From The Rubble

Tornado (front) with one of his siblings

On July 9^th of this year Kristi Powers of Winfield, her husband, and others with Operation BBQ Relief were in Eureka, KS feeding the victims of the tornado that had hit there just two days prior. They were surprised when two men pulled up and said, “We just found some kittens in the rubble. Can you feed them?” 

Kindergartner, Alyssa, promptly replied, “Yes!” Committed by this little girl, Kristi agreed as well expecting older kittens that they could take to live with them in their country home. However, the four tiny babies that were pulled from the debris didn’t have their eyes open yet and still had their umbilical cords attached. They couldn’t have been more than a day or two old.

The group took the wee kittens to local vet, Dr. Dan Droge, who supplied them with formula, bottles, and instructions on bottle feeding kittens. The group fed the kittens every couple of hours during the weekend. Once home, Kristi called on her friend Marlene Mayfield as she knew Marlene has raised bottle-fed kittens in the past. In fact, Marlene has hand raised several kittens for the CCHS. Marlene readily agreed to take over the care of the tiny tabbies. Sadly, three of the little ones did not survive. Ever the fighter, Tornado, so named by Alyssa, not only survived but thrived.

Once he was two months old, Tornado was vetted and ready to go to his furever

Tornado on his vet day

home! The tiny Tornado is unique not only because of his beginnings but he’s also a polydactyl. Polydactyl cats have extra toes making them look like they are wearing mittens. This genetic mutation is harmless and actually quite adorable. Tornado has not one but two bonus toes on each foot. Kristi and her husband adopted him, bringing him full circle back to his saviors. She says, “Tornado is a symbol of how resilient Kansans can be. We cannot thank Marlene Mayfield and the Cowley County Humane Society enough for the time, effort, love and resources that have gotten us to the point of a happy playful kitten.”

We would like to give our thanks to Marlene for fostering this boy with love and devotion and to the Powers family for giving him a home!

Tornado and Cruiser, another one of Marlene's foster cats. 

May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor!

Huge raffle and bake sale on Sep 10th, Walmart Winfield 9-4 (drawing at 3)! You do not have to be present to win! All proceeds benefit the shelter. Rex and Janice Harrington, their daughter Rachael Ray and her sons Nick, John, and Alex decided to collect items in the community and have a raffle to benefit us! 

Tickets are $2 each, 3 for $5, 7 for $10,or 15 for $20. Receive a free raffle ticket for every new item you bring for the shelter (paper towels, bedding, or stuffed animals). Tickets available on location or in advance by FB messaging Rachael Harrington-ray or texting Rachael at 620-218-9551 or Rex at 620-229-8100. 

There will be large totes filled with incredible items you can specifically buy tickets for. Items such as gift cards to local restaurants and businesses, haircuts, tools, tool box, cash, pedicures, manicures, jewelry, clothing, movie tickets, oil changes - too much to mention! Come check it out-the Aaron's Dog will be there in the afternoon! 

Thank you to all who donated and to the Harringtons and Rays for their hard work!

Check our Facebook page this coming week for a link listing the contents of the prize totes!

Petpalooza Right Around the Corner!

Cowley County’s party animals are at it again! For one day only, on Sep 10^th at Black Creek Park in Winfield, baseball diamonds will be transformed into dog parks, the pavilion will house a cake walk and the lawn will be the site of many canine-friendly activities, contests, vendors, silent auction, raffle, hotdog bar, and an adoption event.

Our third annual Petpalooza will be kicked off at 10:00 a.m. with a 1-mile leisurely dog walk through the beautiful Fleetwood neighborhood. At 10:45, special guests Lynda Symes and Tammi Harris will introduce their miniature horses who are sure to enchant visitors with their tricks - a first at Petpalooza! We will honor our volunteers at 11:30 and at 11:45 it’s contest time! The categories are best dog costume, best dog kiss, and most photogenic dog. Dogs of similar height can compete against each other in the noon dog races and show off their secret greyhound skills! The event ends at 2 p.m.

Bring your family and have lots of fun at the only festival in Cowley County to celebrate our furry friends!  Dogs must be current on rabies vaccination to attend. Admission is free! Like us on Facebook for updated information.

Our vendors this year:

- CCHS Doggie Boutique: all things pet-related
- CCHS Hot Dog Bar: vegetarian/vegan chili available
- Face painting by Sarah Martin
- Pampered Pet: hand-made soaps for pets and humans
- Dawson Monument: pet memorial items
- Matsufoto: pet photography
- Scentsy: wickless candles and warmers
- Salon 5th Avenue: "doggie tattoos" with stencils and human-
grade hair paint, colorful tails
- Crafts: wooden signs, chalk-painted furniture, crocheted items
- CHARG: Cowley Health Assistance Resource Group; info
info material
- South Central Kansas Kennel Club: info material
- Girls On the Go: pet/house-sitting, errand service

A huge thank you to our sponsors: American Family Insurance-Jonathan Leeper Agency in Winfield, Winfield Chiropractic, RCB Bank, and Wheat State Telephone!

Hope for Hondo

Hondo’s journey with the shelter started out, like so many animals, somewhat tragically. Hondo escaped his yard and was hit by a car. Injured, he was taken to a local vet and his owner contacted. Unfortunately, the owner did not have the resources to be able to pay a potentially large vet bill. After some heart wrenching thought, the decision was made to surrender him to the humane society so that he could be cared for. And so Hondo’s extensive treatment process began.

CCHS veterinarian Dr. Lindsay Gehring cleaned and flushed Hondo’s wound. There was also a fair amount of dead tissue that had to be removed. His wound was cleaned of that and sutured. He had bruising to his abdomen as well and we feared possible internal bleeding. Luckily, this was not the case. Hondo was placed on antibiotics to prevent infection and was taken in by shelter employee Dovie Browning to be fostered while he healed.

Unfortunately, Hondo had to come back in a week later to have more tissue removed. Once again, he was sutured and sent back to his foster home. Another week later and his sutures had opened and he had to be stitched up a third time. Yet again the wound tried to reopen. We were beginning to fear for this big, lovable dog but were not willing to give up on him!

In April, retired veterinary wound specialist, Dr. Swaim, volunteered his time and assisted Dr. Gehring in a skin graft on the area that refused to heal. Hondo’s activity was severely restricted to give the graft time to adhere and begin to grow to the healthy flesh. For weeks Hondo had to be kept in a crate when not on a leash so that he would move the healing hip as little as possible.

Through all of this, Hondo has remained a cheerful and loving dog. This big shepherd just doesn’t give up! Dovie says, “He’s a very good dog! He just loves to be loved.”

Nearly three months after his medical journey began, Hondo was finally declared well on the way, if not completely, recovered! He is currently in a foster-to-adopt home. His current foster mom reports that he loves to play and, if his foster brother won’t play with him, he’ll throw a ball up in the air and chase it by himself. It’s this “won’t give up” attitude that has seen him through months of repeated medical treatments. We’re holding out high hopes that this precious boy finds his furever home soon! He deserves it.

Petpalooza Is Coming Up!

Bring your four-legged friend(s) and have some fun with us! On Sep 10th, we are celebrating our furry companions with Petpalooza! There will be a 1-mile fun walk, contests for you and your pets, dog parks, miniature horses, dog race, vendors, cake walk, activities, raffle, silent auction, doggie boutique, hotdog bar, adoptable shelter animals, and more. See you there - admission is FREE!

August Adoption Special!

All adoptable animals are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, vetted and microchipped!

View our adoptable animals on our website

www.cowleycountyhumanesociety.org

Lucky Lucius

By Diana Russell

Last December the humane society received a litter of three 4-month old kittens. The owner had been unable to re-home them so turned to us for help. The beautiful, little Siamese mixes quickly found homes. About two months after he was adopted, the male was trapped running stray and returned to CCHS. We called his adopter but she informed us that she had been forced to re-home him and didn’t know the name of his new family. He was held for the standard stray period but no one came forward to claim him. Already vetted, he was immediately made available for adoption.

Lucius

I work at the CCHS and kept being drawn to him every time I walked by his kennel. We had an 8-month old kitten at home, also adopted from CCHS. My husband kept saying she needed a playmate but she showed no interest, and often outright distaste, for the little foster kittens I brought home. Still, it was worth a shot. Maybe, since he was closer to her size and looked less like a mouse than the tiny foster kittens we occasionally had, she’d take to him? Not holding out much hope I brought him home. Within 30 minutes the two youngsters were chasing each other up and down the hallway, wrestling, and napping together. It warmed my heart.

Lucius and Narcissa

We renamed him Lucius since his new friend was Narcissa. If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you’ll get that. Luc, as we call him, proved himself to be just as friendly, cuddly, and loving to humans as to Narcissa. He doesn’t know a stranger. When anyone visits, rather than hide like many cats, he rushes out to see who is visiting him.

Lucius being a foster daddy

Luc’s loving nature isn’t limited to the humans who live with and visit him. He loves our fosters! 

We regularly bring home 4-6 week old kittens to hang out at our house until they are old enough to be ready for adoption. They all LOVE Luc and he loves them back. It’s very common to find one, or a pile, of kittens sleeping on him. We call him Lucky Lucius but, really, we are the one who are lucky to have him.

Lucius and another one of his fosters