In January of this year, we received a much needed PetSmart Charities grant to help more at-risk animals find their way off the streets of the Central Valley into loving homes. We’re privileged to enjoy more resources than most, but it’s still not enough to cover the challenges we face, and we deeply appreciate that PetSmart Charities affords us to redefine “PTS” as “Put them somewhere” while we figure out a path for our furry indigents to a warm, comfy bed.
If you’ve ever had the opportunity to meet Mama Su, you’ll be struck with how gracious and accommodating she is in person. Behind the scenes, she is the most impossibly relentless and uncompromising person this impossibly relentless and uncompromising person has ever met. If you want something done, tell Mama Su it can’t and prepare to be shamed (relentlessly and without compromise) when she proves you wrong. Pippin is a great example.
In June of this year, Pippin was brought to us by a Samaritan who found him and litter mate emaciated and struggling to survive. The vets gave their honest assessment—not good—but Mama Su was unwilling to give up on this scrawny ginger and ordered round the clock feeding, treatment and “a hammock and a stuffy” because just because you’re skinny doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have fun and companionship. DaVinci called felines “masterpieces of nature”, Mama Su just calls them her “babies”, and you best treat them accordingly.
Fast forward to today, and Pippin is living large in a Northern CA home via PetSmart and enjoying all the entitlements of being a cat. His adopted family reports that he has “come into his own”, which from the pictures they’ve shared, means “helps run the joint”, and we could not be prouder to call him a Kirkland alum. Next time you check out at PetSmart, and you’re prompted for a donation, know that a small portion of your tribute can and does find its way to support rescuers like Mama Su in their refusal to give up on cats like Pippin.
