Success Stories

Nera Ann!

Nera Anne’s journey with “Happy Endings” began in September 2nd, 2009. Now she is considered one of our most remarkable success stories. About two years ago a beautiful brown tabby kitty was left at our door. Her eyes were closed, she was very shy and at first she appeared to be blind. However, after a visit to the veterinarian we found out that Nera was not blind, but she had a rare eye condition, eyelid agenesis.

This condition involves partial absence of the eyelid which permits the hair to rub against the cornea (outer layer of the eye). Eyelid agenesis makes blinking nearly impossible and exceptionally painful. After extensive reconstructive surgeries, Nera was finally able to open her eyes and to our pleasant surprise, she retained vision in one eye.

Nera soon found her forever home with the most caring and loving parents, Kassandra and Chad. According to her parents she is the “queen of the household” and “runs the place”. The living room of Nera’s new home is decorated with cat toys and scratching posts and to the amusement of the whole neighborhood, Nera routinely dons a harness and leash and goes for walks to enjoy the fresh air. 

Nera will continue to be a special needs cat with daily hydrating ointment applications to her eyes, but her new parents say she is rather good about accepting the treatments.  We are very grateful to all of our donors and volunteers at Happy Endings for helping Nera find her “Happy Beginning”.

You may not remember us but 4 short years ago I adopted Oliver and Pepita from your wonderful shelter. It was love at first sight, Pepita jumped into my lap and snuggled up to me like I was a huge bag of catnip. Oliver was the sweetest and most adorable cat we had ever seen. Cross-eyed, rather large, and cuddly... what could we do but adopt him? I just felt like I needed to give you an update on how they are doing. Pepita is extremely healthy and happy. She loves to chase this little laser pointer around the house and Oliver actually fetches little people from my doll house and brings them to my room and then meows until I pet him. Pepita has a pink bed that says princess on it, we put it it near the fire place and she loves to sleep there. Oliver basically sleeps anywhere he happens to be when he gets tired. They are both such characters and we will always love them.

Little Bella came to us at less then 12 months old. Unfortunately her front legs were broken, the ligaments severed and one paw had been declawed with pliers. After multiple extensive orthopedic surgeries and months of rehab, Bella has found her forever home.

Our beautiful Bella has gotten the best happy ending any cat could ask for. Not only can she run, walk and play, but she has wonderful parents who spoil her and love her very much. At first they were a bit concerned that she may have difficulty getting around the levels of their home, so she had her own room with a private bathroom and place to eat. However, soon Bella proved that she could get around quite well and found favorite spots around the house.

Bella likes to stalk unsuspecting animals through the sliding glass door and has a favorite napping place on the furniture. There are two roommates, Chloe and Gigi, and everyone seems to get along. Bella gets to go on vacation up north and treasures one-on-one time with her new humans. She has made lots of new friends and even supervises the antics of the neighbors’ new puppy. We are very proud of our Bella and look forward to more updates on her forever home.

 

Jerry The Cat

One day an odd looking cat was brought into Happy Endings. This huge cat had been found outside. His head was big and his tail was only a stub; he looked like a bulldog with whiskers.  Since he had been outside, there were cuts and scrapes on his head and body apparently from fighting with other animals. He was allegedly the neighbor’s cat and was no longer wanted. Therefore, Happy Endings took him in and named him “Jerry.”

Jerry did not like other cats nor did he have patience for children or even some of the volunteers, for that matter. He did, however, like giving head butts. Jerry was at Happy Endings for quite some time. Then, one day, a doctor from Shorewood came in and adopted him. Since the doctor and his family were leaving for vacation in Mexico, his adoption was delayed. Upon the family’s return, they brought him a sombrero. Jerry’s head was so big, the sombrero wouldn’t fit causing the family to fall even more in love with him and his big head.

Jerry's new home came with teenagers and, on occasion, he was a bit aggressive with them.  Sadly he was too aggressive and returned to Happy Endings. One day not long after his return, a woman came into the shelter and said “I think you have my cat.” A friend had stopped in at Happy Endings the previous week and recognized Stubby. Unbelievably, this was almost two years after Jerry originally came to Happy Endings. The lady described “Stubby” and it sounded a lot like Jerry. Jerry’s cage door was opened and he ran over to her and jumped on her. Clearly ‘Jerry’ was her ‘Stubby!’
 

Apparently she left Stubby with her boyfriend and the two did not get along. Upon her return, Stubby was gone. Allegedly a friend of her boyfriend stole Stubby and she was told he ‘disappeared.’ After two years, Stubby and his mommy were reunited and left Happy Endings with a very happy ending.