A Place to Bloom

Cats on Ice

The cats were curious about the kitten outside in the snow. The dilute calico appeared frail, cold, and hungry, hardly a year old. She watched them, safe and warm inside with their human family, but she couldn’t breach the sliding glass door that separated her from them. 

The family was moved by the distress of the kitten that they called Gertie and searched the lost pet platforms for calicos but found none resembling her. They next sought advice from rescues in the area.

The rescuers’ consensus was that the kitten was likely feral, and they recommended leaving her outside while providing food, water, and perhaps some kind of shelter. Yet this family felt that Gertie had clearly

been a pet at one time because she seemed to know about “inside,”and the comforts of a home with people. They didn’t want to leave her outside alone, to face her fate in the cold. So, they continued calling around for advice and support until they reached Home for Life.®

We told the family that it was best to follow their gut sense about Gertie. At our urging, they collected the kitten and took her to a vet to get a full picture of her situation. It turned out that Gertie was indeed a tame house cat who had somehow been abandoned. However, during the time she had spent outside, she had contracted feline leukemia, a contagious virus for cats. Crucially, she needed a home where she would not infect other cats.

In many ways, Gertie was lucky. Twenty years prior, cats who were leukemia positive were often euthanized outright to help stem the spread of the disease. In a way, that policy seemed to make sense. However, Home for Life® asked, wasn’t it possible to remove the cats from the population without having to euthanize them? In truth, they just needed a safe place to live away from other infected cats.

And even without the complication of a virus, Gertie was facing a tragic, inevitable outcome: exposure

and starvation if left outside. 

Nine Lives—the Special Role of a Sanctuary

Gertie is exactly the sort of cat we had in mind when we founded Home for Life® sanctuary. We provide loving, lifelong care to dogs and cats who are unlikely or unable to be adopted, including cats and kittens positive for leukemia. Our program has inspired other rescue groups to re-evaluate what can be done for these special animals. For example, we have demonstrated through our loving care of vulnerable cats like Gertie that the diagnosis of leukemia should not be an automatic death sentence when cats are otherwise in good health, but rather a call to look for places where the cat can live safely without spreading the disease. 

This creative approach to helping the most vulnerable dogs and cats has distinguished Home for Life for over 25 years. 

Today Gertie lives safely with other leukemia positive cats at Home for Life® sanctuary, with plenty of food, and a warm cattery with heated floors. Gertie still loves to hop through her cat door to the large, attached outdoor cat run, but she doesn’t have to beg at a window anymore to get back inside!

Kitten Shower

We realized Gertie represented a new population who needed to be seen with fresh eyes; cats and kittens who might be living outside but were too vulnerable and at risk to be left there, misrepresented as feral simply because of where they had been found. 

Gertie’s story has a happy ending. But there are many felines, found just like her, who are struggling outdoors. Sadly, a huge number of these are kittens!

Kittens are always lovable, sought after and appealing so it was shocking how many have needed our help, and more surprising the severity of their circumstances, and the condition in which they were

found. 

Without immediate intervention they had no possibility of survival. 

As a sanctuary, we would not expect to serve kittens, but we recognized they would never have a chance for a loving home without our swift assistance.

Butternut

She was only 10-12 weeks old, found lying in a farm field, unable to move. She had been run over by a tractor and suffered a broken pelvis. With Home for Life®’s help, she found a chance for safety and healing. As a leukemia positive kitten, she has joined Gertie in our cattery devoted to HFL’s positive cats!

The photo of Butternut by Mark Luinenburg that inspired her watercolor portrait.

Phoenix

Matthew, a man visiting Minneapolis from California emailed: “I found her on the side of the  expressway leading into Minneapolis in the rain last week. She was next to another kitten that was dead, probably her littermate, hit by a car. Both kittens were very malnourished and the one still alive couldn’t really stand.” Home For Life® paid for Phoenix’smedical care, where the surgeon found she had a broken femur and pelvis, and organized a foster home where she could safely heal from her injury and trauma.

Birdie

Another kitten, found on a golf course by one of its employees. The manager contacted us for help and sent us this photo (at right). “It is blackish/ greyish. We have nothing to feed her but these hot dogs. She is very hungry; I have attached a photo for you. I do not want this thing!” Home For Life arranged medical screening and found a foster home for the kitten. Birdie has now been adopted to a loving home.

The Abandoned Litter

Tiny kittens did not stand a chance without intervention. They were only 3 weeks old, not weaned and riddled with botflies, eaten alive by the larvae! Our vet removed the disgusting parasites, and our foster volunteer hand fed the weakest until they were strong enough to eat on their own. It’s horrifying to imagine their fate had they not received swift help from Home for Life.®

Invisible Animals

You may be as shocked as we were to learn how many tame, but lost or unwanted, cats and kittens are left outside to sink or swim. 

Every adult cat we have helped was clearly once a pet, not feral, and had no idea how to survive outside, especially in our harsh Midwest climate. Like the fragile kittens, these adults, many seniors, often starving, were condemned to a slow death through exposure, disease and starvation without immediate assistance. In each situation, the cats were tame, desperate for human interaction, even neutered and spayed. But each cat had somehow slipped through the gaps in the system. The people concerned who contacted us said they had been turned down everywhere they called. The cats were categorized as feral, outdoor cats, while they were, in truth, former pets who were currently homeless and living outdoors.

	A homeowner found Willow struggling in the cold outside on her stoop. Due to allergic family members, she could not take her in. Home for Life® provided food, a foster home, and vet care for Willow who was found to have cancer.
Nova, emaciated but finally indoors after over fourmonths outside on her own.
	Nova, an older cat, was abandoned outside her apartment when her owners moved. She had always been a pet, and had no idea of how to survive on her own, even with the food other building tenants left for her. They finally called Home for Life® to help Nova as the weather became colder, knowing she would never survive outside even if provided food. She was painfully thin and exhausted. Our veterinarian treated her with warm fluids and nutritious food, and she has recovered, narrowly avoiding a harsh and cruel end. Nova, at Home for Life,® in her first portrait by photographer Mark Luinenburg

Home for Life® is a sanctuary. At the same time, our mission is to provide an alternative way forward for animals who fail to find help via the standard channels. This is what we call “The Third Door.” Could we provide a Third Door opportunity for these cats and kittens? 

Most of them didn’t need lifelong sanctuary, only a period of grace and a lifeline to help them on their way. We believed that we could and must help them—that not turning away was consistent with our Third Door Mission. 

Gertie, Willow, Nova, and all the hungry, sick, and injured kittens struggling to survive amongst us…None were feral and not accustomed to living wild outdoors. These cats and kittens could not have survived another 48 hours without immediate help.

CATalyst: Mission Critical

Home for Life®’s focus on overlooked individuals has enabled us to spot gaps in the animal welfare system where cats or dogs are underserved and vulnerable, to identify where change needs to happen, and where there is opportunity for widespread improvement. No other group of animals we help at Home for Life® represents this focus of our organization more than these cats and kittens struggling alone outside.

As we continued to receive calls from the public about distressed cats and kittens, we recognized a critical need that was going unmet and an opportunity to network and collaborate to save lives. We were determined not to forsake these cats and kittens, including those that did not need sanctuary, but who would die without urgent assistance. In the spring of 2025, Home for Life® partnered with a Minneapolis cat rescue focused on adoption that could place many of the animals we had taken in, cared for and rehabilitated through our small network of foster homes which we had recruited. This partnership has allowed us to continue to focus on our main mission of lifelong sanctuary while extending our impact. 

Since Spring 2025, when we decided to take action, nearly 175 cats and kittens have benefited with medical care, spay and neutering, fostering, and adoption through this collaboration, saving many lives! 

Adoption fees from kittens and cats adopted through our partnership are directed to the cat rescue with whom we work, to support their mission, creating a win-win for all!

Right: Darlene was found outside this winter (pregnant) in a Twin Cities suburb. Left: Darlene and her kittens this spring, soon to find safe and loving homes.

CATalyst for Change

We have recognized through helping these cats and kittens that, sanctuary, the Third Door® in animal welfare is not a template or silo but a perspective. Helping the individual doesn’t seem scalable but modeling compassion and then supporting that compassion IS scalable.

Members of the public form the frontline in the effort to improve the lives of cats and dogs in our community. As animal welfare representatives, we want to model the compassion we hope the public will emulate and that means doing all we can to embolden their empathy and support their agency, to give them an avenue to assist animals in need. Most members of the public will gladly provide food and water for an animal in distress, but they will often be eager to do much more with guidance and support.

By serving individual animals and not turning away from these desperate cats and kittens when we have been asked to assist, we have been able to exert widespread influence on the direction of animal welfare practice. And by modeling and supporting caring behavior among people who reach out to help, we create a movement of agency and responsiveness.

Underlying “the Third Door” in animal welfare is creativity and innovation, and a life affirming perspective. All that we accomplish starts with that perspective that led to the founding of Home for Life® more than 25 years ago: Animals who need us are not a problem to be solved but an untapped treasure. We believe in the significance of every life we care for, and that the life of each cat and dog counts.

That conviction is transformative, a premise that creates miracles—from establishing and taking new ground for the most vulnerable animals, to creating a safer world for all cats, kittens, pups and dogs by showing what’s possible. 

Asking the right questions, helping the one in front of us, doing the next right thing, is the North star that guides us, so the animals most in need are not forsaken. Home for Life® is an agile and responsive organization that can pivot when animals require concrete assistance, while staying within our core mission of our sanctuary.

The lifesaving success of this nimble and responsive initiative over the past year is proof that these qualities that are the foundation of Home for Life are effective. 

Left: Charlie was abandoned last March in western Wisconsin and was being stalked by a bobcat when he was rescued. He was severely matted after being on his own for many weeks and had to be shaved. Right: Charlie—adopted, healthy and safe in his new home!

Home for Life® was established to find an answer for animals who fail to find or keep homes. The plight of these cats and kittens being left outside to face a harsh fate has continued to confound the animal welfare world charged with helping them. Home for Life® has an innovative solution to help these special cats, kittens, puppies and dogs—an idea that we call “the Third Door.” The third door has meant care-for-life sanctuary, where their hearts and health can heal but the third door is also a perspective: extending animals in need the benefit of doubt and grace, thinking outside the box to discover lifesaving solutions. And making sure kittens and cats who may not ultimately belong in a sanctuary—or outside—will still have a chance to live and have a loving home for life.

Una - Finding Beauty in a Broken World*

 How can we find beauty in a broken world? 

Looking away is easy. Hoping things will get better is comforting but hope alone leaves us without a path to act. Real transformation begins when we acknowledge how fragile life is, how quickly it can be destroyed, and how challenging it is to restore.

At Home for Life®, we have witnessed that transformation firsthand in animals like Una. His story shows how compassion and creativity can turn cruelty into renewal.

Una was born a street dog. At just six months old, he was shot in the face in his home country. The gunshot, meant to kill, instead left him with a shattered muzzle, unable to breathe or eat properly. Without urgent help, he faced infection and a slow, painful death.

Before being shot in the face, Una most resembled a lab. With dark humor, we note that people pay thousands of dollars for a pet with the bulldog-like face Una now has, but he paid a far greater price.

In his home country, veterinarians tried to repair his wound with a plastic implant salvaged from a German military hospital. By the time he came to Home for Life® , the implant had failed, and surrounding tissue had become infected.

His sinuses inflamed, and his upper muzzle unsalvageable. Surgery removed much of his muzzle as well as the implant, which had caved in. Una lost many teeth, one nostril, and sight in one eye. He could only eat soft foods and needed help cleaning his face.

Many animals arrive at Home for Life® with permanent disabilities from abuse or accidents. But injuries to the face carry a particular cruelty. The face is the center of expression, connection and identity- for both animals and people. To destroy it is an attempt to erase the very essence of being born with trust and innocence. Una is one of three dogs at our sanctuary who endured such a deliberate assault.

Yet Una’s gentle spirit never wavered. He taught us how to move forward. With hands- on care and ingenuity, we shifted from identifying him as a victim to helping him author a new future. Today he thrives alongside other dogs who have also endured trauma, forming a community bound not by what they have lost, but by the companionship they share.

Una’s story proves that compassion and creativity break the cycle of cruelty and indifference to restore a shattered life. Each act of care sets in motion a future that would never otherwise exist. We have seen dogs and cats, once so frightened that they flinch from a touch, learn to trust again; and animals once disfigured by violence discover a new life filled with peace and joy.

Awareness is the first step. As painful as it is to know Una’s past, more stirring yet is knowing that he was not destroyed by cruelty. His life is evidence that brokenness can give rise to wholeness.

At Home for Life,® we see our sanctuary as a mosaic, where shattered lives are repaired and joined into a greater whole—a healing and joyful community.

Home for Life ® is proud to be an internationally recognized care-for-life sanctuary. In 2019, USA TODAY named us one of the 10 Most Amazing Sanctuaries in the Country. Unlike most shelters and rescues which strive to find homes for every animal, our mission is to provide a true home for those who cannot be placed- dogs and cats with special needs or lifelong care requirements.

We call this vision The Third Door®- an alternative to an undeserved death. For animals who cannot be adopted, we offer a permanent home where their lives are cherished, and their futures are secure. The dream of a home should belong to every dog and cat. At Home for Life®, we make that dream a reality.

Fundamental to changing the world for animals is changing their story. For our cats and dogs, their stories up until the time they have needed us have been marked by loss, often neglect, commonly indifference and misunderstanding and even violence.

So, the most essential part of our mission is to make sure our animals’ stories don’t continue or end the way they began. Rewriting their broken stories is paradigm-shifting because, by the time our cats and dogs have reached us, they have fallen off the grid of the animal welfare matrix and failed its measures of success. Home for Life® defines success in a new way for these forsaken animals and imagines a new story for them.

This fall, our campaign, Sponsor Happiness, with a $50,000 match is underway with a chance to be part of the reimagined story for animals like Una, who had nowhere else to turn when they came to us.

Our sanctuary is where compassion creates beauty from despair. As a supporter of our dogs and cats at Home for Life®, YOU are an integral part of repairing and rewriting their broken stories to design a new idea of success for animal welfare, for the animals that need compassion and understanding the most.

With gratitude,

Lisa

PS be sure to check out the update on the progress of our new building, which will complete the sanctuary prototype, and provide expanded services to animals and the people who love them!

​

*title inspired by the book by Terry Tempest Williams

The Home for Life® Beach Party was a success!

 

We had a great day for the Home for Life® 3rd Annual Beach Party at beautiful White Bear Lake. We had an unseasonably chilly start to the day, but the sky was blue, the sun was warm, and the water was warm. Thank you to our volunteers Bev, TJ, Chris, Bill, Val, Wendy, and Jan for their support and help, Debby Carman of Faux Paw, Laguna Beach, CA, who designed the beach towels, our party favor, and token of esteem for all guests, and all who came out to support Home for Life Sanctuary by attending this event. Don't miss the event video, which captures the festive spirit of the day. See you next year at the Beach!

 it was only 41 degrees when we were setting up for the event!

Happy dog with ball in mouth

Home For Life booth at the event

Happy dog with beach wear

Getting close and personal with a canine friend

Catered lunch on the beach

Cookies are for the DOGS!

These dogs are ready to swim with their vests

Friends on the beach with their pets

See you next year at the Beach!

Building a Humane Future

 

From a floor plan and blue print, the final element of our prototype sanctuary has taken shape, all accomplished to date debt free thanks to the support of generous donors, There is still much to do, but today we celebrate all that has been achieved so far- the septic, and well installed, excavation, exterior walls and roof, all windows and doors, insulation  and rough in of the plumbing, including the floor heat. This building is the last part of our sanctuary prototype, an affordable model that can be exported to any community who sees value in the life saving potential of the innovative Third Door.

All that we accomplish starts with the belief that led to the founding of Home for Life Animal Sanctuary more than 25 years ago- animals who need our help are not a problem to be solved but an untapped treasure. We believe in the significance of every life we care for and that the life of each cat and dog counts.

That perspective is transformative, a premise that creates miracles- from this new building,  to establishing new ground for the most vulnerable animals , to showing what's possible and therefore, creating a safer world for all cats and dogs, to expanding our ability to reach the community through our animals who serve as ambassadors for our mission- and our conviction that all life is valuable.

Especially  in chaotic and overwhelming times or situations creating something new and making it real reinforces that we do have the agency to shape our world and that the most powerful thing we can do is to care.

Our new building is an extension and expression of the values Home for Life embodies- that of compassion and creativity with which we we approach helping animals. Animal rescue  is not often thought of as creative, but our Third Door model calls for it- to stand in the gap when it could go either way for a a vulnerable cat or dog, and because of the power to care, to envision and create a positive outcome.

This new building will amplify our power to care, aligning our values of creativity and compassion with action to do more good for animals and the people who care about them.  

The Cat Who Landed on Her Feet: Rue, the Miracle cat survives being thrown from 12th story balcony to find her home for life!

They call her the miracle cat…now. Yet miracles don’t just happen in an instant.
Rue’s incredible survival required a series of interventions, initiated by Home for
Life® Animal Sanctuary. Our willingness to step up for Rue in the face of several unknowns—the severity of her injuries, the potential cost to help her, and even if
she could recover ever—and our commitment to her long-term welfare created the possibility of a future for this small, battered cat.

 

Monday overwhelm is a familiar feeling at the beginning of a work week, even at a place like Home for Life,® where the work is 24/7. But emergencies never pick a convenient time to show up. On the last Monday in June, first thing in the morning, Minneapolis Animal Care and Control (MACC) sent out an email alert to all of their rescue partners:

 

EMAIL ALERT: “A373539 “Rue” is an ~1 year old, female DSH that was brought to MACC today after being reported as injured. A juvenile at the scene shared that multiple persons witnessed the cat falling from a 12th floor balcony and suspect that she was thrown.

Rue has an obvious right front limb injury—either fractured or luxated at the carpus. It also appears that she has a mandibular fracture and/or luxation as she is unable to close her mouth and has a malocclusion that we are assuming wasn’t present prior. There is a concern for additional injuries due to the height from which she fell, such as ruptured organs.

Rue has a deadline of 4:30 pm TODAY (June 24th) because she is unable to eat or drink on her own, is in pain, and needs additional care that cannot be provided here at MACC. If she is not tagged, she will be humanely euthanized.”

Minneapolis Animal Control alerted their followers on Facebook that “This cat got a last-minute angel and will be leaving the shelter shortly to go to an emergency clinic!” That angel was Home for Life.®

Since Rue was only a year old, we thought there was a good chance several rescue organizations would want to “tag” her. We continued to monitor the case throughout the busy Monday, but by 3:30 pm there were still no offers to take her. We nervously watched the clock and waited until finally, at 4 pm, with only 30 minutes before her deadline, we realized nobody was going to help her. We quickly phoned MACC, then sent a transport to bring Rue immediately to an emergency clinic for the critical care she needed. We couldn’t bear the idea that this little cat should suffer such violence and then just be left to quietly die. There should always be someone in the world who is willing to step up and offer care!

Critical Care

There was no way to be sure of how much we had taken on when we accepted Rue. There was always the chance that the impact of her fall had damaged her internal organs beyond repair. We would have to have her injuries assessed immediately, and even that diagnosis would be costly.

X-rays and ultrasounds revealed that both the radius and ulna of Rue’s right front leg were broken, along with a toe on her left front paw. At the emergency veterinarian’s office these bones were all set to help stabilize them and reduce pain and further trauma. Thankfully, none of the internal organs had ruptured! The vets did find some blood in her urine, and her blood work showed some changes consistent with the extremely traumatic injury.

Rue’s most critical injury was the broken mandible joint on both sides of her jaw—the TMJ. This serious fracture probably occurred when she landed from the fall and banged her head on the pavement with force. Several of her teeth had been broken, as well. We arranged for further consultation with a veterinary surgeon on that Thursday—three days post injury. While she waited, Rue was stable and on three different pain medications as well as a liquid diet through a nasal gastric tube since she could neither open nor close her mouth.

How quick and easy is it to hurt and destroy, and how difficult it is to repair and to heal! We thought about Rue as a kitten and how lovingly her mother cat took care of her. To have her life nearly destroyed so easily and casually was difficult to reconcile. This cat, just barely a year old, was once a trusting, innocent kitten. What a betrayal and complete disregard for the value of life.

What is the remedy for such disregard? The most powerful thing we can do—to care! To take that first step to help with faith that her life was worth saving, despite all
the questions, not knowing what would be required to knit her life back together.
That was the commitment we made when we took Rue from MACC. There is no such thing as an unwanted animal for people who care.

  Left: Rue at vet

  Left: Rue resting after
  receiving life-sustaining care

This little girl is a fighter! And it’s the fighting spirit she needed while healing from her trauma.
In spite of severe injuries to her jaw, she was eating on her own within a few days (along with nutrition supplemented through a feeding tube). She had casts on both front legs but she still
tried to wash her face and even to walk!

#UniversalCatDistributionSystem Brings Rue to Home for Life® where a miraculous treatment occurs

At last, it was time for Rue to see the surgeon. To our surprise, the specialists who examined
her did not think she needed surgery. Yes, her jaw was broken, but it was not shattered. They explained that the extensive musculature of her face was essentially holding her jaw in place. They considered external fixators but then thought of an even more brilliant plan: working with
a human dentist, they could bond Rue’s upper and lower canine teeth on both sides of her jaw, stabilizing her jaw so it could heal. Her mouth would be open enough to permit her to eat and drink, but the bonds would stay in place for at least six weeks while the jaw mended.

On D-day, a veterinary team borrowed the bonding equipment from the human dental office.
That was a genius strategy and another miracle, which we didn’t anticipate, but the benefits
of the minimal trauma the procedure would involve were obvious—Rue had already been
through so much. Though full body x-rays revealed no damage to the internal organs or
skeleton, she was still very sore, even with the medication. We were grateful for the
compassion and outside-the-box thinking of her skilled surgeons.

What a week for Rue! It started so horribly, with rejection, cruelty, and painful traumatic injuries from a 12-story fall.
But in the end, as any cat will, she landed on her feet—she landed at Home for Life,® the one place where she could be assured of finding the help she needed. What a week for Home for Life! The chaos and overwhelm of that Monday morning developed into form and purpose through our efforts to help this little cat. Indeed, our sanctuary exists to be there for dogs and cats like Rue. The universal cat distribution system had made a good match!

Plot Twist

It took nearly a week to ensure Rue had stabilized and begun the healing process. Once we knew she would survive, we did a press release to tell the world about what had happened and the aftermath. We didn’t expect much especially when we learned the police had closed the case and that no charges would be brought for the cruel treatment Rue suffered. To our surprise, the media responded to the injustice involving Rue’s treatment and her story appeared in many local and national outlets, and even reached caring people in Australia, Great Britain, and all over Europe. (See the extensive media coverage here: https://www.homeforlife.org/cat-thrown-12-story-building). An animal rights group, In Defense of Animals, now aware of Rue’s case because of the publicity, put up a reward for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who hurt her.

While the widespread concern for Rue was uplifting, it was also sobering to realize that it easily could have ended so differently. In those hours before her pending euthanasia—as she waited injured and alone in a cage at animal control—had we not rushed to get her, and had the vets, the emergency team, and the skilled surgical specialists not tried so hard to help her, this little cat would have quietly died. If we had not let the world know about her plight and the cruelty that befell her, it would have been shrugged off, with no one the wiser.

It is always worthwhile to care. The impulse to make a difference and resolve difficulties is contagious. We create the world we want to live in by the actions we take. Home for Life® took that first step to help Rue, and now caring people around the world knew her story and were moved to help her. 

Radical Resilience

Rue has continued to improve. She is now out of the casts, and was overjoyed to have the bonding removed from her teeth. She can open and close her mouth now and use her paws to wash her face. Her right leg is slightly deformed, and she has a small limp, but she is finally able to walk around. After being immobilized for several weeks, her facial muscles are stiff, but they are starting to loosen up with use. She will need to see a dentist eventually to address the broken teeth.

She will have a good 6-8 more weeks of healing before we can get a full picture of what the final outcome will be for her. However, her progress has been nothing short of miraculous, at every step and through every effort and intervention.

The world is unpredictable and often cruel. When animals suffer mistreatment, it is natural for people to feel outrage or despair and helplessness. But the only things we absolutely can control are our responses, our actions. Wherever we put our focus, our energies and actions will follow, and our actions help create the shape of the world and the types of people we will be in that world. In this way, all the people who rallied to help Rue have become more caring and loving people. And through their care, effort, and donations they have made the world a more caring and loving place for all animals.

Rue’s story is dramatic but sadly not unique. Home for Life® sanctuary is populated by animals who have suffered many kinds of cruelty: outright abuse, casual neglect, repeated rejection, years of lonely confinement, and indifference. All these animals were able to finally find healing and a new life at our sanctuary.

Thanks to your support, we were able to respond to save Rue’s life and then restore her health and happiness, and most importantly put a stake in the ground for compassion and kindness, instead of turning away and leaving her to die alone and injured. Our donors made the difference for Rude and assure that we can respond to the next dog or cat who is also in critical need of the help they may find nowhere else but Home for Life.®