Sorry - it's going to be long ..I wanted to share this .

There's a wonderful no kill Shelter for Cats here. I can't say enough good about the love & help these cats get.

Once a year --- they collect donations & have an auction to raise money for the upkeep of the cats. It's really well known and a very big event . Every year I'm ready with stuff to donate for such a good cause. When I dropped the stuff off this year - I got a tour from one of the volunteers. She shared a few stories with me about how some cats got there. It tore my heart out. I had to keep telling myself "the name of this place is Happy Endings" and they all have one.

For example :

Look at this guy ....

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Here he is rubbing against the cage just looking for love. He kept reaching his paw through the cage & rolling on his back .....

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His story is : the volunteers found him in a box out side of the shelter door one morning. An attached note said - he's blind - I can't care for him anymore. ( Apparently he never saw a vet ) They took him in the shelter & noticed he never opened his eyes. The Top of the Line vet the shelter relies on determined he was 5 years old . AND - he found that his eyelashes were growing inside of the eyelids. It's a condition that happens at birth - so for 5 years , it hurt to open his eyes. The vet tried burning off the lashes - but it didn't work. The next thing was to remove a piece of the bottom lid & graft it on the top lid . It worked ! Now he's blind in one eye & has very poor vision in the other .But he's alive and well taken care of - and for all he's gone through - he' still so docile & only wants human contact. Surgery was in the thousands.

Next is the Big Bad Ass Tomcat .... they found him in a live trap sitting out side the door of the shelter. I guess he was the "demon " cat . The volunteers worked with him for months ( I call it love therapy ) and now ..... here he is in all his glory ...... the boss of the whole shelter !

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He's become the referee between any disagreements & he even grooms the kittens ! He's the Godfather and has free run of the place.... LOL

Soooooo nice ....

The next cage I went to had a beautiful black cat .... but his tongue was hanging out. I was told such a horrific story about him -- I was shaking so bad , I couldn't even get a good picture. Not saying the details ...basically kids broke it's jaw - only because it was a black cat. They were caught doing it again . I say hang the little Ba$tard$ . The shelter took him in and had a surgery to reconstruct his jaw ( $6,000 ) he's fine , but his tongue still hangs out. Now ,he's in his comfy clean cage with soft blankets to snuggle in & humans to give him lots of love. I was shaking after hearing that.

One more guy was found and given to the shelter . Wisconsin had horrible rain storms for weeks on end - someone found this cat out in the storms. The vet determined he was 20 years old . How can someone do this?

Now --- he's got a nice warm bed with lots of love to share.

Well , that's the tour of the shelter and the reason I donate. The funny thing is .... I told the ladies at the shelter ,"I'm really a dog person" - they were kinda shocked ! But hey -- babies are babies .

I do have to admit ... before I drove home , I had to park behind the building and let it all out . What a heart wrenching thing to see. I know the auction will go good . Even if the cats don't find homes - they are loved so much by the volunteers .

**** I told you it was long ! ****