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PET Help Happy Tale: Princess

PAHS knows how important pets are to their families. Not only do they bring incredible joy to their families’ lives, but they also often form incredible bonds. PAHS does its best to help keep these families together, especially during tough times. This is possible only because of PET Help, a donations-funded program that provides financial assistance for unexpected and unaffordable veterinary bills.
Recently, PAHS was able to help Princess, a ten-year old Lhaso Apso. Princess had two previous owners before Brandy took her home. Princess was usually very lively and playful, but one day Brandy became very worried when she noticed that the little Lhaso Apso, who wasn’t spayed, was bleeding heavily for far longer than usual, becoming weak, and refusing to eat.
Princess was most likely suffering from pyometra, a life-threatening infection in her uterus. Since the uterus is removed during spay surgery, this condition is entirely avoidable. Normally, PAHS assists only pets who have been altered, in alignment with our philosophy to limit the number of unwanted kittens and puppies in our communities. In this case, PAHS made an exception.
Palo Alto Humane Society’s PET (Pet Emergency Treatment) Help program covered the cost of Princess’s evaluation at Adobe Animal Hospital, one of our partner veterinary clinics. We also consulted a specialist, Dr. Bonnie Yoffe, at the Pets In Need Low Cost Spay and Neuter Clinic. She recommended immediate spay surgery for Princess and made room for Princess as an emergency case in her already full schedule. The PAHS Spay and Neuter Voucher Program covered this expense.
Spaying and neutering pets at a young age is recommend by many organizations, including the American Animal Hospital Association and the Humane Society of the United States. Vets at Pets In Need agree that had Princess been spayed when she was young, she could have avoided her present medical dilemma.
Princess took a while to recover, but she is now happy and healthy at home with her family and is back to her usual eating habits and puppy-like antics. Brandy reports that Princess is “very polite and barks only when necessary. She sleeps with us every night and hogs the whole bed!” Princess goes everywhere with Brandy, who often carries her like a baby, letting Princess rest her head on her shoulder. On every trip, Princess sits in a raised doggy car seat and enjoys watching the world go by.
Thanks to your contributions, PAHS was able to make sure Princess will spend the rest of her life safe and happy with her family. Brandy is thrilled to have her companion healthy—like so many of us who have pets, she can’t imagine what she would do without Princess.
If you would like to contribute to PET Help and other PAHS programs that support pets and families in our communities, please visit our Donations page.

It Takes a Village

Authored by PAHS Board Member Teeda Tangprasertchai
A community of caring people that includes veterinarians, Good Samaritans, kind-hearted volunteers, local businesses, and compassionate nonprofits join together to save the lives of five abandoned kittens.
In the dusk of a cool September evening, Norma Rosales and her daughter, Marilyn Alonso, were out for an evening stroll when they heard squeaking noises and spotted a flutter of movement under a car parked along the road. A closer look revealed that, sadly, one of the six kittens had already been crushed under a car wheel and killed. The kittens’ mom was nowhere to be seen; she had seemingly abandoned them. Norma and Marilyn carefully collected the surviving five babies and brought them into the warmth and safety of their home in Redwood City. The kittens cried for their mother from a laundry basket lined with clean towels, but after being hand-fed by their rescuers, they were soon fast asleep in a snug bundle of fur and whiskers.
Mid-Peninsula Animal Hospital generously donated the veterinary care these kittens required to thrive: deworming to rid their tiny systems of parasites and blood work for diagnostics. Staff at the clinic made sure that the kittens could temporarily stay at Mid-Peninsula until longer-term arrangements could be made for them. Palo Alto Humane Society (PAHS) will sponsor the kittens’ necessary vaccinations to keep them safe from preventable diseases and, when they are old enough, their spay and neuter to prevent the births of more homeless animals. Although the kittens were safe and their immediate medical needs attended to, there was still work to be done. Selfless animal lovers like Reine Flexer, Leonor Delgado, Ann Nussbaum, and Jaye Bergen from PAHS tapped into their local networks to find safe and approved fosters for these orphaned kittens.
Since that fateful September evening, two of the kittens, Freya (the runt of the litter) and Athena, have been adopted by their foster parents, Curtiss and Pam. These two sisters are happily living the dream in a loving home, with adoptive dad, Curtiss, who helps feeds feral cats for PAHS. Volunteers like Curtiss and organizations like PAHS are these feral cats’ only source of food. The remaining three kittens found their foster home with Deborah Buck, an all-star animal advocate. She’s a rescuer and foster from Give Me Shelter Cat Rescue who takes her foster cats and kittens to Unleashed by Petco in Menlo Park so they can meet with potential fur-ever families. She also lends her time and expertise to PAHS’ school and after-school education and community outreach programs. As of this writing, Deborah is still fostering Raven, Knight, and Boo. If you or someone you know is looking to bring a feline friend (or two or more!) into your hearts and home, please contact PAHS at pahs@paloaltohumane.org.
A warm and grateful thank-you to Norma, Marilyn, Reine, Leonor, Ann, Jaye, Curtiss and Pam, Deborah, and organizations like Mid-Peninsula and Unleashed for working together with Palo Alto Humane Society to get these orphaned kittens the care, supplies, and housing they need to live healthy, happy lives.