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Forward Friday: RAOK/Pay It Forward
Started by
Pam
, Jul 17 2009 09:10 AM
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This topic is locked
1 reply to this topic
#2
Posted 17 July 2009 - 02:04 PM
I don't know if this counts, but I do want to share....
About a week ago (actually, last Thursday), we were outside walking Scooter (our 5 year old JRT). While we were walking, a neighbor approached. She asked me if I knew where the nearest Humane Society was. I tried to give her directions without even figuring out why she was asking (don't ask, don't tell -- right?). Well, turns out, she is not from around here and was completely confused by the directions I gave.
Then she told me she had found a newborn kitten by the dumpster in our apt complex. After giving googly eyes to the cat, I offered to have her come to my house and we would call. We got there, called, and they were closed (this was at about 5:25 PM). The lady was very unsure as to what to do with the cat because she has a huge dog (looks like a horse) that she figured would eat it for sure. I offered to keep the little kitty and take it to the humane society the next day.
No big deal, right?
Well, the kitten was crying, and me being a complete novice to caring for cats - let alone a newborn kitty - I was confused as to what it may need. So, when DH got home, we packed up into the car and headed for Petco with Scooter in tow. Got there and asked the associate what we may need to try to keep this kitty alive. So, we got some kitty formula called Just Born, a bottle, and some treats for Scooter.
After we got home, we tried to feed him. He was being very stubborn - not really wanting to take the bottle but he did suckle just a bit. We fed him as we read online - every 3-4 hours. He would have a heck of a time suckling though. We were drying his towels each time we fed him as well so that he can keep warm.
Well, that day left and Friday he was still just the same. We thought nothing of it because once again, we have never raised a cat. We kept fighting with him to eat. Then, I took him to our vet after I got off work. I let them know my concerns about him not eating very much. They gave me an eye dropper and told me we must make him eat (well, duh! lol).
The next morning (Saturday), I let my mom know about Midnight (that's what we named him). She was happy even though she, like me, has never been a cat person. He was even squealing as I was on the phone with her...still fighting me to eat.
Later on that day, we went to the store. When we came back, Midnight was very distressed. He wouldn't cry. He barely moved. He was very distant. He would open his mouth as if to cry, but nothing came out. We immediately freaked out and tried everything humanly possible before calling the emergency vet (this is a Saturday evening). They told us to get him warm using a heating pad and try to feed him. Well, we tried that and after about an hour, we realized we must take him to the vet.
When we got him there, they told us that he was dehydrated, starving, and cold. That was the absolute worse thing to hear...so, on top of them charging us $87 to see him, they wanted us to pay $250 more for them to keep him and tube feed. Well, for a cat that we weren't sure we were going to keep and that we didn't know would survive (the nurses weren't sure), we couldn't see ourselves dropping that sort of cash. So, we had the nurse teach us how to tube feed him and they gave us a good heating element that we can put under his towels to keep him warm.
Well, we did everything as they said. Midnight had many, many successful feedings (can't fight the tube), but he passed away on Sunday morning. We thought that maybe his mother left him because he was too weak to live on, but we didn't want to give up on him. So we took him under our wing until the very end.
So, while this story was long and not a RAOK toward another human, it was something that will live on with me forever and I definitely wanted to share.
Here's a pic of Midnight the day before he passed on:
About a week ago (actually, last Thursday), we were outside walking Scooter (our 5 year old JRT). While we were walking, a neighbor approached. She asked me if I knew where the nearest Humane Society was. I tried to give her directions without even figuring out why she was asking (don't ask, don't tell -- right?). Well, turns out, she is not from around here and was completely confused by the directions I gave.
Then she told me she had found a newborn kitten by the dumpster in our apt complex. After giving googly eyes to the cat, I offered to have her come to my house and we would call. We got there, called, and they were closed (this was at about 5:25 PM). The lady was very unsure as to what to do with the cat because she has a huge dog (looks like a horse) that she figured would eat it for sure. I offered to keep the little kitty and take it to the humane society the next day.
No big deal, right?
Well, the kitten was crying, and me being a complete novice to caring for cats - let alone a newborn kitty - I was confused as to what it may need. So, when DH got home, we packed up into the car and headed for Petco with Scooter in tow. Got there and asked the associate what we may need to try to keep this kitty alive. So, we got some kitty formula called Just Born, a bottle, and some treats for Scooter.
After we got home, we tried to feed him. He was being very stubborn - not really wanting to take the bottle but he did suckle just a bit. We fed him as we read online - every 3-4 hours. He would have a heck of a time suckling though. We were drying his towels each time we fed him as well so that he can keep warm.
Well, that day left and Friday he was still just the same. We thought nothing of it because once again, we have never raised a cat. We kept fighting with him to eat. Then, I took him to our vet after I got off work. I let them know my concerns about him not eating very much. They gave me an eye dropper and told me we must make him eat (well, duh! lol).
The next morning (Saturday), I let my mom know about Midnight (that's what we named him). She was happy even though she, like me, has never been a cat person. He was even squealing as I was on the phone with her...still fighting me to eat.
Later on that day, we went to the store. When we came back, Midnight was very distressed. He wouldn't cry. He barely moved. He was very distant. He would open his mouth as if to cry, but nothing came out. We immediately freaked out and tried everything humanly possible before calling the emergency vet (this is a Saturday evening). They told us to get him warm using a heating pad and try to feed him. Well, we tried that and after about an hour, we realized we must take him to the vet.
When we got him there, they told us that he was dehydrated, starving, and cold. That was the absolute worse thing to hear...so, on top of them charging us $87 to see him, they wanted us to pay $250 more for them to keep him and tube feed. Well, for a cat that we weren't sure we were going to keep and that we didn't know would survive (the nurses weren't sure), we couldn't see ourselves dropping that sort of cash. So, we had the nurse teach us how to tube feed him and they gave us a good heating element that we can put under his towels to keep him warm.
Well, we did everything as they said. Midnight had many, many successful feedings (can't fight the tube), but he passed away on Sunday morning. We thought that maybe his mother left him because he was too weak to live on, but we didn't want to give up on him. So we took him under our wing until the very end.
So, while this story was long and not a RAOK toward another human, it was something that will live on with me forever and I definitely wanted to share.
Here's a pic of Midnight the day before he passed on:
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