Special Warriors
Current Special Warriors in Our Care
Colonel Joe
Meet Colonel Joe, a very recent addition to the Sanctuary. Colonel Joe is a special warrior with bumble foot and arthritis. We found him when he hobbled over to our Founder, Kim, when she was at a Haybarn in Tracy. He is 6-7 years old and a total sweetie at heart who loves to be held. Since finding Colonel Joe, he has had his bumble removed by a doctor at VEG and now has custom booties made to help the healing process for his wounds. He is currently on antibiotics and pain medication. We are happy to have found him and taken him in.
Lola
Meet Lola! Lola is our newest addition to the Sanctuary and an .ameraucana hen rescue. Lola was living inside a home for four years with a dog and cat after her flock mates were killed by a predator. She deals with chronic bumblefoot, is blind in her left eye, and has five toes.
Thomas
Thomas was abandoned with his mom and 2 other littermates. He is a very sweet cat without use of his legs. Luckily. vets at UC Davis Neurology determined he feels no deep pain to his lower legs. Thomas needs his bladder to be manually expressed 4 times a day until he's 1 year old. He is very active and loves to play with his friends and family. Do you have the skills and love to open up your home to him?
Willow
Willow came from Grass Valley, bred for meat but was overfed, developing bone spurs off of all her legs. She has severe mobility issues due to the bone spurs and is currently on pain medication twice a day with a restricted diet. She is a sweet, social and always hungry cornish cross hen.
Chevy
Chevy is an elderly game hen with brown shades who came to us after being abandoned in a 7/11 parking lot in Sacramento. Over a period of several weeks, she kept being spotted by a local who reached out to a Sacramento animal rescue that in turn contacted us for adoption. She is blind to the right eye and has a feisty personality.
Giorgi
We have had Giorgi since she was about 14 weeks old and her own family wasn't able to feed her due to her continually growing scissor beak. Because of this, we were torpedo feeding her for a while and switched to gavage feeding once she started laying eggs to make sure she was still receiving full nutrition. We love having her as a resident of the Sanctuary!
Skully
Skully was brought in after her skull was damaged by her other flock mates and became necrotic. She is now a resident at the Sanctuary after surgery successfully repaired the skull damage.
Scout
We have had Scout since he was a chick in 2019. After being hatched by a family in the foothills, Scout's lower beak started to grow to the left and his family reached out to us as the Sanctuary for intake. After trying to feed him with soupy mash but it not being enough nutrition for him, we had him evaluated. We started gavage feeding Scout to help him gain weight, but he has advanced to torpedo feeding for daily nutritional needs. We are proud to have him as a Sanctuary resident.
Izzy
Izzy is the Sanctuary's Silkie Frizzle chicken and struggles with walking and feeding due to how her legs stand while eating. She came to us with a torn ACL that reattached in the wrong place on her leg and surgery was unable to repair it. In order to ensure Izzy is properly nourished, we gavage feed her.
Lady Sybil
Lady Sybil came with two sisters to our Sanctuary, all named after the Downtown Abbey sisters. She is small, petite and shy. She has a nasal bacteria chronic respiratory disease named Mycoplasma gallisepticum which causes nasal passages and eyes to swell. Lady Sybil also has heart issues so she also is on cardiac medication.
Special warriors are animals to be loved, not to be used. They are animals to be cared for, cherished, not discarded. Please join us in lifting up special warriors that might need a little extra care, but have a lot of love to give and a lot of life left to live.
“Only the gentle are ever really strong.”
-James Dean
Previous and Passed Special Warriors in our Hearts
Caroline
Caroline is a red Boer doeling with a shoulder deformity. Caroline’s shoulders did not form correctly so she needs to be limited in her activity (something very tough for goats since they like to jump all over the place), but she has been very healthy and not needed any treatments. She is looking for a home and would love to be adopted alongside Easton because of their tight, loving bond.
Easton
Meet Easton, a purebred Nubian wether who is new to the Sanctuary. We took him in after he was designated as “failure to thrive” and he is currently being treated for anemia. We are also boosting his immune system with Probios and milk thistle to aide his liver. He's been dewormed, treated for coccidia, and given antibiotics to ensure his well-being. Don't be fooled by his small size; Easton's determination knows no bounds. He is strongly bonded with Caroline, our female doeling, and would do great in a home with her.
Pocket is a female Nigerian dwarf goat we are currently fostering for Genevieve’s Gentle Heart Rescue. She was brought to UC Davis for treatment after it was discovered she had “joint ill”. When we first took her in we were bottle feeding her twice a day but she recently has weaned off bottles. She has a big heart and absolutely loves being with people.
Cruz
When Cruz was rescued she was initially an angry bantam, but with a loving, safe home soon developed the sweetest personality. Similar to Lady Sybil, Cruz also had Mycoplasma gallisepticum and went through treatments for it before passing.
Barney
Barney was an almost 2 month old male water buffalo calf that was found "down" on a hill, unable to stand or walk. The farmer was told by a vet to just let him pass. Fortunately, an employee reached out to Genevieve's Gentle Heart rescue to help again. Together we decided to try and rescue him and bring him to UC Davis. He stayed at UC Davis in critical condition for several days before passing. We will miss him dearly.
Karson
Karson was an 8 year old Sheltie when he began having seizures. We took him to UC Davis for an MRI of his spine and head. There was no tumor or cancer but he had olfactory bulb changes and dead tissue that caused an empty space. It was questionable whether it was from a vascular stroke or trauma. He continued to be managed on seizure medication but unfortunately they became more frequent and debilitating. He has since passed.
Laney
Laney was rescued from a factory farm in Central California and was rehabilitated . She always had neurologic issues that progressed to the point she couldn’t hold her head up and walk straight. She was the biggest cuddler, loving hugs and attention.
Max
We took in Maximillian, an elderly male cat that was abandoned at the base of Mt Diablo. He was blind and deaf. When we first took him in we had him evaluated by our mobile vet and had a full work up done on him. He tested positive for FIV and was severely dehydrated. He also wasn’t interested in eating. We tried so many different types of food and also began giving him SQ fluids daily which helped him perk up and begin eating. He was seen by an ophthalmologist who put in eye drops to control his eye pressures. He needed both eyes removed but wasn’t a candidate for surgery due to his blood work being abnormal. He began to trust and love to be held and stroked. He was able to find his litter box and loved to curl up in his cozy bed. He passed one evening in his bed.
Rosie
Rosie was rescued from a hoarder in Palo Alto. She was found squished under items in the home, leading to issues all over her body with muscle growth, bone growth, neck extension issues. Rosie was such a strong warrior with a will to fight and survive with a huge respect for other chickens.