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

I was on my way out the door of the shelter when the phone rang. I glanced at the clock. It was 6:30 P.M. It had been a long tiring day and I was anxious to get home. I let the answering machine come on and waited to see what the call was about. The woman stated she had a cat emergency. I immediately picked up the phone. She was a nurse's aid and worked in a nursing home on the edge of town. She said there was an orange and white cat that was severely injured. He was dragging his right rear leg (or what was left of it) and his tail was gone. She had seen him near the dumpsters earlier in the week and had put some food out for him. He was OK at that time.

I told her I would bring over a live trap and set it near the dumpsters. She agreed to check the trap every hour and when her shift was over, she would unset it before she went home. She also said that she might have someone on the next shift monitor the trap and call.

I arrived at the nursing home shortly and set the trap. Then I walked around the premises and searched for the cat. There were woods right across the street. The nurse*s aid had seen the cat come out of the woods before. She also said another employee had heard horrible animal screeching sounds two nights earlier during the third shift. The screeching had come from the woods.

As I walked through the woods calling for the cat, I startled something and the cat took off running. I was right on his heels and suddenly it reached the edge of the trees. I could see clearly that it was the orange and white cat dragging a very badly injured leg. It crossed the road and went up on the lawn of the nursing home. I stopped in the road and called to him. He stopped and turned around and looked at me. I realized that he was not feral (wild), but very frightened. Each time I got too close to him, he would take off again. Finally, he crossed a huge lawn where the backyards joined and he disappeared into a garden.

I searched for another half hour and then explained what had taken place to the nurse's aid and then left for home. On my way home I said a prayer for this suffering cat and placed him in God*s hands. I asked that he would place him in our hands that night so that we could help him.

I knew it would take a miracle to catch him. He ran off far from where the trap was set, and many other stray cats or animals could be caught instead. But miracles do happen quite often at TBAP. I alerted another TBAP rescue volunteer, Liz, so she knew what was going on. Because she lived the closest, she would be the one to go out if the call came.

Our miracle came just after 11:00 P.M. Right at the end of the nurse's aid's shift, she decided to check the trap once more. There was the injured cat in the trap looking at her. She couldn*t believe it. He did not appear to be too upset and had eaten all the food.

Liz picked him up in the trap and transported him back to TBAP. As badly injured as he was, fortunately there was no fresh blood. She transferred him to a cage and made him as comfortable as she could. Liz alerted another volunteer to transport him to our vet early the next morning.

Job (pronounced Jobe), was the name given to the cat who turned out to be a five month-old kitten. He had suffered much, as the character in the Bible, but still was in good spirits. Job went into surgery early that next morning. They could not save his right leg and had to amputate. His tail was already gone.

When Job was released, he was placed into foster care for his recuperation. Because he had dragged his injured leg for a while, he had already learned to get around with just three legs. When the injured leg was removed, that actually "lightened his load" so to speak. Job gets around as well as a four-legged cat. His pain and suffering now over, Job is a happy, healthy, and playful kitten. He is very affectionate and loves to be cuddled and loved. He lets you know by his purring.