| Chicken Soup | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| For the Love's in my Life | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hi, I'm Linda Originally from Maryland. I moved to Florida and this is where I found the love's in my life. This home page is my first,so I will be adding and changing it. I wanted a page that reflected me and what's important in my life. As you can see it's my family and my cat's. This first story was taken from the book called Chicken soup.
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| A MOTHER'S LOVE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This was Friday. We'd responded to an early morning alarm at a burning garage. As I was getting my gear on, I could heard the sound of cats crying. I couldn't stop,I would have to look for the cats after the fire was put out. This was a large fire, so there were other hook and ladder companies there as well. We had been told that everyone in the building had made it out safely. I sure hoped so, the entire garage was filled with flames and it would have been futile for anyone to attempt a rescue anyway. It took a long time to bring this enormous blaze under control. At this point I was free to investigate the cat noises, which I still heard. There continued to be a tremendous amout of smoke and intense heat coming from the building. I couldn't see much, but followed the meowing to a spot on the sidewalk about five feet away from the front of the garage. There, crying and huddled together were three little kittens. Then I found two more, one in the street and one across the street. They must have been in the building, as their fur was badly singed. I yelled for a box and out of the crowd around me, one appeard. Putting the five kittens in the box, I carried them to a porch of a neighboring house. I started looking for a mother cat. It was obvious that the mother had gone into the burning garage and carried each of her babies, one by one, out to the sidewalk. Five separate trips into the raging heat and deadly smoke-it was hard to imagine. Then she had attempted to get them across the street away from the building. Again one at a time. But she hadn't been able to finish the job. What had happened to her? A cop told me he had seen a cat go inside a vacant lot near where I found the last two kittins. She was there,lying down and crying. She was horribly burnt. Her eyes were blistered shut, her paws were blackened and her fur was singed all over her body. In some places you could see her reddened skin showing through the burned fur. She was to weak to move anymore. I went over to her slowly, talking gently as I approached. I figured that she was a wild cat and I didn't want to alarm her. When I picked her up, she cried out in pain but she didn't struggle. The poor animal reeked of burnt fur and flesh. She gave me a look of utter exhaustion and then relaxed in my arms as much as her pain would allow. Sensing her trust in me I felt my throat tighten and the tears in my eyes. I was determined to save this brave little cat and her family. I put the cat in the box with the mewing kittens. Even in her pathetic condition, the blinding mother circled in the box and touched each kitten with her nose, one by one, to make sure they were there and all safe. She was content, in spite of her pain, now that she was sure the kittens were all accounted for. There cats obviously needed immediate medical attention. I called to alert the Animal League that I was on my way with a badly burnt cat and her kittens. Waiting for me in the parking lot was two teams of vets and technicians. They whisked the cats into a treatment room-mother on a table with one vet team and the kittens on another table with the second team. I didn't have much hope that the cats would survive but somehow I couldn't leave them. After a long wait the vet told me they would observe the kittens and their mother overnight but they weren't very optimistic about the mother's chances of survival. I returned the next day and waited and waited. I was about to completely give up hope when the vet came over to me. He told me the good news-the kittens will survive. "And the mother?" I ask. I was afaird to hear his reply. It was still to early to know. I came back every day but each day was the same thing: they just didn't know. About a week after the fire, I arrived at the shelter in a bleak mood, thinking, surely if the mother cat was going to make it she'd have come around by now. How much longer could she hover between life and death? But when I walked in the door, the vet greeted me with a big smile and gave me the thumbs up sign! Not only was she going to be all right-in time she would be able to see again! Now that she was going to live, she needed a name. One of the techs came up with the name Scarlett, because of her reddened skin. Knowing what Scarlett had endured for her kittens, it melted my heart to see her united with them. And what did mama cat do first? Another head count! She touched each of her kittens again, nose to nose to be sure they were all safe and sound. She had risked her life, not once but five times-and it had paied off. All of her babies had survived. As a fire fighter, I see heroism every day. But what Scarlett showed me that day was the height of heroism- the kind of bravery that comes only from, A MOTHER'S LOVE. By David Giannelli | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Love's in My Life | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hello from sunny Sarasota Florida. Land of plesant living so they say. But in my time on this earth, I've never seen so many stray cats.I have seventeen of my own "all strays!" | My dedication came slowly, I never liked cats much. I don't know who hung the sign out on my front door that only cats could read saying-please come in and make yourself comfortable. They crept into my heart and my heart they have. People think stray cats can take care of themselves, NOT TRUE. When left on their own the get infested with all kinds of decease, like ear mites, infections and AIDS. Yes AIDS, Papa was one of stray's I found at work and brought home. He was not like the rest of the cats. He didn't play or run but I thought he was an old cat, not knowing even old cats play. As months went by Papa stoped eating and became extremely dehydrated. I read on one of the home pages where you can give your cat Pedialyte for dehydration. I took him to the vet's and found out Papa had aids. So far advanced the machine couldn't record the true reading. Doc gave him a shot and for a while he bounced back. But in a few days it came back, he was so weak, he fell when trying to walk to the litter box. He couldn't stand to get a drink of water, I had to hold his depleted little body to steady him. I knew it was time for me to let him go. I didn't want to, God knows I didn't want to let him go. I miss you Papa boy and you will always be one of the love's in my life.
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