MAUI SOLO’S ADOPTION STORY (formerly known as “Chucky”)
Part 1 – THE RESCUE (as told by Dawn, the rescuer and foster mom)
Chucky is the precious orange kitten I found in my neighborhood a few months ago. I am thrilled that he found his forever home and that his mom is interested in learning about his humble beginnings.
I spent 25 years in Seattle and did a lot of volunteer work with Seattle Humane Society, Paws and Pasado during that time. In late 2021 my husband and I moved to Launiupoko (Lahaina area) full time. Due to the high population of feral kitties, I was inspired to help so I started feeding, fixing and caring for feral cats all over Lahaina area with a concentrated effort in my neighborhood.
About 2 months ago I found Chucky and his mom down the street from my house living under some bushes. I immediately trapped them, and got them fixed at Maui Humane Society (MHS). I also noticed Chucky had a severe respiratory infection that caused one of his eyes to rupture, so I arranged with a vet at MHS to remove his eye and give him a Covenia shot which got him on the road to recovery.
During this time, I was conferring with my good friend, Jennie at Honi Honi Cats Maui and she advised he was a great candidate for the Good Cat Network flight program so I spent about 5 weeks getting Chucky healthy by giving him nutritional gel, probiotics, high quality food and a lot of love. The week before he was scheduled to fly out of Maui we had the Lahaina fire requiring we evacuate in the middle of the night.
Chucky and 8 other kittens I was fostering at the time were put in a large kennel and taken to my friend’s home where I cared for them until it was time to say goodbye. Chucky will always hold a special place in my heart and I’m so forever grateful that he found a family who will love, cherish, and give him the best life he deserves.
PART 2 // THE ADOPTION (as told by Tori, the adopter)
My husband and I are long- time supporters of NOAH (Northwest Organization for Animal Help). We sponsor 2 cat condos there. I also have some history with visiting Maui and Lahaina- our good friends have a condo in Lahaina with eventual plans to move to Maui in the next 2 years. Fortunately, our friends were not injured in this horrible fire.
We are so saddened by what happened and wanted to do something to help. The original plan was my husband and I were offering to foster a cat (or two) for a family in Maui for as long as needed- months to years-until that family was back in a stable home environment and then fly the cat back to Maui when the time was right. We’ve actually done this in the past when close friends lost their home in a fire and we kept their cat (ironically named Maui), for about 10 months until they got settled in a rental home. NOAH contacted us when they received the Maui cats and we met with them to discuss this possibility. I’ve learned more about disaster relief scenarios and it seems that most of the cats in this situation (with known families with hopes of taking them back) are being kept on the islands and animals moved off the island, like those from your organization to NOAH, were up for adoption.
We were also open to adoption and it made us happy to know that adoption opens up room in the shelters in Maui for the other cats staying there. Solo (Chucky) was the last kitty from Maui on site and the NOAH staff wanted us to meet him especially because of his medical history. We instantly fell in love with him. He was so tiny and he was very shy. We knew he was a part of our family the second we saw him. His personality surprised us- initially he was so timid and shy (understandable for sure!) that we thought he’d be more of a reclusive type of cat. His true personality has come out!
He is a little entertainer. He runs all over the house, and for such a little guy you can hear him coming with thundering kitten steps. He purrs constantly. He sleeps with us every night. He follows me everywhere. He LOVES food. He’s adjusting well to a multiple cat household (see photos). Some are even starting to play with him. Having one eye doesn’t slow him down at all. Occasionally he’ll bump into things but he’s getting more accustomed to this every day. We love him very much and we are so grateful he is here.
