Benefactor Needed

Trauma tonight. To the tone of, so far, $80 bucks. Here's what happened:

I was cutting though the alley way in the back of a supermarket on the way to pick Els up from my grandmother's house when I spotted an itty bitty kitten in the road. He lifted his head as I rolled past and I swear he made eye contact and screamed, yes, screamed at me.

I stopped the car and hopped out. It was starting to rain, and I figured even if the little guy wasn't hurt, I couldn't just leave a baby kitty there in the middle of the road. I jumped out of my car and moved toward him. I could not see anything wrong, and I called him to me. He stood up, took one step, and fell over. I went to him, lifted him and saw he had blood everywhere on his back end and one of his legs was twisted so that the foot faced a different direction than the feet on all of his other legs. I panicked. I put him on my coat in the car and drove frantically to my Grandma's.

So what is the right thing to do here? I have already been told I am an idiot for the series of choices I made at this point, but really, what could I do? Leave a suffering animal in the road? Run him over the rest of the way? Uh hu, I know a few males might be nodding at that, but I wouldn't do that!

It was nearly 5pm so I knew animal shelters were out and I don't think they can do emergency medical care anyway, and my only thought was to get the little guy out of pain ASAP. He was panting hard and "mewing" in pain. I mean literally crying.

There is only one emergency vet clinic I could find in the area online at my grandma's, and it didn't open till 6. I could not think of making him suffer for another hour. So I called every imaginable vet (I had been on the phone talking to Paul about something...I should call him back maybe, and see if it was important, I can't remember at all what it was, anyway, he was on his phone searching for a vet at my request too) and found ONE clinic that still had a vet there.

I rushed to the vet, with Elsa in tow, and I explained the concept of "put to sleep" to her. She railed against this, and she did not accept my assurance that sometimes that was the very nicest thing to do for a hurt animal.

The vet looked the kitten over, with Elsa leaning over him asking every two minutes if we had to "kill him. Dr. Dave, as he told me to call him, well just Dave actually, said the leg looked broken (it was backward on his body, do you need to be a vet to figure out it's broken?) and other than that, because of the blood he said was coming from the anus, there could be internal bleeding, plus his temp was really low, which could mean bleeding or could be from shock. Anyway, he said he couldn't really say until he had treated him for shock and then tomorrow could evaluate better.

So my options were laid out. Put the cat to sleep, that may well belong to someone else, although I don't know how to find that someone. Or, pay to get the cat some pain meds, and meds for shock, and for the vet to watch him for the night.

I went with option B.

Here is the problem. If the stinkin cat is messed up internally, I am out the $80 from tonight plus I am responsible for the process of putting him down. If he's not messed up internally, then his leg needs pins. Appearantly kittens with broken legs need pins. And this cost...he didn't quote price...alot.

I can't have a cat. Especially not one recovering from surgery. I have a small apartment and a dog (to whom I will be getting in another post. STUPID DOG!) so I don't have room for a cat, I am not allowed to have a cat, I don't want a cat, if I were to get a cat it would be Lolita anyway, and anyway, the dog would further injur that cat.

But I also can't put a cat down for having a broken leg. I can't, I can't, I can't. And that $80 put a hole in my carefully managed budget for the rest of the month anyway. I just can't budget for a giant vet bill for a stray cat.

Ok. Tell me what an idiot I am, and then tell me what to do. Seriously, does anyone know of pet organizations that help in these situations? OR charitable vets? Or have a rich uncle who has been meaning to get a crippled kitten for himself? Or have knowledge of what animal shelters do?

I am going to call Lost Paws tomorrow and see if it is the sort of charity case that they take on or if they can refer me to any sort of animal charity. I know there is a pet over population and that perfectly healthy cats are euthanized every day. But he looked at me, right at ME, and cried out. I swear he did.

I am also going to post a sign at the supermarket I was near when I found the thing. It's a long shot, but maybe the owner will turn up. I don't want to be the one to make the call. And if anyone knows someone in PG missing a kitten, have them call me.