Livid

Yesterday at work one of my previous foster kittens came in (Olivia, but due to a clerical error now Eva-we go through a lot of kittens!). The owner wandered in late in the afternoon without an appointment and mentioned that she was having trouble using her leg and placed the kitten on the counter.  The receptionist came back and told us what the owner had said but added that the kitten appeared to be barely able to stand up.  I told her we needed to get her worked in so they set him up with a work-in appointment. 

The history he gave the tech was that they had tried to pull her out from under the bed YESTERDAY by her back legs and she had been limping ever since.  Upon exam I found a kitten almost too painful to touch with an obvious fracture in one leg and possibly in the other.  For their part the owners only seemed mildly concerned that they had inflicted this much pain on their cat and then allowed her to suffer.  I announced we needed to sedate her, start pain meds and take x-rays and left the room fuming. 

X-rays confirmed femoral (the thigh bone) fractures in BOTH hind legs!  How are you so rough with a kitten you break 2 legs?  Upon further examination of her record we noticed they failed to show up for her appointment to get spayed and finish her vaccines about 5 different times.  Keep in mind this is a FREE spay included in the adoption fee. 

We decided to quote them a price we thought they would be unwilling to pay for the repair and offer to take her back into rescue if they wanted.  It worked and she is happily purring away on opiods now waiting to get her legs fixed.  Maybe if they acted a little more like they cared we would have worked more with them-maybe if they had called right away, seemed concerned, worried or remorseful.  Not casually wandering in the NEXT AFTERNOON like a broken leg (which he admitted might be possible) is no big deal.

To make things worse they asked if they could adopt another kitten, or, if we got this one all healed up could they come back and adopt her again.  Seriously?  Lets review the facts.

1.  They broke 2 of this kitten's legs
2.  Failed to bring her in for preventive care
3. Waited until the next day to seek attention for broken legs
4. Let kitten be obviously painful all night
5.  Did not seem worried or concerned
6.  Did not even consider coming up with money to fix the legs they broke
7.  Virtually showed no hesitation in giving her up
8.  And again-BROKE TWO LEGS!

So, that's a NO, on both accounts.  They can get a kitten somewhere else, we put a lot of work into ours.

Tomorrow Eva should be having surgery on one leg and possibly a splint on the other after the doctor that does our orthopedic stuff takes a look at the x-rays to see what she can do.  Eva has been a trooper-purring and wanting attention and even used her litter box!  Also, she looks just like her momma Emmy now that she's a little more grown up.

She will be looking for a new and improved home once she is all healed up-anyone want a special kitten?