Wow Caroline! How wonderful! I am so happy that you feel good about the
caregiver of this kitty and I really hope the transfer goes well. Did she
sound happy, relieved, surprised, etc? Or did you communicate solely via
email? Please let us know how it goes tonight. I am really curious and I hope
you walk away feeling like you did something really important that made a
difference, because you did. And I hope, when you see them reunite, you are
beyond comfortable with how much the owners love their furbaby. What you did
was wonderful, taking her in like that. And look how it made your mom change,
now considering doing more rescue! Isn't that great, in and of itself?!
My hat's off to you and your mom,
:)
Wendy
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the
world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has!" ~~~ Margaret Meade ~~~
----- Original Message ----
From: Caroline Kaufmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 12:49:03 PM
Subject: OT: Success with Rescue Cat
Okay, since there's been lots of debate and dare I say, controversy, over the
Malnourished Rescue Cat my mom and I took in and have been caring for, I wanted
everyone to know that she is GOING HOME and we have successfully reunited her
with her family.
Long story short, we pretty much took EVERYONE'S advice and tried a variety of
tactics (as I previously mentioned-- signs posted, I posted on websites, etc.).
As I had mentioned, from the Rabies tag, all we were able to obtain is the
telephone number and street name (not number) of the "owner" and the name of
the cat- "Nosey." My mom and I pretty much sat on it for a while since by
then, we'd already taken her to the Vet and started her on Clavamox and she
needed so much rehabilitation anyway. We tried to decide what to do and we
just hated the idea of totally cold call to this number...not knowing ANYTHING
about the person and whether they were a good owner.
We are almost finished with the Clavamox and have finished one tube of
Terramycin and Nosey is still exhibiting Upper Respiratory Infection symptoms,
thus my mom said we have to either: 1) take her back to the vet this week, as
needs more care, or 2) call the owners and make sure they take her to the vet.
Since I had the owner phone number, I FINALLY remembered that the
Whitepages.com has this handy tab where you can do a "reverse look-up"- using
the phone number...it will give you a name and address. Bingo! I got the
street address we'd been wanting, which also provided me with the NAMES of the
two people living there!!!! So, then I of course googled their names...and low
and behold, one of them is a Partner at a law firm here and of course, my mouth
dropped open (I am a lawyer too- and although this is a big city, it's a SMALL
legal community), thus I knew I had to contact her at that point. I also knew
she could definitely afford the vet bill Nosey incurred (they live on very
"rich" street- I know that sounds weird, but the property value of the houses
on that street is ridiculous). Anyway, I feel like the ultimate pet detective,
seriously. Sometimes I think all I need in life is google and the white or
yellowpages.com....!!!
My mom and I discussed it and I decided to send her an email at her firm's
email address from my work email, so she would know where I work and that I am
an attorney too. I took the initial vague route first (as was discussed on
this list serve)...to feel her out, etc. She replied and said it's their cat
and they looked for her for weeks and weeks, but didn't check online sites
(which she apologized for) and asked when they could come get her. After
another consult with my mom, my mom wanted me to send her another email where I
"socked it to her" with the malnutrition, that she would have died if we hadn't
taken her in, she went to the vet and this and that was done and the bill is
this amount, we've been feeding her this & that, she needs to go back to the
vet because the URI is still lingering, I advise she go back and get this
treatment (a full blood panel to check liver/kidney function, fecal for
tapeworms, etc.). AND then I asked if she was
outdoor/indoor cat and said if so, I recommend she NOT be an outdoor cat
because she does not fair well outside, she has this URI that won't go away,
and she's deathly afraid of storms and if she is out when one comes, she will
run and hide. WHEW! All that. I also apologized for hitting her with all
this at once and at work and admitted that I wanted to feel her out initially
before I admitted that we had the cat in our house and have done intensive
care/rehabbing.
She responded really well!!! She gave me info about Nosey's background-
they've had Nosey since birth and she lives with her Mother and Brother cats.
They are mostly outside cats because they live on a large piece of property
with a covered porch. She said the cats seldom go beyond the immediate
neighbors (who love them), but the mother cat became an indoor cat a few years
ago when she developed a URI!!! So, hopefully, now that poor Nosey has one
that she can't seem to shake, they will make her an indoor cat now (which I did
press upon her). She said they will compensate us for the care we did, thanked
us, and said they will continue with further vet care for Nosey.
We are going to try to connect tonight to do the hand-off. My mom and I both
really happy that we've had a great result, but I have to admit that it took
some "detecting" on my part, as we weren't going to turn this cat over to the
great unknown! I will never know how Nosey got one mile away from her home,
and in so doing, she had to have crossed one of the busiest state roads in
Louisville (4 lanes of non-stop busy traffic, 45 mph speed limit) to get to our
neighborhood???!!
Thanks to everybody who provided insight into Nosey's care/rehabilitation and
ideas/suggestions for finding her owners and making sure they weren't crazy
people!!!
This is such a relief for me now- I can finally get home before 9-10 at night!
But I am sure as soon as we hand-off Nosey, another one will show up on mine or
my mom's door-step...no rest for the weary you know? And now I really need to
do some actual "work"....!
-Caroline
Find a local pizza place, movie theater, and more….then map the best route!
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