My determination paid off and I am overwhelmed with joy for our little Delila.  For the love of Delila I did not give up on looking for help for this lovely little girl.

Delila was brought to us by Steve and Nat, our volunteers who were called to assist little  Delila who was living in the backyard of a house that was being rented by a U.S. family.

Delila seemed blind in one eye and after taking her to a few vets here in Belize and getting the same diagnosis that not much could be done for her little eye and she would eventually loose her vision in the next eye, I investigated further and found out she was born with no eyelids.  I continued with my research to find out if there was help for her condition and I came across an article about a woman who had found a homeless cat with the same condition.  The article stated that a doctor in Texas did surgery on the cats eye and his vision was saved.   Out of desperation and figuring I had nothing to loose I emailed the doctor for help and he responded in no time stating that if I could get Delila there he would take care of her condition.

I started making calls to friends and my wonderful friend Laura put me in touch with Vikki and Jimmy who were passing through the Chetumal area and offered to take Delila all the way to Texas.  Yoo hoo!

After a 45 minute boat ride and a 3 hr. bus ride Delila and I made it to the boarder.  We both were so anxious and sad and could not sleep that night until wee hours of the morning.  Delila kept me up playing and being as cute as ever.  The next day Vikki and Jimmy arrived to pick her up and I felt so sad to see her go but happy at the same time knowing that Delila will get the help she needed.  I said goodbye and hugged and kissed my little one and the vehicle drove away.

A few days later they informed me that Delila was even luckier and had found a wonderful home where she will live out the rest of her happy days.  We miss little Delila but know that she will be well taken care of in her new home.

We want to personally give our appreciation and thanks to Laura, Vikki, Jimmy, Darci, Molly and the staff of the Texas Cat Hospital. Special thanks to Dr. Roy Smith for saving Delilas’ vision and giving her a chance at a better life and to Cynthia for all the assistance and love she is providing to Delila and keeping me up to date about her.  I also want to give a special thank you to Delila’s new mommy,  Patti, for giving Delila a forever home and a  wonderful chance at life.  You guys are wonderful!

Madi Collins

Founder

Little Bonsai is not tiny anymore, she is growing so fast.  It feels like it was just yesterday that she was brought in to the sanctuary.

Bonsai has had it with all the rain.  It’s been raining on the island for a few weeks now but since yesterday the weather channel announced that a tropical depression was in the area and it has been raining non stop.  Last night it thundered so loud that my three kitties were very afriad.  I was so sad for the other kitties in the cattery downstairs because I know that a few of them are also afraid of thunders.  This is little Bonsai in the picture who is not that little anymore.  Today Bonsai ran around the house like he was crazy tormenting the other 3 cats, she finally decided that since she couldn’t go outside on the deck the best thing for her would be to jump into her favorite hammock and dream the day away and maybe the sun will come out tomorrow and everything will be back to normal.

Mystic our new little girl brought to us only a few days ago on 9/22/08, is still in shock. While riding his bicycle a tourist found her swimming for her life. Next to her lay her dead siblings. Little Mystic was soaking wet and trembling from the cold. We immediately covered her in a warm blanket and gave her a quiet place to be. She is very scared and hides all day behind a bed. She comes out to eat and drink when no one is looking. We were very excited today when she finally came out to eat while we were there trying to get her attention with some toys. She is adorable and we know she will be alright thanks to the compassionate tourist who saved her life. Sadly there was nothing he could have done for the other siblings. Little Mystic needs a home, would you open your heart to her and take her home? To find out about adoption please see our pet adoptions information. We would also love your help to make a difference for all the other animals on this island and stop the abuse, so we implore on you to sign our petition against animal cruelty in Belize.

Sweet little Raisin was trapped during our healthy pets campaign week where we brought in a team of vets from the United States to provide free sterilization and other vet services to the island animals of Caye Caulker. Unfortunately the vets were unable to sterilize Raisin as she was very sick with an upper respiratory infection and would have died. So we kept her and nursed her until she got better and our vet at our PAWS for Pets clinic sterilized her after she got better. However, we got so used to Raisin and she to us that we were very sad to return her back in the little forest where she lived as she had already adapted to her new sanctuary life and we were afraid that she would have had a tough time trying to readjust to her old group and environment. So little Raisin will be living out her little life here at PAW unless she could find a wonderful home. If you would like to adoption her please pet adoptions information.

She was so tiny but lovely that we named her “Bonsai”. Bonsai was brought to us on 7/16/08 & although our place is full to capacity we just could not say no especially after looking into her beautiful little blue eyes. The woman who brought her told us that she had been hearing the little kitty cry under her house for a couple of days & did not see her mama come by to feed her, so after taking her to another place who refused her I just did not have the heart to do the same to her. We love little Bonsai and she is now sharing my loft with three other cats, or its more like Bonsai is letting the other cats share it with her as she has literally taken over. In the picture Bonsai is relaxing next to big brother Sunshine. We would love to find a lovely home for Bonsai so if anyone is interested in adopting little Bonsai, please see our pet adoptions information.

A few days ago a black malnutrition kitten was found in our sanctuary yard. She probably smelled the food and starvation forced her out the woods although weak and fragile.

One of our volunteers caught her and we immediately put her in one of our cages, gave her food, water and a warm blanket. She was very scared and since she has probably never had contact with the human touch kept hissing at us as we were trying to take care of her.

Her fur falls off at the slightest touch and she had a severe upper respiratory infection and was having trouble breathing. She really looked like she was not going to make it but today she is breathing much better and has a great appetite.

We are so excited for Molly and we are very happy to have her here with us. Once we figure out living arrangements for her she will be allright.

If there is anyone out there who will like to adopt Molly, please send us and email as our sanctuary has reached its full capacity and we are having trouble with finding a safe comfortable place to house Molly.

Your thoughts, comments and donations are welcome!

Madi Collins
President & Founder
P.A.W.

Our newest addition to our sanctuary family is our mama cat with four kittens who were left on our cabana porch a few weeks ago inside a taped boxed where they could hardly breathe. Unfortunately one of the kittens did not make it by the time we found them in the morning.

She was so beautiful and although she is not with us any more, we named her “Sweetness” before saying good bye.

We named mama cat “Honey”. Her kittens are named Sugar, Candy and Caramel. They are such a sweet family that we could not find better names for them.

We are working on building a little house for them as they have been staying in our outside bathroom since we have no more space in our catteries for them and the bathroom was the largest and safest place we had available.

Sadly, we do not have a camera to take some pictures but as soon as we could get one we will be sharing pictures with you all.