, Lop, Lucy Liu, Matterhorn, Perseus, Rainier, S’mores, Squabble, Stormy, Trento, Yang, and Yzma.

Dogs that were adopted:

Asher, Banks, Chicago, Dumbo, Droopy, Faye Valentine, Julia, Maggie Moo, Mira, Mirkwood, Molly, Nalani, Ollie, Oreo, Raven, Scrabble, Stanley, Stormi, True, and Wilson.

We Were Adopted! July 30th – August 5th.

Posted on by Ashley Douglas

Celeste, Primrose, and 52 of their friends found happiness this week!

Celeste and Primrose may have come in from different situations, but they left as best friends and now sisters.

Celeste came into our care as a transfer from another shelter with her sister Magenta (who is in foster care now.) She was scared and timid when she got here and really wanted nothing to do with our staff. Just a couple days after being here our staff started to notice that Celeste didn’t seem like she was feeling her best either, so they did a couple tests and it turned out that she had parvo. Our medical team quickly went to work on saving Celeste’s life. With there care and dedication, Celeste survived Parvo! Since she ended up back in dog medical, she didn’t get a chance to really interact with people, other than the medical team, so her trust in us was still extremely low. This was where Primrose came in.

Sweet Primrose came to us as a stray, and was a bit shy but would warm up quickly to the right friend. She came in with another dog, Pita (who has been adopted!) so we knew that Primrose liked other dogs. Turns out she LOVES other dogs. Primrose shines through the most when she has another canine companion at her side. We decided to try Primrose and Celeste together to see if they could bring out the fun side of each other and to see if it would help Celeste come out of her timid shell. It Worked! Primrose and Celeste were instant best friends! We noticed a huge change in both of their confidence.

Primrose ended up going into foster and we noticed that Celeste immediately started to go back into that shell. The foster reached out to our foster team and say that they loved Prim so much that they wanted to adopt her! We all were so happy for Primrose but were still worried about Celeste’s decline. Our foster team spoke to them letting them so how happy we were for them and Primrose, and also explained what was going on with Celeste and if they had room and would be willing to foster her, so she and Primrose could be together. They said yes and came to get Celeste the next day. It didn’t take long for them to decide that they wanted to adopt both girls! Celeste and Primrose both became foster fails and became sisters. We are so happy for them and their new family.

Thank you to everyone who adopted this week giving so many deserving pets a second chance at happiness! Check out who else found happiness below!

Pets that were adopted July 30th through August 5th.

Cats that were adopted:

Abigail, Anastasia, Blinky, Borbolita, Carlin, Dolly, Donnybrook, Faron, Figaro, Flynn, Harper, Jack, Jamba Juice, Jerry, Julius Caesar, Kitty, Marsali, Moss, Olivia, Paulie, Pigeon, Plum Pudding, Pop, Ricki, Rosebud, Shuri, Sparrow, Terry, Wally, Walter, Yodel, and Yogi.

Dogs that were adopted:

Annette, Bingo, Blackjack, Brooklyn, Celeste, Cove, Dream, Gomez, Joseph, Noodles, Odie, Perdita, Primrose, Ripple, Roulette, Russell, Sparkles, Swirl, Texas Hold’em, and Wolf.

Small Pets that were adopted:

Butterbean and Chickpea