Dying woman anonymously leaves her 32 cats with five vets.
What a touching story – an Alabama woman, who apparently was dying of cancer, anonymously dropped off her 32 cats at five different veterinarians. She wrote notes, begging that they not be euthanized.Fortunately, almost all already have been adopted. From the Associated Press.
OPELIKA, Ala. (AP) — Five veterinary clinics in eastern Alabama received 32 surprises in the last week: Healthy cats in containers and carriers, along with notes from an anonymous donor saying she is dying from cancer.
The notes signed by “Miss R” beg the vets to find her pets new homes. “My time is very, very short,” the donor wrote. “There is not enough time to find homes for my children another way. I beg you not to let them die because I have to, please!”
“Please do not kill!” was written in capital letters on each of the containers. Veterinarian Kim Bond said she found three plastic containers poked with holes sitting at her clinic’s front door when she got to work at 7 a.m. a week ago.
Each cat’s name, age, description and medical summary was written on its container. At least four other clinics received cats in Lee County, about 50 miles northeast of Montgomery.
“These cats were dearly loved,” Bond told the Opelika-Auburn News. “They’re not feral cats or neglected cats.”
Most have new homes already. Veterinarian Buddy Bruce at Animal Health Center still has the six males dropped off Thursday at his clinic and he is offering discounts on all vet services, such as shots and neutering, to anyone who adopts one of the cats.
The identity and location of the donor is unknown. “Other vets that I’ve talked to say the same thing, ’Let’s do what we can to find these kitties homes,’” Bruce said. “These are her children. She took care of the situation the best way she could.”
Photo: Furby and Jinx explore the table at All Creatures Veterinary Clinic in Auburn, Ala. (Vasha Hunt/Opelika-Auburn News)
ANGIE BRENNAN, a Sun-Sentinel page designer,
lives with four dogs and one boyfriend. And has a lifetime of animal stories to share.
DIANE LADE, a reporter on the Sun-Sentinel's Help Team, has lived with cats, dogs, reptiles, fish, an iguana, and an armadillo.
CYNDI METZGER, editor of the Sun-Sentinel's Outlook section, is smitten with Bella, her poodle who regularly ignores requests to sit, stay and get off the ivory-colored sofa. 
JOHN TANASYCHUK, a Sun-Sentinel lifestyle writer, has lived with cats as long as he can remember. He and his partner currently share their home with three.
Comments
My heart goes out to this loving pet owner, of all times to have to make this decision, the time when she could most use the unconditional love of her pets!!
I have 2 cats and a dog, all rescues. My oldest cat came to me from a sick friend who died. During the last couple years of her life her 17 year old cat didn’t wake up one morning. Because she knew she was sick, she hesitated to get another animal out of concern about what would happen to them. I’d bring my dog over whenever I visited, but it wasn’t the same, so I propositioned her. Took her to the shelter, we brought my dog, and we picked her out a kitten that had no dog fear (she thought PJ was wonderful). This cat (Aggie) was essentially raised with PJ, and when Bev did die, the transition was fairly non-traumatic.
I had these two together for several years, added another rescue cat to the mix (Rudy) 4years ago. Then PJ’s little sick heart gave out and he died (taking a piece of my heart with him). It took three years for me to get another dog. 9 months ago my best friend told me of a sick, sad, tiny little Shitzu in need of rescuing. She is now a happy, health member of my tri-racial family (human-cat-dog) and because the cats were raised around PJ, it was fairly simple to bring her in. Our only challenge was getting her to stop chasing the cats (who both outweigh her btw).
The reason I write today? Reading this story after three weeks ago I hearing a sad story on one of the local radio shows that does a Friday night ASPCA feature (Big 105.9). They were talking about a great dog at the shelter because the owner had died and the owners’ kids didn’t want it. Make arrangements people!! As hard as it is to think about it, what will happen to your animals if something happens to you??? I have people who I know would love to take any or all of my fur-babies, but after hearing that story I had conversations with people about it and made specific arrangements.
I say again, make arrangements people!!!
Posted by: Redtopt | October 16, 2008 4:39 PM
I though the same thing as Redtop, what a horrible gut wrenching thing to have to do, just when you'd love to have your pets around the most.
I hope at least she can die peacefully knowing that the vets are finding good homes for her cats. It's a shame she did it anonymously. I would have happily agreed to take a cat, but leave it with her in the meantime and I'm sure others in her area would have felt the same way.
Posted by: KCK | October 16, 2008 7:07 PM
This story really touched me, too. I've mentioned here before that I found my older cat, Dolan, at Broward Animal Control. Supposedly his owner became very sick and had to go into a nursing home, and there was no one to take Dolan. He was about 3 years old at the time. I always had a mental picture of a sad elderly man, lying in his bed in a nursing facility, and missing the cat that used to snuggle next to him. Dolan is such a lover and lap hound, you know he had lots of love and cuddling with his previous owner.
Thanks for writing, KCK and Redtop. I agree: Need to make arrangements in advance.
Diane L
Posted by: Diane Lade | October 16, 2008 8:29 PM
This sad story is really making me think about making provisions in a will, for the care of my pets, in case I am not here anymore. Even in my fifties, with great health, I still need to do this, just in case. We all need to think about this, no matter what our age or the age of our pets.
Posted by: TJF | October 19, 2008 1:20 PM