Tenth Life Cat Rescue

This sweet boy came to us in a roundabout way.

One of our foster parents generously volunteers her time, energy, and money to helping feral cats in St. Louis. She, along with other feral cat advocates, are working together to perform TNR (trap-neuter-return) in our city and make life better for these forgotten creatures.

During a recent trapping, she came across this sweet guy and couldn’t bear to turn him back out onto the streets. So another rescue organization offered to take him and put him in their adoption program. However, upon veterinary examination, it was found that this handsome orange and white kitty was positive for Feline Leukemia (FeLV). The organization who had custody of him has a policy to euthanize cats who test positive for FeLV.

Tenth Life was then contacted to see if we could take this special cat into our own program. Luckily, we have a wonderful foster mom who has another FeLV+ kitty, Judd, who needed a fellow positive buddy. So now, this special guy is in our care, and we couldn’t be happier!

These precious babies came to us today, via a kind-hearted gentleman who was merely taking out his garbage on the north side of St. Louis.

When putting his bag into the Dumpster, he noticed another plastic trash bag, next to the waste container, was moving. Wondering if rats or mice resided inside the bag, he opened it and was surprised to see a litter of five sweet kittens, only four weeks old. He contacted SNUGGLE, who kindly referred the man to Tenth Life, since the former organization focuses their efforts on much younger animals (neonates). We were more than happy to step in and take these poor, abused babies into our care.

Currently, the five kittens are enjoying a pampered life in their foster homes. Their health is being carefully monitored and they will see our veterinarians this week. Meanwhile, they are eating well and playing, as kittens should!

The generous volunteer, who transported the kitties from their kind rescuer to Tenth Life’s care, called the rescuer a few hours after the kitties arrived at our organization to offer him an update. Apparently, this kind gentleman is ridiculed by his neighbors because of his love for animals. He was questioned by neighbors as to why the Tenth Life volunteer would not SELL them the kittens. And when told that we were planning to name one of the kittens Willy, after him, the gentle rescuer broke down into tears. We are grateful to this angel living on the north side.

Unfortunately, these sweet babies are the lucky ones out of many kittens who will face cruel and untimely deaths this spring. It is so crucial to get the word out about the importance of spaying and neutering companion animals. Throwing babies into the trash IS NOT an option. There are people and organizations here to help… please reach out to those in need!

Sweet Houdini landed himself in an animal control facility, and Tenth Life was contacted to help him. His carpal joint was luxated, and he had been walking on the joint, causing the skin to open and bleed. Upon further investigation, our vets found that this injury was an old one and has extremely slim chances of being corrected. And, even if we attempted to stabilize the injured joint, there’s no guarantee that it would work, or be reasonably comfortable and mobile for Houdini.

Therefore, the best option for Houdini is an amputation. Luckily, he’s a young boy, at only 7 months of age, and will likely recover and learn to cope very quickly. His surgery will cost well over $600, but his comfort and health are well worth it.