Monday, February 22, 2010

A Rescue With a Touch of Drama

I was VERY excited to pick up our 3-legged wonder, Peter today and take him to Steve's. I'm not sure what I expected. I've seen amputated limbs before, so I certainly expected to see a pitiful looking cat. I should've had faith in Dr. S. He's such a good surgeon and cats do so well post-operative when he's the surgeon. Peter looked WONDERFUL! His eyes were bright and Dr. S indicated that he ate well right after surgery. If somebody lopped off my leg, I don't think my eyes would be "bright". Dr. S said his leg was loaded with gangrene. Thank heaven's we did what we did.

Steve looked happy to see his new house guest - dogs were barking, cats were lined up outside of the guest room door to see "the new guy".

I figured we'd have to gently carry him out of his carrier and lay him down in a little cat bed that Steve had set up right next to his litterbox. Certainly, he wouldn't be walking for a while. Right?

Like a bolt of lightening, Peter not only walked out of the carrier, but he RAN!

My plan was to snap a picture so y'all could see his incision etc. I snapped the following picture, and was going to delete it because it was blurry - but then you wouldn't be able to see this boy run:

I also rescued a VERY cute 1 year old girl named "Cindy" today. I know the foster Mom reads this blog, so am not going to say what Cindy looks like so I can add a little excitement with the foster parents. (Oh c'mon - life's more fun when you're surprised!)

As I'm walking up and down the rows of cats, the vet technician tells me that a 9 week old kitten just came in 2 hours ago with a bulging eye and if I'm interested I can take her or they'll have to euthanize her. "Umm...any guess how long it took me to decide?" :)

After I brought "Patty" to the vets, Animal Control contacted me - the "owner" of the kitten wanted to claim her. (!!!) Apparently, she got outside (at 9 weeks old!) and they were "saving up to get her to the vet to fix her eye." Holy shit crap. SAVE UP? I was terrified the shelter would make me bring her back. Making a long story short....this turned into to a cruelty case, so I'm now waiting to make sure that this dimwit signs surrender papers so that little "Patty" can get the much needed medical care that she needs.

I hate to judge people. But sometimes I do. There have been times in my life where I couldn't afford to buy food for myself and I drove without car insurance. But my cats were always spayed and neutered. I made payments to the vet to insure that my cats were healthy and received medical care. I want to think she was "pure trash" and I saved this kitten from a life of a painful ruptured eye and litters of kittens. But who am I to judge?

I can't help but think I was in the right place at the right time for this kitten. Nah...it wasn't a coincidence. Ask "Peter".

10 comments:

Smartypants said...

... how on earth would a 9 week old kitten get outside accidentally? Poor little thing is only just a baby. I'm happy she's staying with you.

And by the way, HA HA about not giving a description of Cindy!!! ;) I was sitting here waiting for your blog feeling SURE you'd say what she looked like! You made both of us laugh out loud. We are so excited to meet her tomorrow.

The picture of Peter running made me smile ear to ear. What a guy!

Steve Bartlett said...

Peter is now in my spare bedroom, with Travis the one-eyed cat for company. It seems to be going ok, but I feel like a Jerry Lewis telethon. Peter definitely isn't impressed by the three dogs and five other cats waiting outside the bedroom door to meet him. Not for a while. Also, Peter was the easiest cat ever to pill. A bit of jaw resistance at first, and then no further problem.

Steve Bartlett said...

I almost forgot: as far as Patty goes, we should have a spare eye if she needs it.

Anonymous said...

My God, I'm not single, but there has to be someone who reads the blog who is...I am assuming Steve is :) who would not LOVE a man that can pill a cat...come on Beth take off the rescue hat and put a matchmaker one on....

House of the Discarded said...

Steve: Just another one for your Feline Special Olympics. LOLOL

-B

Anonymous said...

I agree Beth, you need to put your matchmaker hat on and connect Steve with some single cat lovers like myself. What do you say???

First let's find out some more info on Steve. Is he single? Probably not. A cat loving soul like that would be snatched up in a minute! :-)

Steve Bartlett said...

Yes, I am single. On purpose. For 55 years now. We've all read the reasons why cats and dogs are better than women (or men). My two favourites are:
1. Cats think it's funny when you come home drunk and fall up the stairs.
2. Dogs think it's fascinating when you've been around other dogs.

Joanne said...

Hi Beth..I picked up a little cat whose eye had been damaged and the owner had left it so long, it had literally died. My wonderful, kind vet removed her eye, vetted and spayed her and she now lives the life of Riley with the head of a major financial firm. I couldn't even look at her when I took her to the vets. I couldn't bear to imagine what that felt like. But the universe has a way of rectifying injustices and this was one. Just everyone came together to help this one little cat. Thank you again Steve, Beth and Dr. S. I watched the Dali Lama last night on Larry King for a little while and (although I am not a devoted follower) he said that inner peace comes from a compassionate heart. How true is that? Keep going Beth, I will do what I can to help you and the rescue.

selkiem said...

LOVED the pic of Peter taking off! Years ago, we adopted a rescue at a high kill shelter; my youngest daughter fell in love with a cranky orange tabby named Irish with three legs. I still remember bringing the number up to the front desk and the kid going back to get Irish came back without him .. "do you REALIZE he has only 3 legs?" um, YEAH... so the whole way home I'm going over things in my mind.. gotta put a new litter box upstairs (we had two downstairs in the basement), will have to maybe watch him on the stairs that he doesn't fall, how to lecture the kids on how to be EXTRA careful ... we got him home and he took off like the hounds of hell were after him .. whacked the dog (a big sweet shepherd cross) across the nose, made his SPEEDY way into the kitchen, muscled the alpha cat out of the food dish and acted like he had always been with us.

he was a wonderful cat! We had him around 6 years (he was already around 14 when we adopted him) - and still miss him! No other cat (and we have 4 right now- all rescues) ever quite reached the penultimate cranky, narcissitic and sense of entitlement that he embodied.

Poor kitten ... but it sounds more ignorant than malicious and frankly, cats ARE escape artists ...

oowowaee said...

I am blushing for Steve :)