So, since my county doesn't have an animal shelter, my mom resently started a resue group, and I was so excited to start helping animals in need. It wasn't until today that I realized the sad truth. That not every animal will make it. We had gotten a stray kitten that someone had found huddled up in their garage. It is supposed to be cold tonight, so they took it to us so it could get help, as it wouldn't have lasted the night. We talked to them in the yard and I held the kitten, though I thought it was strange that it didn't seem to struggle at all. The kitten was orange with a few faint white stripes. It didn't seem very old, maybe a couple months, as it was pretty small wasn't until we got it inside that we realized how bad its condition was. We tried to put it down in a box (we put it in a large box to keep it away from my dogs so that they wouldn't accidently hurt it more with how small it was) but it couldn't stand. It was paralyzed. It also didnt eat/drink the warm milk mixed with honey that the local vet recommended to try to feed it. After a while it couldn't open its eyes anymore. Its breaths were slowing too. And it was getting weaker by the minute. The vet said to not be suprised if it didn't make it through the night. We were all starting to lose hope. We did everything that the vet recommended, and eventually the cat started to regain some of its strength. It was able to move one of its front paws after few minutes, and eventually could open its eyes again. We were starting to regain hope. Now if we could just get its breathing back to normal, it would have a good chance of surviving. Its breathing didn't get better though. It got increasing worse. Then after a few minutes... we noticed that we couldn't see its breaths anymore. It wasn't breathing. I wasn't sure, and hoped that maybe it was still breathing lightly and that we juat couldn't tell. Then I picked it up. The second that part it picked up off the ground, I knew for sure. It was gone. When I picked it up, I felt the lifeless in its body. I felt that something was missing. Out of desperation that I was wrong, I felt its chest for a heart beat..
Nothing. Nothing. It took a while for that to fully sink in. And im not afraid to say that I cried. A lot. And theres nothing wrong with that.
-Alex
