An Update, and New Beginnings

The conclusion of the little black kitty story.   I did manage to gather her up yesterday, and decided to see one more time if keeping her with me and Halle might be a workable plan.    Inside the apartment, even not in the vicinity of Halle, she just would shake in my arms.  If I put her down, she would run to the door and cry to be let out.

I have, besides checking with neighbors, the office, and looking for flyers, been checking the lost and found ads in the paper for the time since I first saw her, with no luck.

I realized again yesterday evening that her best chance was the shelter.   There is going to be an adjustment period for her no matter where she lives, except outside, and outside there are just too many dangers for her.  Additionally we do have a leash law that includes cats, so if the animal control people see her or are called they would take her to the shelter also.

After we arrived at  the shelter, a really nice young man checked her in, and took her back to the vet area.  As he carried her back, he said to her, "let's go get some food and water for you".   I have had enough experience with the shelter here to know that they will truly make sure that she's healthy, treat her for any conditions that she has (like bad ears), and try to adopt her out.   If she hadn't been declawed, my decision might have been different, I don't know.

For now, I believe it was the best thing for her, and the thing that gives her the best chance.

So let's chat more of the adventures in living where I do, in the city, but where there is quite a bit of wildlife.  Last summer I was walking on a path that goes from the river back into a neighborhood.  Two people on bicycles passed me, then stopped turned around and went the other way.  It seemed odd.

A young woman runner then stopped me and said that there was a 'sick' raccoon up on the path, and that she was concerned that it had rabies.   So this is about 10 a.m., and there's a raccoon hanging out in broad daylight on a paved path?   Talk about odd.  So I walked with her up to where the coon was, and as we approached, it started walking, in a very wobbly way, toward us, indeed odd.

In fact I suggested we back up because I wasn't sure what it was planning on doing.  It looked quite ill, not like it was someone's pet coon and lost.

So began a long saga, of trying to get someone to come deal with the coon.  We were uncomfortable having people ride, jog, walk by it.  Especially since many people walk their dogs, some off leash, and many people walk with small children.   I was concerned someone would walk up to it and try to pet it, if we just left, or let people go by without telling them.

The young woman suggested that we get it to follow us (not a problem) down to a space where the path takes a Y, and so people could easily be diverted around it.  I started calling trying to find someone to come get it.  Based on my knowledge (limited, yes) I wasn't sure that it didn't have rabies either.

I called the city, I called a local vet, I called the city again, called police dispatch, called the vet's office (used to be one I used), and asked the phone answerer to ask the vet if these symptoms sounded serious, or like rabies, and if so, would they please call  Animal Control, or the police and tell them, with the credentials that they have (and I didn't) that this was a serious public health issue.

The young woman had to leave, in the meantime, a young man jogger had stopped, and stayed with me for the better part of an hour while we waited and hung out with the coon.   The coon had moved from one path to another on the edge of a densely wooded area.   He then moved off the path and down into the brush a bit.  At this point he was clearly having seizures.

Then the young man needed to leave.   The coon had previously gone into the brushy area and back out on the path, so I wasn't confident that he was going to stay gone.  Additionally, since I'd called the police/animal control initially, I felt it important to stay until someone arrived.  I had been told about 45 minutes earlier that they were 'on the way'.

I am not a gun person, but if I'd had one, I would have shot it.

Finally animal control appeared, and there was no sign of the coon.  The animal control officer was reluctant to go down into the 'tick infested' brushy area to look for the coon.  He said if it was having seizures it was probably quite close to death.   He also said that he had taken so long to get there because the call had been coded by the dispatch person as a 'loose dog in neighborhood' not as a sick, maybe rabid raccoon on a public and well traveled path.   Once he read the notes with the call, he saw that it was not a 'dog call', and came quickly at that point (an hour later).

In my repeated calls to the dispatch person, she became increasingly rude to me.  Each time I called, I apologized, and again expressed my concern.   Did she think I was a nut job who just liked to call and pretend there was a potentially rabid animal hanging around?

The animal control officer, and later another friend who is a vet, stated that visually there is no difference in the symptoms of rabies, and the symptoms of distemper.   I also looked this up on our friend the internet, and that is what I was able to find also.   Both explained that the only way to know positively that it is one or the other is to have the deceased animal's head tested by the state health department.  The animal control person said that for some reason the state health department seems reluctant to do so, so even if he'd arrived and been able to take the raccoon away, it probably would not have been tested for rabies.   He also explained that there had been somewhat of a  in raccoon distemper epidemic in that area (park and neighborhood), and that the areas of disease wax and wane, and move around the city.

I also checked as to whether distemper in raccoons can be transmitted to other animals, and it can be to dogs.
With the current economy in particular, and just with my knowledge of people's actions in general regarding pets, I am fairly sure that there are a number of dogs both living in the area, and that people walk that are not vaccinated against distemper.   So again, I felt that this was a public health issue.

I contacted the local newspaper, and two television stations with my information, plus my short video, asking that they do a story on the subject, along with the crucial importance of vaccinating one's pets, not allowing one's dogs off leash,  making sure that one's children know not to approach strange animals, and that if they're too young to follow the instructions, that they be in a stroller or in hand.

None of the media outlets followed through.

So once again I'm left with the lyrics of a country song repeating in my head:   "God is great, beer is good, and (some) people are crazy".