Florida firefighters and animal hospital join forces to save kitten with its paw stuck in a drain cap
A group of firefighters have once again come to the rescue of a helpless kitten. This is a story with a happy ending that brings to mind “it takes a village” as to how the kitten was finally saved.
Broward Sheriff’s Fire Rescue
It happened when a call came in to the Broward Sheriff’s Office Fire Rescue in Broward County, Florida when a 4-month-old kitten wedged its paw in the middle of a steel cap on a drain cap located on the 4500 block of Northwest 39th Street. A passer-by heard the screaming kitten and called 911. The Lauderdale Lakes unit responded to the call.
Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles stated in an August 12 interview with Miami-Herald
“It’s a living, breathing thing. That’s what we do. We respond to all types of emergencies. It was in there really tight.”
The team had tried to free the kitten for more than 30 minutes on-site with no success. It was discouraging when no progress was made once back at Fire Rescue. Local animal hospitals were called in for help when lubrication didn’t work. VCA Imperial Point Animal Hospital agreed to lend assistance, so firefighter Chris Hottz and Battalion Jon O’Brien rushed the kitty and the drain cap to the hospital, where Dr. Lara Wiseman sedated the kitten. Firefighters were then able to use two saws to free the kitten.
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Firefighters work to free cat, now dubbed “Captain”
Dr. Wiseman examined the kitten and found no bones had been broken, but kitty would likely suffer from sore paws for the next few days. The firefighters have decided to call their rescue “Captain.”
No one is sure whether Captain is a stray or has a home. A loving home will be found if no one comes forward to claim this sweet baby. Thank you to everyone who went out of their way to help this one little cat.
Elisa
Love this story. Really needed something like this after the horrible mother story a couple of days ago. Thank you for this story and many thanks to the wonderful people who saved the little kitten.
A GREAT big THANK YOU! To these heroes. I am so happy that they saved this precious baby. I hope that the kitten finds a loving home soon.
Yes, I am very impressed. I wish everyone was like that 😉
I can smile at least once a week thanks to me too! I’m doing a book review next for ShelterMe. I’m into all kinds of projects now. I have to have balance. Check out my new page if you do Facebook. I’m doing captioned photos of the cats. Still have a bunch to add.
Michael, you too. You need more to smile about! It’s at FurbysHouseCats
Thanks Elisa. I love those sorts of stories.
I hope that he/she gets a good home.
Doubtful that she has a caretaker currently, because not many people would allow a kit to free-roam anf get into such trouble.
Thanks Dee. I keep the abuse stories at nationalcatexaminer.com/home. I don’t want to clog up PoC with all the bad people in the world. I try to write at least one happy story a week for Michael. They’re just so hard to find.
You’re doing great. I can smile at least once a week thanks to you.
This is my favorite kind of cat story. I read somewhere that overall, firefighters save more cats than people, but when I first mentioned that, one or two said no, but I still think it’s true, and that it’s just as rewarding for them, though they’d not admit that either.
It always surprises me how people can come together in such a committed way to save this cat and to give him/her a good life while at the same time, in general, there are so many cats killed in shelters who are healthy and who could and should be adopted.
Also at the same time there is so much neglect regarding cats leading to abandoned cats and a feral life.
This is a good story with a happy ending and I love to see the commitment in saving this cat and the lengths to which they go to do it.
Thanks Eisa.
If you Google “Broward Fire and Rescue saves cat” you’ll see they save a LOT of animals.
Thanks Elisa. I’ll check it out.