I want to thank the Shamrock Foundation for the help they recently gave me with my cat Milo. This organization, simply put, is invaluable to the community. Mary Casey brought me into the group to help with the Art for the Animals several years ago. Since then I have volunteered on many different occasions, and am willing to help whenever and wherever I can. I have 4 cats and one adorable Lab.

But this story is is about my Shamrock cat Milo that I adopted over 5 years ago. Milo is an indoor/outdoor cat and one Sunday he didn''t come in in the evening for his dinner. This was not uncommon and I didn''t think much about it. But the next morning he didn''t show up for breakfast and this was highly unusual. When I got home from work I searched, and searched, and I spoke to my neighbors thinking maybe he went into a shed or garage and was trapped. But I had no luck. Finally Tuesday evening my daughter and I bought supplies for signs to put up offering a reward and we took our flashlights and searched the neighborhood again calling his name. We still had no luck. So when we got back home we were hanging up our coats and hear this small "meow" at the door. I couldn''t believe it when I saw Milo sitting at the door! He must have heard us calling for him and by the looks of him struggled to get to the door and get home to us. When he came in he was covered with grass and leaves he started coughing and gagging and immediately collapsed as if exhausted. I was scared to death for him. I called my vet, they told me how to check him, and what to do for him, and what to watch for. So he stayed close to me the rest of the night.

The next morning I noticed that he had not moved all night long and when he would move he started coughing really bad. I took him to the vet, they checked him out, said he had a small temperature, gave him an antibiotic shot to ward off any infections that he might have and sent us on our way. They thought maybe he was just in a bit of "shock" from being away and his ordeal. But they couldn''t find anything wrong. I took him home and went to work. When I got home from work I noticed he had not moved since I put him down that morning, and he just didn''t look and act right. So I took him back to the vet. This time they kept him, did and X-Ray and some other tests and found that he had fluid on his lungs. Apparently he had be hit or kicked or had some type of trauma that caused this injury on the inside, but with no outside indications.

The vet was fabulous with him and nursed him back to health. And as you animal lovers know medical attention, tests, and treatment do not come cheap! I am a single mom with two daughters and my budget is pretty limited. But, as with any family member, you do what you can to get them help. I never thought with my years of volunteering with Shamrock that they would be a resource for me when I needed help, I always did the volunteering for the animals not thinking of the "human side" of things. Now Shamrock was on the giving side. They helped me with the vet (Simms Animal Hospital in Fern Creek), who is a wonderful supporter of Shamrock, and they helped pay for some of his treatment. I am so appreciative of this organization, you just can''t imagine. I wanted to say thank you, for your help and support!

You ALL are wonderful!

Traci Willman