B.C. SPCA needs help to pay for Penticton cat’s surgery

By Steve Arstad
March 18 2016 08:00 PM

PENTICTON – The South Okanagan-Similkameen B.C. SPCA branch is looking for help to pay for an injured cat's surgery.

Four-year-old Riva is a black cat with green eyes, who needs surgery to relieve discomfort being caused by an old injury that causes her rear leg to collapse beneath her when she walks. The condition causes her pain, and if left untreated could dramatically lower her quality of life.

Penticton SPCA branch manager Carolyn Hawkins calls Riva a sweet little cat “whose lovely, long black coat shines in the daylight.”

“Her purr and precious meows leave you unable to resist snuggling her. She just melts your heart,” Hawkins says in a media release.

Riva’s surgery is anticipated to cost $2,000. She’ll be placed in a foster home while she undergoes physiotherapy during her recovery, which could take six weeks.

If you would like to help Riva or animals like her in need in the South Okanagan, visit this BC SPCA website, or drop of donations in person at 2200 Dartmouth Drive in Penticton.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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Steve Arstad

I have been looking for news in the South Okanagan - SImilkameen for 20 years, having turned a part time lifelong interest into a full time profession. After five years publishing a local newsletter, several years working as a correspondent / stringer for several local newspapers and seven years as editor of a Similkameen weekly newspaper, I joined iNFOnews.ca in 2014. My goal in the news industry has always been to deliver accurate and interesting articles about local people and places. My interest in the profession is life long - from my earliest memories of grade school, I have enjoyed writing.
As an airborne geophysical surveyor I travelled extensively around the globe, conducting helicopter borne mineral surveys.
I also spent several years at an Okanagan Falls based lumber mill, producing glued-wood laminated products.
As a member of the Kaleden community, I have been involved in the Kaleden Volunteer Fire Department for 22 years, and also serve as a trustee on the Kaleden Irrigation District board.
I am currently married to my wife Judy, of 26 years. We are empty-nesters who enjoy living in Kaleden with our Welsh Terrier, Angus, and cat, Tibbs.
Our two daughters, Meagan and Hayley, reside in Richmond and Victoria, respectively.

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