Roxie
Date: Jul 11th, 2008 7:22:09 pm - Subscribe
Mood: worried
Currently Reading: Lord of the Flies ( ISBN: 0-571-05686-5 ): Waiting for grandma
It's always difficult when a family pet has been injured in an accident, but I never imagined it could be so hard when a strange kitten I just meet a week ago might end up with an amputated leg.
Upon moving into my apartment and spending my first night there I came to discover that there was a beautiful tawny colored kitten that lived wild around the small bit of woods next to the building. My neighbor Jim had been setting food and water out for it on a daily basis and the kitten would often come up to our porch and lay down in the chairs to nap in the shade. She was a sweet kitten that while shy at first would soon curl up in your lap and fall asleep purring. She was friendly and sweet and warm.
After the week had gone by I woke up one morning and left to go to work to find Jim sitting on the porch as usual holding the kitten in his lap and petting it. We said our good mornings and before I had a chance to leave he brought to my attention that the kitten had obtained several injuries since the evening we had last seen it. The bottom of its jaw was scraped up, it's tooth had been chipped, and it was dragging its leg. Jim knew I worked at a vets office and gave me a few dollars after I said I would take it in and have it looked at.
Doctor Megan ( not my employer, but a very nice woman and competent veterinarian ) had a look at the cat while I was working and came in to me with the bad news. Our sweet little girl had been run over with a car sometime between last night and that morning. It wasn't unusual as there is a very busy and very dangerous street that we live right on, but it was still distressing to hear none the less. When questioned about the leg Dr. Megan said that it had pulled several sensitive nerves in the area around its armpit and while there was a chance the nerve damage could repair itself and the kitten would walk again there was an equally greater chance that the leg would simply have to be amputated. Thankfully all the other wounds were superficial. The chipped tooth was fine, the scrap on its chin would heal, and other then having fleas and ear mites there was nothing else wrong with it. She even promised me that despite having only three legs should amputation be the only option it would still have a full and happy life.
It was hardly soothing.
I can't remember ever having cried so much for an animal I didn't know before in my life. I've been sad and mournful, I've cried a little when watching such horrible instances as the bull fights ( and no culture nor tradition does not make brutal torture and pointless murder of an animal excusable ), or the horse fights in China, but it's never been something that I've had to leave the room for.
Of course once I was able to calm down and think clearly there was only one possible solution to this kitten's problem, for I couldn't release it back into the wild with its bum leg. Now little Roxie ( as in Roxie Heart from the movie Chicago ) is going to have her own place in my ever growing family of animals.
What am I up to now? A lizard named Maxwell, my two betta fish Shai and Malochai, my emperor scorpion Diego, my two millipedes Cutter and Joe, my other kitten ( domestic longhair ) Dahlia and now my new kitten ( domestic short hair ) Roxie. I may be the only person in my apartment, but at least I know I'll never be alone.
I just have to sit, wait, and hope that Roxie gets better. And if not and we do end up amputating her leg at least I can be thankful she got away from that car with her life.
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