Our Mascot

Every year at the Richmond SPCA’s Fur Ball, which benefits our Cinderella Fund for sick, injured and neonatal orphaned animals, we auction off the opportunity to serve as our mascot for the coming year.

This year, Lily will represent the Richmond SPCA’s dogs and cats at fun Richmond SPCA events as well as at other important events around town. We are so excited to welcome Lily as our 2020-2021 mascot!

Lily, our 2020-2021 Mascot

Lily is a Richmond SPCA alumna and was the featured Cinderella Pet at our 2018 Fur Ball. Now she’s a star in a whole new way! At the Richmond SPCA’s 22nd Annual Fur(tual) Ball on Saturday, November 7, 2020, Lily won the opportunity to serve as our 2020-2021 mascot. In this role, she will represent dogs and cats in need of loving homes, like the one she is grateful to have with her guardian Dana Taylor.

Lily’s gotcha day was Friday, July 13, 2018, which Dana calls the “luckiest Friday the 13th ever!” Her story was featured in the August 2018 edition of our Pet Post newsletter, which told how she was transferred to the Richmond SPCA from a rural Virginia shelter along with her eight puppies who were only a week old. Although her babies stayed healthy and were quickly adopted, Lily fell ill with a respiratory sickness that started with a mild cough and quickly worsened. The Richmond SPCA’s Cinderella Fund provided for extensive diagnostic tools and treatment for a rare chronic condition, Eosinophilic Bronchopneumopathy (EBP).

As mascot, Lily will encourage others to consider adoption of special needs pets.

A dog made, at least partially, of magic

Lily attends the Richmond SPCA School for dogs and loves her trainers there. While growing her confidence was the initial reason for enrolling, she has also worked on basic commands and manners, which she uses to impress new friends, and now she’s preparing to take the Canine Good Citizen test. Lily and Dana look forward to enrolling in a pet therapy program after earning the CGC title.

Dana tells a story of an encounter that revealed Lily’s suitability for therapy work:

“We were walking one afternoon, and a woman pulled her car up beside us. She asked if her daughter, who was in the passenger seat, could get out and say hello to Lily. She said they were coming from a funeral and the little girl (10 or 11) would love to say hello. I walked Lily over to the passenger side and the girl got out of the car. Lily sat at her feet while the little girl scratched her head. Lily seemed to sense that she needed more, and Lily leaned into her. The little girl began sobbing and got on her knees and threw her arms around Lily. Lily didn’t budge . She stayed perfectly still until the little girl was done and stood up. We’d never met them before and haven’t seen them since, but Lily just knew. That’s when I figured out that Lily was at least partially made of magic.”

Her favorite things

Some of Lily’s favorite things, when she’s not busy being the “dog-about-town” with mascot appearances:

• She loves the river—Brown’s Island, the T. Pott Bridge and Belle Isle are all favorite spots—yet she hates the water!
• Lily doesn’t know a stranger. She loves people and attention, especially belly rubs.
• Soon after adoption, she got quite a reputation for counter surfing. Her spoils included bananas (peels and all), whole loaves of bread, cherry tomatoes and a couple of limes. Thankfully those bad habits are behind her! There’s been no counter surfing for almost a year, but Lily will sit nicely if you offer her a treat.
• Her favorite treats are peanut-butter-filled Kongs, bully sticks and cow’s ears.