So This Is What Wrath Feels Like
Aug. 26th, 2011 06:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyspriteAs some of you may remember, I have a brain-damaged kitten. Said kitten was also doing remarkably well, all things considered. She was weaned onto solid food, she was growing and playing and learning how to irritate the heck out of my senior cat, she was overcoming most of her developmental obstacles, with one exception - she wouldn't learn how to use the litterbox.
I tried everything I could think of, and ultimately called another veterinarian who specialized in treating behavioral disorders. And the one thing we thought of that we hadn't tried was putting her to socialize with another litter of kittens - maybe seeing other age-mates use the box might get her to learn by following. And it turned out that one of the techs I work with at one particular clinic is a volunteer kitten raiser for a local rescue group, and had a litter of babies. And she agreed to take my kitten for a little while, to see if this idea would work.
And so began Moxie's trip to boarding school. That was about a week and a half ago. We called to check on her a few days in, and were told that she was doing well - playful, eating, not quite sure what to do with the other kittens, but overall fine. And then... nothing. We tried to call the tech a couple of times, but got no answer.
Today I was working at said clinic. I started to worry when the office manager greeted me with condolences on the poor, sad, sickly baby I had taken on, and then proceeded to tell me how upsetting it was that the kitten couldn't track with her eyes, wouldn't look at anyone, and just lay there all the time while she was in the hospital, and how they had all been concerned that she was blind. I explained, a bit shocked, that she had not been anything like that when I left her, and she responded with a careful facial expression that made it clear she thought I was deeply in denial.
(And for the record, I am ripshit mad that, when the kitten at the clinic did not match my description, health-wise, NO ONE there thought to call and tell me - apparently the opinion of the entire staff was that I must have just been exaggerating about how good she was, and was in denial about her state.)
I called the foster mom, and didn't get an answer, but an hour or so later she ran in, dropped off the kitten, and ran out again. And I nearly burst into tears.
My poor baby. When I dropped her off, she weighed almost 2 pounds. She's now down to 1lb 3oz. She is too weak to walk, and can barely stand for a minute or two, before shaking and falling. She's lethargic, minimally responsive, and, unless prodded, just lies on her side in the corner.
She's filthy - her fur is stained yellow and clumped, and her skin is red and raw. The tech assured me that she was bathing her every day, but... evidence goes against that claim.
When I suggested to the rest of the staff that I was concerned about malnutrition, they refused to believe me, and kept insisting that she had a degenerative neurological disease. I mentioned that it was awfully coincidental that the degeneration didn't start until I had let her out of my sight. But... I was willing to give the foster house the benefit of the doubt.
That was until I went to put her back in her carrier to take her home. The same carrier that the tech had brought her in that morning. And I found the bowl of food in there. Specifically, the bowl of rotten dried-up food, with two different kinds of mold growing on it.
I have no more words.
My kitten nearly starved to death. I can't, at this point, guarantee she's going to make it. I've been feeding her every couple of hours, and I've got her back on the bottle just to try to rehydrate her and get some extra bonus nutrition in, but she's pretty far gone. And even if we do get her re-nourished... she's still developing, and God only knows what this episode of malnutrition did to her already-inferior brain.
I'm willing to cut the foster mom a LITTLE slack - Moxie *is* a special-needs baby, and you can't just throw a bowl of food in with her and expect her to eat whenever she feels like it, like a normal kitten - she needs to be placed near the food, and watched to make sure she eats. Maybe we didn't make that clear enough to her. But still. She should have noticed. She should have recognized that she wasn't eating. Hell, she should have recognized that she wasn't MOVING. She should have recognized that she was losing weight, and going downhill. Someone should have called me.
I should never have let her out of my sight. She's nearly dead, and it's partly my fault. And even if she makes it, she spent a week suffering and starving, and I can't get that out of my head.
Please, if anyone has any positive energy to spare, I'd appreciate if you sent it towards a particular troubled, sickly, brain-damaged Persian kitten right now....
I tried everything I could think of, and ultimately called another veterinarian who specialized in treating behavioral disorders. And the one thing we thought of that we hadn't tried was putting her to socialize with another litter of kittens - maybe seeing other age-mates use the box might get her to learn by following. And it turned out that one of the techs I work with at one particular clinic is a volunteer kitten raiser for a local rescue group, and had a litter of babies. And she agreed to take my kitten for a little while, to see if this idea would work.
And so began Moxie's trip to boarding school. That was about a week and a half ago. We called to check on her a few days in, and were told that she was doing well - playful, eating, not quite sure what to do with the other kittens, but overall fine. And then... nothing. We tried to call the tech a couple of times, but got no answer.
Today I was working at said clinic. I started to worry when the office manager greeted me with condolences on the poor, sad, sickly baby I had taken on, and then proceeded to tell me how upsetting it was that the kitten couldn't track with her eyes, wouldn't look at anyone, and just lay there all the time while she was in the hospital, and how they had all been concerned that she was blind. I explained, a bit shocked, that she had not been anything like that when I left her, and she responded with a careful facial expression that made it clear she thought I was deeply in denial.
(And for the record, I am ripshit mad that, when the kitten at the clinic did not match my description, health-wise, NO ONE there thought to call and tell me - apparently the opinion of the entire staff was that I must have just been exaggerating about how good she was, and was in denial about her state.)
I called the foster mom, and didn't get an answer, but an hour or so later she ran in, dropped off the kitten, and ran out again. And I nearly burst into tears.
My poor baby. When I dropped her off, she weighed almost 2 pounds. She's now down to 1lb 3oz. She is too weak to walk, and can barely stand for a minute or two, before shaking and falling. She's lethargic, minimally responsive, and, unless prodded, just lies on her side in the corner.
She's filthy - her fur is stained yellow and clumped, and her skin is red and raw. The tech assured me that she was bathing her every day, but... evidence goes against that claim.
When I suggested to the rest of the staff that I was concerned about malnutrition, they refused to believe me, and kept insisting that she had a degenerative neurological disease. I mentioned that it was awfully coincidental that the degeneration didn't start until I had let her out of my sight. But... I was willing to give the foster house the benefit of the doubt.
That was until I went to put her back in her carrier to take her home. The same carrier that the tech had brought her in that morning. And I found the bowl of food in there. Specifically, the bowl of rotten dried-up food, with two different kinds of mold growing on it.
I have no more words.
My kitten nearly starved to death. I can't, at this point, guarantee she's going to make it. I've been feeding her every couple of hours, and I've got her back on the bottle just to try to rehydrate her and get some extra bonus nutrition in, but she's pretty far gone. And even if we do get her re-nourished... she's still developing, and God only knows what this episode of malnutrition did to her already-inferior brain.
I'm willing to cut the foster mom a LITTLE slack - Moxie *is* a special-needs baby, and you can't just throw a bowl of food in with her and expect her to eat whenever she feels like it, like a normal kitten - she needs to be placed near the food, and watched to make sure she eats. Maybe we didn't make that clear enough to her. But still. She should have noticed. She should have recognized that she wasn't eating. Hell, she should have recognized that she wasn't MOVING. She should have recognized that she was losing weight, and going downhill. Someone should have called me.
I should never have let her out of my sight. She's nearly dead, and it's partly my fault. And even if she makes it, she spent a week suffering and starving, and I can't get that out of my head.
Please, if anyone has any positive energy to spare, I'd appreciate if you sent it towards a particular troubled, sickly, brain-damaged Persian kitten right now....
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 11:09 pm (UTC)Non-stop GoodThoughts, a candle lit next to my little statuette of Bast.
Wrath and anger are... inadequate to describe what I'm feeling, and I'm not even there, involved.
If there is an afterlife (I vacillate on that one), there is a special place, a special hell, for people who neglect animals.
Ghods.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 11:15 pm (UTC)(And I'm with you on the wrath. But now's the time to focus on the kitten. I'm sorry this happened.)
no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 11:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 11:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 11:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 11:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 11:44 pm (UTC)And thoughts of a decidedly different nature for the foster mom who let things get so bad.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 11:59 pm (UTC)Much love to you and your poor little kitten. I do hope she turns a corner.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 12:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 01:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 12:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 12:37 am (UTC)I hope Moxie pulls through, and you both find lots of healing.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 12:44 am (UTC)*thinks warm healing restorative thoughts for your kitty*
no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 01:15 am (UTC)You have my prayers and so does Moxie. That poor little girl...
(Shiloh sends you puppy-licks and schnuffles for the kitty.)
Moxie...
Date: 2011-08-27 01:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 01:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 01:58 am (UTC)::speechless::
Goodthoughts
no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 01:59 am (UTC)Anything I say beyond that would stray into unvarnished vindication, and no one wants that.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 02:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 02:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 03:00 am (UTC)Other than that, I have no words adequate to the situation.
But I do have loads of good thoughts going out to Moxie and to you.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 03:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 03:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 04:19 pm (UTC)This is not even partly your fault. You took an entirely reasonable course of action, trusting someone who has been entrusted with the care of other kittens (and is therefore presumed to be worthy of it), and she entirely betrayed that trust. In your position, I would look into the possibility of pressing charges and/or getting the other kittens out of her care - common courtesy dictates that you treat someone else's *inanimate objects* as well as or better than your own; living creatures should be far above that standard. If this is how she treats someone *else's* kitten, how is she treating her own? How is she treating her other fosters?
All that aside, I am so sorry. Sending as much positive energy up to the two of you as I can muster.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-29 01:07 pm (UTC)In addition to betraying your trust, she freaking LIED OUT THE ASS TO YOU.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-29 10:07 pm (UTC)Positive energy to the little kitten and to you.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 07:14 pm (UTC)Not your fault, not your fault at all.
Please keep us posted on Moxie's progress. She's a fighter and her caretaker is the absolute best support she could wish for. If any team can bounce back from this set back, its the one in play.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 08:05 pm (UTC)What horrid foster parents. I'm so glad Moxie's back home with you. Even if the worst happens, she'll be with a person that loves her.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 10:21 pm (UTC)Good thoughts away! Moxie sounds like such a sweetheart.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 10:57 pm (UTC)I don't know if vibes follow the inverse-square law, but I'm keeping you both in my thoughts.
As for the other party to this travesty...well the Battle Computer is happily spitting out suggestions left and right. It's rare it see it this engaged.
I hope theres something you can do to make sure that person never fosters kittens again.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-28 12:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-28 07:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-28 11:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-28 11:52 pm (UTC)Positive energy to her, all the positive energy I can give.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-29 03:07 am (UTC)Blessed be to both of you.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-29 03:30 am (UTC)Hail Bast, in visible form,
Casting light into the darkness,
I have come before you,
The path is opened,
The earth is at peace.
Lady Bast, heal, succor and aid Your child Moxie. Help her to get past this and grow strong and well.
Hail Bast!
no subject
Date: 2011-08-29 01:11 pm (UTC)Did this person take MONEY for this "service"?!
Poor kitty, poor Becky! *many hugs for both of you*
no subject
Date: 2011-08-29 05:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-30 08:40 pm (UTC)Personally, I fault the clinic as much as the fosterer -- they obviously didn't even LOOK at Moxie when you brought her in, if they were in such a hurry to say you were "in denial" about her condition. Forghodsakes, you're a VET -- your professional opinion should be worth something, or why are they working with you at all? I think something is wrong here beyond just what happened to you and your baby.