Success Series - Abbey and Annie

Welcome to another installation of our Success Series! Every Friday we will post the story of a pet who has found their forever home through HSEC. If your animal was adopted from HSEC and you want them to be featured on the blog, contact us here: humanesocietyofec@gmail.com 

Abbey and Annie

(and Sam!)

by Sam Dinner

Abbey

Abbey was turned into the Humane Society in January of 2010 after living in a home for 7 years! The transition from a home to a shelter is never easy on an animal, let alone a senior one. Three months of sitting at the shelter getting over looked because of being black and older tugged at my heart. I decided to give Abbey a break from the facility and foster her a few days.

This was typical of me while working at HSEC. I would constantly bring different dogs home in order to give them a break and to also see how they did in a home. Learning about their behavior in a home better helped me find the perfect match for their future forever home! The plan was to take Abbey for a few days, well days turned into weeks and then someone came into HSEC wanting to adopt Abbey. Normally this would be awesome but Abbey won a chunk of my heart and I just couldn’t imagine her in someone else’s family.  And so our family began!

Abbey and Judy

After I gave Abbey some time to adjust more to her new home I decided to get back into fostering! Abbey tends to be an older grump when it comes to new adult dogs coming into her home. So fostering was narrowed down to baby puppies and kittens, adult cats, small dogs and submissive big dogs. Abbey likes to be alpha most of the time. Abbey and I fostered many animals. The first cat we fostered was Judy, an extra large black kitty. It was love at first sight. One day I came home to find Abbey using Judy as a pillow and they were fast asleep together.

Annie

A few fosters later, a baby kitten arrived at the facility, later named orphan Annie. We all immediately noticed something not right with her eyes. This kitten was malnourished and very angry about her current situation. Luckily she was small enough to learn how to trust humans! After being seen by our wonderful board vet, Dr. Eldridge, Annie was diagnosed with Congenital Upper Eyelid Agenesis. This is a birth defect that left her without upper eyelids. With no eyelid to protect her eyes, her hair rubbed against them and would gradually damage her cornea. The condition is painful and would have eventually damaged her sight and lead to blindness.  Until funds were raised and surgery was an option, Annie needs lubricant in her eyes twice a day to keep them from getting dry and to act as artificial tears. This was both painful for Annie and me. She hated it and I hated having to restrain her for it.

Abbey and Annie

Annie and Abbey starting forming a very special friendship while waiting for surgery. At first, Annie was afraid of a 65 pound dog but with some time they began to get along. Not only did they get along but they played!! Most wouldn’t believe how a 5 pound kitten and a 65 pound dog would play but boy did they have fun! Annie would linger by Abbey making sure that tail was up high for some kitty butt sniffing and then she would paw at Abbey’s face until she would play. Annie would then roll on her back while Abbey gave love nibbles and frisked her up and down!

Thanks to generous HSEC donors we were able to raise money to pay for Annie to have surgery! The procedure included grafting skin from under her eye to use and create the new eyelid. A specialist at Animal Eye Care in Cary, NC did the surgery. Oh and if you were wondering, the pain that Annie had with her eyes DID NOT slow her down!! She was a crazy energetic kitten who got into everything! The surgery was done and Annie looked a bit unusual for a while but is now looking much better!

Annie thanks her generous HSEC donors!

While Annie was away for surgery and her multiple vet visits, Abbey was miserable! She missed her kitty and wanted her back! Annie even went to the facility on some weekends to try and find a home but she hid in her litter box and didn’t enjoy new people. Today she will still hide when I have a visitor but will come out with time! Those qualities don’t show well when public come in looking to find a outgoing companion.

In January after graduating ECU and getting a big girl job, I was planning for a move. Abbey begged me to take Annie with us and I told her she that it wouldn’t be the same without her. So after having Annie in foster care with us for 10 whole months and only knowing us her whole life, Abbey and I decided to adopt Annie! The 3 of us recently moved to Cary, NC and we are all adjusting well to the new home. Their favorite pastime is looking out the window together.

Annie had a checkup at Animal eye care on Feb 7 and we were told that her eyes are doing great and that she doesn’t need to come back anytime soon!! Although her eyes will never look like a normal cats eyes, they are no longer causing her pain! Yippee!!

With a new home and a new start for Annie now, I believe she has changed so much! Just recently my dad came to visit me and he was here 2 months ago in my old apartment. 2 months ago, Annie was nowhere to be seen and wouldn’t even come out from the closet or under the bed because she heard a low deep scary voice. This past weekend, Annie was all over my dad! Slept next to him, let him pet her and was very curious and stayed out the entire weekend!! Huge progress since I had been the only one in my home that she didn’t hide from!

Our family is complete……….. for now ;)