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Gem and Link's
story... by Angela Turpin |
Brought in from the cold, Gem and Link
cuddle in their mattress hideout
Dear Friends of Pets,
Thank you for the spay/neuter coupons. I have always respected your organization and now that I have received the benefits of your service, I am forever thankful. Your assistance helped me in my efforts to save two little homeless kitties that were living in a parking lot maintenance yard. I want to share their story with you.
On October 16, 2001, I saw a little animal in the parking lot. It had a stubby tail and hopped like a bunny, but on closer inspection, I discovered it was a little kitty. I spent hours that day trying to catch him, but he had run underneath some rolls of carpet. Each day, rain or shine, I would leave some food and water for him, sometimes catching glimpses of him as he ran to hide.
The month of November was exceptionally cold. Every time the newscaster would say “bring in those pets,” I would cringe. I knew the kitty was freezing. We decided to try again to catch the cat and see if we could tame him. But the day we went to trap him, we noticed two cats. I didn’t know what to do at that point - I knew they needed each other’s body heat to stay warm through the night. I didn’t want to risk trapping one and have the other freeze to death. So I just took them larger quantities of food. Also, I started reading about feral cats and wondered if I had found a colony. I had no idea how many cats lived under the rolls of carpet.
The cold was too much. After watching the cats and asking some of the maintenance workers, I was pretty sure there were only two cats…I hoped. I rented a trap from the Humane Society Adopt-A-Cat and (easier said than done after several hours) trapped one of the cats, a little female who I named Gem. I took her home and put her in our spare bedroom. She freaked out. Literally she was climbing the walls. I had made her a little hideout with some scraps of carpet, but instead she hid between the bed mattresses that we set up against the wall.
I spent much of that night out in the freezing cold trying to catch the other cat. No luck. I would come back the next day and try again. I hoped that the kitty would not freeze. Now I had a couple of new dilemmas: One, I had to work the next day, and two, we only have one car. Usually, I am dropped off at work, so I do not have the car during the day. Fortunately, I work in the mall adjacent to the parking lot. My solution was that I rented a car and left the trap out during the day. Every hour I went out and checked the trap, but no kitty. I was afraid it didn’t make it through the night. At 4:00 p.m., the trap was still empty. My heart was heavy. By 5:30 p.m. I was just getting ready to run home for a flashlight when I heard the snapping sound of the trap. Hooray! I drove the little male cat home and put him in the guest room with Gem. I named him Link. He was pretty frightened too, but relaxed a little when he saw Gem. They just sat together. I am sure they were confused. Warm, but confused.
To be absolutely certain that there were no more cats out there, I took the trap and went back out to the parking lot until after 10:00 p.m. The next day I set the trap again, and when it was still empty at the end of the day, I was pretty certain there were no more cats. Still, to be on the safe side, I left more food and checked it for the following three days. It was untouched. I felt confident that there were no more kitties in the rolls of carpet.
Now that I had the kitties I wasn’t sure what I would do, but we took it day by day. They had food, water, kitty litter (which they started using immediately – good kitties!), toys, and a hiding place. I worked with them every day. I played with them using a piece of yarn and sometimes they would come out of their hiding places to chase it. After a couple of weeks Gem started coming out and let us pet her. Link would not let us touch him. He had a mean, wild look in his eyes and I wondered if he would ever tame. I started to make plans to send him to live on my grandfather’s farm in Utah.
Soon we noticed that Gem was getting skinny and had a big potbelly. We were pretty sure the cats were siblings, but Gem was so much smaller than Link. I knew I needed to get them to the doctor, I just didn’t know how. We do not have a pet taxi and I had already spent so much on food and kitty litter. Doctor visits can be expensive. I knew I had to take them to the doctor, but I also needed to save some money.
Hindsight is 20/20. One night we noticed Gem was lethargic and small amounts of blood on her mouth. I was afraid she was dying. I put her in a small cardboard box and rushed her to the pet emergency room. The doctor suspected she chewed an electrical cord. Part of her tongue was dead and would have to be removed. He started talking about feeding tubes and surgeries and about $500. I considered it. I loved this kitty. I had worked so hard to save her. She had survived against so many odds. She was so tough. The doctor returned with a syringe full of pink fluid. He said he had pulled it from her abdomen and suspected she had some kind of liver problem. He recommended euthanasia.
For the next week, we were devastated. We were not sure if we did the right thing. At least she did not die a feral cat. We loved her and she wasn’t alone.
Since Gem died, Link is more open to attention. He went through a period of bereavement and now he is totally different. We discovered he had roundworms. I knew Gem must have had roundworms too. I wondered if that’s what was wrong with her – could she have been saved. I questioned if I did the right thing for Gem. I knew one thing for sure – I would do the right thing for Link. He has been to the doctor twice (because of a typo, they call him Wink) and he looks great. He has had all his shots and his booster shots. He has been neutered and things are going well for him. We let him out of the guest room and he just wants to be a part of our family. We have another cat that we’ve had for about five years. She doesn’t really like Link yet, but I hope they can eventually be friends. I love what Link has become. He is a good, happy kitty. A very obedient kitty.
It’s now almost March, about
five months since the kitties came into my life. As I think about it, I imagine
someone dropping off two little kittens at the mall, thinking that some kids
would grab them and take them home. Instead, they ran for cover and there they
stayed until I found them. I don’t understand why people cannot be responsible
for their animals. People that do things like this make me angry. I wish I could
tell them what their ignorance has caused – a lot of time and money and so
much heartache. I still cry for my little Gem. In a way she will make a
difference, because I can be her voice. I’ll tell her story and maybe someone
will think twice about dumping their animals. I hope so. These special kitties
have changed the way I think about life.
Sincerely,
Angela Turpin