wanderingrichard
Life of the Party
As some of you know i'm back in PA and working on clearing, cleaning and repairing the family homestead.
Today was no different. i got there at 9 as usual, checked for messages from contractors ( goddess how do some of these people stay in business?) then grabbed the shed keys to get to work. Ooopps, need to open the garage.
Grab the door, yank it up.. and get this faint but high pitched "meeeoooww" from someplace back in ...that pile, over there.... great cats done got in here and had a litter.
so, i forego the shed, and start moving junk piles ( my sister in laws mess) to find these cats.
Oh boy, I find two of them, and they are not in good shape. It's 90, theres no mother , no food , no water.
i go to dollar general and pick up cat food and two bowls, one for water. then go back, and realization sets in; these two have been abandoned by mom and they are NOT in good condition. not only that, but thier eyes arent even open. Which means, they are not gonna eat cat food or drink water, they need mom.
text flurry between my wife, and my late brothers MIL, finally i get locations of 2 local vets.. gawds these kittens stink...
scoop them into a box, put them in the Exploder, set the nav for the 1st Vet.. bust. they closed up 2 years ago and now a trucking company is there. did i mention how awful these kittens smell ?
ok, Vet #2? i'm smoking your way.... 20 miles later, i pull in grab the box and walk inside.
and am greeted by "whats in the box?"
"two kittens and i think they are dieing. can you check them out please?"
"Will you take financial resposibility for them ?"
"Umm Uh NO."
theyre abandoned strays neither our property insurance nor our pet insurance will cover this. and this isnt what i'm out here to accomplish
( i just know the white one isnt gonna make it)
"But i do have a friend in New Berlin who has a farm that might take them". (Dannggitt, i do not want to have to pay for these critters with what little cash i have on hand)
Taptap tap on the phone, Tammy this is whats going on...
"i'm at the Med Center with Dad. he's not happy with his care (shades of Big Hero 6 anyone?) Rich is 89, Agent Orange hasnt treated him well.
"Tam, can you take two kittens that are less than 2 1/2 weeks old? their eyes arent even open."
Coverage at the med center is very very spotty. 10 minutes go by, seems like 30... "Yeah we can we have a new mommy thats nursing she will probably adopt those two as well. My daughter is home just hand them over to her."
Oh HOT DAMN!! Thank You Tammy the farmer.
I tell staff, yeah the farm will take them.. just as they bring out a clean cardboard box with a towel over it and a warm water bottle tucked under another towel inside... They've cleaned these 2 up, gave them a once over and now i have a syrette with multiple hand feeding nipples and 30 pages of doctors notes on how to help them.
No charge. And my earlier efforts to get food and water into them would not have worked. and they are quiet as hell now.. Staff tells me that these two were extremely loud in their protests while getting cleaned up and examined. Uhh ok, with my hearing, we're lucky i found them..
Anyway, off to the farm and out the door we go, But, not before the 3 dogs and a full grown siamese in the waiting room come over and sniff at the box.
Get to the farm and hand them over to the daughter. She's surprised that i'm at the door and that the 2 dogs and the one semi feral cat that greeted us when we got there are all curled up on the chair with me or next to me. usually they dont like strangers and make a bigfuss. I guess belly rubs and ear scratchings count big in their world.
So, potentially, today i saved 2 kittens who otherwise would not have made it. And, i'm not really a cat person, but i'm not gonna let two innocents die because of the negligence of their mother and her humans.
Union County, PA? Someone got some 'splaining to doooo..
Today was no different. i got there at 9 as usual, checked for messages from contractors ( goddess how do some of these people stay in business?) then grabbed the shed keys to get to work. Ooopps, need to open the garage.
Grab the door, yank it up.. and get this faint but high pitched "meeeoooww" from someplace back in ...that pile, over there.... great cats done got in here and had a litter.
so, i forego the shed, and start moving junk piles ( my sister in laws mess) to find these cats.
Oh boy, I find two of them, and they are not in good shape. It's 90, theres no mother , no food , no water.
i go to dollar general and pick up cat food and two bowls, one for water. then go back, and realization sets in; these two have been abandoned by mom and they are NOT in good condition. not only that, but thier eyes arent even open. Which means, they are not gonna eat cat food or drink water, they need mom.
text flurry between my wife, and my late brothers MIL, finally i get locations of 2 local vets.. gawds these kittens stink...
scoop them into a box, put them in the Exploder, set the nav for the 1st Vet.. bust. they closed up 2 years ago and now a trucking company is there. did i mention how awful these kittens smell ?
ok, Vet #2? i'm smoking your way.... 20 miles later, i pull in grab the box and walk inside.
and am greeted by "whats in the box?"
"two kittens and i think they are dieing. can you check them out please?"
"Will you take financial resposibility for them ?"
"Umm Uh NO."
theyre abandoned strays neither our property insurance nor our pet insurance will cover this. and this isnt what i'm out here to accomplish
( i just know the white one isnt gonna make it)
"But i do have a friend in New Berlin who has a farm that might take them". (Dannggitt, i do not want to have to pay for these critters with what little cash i have on hand)
Taptap tap on the phone, Tammy this is whats going on...
"i'm at the Med Center with Dad. he's not happy with his care (shades of Big Hero 6 anyone?) Rich is 89, Agent Orange hasnt treated him well.
"Tam, can you take two kittens that are less than 2 1/2 weeks old? their eyes arent even open."
Coverage at the med center is very very spotty. 10 minutes go by, seems like 30... "Yeah we can we have a new mommy thats nursing she will probably adopt those two as well. My daughter is home just hand them over to her."
Oh HOT DAMN!! Thank You Tammy the farmer.
I tell staff, yeah the farm will take them.. just as they bring out a clean cardboard box with a towel over it and a warm water bottle tucked under another towel inside... They've cleaned these 2 up, gave them a once over and now i have a syrette with multiple hand feeding nipples and 30 pages of doctors notes on how to help them.
No charge. And my earlier efforts to get food and water into them would not have worked. and they are quiet as hell now.. Staff tells me that these two were extremely loud in their protests while getting cleaned up and examined. Uhh ok, with my hearing, we're lucky i found them..
Anyway, off to the farm and out the door we go, But, not before the 3 dogs and a full grown siamese in the waiting room come over and sniff at the box.
Get to the farm and hand them over to the daughter. She's surprised that i'm at the door and that the 2 dogs and the one semi feral cat that greeted us when we got there are all curled up on the chair with me or next to me. usually they dont like strangers and make a bigfuss. I guess belly rubs and ear scratchings count big in their world.
So, potentially, today i saved 2 kittens who otherwise would not have made it. And, i'm not really a cat person, but i'm not gonna let two innocents die because of the negligence of their mother and her humans.
Union County, PA? Someone got some 'splaining to doooo..
if those kittens were a test of ones character you’d make a great example. Thank you Richard (and Tammy).
