By clicking a button to vote for Langley's Animal Protection Society, residents helped save 10 very sick kittens and can help with the care of 10 adorable puppies that were left for dead in a Langley park during cold weather.
LAPS won $5,000 in the "Shelter Challenge," saved 10 kittens, and now have a chance to win $10,000 in the new round of the Challenge, which began on Monday. The money was the first time a Canadian shelter has won since the contest began in 2008.
LAPS came in second worldwide by getting supporters to vote for them every day. The money arrived just in time to save 10 feral and sick kittens that arrived at the Langley shelter in October.
The "Jungle" kittens were huddled together in the back of their crate, terrified and starving, said LAPS volunteer Shelly Roche who fostered the sick kittens and put them on her popular "kitty cam."
That kitty cam, which can be found on the Facebook page Tinykittens, has 295,000 fans and has been viewed 3.5 million times.
"They had horribly bloated little tummies from roundworms, tapeworms, and coccidiosis. They had Upper Respiratory Infections complicated by severe lung worm infestation and in one case, pneumonia," Roche said.
Then she found they had ringworm, a fungal infection that is difficult to treat, and highly contagious to other cats, dogs and humans. This was devastating news. It meant months of expensive treatment and rigorous cleaning every day, all day for Roche.
"We absolutely knew these 10 little lives were worth the thousands of dollars it would cost to save them, but we also worried whether we could raise so much money," she said.
By their 83rd day in care, all 10 Jungle kittens had racked up $7,970 in expenses. Dr. Renee Ferguson helped as much as she could, donating more than $2,500 in exams, fluids, late-night house calls, lung x-rays, etc.
As of today, all 10 have been adopted into wonderful, loving forever homes, said Roche.
If you are looking for another reason to help LAPS win the money, you can watch 10 puppies and their foster mom Timber play on a live puppy cam each day, through Roche's tinykittens cam.
Timber was rescued by LAPS and had two puppies of her own on Dec. 6. Since then she has adopted eight tiny orphans put in a box and dumped in a park on a very cold day.
They are doing great and Timber has taken them all in as her own. They will be ready for adoption at the beginning of February.
"Words cannot express our gratitude to our community and Dr. Ferguson," she said.
To help them win, go to http://tinykittens.com/vote and click the "VOTE" button once a day. You can help LAPS win an additional $1,000 by registering on the Shelter Challenge website before you vote.