sad animal stories

a sad kitten story by christopher L. bennet

A little while ago, I decided to walk over to the local organic foods store to restock on chips, and when I got there, I saw there were a couple of people evidently playing with a kitten in the corner of the parking lot.  Once I got closer, though, I saw they weren’t playing.  The little orange tabby had broken its leg and was weak and struggling.  A young woman — whom I later learned was Nadia, an employee of the food store — was trying to give it water from an eyedropper and get it to eat something.  She told me she’d called the SPCA but didn’t know when they’d come.  I told her where the nearby animal hospital was, but she didn’t have a car.  I regretted that I’d walked there instead of driving.

But after a bit, once it became clear there were no other options, I told Nadia I’d jog back home, get a cardboard box,  drive back to the store, and take the kitten to the vet.  I did this, though I was slowed down a bit when I went right to the car and forgot about the box, so I had to re-park and go get one.

By the time I got back to the store, though, that corner of the lot was empty.  I got out and looked around, and another store clerk recognized what I was looking for.  He had the kitten in a box and told me he was fairly sure it was dead.  I took a look at it and couldn’t get any response or feel any breathing or pulse.  I was too late.  Although given how quickly the kitten passed, I would’ve still been too late even if I’d had my car there in the first place.

The clerks were wondering what to do with the body, and I told them they should call animal control or the sanitation department or somebody.  Which reminded me I needed to wash my hands, which they let me do in the store’s washroom.   But when I checked in with them after I did my shopping, the male clerk told me that the kitten’s owner had shown up and claimed the remains.  I didn’t get the whole story, but they’d left the kitten somewhere while going to the nearby Starbuck’s.  I don’t want to rush to judgment without knowing the whole story, but I have to wonder where they would leave a kitten that would end up with it lying in a parking lot with a fatal injury.

Well, best not to dwell on that.  They have a loss to deal with now, a loss I can sympathize with all too well.  I’ve lost too many cats lately, too many in my lifetime, and I was hoping I could help this one.  But by the time I got there, it was already too late.  At least the kitten wasn’t alone at the end.
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