So I went ahead and put
the traps out, very slowly and carefully so as not to scare her away,
hoping that the smell of stinky wet cat food would draw her in. She
didn’t move, I continued on, setting traps behind and around the
local feed store. When I got back to the Sonic she was gone and the
trap was empty. What had happened was that someone had come out of
the Sonic and put trash into the dumpster and had scared her away.
Drat! That happens quite a bit when trapping, someone or something
comes by and scares the kitties away. I did not catch her until the
next night, by then I had caught 7 other cats from behind the Feed
store and the Sonic. Early the next morning I took them all into the
Austin Humane Society to be spayed or neutered. All the cats were
deemed healthy enough to withstand surgery. Normally I keep the
kitties one night after surgery to keep an eye on them and to make
sure they are completely out from the anesthesia, then I release them
back to were I trapped them. I really did not want to release this
kitty, as I knew there was something wrong with her, but I didn’t
know what.
Now comes the human
interest part of the story, I have a friend (Pi) who knew of someone
(Lew) that wanted a calico kitten. He wanted a kitten because he has
a small dog (Fate) that he wanted to become accustomed to cats. He wanted a
calico because he had had one back when he was younger and it was a
really good cat. Now understandably most people that want a kitten
want a friendly, healthy, happy kitten. I think that was what he
wanted, but what he was willing to take was a scared, feral, kitty
that was sick in some unknown way. Remarkable! We set him up with a
crate, litter box, food and water and everything else we thought the
kitty would need. The next day I get a phone call telling me the
kitty is eating, drinking, pooping and peeing but cannot walk. This
generated mulitable phone calls to other board members of the Blanco
County Cat Coalition to get approval to take the kitty (who is now
named Sally Sonic) to the local vet. It takes at least three board
members to agree to spending money on medical issues, this is because
our funds are limited and need to be spent on our main focus of spay
and neuter. Well we all agreed that, because Lew was willing to adopt
Sally and we had already invested in her getting spayed that we would
approve to spend up to $200 to try and get her healthy. Yea! A trip
to the vet, Dr. Philip, determined that Sally could move her head,
had feeling in all four paws and her tail. Was eating and eliminating
fine, he checked her gums and she did not look anemic, sure she was
under weight, but a lot of ferals living out of dumpsters are. But
she did not have an awareness of where her paws were. He said that
she probably was not born like this or else she would not have lived
this long, and that since there was someone that was willing to take
care of her it would be worth it to give her a chance. That the next
week or two would show either improvement or decline. Lew assured us
that if there was any hope at all he would do whatever it would take
to make her better. And he did just that, he cleaned her up, brushed
her, cut the mats out of her fur. Cuddled her, gave her physical
therapy moving her legs around and massaging down her back, cleaned
her bottom after she pooped, and petting her. Fate helped, at first
Sally was scared of the dog, but soon figured out that Fate was
harmless. Fate helped with cleaning Sally, she especially was good at
helping clean Sally’s face after she ate. For the next week we all
watched for and celebrated every little improvement, hoped for the
best, but tried to prepare for the worst. About 10 days later that
day came, it seemed that Sally had developed an infection in her
incision, and had started to act like she was in pain. So it was back
to the vet. Lew could not take her because he had his own doctors
appointment that day. He is an older gentleman that served his
country in Vietnam and as a result suffers. I took Sally in, on the
way she started bleeding from a sore on her bottom and had developed
a sore on her mouth. Dr. Philip confirmed and assured that there was
no hope for improvement and that she would only suffer if we did not
put an end to it. I called Lew and he gave permission, he had said
goodbye that morning before he had left for his doctors appointment.
Skip this next part if
you don't want to read about Sally’s death. I am including it for
various reasons. Such as; death is a reality that most of us do not
want to face, none the less, it is a fact of life. Maybe if more
people were aware of the harsh facts of life that feral cats face
they may be more willing to spay, neuter and vaccinate their pets.
After all the feral cat epidemic started with people not being
responsible for their cats.
Sally's death was not
horrible but it was not easy either. I have watched Dr. Philip
euthanize cats in the past and it has not been horrible. But poor
Sally, her veins, in her little legs collapsed as Dr. Phil inserted
the needle. In the end he had to use a vein in her neck to
administer the drug. He explained that using the vein in the neck was
no worse than using any other vein, it just is something that might
be upsetting to people, so he asked me to stop recording at that
point. Maybe it is weird of me me to record a cat being put down, but
it was done and posted on facebook in hopes that maybe, just maybe it
will prevent suffering in the future.
Rest in Peace Sally
Sonic!
What I find remarkable
about this story is Lew, that he was willing to allow this kitten
into his life knowing that by doing so he was opening himself up to
potential heartbreak. Which indeed is exactly what happened. I really
admire people like Lew that are willing to do good even if it hurts.
He is one of my hero's! His story does not end here.....
To be continued...
Kitten being euthanized, hard to watch but not horrible
To be continued...
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