Saving Dotti - Part 1

First up, a picture of the cutie herself all cleaned and fed and happy. This picture taken approximately 24hrs after her rescue. As you can see, kittens have an amazing ability to gain weight. Combine that with a flea treatment and some medication for her eye.

Catching her was quite the adventure. We first heard her around 4am Saturday morning, crying and meowing for an extended period. It isn’t uncommon or even always alarming to hear a kitten crying. It can often be assumed that a kitten is simply calling out for mum when heard. Unfortunately, we kept hearing Dotti crying on and off for the next 16 hours. At this point it was obvious that no one was caring for this kitten.

Anthony and I tried many times throughout the day to go outside and locate her. Every single time though, she would immediately quiet down. We couldn’t tell if she was on someone’s balcony or where in the world she was hiding.

As you can see in this photo, there’s plenty of bushes and shrubbery to hide within around our building. We assume Dotti was hiding under these bushes over in the corner.

Much later that same day, early evening in fact, we arrived back from shopping to the sound of a very distressed kitten. This time my husband and I resolved to bring her inside to safety. We dropped the shopping ($60 worth of meat) along with other groceries and said “to hell with it.” We needed to move quickly before she quietened back down. The search began.

I would also like it noted at this point, in general, I do not recommend trying to catch a cat/kitten. Unless the animal is injured or unable to fend for itself, you should not go straight to trapping the animal. A better approach is to try and lure them into a carrier or gain their trust before taking them in. Chasing a cat can be dangerous. Cat Scratch Fever is not a joke my friend. More importantly, it is an awful lot of stress to put on an already scared animal. In Dotti’s case, she was too small to be eating anything other than Mother's milk. After almost 16hrs of her crying, there was a significant chance she had been without food for a number of days. At such a young age, it would have taken days, even weeks to gain her trust. It was time this little girl just didn’t have.

Armed with a carrier, blanket and my husband, we I crept into the bushes behind our building. She is a quick little bugger and without mum to protect her she was quite skittish. Every time we would come within 3 meters she would run to the opposite end of the yard. Thankfully, she was too scared to run out of the fenced in area.

After more than one chase and more than one close call with her escaping beneath a fence and out of our lives forever she thankfully backed herself into a corner. Regrettably that corner was a 2 inch wide gap between two concrete walls. It was dark. It was wet. Did I mention it was dark and wet?

Now at this point, I should mention my phobia of spiders and cockroaches. I am originally from Wisconsin in the U.S. and before I arrived in Australia spiders were a non issue for me because I just never encountered them. Both of these creatures love dark, dank crevices within concrete concaves and are quite abundant in my (now) corner of the world. Dotti had backed herself into a Huntsman Spiders dream home and my worst nightmare.

(See above photo if you have any reason to doubt why a Huntsman Spider is terrifying)

At this point it was plain the only way to bring her out was to reach my hand into this crevice. It was narrow. So narrow my hand would be brushing the walls on each side. Blindly struggling to get a grip on this tiny kitten while waiting for a cockroach to start crawling up my arm, was not an experience I would volunteer for again.

At the same time, I know as soon as Dotti has room to struggle she will be fighting to get out of my hands. I need to ensure I’d have a good enough hold to get her into the carrier without damage to myself or her.

The best bet for this situation was to “scruff” her and pull her straight out. This does need a bit of force and experience to do properly. Grab the kitten in the wrong place and with one wiggle she will get out. Thankfully, at her age kittens have a large scruff and are accustomed to being moved around in this method.

The way she had stuck herself in, she couldn’t move very far and allowed me to get a good grip. I had Anthony at the ready with the carrier open. It was slow getting her up and out, as she was so squashed that it was a squeeze to lift her.

The worst part of rescuing any animal, is that the animals do not always recognize that you are trying to help. Dotti starting having a panic immediately, throwing herself around the carrier and screaming like crazy. We let her tire herself out, at this stage there is not much we could do to assure her. We let her be and tried to provide a calm, warm environment.

Once we brought her inside of the house, the first order of business was securing Quince away from her. Until a thorough vet inspection there is no way to tell if anything could transfer between the two. Not worth the risk.

Next step, is on to the emergency vet for food and a check up. Just to finish this update off, here is a photo of the little girl in her carrier. She is NOT happy here haha. I'll post an update on this little sweetie as soon as I get one!!