2024 has been a challenging year for us all. With animal intake numbers up, a record number of kittens, and so many animals needing extensive medical care, we’ve been extremely busy! Thanks to you, over 1,500 dogs, cats, and other homeless animals had a comfortable place to stay, the medical support they needed, and staff, volunteers, and foster parents to brighten their day while they waited for their forever homes.
It wasn’t easy, but we made it through. Here are some happy stories we’d like to share with you.
Normally, January is a quieter month, but not this year. 16 puppies arrived at the shelter!
To say the least, it was a bit of a mad scramble processing this puppy avalanche.
With a lot of help from our volunteers and foster families, Bear and his puppy friends got everything they needed and had a safe place to stay until they were adopted. 🙂
We had a *lot* of major medical cases this year. More than we’ve ever had before. When animals have medical conditions that are beyond the capacity of the shelter medical staff to treat, the Volunteers of the Burbank Animal Shelter pay for surgeries and treatments done by outside surgeons and specialists.
Skipper and Macchiato needed surgeries to remove tumors.
Stella needed surgery to repair her broken pelvis
And Sammy needed metal pins put in to fix his broken femur.
And that was just in February!!!
Happily, everyone made full recoveries and were adopted to loving homes.
We got some great news in May when our longest term residents, bonded pair Honey and Racer were adopted!
Honey and Racer had been with us for more than 2 years before they found their forever home.
They were super happy to trade their shelter bed for a *real* bed, and we could not be happier for them!
On the kitten front, the 2024 kitten season has been absolutely bananas. In a normal year, we foster ~285 kittens. This year we’ve fostered 424, making this our busiest season ever. And the kittens are still coming in!
This little one arrived recently. We can’t remember ever seeing bottle babies in December, but it’s been that kind of year.
Normally kitten season starts in March/April, but this year they started arriving in record numbers in February. In a normal February we see one or two kittens. This year we took in 23!
…and they just kept coming.
Usually we see 2 or 3 mommies with babies each season….
…but this season we had 16!
We literally had kittens coming out of our ears.
Kittens make up more than 50% of our yearly cat intake, and the shelter simply does not have the space to house them. Thanks to the 120+ foster families in our Kitten Foster Program our kittens have safe and loving homes to stay in until they can be adopted. They are getting a second chance and are going to make their adopters very happy. 🙂
We also saw an increase in dog surrenders this year and the shelter became dangerously full a number of times. We put out a call for emergency dog fosters each time, and thankfully a good number of citizens fostered a dog to help us out. All told, 45 dogs went to foster homes, and 14 of them were adopted by their foster families!
On the medical front, we had hoped that things would quiet down after the four major surgeries in February, but this was not to be the case. There were so many animals this year who needed specialized surgeries and procedures at outside animal hospitals. It seemed every time we turned around there was another animal with severe needs.
Moana is a sweet dog who was used for breeding, and then dumped at the shelter. She had a cancerous tumor in her rump. She required 2 major surgeries and 24 days in the hospital. She made a full recovery and is living her best life in her forever home.
Little Petunia arrived at the shelter with painful and horribly scarred ears. She needed 2 major surgeries (one on each ear) to lead a normal life. Once she was cleared by medical, she was adopted by her foster family.
Kittens Willow and Harlow arrived with 3 ruptured eyes between the two of them that had to be removed. They were adopted together and run around and play in their new home just like sighted kittens.
Lotte had a major hernia that needed repair. After a short recovery, she was adopted.
Adele arrived with large necrotizing open wounds on her back. She needed surgery and a stay in the hospital, followed by numerous follow up treatments. Her back is all better now and she’s available for adoption.
Our most recent case, Bug, had a life threatening condition (gastric torsion) and needed emergency surgery. The surgeons saved his life, and he is now recovering in a foster home.
And that’s just a sampling of the 20+ outside surgeries the VBAS sponsored this year. That’s more than we’ve done the past three years *combined*. 2024 really was a year of special surgeries. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, every animal who needed extraordinary care received it and got a second chance.
Otherwise, we’re just taking things one day at a time at the Shelter and continuing along the best we can during these challenging times. Thanks to our dedicated staff, volunteers and supporters working together, we’ve been able to maintain and continue to deliver our high level of care to all our furry guests. And that’s something we’re all thankful for!
Thank you for helping us make it through 2024. We hope you will join us again in helping our furry friends in 2025. If you have the time to become a volunteer at the shelter, or a foster parent for our kittens, dogs and puppies, we would love to have you on the team. And if you cannot volunteer your time, please consider making a donation to help save lives at the shelter.
Thank you again for your support, and for making Burbank a special place for the animals.
