A mama cat, her two newborn kittens and a foster kitty orphaned by Hurricane Gustav have a new home: Best Friends’ CatWorld.
Rapid Responders Ethan Gurney and Jeff Popowich left New Orleans with the cat family on Sunday, September 7, heading for the sanctuary.
Also traveling from Louisiana to Utah with Ethan and Jeff are Napolean, a dachshund with a cranial fracture, and Rose, a pit bull with severe heartworm disease and hookworms.
Napoleon, who’d been hit by a car and picked up off the street by local rescuer Tanya O'Reiley, will need long-term care because of his head injury, says Patty Hegwood, animal care director with Best Friends, who has been in the field in New Orleans. At the Metairie Small Animal Hospital, Napolean was given emergency care.
Another dog in the refugee group headed for the sanctuary is Rose, a stray pit bull named after the veterinary hospital and doctor who treated her. Rose was found eating garbage on the street.
The team got her to the shelter just in time. “She was crashing,” Patty says. “If we hadn’t gotten her that night, she wouldn’t have made it. She was loaded with heartworm and hookworms. She has extreme medical issues.”
Josephine, the mother cat, who’d recently had a litter of three, was rescued from a New Orleans yard, and her kittens were found nearby on a sidewalk. The owners, who were at home but in the process of leaving their home until electricity could be restored to the area, surrendered the cat and kittens to the rescue team.
The team rushed them to the Jefferson Parish East Bank shelter, from where the Best Friends rescue team has been based. But Little Gustav, the weakest of the kittens, didn’t make it.
“The mother was in pretty bad shape,” Patty says. “She had a 105.5 temperature. She was panting and couldn’t cool down. She was really having a difficult time. She was freaked out, and one of her babies didn’t do well.”
To lower Josephine’s temperature, Patty fashioned a bed from ice packs and a towel. “She absolutely loved that,” Patty says. “She would nurse her kittens and then, afterward, get onto her ice-pack bed,” which was out of reach of her kittens.
Across town the same afternoon, an animal control officer received a call about a tiny kitten found in a neighborhood. The kitten, a newborn named Rudy, was also taken to the shelter. He mewed and cried out of hunger, so the team placed Rudy -- who coincidentally is black and white like the other two -- in the kennel with Josephine and her surviving kittens, called Hannah and Ike. To everyone’s relief, Josephine accepted the kitty, and Rudy started nursing.
“The mama cat has been a doll,” Patty says. “She’s a young mom who found herself in a bad spot. It looks like she’s going to be okay and will continue nursing.”
The new Best Friends residents – Josephine, Ike, Hannah, Rudy, Napolean and Rose -- are expected to arrive at the sanctuary in a couple of days.
Until then, they’re in capable hands. “Ethan and Jeff (a veterinary technician) are taking good care of them in an air-conditioned vehicle,” Patty says.
Story by Cathy Scott
Pictured, Rudy, the kitten, with volunteer Nikki Morris; Napolean, the doxie, being treated; and mama Josephine and her newborns.
Photos by Molly Wald.
Check out our Rapid Response web page for more info on Best Friends preparations for the hurricane season.
Donate to help the animals when disaster strikes.
