On first glance Pookie, a seven-year-old female Tabby, came across as one laid-back cat. One volunteer even compared her demeanor to ‘the dude’ in The Big Lebowski—that’s how mellow she was. But, for our experienced team, they had a hunch that things may not be as they seem.

Pookie was transported to Berkeley Humane from a shelter in Solano County with no indication that she had any medical needs, but after a full evaluation we determined that she had some terrible teeth that must have been causing her incredible pain. Her blood tests also came back positive for Feline Leukemia (FeLV).

FeLV is not curable and may ultimately reduce her lifespan, but she has a regressive infection. This means the infection is dormant, so hopefully, it will not cause health issues for her in the future. We knew that if we improved her overall health, she could still live many years with a great quality of life. Pookie was immediately scheduled for dental surgery.

Pookie isn’t alone when it comes to needing urgent dental work. Often, dental procedures are costly, making them a significant barrier to an animal’s adoption and causes potential adopters to skip over them in the public shelters. The longer they go without appropriate medical care, the more their health can deteriorate, putting them at risk for euthanasia.

In order to save more animals, dental work has become one of the most important surgeries we provide. In the past five years, we performed more than 260 dental surgeries and helped these animals find their loving homes, just with a few less teeth.

Your support of the Hope Medical Fund allowed us to save Pookie and introduce her to her new loving home. We can all celebrate that ‘the dude’ is happy, healthy, and living the life she deserves.

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