Photo by Angela Kirk

Doc misunderstood what I wanted when I started whining right after we got to work. It was only 6:15am and she thought I needed to go outside to use the bathroom. What I really wanted to do was   find out where that crying noise was coming from outside. Doc couldn’t hear it inside the building but I could and I knew whatever was making that noise was clearly in distress.

As soon as she opened that back door we both heard it. “Meow, meow, meow!” It was loud, constant and sounded like a baby.”  ” Is that a kitten crying? ” she asked one of her coworkers. “Yes, he said and look, its chasing Grover!” When we turned around we saw a little black kitten running across the parking lot toward us. Now I have to admit, even kittens make me a little nervous because they hiss and chase me, but even I knew that this baby needed help. Just as Doc reached down to grab it, it ran and hid under a car. It was still dark out and you know how hard it is to find a black kitten in the dark.

As more people showed up for work we tried working as a team but to no avail. That little sucker was too fast. But you know Doc, she was not about to give up. Finally one of the patients saw us and came to help. While I stayed on one side of the car showing the humans where the kitten was our helper got underneath the car with a flashlight. As the kitten moved toward me, he grabbed it. Success!

Luckily Doc still had my old dog crate inside the office, so we put kitty in there for the day. Doc then called the Vet and made an appointment for later in the day. Let me tell you that little kitten was the star of the day and everyone pitched in to care for him Using my therapy dog skills, my job was to lay by the crate because that was the only thing that would stop him from crying.

The next morning we got good news from the veterinarian. All the testing showed he was healthy but only weighed 2 pounds, poor skinny thing. After giving it some thought I told Doc that kitten made me nervous and that I didn’t want him to live with us. Luckily Doc said she knew a co-worker that wanted to adopt him.

So this story has a happy ending. Kitten went to live with his new family on Saturday night and he is loved and taken care of. What makes me sad is to think of all the other animals that are either lost or abandoned and never found. So here’s my speech, please neuter and spay.

Before kitty went to his new home I saw Doc look him in the eye and say, ” Every living thing deserves to feel safe and loved and you are going to a wonderful forever home.” Too bad that’s not always the case I thought.