Was He There for an Education

An employee from a high school in Glasgow Village, Missouri was about to walk out a classroom door when he heard a sound coming from the ceiling. Thankfully, he didn't ignore it. The school's maintenance man was located and using a ladder, he got access to the air conditioning vent. Much to his surprise it was not a squirrel or bird like he expected to see but rather a 2-week-old kitten. The man who first heard the sound thought immediately, "How in the heck did you get up here?" We'd like to know the same thing.

Of course, we will never get our answer. What makes it even more puzzling is that no one remembers seeing a mother cat on campus. But certainly, the little guy could have not gotten himself into this predicament by himself. What matters is that he was found and after he was safe in a carrier that someone just happened to have, the calls for help started.

Finch, which is what we have named him, arrived Tuesday evening at the home of one of our Foster Care Volunteers. After getting a thorough once over he seemed to be doing okay, which was surprising when we learned he had been in an air conditioner duct. We expected him to be really cold, but his body temperature was close to what it should be.

What our volunteer did find was that Finch had scabs on his back feet and underpart of his body. They appeared to be urine burns that had scalded him. This necessitated a bath to get rid of the urine smell and a trip to the veterinary clinic yesterday. Thankfully, the vet said Finch would be fine and provided some medication to treat the skin.

It's clear that our most recent arrival had benefited from the care of his mother very close to the time he was found. He had been well fed, and it took him no time to figure out what comes out the bottle he was given. This may have been another time when a mother was relocating her babies, and she didn't get back to Finch in time. We will never completely replace her, but we will get pretty darn close as we continue to care for our kitten whose mother must have thought the air conditioning duct was a safe place to keep her babies.