I struggled with whether or not to even post about the events of this afternoon, but I am because if I don't, they will stick in my head and I wont sleep. For that reason, I won't post this on our Face book page. If you've come here from there, expect to be sad. This post is more for me to vent, than for you to be informed. I try very hard to post positive stories and successes...to keep everyone up beat and laughing. So I will post here, where I can bear my heart and soul and cry a little.
At around 4pm today I received a call from our City Clerk from City Hall. I am on the city council and I am on the city committee for Animal Control and everyone within at least a 20 mile radius of Walnut knows I am the CAT LADY. I have instructed City Hall to please call me if there is ever a hit by car or dead cat found in town. I want to know if it is one of the ferals from our colonies or someones pet that we can gently inform of its demise.
Today was only the 2nd call informing me of a dead cat that Ive gotten...only this time it was "well, he's almost dead". I flew to city hall to find "Buddy-Boy" laying at the bottom of a dirty cold plastic bucket in the back of the city pickup. He had been found at the side of main street almost directly in front of City Hall. Jim (city supervisor) picked him up (thinking he would die any second), and put him in the container, set him in the back of the truck and called me. When I looked in, Buddy encircled the bottom, but he was breathing and he was trying to raise himself. I knew right away that he was most likely beyond medical help, but I could not stand to see him suffer. Jim drove me and Buddy back to my house, we loaded him in my car and off to HVA I went.
Would he even live the 20 minutes it took me to get him there? He did. When I took him in, he was not only breathing but he'd uttered several "mews". As we waited for help from Becky at the clinic, I had a chance to get to know him. He was strong. Even though his body was literally skin over bone, he was a large long haired male cat...looked like a Himalayan. His fur was matted and dirty...but as I reached into the bucket and stroked his head, he immediately raised it and said hello with a sweet meow and began to purr. It was apparent to me that he had had no home for a long time. His weight, the condition of his fur....and then they came to the surface. The fleas. There were hundreds if not thousands of fleas on this poor baby. We were so fortunate that we could get him to a vet that could humanely end his suffering and help him go peacefully to the Rainbow Bridge.
I traveled the 17 miles to the clinic in a panic. Worried that he wouldn't live long enough to get him there, Worried that he would live til I got him there. My mind was spinning, wishing there would be a miracle that maybe he would not be as bad as I thought he was, but inside knowing that was a pipe dream.
I traveled the 17 miles back home in a stupor. A mixture of anger, sadness and confusion. Wishing I knew his story. Why hadn't I seen him in town EVER before? How did he get where he was? Who hit him? Who left him? It was apparent that he had known the love of a human before. He responded to my touch with a purr...he relaxed at the sound of our voices. He was not feral. He was old...he was tired and he was gone.
I cant shake the sorrow tonight. He touched me so. He made me realize that what we do in TNR and educating people about spay/neuter is so important. It matters and it works. What happens to lost and abandoned cats is horrific. They do NOT fend well for themselves. You cannot put a cat out and expect anything other than starvation, infestation, infection and battle scars, let alone the loneliness and the fear. Buddy is a testament of strength. If not for that, he would have been gone a long time ago. His suffering encourages me to keep doing what we do. I will eventually sleep tonight, knowing that the last thing he felt was the warmth of a clean and caring clinic, the touch of a hand that wanted so much to hold him and love him and the last words he heard...."It's ok Buddy...you will be fine...we love you, beautiful boy...."
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| Buddy-Boy -Rest in Peace Sweetheart! |
