A Voice That Could Not Be Silenced

Pumpkin seemed like an appropriate name to give to a kitten that came into the care of SNUGGLE Pet Rescue on October 1st. Born approximately 2 weeks ago in a rural part of Caseyville, Illinois, he and his two siblings were living in an abandoned car slowly rusting away in a field.

When their mother disappeared, the only kitten that survived losing their food source and protector was Pumpkin. The elderly couple who lived on the property next to the field suddenly started hearing on Tuesday, what sounded like a frantic kitten meowing. Unable to track down the sound themselves, they contacted their daughter. Thankfully, it did not take long after she arrived to locate the 3 kittens. She was heartbroken they had not been found in time to have 3 alive kittens to figure out what to do with next. Realizing the urgency in getting the lone survivor some help she reached out to SNUGGLE Pet Rescue.

This story is like others we have shared where cats are dumped in rural areas. If you are someone who loves animals it's hard to turn your back on a cat that shows up unexpectedly at your country home, skinny, filthy and maybe even sick or injured. You know the kind thing to do is offer them some food and water, but what happens when more cats keep showing up to eat and you don't have the money to feed the ever-increasing number of strays.

That is the situation this elderly couple finds themselves in. They are living only on Social Security, and the cost of cat food is starting to take too large a portion of their monthly income. Of course, they could just stop feeding the cats but it's equally hard knowing how hungry the cats are and that you have just taken away their only reliable food source.

The couple's daughter did reach out to a local TNR group recently and was told there was at least a 2 month wait until they could add her to the ever-growing list of locations where cats needed to be trapped. In that time more kittens will undoubtedly be born. So, how do you get ahead of this predicament?

What this family has decided to do is purchase their own cat trap and the son is going to try and capture as many of the cats on his parent's property as possible. He has never done this before, so we gave him the link to our website with information on Humane Cat Trapping, which is: https://www.snugglepetrescue.org/humane-cat-trapping.

The family is still on the list to eventually have the TNR group come out, but they are hoping in the meantime to at least get some of the cats trapped, spayed/neutered and returned. There is also the possibility, which they are trying to come to terms with, that some of the cats may need to be humanely euthanized. Hopefully, this is one situation where the efforts will eventually lead to a very manageable community of cats that the couple will be able to afford to feed.

For now, there is one less feline in that group. When weighed yesterday, Pumpkin was 8.1 ounces, which means his mother was doing an excellent job of feeding him, partly due to the food she was being provided every day. Our only concern at this time is that something has happened to Pumpkin's tail. It has in some way been injured and it's now swollen. This was first discovered by the daughter when she gave Pumpkin a bath. She had no choice because he had that nauseating smell of death on his orange fur. Pumpkin is going to the vet today so we can find out what needs to be done to bring down the swelling and prevent an infection. There is the possibility he may end up losing the last inch of his tail, but we will know for sure after he is examined by our vet.

Apart from attending to Pumpkin's physical needs there is something else that we wish we could do for him. We don't know how long he was in that car meowing, but it was long enough for him to almost completely lose his voice. He is now hoarse, and we know his throat is sore. Pumpkin did not give up though. He kept crying for help and maybe for a while his siblings were meowing right along with him, but even after they became silent, he continued to cry for his mother. We can't bring Pumpkin's mother back but we sure as heck can continue to care and love him which is what she would have wanted.