Queen's Refuge for Senior Cats

***This is an ongoing fundraiser to cover needs as they come up.***

*6/16/24: Please help us raise $200 (going from $3,250 to $3,450) to cover Mitski’s urgent visit this week!

[Please visit our Instagram or Facebook for more information and updates: @qrs_seniorcats // facebook.com/queensroyalsanctuary. Thank you!]

My name is Sabrina, and I rescue cats. I have a passion for senior cats with special needs, super seniors (15+ years of age), and hospice care. I use my unique position as a shelter employee to seek out felines who need sanctuary to avoid being euthanized in a shelter environment. Senior cats who are e-listed usually have easily manageable medical or behavior problems that are deemed “not suitable for adoption" to the general public.

The ultimate goal is to establish a permanent sanctuary location so that we can care for more senior cats. I intend to operate as a 501c3 non-profit organization once that becomes realistic. For now, I am doing what I can with the space and funds I have. Any expenses that are not fulfilled by donations will be paid for out of my own pocket one way or another. The cats come first!

Meet the current residents:

MITSKI aka "Miss Mitski"

Mitski was rescued on April 17, 2023 and was estimated to be about 7 years old at the time. She was confiscated by the shelter's field team as an abandonment case and kept under protective custody for about a month. She was originally guessed to be about 10 years old even though her teeth looked younger because her body condition was so poor. After she was finally released from protective custody, she was spayed and put up for adoption before a shelter employee noticed her blindness was somehow completely missed in her medical notes. They checked her blood pressure -- as hypertension can often cause the type of blindness she exhibited -- and her reading was in the 200s, an automatic disqualification for adoption. After the shelter reached out to rescues with no success, Mitski was marked for euthanasia. We did not hesitate to take her in. She was immediately seen by a couple doctors, and we found out that her BP is actually much lower. Mitski is now on a low dose of BP medication, has almost doubled in weight, has a super fluffy coat, and is the most playful cat in the house despite almost complete blindness.

STELLA aka “Stelly-Bell”

Stella was rescued on August 21, 2022 and was estimated to be about 11 years old at the time. She was returned to the shelter by her owners after exhibiting issues with the litter box (pooping and sometimes peeing outside of the litter box) for the 4 years they had her. After bringing her into foster care, I noticed she was demonstrating signs of a UTI, something that she had already been diagnosed with a few weeks earlier before her surrender. We got her treated, and her urinalysis recheck looked good, but after a few weeks, she showed signs again — this time with blood in her urine. Her ongoing medical and "behavior" issues disqualified her from being an adoption candidate: she was put on the euth list. So of course I exited her and brought her in to be a permanent resident. Over the last year, she has been diagnosed with IBD, early renal disease, and FLUTD/FIC. She recently overcame a diabetic episode primarily caused by a long-term trial of prednisolone. We will continue working through her medical problems and do whatever we need to keep her happy, comfortable and healthy.

Meet our former residents:

KING ARTHUR WEASLEY aka “Artie”

Arthur was rescued on January 21, 2022 and was estimated to be about 12 years old at the time. He came into the shelter after being seized for abandonment. He was hypothermic, malnourished, had severe dental disease, and most uniquely of all, his little ankles were permanently bent backward, probably due to a birth defect. While under the shelter’s protective custody, he was placed on the euth-list because of all his medical issues in addition to being geriatric, which made him "unsuitable for adoption." After bringing him home, we did bloodwork and eventually got him a dental procedure where every single one of his teeth was removed. Although he was a very happy and surprisingly mobile boy, his special needs included a prescription kidney diet to help combat his early kidney disease as well as a very unique litter box set up (due to the shape of his hind legs, he would “spray” to urinate, as he could not squat). And as with any senior animal, frequent vet visits were necessary. After spending almost two very happy years with us, Artie began losing weight and became much less bright and active. After doing diagnostics with his internal medicine team, we found out he had FIP (feline infection peritonitis), confirmed by a PCR test. He was severely anemic and needed a blood transfusion in the ER. Although we had started FIP treatment immediately after receiving his pending FIP diagnosis, it was too late. After not being able to receive a second blood transfusion due to lack of usable cat blood in the entire Phoenix area, we had to make the heart-wrenching decision to let him go on December 9, 2023. Due to all of your support and donations, we were able to give Artie two beautiful years of life beyond his death sentence.

OLLIE

Ollie was rescued on October 16, 2021 and was estimated to be about 15 years old. She was brought into the shelter after her owner passed away. This old girl had hyperthyroidism and was extremely emaciated, weighing less than 4lb on intake. Her nails were growing into her toe beans, she was matted, and she had grade 4 dental disease. All these things unfortunately meant being placed on the euthanasia list. She had a lot going on, but I desperately wanted to give her a soft landing. Hospice care for her meant a quite a few medications and vet visits, but it was easy to see that she was so content to have a comfortable place to cuddle and sunbathe. She purred and nuzzled endlessly. After only two short months with her, she threw a clot one night, leaving her down in the hind. She was rushed to emergency where after running some tests, they essentially recommended humane euthanasia, as the only other option offered more risk and pain than comfort. It was an incredibly difficult decision to let her go, but being able to let her pass in the arms of her loving humans made each moment with her worth it.

QUEEN V aka “Queenie”

Queenie is the one who started it all. Found on the sidewalk in Los Angeles essentially abandoned and neglected by her owner, she came into my care as a 17-year-old cat on November 11, 2019. She had a whole slew of health problems that had gone unnoticed and untreated up until then. She was blind, deaf, anemic, flea-ridden, matted, underweight, arthritic, dehydrated, had hyperthyroidism, high blood pressure, severe dental disease, and kidney disease. Luckily, she never had to see the inside of a shelter, where I know she never would have made it out. We started and continued her on palliative care with many vet visits, meds, fluid therapy, food, sunshine, and a lot of love. Queenie looked ready to die the first day I found her, but she gave us a whole year and a half, in which we celebrated 2 whole birthdays for her! Shortly after her 19th birthday, we made the devastating decision to let her pass after she experienced a sudden health decline. She was cradled in our arms in our home where the sun could touch her face one last time.

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If you are not able to donate at this time, please share and spread the word. The cats and I thank you!