Cat tale needs a happy ending
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
THREE PLAYFUL, CUDDLY KITTENS owe their health to a Liberty woman and a Niles veterinarian with big hearts, and now two are looking for good homes.
Susan Jensen of Liberty discovered the kittens near her sister's Bazetta farm.
The 10-week-old kittens -- a fluffy white male; and two females, one tortoise shell and one gray and white -- suffered from respiratory problems, fleas, mites, anemia and eye infections.
Fell in love
Jensen fell in love with the kittens, but she couldn't adopt them because with two dogs, a horse, five cats, goldfish and three African frogs, she's at pet capacity.
She recently brought home a kitten that she rescued from a burn pile at the farm, and she helped find homes for 10 more kittens she found.
"People just think they can drop off cats in a rural area," Jensen said. "It just creates problems for the people who live there. The cats might make it, but the kittens won't."
Jensen called around to different area veterinarians for help, but no one wanted to chip in, she said.
"One vet's office said they'd put them to sleep and not charge me," she said.
Finally found help
Then she called Dr. Sukhbir Singh at the Animal Medical Care Center and Cat Hospital, U.S. Route 422.
"She was trying to help out and no one seemed to understand her feelings or what she wanted to do," Dr. Singh said.
He donated medicine, care and boarding for the cats.
One of the cats, the fluffy white male, suffered from the most severe problems. He had mucus seeping from his nose, and Jensen wasn't sure he'd survive. All of them were skinny with low energy when Jensen brought them to the cat hospital Sept. 4.
On Thursday, all three were bouncing around a room at the hospital, tumbling over one another and playing with cords, straps or anything else they could get their paws on.
"I don't think they would have made it if they hadn't been treated," Dr. Singh said.
Tests on the cats for feline AIDS or leukemia came back negative.
"They look so much better now," Jensen said. "This one has such a personality," she said, referring to the white male.
The male has been adopted, but the others are available to good homes for $30 each, which will be used to recoup some of the medical expenses. Jensen also wants to use the money to help a friend, whose husband is laid off from work, spay her cat.
Dr. Singh pointed to the nurses who work in his office, Michelle Urso, Melissa Flask and Suzan Seem, as contributors to the kittens' improved health.
Jensen stressed that other kittens roaming around her sister's Bazetta farm also can be taken to good homes. She's hoping someone will help her trap some of the wild cats in the area so they may be taken to be spayed or neutered to cut down on the number of homeless cats.
Jensen may be reached at (330) 539-1558 or 539-6589. The Animal Medical Care Center and Cat Hospital may be reached at 652-0400.