Success Stories
A young man and his daughter were going through the drive-thru at a local restaurant and as they sat in their car with the window down waiting on their food, they heard a small cry. After listening carefully, they determined that the cry was coming from the nearby trash bin. The daughter insisted they investigate, so the reluctant father pulled into a parking spot and walked over to the trash bin. Sure enough, the cry was coming from inside. Two tiny eyes peered up from the corner of the bin. The little kitten’s cries became even louder when he saw them.
The father asked a restaurant employee to climb into the bin and retrieve the little kitten, but when they came out of the restaurant, the daughter had already climbed into the bin and retrieved the kitten.
One half hour later, the kitten was being examined by a Robin’s Nest manager. Apart from being in desperate need of a bath and needing a warm meal, the kitten was in good health. No one knew how the kitten came to be in the trash bin, but the family who adopted her 6 weeks later thought she was the most precious kitten they had ever seen and named her Princess.
It was a cold morning when Dan started his semi to warm it up in preparation for his routine tire delivery about one hour away. There was a thin coat of snow on the roads so he was starting out a little early to make sure he was on time. As he started his truck, he heard a little cry. He listened hard, but didn’t hear it again. He went to the front of the truck and heard the cry again. This time he lifted up the front hood of his truck and looked inside. Nothing. He then looked underneath the truck. Again, nothing. He shrugged his shoulders and jumped in the truck and drove for an hour to Muncie, Indiana.
He arrived and pulled into the dock and the forklifts off-loaded his truck. As he prepared to back his truck out of the dock area, he again heard a little cry. He listened carefully and heard it again. He looked all through his cab but found nothing. He got out of his truck and again lifted the front hood of his truck. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Sitting there on his engine was the littlest and most adorable kitten he had ever seen! Little “Diesel”, as he named the female kitten, rode with him by his side in the cab back home.
Diesel was brought to Robin’s Nest the next day. She was no worse for the wear and even seemed to act as if her little adventure was really no big deal. Later, after Diesel grew old enough, she was homed into a very loving home with, yes, another semi-truck driver!
Momma Lucy began to meow loudly outside the front door of the home where she had often been fed scraps. The wind was blowing hard, and the snow had begun to fall again. It was a late Spring snow and unusually cold for this time of the year. The front porch light finally came on and Ann, the lady inside, peered out at Lucy. “You hungry again, girl?”, she asked with a smile. But Lucy darted inside the open door. Ann was a kind and compassionate lady who realized that Lucy was cold. She spread a small blanket on the floor by her chair and encouraged Lucy to lie down. But instead, Lucy jumped up and ran back to the front door. She meowed loudly. “Make up your mind, girly. Do you want in or out?” She opened the door, and Lucy darted out and immediately ran under the front porch. Just as Ann was about to close the front door, Lucy hopped back up on the porch with a baby in her mouth. She again darted through the front door and lay down on the small blanket with her baby. Ann grabbed her coat and flashlight and went to see if there were any other babies under the porch, but there were none. There were just Lucy and her little baby.
Lucy and Amaya were brought to Robin’s Nest a short time later where they lived in a wonderful foster home. When the time came for Lucy and Amaya to find their forever homes, they were adopted together by a wonderful family who did not want to separate them after hearing their story. Lucy and Amaya now enjoy running around and playing hide-and-seek in their new home with their loving family.
Everyone continued to thrive nicely, and Lucy was restored to good health. Lucy and her five kittens were fully vetted and adopted into wonderful families.
Robin’s Nest got a call at 6:00 a.m. on a Tuesday morning. A kind, older gentleman said his granddaughter had given him our number. He apologized profusely for calling so early, but he was sick with worry. He awoke to find five rain-soaked, two-week-old kittens on his front porch. They were crying loudly. He stooped and gathered them all up and brought them in to keep them warm. He sat patiently in front of his window waiting for any sign of a mother cat—but none ever came.
Robin’s Nest volunteers went to his home and brought the kittens into Robin’s Nest. Upon examination, they were all suffering from colds and were under-weight. Two were very weak, and their prognosis was guarded. We began bottle feeding them on a strict schedule and kept them warm and stimulated. Over the next couple of days they all responded nicely to our care and continued to gain strength.
Five days later, we got another call from the grandfather who told us that two more kittens showed up on his front porch that morning that he believed were part of the same litter. When we went to retrieve the other two kittens, mom was with them. She was friendly and not feral, but she had obviously been on her own for a while because she was seriously malnourished with an injury to her right back leg and a nasty-looking eye. We took momma, which we named “Lucy,” and these additional babies into Robin’s Nest as well. While we separated the babies from Lucy so that we could get everyone back in good health, we put the cages against each other so she could still touch and see her babies.
Nema’s life is a miracle. She was only two years old when we got her, but had had such a tragic life already. We wanted to home her with a family who is kind and loving and would give her a new beginning and a happy ever-after.
Nema was brought to Robin’s Nest of Indy from two counties away in very critical condition. The transport had to check several times during the journey to make sure she was still alive. When she arrived, quick action was taken. She had delivered stillborn, premature kittens just hours before, and she was emaciated, dehydrated and anemic. She had a body temperature that was too low, and her breathing was shallow. The sad delivery of her kittens had taken much out of her, and she had basically given up. She was immediately started on I.V. fluids and put on heat. Once her body temperature was brought up to normal, she was encouraged to start eating. She refused and had to be repeatedly encouraged and pressed to eat. She was syringe-fed a special, high-nutrition prescription wet food along with chicken-flavored baby food. This went on for nearly a week, and her prognosis remained grave with little improvement. Finally, on about Day 6, she stood for the first time and lapped water on her own. She was weak and wobbly but was slowly gaining back strength. By Day 10 she was eating on her own and was responding to affection by head-butting and hooving her back. She recovered quickly after that and was soon adopted by a wonderful family.
Electra’s story is an amazing tale of cat bravery and selflessness.
Electra was last year’s kitten, and once she outgrew her kittenhood and became an adult cat, she was probably no longer cared for or wanted and ended up a stray, fending for herself. She soon found herself pregnant and nearly starving to death. When it was time to deliver, she sought out humans for help and delivered her kittens in an opening beneath a lumber pile on the side of a family’s home. Unfortunately, the family had a large, “not-cat-friendly” dog. The homeowners awoke in the middle of the night to a terrible cat scream, and when they turned on their outside lights they saw their dog in full combat with a hysterical momma cat. They acted immediately and got their dog inside, but Electra was badly wounded. She was brought to Robin’s Nest of Indy early the next morning along with her three newborn babies. She had cuts and bite marks on her face and neck. Her eye and mouth had terrible wounds, and she was exhausted and hungry. Robin’s Nest volunteers cleaned her up with her babies lying beside her because she refused to leave them even to eat or allow her wounds to be cleaned. She continued to heal under the care of Robin’s Nest and was eventually adopted, as were the beautiful babies she raised.
One May, Robin’s Nest received a call from animal control to take in a momma cat who had survived a house fire. She had been found in the fire with her two tiny kittens nestled under her as she tried to protect them. She had minor burns on her paws and stomach and all of them smelled of smoke and were covered in soot. Sadly, the kittens were in critical condition and did not survive. As the mama (now called Freya) began to heal, she was obviously depressed about losing her babies.
At about the same time, we took in a litter of kittens whose momma had been hit by a car. While we were assessing their condition before they were to be sent to a bottle-feeder, they began to cry, and Freya also began to cry and reached for them. We gave the kittens to Freya, who nursed them and cared for them until they were ready to be on their own. Eventually, Freya and all of her adopted kittens had a big happy ending as they found forever homes with families.
Ivory was a little white kitten that came to Robin’s Nest after an encounter with a predator. It left her with all of the fur ripped off of her tail and significant injuries to the rear of her body. She was rushed to one of our veterinarian partners, who scheduled her for immediate surgery. After hours of surgery late into the evening to remove her tail, clean up her other injuries and stitch together what flesh remained, the vet was able to save her life. Ivory got weeks of care and love during her recuperation, sleeping on her foster’s chest in front of the television night after night. Now she is fully recovered and an energetic young cat who gets into constant trouble tormenting the other cats in her new home.
Neko came into Robin’s Nest after a call from an animal control facility asking for our help. Neko was found injured and very pregnant. Upon examination it appeared that some other animal had attacked Neko, and Neko had lost an eye and had a throat wound. She was scared, hungry and sick. We provided her with medical care, nutrition and lots of tender love. As the time for her delivery grew closer, she was placed with one of our most experienced foster caregivers to have her kittens in a quiet and loving setting with freedom outside of a cage. Unfortunately, Neko lost all of her babies except one, but Neko loved and cared for her little Rupee until she was weaned. Neko was then scheduled for surgery with one of our veterinarian partners, and her eye was permanently closed during her spay procedure, after which Robin’s Nest cared for her as she healed. Neko got a great end to her story when she found her forever home, and Rupee did too.
