The Grand "Finale" - Short and Sweet

CATNAP FROM THE HEART, LOCATED IN LAGRANGE PARK, ILLINOIS is completing its first year at C Market by holding a short auction (May 10th through June 1st) to help the CatNap animals.  Serendity (pictured here) and Finale (our Banner girl) want to ask you to help out their friends at CatNap by purchasing, donating or sponsoring our shelter in this auction.  Many of our items were left unsold in November and we have several new items to select from.  Read Serendity and Finale's story below to find out what CatNap is really all about.  In this hard economy, the shelter animals can really use your support. 

The Power of One:

The Story of Serendipity and Finale

                In late October 2008, Brian and Bobbi Meyer (the shelter director) had a chance to get away for a weekend.  They rented a car and drove to Springfield to watch a friend in a horse show. They continued  across the river and down to Columbia to stay with their daughter Michelle and their grandpuppies and grandkitties.   They left on Sunday and planned to shop for antiques in Alton.  It was a beautiful day for driving and drove up through the small town of Clarksville.  They parked and started to walk to a few of the antique stores.  As they were crossing the main highway, they heard tires squeal and saw a cat running across the road, crying in distress.  They took off running and found a group of men gathered around a large pickup with the hood up.    Being the smallest one standing around, Bobbi climbed under the hood to get out the kitten stuck inside.  They found out there was a sibling kitten and a very beautiful Siamese mix mother, who has been hit by a car several times already.  The owner finally came out and after much discussion, it was agreed that Bobbi would take the very beautiful (and very pregnant) Bebe home for proper vet care (in a luxurious taped up produce box!).   It didn’t take long before “Mom to Be” was out of the box exploring the car and sitting on their laps.  Bobbi noticed Bebe getting nervous, meowing and licking under her tail in the back seat of the rental car. 

                It’s getting a bit dark and Bobbi noticed a kitten starting to appear…not the head, but one foot and the tail.  Mom’s pushing, Bobbi’s pulling, and Brian’s driving.  An hour later, they finally had a large kitten in the box and a very tired mom.  Bobbi cleaned the kitten as best as she could and cuddled it while mom rested.  When mom couldn’t cut the cord, she realized she had no teeth to speak of.  So the four of them continued on home as the sun set.  Deciding to get on I-80, they realize mom is now trying for baby number 2.  Again a breech birth.  After another successful delivery, there were now five of them in the car and mom was attempting to nurse her babies. Bobbi could feel more kittens but nothing more happened before they arrived at CatNap.  By morning, she had two more kittens.  Sadly, mom did lose three of her babies within two days. 

While Bobbi was thinking about an appropriate name for mom, she and “Finale,” her surviving Siamese mix kitten, were placed under the comfortable care of Chrissy and her intern staff.  And Bobbi thought, what better name than “Serendipity.”  Since that time, Serendipity did break down somewhat due to stress and lost one eye.  Then the other eye developed a cataract.  However, she has pulled through all of this and is a beautiful loving cat.  She can’t see much but she knows when she is being picked up and cuddled.  This sweet gentle cat, who trusted two strangers to help her through a very difficult, overdue birth, will be able to trust, love and grow old, safe and warm.  Both she and Finale have been adopted to people we know we can trust.  This is rescue, the heart of what we do, of who we are.  This is the Power of One. 

VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.CATNAPFROMTHEHEART.ORG FOR MORE INFO ON THIS GREAT LITTLE SHELTER.