Goodbye, Little Braveheart

In an earlier comment to one of my posts on the kitty, my friend Pam nicknamed him "Braveheart" and I've been mentally calling the kitty that ever since. Which didn't make it any easier when I returned a call to my vet this morning and learned the kitty passed away last night.

We're not sure why. He had blood in his stools which is why they wanted to run more tests. If I heard him right, my vet suspects he may have gotten into some poison, but there's no way to know for sure. And it doesn't really matter. I'm so grateful Blair found him and brought him home and that instead of dying alone, starved and hurting under some bush, he was clean, fed, cared for and had a few days of petting and attention under his belt.

I was upset yesterday that I couldn't find anywhere to place the kitten and Blair suggested maybe he never should have brought him home in the first place but I vehemently disagreed and still do. We can't help every stray but some call to us more than others and we should act on that. That's how Lucy came into my life and there's a reason this kitten came into our lives as well.

I've spent most of the day reflecting on that last point. For over a year now, Blair and I have said we should/need to/are soon going to get involved with the very small group of people in our rural county who are working toward establishing an animal shelter.  But there was always a reason we didn't get involved--time, we forgot about the meeting date, out of town, too tired, we'll go next week, etc., etc. 

I also know that I have a fear of getting involved.  I'm happy to do behind the scenes work - apply for grants, write letters, administration, but I don't know that I can take working with the animals. I'm afraid it will break my heart. So even though animal control and sheltering have always been important to me, I shy away from them out of fear of not being able to handle the emotions that come with it.

I think this kitten helped me move past that fear. I still hurt but I'm pissed as well and ready to do something about it. When I was looking for somewhere to take the kitten, I found the website for the Greensboro animal shelter. I have friends who live in GSO and I was going to ask them to take the kitten there as they wouldn't accept an out-of-county animal. But when I logged on, I pulled up pages and pages and pages and pages of cats already at the shelter waiting to be adopted. I just felt this pit in the bottom of my stomach. It was hopeless. There are animals everywhere waiting for homes and yet people still aren't getting their pets fixed and buying from pet stores (don't EVER buy from a pet store -- they run breeding mills--very unhealthy and unnecessary).

I've blogged a bit in here about how I'm working on setting some goals. One of my goals is to do more public speaking but I've drawn up short each time I try to figure out what I might have to say that people would want to hear. Speaking out on behalf of animal welfare and for spay/neuter controls may be it.

I'm almost done being sad about the kitty. But I believe he appeared and we invited him into our lives for a reason, and I hope I remember that reason in the days/weeks/months to come and don't let the opportunity for growth having little Braveheart in my life presented to me slip away.

Much love and kisses to you, little one.

It's A Boy!

I went by the vet this morning for the photo you see here and found out our little girl kitty is in fact a little boy, 6 weeks old. This is not the best picture but there were a bunch of other animals in the lobby and I think he was kind of freaked out. But he looks sooooo much better since they got his fur cleaned up. He's still so thin though, which you can't really tell from his fluffy little face.

They're running one more set of tests for intestinal parasites as they suspect something may be wrong. But I still have to find someplace for him other than the vets. I'm placing a few phone calls this morning to see if other shelters or cat clinics might take him. I sort of have that Titanic "You jump, I jump" attachment going on. I'm involved now, so there's no backing out. No without feeling like a complete louse, anyway.

Feel free to send this page link to family and friends--who knows who might want to add a sweet little kitty to their life? 

Healthy Kitty!

The vet called and the kitty is fine and dandy. And female! At least, we think so. The vet tech I spoke with said she had written "female" on the medical chart and it hadn't been crossed out, so she thought that was correct, which isn't quite the same as saying that she definitely is a girl.

My best friend Trisha called to chastise me for not having a photo posted of the kitty, in these days of digital technology. As I explained to her, our camera battery died. So I did try but just couldn't do it. I left Blair instructions to recharge the battery tonight and I'm going to go by the vet's tomorrow to take a picture.

So that's the good news. Here's the more challenging part. Since the vet is so backlogged on kittens, this kitty won't be shown out front until all the cats in front of her have been adopted. Which means she'll be older when she's put out which means her chances of adoption will most likely decrease.

A woman in yoga this morning mentioned she might get a kitten for her daughters, but she didn't really commit and she might want an orange kitten.  But I'm still going to snap an adorable picture and drop it by her office. I have no shame.

If anyone in the area wants a fluffy little kitty who needs a good home after a rough two months of life on her own, please contact me. Blair and I are willing to pay for her shots and to have her fixed. We just want her to have a good life. 

Thanks everyone for the warm wishes. I know we all wish we could be the ones to give her a home and your thoughts and love are appreciated.

Kitty Escape

I promised you details on how I almost bungled Blair's effort to get the kitten help, so here it is.

Of course yesterday when I saw the tiny kitten in the carrier, my immediate impulse was to open the carrier, scoop him/her up and cuddle him/her,which I did. (We think it's a "him" so let's go with that). "Be careful," said Blair. "He'll run."

"You won't run, will you sweetie?" I cooed. "No you won't. No you--" I set the kitten down and damn if the thing didn't take off. I honestly didn't expect it. He'd been crawling around my neck and most kittens will sniff a new environment to get the feel of it before they try to explore. I just underestimated how scared this kitten probably was.

So he ran under our shed, which has poison ivy on one side and sits on what is essential a breeding ground for mosquitoes. I kneeled in the grass and called to the kitty and got 8 mosquito bites as my reward, but no cat. Then Blair got a long piece of wire and poked it under the shed, nudging the kitten until it was close enough for him to grab. Back in the carrier he went, safe and sound.

This morning we got up and checked on him. I held him while Blair cleaned out the cage (I kept a firm grip this time). The little guy was almost purring and stretched his head up once or twice for me to scratch behind his ears. He put up no fuss when we put him back in the carrier and settled in the back in the litter tray.

I almost couldn't get him to the vet this morning. They already have 6-8 kittens and aren't taking in any new strays. But the vet said since I was a good client, he'd take this one. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!  I don't know what I would do if this kitten had been turned away. I couldn't just release it after all this.

So they've going to test for feline leukemia and feline AIDS and they'll give me a call later today and let me know what's up.

I'm so angry at people for not fixing their animals. How many millions of little kittens just like this one are out there right now, hungry, scared and suffering, because some ignorant human being couldn't be bothered to pay the $50 to fix their cat? On July 4th, I wanted to slap this sweet older woman who lives on my street who told me their farm cat just had kittens. I said she should have her cat fixed and she said, "Well we do the male ones." Brilliant solution, Holmes. See any holes in the logic of that one?

Then she said she had wanted one of the kittens but the mama cat either moved them off somewhere or else maybe a fox got them.  Stupid, ignorant, curse word, curse word, curse word. All these animals desperate at a chance for life and a good home and probably 90% of them won't find it.  There has got to be a way to fix this.