Last week, as I was getting ready to go to work, on the one day of the week that I actually had to work in the morning, I saw a stray cat get hit by a car, right in front of my home. The poor thing crawled under my car, screaming in pain; she looked like she had a broken leg, and maybe a crushed pelvis. My SO had already left for school/work, so I called a good friend of mine who lives nearby. She called the local animal control folks for me, while I kept an eye on the stray, and came out to help me. Fortunately, I'd been planning to leave extra, uber crazy early in the morning, so I had time to stay and do what I could.
In the hour that it took for animal control to show up, we sat with the kitty I'll always remember as "Socks" (she was a grey tabby with white feet). She cried a lot, but managed to sit mostly still while we covered her with one of my spare jackets to try to keep her warm. My friend even managed to stroke Socks a bit... yeah, we know, it's a bad idea to try to touch an injured cat, especially a potentially feral one, but Socks was receptive and not aggressive at all.
It was hard to tell if she had a people family... she had no collar. She also pooped on the sidewalk, and it was pretty clear she had worms. But she seemed used to people, and very friendly... sadly, it's a description of far too many stray cats in my neighborhood. Just before animal control showed up, Socks crawled into the open carrier that I'd placed nearby...
We called in later to find out what happened. It turned out that her pelvis had been crushed, both back legs broken, and had lots of internal injuries and bleeding. The animal control people had to put her to sleep.
It was a really painful experience. I don't know what else I could have done, short of taking Socks to an ER myself... and even then, I don't know that they could have done anything more for her, since she was so badly injured. She was a beautiful young cat, and she left the world far too soon.
The same afternoon, we took in a young stray who we'd been socializing with in the garden: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/cat...cat&catid=1634... I couldn't bear the thought of finding him dead on the side of the road, and he's a real sweetheart.
RIP Socks... I'll always remember you, even if nobody else will.
In the hour that it took for animal control to show up, we sat with the kitty I'll always remember as "Socks" (she was a grey tabby with white feet). She cried a lot, but managed to sit mostly still while we covered her with one of my spare jackets to try to keep her warm. My friend even managed to stroke Socks a bit... yeah, we know, it's a bad idea to try to touch an injured cat, especially a potentially feral one, but Socks was receptive and not aggressive at all.
It was hard to tell if she had a people family... she had no collar. She also pooped on the sidewalk, and it was pretty clear she had worms. But she seemed used to people, and very friendly... sadly, it's a description of far too many stray cats in my neighborhood. Just before animal control showed up, Socks crawled into the open carrier that I'd placed nearby...
We called in later to find out what happened. It turned out that her pelvis had been crushed, both back legs broken, and had lots of internal injuries and bleeding. The animal control people had to put her to sleep.
It was a really painful experience. I don't know what else I could have done, short of taking Socks to an ER myself... and even then, I don't know that they could have done anything more for her, since she was so badly injured. She was a beautiful young cat, and she left the world far too soon.
The same afternoon, we took in a young stray who we'd been socializing with in the garden: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/cat...cat&catid=1634... I couldn't bear the thought of finding him dead on the side of the road, and he's a real sweetheart.
RIP Socks... I'll always remember you, even if nobody else will.
