The shelter has Saturday hours too.  We picked up our cat from them 11 years ago.  Did the shelter mention how Gilligan arrived?  Was he found or dropped?

They are very easy to get to from the highway too.

• Public Viewing: Monday - Friday - 10:30 AM to 4:30 PM
                           Saturday - 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM
• Officer Hours: 7:30 AM - 10:00 PM (7 days a week), except holidays
• Address: 2100 Shale Road, Springfield, IL 62703

No problem. We paid just the costs to the vet from Vet Stem and the cost of x-rays. Total came to around 1700. We haven't had to pay for any of the follow up visits, just the cost of x-rays.

The vet feels she is not in any pain from her shoulder since she can manipulate it and not get a pain response from Rosie. The knee is stable and the x-rays are good. There has been no further growth of arthritis in either joint. She does have a bit of arthritis in the shoulder and knee but no new advancement of it since the treatment. The vet said at some time she might have to have another treatment but since we have banked her stem cells, they will just have to grow new ones and won't have to harvest them again. Rosie runs like a maniac, wrestles with Rocky, plays, has gotten her Rally Novie title and does what she wants and enjoys. We are very happy with the treatment.

Rosie had her stem cell treatment a year and a half ago. We are very pleased with the results. She injured her biceps tendon when she was about 7 months old. It would seem to be better and then flare up. We got Rocky when she was a year and the bigger he got and the harder they played, the worse her limp became. We took her to Iowa State Vet school after our reg vet looked at her. The diagnosed the damaged biceps tendon in her rt shoulder. We tried conservative management for 6-8 weeks. She was confined to an z-pen in the house and out only on a leash and leashed potty walks. It improved. I had spent a month in GA during this time with the dogs and when we got back to Iowa there was lots of snow. After her first run through the snow, the limp was back with a vengence. Back to Iowa State. They did a biceps tendon release in Feb of 2009. Rosie was 2 years old. She had 8 more weeks of confinement and leashed potty walks. Not fun during that icy winter. During that time, she came up lame on the left knee. Local vet thought it was an ACL tear. Back to ISU. They said luxating patella but not serious enough for surgery. The shoulder limp never improved and the knee limp was off and on. I had her at our local vet for her shots and we were talking about her joint issues. He recommended a vet in MN, we're only 8 miles from the border, who was really good with ACLs. We went for a second opinion on the knee. She felt it was a partial ACL tear and was talking surgery since we already had one iffy leg. Then she mentioned that she was just finishing up her stem cell treatment training and thought Rosie would be a good candidate for that. She contacted VetStem and they agreed. She gave us a good deal on the cost and we went for it. They harvested the stem cells, processed them in CA and injected them in Rosie's shoulder, knee, and an IV just bcause they had plenty. Within 2 days, the shoulder limp was much better and the knee limp has never returned. See next comment