The cat who fought a bus, and won (aw..real heartwarming cat story w/pic)

[LynneSin]

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/life/2005/02/21thecatwhofought.html


This is the story of a brave little stray ... ... that nearly needed nine lives in one day
By CHRISTOPHER YASIEJKO / The News Journal
02/21/2005There on the pavement beneath the bus engine, on the morning of a January day that would reach a high of 24 degrees, Mike Dinsmore saw a frozen puddle of pink.

The bus driver, who had just brought a load of eighth-graders from Tatnall School back from a field trip, thought it was wax. He wondered how it might've gotten there.

Then he noticed red. Not far behind it, he saw a straightened tail pointing toward the ground.

Dinsmore opened the hood. The colors he'd seen now had context: Perched on a metal ledge beside a cluster of belts and fans was a kitten. It was covered in blood, its tongue dangling from the side of its mouth.

The slumbering diesel engine had given the kitten heat. With the turn of a key, it had roared to life and nearly torn the 7-month-old animal to pieces.

Dinsmore, who with his wife had adopted five stray cats and "can't bear to see an animal in pain," sought the help of Dave Wild, a mechanic at Tatnall, to retrieve the kitten.

"We had to yank her to get her out," Wild says. "She was holding on pretty good."

Dinsmore, an operations assistant at the school, carried the kitten to his office and placed it in a cardboard box filled with clean rags. Her left eye was in bad shape. Her neck and left rear leg had been deeply sliced. Dinsmore rushed her to Circle Veterinary Clinic.

A veterinarian said medical costs could reach $1,000. Dinsmore mentioned that to his wife, Carla, as he tearily spoke with her on the phone.

"Do what you think is best," she said.

While in the waiting room at Circle, Dinsmore considered the options: euthanize the ailing kitten, or adopt her. Mike chose to save her.

A doctor sedated the kitten, appraised her injuries, and delivered the news to Dinsmore. "I don't think she'll make it through the night if we keep her."

Luckily, the Veterinary Specialty Center of Delaware was nearby. Dinsmore, 56, of Elsmere, drove the kitten to the emergency room. On the way there, he glanced at the cardboard box. The kitten was lying down, occasionally lifting her head or standing up to reposition herself. The kitten should have a name, Dinsmore thought, but he didn't know its sex. A John Denver song, "Wild Montana Skies," planted itself in Dinsmore's mind. Montana, he thought, is a good, gender-neutral name.


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Awwww....Circle Vet is my kittie's VEt. They have wonderful Doctors there!

[Jamastiene]

1. Awwww

:D I'm so glad the cat won. Cats don't win often enough in my opinion. I'm so glad that people somewhere sometimes have hearts.

[neweurope]

2. Loved that story. It's incredible what cats can take. One of ours was

found one night by my parents when they came home from a party. Somebody hat beaten her across the back and broken her backbone. They rushed her at once to our vet to have her put to death. He was the kind who used matchsticks for splints on our bird's leg and knew how much we kids loved that cat. So he told my parents he could not do anything to help the poor animal - but if they were prepared for some work and mess they might see a miracle; cats, he said, had incredible healing powers.

For one year that cat could only move her head a tiny bit, the rest was totally paralized. After twelve months - I'll never forget, it was on my mother's birthday - she moved the tip of her tail. You can't believe how happy we were! And after that it took only about two months before the cat was on her feet again - like nothing had ever happened.

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Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[ET Awful]

3. What a great story!

And what a great couple of people that would do that for the little furball.

[fudge stripe cookays]

4. Oh...how sweet....

Our old cat Tiger used to do this on my mom's old Chevrolet station wagon. He was so lucky he wasn't hurt like this. She drove with him to work several times!

Fortunately we learned our lesson several years go. Ours are now indoor kitties only.

FSC