True Cat Rescue Stories from the Files of Touched By A Paw, Inc.

"You will come!" she said. "Yes, I will be there as fast as I can" I told her. It was a warm September evening. It was a Friday around 7:30 pm. The lady on the phone was Marlene Gerritt who owns a cat shop in Cambridge called The Kit and Kaboodle. She had called several shelters looking for help for an eight-week old kitten who was desperately ill. It was a stray that she had been feeding in the woods along with another grown gray Tabby cat for a few days. Now its eyes were very infected and maggots were living off of the eye drainage. He would no longer eat and was growing weaker each day. Marlene had put out a live trap but the orange kitten would have nothing to do with it. By the time I arrived, the grown gray Tabby Cat had been caught in the trap. I covered the trap and placed in my van. For the next two hours, we tried to capture the kitten, but to no avail. He had no interest in eating so the food in the live trap did not appeal to him. He crawled into a pile of garbage inside a dumpster. Our last attempt to catch him failed and he fled into the woods. Terry, Marlene's husband, had joined in the attempted rescue and said he would come back in the morning and look for the kitten. We all left very sad that our rescue had failed and the sick kitten would have to remain out alone in the chilly night air. I took the feral (undomesticated) gray Tabby to my home to foster him. I named him Kit-Kat for Marlene's shop and left him at our Vet Clinic early the next morning for a leukemia test and to be neutered.

Later, while I was at the shelter, to my grateful astonishment, Terry arrived with the sick orange Tabby kitten in a cat carrier. Terry explained that he had spotted the kitten lying by the dumpster. He thought he had died because he never moved when Terry approached him. Terry was able to grab him and put him in the carrier before he was aware of Terry's presence. The kitten, which we named Cambridge, was now so ill and weak that he was unable to get up and run. I gave him first aid and cleaned the maggots off his face and headed straight to our Vet Clinic. Cambridge remained at the clinic for four days. We later found out that he had Feline Calicvirus, a serious respiratory infection. It is one of the four viruses that a feline distemper vaccination protects cats from. Cambridge had a high fever and because of his young age, our Vet did not think that he would survive.

After four days, the Vet couldn't do any more for him and suggested that I take him home to foster, nurse and just wait.

Cambridge required Intravenous fluids, daily antibiotic injections, medications for diarrhea and eye infections. Even more difficult was that he was not tame and was scared to death. He was a real challenge to tame and to heal.

However, after three weeks, against all the odds, but with lots of TLC, good medical care, and much needed prayers, Cambridge's body and spirit healed. He was now happy to be held and loved to cuddle.

During this time, Terry and Marlene were making plans to permanently adopt Cambridge. Soon the day came when Cambridge was brought to the shelter to meet his new Mom and Dad and make the journey to his new home with them.

As for Kit-Kat, Marlene, Terry, and I realized that Cambridge had only survived out in the woods because Kit-Kat was like a big brother to him. He protected the kitten and brought him to food and water. He just couldn't protect him from diseases.

It took six months to completely tame Kit-Kat. He was then brought to the shelter to be available for adoption. Once he was there, he became loving and cuddly with everyone. Marlene and Terry came to visit him and that was it. They could not leave him. He went home that day to a wonderful safe new life with two wonderful people, sister and brother cats, and best of all, to his dear little friend, Cambridge. Cambridge and Kit-Kat bonded immediately. It was as if they had never been apart. It was a wonderful reunion and a happy ending.