Little Kitty Gets Rescued

One evening while sitting at home, there was a knock on the door. Some of the children from down the street were frantic. Their eight week old kitten had been mauled by the neighbors dog, and she was in shock. Her ear was nearly ripped off, and they didn't know what to do. The brought the little kitten in, her ear torn almost completely off. She was in shock, and appeared disorented. I ask them what happened. They told me that they had been shooting fireworks that afternoon (It was close to July 4th) and one had landed too near the little kitten who was playing outside with the kids. She paniced and ran next door into the neighbors yard. They had just come home from vacation, and were unloading their bulldog mix that they had just brought home from the Vets.

After that they just heard screaming from the little kitten. The neighbors dog had attacked her and torn her ear up very badly. They don't know if he let the dog loose on purpose, or if the dog just lunged out of his hand. Finally the neighbor got the dog under control again, but the kitten was no where to be found. When they found her, she was in the tire well of the neighbor's van. The got her out, saw her bleeding and brought her to me.

We met the Vet at the Animal Clinic, and he had to sedate her to get a good look at it. He didn't really know if she would make it or not, but she would definately have to stay overnight and have extensive surgery. The ear could not be saved. Twenty stitches later she was released home. I took her with me so that she could be kept calm and quiet away from the children...though they came to visit her every day. When she was well enough to go home, I got the bad news. They had decided not to take her back. The neighbor's wife was causing all kinds of problems and threatning to sue. "That cat gave me cat-scratch fever, I want it killed and tested for rabies." She was only an eight week old kitten. So I agreed to take her on as a foster, until I could find her a home.

Well, here she is , one year later still living with me. I have decided to keep her, she just had such a winning personality. As for her ear, now it's just a "cricket" hole in the side of her head. No damage was done to it internally, so she can hear just fine. We just have to keep the hair trimmed away so that it's not itchy.

Little kitty, or Pismo as she is also known, was fortunate to escape with her life. I am a firm believer in keeping my cats indoors. The don't go out unless they are supervised or can be confined to a crate or an exercise pen. Though they love to go outside, I know that they are much safer if they do not roam. I also herd later from someone working in the Vet's office that the Neighbor with the dog also fed his wife's last Shih Tzu to one of his dogs. Weather that was true or not I will never know, and for my sake, and his, I think I really don't want to either.