You know you can never judge a book by its cover, and that is ESPECIALLY true for shelter animals. No matter how hard we work to keep our facility friendly, clean, and inviting, the shelter is not the safe, loving home that our rescue animals are used to – and that’s a scary thing. As such, their personalities may not come out so easily. Peggy learned that about her forever friend, Nikolena!
Do you have a shelter success story of your own? Please click here or you can email us at [email protected] with the subject line “Shelter Success Story.”
“I met Nikolena in 2000 while volunteering at the shelter. She was four months old, had two sisters with her and her name was Sunshine then. I stopped by a couple days later – her sisters got adopted and she was all alone. I overheard customers say “that one has no personality” – she looked up at me with such a sad expression. I had to take her home!
Boy were they incorrect! Nikolena is so sweet and affectionate that I call her my little sack of sugar. Here she is with one of her siblings.. Astrid .. also HSBC alumni. Nikolena is the calico on the left. She prefers this little crate with soft blankets to any cat bed.
About eight years ago, she developed an illness that made her stop eating. Our vet had to finally put a tube in her neck to her stomach. I fed her using a syringe into the tube several times a day for three weeks. It was a tough time but she pulled through!
Nikolena will soon be 19 and we just want to say how grateful we are to the HSBC for being there for animals and people too. Also – she wants to tell you that when you see cats at the shelter, even though sometimes they may not seem to “have a personality” there – they are all pretty awesome when they get their forever home!”
-Peggy
