Buster's Brush With Death
Buster
Hello Stranger
We have lived up in these woods for about 6 years now. Being in the woods we have many animals come to visit us throughout the years. I seem to always catch one or two cats every so often peeking out from behind a tree or from under a bush.
For a couple of days, about three years back, I would see a grey cat peek out from behind a tree every once in a while. It didn't come to me and since I was already feeding my indoor/outdoor cats, I decided to just put some down for him on his own plate. He would come to the plate only after I had left. When I looked right at him he would skedaddle out of sight and not come back that whole day. He did thins for many months and into the winter. I really wanted to get him some shelter. Of the times that I caught a good glimpse of him he looked pretty rugged. His fur was all matted and very dirty and unkempt. He limped from being in fights with other cats. Cats are usually impeccably clean and he just wasn't. He couldn't or wouldn't lift up his head to look at me. He would lift his eyes up but not his head and so he looked like a gangster. I thought he might have been hit by a car or got into some accident and his neck was damaged in some way that he couldn't lift it up. He can lift his head up now.
So I gave him the name Buster. He loved it! Actually I think he loved being called anything at the time. I put out a box for him to sleep in on my back deck and put some old blankets in it. My back deck has been a nursery for some many animals through out the years that I have lived in it. By the indentation of the blankets the next morning, it seemed like he or someone was using the box to sleep in. I would also let the flap open on the crawlspace so that they could get under the house and sleep where it is slightly warmer then freezing. We also have a light on down there in the winter to prevent the pipes from freezing in the colder winter months.
What a Surprise!
It has been over a year and two winters had past and this cat was still coming for food. Deciding to make him come to me or at least show himself to me in an effort to care for him I decided to sit on the deck while all the other cats ate. Seemed to work just fine and for some reason, even today, when I sit with the cats they eat better and will actually sit and dine until it is all gone. They don't do this when I feed them and leave. So I was sitting there one day and he came up to eat. This time I did not look directly at him and I was softly talking to the other cats that were feasting. As he passed by me I gently put my hand down to touch his back and as he was walking my hand slide down his back. He turned around and looked at me and we still weren't looking eye t eye. Well I thought that he would stay on the deck (or shall I say Nursery! haha), but he left for the day.
The next day he came up to the Nursery (hahaha) and I hadn't had the time to put food out just yet. He sat at the door, just looking in as if to say, "are you coming out to feed me?" I got some food and opened the door, he ran away and I just said Come on back if you want something to eat. After abut 10 minutes he did come on back up and I was sitting in one of the chair we have there. I did the same thing that I did the day before with putting my hand gently on his back as he walked under it.
Surprises!!! He turned around and put his head up against my hand. He wanted pet. So I pet him for the longest time. It was comforting to know that he trusted me now and he knew where to go for shelter and food and love. He really missed and needed the love part.
Next day, I got the cat brush out and brought it out with me on the deck and sat there and waited for him to come on up. He took his time this day but he eventually did come up. I let him sniff the brush and I gently glided it over his back just once. I wasn't sure if he like it because he gave me such a strange look. He left to go potty in the woods and I went inside. I watched him through the French doors and he came back up a few minutes later. Oh my heart was full of love and happiness as I watched him for the first time start to groom himself. I almost had tears in my eyes when I saw him to that. It meant so much to me to know that now he is happy and knows that he is loved and will be taken care of. My heart grows ten times when I see this type of thing happen.
Doing The Right Thing
Another year has gone by and he was a he and got many a feline pregnant in these woods. He was also the Alpha Male or "The Ring Leader". He would take off for a few months and then come back so we knew that he had a wide territory. He would fight no no ones business and we would hear him every night under my bedroom window. He also sang--he sang the prettiest that I have ever heard a cat sing. He would go out in the yard and just sing and he would at dusk go around the yard and sing. He never really left after I started taking good care of him. We would have Pet Me sessions that would last an hour. He loves to be brushed and almost begs for it.
Well I had enough of finding homes for the kittens that would come to my house and decided that since no one else was going to do the right thing and get them neutered - then I was.......and still am.
I had another male kitten that needed to be Neutered too and so I made an appointment to take them both and get their rabies shots and get neutered too. The hard part was getting Buster into the small carrier because he has never been in one before. He's never been in a house or any enclosed space. He did come through the house one time and decided he didn't belong there. He ran under the couch and then out the front door. I had left both doors open one day to air out the house after burning something on the stove. He just slipped in almost unnoticeable and just as fast as that he was out the other door.
Something Doesn't Seem Right
I did get him in a carrier and, of course, he was scared to death. He howled and whine all though the 1/2 hour trip to the Vets. Oh and one poopied halfways down the road in his carrier. All Windoes were rolled down and it still smelled horrible. I got both of them inside the office and waited for my turn. I had told them previously that these were STRAY cats and they could handle them accordingly. I paid them through Spay Today and all was good--or so we thought. The money was theirs now and all I had to do was drop them off and they would do the rest and pick them back up in the afternoon.
The called my name and I took both of the cats with me. They put Buster's crate. The Tech opened Buster's Crate and he went berserk! He climbed the shelving that they had product on and he knocked all that off and he was wailing and howling and just trying to get out. The Tech just told me nonchalantly that he would be OK in a few minutes and to let him get it out of his system. Being a Stray Cat, why would you want to let it out of the crate--especially if it hasn't had any shots that you know of. That didn't seem right to me. I was under the impressions they knew what they were doing. She left the room and I got Buster by the back of the neck, which is the way to pick up a cat that might scratch and bite. He has bitten me several times--all my doing though. He calmed down now that he was in my arms. She came back in and took him across the hall with no consequence or reaction from Buster. She cam back and asked if the other cat would be the same way. I said, "probably". I remembered telling her that Buster was a Stray when she first came into the room. I guess it just went in one ear and out the other. So they were in the back room and I left, thinking they were fine and in good hands with people who knew about Strays and other animals. On my way home I stopped to get some breakfast and got home about an hour later. I never had a second thought about it and was expecting to pick them up about 4 in the afternoon.
The Call From The Vet Office
I get a call from the Vet and she told me that he bit the Tech (same one that held him before with no problems) and since we didn't know if he had rabies that they were going to Euthanize him (kill him). She told me that the tech picked him up with a towel and he turned around and bit her. I know that he does not have rabies---I would have been dead by now if he did. I told the Vet that and she tried to scare me. She said that there was a human life to consider if he has rabies and that getting Rabies Shots are very painful and all that crap. Yes, I know this! She then told me that I would have to keep him in the house for 10 days until they could see that he didn't have Rabies. Well I didn't have a place to keep him locked up like that. So we discussed this all and after many calls to my husband at his work and the vets office a few times she decided that they would keep him for the 10 days at NO Charge. I thought they better have--it was not Buster's fault nor mine that the Tech had no idea what she was doing!
This was to have been a Trap, Neuter and Release operation and it wasn't been that from the get go!! For one thing it is known--or should have been known by the Tech that you never pick up a stray with a towel or blanket. Rescue people will tell you that first thing! The other is that you always pick them up from the back of the neck. That is for domesticated felines as well. She didn't know that, That was apparent. She also didn't listen to me when I was trying to tell her that he had been in fights and that he had some sore spots--this is why I got bite a few times. She picked him up with a towel anyway and most likely hit a sore spot. An animal can't tell you where those are, but if you hit one they will bite---period--it's their only defense. I felt ignored and belittled by this. I also felt a bit angry because I did tell her that before I left.
I was also told that he couldn't get a rabies shot until the 9 th day of quarantine. I thought that they would have given that to the cat first thing! So I said that I will be there to pick him up on Thursday--she said if he isn't rabid. I know he wasn't and they are just being nasty. I wondered if this was their way of culling down the stray cat population in this area. When you get a stray neutered it is your right to feed him and shelter them the rest of their lives because they will not leave your property--and I just think that is the humane thing to do even if it wasn't the law. I wasn't going to get him fixed and then take him to the Humane Society--that will kill them in 5 days if no one adopts them. I can not nor will ever give an animal to a shelter that kills animals! My daughter volunteered there for about 4 weeks when she was in High School. She saw them euthanize (gas) many a cat and kittens and she just could not handle it. She never went back.
When I went to pick the other cat up they had Buster out there for me to see too. I didn't know at the time that he already had his operation, but only that he was going to be quaranteed. I was so upset and told him that he was very much loved and that I would come visit him as much as I could and that I had no idea that this was going to happen. I was very apologetic about it all and let him know how much I was saddened.
I planed on coming back the next day and told the office that I would see Buster then.
Visitations
I went to visit him on the next day and I was allowed to open his cage and pet him. The second day I went I was not allowed to do anything except talk to him and then I find that he had already been neutered..........which makes me wonder if he didn't bite her as she picked him up and he was still groggy. Thing that doesn't make sense with all this--is why would they use the funds to neuter him if that was just going to be a waste of time for them--to me that is stealing because Spay Today could use that money to get another animal neutered-----IF HE HAD RABIES. The other thing is that they should have given him the rabies shot prior to neutering him or even better when he was drugged before getting the surgery.
The next day It took them awhile to decide whether we could see him or not. We sat in the waiting form for about an hour. Buster was in good shape when we saw him and he recognized both my husband and I. I told Buster that I never expected this to happen to him and if I had I would have never brought him there in the first place. I told him that we would see him in a few more days, and that I could not come back until I picked him up. It was an awful experience for him to go through and me too and VERY unexpected. After talking with him and explaining to him what was going on he began to eat his food. I asked the person who took us back there if he sang for them--she said no but he does growl at them--of course he will--DUH! The blanket that I left for him last a few days prior to this visit was not in his cage either and I asked them what happened to it and no one answered me. I never did get that back. I think they thought that he was rabid because of the the Vets diagnoses (or shall I say mis-information. When she first called me she said that he was feral. He isn't feral and there is a distinct difference between feral and stray. Vet's should know this. If he was feral he wouldn't even be there in the first place! He would --if I did get him there--be in a trap, not in a carrier and not to the point that I could pick him up and love him and cuddle him.
Finally!
I had called everyday the rest of the week to find out about how Buster was doing and if he exhibited any signs of Rabies. They told me that he hadn't and I kept telling them that I would be there to pick him up on the tenth day.
Finally the night before the last day I called them and they said that he had gotten his rabies shot and can be picked up in the morning! Wooo Hooo! I was very happy. I had gone to the ends of the earth to save this cat! He should have never gone through what he did. Never!
I get there in the morning and they have him all ready to go home in his carrier. Oh he cried and howled as we drove home. I pulled into the driveway and stopped, turn the car off and got out. I left him in the car as I made ready the back deck (Nursery!) for his arrival and to let our dog out and my indoor/outdoor cats out. Then I went back and got him out of the car and transported him to the place where he felt at home. After going inside to do some things, I finally opened the door of his carrier. He came out slowly and took a look around. At this point I didn't have to worry about keeping him still so that he wouldn't rip out the area he had his operation on. I sat there on the deck for a few minutes to keep and eye on him and see if he was OK. He went out into the yard and went potty--first thing! After he did his business he came back up on the deck and jumped into my lap and stayed there for a quite awhile. I cuddled him and we were just two of the happiest beings on earth.
He still doesn't sing yet and it has been a few months. He is just now smacking the other cats if they get into his food and he doesn't want to share. He follows me around wherever I go. In the morning he is at the French Doors asking where his breakfast is and wanting to be cuddled. At night before I go inside for the evening, he sits at the door until I tell him Good Night and will see him in the morning. He has his own rug and I will find him sleeping on that in the morning when I go out to feed him and the other cats that I have. He is special though and always gets fed first.
Just to think that just doing the right thing almost ended his precious life. Buster will always have a special place in my heart and in my lap, for truly he is a lap kitty.
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