Stormie - Fall 2017

Stormie Survives the Storm Drains

ADOPTED Oct. 5, 2017
 Doing great with 2 little girls loving her every day!!! Lives with a very nice family & well loved!!!

 

Stormie’s Story

After 3 days of being on a stake out at the Lowe’s in Waxhaw, I (Terry) just rescued a kitten!  Kerri Pyne called me about a little black kitten that had been hit by a car on Hwy. 16 right in front of Lowe’s. I quickly grabbed all my gear & rushed right over.  It was 10 pm & we saw the kitten near the garden center of Lowes, but it was obviously hurt. It was still able to run from us and I was finally able to sneak up on it.  Kerri kept an eye on it in the bushes as it seemed to just collapse.  I got within a few feet of it with a bowl of tuna, but just when I was about to make my move, it ran again & unfortunately jumped down into a storm drain … that’s bad.

The tunnel system connecting those storm drains is never ending, and being injured (appeared to be hind leg), it probably would not be able to get out. I went home & got a kitten trap. Then I asked two guys from the Wal-Mart Foods to help me get the heavy grate off of the drain where the kitten went down (Lowe’s was already closed by now). After 3 days of baiting 2 traps in storm drains, I finally got “her”!!!

THANKS so much to my friend Donna Yankaglu for bringing me a 2nd trap & helping me keep watch.  Thanks so much to Kerri for calling me to help and for also spending her time helping keep watch. Kerri was the one little enough to climb down into the storm drains & look through the tunnels, although she never saw the kitten (being black probably didn’t help!) When she went into the trap just about an hour ago, she was so hungry that she ate all the tuna on the piece of cardboard in the trap AND she ate the cardboard as well – every scrap of it!  That poor injured starving baby!!! She’s pretty wild and I had to scruff her good (while she was trying to bite me) to get the flea stuff on her, but after I had given her 2 cans of kitten Fancy Feast, I was able to gain her trust a little bit & gently stroke her.  She also responded to my voice & blinking eyes.

She will go straight to Dr. Moses tomorrow for her expert vet care.  I think I’ll call her “Stormie” since I have spent the last 3 days and nights down in storm drains! I am so grateful that God answered our prayers to save her.  The rain is coming this weekend and I was afraid she would drown.

Update – Oct. 23, 2017
Dr. Moses, the FURR vet, helped me take care of her and put her hing leg in a sling for 10 days to see if it would stay in place.  Unfortunately, when the bandage came off, the hip slipped right back out of joint. Dr. Moses said that STORMIE would need surgery on the leg, but that she would like to refer me to an orthopedic surgeon.  I was definitely wanting to do whatever was needed for this kitten, but cost was definitely a concern.  Dr. Moses called a surgeon (that normally does NOT work with rescue groups at all) and she asked him to help us.  Thanks to Dr. Moses, the surgeon agreed to help us and discounted a regularly priced dislocated hip surgery from $2,800 to $1,000. We are so grateful to Dr Moses AND to the surgeon that helped us, but still, for FURR $1,000 was a huge amount.  We certainly did appreciate having that $450 from the yard sale, but now we are pretty much broke again!

Would you like to donate towards STORMIE’s surgery and help FURR recover from the cost?  Click on ‘Donate’ on the right – it’s fast and secure! Thanks!

The surgery went without a hitch!  STORMIE was the best patient. 
She stayed in her cage after surgery (AND getting spayed) and she was so patient.  Today (Oct. 23, 2017) was her day of freedom!  She zipped out of her cage and ran around just fine!  She uses her leg some of the time, but that will get better.  Her injured leg is a teeny shorter than her other leg, but, HELLO!!!  She has a leg!!!
We just love STORMIE!  I’m so happy she was rescued!  Thanks again to Kerri Pyne and Donna Yankaglu for helping me on some of the stakeouts!  It was well worth it!


For adoption information
or to schedule a visit to the FURR lodge to meet them please email Terry at adoptafurrcat@gmail.com.

Learn how to adopt this kitty! FURR adopts to approved homes only in the Charlotte and surrounding area!

If you are not ready to adopt a kitty, please consider fostering or sponsoring. All donations are tax deductible.

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