My daughter, Rory, is the ‘kitten’ in our logo. I think of her as the girl who truly ignited my passion to help kittens and mothers. Read on to understand how our rescue started.
Our Story…and a kitten named, Rory.
I had been working with another rescue organization for a couple of years; fostering babies that required bottle feeding and kittens/cats requiring palliative or intensive care. My office had already been turned into a foster room. In 2017, I came across a feral, very pregnant female who I brought home, and she gave birth the next day. Laoise had four beautiful little girls. This was my first such experience and anyone who has worked with a feral mommy knows you must tread carefully. Sadly, one precious soul, Leia, passed away at about three weeks of age. I was utterly heartbroken.
While I was equipped to care for this little family, they led me to dive deeper into neonatal kitten development and care.
Laoise’s other three children thrived, and both my husband and I fell in love with a little black and white girl whom he named, Rory. It was pretty much decided she would join our family.
The artist who designed our logo did so from a picture of me holding Rory in my hand.
All Laoise’s children received their needed vaccinations, deworming, etc. and were brought to a rescue at about 12 weeks of age where they were spayed then adopted into approved families. Yes, emotional goodbyes indeed. Laoise was spayed, vaccinated, etc. and returned to her community where there were caretakers. While I couldn’t touch her, I believe she knew I loved her and her babies.
Along with her feline family, Rory inspired a deep desire to keep helping kittens and mothers and kittens without mamas. I was pretty good at it and found great joy doing this. As a passionate advocate for compassion to ALL species of animals and living in alignment with these values, I was led in the direction of rescue. I focused my learning journey on kitten and neonatal care which is ongoing. I couldn’t do this without the education/training I’ve gained from veterinary professionals. My background as a seasoned Registered Nurse has been invaluable too.
While the goal is always to PREVENT more kittens from being conceived through SPAY/NEUTER, we know there will always be cats in need.
Rory is quite the ‘voluptuous’ girl now. She craves attention and poops outside her litter box if it’s not to her liking. We often call her “squeaker” because of her meow. Rory is pretty much wherever I am. My husband and I are honored to have played a profound part in her life, and that of her mother and sisters, but most of all to be her parents. She certainly set me on a path I believe I was meant to follow, and she walks it with me.
~Jena
“Here for the animals”
Lakewood Kitten Rescue 