Will was one of two kittens brought into Pet Food Express who had been reportedly used as pit bull bait. (Photo courtesy of Jill Coe)

Solano County Friends of Animals (SCFOA) has put together a holiday gift basket featuring a two-night stay in Reno and a poker set. The proceeds will benefit a kitten who has had a tragic backstory.

On Oct. 13, a woman stopped by Pet Food Express with a pair of six-week-old tabby kittens that had been reportedly used as bait for pit bulls. The cats had bruises, and their legs were tied together to prevent them from scratching the dogs.

“This is the worst case we’ve ever seen in our area of animal cruelty for kitties,” SCFOA treasurer Jill Coe said. “We’ve never seen anything like this in the 31 years that we’ve been involved.”

The woman who dropped them off left them in the care of store manager Leona Edejer, a member of SCFOA. The staff had given them the names Will and Grace and worked to nurse them back to health. Grace, sadly, had to be euthanized because of a gangrene infection, but Will has managed to soldier on.

“His name matches his tenacity,” Coe said.

Will was put in foster care where he is on a long road to recovery, and a GoFundMe page was set up to cover costs for veterinary care. KTVU covered the story, and it was picked up by several other media outlets— including the Daily Mail in the United Kingdom— which Coe said helped donations a lot.

“We were receiving emails and letters from everywhere,” she said.

In addition to the GoFundMe page and check donations, SCFOA has also put together a holiday gift basket raffle, featuring a two-night stay at the Atlantis Hotel in Reno and an $80 poker set. Tickets are $1 each or $10 for 12 tickets and can be picked up at Pet Food Express, located at 838 Southampton Road, until the day of the drawing on Dec. 20. Those unable to make it to the store can send a check to Solano County Friends of Animals at PO Box 325, Benicia, CA, 94510. Make sure to include your phone number and email, and indicate that it is for “Will’s Holiday Basket.” An email confirmation will be sent to confirm that the ticket has been added to the drawing. All proceeds will go toward veterinary care for Will.

“There’s so much in vet charges that this is what’s helping us pay for it because it’s prohibitive,” Coe said.

Coe said that Will currently weighs about 3 pounds, which is about normal for a 3-month-old kitten, and he will have surgery at the University of California, Davis soon.

“Veterinary care is ultimately what we’re paying for,” she said.

To donate to the GoFundMe page, visit gofundme.com/kittens-in-need-of-support-2udtjr8k. To donate through SCFOA, visit http://solanocountyfoa.org/cash_donations.html.

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