Wild Puddy-Tat Rescue
Ruth and I were reading in our front room. We heard what sounded like a kitten screaming out in front of the house. We went out and looked everywhere but couldn’t find anything. Later, Ruth saw a kitten poke its head out from around the front tire of my Prius. She set out a dish of milk. Later, it came out, lapped up some of it, and went back under the car. We thought it would run off. The next morning, I had planned to jump-start the electrical system of my car and take it into the Toyota dealer. I succeeded, and as I was about to close the hood and drive off, I heard the kitten somewhere under the car. It was obviously a small feral kitten that had been abandoned by its mother. What to do? At first, I thought that if I took off it would just jump out and escape. Then I thought this might result in a mashed kitten.
About that time, one of our neighbors was walking her dog and I called her over to listen. She heard it and immediately called Maintenance for help. Soon we had two guys from maintenance trying to figure out how to capture the cat. I turned off the electrical system so the charging motor wouldn’t automatically start and possibly injure it. The maintenance guys tried several times to crawl under the car to reach the cat, but they were unsuccessful. We then began to think of other ways to get it. The first idea was to call a tow truck to lift up the front of the car, but that would take too long. Spraying the engine with a hose might work but could damage the car. Finally, one of the maintenance guys thought of using a leaf blower. They got one, and it worked! After a couple of blasts of air, the kitten scampered back to the rear of the car and jumped up on one of the rear axles. With gloves on, one of the maintenance guys was able to reach under the car and grab it. We estimate it was six weeks of age. It was visibly shivering in fear.
The question was: what to do with it? Our neighbor ran home, brought back a small cage, and indicated she was going to adopt it. A great solution, but both her cat and dog didn’t agree. She found another neighborhood couple who were interested in having a cat. They adopted it, have gotten it all the necessary shots, and are gradually domesticating it. The kitten also has a name — Pumpkin!
