Not much surprises me in Rescue anymore. As much as I try to think positive and believe the best in people, it does not surprise me when I hear that people want help for cats in their care but won’t lift a finger themselves…’I have no money, no car, no job, I’m sick, disabled’…verbiage folks in Rescue hear on repeat.

I’m not bewildered when people ask me to take 17 of their unfixed cats and not offer a donation of any kind.

I’m no longer shocked when I hear of people throwing cats out of cars, dumping kittens into dumpsters or taking free kittens offered on Facebook to be used as snake food or dog fighting bait.

Today I was shook. 3 weeks ago Bear Den Sanctuary pulled A714275 aka Sherry the cat from the euthanasia list at our local city shelter. She had been scheduled for euthanasia the day before but a young lady in New York state reached out to ACS to please hold her one more day.

Sherry is 14 years old, mostly blind with a host of medical problems. She was abandoned by her owner at a veterinary clinic and subsequently turned into the shelter. 3 days after her surrender she was scheduled to be euthanized.

Until Nicole, all the way in New York, saw her picture online and fell in love with this discarded cat.

I had the easy part. A Rescue was required to save Sherry from the kill list so I sent an email that Bear Den Sanctuary will pull Sherry and the hold was placed. Nicole in New York did the rest.

She arranged a driver to pick up Sherry from the shelter, another person to temporarily foster the cat and then hired a transportation service to drive Sherry from San Antonio to New York.

Three days later, Sherry was delivered to Nicole and it was love at first sight. Immediately a mutual affection was formed between this discarded cat on death row and her new caretaker. Sherry started purring and making biscuits and enjoyed exploring her new home. Nicole says it’s easy to love Sherry.

After 2 weeks with Sherry, Nicole called me in a panic. Sherry was losing weight quickly. She stopped eating and drinking.

Nicole took her to the emergency vet on a Friday night. They ran some tests and gave Sherry fluids but Nicole believed Sherry needed more care. Saturday night Nicole took Sherry to a different emergency vet. They gave the cat different medicines and prescription cat food.

I talked to Nicole on Sunday. She was crying and asking for suggestions on how to save Sherry. She would be taking Sherry to her own vet on Monday but she wanted to make sure the cat would pull through the weekend.

Even though I’ve only had her two weeks, I really love this cat,’ she said.  All I could think while I was on the phone with Nicole is how different this world would be if everyone loved animals as much as this young lady in New York loves her thrown away senior cat from a kill shelter in Texas.

Bear Den Sanctuary takes in many cats who are owner surrendered; either abandoned or dropped off at the City Shelter or left in apartments and rental homes after their owners move.

Many of these cats have never seen a vet. Some were taken in as kittens and when the cuteness wore off, they were discarded. Some cats became a nuisance with life changes such as their owners getting married or having children or moving and subsequently the cats were dismissed.

As for Sherry, she was old and almost blind and her medical expenses were going to add up so she was abandoned. But if these animals were loved the way Nicole loves Sherry, can you imagine the kind of world this would be?

Nicole saw Sherry on the shelter website and read that she was almost blind. What ignited Nicole to reach out to a Rescue to pull Sherry from the euthanasia list and transport her all the way to New York was the thought that this cat would die alone at the city shelter without a caretaker and be so scared because she couldn’t see what was going on.

For now, Sherry is showing some improvement. She started drinking and eating on her own again. Nicole realizes Sherry likely doesn’t have a lot of time to live but she is determined to make each day with her meaningful and full of love. When Sherry’s time here is over, Nicole will be right by her side, loving her as she transitions to the light, making sure she is not alone.