Whiskers for days!

Pepe and her foster dad heading to UC Davis.

Pepe after surgery.

The first thing you notice about Pepe Le Pew are her magnificent whiskers... there are so many adorable white whiskers going in every direction!! What wasn't immediately noticeable about this sweet girl was that she was born with a congenital condition that would lead her and her foster parents on a long journey to recovery.

Pepe Le Pew was one of a litter of bottle baby kittens that came in as strays at the peak of this year's kitten season. Her foster parents bottle fed her and her litter mates around the clock for weeks until they were old enough to eat on their own. While the other kittens transitioned to solid food easily, Pepe was unable to keep solid food down.

Our shelter medicine team took x-rays and found that Pepe had a congenital abnormality called a "Vascular Ring Anomaly". This happens before birth, when the kitten's heart is developing, and a band of tissue wraps around and constricts her esophagus. Kittens with this condition have trouble keeping food down, lose weight and are at higher risk of developing pneumonia.

We consulted with the team at the U.C. Davis School of Veterinary Medicine regarding treatment options for Pepe. It turns out Dr. Ingrid Balsa, a UCD surgeon, has a special interest in this condition and her research on vascular ring anomalies has even been published in veterinary surgery journals!

Unfortunately, at 14 weeks old Pepe did come down with pneumonia... The CT scan confirmed Pepe's diagnosis but brought good news: she suffered from the most common cause of vascular ring anomaly, which can be corrected with surgery! 

While still under anesthesia from the CT scan, Pepe was taken to surgery and the constricting tissue wrapped around her esophagus was removed. She spent the night in the UCD ICU for close monitoring.

Pepe, or Princess Peppita as she is now being called, is doing very well. She is currently recovering at home with her devoted foster parents who report the good news that she is keeping all her food down and doing very well since the surgery!!

The other thing her foster parents reported? That after all they'd been through together, they simply couldn't let her go so they have formalized her adoption!! ❤️

While all adoptions are special, there is something especially heartwarming when a senior animal finds the perfect home.
12-year-old Dante had a tough time on the streets before finding himself in the shelter. Happily however, this charismatic cutie was only at our Healdsburg shelter for a few days when the Holly family made an appointment to come in and meet him.
Even though Dante could be a bit shy, he quickly warmed up and worked his way into their hearts! The Hollys decided to make the adoption official and bring Dante home for all the love and lap time he deserves.

Happy trails, Dante! 💗

Our community has had it's fair share of challenges... most recently in the form of the Walbridge Fire that had us evacuating our Healdsburg shelter. We hesitate to say we're used to evacuations but we would say we've become more efficient at them - we were able to quickly and safely move all of the animals to our Santa Rosa shelter when we got the warning!

Once evacuation orders were lifted and it was safe to move back in, we repopulated our Healdsburg campus with some adorable kittens and cats and happily resumed our online adoptions by appointment.

We are so grateful to the first responders and fire fighters who worked so hard to keep us all safe during this event. We are also incredibly grateful for YOU. Your outpouring of love and support has helped us stay resilient and able to focus on doing the very best for the animals even in stressful times. Thank you! 

Psst... did you know that you can vote for us for the 2020 Healdsburg Business Awards? 

We'd love to have your votes for "Most Creative Virtual Experience" (our Wags, Whiskers & WiFi Gala) and "Best Acts of Kindness (local non-profit)"

Vote here now:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R9HMLQB

*Limit one vote per person. Polls will be open until end of day, Wednesday, September 23.

THANK YOU!!!

You already know that KZST’s chart-topping playlist puts some pep in your step and their fun, positive on-air personalities keep a smile on your face… but did you know the good people behind this local radio station have a longstanding love of animals and community?  

In 2013, the station started sponsoring a “Pet of the Week” feature on-air and online, a tradition which continues to this day—each Wednesday at 8:10am, HSSC Executive Director Wendy Welling can be heard talking about one of our adoptables with Brent Farris on his morning show. 

KZST has also been a valued sponsor of our annual gala. This year, their generous support helped make our Wags, Whiskers & WiFi virtual event such a wonderful success – for the animals! 

KZST - your format might be “Adult Contemporary”, but we think you ROCK!!!