The first of these cat rescues is a genuine example of love and hope transcending the hopeless situation in which this ginger kitten found herself. The person with the warm and tender heart is Megan in Illinois. While she was at college she worked at an animal hospital. She dropped by the hospital one day and was told of a ginger tabby kitten who was on the euthanasia list (at the request of the owner) because she couldn’t move. She lay in her cage lifelessly. Apparently a dog had hit the kitten in what I presume was a multi-companion animal home.
Megan wanted to give this desperately unfortunate kitten a couple of days love under her foster care before she was put to sleep. Megan was granted permission to do it and found that her foster cat would eat if food was presented to her mouth and she would go to the toilet if carried there and held.
But she was lifeless; unable to walk and move normally. Megan decided, with the greatest of regret, that euthanasia was the best course of action…until Monday arrived when Megan’s family said goodbye to this cute, vulnerable kitten. As Megan’s father held the kitten, Megan shed a tear and then suddenly the kitten jumped down from his chest and, yes, she walked. Initially in a rather peculiar way – sideways but she started to walk nonetheless. The rest is history.
Megan had to adopt her and named her Beepers and she says she is the best cat she has ever cared for. You wonder what had happened. It would seem that Beepers was in shock or emotionally traumatized by her experience. To me it supports what we know: cats experience emotion and we should be careful with these emotions. We know how important they are to us. The same applies to cats.
Moral? Always have love and hope. Without hope this is no life and love is the greatest gift we can give a cat.
The second cat rescue story is equally tender and loving but it does not concern a human but a dog. Dogs can be as loving and as selfless as humans. And dogs can also be foster carers. It comes naturally sometimes under the right circumstances and they were spot on correct, on this occasion.
The video says it all – almost. Three newborn kittens were abandoned at Pickens County Animal Shelter, Jasper, Georgia, USA. Mary, a beagle-mix with puppies she was nursing took on the three kittens as her own and raised them.
You can see that she carries her kittens “incorrectly” when compared to a mother cat carrying her kittens. The scuff of the neck was not used. Who cares? It is looks completely charming.
To be honest…both stories are sweet and had a happy ending so to speak. It’s better than the alternative on an unhappy one. In the kitten who appeared to be immobile … she gave it extra time (which it wasn’t going to have). By doing this she did help the kitten.
I love happy endings.
But, I’m troubled by both stories really.
If I had any say at all in Beepers outcome, I would have forbidden Megan to adopt. She, and others I guess, felt that this disbled kitten deserved to be killed. So what that she had to be hand fed or carried to the litter? As caretakers, it is our job to “fill in the blanks” with our cats in order to assure their lives have quality. Is it too much work to take them outside to feel the sun and smell the grass? Our laziness is an epidemic. I have and had many disabled cats whose lives have equalled any heathy cat imaginable.
Mary, the dog, and her “mixed” litter are sweet and amusing. She is a wonderful mother. But, I have to wonder where they all will be after New Years in that county shelter.
Dee, I understand your argument but I’m not sure that you have this exactly right to be honest. I’m not sure that Beepers was or is disabled. Perhaps I’ve missed that point in the story but, as I understood it, this kitten was perhaps traumatised psychologically and that moment has passed and she should make a full recovery.
I agree that although the video of the dog nursing her kittens is lovely, the bigger issue that you refer to is what will happen to them and why did it happen in the first place. I agree there are some very big issues and within that rather sorry tale is a very cute video but that should not divert us from the bigger issue.
Yes, Beepers recovered from whatever caused her dilemma. Then and, ONLY THEN, did Megan want to adopt her. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that Megan, as well as her former caretaker, felt that she needed to be killed when they viewed her as being so disabled that they couldn’t be bothered. It’s obvious that Megan didn’t want her in the debilitated state that she was in. Beepers deserves a much more compassionate caretaker, perhaps one with more understanding and experience to know that her emotional state is fragile even now.