Learn To Love Again - Cat Rescue Story

by Chris
(Maryland)

My husband and I were first dog people. He bought me my first dog,"Tawny" for my birthday 4 days after we were married. My family had been cat lovers as we lived on a busy road and Mom nicked the dog. We then adopted another collie and they both lived for 12 and 13 years. They were our children before we had our own.

After "Max" died at 13, my 11 yr old wanted a kitten. We finally contacted the vet who had treated our dogs and he told us about a litter of kittens that had just reached the age for adoption. We went for 1 and came home with 2. We tried to name the brother and sister, "Mickey" and "Babe" as my husband had been a college baseball player and then a high school coach when we were first married. However my 2 yr old son renamed them "Mickey" and "Pooh" much to my 11 year old's chagrin.

Mickey was a long haired beige tiger and Miss Pooh was a gray white and beige long haired calico. Mickey grew to 16 pounds but Pooh was never larger than 7. Mickey was a friendly cat who would trust you if he got to know you but used to disappear when there was loud commotion. Pooh on the other hand was so mellow and never seemed to be bothered by anything, the vacuum, video games, boys fighting or my husband yelling.

Pooh had a pension for climbing up ladders but then got stuck. Trees were also a problem for her. Mickey and she would go up but only Mickey would come down. We rescued her one evening from the top of my neighbor's garage.

Micky sadly passed away at 14 due to an infection that was incurable. Pooh was then wobbling and falling down. A quick trip to the vet diagnosed her with an inner ear infection. The vet told us it had nothing to do with her deafness. What? "This cat has been deaf all her life. Calico and white cats are prone to deafness, he said. Were we shocked! Now it all made sense! We would call them and she always followed her brother. She also made sure he was always groomed. At this moment we vowed to never allow her outside again by herself.

She had the loudest and longest meow, we had to barricade her downstairs in the kitchen/family room to get a good night's sleep. At 20 she needed dental surgery to remove her abscessed molars and now she only could eat canned cat food or fresh ground turkey or chicken. She also enjoyed milk and raw egg. Eventually we switched to raw ground turkey or chicken, only the amount she could immediately consume.

She became a "beach cat" and accompanied us to our condo. She always demanded running water and would jump into the bathtub so we bought her a fountain. She made her last trip to the beach on July 4, 2011. The moment we arrived home she started to fail. Finally, we made an appointment. to have her be mercifully put to sleep. My 22 yr old son begged us to wait until he could say goodbye to his sister. We agreed to wait until Saturday. He arrived home with his girlfriend and begged us to try to get her to eat something. I told him that her heart was still strong but her body was shutting down.

My 6'4" son curled up on the floor beside her while she laid on her heating pad. My husband and I went to bed only to be awakened at 4:30am by my sobbing son who told us that she had let out a loud meow and was gone. We wrapped her in her favorite blanket and went back to bed hugging sobbing and hugging each other.

The next morning we buried her beside her brother in the corner of our backyard. I had previously secretly planted daffodils that had bloomed that Spring. We found another large stone which we placed beside her brother, Mickey's.

Many people had grown to love this special little cat. She also loved everyone and loved to be held. She had even attended college with my son when we had to go to California for 2 weeks training for a new business. My son informed us that he would not be returning her to us as she was the greatest "chick magnet". However, of course, we rescued her from his college bachelor pad.

I would adopt another deaf cat in a heartbeat! She was such a special kitty. She died She passed away at the age of 20 years and 7 months. We never knew that cats lived that long. Rest in peace "Miss Pooh" you have been reunited with your dear brother, Mickey.

Postscript: We are now awaiting the arrival of 2 12 week old, long haired calico sisters who were saved from euthanasia last Tuesday by the generous donations of many animal lovers. I was sent their picture and plight by my cousin who is an animal rescue advocate. I first simply wanted to donate funds to save them but decided that I was ready to love and be unconditionally loved again. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my 2 gorgeous babies from North Carolina.



Jul 25, 2012
post script
by: Chris from Maryland

Our 2 rescue kittens arrived at 10pm after a 14 hour trip with 53 other rescues. Beth was doing the 95 run from southern North Carolina all the way up to Vermont. She even stopped to feed them all dinner! We told her we only brought 1 cat carrier. She laughed and said that we only needed half a cat carrier! We didn't expect them to be so small as the picture taken in the animal shelter cage had been taken close up making them appear larger. They were quite shy and evidently needed a lot of human contact.They had all their shots,had been wormed and treated for ear mites. 1 had conjunctivitis in 1 eye and was sent with antibiotic and eye drops. we had decided to name them officially when we met them and observed their habits. 1 was friendly and sociable who we named "Bella". The other was shy and breezed on by so we named her "Breezy". They have changed drastically in the weeks they have been with us. They both seek out our company and purr when petted or fed. They play,wrestle,jump,and run until they pass out in exhaustion. We never tire of watching their hilarious antics and laugh out loud so much more now. The timing was perfect and saving their lives was meant to be. All the other kittens in the shelter contracted conjunctivitis and were euthanized. What a crime when shelters have no resources to treat the animals. Please adopt both cats and dogs from a shelter. So many animals are euthanized each year and simply need someone to care and give them forever homes.

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