Being employed with Wayside Waifs is a very rewarding experience, and volunteers have the same feeling. Sometimes you get those special cases with cats or dogs and you cannot help but root for them. Lottie is one of those cases. Pictured above is the day Lottie came in, with a staff member holding her for a picture and then receiving her shots.
Lottie’s intake name was Sassy, I’m assuming because she was very vocal! She was given updated flea, tick, and worm treatments along with appropriate vaccines. They were roughly two or three weeks old at this time. She had five other siblings who were rescued from a hoarding situation. Our vets examined them on intake and noticed they had ulcers on their tongues, meaning they were suspect for Calicivirus.
Calicivirus is a common respiratory disease in cats. If a cats unvaccinated, or living in poorly kept conditions, they are more susceptible to the disease. Lottie’s litter was unvaccinated and leaving in a hoarding situation, so it is no surprise they developed the disease. The infection can occur in a cat at any age, but the most common age for cats is a kitten six weeks or younger. There are vaccines for the prevention of calicivirus, but it hasn’t been proven to protect it from all cats. The symptoms are flu-like, so once you catch those you would take the animal to a vet and get a proper diagnosis, and get antibiotics to treat it.
Lottie and her siblings were placed in our foster care program with veteran foster mom Annie Hughes. Annie has housed several fosters, and her specialty is litters upon litters of kittens. Annie recalls that Lottie’s siblings “were one of the cutest litters I’ve ever fostered. Three calico girls, and three spotted ones. And they were all sweet and cute!”
Here’s one of Lottie on her own!(Or two)
After approximately a week of antibiotics, their tongue ulcers were healed and their upper respiratory symptoms were gone. They were placed on one more week’s worth of medicine just to be safe. After they were fully healed, it was time to wait to be of age and weight to be altered and put up for adoption!
As mentioned above, I had worked at Wayside during this time and fell in love with Lottie’s pictures. I spoke to Annie directly and she was very excited that I found a kitten I liked. Normally I was able to withstand the power of cuddly kittens, but she wore me down. She offered to set up a time to come meet the litter and see if she was truly the right fit. After the meeting, it was over. I definitely wanted to adopt her, and I did!
While most of the time she does her own thing, she does like to cuddle every now and then. Our vet is terrified of her and she wouldn’t have it any other way. She has two older sisters-a dog Cleo and a cat Sahara. She enjoys playing with Cleo, but Sahara doesn’t necessarily enjoy Lottie. That’s still a work in progress! I can’t imagine life without her, and I know that if it wasn’t for Wayside, Lottie and her siblings would still be in that hoarding situation getting sicker and sicker. I’m happy to report she has a clean bill of health and is enjoying her eventful life so far at a year+ old. Thank you Wayside!
You can find your own buddy at Wayside Waifs during our adoption hours!
- Monday: CLOSED
- Tuesday: CLOSED
- Wednesday: 12pm-8pm
- Thursday: 12pm-8pm
- Friday: 12pm-8pm
- Saturday: 10am-6pm
- Sunday: 1pm-6pm
Written by Teryn