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6:16pm

The Death of Innocents

Featuring:

Shadow

Mickey Doo…

My neighbor is a feeder/breeder whose colony was over 50 unbeknownst to me. Then the dogs came. They would come at night usually and I was the one who dealt with it as no one else did anything including the woman responsible for all of the cats.
I finally confronted her as I had found an organization who would spay/neuter them for nothing. I got her all the info, down to the tiniest detail and yet she did nothing. She said she hated seeing them in a cage all night. Apparently seeing them slaughtered was preferable to this.
I left a job I loved and took a boring job and, even worse, I had to work graveyard shift but it allowed me to take care of these poor animals. Since I had to trap them I had to feed them and new ones were being born frequently. They were also dying frequently and not always because of the dogs. When the tiny kittens were brought to my back porch by their mothers I would bring them inside, do what I could and sit with them as they lay dying. I grieved for them because no one else did.
I cracked my garage door just enough for the cats to come in to get shelter when the dogs came. Mickey and Shadow were born in my garage and I brought them and their mother in my house the next day. She was feral but she followed her babies and quickly learned she had food and shelter for her and her kittens.
It was an ordeal that lasted over a year. I did not want kittens and always felt that when my 3 older cats left this earth I would go to a shelter and get older cats. I always said I was a shelter's dream as I did not want kittens.
The dogs got one of my older cats, Caspar, who was a rescue about 12 years earlier and it broke my heart. They also got my 14 year old, Pepe, but I heard a noise while I napped. It was a beautiful day and I had left the back door open. He went out the back and to the front. Before I even knew I was walking I was on the front porch. I woke up about the time I saw one of the dogs had a cat. I thought it was the big black male from the colony. About that time he turned to look at me and that image will be burned on the back of my eyelids until I die. I remember yelling his name and taking off after the dogs and my adrenaline was pumping at the max I am sure. The vet said he did not know why they dropped him as they usually don't. I told the vet I'm sure the image of me was not a pretty one and I know they had to have sensed I had no fear. Quite the opposite. I finally caught one in the act and it was my cat and I was getting him back. He could not use his right hind leg but he was not in pain either. He was trying to get up the large oak tree, hissing and freaking out. One of the dogs came back so there I was. I could not leave him to get a weapon. He was totally freaked out and did not seem to know even me. That dog thought he was going to get him again and he thought wrong. I started flailing like a banshee and kicking and he finally left. Pepe finally went to the garage so I ran into the house, out in the garage and found him flopping on the floor like a fish. His eyes were clear and he was not in pain but could not use that leg. The vet said that if they had pulled a little harder they would have snapped his leg off. They had shredded every ligament in his hind leg but he also said that I was right. He was not in pain. His eyes were clear. He said he could not guarantee anything but they could reattach the ligaments. He just did not know how much control he would regain. I know a cat can manage on 3 legs but I saw no need for him to go thru the rest of his life dragging one so I said to do what he could. I am happy to say that you would NEVER know anything was ever wrong except that he is now so ROTTEN from the attention he got. That image of him being in the dog's mouth and turning to look at me is still as vivid in my mind as if it happened an hour ago. I could not save Caspar but I did manage to save him and I never saw the dogs again. I called the police as it was about 8p after the whole fiasco but they were pretty useless. Wanted to know if they were my dogs. Uh, no....
I emailed TV stations about the dog problem. My so called neighborhood association never mentioned a thing unless it involved smaller dogs being killed. I emailed the mayor. I called the city. The police and city were called one other time when a cat was attacked while I worked. Everyone KNEW what was going on and everyone did NOTHING. I did what I could and never felt like it was enough.

So my grandson would come over on Sundays and spend the night. We would stay up all night trapping. I would drive them to Dallas in the morning and pick them up that evening. I would monitor them that night. The next morning they would eat, drink and be released back. It was all I could do but at least they would not breed.

The original group was about 8 that I affectionately called the Outsiders. There were 5 that we had gotten fixed the year before. This was before I knew there was a colony. There was one little female I called Little Momma because she popped them out as fast as she could. She was tiny and pencil thin. I befriended her quickly and took her down. She is still around and she is sweet and loving. She was spayed about 2 years ago and has managed to stay alive. I have tried to bring her in or get her to stay on my screened in back porch but she will not. I have a large dog. She will not hurt the cats but some of them do not know that.

The very first Outsider was a huge tom that my neighbor named Max. He was scraggly and skinny and my neighbor started feeding him so I fed him. I figured I had cat food what was one more. That is before I knew anything about my other neighbor and that is how it all started. When Max would come in the garage he would get very high up. He had been dodging the dogs the longest apparently so he knew. He was in that first group who got fixed. Max, Little Momma, Chynna, Lil' Boy and Zak. About a year after he was fixed he started showing up less freuently. I finally found the house I thought adopted him. He came down one last time and they moved. They took him with them and I was so glad. He was so sweet and just wanted to be safe. he was one of the ones afraid of my dog and wanted to come inside but was afraid. I miss him but I know he apparently found a good home and, most importantly, safety.

So I rescued some and found homes for some. I live in dog country so it is hard with kitties. I did notice that some had intermittent diarrhea and Mickey Doolittle got sick once. I nursed him over that and after avoiding me since birth became my friend. I now know he was the first to get sick but he did recover.
His brother, Shadow, had long decided he was going to be number 1 and managed to squirm by anyone, anything between him and me when he wanted to lie down. He truly became my shadow and the people who were going to take him would not once they saw the bond.

And so it went. Then, that December in 2006, I found a very sick feral kitty in my dog's old dog house. I brought it in, gave it food and water and milk and tried to make it comfortable. It finally came out to eat and I almost fainted. I thought it had been hit by a car. I was at the vet's bright and early the next day. I was told upper respiratory but euthanasia was probably the kindest thing to do. I petted he/she until he/she was gone. Then the vet noticed jaundice and speculated it might be feline distemper. I was beside myself. I had my rescues plus my older cats. I kept the sick one segregated but you never know. That December 10 thru the 22 were the 10 worst days of my life. In the end, all but 3 from the colony died. I lost 5 of my rescues and a large part of me. For months I just thought it was pan leukopenia and it seemed I could not cry enough. My one saving grace was that Shadow had bonded to me. I was making almost daily visits to the vet but he was not getting better. He looked at me that evening about a week after it all started and it was like he was saying "I want to eat. I cannot smell but I want to eat. I feel okay but I cannot eat if I cannot smell." He was not responding to antibiotics or anything for that matter. I felt like I would lose my mind but then I found a vet who said she had been having great success with nebulization. My grandson is asthmatic so I knew what she was talking about. I took him in and the people in the vet's office, including the vet, could not believe the bond we had. She was trying to tell me what was going on and the technician had Shadow down by her side. One of them commented that his eyes never left me. I looked at him and he looked peaceful as if he knew he was going to be all right now. He spent a week in the hospital amd I wemt to see him every day but Christmas because they were closed. He truly is my shadow and follows me everywhere. They are all special and I am grateful.

No, I did not want kittens. They have caused trouble and a lot of destruction but I would not trade a thing for them. The joy and laughter they have brought me has so outweighed that. They all respond to their individual names and they have given me a new joy for life.
I have grieved much and have decided that writing a book would be cathartic. There is so much to tell. I now know the kittens I saw the summer before (2005) died from being poisoned just like these. No one knew except the people responsible and I feel certain they knew. It was not a lot at first but they even sat on it when they did know, I feel, to cut their losses. If they had come clean when they first learned of it mine and many others would still be alive. I feel this is a wake up call and we need to heed it. I refuse to let them die in vain. Next time it won't be our pets......

In memory of Zak, Sassy, Malcolm, Mr. T and Casanova

Shadow, Mickey Doolittle, Precious, Rooti and Junior miss you. Our time together was cut short but you left huge pawprints on my heart.