Thankfully Helen, who ran a Richmond based rescue
organization, told the vet that she’d accept Vincent into her rescue program,
to do the needed surgery and he could come home with her to recuperate. She was a wonderful mom to Vincent while he
recouped from losing his right hind leg, losing part of his tail, healed from
breaks in the left hind leg, and began to heal from internal injuries.
Young
Vincent
VINCENT LEARNED - There
are really good people out there, people who devote their lives to animal
rescue.
Helen provided the best care possible to Vincent for many
months. His leg healed, the stitches
came out, the scars faded. The
incontinence remained a problem for dear Vincent. Helen had heard of Rikki’s Refuge, a place where the handicapped
could live full and productive lives and be given the care they needed every
day.
And so when Vincent was about a year and a half old, he came
to live at Rikki’s Refuge.
Word of this poor kitty who’d been thru so much, who’d lost
a leg, who was undergoing physical therapy to be able to walk on three legs,
spread, and people came to love him and to feel sorry for him and to offer him
hope and to make him feel better.
They expected a sad, bedraggled, suffering little
kitty. Instead they found a joyful
kitty who’s eyes lit up when he saw them and who scooted over and reached a paw
up to their knee, begging, “pick me up, pick me up”. Once in their arms he snuggled their necks, nuzzled their ears
and purred and purred and purred. He
could never get enough love. And he
just loved giving it to others.
Vincent
always gave more then he received
His new friends would go away feeling happy and hopeful and
brighter about the whole world. He
always had that effect on every one who ever met him. I never saw eyes light up the way his did when he saw someone to
snuggle with. No one was immune from
his adorable shuffle over to them and his placing a paw up on their knee and
his Meow of pick me up!
A friend wrote in when she learned of his passing, “Vincent
was such a wonderful being. He inspired
us all to hang in there despite whatever life dished out to us. He was remarkable
and will be missed by us all. I know
when I was spending time out there during my treatments...watching him gave me
hope that if he could survive all the things he had...maybe I could too. He will always remain a strong influence in
how we humans should live our lives.”
The treatments she speaks of were very debilitating while she was
fighting a second round of cancer, which thankfully she survived and is now
healed.
VINCENT LEARNED - It’s
better to comfort others and give them hope, than to be depressed about your
own problems.
One day a group of girl scouts came out to visit and to
volunteer. One little girl was very sad
and unhappy. She didn’t want to work
with the other kids. She kept crying
and saying she just wanted to go home.
She was miserable and refused to participate. She sat on the steps, looking sad, and watching the other kids
having fun with the animals. Vincent,
always knowing who needed him, scooted over to her, crawled up in her lap, and
wrapped his arms around her neck and started to purr. She hugged Vincent and sobbed into his fur for a while. His lulling happy purr got to her after
awhile and she began to nuzzle and pat him.
Soon she was laughing and talking to him and playing with him.
VINCENT LEARNED -
Sometimes just listening is the most important thing.
When it was time to go she protested loudly that she didn’t
want to leave her new best friend Vincent, “He cares about me, he listened to
me, he really cares!”
We’d seen that kind of reaction from many volunteers and
visitors. They’d arrive sad about some
life event; the loss of a loved one, a serious disappointment, the loss of a
job, a deep hurt. After “comforting
poor little Vincent” for a while, they’d leave with a happy contented smile on
their face. Vincent was always there to
put his arms around their neck, purr and listen to all their problems. And he never once gave them mounds of well
intentioned advice they didn’t want to hear!
Not long after that girl scout had made friends with
Vincent, we were invited to teach a humane education class at a school. What about taking Vincent? He loved everybody.
Maybe the kids would really listen to an animal talking to
them! So often we’d go into an
auditorium with row after row of kids, all rowdy, chatting to themselves,
teasing each other, acting up, and we’d never get the attention of even half of
the kids while we talked about kindness, caring, compassion, proper treatment
of animals and the benefits of speutering.
They’d half glance at the pictures of cats, dogs, rabbits ..... But we rarely really had the attention of
more than a few of the kids.
And so Vincent went to his first Humane Education
Class. The kids lined up in the
auditorium, row after row, sitting on the floor, all the usual chatter and
pushing and shoving. When I held
Vincent up and told them he was here to teach them about what it was like to be
an animal, showed them how he only had three legs and told them he wanted to talk
to them ... there was silence.
When I set Vincent down, he scooted to the first child in
the first row, climbed on her lap and snuggled. After a few moments, he left, and scooted to the next child to
snuggle. Child after child. Row after row. He knew exactly what to do and wanted to make sure everyone got
his love and attention.
This time, as Vincent told about kindness, caring,
compassion, proper treatment of animals and the benefits of speutering the kids
were enthralled and kept raising hands to ask questions or ask for a second
snuggling session. The classes were no
longer something to have to sit thru, but something to participate in.
VINCENT LEARNED - Humans
prefer to learn from animals!
After seeing the reaction to Vincent at class after class
and event after event, we began to take other animals with us on Educational
Visits; dogs, rabbits, chickens, goats, iguanas, baby pigs ..... the kids loved it and they always had very
intelligent inquisitive questions to ask.
So many questions!
Doesn’t it hurt to not have that leg?
Is your physical pain like ours?
Do you feel emotional pain? Like
we do? What happens to too many animals
in shelters? How can we help save
lives? Why is speutering so
important? How can I get my parents to
speuter our cat or dog?
Many of the kids who were in one of our Humane Education
Classes would later bring their families on tours at Rikki’s Refuge to meet the
animals who’d visited their school. The
kids talked all the time about what Vincent taught me, or what Nanny the goat
had said, or what Duke the blind dog told them. With the animals in front of them, us humans teaching the class,
were nothing but the voice of the animals.
They’d look directly at the animal they were asking a question of, and
directly at them while we responded for the animal.
On one tour a little boy was looking for “that lady who
drives Vincent around”. I picked up
Vincent and went to meet him. He was so
excited. He told his mom, “This is
Vincent, he’s the one who told us about doing something to our cat so she stops
having kittens. Vincent tell my
mom!” His mom wasn’t familiar with
speutering and didn’t know it was simple and could be inexpensive. Vincent snuggled her son, while I told her
the benefits to her cat and how it would stop all those kittens. She was grateful, as she hated “having to
get rid” of the excess kittens several times a year. She lived a financially challenged life and we were able to get
her hooked up with a speuter clinic and get her kitty “fixed” for her.
VINCENT LEARNED - Reaching
out to teach kids, can teach the older generation too!
Each and every story I can tell you has been repeated over
and over again, and I’m sure I’ll hear every one yet again and again. It’s the first story of it’s kind that is so
moving to me, when I realize what a difference Vincent or another animal is
making in someone’s life. Rikki’s
Refuge was started to help the animals, the furry and feathered kind. Yet the longer we’re here, the more we see
how we help the human kind too.
Kindness, compassion, sharing, love, crosses all species, we don’t need
to limit it - we need to reach out to every creature, large or small, human or
other, and just be kind. And you’ll
find it helps your soul too. If you’re
sad, angry, disappointed, unhappy and you reach out to give a kindness to
someone else, regardless of their species, you’ll find yourself just a little
bit happier. And if you do it over and
over untill it becomes automatic, you’ll find yourself happy despite all the
usual events of life.
A dog named Jack came to Rikki’s Refuge many years ago after
what must have been horrible abuse. His
background was unknown, but his back was filled with scars, and he cringed in
the corner and shook and wet himself when approached. Whatever had happened to Jack had been not only physically but
also emotionally traumatic.
Childhelp is a wonderful organization who works with
emotionally challenged kids. Often from abuse, bad home situations and the
like, these kids are working to overcome emotional traumas. Several counselors at Childhelp had been
bringing kids out to Rikki’s on a regular basis. One week there was a new boy.
Just to look at him was to hurt with the sadness and fear and rejection
you could see in him as he hung his head and did not speak. His counselor said he hadn’t spoken for over
a year after a horrible traumatic event in his little life.
At this point Jack had been with us several months and would
now let us approach and pat him, and though he’d back into a corner, cower and
shake, he no longer wet himself and sometimes we’d see the fear lesson in his
eyes as he’d briefly lift them to look at us.
As we walked into Doggy Downs that day, this little boys
eyes immediately went to Jack’s. Jack
stood up and approached the front of his pen.
Never, never before had he done that.
The boy walked to Jack’s pen, the two never breaking eye contact. His counselor asked if he could go in with
Jack. I opened the door and the boy
walked in and threw his arms around Jack.
Jack sat down and they stayed there, snuggled together for the entire
visit.
When it was time to leave and the boy had to go, he looked
up at his counselor and said, “I love Jack”.
The first words he’d spoken since his trauma. Week after week they visited and week after week they both
improved. The boy graduated from
Childhelp and I pray has had a wonderful life.
Jack was adopted and had a wonderful happy life with his forever family
who cherished him.
Usually it’s the kids and their stories that make such an
impression on me. Though you ought to
see Vincent and his friends in nursing homes!!
They light up the residents eyes and lives!! It so warms my heart to hear the folks talk about pets they had
and how much they enjoy stroking Vincent or Duke or one of the other visiting
animals. And what a gift it is to us to
be able to see the faces of folks, when we are able to take their elderly
animals to visit them. It’s a hard
decision for so many folks, what to do with the beloved older pet when they
must go to a nursing home. Now a days,
knowing the benefits, many allow animals.
But in the past few did. And
when their animals would come to the 9th Life Retirement Center at
Rikki’s Refuge, if there was any way possible, one of our volunteers would take
the animal to visit their owner.
Everybody was warmed by the experience, the previous owner, the animal
and the volunteer.
VINCENT LEARNED - Being
physically different, doesn’t change who you are.
I was setting up for a Humane Education Class in a school
auditorium one day while the kids were filing in. The last to come in was a little girl in a wheel chair,
straggling way behind everyone, no one paying her any attention. Vincent immediately picked up on her and
scooted to the back of the room and reached up to her knee. I went and lifted him up to her lap and they
snuggled. He told her that if he was a
people he’d have a wheel chair too, but with three on the floor, he could
scoot! She smiled.
They talked about being handicapped and needing help from
others to do some of the most mundane things.
Soon I had her up in the front of the class and Vincent began to teach
his first class about being differently abled.
She said the worst was that nobody wanted to be her friend and no one
would play with her at recess, nobody wanted to sit with her at lunch.
Vincent visited some of the other kids and asked them if
they wanted to play with him. YES! Did they view him as different, less of a
cat, no fun, cuz he had only one hind leg?
NO! Pretty soon we had the whole
class talking about being physically different. Some of you wear glasses.
One kid said he had a hearing aide.
One had special shoes nobody had known about. Others had handicapped siblings or parents or grandparents. Do you love them? YES! Are they just the
same as you? YES!
Some of the kids said it was scary to play with somebody in
a wheelchair, they didn’t know how to act, do they treat them different? We got to talk about how somebody with a
wheelchair, a walker, crutches, missing a leg or arm or eye - they’re just the
same and they want to be treated just the same. It’s ok to help them and open an door or carry a package, but
other than that, they are just like you and me.
VINCENT LEARNED - The
differently abled are just that: differently
abled - they aren’t dis abled.
The next year Vincent and I went back to that school for our
Humane Education Class and that same little girl was the first to come rolling
in the room, big smile on her face, with kids crowding all around her,
obviously she was a part of the group now.
She rolled right up to Vincent and said, “You’re my friend! And now everybody wants to be my friend cuz
you’re my friend! Thank you Vincent for
teaching them that you and me are just like everybody else!”
Over the years as word about the Rikki’s Refuge Spokes
Animals got out, they’d get bookings for 2, 4, 6 events a week. Everyone wanted to meet Vincent and
friends. Often with the schedule,
different Spokes Animals would attend different events. Everywhere Vincent was, the lines were long,
waiting to hug him, to have a photo taken with him, to meet him.
A few years ago Vincent got a hold of a ‘puter and created a
facebook page, within days he had the maximum number of friends allowed,
5,000. From all over the world. He was a wise sage kitty, offering advice on
problems, spreading love and peace. He
always emphasized how important love and kindness was.
Animals take the front seat at Rikki’s Refuge, because after
all, we are an Animal Sanctuary. Though
people frequently ask to move in, we don’t have the proper habitat for
them! After working with humans and
seeing the difference our animals make for them, I’d can dream of a place that
has facilities for kids in need, the elderly, the differently-abled amongst the
animal neighborhoods!
In the animal biz, I often hear people say, “I hate people,
that’s why I like animals, why can’t all people be nice to animals.” They’re referring to the people they see day
in and day out who’ve hurt animals, physically thru abuse, emotionally thru abandonment,
and it’s hard to remember they are a small segment of the human
population.
Vincent never, never discriminated against species. He snuggled up and purred for other cats,
dogs, rabbits, chickens, sheep and humans!
He felt all deserved that extra little bit of kindness. He would encourage people to be nice to each
other. He’d tell his fans, today is “be
nice day” - find just one nice thing you can do. Open a door for someone, help someone carry their groceries to
their car, pick up the neighbor’s paper and take it up to their door, get their
mail from their mailbox for them, let somebody merge into traffic. It doesn’t take much of your time to make a
huge happy in someone else’s life. And
you know what? It even makes you feel
good! Try it - you’ll like it !
These were the lessons Vincent shared on facebook and in his
weekly newsletter, “Hairballs - what’s coming up at Rikki’s Refuge”!
VINCENT LEARNED - Kindness
counts, no matter what species you are.
Teaching kids, everyone, to be kind to animals and to
everyone, was very important to Vincent’s life. One day a lot of his friends were talking about bad news and sad
news and unkindness in the world.
Convinced there is kindness and there are good people, Vincent, posted
on his facebook wall GOOD MORNING GOOD NEWS and listed a number of kind and
good things in the news for the day.
So many fans wrote in saying thank you and the next morning
asking for another “edition” that Vincent has published Good Morning Good News
daily for several years now.
His adopted sons, Opie and Timmy, will be continuing the
publication as soon as their typing skills improve.
Vincent always believed that if there was something bad
happening and you could do something to change it, then do it. If you couldn’t, then find something that
you could change for good. Don’t sit
around and moan about the bad - do something good. If you can’t think of anything else - make a donation to your local animal shelter or rescue.
And he knew everyone everywhere counted, not just him and
the animals at Rikki’s Refuge. But
animals and even people everywhere needed help and encouragement.
VINCENT LEARNED - Share
and Share alike.
He began advertising adoption events, fundraising events,
and special needs for other animal organizations. As his outreach grew - thru followers of GOOD MORNING GOOD NEWS
and several facebook pages - he became aware of more and more need. And he began to help with human issues
too. Food banks in need, homeless
shelters. And the contests! With fans and supporters in every state and
in 37 countries around the globe, he could seriously help animal shelters in
Romania, Italy, Sweden, Egypt as well as others in need.
Vote with
Vincent !
A year ago Vincent discovered another avenue that he could
help lots of animals and people. With
social media and the internet the way it is - people all over the country are
seeing animals that will be euthanized for lack of space if not adopted. Often someone falls in love with a cat or
dog that is hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away. Thru Vincent’s network he could ask for
travelers and volunteers willing to help that animal get to it’s new home. It worked!!!
He started a special project just for moving animals to new
homes. Katie’s and ZuZu’s Souls Train.
Katie, a young black kitty, who’s owner had died and ZuZu, a big black and
white boy, given up when their family moved, both destined to die in a shelter
in New York were the first two to be rescued with this new project. Since then, dozens have found new homes.
Vincent always loved Fancy Feast and with the advent of
on-line shopping and Amazon.com, may of his fans sent him monthly subscriptions
of cases of Fancy Feast. Vincent D. Cat
got more mail than you can imagine!!!
Ron
bringing Nums for Vincent
In the fall, Vincent and his facebook kitty partner Polly,
who lives in London, adopted two little boys, Timmy and Opie.
At home in
the Tree House, Vincent, Polly, Opie, Timmy
Timmy came from Winchester, where a motorist saw him fly out
the window of the moving vehicle in front of her. She stopped and picked up the badly injured month old kitten and
took him to the first vet clinic she saw.
Ken, a Rikki’s Refuge volunteer worked there. The doctor worked on little Timmy for over a month, and Timmy
become the love of the office. Sadly
Timmy’s hind legs would never function properly again, and so he came to live
with Vincent and apprentice as a Spokes Kitty.
Velcro
giving Timmy a physical therapy session to exercise his legs
Opie came from Waynesboro where, Barbara, a volunteer of
Rikki’s Refuge was called about a mother cat “eatin’ the legs off her
kittens.” She took the family to her
vet and discovered the missing limbs were birth defects, no fault of their
loving mother. There were nine kittens! A huge litter for their young mother,
Nellie. In addition to the leg
deformities, the kittens had other issues, and despite loving round the clock
care, Opie was the only survivor.
Barbara
introduces Opie to Vincent
Opie and his mom now live with us at Rikki’s Refuge. Mom is
kind and loving and will be a Humane Educator.
Opie will represent the differently-abled. Born with no hind feet, he hops along just fine, but with a hard
thumping noise. A friend of Vincent who
lives in New York is designing special padded socks for Opie!
Timmy,
Vincent and Opie
Vincent began having some serious health issued last
summer. His wonderful doctors, Meredith
Vargas and Andrea Kellum of Culpeper Animal Hospital worked diligently with
him, calling in specialist when needed.
Time and time again they’d have our little man back up on his feet and
feeling great again.
He’d had a real tough bout in February and with the love and
prayers sent from around the world, pulled thru and was able to spend more time
loving his fans and sharing hugs and purrs.
When he had a down spell in early April and would eat only one flavor of
expensive Fancy Feast Appetizers - packages addressed to Vincent D. Cat, poured
in from friends all around the world.
After a week of hospitalization Vincent was feeling like himself
again.
Through the fall and over the winter, Vincent had snuggled
with Timmy and Opie and taught them about being Spokes Kitties. Timmy did the Christmas Photo Shoot with
Vincent and made his debut into the world.
Timmy’s
first photo shoot, Christmas 2011
They’d snuggle visitors, but didn’t go off site for their
first visit until the week before Vincent’s 14th Birthday. Vincent, Opie, Timmy and Duke (a Doberman
doggy, blind from birth) making up the Differently-Abled Team went out for a
very successful photo shoot. Opie is
super outgoing and took instantly to being a loving cuddly spokes cat, knowing
just how to pose and to ham it up when the camera came out, just like his dad,
Vincent. Timmy was a bit scared and
will have to do some more car traveling and visiting different places to gain
that level of comfort. But they were
great!
No one
knew this would be Vincent’s last off-site photo shoot
Vincent had a big birthday bash scheduled for the 28th
of April. Though is birthday is
officially on the 30th, his celebration was Saturday so more of his
fans could attend. He didn’t want them
to have to explain to their bosses why they needed to take a day off
work!! Though one beloved fan and
friend came all the way from St. Louis for the party!
The morning of the 27th Vincent wasn’t feeling
well and went to see his docs. Early in
the morning he had seemed just a little off, but as the day wore on he was
really not feeling well. He’d had kidney
insufficiency for quite some time, though with daily subQ fluid therapy he was
doing and feeling great. Everyone at
Rikki’s Refuge, Culpeper Animal Hospital, and his friends and fans around the
world were praying this would be just another little bleep in the road. It was on the morning of the 28th,
his birthday party day, that we had to face we’d probably reached the end of
what modern medicine could do, there hadn’t been an improvement and likely
wouldn’t. Though Vincent had surprised
us again and again over the years with his will to live and to pull thru health
issues .... maybe with prayer ....
His party started at 1 pm and we arrived a bit late, coming
home from the vet. He wasn’t feeling
good. Mostly sleeping, only lifting his
head occasionally, and purring when I’d rub his nose, he always loved nose
rubs. Instead of a happy joyful party,
it started out with a lot of tears as Vincent was held by those who loved him
so much. It was a chilly cloudy day. But the love of his friends made it warm.
When it was time to open presents, Vincent sat up and said
“HEY, I’m in on this!” He begged to get
down, and he went to help open presents, to eat - and he really ate - his fishy
smelly birthday cake, and to share with his friends, cat, dog, goat and human! As we sang Happy Birthday and cameras came
out, Vincent just glowed and basked in the excitement of the party. He never saw a camera that he didn’t start
posing!!! He scooted about, ate more
fishy cake, opened more presents, played with his toys and friends. He had a blast.
And what had started as a sad day, turned into a wonderful
fun happy birthday party.
VINCENT LEARNED - Always
put love first.
Despite not feeling well, he wanted to be a part of the love
that day. And his burst of energy, the
tremendous amount he’d eaten, the way he seemed to feel so much better, made us
hopeful. Sunday was a lovely sunny day,
and though weak, Vincent wanted to be out in the sun and was able to spend the
afternoon in the sunny day run with Opie, Timmy and other friends.
When we went to bed that night I knew most of his strength
had drained away. We cuddled up just
like usual, his nose against mine, with several other furry friends. His breathing was slowing and shortly after
midnight, now officially his birthday, he crossed to Rainbow Bridge.
WE LEARNED - What Would Vincent Do?
Vincent spent 12 of his 14 years of life teaching about
kindness and love and compassion. His
adopted kids, Timmy and Opie, and all of his friends and fans, will carry on
that tradition. Before making a
decision, we’ll stop and think, What Would Vincent Do, and we’ll reach out to
the world with a little more love and compassion and with less judgment and
anger.
I’ll see you at the Bridge my beloved Vincent,
Mom
by Kerry Hilliard, founder of Rikki’s Refuge
Rainbow Bridge
Author unknown
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to
someone here,
that pet goes to
Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends
so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends
are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to
health and vigor.
Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong
again,
just as we
remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small
thing;
they each miss
someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one
suddenly stops and looks into the distance.
His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers.
Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the
green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend
finally meet,
you cling
together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again.
The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again
caress the beloved head,
and you look
once more into the trusting eyes of your pet,
so long gone
from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....
