...cat tales...Tippy's Song

it was a foggy, cold, murky morning in late February...
or maybe early March, about 15 years ago...
kids at my middle school had just started to carry
their stuff around in back packs...so they were still "the thing to have..."

on this sleepy morning, about 8 AM,
a student came into my classroom, his backpack stuffed...
since I wasn't supposed to see this kid until later in the day,
I asked him why he was here...

he set his backpack down gently...
reached inside and pulled out
a small grey kitten, about 4 weeks old...
it's eyes barely open,
wiggling and crying hoarsely ...

"I found it", he said solemnly...
"on my way to school...over by the tracks...
it's mother was dead...hit by a car...
and this little thing was crying in the weeds..."

I took the tiny, cold and squirming grey kitten...
it fit inside my cupped hands...
and as I held it under my chin... trying to warm it...
it calmed down somewhat, but still cried softly...

after sending my kind-hearted student on to class,
I tried to drip some water in the kitten's mouth...
being successful enough to quiet it's hoarse crying...
I vetoed my class's idea to get milk from the cafeteria, though...

I knew it was too young...
and would get very sick from cow's milk...
it wasn't weaned yet and would need KMR,
from a nursing bottle for a couple of weeks...

after my class left...during my "prep" period,
I took the kitten over to my vets'...
they would keep her warm, feed her
and make sure she wasn't sick...
I would pick her up after school...

but when I returned later to pick her up...
things hadn't quite gone as planned...
they had re-hydrated her with
a warm subcutaneous saline injection
and wrapped her in a warm blanket...

then things went crazy...
they had one emergency after another...
all day...postponing feeding the kitten,
because of life-saving measures needed by others...

so she was awake and screaming when I got there...
I carried her wrapped in a towel, held under my chin...
and when I got home, she had quieted a bit...
but when I went in the house with her, things changed...

I set her down for the "others" to sniff...
since they never had ever been mean to kittens...
I wasn't worried as I proceeded to feed the big cats...
I opened a can and spooned it onto their dish...

before they could move, the kitten got a whiff...
threw herself on top of the food and began to lick/gobble...
all the while, growling and slurping...
the older cats just sat and watched with amazement...

when she finally had a tummy the size of a golf ball
and was covered with nasty, wet cat food crumbs...
she waddled away..sated....
and plopped down, burping...

I picked her up and gave her what would become routine...
until she was several weeks older...
a gentle, warm bath and towel dry...
which was followed by a long nap...

her short silver/gray fur has mottles
of creamy orange,
culminating in an orange-y cap
on the tip of her tail...
so I named her "Tippy"...

having come from feral stock...
she has never been a lap cat...
although, in recent years, she would lay
next to my on my bed and loved being petted...
she's happiest sleeping in the sun
in my backyard garden...

old age has been catching up to her...
she's become incontinent ...
and I have to use
puppy training pads in her bed...
changing them several times a day...

on Thursday, I took her to the vet...
she's had lesions in her mouth...
her eye was infected and runny...
and her claws were too long...
[they can get embedded in her paw,
so I have to keep an eye on her...]

she came home Saturday...
wheezing, weak and not interested in food or water...
she had one antibiotic for the eye infection...
plus an ointment...
and a different one [that they HATE the taste of...]
for the new lesion in her mouth...

she refused food and water...
late Saturday, at medicine time, I tried again...
no luck...her chest rattle was bad and she was weak...
so I got an eye dropper and gave her
about 10 dropperfuls of water...

the water loosened the flem and she coughed up stuff,
allowing her to breathe easier...
but still, no food or water on her own...

it hurt me to listen to her struggle for air...
so when it was medicine time again...
she got more droppers of water too...
again, it loosened her flem and she coughed...

so I put her on the dresser, next to the water bowl...
nothing....
offered food....no interest...
so leaving her with her chin resting weakly on the water bowl...
I prayed and asked Jesus to help my good old kitty feel better...

trusting Him, I continued reading my book...
after a time, I heard a noise [other than her labored breathing...]
she was drinking on her own !
I left her there for about 10 minutes...
and she drank several more times...

but no food would she eat...
I tried spoon feeding...hand-feeding [messy and painful...]
she'd spit it out, cough some more, drink more, wheeze a bit...
then she broke for her nest across the room...
making it without any mishaps...
[sometimes, she falls...I've found her in the waste basket...]

she slept all night, with only purr-like wheezing...
that faded to nothing by morning...
I awoke around 7:20 to find her in the waste basket...
she had left her nest to find water/food and "slipped"...

I opened the window to "release" Piglet,
who was calling me names...
then I gave Tippy her medicine...
she gagged on the nasty one and wheeled around,
zipping out the window and tumbling down the ramp to the ground...

since on warm days, "outside" is her default mode...
this would have been OK...
if she wasn't so sick and it wasn't 43 degrees outside...
so I threw on some clothes and went out to get her...

once I had her back in, I gave her a few droppers of water...
and then moved the water to where she lay, wheezing...
it worked ! ...soon, she was drinking on her own...
then coughing several times...hardly any wheezing now...

I applied the ointment to her eyes...then offered food...
her favorite Fancy Feast... I put a bit on my still sore finger,
and made a jab at her mouth....hitting the mark ...
she sort of chewed, drank some water...and sat there...

so again, I prayed...and waited upon the Lord...
I had decided that if she wasn't eating this morning,
drinking on her own, coughing up the junk
and moving around better...
she'd have to go back to the vet...and, perhaps,
the end would have come...

as I sat, reading the Morning Office, I heard a noise...
I looked up and she was eating on her own !
not as lustily as that first time she threw herself on the food,
but taking a few big mouthfuls, on her own...

tears came to my eyes as I thanked God for the progress I saw...
the answer to my prayer
that I wouldn't need to dig another kitty grave...
not just yet, anyway...

I know that her time is short, as it is also for Rob, my 19 year old...
I just want to see her have another warm sunny spring/summer...
lazing in the backyard garden sunshine...
before her final repose in that same garden...
with all those who went before her...