i wasn't sure if this should go here or not, so apologies if this is the wrong forum, but i just wanted to share this story.
a few years ago, my boyfriend and i drove up to Reno, Nevada for a long weekend vacation. We live in San Francisco so it's about a 3-4 hour drive depending on traffic. We got to our hotel, relaxed for a bit, and then headed out for dinner. as we were walking down the walkway from the hotel (outside), my boyfriend Rick said "hey, look, a kitten!" i looked, and there was this adorable little orange kitten. My bf was all "awww", but i couldn't be that way, because this was in the middle of downtown Reno, and it was cold out, and the kitten was obviously a stray...I immediately was sad..i tried to approach it but it wouldn't let us get near it. after a few minutes we went on our way to dinner, but i just sat there picking at my food. AFter a few minutes Rick said "it's the kitty, isn't it?". He knows me too well. I was worried about it
i figured it would be gone when we walked back to teh hotel-but it was still there! It was then that a plan started to form in my mind. I told my boyfriend, "i have to do something. i know we're on vacation, and if you don't want to help, that's fine, you can go up to the room, but i can't just leave this cat here." being the good guy that he is, he said "no, of course i'll help". we went up to our room and filled a plastic cup with water, and brought it down to the kitty, but she didn't drink. we figured ok, we'll call animal control and they'll come get it.
HA!
we called, and this woman who answered the phone said "is it in a cage?" no, i said, it's a loose kitten, we just found it. can you send someone down?
"we dont come down unless it's in a cage." and she hung up.
i was FURIOUS. isn't that their JOB, to catch loose stray animals? i can't begin to tell you how angry i was. fine, i thought-if she won't help then i'll do it myself.
reluctantly we went up to our room and got some sleep. the next day, instead of starting our vacation in earnest, we looked inthe phone book for a pet store, and went down there and bought a carrier, wet food, pet treats, and a ceramic bowl for water. we resolved to catch the kitty.
problem was, when we came back, the kitty was no where in sight.
i should stress that this was a TINY orange kitten-just unbelievably adorable. she (i think it was a she) would just wander around the path in front of the hotel, meowing. i felt so bad for her. :/
when we couldn't find her, we went back into the hotel and gambled to waste some time.. we went out and checked again but still did'nt see her. finally night came, it was around 10 pm when we went and looked again-and there she was! we went and got the carrier from upstairs (covered under a large towel-i wonder what the heck security thought we were doing-i was convinced we'd be stopped and asked what we were carrying).
went down and outside and put down some food. she'd come get the food, but when i tried to get near her, she'd run. we tried patiently to catch her, but an hour and a half passed, and i could tell she was just getting more leery of me. i was really worried. finally she crossed in front of me, kind of close, and i just thought to heck with it, the only way im going to get her is if i grab her-and im only going to have ONE chance to grab her. i POUNCED and grabbed her, and caught her! i had about three seconds of euphoria that i'd actually done it, and then that cute little kitten went BALLISTIC. snarling, hissing, clawing, biting-it was like holding a tasmanian devil. my bf came to help me, opened the carrier and i tried to put him in but he wouldn't go-and then he slipped out of my hands..he hit the ground and i had a moment of oh no, PLEASE-and then my boyfriend grabbed him by the TAIL. he literally had a tiger by the tail, and the kitty went ballistic on him too, but he managed to get it in the carrier, and i was so relieved. and bleeding, pretty profusely, as was my boyfriend. i'm not sure why, but those scratches/bites hurt SO bad. we went upstairs then-we didn't think we'd be able to sneak him back in cos he was meowing, so we brought him to our car in the garage. it was semi-heated (the garage i mean) so it wasn't really cold. we put him in the backseat in his carrier, cracked both windows, and put some food and water in his carrier. he made no move to get out when i opened the door a bit to put the food in-just looked at me with huge, scared eyes, as if to say 'what are you going to do to me?'
we went back to our room after about 20 minutes, both exhausted, and set the alarm for two hours later...every two hours we'd go check on the kitty. finally morning came. i had figured we'd take him back to SF and give him to the shelter there, cos it's no-kill..but when i called them, they said they couldn't take him-said you have to have an appointment to give up a cat, and have to prove this and that. which i understand in a way but still annoyed me. i can imagine a lot of people saying to heck with it and just throwing their cat in the streeet. i think if a shelter wants to call itself a shelter, they should take all cats..but thats for another thread. i called a couple more sf shelters-no dice..and i was really starting to worry what we'd do with him. Wonton doesn't get along with oether cats, so bringing him home to stay permanently wasn't an option..but i was starting to think maybe he'd be with us a few weeks til we could find somewehre to place him. finally, i thought to see if there was a shelter in Reno-and there was! i called them and the lady was so nice, i told her the story, that i'd rescued a little orange kitten from in front of the casino, and she said 'of course, bring him down, we'll take him'. at 8 am when the shelter opened, we drove down there. i opened the door a tiny bit and said goodbye to my little orange kitty. i felt close to him by that time and it was a little hard letting him go, but i knew it was the right thing. i gave the carrier to the shelter (we had one at home), as well as the cat food and cat treets, and they assured me they were a no-kill shelter, and that he'd be fostered til he was tame enough to be adopted.
we drove back to the casino and i was happy, happy, happy
but thats not the end of the story.
later that day, we gambled a bit and didn't have much luck. we were feeling a bit down, and Rick put 20 bucks into the slot machine. i suddenly heard him say a few words that can't be printed on this forum...i turned to him and said "what?" he said
"we just won four thousand dollars."
to this day i've always felt that winning was karma for saving the kitty. although my reward honestly was knowing he wouldn't be out there alone, freezing cold and hungry.
that's one of my cat rescue stories, hope you enjoyed
xx
a few years ago, my boyfriend and i drove up to Reno, Nevada for a long weekend vacation. We live in San Francisco so it's about a 3-4 hour drive depending on traffic. We got to our hotel, relaxed for a bit, and then headed out for dinner. as we were walking down the walkway from the hotel (outside), my boyfriend Rick said "hey, look, a kitten!" i looked, and there was this adorable little orange kitten. My bf was all "awww", but i couldn't be that way, because this was in the middle of downtown Reno, and it was cold out, and the kitten was obviously a stray...I immediately was sad..i tried to approach it but it wouldn't let us get near it. after a few minutes we went on our way to dinner, but i just sat there picking at my food. AFter a few minutes Rick said "it's the kitty, isn't it?". He knows me too well. I was worried about it
HA!
we called, and this woman who answered the phone said "is it in a cage?" no, i said, it's a loose kitten, we just found it. can you send someone down?
"we dont come down unless it's in a cage." and she hung up.
i was FURIOUS. isn't that their JOB, to catch loose stray animals? i can't begin to tell you how angry i was. fine, i thought-if she won't help then i'll do it myself.
reluctantly we went up to our room and got some sleep. the next day, instead of starting our vacation in earnest, we looked inthe phone book for a pet store, and went down there and bought a carrier, wet food, pet treats, and a ceramic bowl for water. we resolved to catch the kitty.
problem was, when we came back, the kitty was no where in sight.
i should stress that this was a TINY orange kitten-just unbelievably adorable. she (i think it was a she) would just wander around the path in front of the hotel, meowing. i felt so bad for her. :/
when we couldn't find her, we went back into the hotel and gambled to waste some time.. we went out and checked again but still did'nt see her. finally night came, it was around 10 pm when we went and looked again-and there she was! we went and got the carrier from upstairs (covered under a large towel-i wonder what the heck security thought we were doing-i was convinced we'd be stopped and asked what we were carrying).
went down and outside and put down some food. she'd come get the food, but when i tried to get near her, she'd run. we tried patiently to catch her, but an hour and a half passed, and i could tell she was just getting more leery of me. i was really worried. finally she crossed in front of me, kind of close, and i just thought to heck with it, the only way im going to get her is if i grab her-and im only going to have ONE chance to grab her. i POUNCED and grabbed her, and caught her! i had about three seconds of euphoria that i'd actually done it, and then that cute little kitten went BALLISTIC. snarling, hissing, clawing, biting-it was like holding a tasmanian devil. my bf came to help me, opened the carrier and i tried to put him in but he wouldn't go-and then he slipped out of my hands..he hit the ground and i had a moment of oh no, PLEASE-and then my boyfriend grabbed him by the TAIL. he literally had a tiger by the tail, and the kitty went ballistic on him too, but he managed to get it in the carrier, and i was so relieved. and bleeding, pretty profusely, as was my boyfriend. i'm not sure why, but those scratches/bites hurt SO bad. we went upstairs then-we didn't think we'd be able to sneak him back in cos he was meowing, so we brought him to our car in the garage. it was semi-heated (the garage i mean) so it wasn't really cold. we put him in the backseat in his carrier, cracked both windows, and put some food and water in his carrier. he made no move to get out when i opened the door a bit to put the food in-just looked at me with huge, scared eyes, as if to say 'what are you going to do to me?'
we went back to our room after about 20 minutes, both exhausted, and set the alarm for two hours later...every two hours we'd go check on the kitty. finally morning came. i had figured we'd take him back to SF and give him to the shelter there, cos it's no-kill..but when i called them, they said they couldn't take him-said you have to have an appointment to give up a cat, and have to prove this and that. which i understand in a way but still annoyed me. i can imagine a lot of people saying to heck with it and just throwing their cat in the streeet. i think if a shelter wants to call itself a shelter, they should take all cats..but thats for another thread. i called a couple more sf shelters-no dice..and i was really starting to worry what we'd do with him. Wonton doesn't get along with oether cats, so bringing him home to stay permanently wasn't an option..but i was starting to think maybe he'd be with us a few weeks til we could find somewehre to place him. finally, i thought to see if there was a shelter in Reno-and there was! i called them and the lady was so nice, i told her the story, that i'd rescued a little orange kitten from in front of the casino, and she said 'of course, bring him down, we'll take him'. at 8 am when the shelter opened, we drove down there. i opened the door a tiny bit and said goodbye to my little orange kitty. i felt close to him by that time and it was a little hard letting him go, but i knew it was the right thing. i gave the carrier to the shelter (we had one at home), as well as the cat food and cat treets, and they assured me they were a no-kill shelter, and that he'd be fostered til he was tame enough to be adopted.
we drove back to the casino and i was happy, happy, happy
but thats not the end of the story.
later that day, we gambled a bit and didn't have much luck. we were feeling a bit down, and Rick put 20 bucks into the slot machine. i suddenly heard him say a few words that can't be printed on this forum...i turned to him and said "what?" he said
"we just won four thousand dollars."
to this day i've always felt that winning was karma for saving the kitty. although my reward honestly was knowing he wouldn't be out there alone, freezing cold and hungry.
that's one of my cat rescue stories, hope you enjoyed
xx
