The last surviving unadopted cat of the 102 owned by a woman in Aurora will be finding a home soon, Dr. Cindy Kryjak of TenderCare Veterinary Medical Center said Thursday.
Dottie, an 8-week-old spotted kitten, is awaiting adoption while her former owner has been charged with hundreds of counts, including animal cruelty, inhumane care and lack of removal of excrement.
The kitten is one of only two surviving cats who were taken from the locked garage of Shirley Bowman, 59, on June 22, said Aurora animal control officer Paige Orchard.
When animal control officials arrived, they found seven dead cats, no water or appropriate food supplies and vomit and urine on the ground, she said.
Temperatures soared to 100 degrees some days during the two weeks the cats were left alone.
Dottie and one other cat, adopted Saturday, survived. The remaining 93 died of illness or had to be euthanized.
Dottie is waiting at TenderCare for a new home, and the medical center is taking its time to make sure it finds the right home. There are 15 people being interviewed to take the kitten, Kryjak said.
“We want to make sure these animals aren’t going to be disposable animals,” Kryjak said, adding that Dottie and the other animals they adopt out have already been through a lot. “We want it to be as perfect as we can.”
Kim Pope-Zukowski, a veterinary technician and Aurora Animal Shelter supervisor, said veterinarians from the Denver area and Boulder volunteered their time, working until 10 p.m. June 22 to evaluate each cat.
“They were just so scared and freaked,” she said. “We treated them as best we could.”
Bowman was in Maine for two weeks and did not return until June 24, Orchard said. Bowman faces 707 counts related to animal cruelty and poor animal care, said Aurora Deputy City Attorney George Zierk.
Staff writer Sara Crocker can be reached at 303-954-1661 or scrocker@denverpost.com.
This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to an editing error, it incorrectly described TenderCare Veterinary Medical Center as a shelter. The medical center does not operate as a shelter for abandoned animals.
