Raves, Rants & Roses

RANT: I don't know how he got there, but I do know that human intervention was involved. He was either injured or dumped like trash on the side of the road or he got lost and was hit by a car. Those are my two best guesses.

Either way, he was left in the boiling sun and 95 degree heat, for God knows how long, before I drove by and saw him at 6 p.m. on June 23.

Common sense tells you that an animal would not be lying out in the sun during the hottest park of the day, in a business area by a main highway. He was by the gas station in front of the Lindale Wal-Mart. A small black cat with brown stripes, in between the kitten and adult stage of his life.

You could tell it was scared, suffering and thirsty, as its mouth was wide open, (cats don't pant like dogs), and nervously looking around. As I was caught in traffic, I was unable to stop, but upon arriving home five minutes later, I immediately called the police, who took my name, number and location of the cat, telling me they would send someone out.

After I hung up the phone, I wondered how many other people drove by and saw that poor defenseless, helpless animal. People who couldn't take a moment out of their busy day to make a positive difference. People who couldn't stop chatting on their cell phone long enough to make a call to help. I also thought of the person ultimately to blame for the cat's condition, who just left it there, in all its misery. To this, I say, "Shame on you; shame on all of you!"

Two hours later, as my husband was leaving for work, I asked him to drive by and make sure the kitten had been taken care of. A few minutes later he showed back up with the injured animal in his arms. By this time I was extremely disappointed with the Lindale Police Department, too, for not responding as they said they would.

I immediately gave the poor thing some water which it lapped up thirstily. I checked him over as best I could without hurting him any more than he was. It was a little male with a blue collar. Very cute little thing. He wasn't whining in pain, but, was bordering on shock from his whole ordeal. I made him a little bed, put out a small bowl of chicken broth, another of dry cat food, and refilled his water several times over the next few hours. I talked to him in a soothing voice, stroked and petted until I heard his small new and grateful purring. Compassion, consideration, humanity ... free to give, and yet, so priceless.

If the guilty are reading this, don't worry, don't let your conscience get in the way - because in the morning, we continued to step up, and take your responsibility upon us, and we took the cat to the vet. I tried not to get my hopes up as I feared the worse. And I was right. His pelvis was broken in several places, so we had to put him to sleep. No more suffering for him, anyway.

But, I was so thankful to have had the chance to make his last few hours more comfortable than when I found him. And, I know he was grateful for it, too.

I wrote this letter for him, because he deserved it. No matter that he was a little cat. We are all God's creatures, great and small. We all deserve a degree of dignity and kindness. Unfortunately, nowadays, you sometimes have to look long, hard and far to find it.

Karen Trussell
Golden