7/23/14 Abandoned litters don't always fare well

  • By Nick Sabo
  • July 23, 2014
  • 424
                        
SUMMARY: The Holmes County Humane Society encourages pet owners to avoid unwanted litters by spaying their pets. Meeka, a six week old kitten, who was abandoned to face the wilds with a broken leg, is currently under the humane society's care. When making the decision to set Meeka’s broken leg or go with amputation, the Holmes County Humane Society reflected on the days the four-week-old kitten spent alone in the wild. Meeka was one of a litter of five kittens abandoned in the countryside near Glenmont and taken in by the humane society. Meeka was found two days after her siblings. Her mewling was audible, and eventually she answered calls, crawling up to the roadway with a bad limb. The break is up high, near the shoulder, humane society board member and volunteer Deb Sarchet said. The break was old and the bones no longer lined up. There is a chance that attempts to set the bone will fail, and Meeka will lose her leg. “We’ve been asked, why not euthanize her or just amputate from the start?” Starchet said. “She does have a chance to heal because she is young. She’s survived so much already, we felt like we had to give her a chance.” Except for the neon green cast, Meeka is by all appearances a healthy cat. She weighed 14 ounces when brought under the care of the humane society and now almost weighs two pounds. Wrapped in a cast that immobilizes her right front leg, Meeka shows plenty of spirit, bumping along on the cast’s splint and swatting with her good paw to get attention. The cast loops around Meeka’s chest and back, taking the pressure off her leg. Her play area has to be kept to a small area to give the break a chance to heal, a difficult thing for the spry kitten to accept. The cast will have to be changed several times because Meeka is still growing. In a few weeks, an X - Ray will tell if the bone has set. If not, the leg may have to be amputated. Meeka’s story is one that the Holmes County Humane Society sees as something of a worse - case scenario for abandoned litters, Starchet said. With no one to care for her, it is likely that Meeka would have died slowly over a period of weeks. Such suffering placed on unwanted litters can be prevented by controlling the pet animal population by spaying and neutering, Starchet said. “You can’t just drop a litter off and think they’ll be fed and cared for,” Starchet said. The humane society does spay abandoned animals taken into its shelter, with the cost offset by adoption fees. The humane society has further sponsored trap-neuter-return efforts when funds are available; however, the humane society currently does not have the financial means to spay pets who have a home. The humane society encourages pet owners to neuter their animals by hosting visits from the Rascal Unit, a mobile animal hospital capable of spaying 30 to 50 animals per day, at a low cost. The next visit by the unit will be Aug. 16. Meeka is the first animal to be taken in by the humane society with such an unusual bone injury. But other animals have come in with even more serious conditions, such as heart worms, Starchet said. For more information, visit the Holmes County Humane Society website, www.holmeshumane.org. Pets for adoption from the humane society are listed on www.petfinder.com KUTLINE: Nick Sabo photo Meeka, a six-week-old abandoned kitten, is held by Holmes County Humane Society board member Deb Starchet. Meeka was found abandoned in a litter of five cats, her leg broken.


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