Foster Kittens Iowa

I wanted to let you all know I’m still here and still fostering. I’m running my own animal rescue now with a small team and in addition to being the director, handling intakes, leading fosters and fostering myself, I am the primary person who does our social media… so keeping up with that and this account became impossible! The name of my rescue is Hero’s Haven Animal Rescue and most of our social media presence is on Facebook so check us out there if you can! I sometimes miss the days when I could focus solely on my fosters and had more time to do TNR and such but I feel I’m making a bigger impact now and although running a rescue wasn’t part of my plans and kind of fell into my hands, I couldn’t turn away from the opportunity. I hope you all are well and I see so many of you out there making a difference. Thank you. The animals need you! ❤️

🥰

Hadley (female, black) and Huxley (male, tabby) will be ready for adoption soon and would love to find their forever home together!

Kittens are $150 for a pair. This includes their spay/neuter, age appropriate core vaccines, and a microchip.

Apply here: https://heroshavenanimalrescue.rescuegroups.org/forms/

Dakota and Dexter have been adopted together! Their new mom is absolutely amazing. So happy for them!

Sweet Marnie was finally adopted today! 🎉 All four of her siblings had long been adopted but she’s been keeping her mama Marleigh company and I enjoyed having her here. She is going to a mother and son who recently lost one of their kittens to suspected FIP. 😔 She will have a kitty sister about her age. When they picked her up today and went to leave, the son double checked that the carrier was securely latched in all spots. Already protecting his new kitty! 🥰 Have the most happy life, my sweets gorgeous little mini panther! ❤️🥰

🔹 BONDED PAIR OF KITTIES NEED FOREVER HOME 🔹

Penelope & Clive
Mother & son
2 years / 1 year old

Spayed/neutered
UTD on vaccines
Microchipped

Penelope spent the first year and a half of her life fending for herself as a stray while living at a truck stop near Manchester, Iowa. She had at least two litters of kittens in that time. Unfortunately some were killed by vehicles but we were able to rescue Penelope's five grown kittens along with her, including her favorite son, Clive. Don't let the ear tips fool you! The employees had been feeding this family and all were social enough with humans that they pretty easily adjusted to indoor life and have never looked back. Penelope and Clive have been waiting for their forever home since June. Please help us find their forever family by sharing this post.

$100 adoption fee for the pair
Apply here: https://heroshavenanimalrescue.rescuegroups.org/forms/

Also fostering this little dude right now. His name is Niko. He was found very skinny and all alone on the side of the road a few weeks back. He’ll get to be buddies with Dakota, Dax and Dexter soon.

Dakota is doing much better on prazosin, a medicine that relaxes the muscles around his urethra. I’ve named his brothers Dax (black and white) and Dexter (grey and white). 😍

Meet Dakota! He is my most recent foster kitten along with his two brothers who I’ll introduce later. Dakota has been having a lot of trouble peeing since I got him and I assumed it was the result of cross-suckling trauma but turns out he’s the youngest, tiniest kitten ever to have struvite crystals. I took him to an emergency/specialty clinic today and the vet was shocked. We’re doing a round of antibiotics and monitoring for now. Usually a cat would be switched to a urinary food but Dakota is so young that the vet wants to keep him on a good kitten formula and is thinking this might be some sort of crazy fluke. So weird!!

Holding this beautiful mama and her single three day old kitten for a night. I just love them but they’ll move to another foster home tomorrow. They were not in a good situation so I’m so grateful they are safe. Mama is so sweet.

Planning/hoping to do some update posts tomorrow!

Hero's Haven is my rescue and we have several kittens waiting for forever homes!

Sorry I’ve been so absent lately. Everything is fine, I’ve just been completely focused on animal rescue on top of going back to work as a teacher with the summer break ending and planning for my October wedding. I wanted to let everyone know that Claire had to have another piece of tissue removed from her throat that was obstructing her ability to eat normally but since it’s been taken out she is doing FANTASTIC. I’ll post more soon about some exciting new endeavors in animal rescue and updates on all my fosters as well. I hope you all are doing well and thank you for your continued support. ❤️

Please help Nico if you're able to donate and please share.

I am the person who got him out of animal control to spare him from euthanasia. He was supposed to have found his happy forever home by now and instead he's fighting for his life.

🆘Emergency medical case🆘

This is Niko.

A member of our team saved him from euthanasia a month ago after his owner didn’t reclaim him from a shelter. He is now with UNleashed Animal Rescue and suddenly became very ill in his foster home yesterday and literally turned yellow with jaundice.

Turns out he’s had an illness hiding under the surface of his handsome exterior. He was diagnosed with Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia after diagnostic testing this AM. This means his body is destroying his red blood cells. He had to have a blood transfusion this afternoon.

We do not yet know how he’ll respond to the transfusion but the veterinarians who have been treating him give him about a 50/50 chance at survival. If the transfusion works to stabilize him, he will need fo undergo further treatment to address the cause of the IMHA.

We are assisting UNleashed with his medical expenses and it is going to be very expensive but this boy deserves a chance to fight. Please help us help him. Donate, if you’re able, and share!

Please also pray for and send positive thoughts and vibes Niko’s way. 🙏🏼

Thank you.

Claire was released from the hospital yesterday and is doing well! She is such a fighter. They did discover she has an enlarged heart and a murmur so she’s going to likely need further diagnostics down the road but I’m grateful she’s doing so well after all she’s been through. ❤️

Claire update: This poor girl deteriorated late last week and had emergency surgery Friday because she went into respiratory distress. What they found was not a polyp as they suspected but a giant abscess in her throat. She experienced respiratory arrest when extabated after surgery and had to be reintubated. She was able to be extabated again and breathe, though with some difficulty, on her own later that evening. She is still hanging in there but needs good thoughts, positive vibes and prayers, whichever is more your style. Thank you.

Marlo has been adopted! 🎉❤️

Ollie is PASSED out. 😍

Happy adoption day, Marjorie! Don’t tell the others but I’m pretty sure you are by favorite from your litter. 😉🥰 Have a wonderful life!

“More food, please?”

Claire amazes me.

I can see her whole spine. Her pelvic bone looks like it’s going to push through her skin. Her ribs become even more pronounced with each breath. She seems to struggle to keep the weight of her head up sometimes.

I have never seen a cat this emaciated, not even in my childhood when we had incredibly sick farm cats. 😔 She has endured so much. She has suffered.

Claire is a f*cking warrior.

I can’t even put into words what I felt when she asked for a second can of food by putting her paw in the bowl she had just licked clean this morning.

I know she’s not out of the woods yet but everything looks promising right now and for that I am so grateful.

New foster!

Meet Claire. Released from hospital today! She’s been living amongst a large colony of cats, some feral and some discarded strays, in a mobile home court. She’s clearly been struggling and suffering for quite some time. A caretaker had been trying to help her for awhile but without knowledge of live traps, etc. She ended up capturing her in a clothes basket last week.

Long-ish story short, the amazing Critter Crusaders agreed to take her case and finance her vet care. They are the same organization who helped Thor and Autumn.

Claire was in respiratory distress, anemic, severely dehydrated, and her blood and urine tests revealed a very sick cat. She is estimated to be 2 years old but has several missing teeth. She required an NG tube and of course IV fluids and meds. She was not expected to make it but she pulled through and turned a corner a few days ago. She’s eating like a horse now. Her prognosis is still guarded but it’s looking good.

She is only 4lbs and completely emaciated. She was covered in fleas and ticks and full of worms. She has a very bad ear infection in both ears and a large polyp in her throat that will need surgically removed when she’s well enough for anesthesia.

She seems to be tame meaning she was likely discarded by someone at some point.

I will be working with a few others to TNR her colony in the coming weeks. There are probably 30+ cats there.

You got this, Claire. 💪🏼

I’ll be fostering Claire when she’s released. You got this Claire! Such a strong girl.

Update on kitty Claire.
This tortie girl has been hospitalized since last Friday for severe respiratory distress and emaciation. It was very questionable whether Claire was going to survive and BluePearl Cedar Rapids placed an NG tube in her for feeding. She was initially laterally recumbent on her side which is a very grave sign. Over the last two days however, Claire has been making some big strides! She has started eating on her own, being up on her feet and engaged in what's going on around her! She does have a very large polyp in the back of her throat which could have been contributory to her severe upper respiratory disease. We won't be able to address that surgically until Claire gets on all four little kitty feet, gaining weight and improving her overall health. We were preparing tompossible lose this kitty so we are pretty tickled! The tide has turned and things are looking much better for little Claire! Thanks to everyone who donated to her very expensive care and sent prayers and well wishes. We're here to tell you that it worked! More to come!❤🐱🐾

Cece is looking for her forever home! 🏠

Two year old Cece was living on a rural property in central Iowa before coming to Hero's Haven. She was not spayed and when her caretakers realized she was pregnant due to her growing belly, they brought her inside. Cece's kittens were just a few days old when they entered one of our foster homes in February. Her kittens have since grown up and been adopted but Cece still waits for her forever home.

She is a very affectionate cat and will make a great companion for whoever adopts her. Are you looking for a lap cat who purrs and purrs and purrs? Cece is your gal! She is also very playful and loves wand toys and catnip toys. Oh, by the way, Cece is one of only 20% of orange tabbies who are female!

Her ideal home is one where she can be the only pet, or at least the only cat. 🐈 It's possible with patience and slow introductions that she could live with other cats but they really stress her out and she becomes feisty when stressed. She seems to have a better reaction to dogs but has never spent much time with them and we think she'd prefer to be the center of someone's universe than have to share the spotlight. She should do just fine with children who are respectful to cats.

She is spayed, vaccinated, and microchipped. Her adoption fee is $85.

Apply at https://heroshavenanimalrescue.rescuegroups.org/forms/.