Laurie has been an amazing supporter of Unconditional Love for years, beginning with her insistence that adoptable animals be featured on KFOX (where she worked as a manager and diva of the airwaves!!)  While Laurie was with KFOX, she not only coordinated our bi-monthly Pet-O-Rama shows with Greg Kinh and Chris Jackson, but she arranged multiple fundraisers that resulted in THOUSANDS of dollars for our organization.  Laurie was also instrumental in the creation of The Carol Fund For Animals and is a loyal board member and supporter of this branch of Unconditional Love Rescue.

Laurie no longer works at KFOX but she continues to support Unconditional Love Rescue any chance she gets!  The photo above (of Laurie and UL’s Director, Lisa) was taken at a “Tiara” themed party that she hosted recently.  Part of that party was . . . you guessed it . . . a fundraiser for Unconditional Love!! 

We love Laurie and miss her on the radio!!  She is one of the most integrity-ladened people we know and a true friend to the people and animals of Unconditional Love Rescue. 

Nathalie, Alan, Andrew, Katherine, Chris and Johnny:  Big Family, Bigger Hearts!

The death of Huggles Sunny Smiles the Hampster was a sad and turbulent time in the Strong Family life, but it opened the door to something special and amazing that I'm sure would have made little Huggles very proud. Without our furry little friend, we were able to begin fostering kittens. Our family has always loved cats (we currently have six of our own), and we figured, how wonderful would it be to have constant little baby fluffs scampering around? But we soon learned that fostering kittens isn't just about petting and snuggling with the animals we love so much; its about saving lives and giving a future to a being who was previously too sick, too underweight, or one too many mouths to keep alive. Especially with Unconditional Love. Because the kittens are pulled directly from the euthanization list, there is immediate gratification: because of me, this amazing, special, adorable little kitten is still alive. This feeling of responsibility for the little one's life can be overwhelming, but wonderful at the same time.

We've fostered about 30 kittens with Unconditional Love, each one unique and brilliant. We've had gray tabbies, brown tabbies, tortoiseshells and calicos, tuxedo cats, white fluffs, three orange tabby females in one litter, lanky blank and whites, and even a litter of five identical tabbies. One of our favorite litters was the one with the three orange tabby females and their little brown tabby brother. They each had such unique personalities and hobbies. Scout, a fluffy orange girl, was crazy. She could run up and down their hallway for hours chasing a feathery toy, and she loved to scuffle with her sisters, batting at their ears and nipping at their stomachs. She was our playmate. Russell, the brown tabby boy, was calm and soulfull. He loved to sit on your lap and just purr and purr, rumbling away as you gently stroked his back. He was the one to chill with. Daphne (or Daphers, as she was affectionately known) was also calm, but she could hold her own in a battle against Scouticus. She was our TV watching buddy since she could curl up in our laps or up in the fuzzy part of my sweatshirt hood and just sleep away. Occasionally she'd sit up and stare at the TV as if she was truly interested in the show's content. These three kittens represented the joyful, careless fun that fostering kittens involves, since it is absolutely effortless to love a kitten. The fourth kitten in the litter, though amazingly sweet and delicate, represented the difficulties and worry that fostering kittens also involved. For some reason - she may have not been weaned thouroghly before being removed from her mother - little Dalilah wouldn't eat. Her weight plummeted, and despite the wet food we placed at her lips, she wouldn't take a bite. We soon had to force feed her with a syringe, which she hated us for, but it wasn't until she had suffered for ten days that she finally understood to eat when she was hungry.

Fostering has become a huge part of our lives; there's always this gaping hole in the "Kitten Room" when we're waiting for our next batch. We truly love cats and to get to spend every day with them is a blessing. Unconditional Love not only gave us memories and fluffy friends who will last a lifestime, but they also gifted us with our crazy sixth cat, Sprout. Ever since we adopted Sprout (after fosting him and his two sisters since they were about four weeks old), our day-to-day lives have changed drastically because of the crazy antics of this little orange fluff. Whether's he's flinging bread out of the toaster or sticking his head in the printer, you can always be sure that Sprout's up to something. But, he's also one of our sweetest cats, despite his trouble making nature. He sleeps with us at night, and he's all purrs and rumbles in the morning, rubbing up against our legs and giving us his looks of pure love. Unconditional Love gives hundreds of people the opportunity to find amazing kittens like Sprout, whom without their love and care would never have left the shelter.

Dr. Rachel Boltz, MS,DVM

Here at Unconditional Love Animal Rescue and Placement, we are thankful for Dr. Rachel  Boltz every single day.  Dr. Boltz has been one of our amazing veterinarians for the past four years.  She has taken on our most difficult cases with compassion, love and diligence, very often working overtime or on her days off to make sure our little ones have the best possible care.  We say and truly believe that, if Dr. Boltz cannot save an animal, then that animal is not meant to be saved.  This means that we, as a group of committed and somewhat emotional animal rescuers, can feel that, at the end of our longest days, we did everything we could  possibly do for a little one by making sure the life of that little one was in Dr. Boltz's hands.

Dr. Boltz was recently named the National Winner of the Morris Animal Foundation's "Thank Your Vet For A Healthy Pet" Contest.  She is photographed below with Unconditional Love's director, Lisa Lotti, who submitted the winning essay on her behalf! 

Dr. Rachel Boltz works at Adobe Animal Hospital, 396 First Street, Los Altos.  Adobe is an amazing veterinary facility that is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  We recommend them highly.

Samir, Foster Daddy Extraordinairre!!