American firefighters have an impressive history of rescuing kittens and cats. The usual circumstances are (a) house fires (b) cats stuck in drains (c) cats stuck in walls or other small spaces (d) cats stuck in trees.
The fire service is a community service. A part of serving the community is to save the lives of cats and kittens that find themselves in life threatening situations.
The house fire is the most common. Cats hide and inhale smoke and are sometimes badly burned. Firefighters often use oxygen masks to resuscitate cats that have inhaled smoke. There have been some impressive life saving moments using oxygen masks.
The firefighter saving a cat’s life is a newsworthy story. There is a nice contrast between the macho firefighter and the vulnerable kitten. It is nice for a cat lover to see the tender side of the male of the human species. This applies, particularly to women. Sensitivity is a quality that women admire in a man. I suppose you could say that the firefighter-rescuing-cat stories are really aimed at women if you were thinking commercially.
This page is a tribute to the American firefighter for coming out to serve the community in such an impressive and tender way. I have a feeling that the America fire service is more ready and willing to save the lives of cats than the same service in many other countries. They are probably the best at it.
There is always the question of cost. It is rather ironic that the cost of some of these rescue operations must be in the thousands of dollars. The lives of many other cats are rated far more cheaply.
A note about the photos: I have taken the liberty of publishing them without credits. In some cases there are no credits. They are probably in the public domain by now. If someone wants to take issue just tell me in a comment and I’ll deal with it fast.
I never had an opportunity to respond to this story. First, let me say i am humbled by the hard service rendered by the men and women who are our firefighters.
Having said that, i wish to relate my experience as it came down. Sept. 22, 2012 was the worse day of my life, other than putting my first cat down to cancer in Aug of that same year.
Then Sept. 22, 2012 some family came to visit from Maryland and meet my new fur friend Joey. The day went well and we ended up going out to dinner that night.
On the way home i got the calls that would change my life forever. The firemen were at my home bashing my windows out and tossing my belongings into the street.
Inside on a chair lie my fur friend Joey. Not one firefighter offered any assistance to my friend and ignored him as if he was just a stuffed nothing.
Not one crew member took him outside to work on him. To offer any oxygen or cpr of any kind. My whole family was livid!!
I even have signs on my windows stating that i have pets inside and what they are. Yet, some how in the nightmare that unfolded that night i will never know what possibilities there was to save my boy because no one EVEN TRIED!!! Am i angry!! You darn right i am!!!
All they had to do was try and they skipped out on that option to see what aid could be rendered to a helpless cat laying there on the chair!!! My family confronted them to see if anything was done… and yelling and crying are you sure he is dead!?!?! Did you try to rescue him… Same answer .. No i am sorry…
I am forever haunted to this day wondering what could of been had those firemen even tried to save my boy!!! No, instead he was stuffed inside a pillow case and placed in the trunk of a car to be taken away to be cremated!!!
I am forever changed by the lack of compassion that night.. I lost not only all my belongings to this electrical fire, but my fur friend Joey as well.. Thanks to no one !!!
Yes, they are brave individuals for risking their lives, but that night no one risked trying to save my pets life… I don’t share in the wonderful bliss shared by many… I am a different person today…In 5 days from now i must once more think of that awful night when i lost my fur friend Joey and all my belongings two years ago. Its tough! Thanks for listening…
Really hurt me till blood and tears, sorry Jayme 🙁
Thank you my friend. That means a lot. As i near my 2nd anniversary of my boys death, i now try and think of the joy they brought my life rather than the horror of the loss. It is always with sorrow that i think about them, but as time goes on, its important to think of their contribution to my life. Chad, my boy of 11 years has the greatest impact as i had him for 11 wonderful years. I remembered him in August with 2 balloons that represent 2 years since he left me. I released them into the sky. I felt the sad and i felt the happy. They both made a big impact on my life. They are like my family as i live alone and have no one that calls or visits me much anymore. Thanks again.
I have the same sense of loss of a cat that was special to me. She died in 1994. And it still hurts. I lost of bit of me when she died. It is more potent for me than losing a human member of the family.
It will always be more affecting than losing a human. I learned a lot in my pet loss group. I learned that because of the bond, because of the unconditional love shared with a pet, it makes it a lot harder to process when the time comes for them to leave us. They love us despite the kind of job we have, the kind of car we drive, the kind of home we live in or how much money we make. They will always be there by our side. So, i understand your loss. I hope you had a long happy life with her.
Ahh..Jayme, that is awful. I am so sorry. My condolences. Your comment is upsetting. It is an alternative story to the one I wrote. I recently wrote another firefighter story which also is critical of firefighters.
Your story is powerful. I don’t want to upset you more but if you’d let me publish your comment as an article I’d be pleased. Your story would be seen by more people than in a comment and I think there is a moral here and it may save some lives in the future.
Whatever, I hope you are OK during this 2nd anniversary.
Yes, yes for sure Michael. I would not mind you doing that at all. If the word got out and or if other people can be helped and or made aware of the situation that others have lived through it would be all worth it. This has been a relief for me to acknowledge this as the 2nd anniversary approaches. It is something i will bring to light when i go to my next pet loss group. So, by all means go forward and do what you like with the story. Thank you for asking and for your well wishes. It means a lot.
Thank you very much Jayme. I’ll do it soon. I’ll tell you when it is done. I think it is an important story although very sad. It surprises and shocks me that they seemed to have ignored an animal companion and only checked for people.
I would love to share with you guys, my boys that i lost 2 years ago in just a matter of weeks apart. Would it be ok to display them here, or if another place would be better you could let me know? I would appreciate it very much.
Jayme, this is your comment in an article:
https://pictures-of-cats.org/firefighters-didnt-try-to-save-my-cat.html
What I’ll do is to delete most of your comment and link to the page. If you want to change something just ask.
You did an awesome job!! See how creative you are??? Thank you very much !
Thanks. I am pleased Joey is remembered in an cat loving environment.
Yes true heros and secure enough in themselves not to feel unmanned by saving the lives of cats, kittens, dogs and puppies as well as human lives. I have a lot of respect for the fire service.
What wonderful pictures of genuine heros and I think our UK firefighters are heros too.
Far more than those called heros for kicking a ball around a field and being paid huge sums of money to do that.
Right on!
Sports pay is ridiculous!
I love this tribute to Am.firemen, Michael! I don’t usually facebook, but just had to add this one again last week (hope you don’t mind) 😉 :
http://lovemeow.com/2013/11/baltimore-police-officer-protects-and-serves-both-two-legs-and-four-paws/
Officer Jon Boyer and his partner have patrolled the streets of Baltimore, rescuing (and adopting) many cats
I am pleased if you are pleased. I am just impressed with these guys. They rescue cats from the most impossible situations. They pour a lot of energy into it. They do it with a smile and they are pleased to help the community. I suppose from a commercial standpoint it is good publicity for the fire service but that is a convenient spin off.
I just love happy endings. We see so many of the other side of life for the animals I have seen pictures of police rescuing animals too.but not so many as the fire fighters though.
Thanks, Nancy, for reminding that the police do rescue cats sometimes. I tend to get a distorted view of police work reading about police occasionally mistreating cats or making bad judgments in respect of stray/feral cats.
Firefighters are always heroes, never self serving, and saving lives, even kitties. That is always their goal.
I admire them much more than law enforcement officers that will snuff out a life in a heartbeat.
That is a good point, Dee. When I read about American firefighters I always read good stuff – as shown in this montage above. Occasionally and perhaps too often I read bad things about the police – for cats it means killing them for some crazy reason – the link is just one example. I wonder if this is just the media or if it is due to a different culture amongst these two branches of public service.
There is no real comparison between the two in my mind.
Firefighters carry life saving equipment; police carry guns.