I have been successfully turning down kittens on a daily basis, but when this call came in and I could hear a kitten sceaming (horribly) in the background, I knew I had to go. The gentleman on the phone said that they had noticed the kitten lying in the street when they came home from shopping. His wife got out of the car, and called to the kitten. The kitten got up and stumbling and lurching, falling over and going into circles, ran into their garage. The kitten was under their other car screaming like all get-out.
I raced over and had to slide under their car (not very graceful there) to reach this poor young, gold and white baby (probably about 4 months old) He was lying at a strange angle, almost folded in half? My first thought was he had gotten hit by a car.
They gave me $10.00 and told me God Bless you, no one else cares.” Sad but true. I raced this baby to the vet and he screamed as if he was dying the whole way. I think I broke a few speed laws getting there.
At first, they thought he just had something neurological wrong with him because in the room, he could stand up and nothing “seemed” broken. As I am so damn tired of death, we had a conversation and they agreed to keep him for a few days, put him on fluids and food and antibiotics and see if he “got better.” Then they took him back to the back to draw blood to test him. On the way, his eyes went all wonky, started rolling around in his head and his legs went stiff- straight up in the air as if he was reaching for God.
The vet came back in to get permission to run a series of films to see if he did have a broken bone in his neck. I gave that permission but again on the table, he went all wonky again and screamed his distress to the world.
The x-ray showed nothing wrong and they suspect he might have rabies so I was quizzed if I had been bit or scratched (thankfully no) We put him to sleep at 4:15 and they will send him off to the CDC for testing.
He was such a cute baby! I was so hoping it might have been hyperglycemia or something, instead of a virus. I guess the cat kingdom is ruled by nasty viruses.
I couldn’t leave him to die under that car. He was ice cold when I got to the vet, so they put him on a warming stone. At least he had comfort and knew he was loved even though it was such a brief moment. Again- one vaccine would have stopped all his misery.
Poor kittie. At least he knew a little comfort in his life.
PS: You’ve probably already thought about this, but if it does turn out to be rabies, you (or the V*T) probably should double check with the couple you got the kittie from, make sure they know.
He died having someone care about him. That says as much about you as it does about him. You do good things.