Stories about a Few of Our Extraordinary Efforts to Rescue Cats and Dogs
Where We Started
The SPCA of Northern Virginia rescues cats and dogs from a lot of different circumstances. When first founded in the 1990s, our organization had two court-appointed, licensed humane investigators. So for many years, our focus was on rescuing abused and neglected cats and dogs, along with taking in stray friendly cats and feral kittens, and responding to requests from local shelters.
Where We Are Now
Over the years, the Commonwealth of Virginia phased out their humane investigators program, relying solely on animal control officers to respond to complaints of abuse or neglect. SPCA NOVA has evolved in more recent years by focusing on helping:
- overcrowded local shelters (cats and dogs),
- lost or abandoned stray friendly cats living outdoors, and
- kittens born to feral cats.
Read Our Stories
Below are a few stories about cats and dogs that we rescued under unusual or extraordinary circumstances.
Stray Kitten Struggles to Survive Outdoors with Ruptured Eye
Smoky illustrates the plight of friendly stray cats, who have been lost or abandoned, struggling to survive outdoors. He was one of two kittens we rescued in 2025 with a severely [...]
Kitten Rescued from Outdoors with Severe Injury
Wrangler and his three siblings, Wesley, Sassy, and Raven, were rescued in July 2024 at six weeks of age. They were born outdoors and lived with a colony of about six [...]
Smokey
Thank you Rebecca for fostering Smokey. SMOKEY is the sweetest cat! He just wants to be loved. Smokey was found by a kind woman who noticed him coming for the food [...]
Horrific Beginning, Bright Future
By Patti Price & Kathleen MacKinnon From Trauma to Rescue Champ and Lucy are sibling kittens and best friends, bonded forever through their shared traumatic experience of having young boys (only [...]
Nine Lives, Good Samaritans, and Guardian Angels
By Kathleen MacKinnon The Myth - Cats and Nine Lives Ever wonder where the notion came from that “cats have nine lives?” This myth is usually attributed to a cat’s amazing [...]
Layla, the Belly Dancer!
By Kathleen MacKinnon No one expected Layla to survive. But against all odds, looks like she is here to stay! A Frantic Call for Help SPCA received a call from a [...]
Overlooked Dog Needs Good Home
The Three Musketeers In August of 2023, one of our rescue partners in southwest Virginia reached out to us with an appeal to take in some dogs from the local shelter, [...]
Dog Rescued from Life on a Chain
Imagine if your entire living space consisted of a circle defined by the length of a chain. That's how Farley spent nearly all his life. He was exposed to all kinds [...]
Dogs Rescued from Hoarding
By Katie McHenry In August, a hoarding situation in southwest Virginia prompted an animal control investigation, and nearby Ceres-based Lost Fantasy Rescue stepped in to rescue several dogs. The dogs were [...]
Luckless Dogs Get New Lives
By Lyda Gould The Broken Ones Bring the Sweetest Rewards Every year the SPCA of Northern Virginia rescues dogs and cats from a variety of circumstances. Some rescued animals require only [...]
“Weigh” to Go Chico!
By Joan Hughes How much do you weigh? Could you lose nearly half of that weight without jeopardizing your health? A Chihuahua did, and it was almost disastrous. Shameful Neglect Caught [...]
His Bones Were Broken, But Not His Spirit
By Edith von Stuemer It was 8:00 o’clock on a cold January evening, when Mike happened to look out the front door of his house and saw a small Husky puppy [...]
