Solstice's Story

Solstice’s Story

I work for a local vet and on June 21, 2007, a lady pulled up with a kitten. The kitten was solid black and was very sick. This lady had seen a red car stop in the middle of the highway and drop something out. That something was Solstice. He had a virus and his eyes were weeping and crusted shut and his nose was running. After being deposited on the highway like a piece of trash, he just sat there bewildered and lost. He couldn’t open his eyes to even see where he was or to find a safe place. Thankfully, the good Samaritan lady rushed to his rescue and brought him to the vet. After 30 seconds of soul searching about taking another animal home, I agreed that Solstice could come live with me.

Most of what Solstice needed was good nursing care. Like any virus, this one needed to run it’s course and we needed to make sure he ate and drank while it did. I picked up a jar of goat’s milk from a local goat farm. Goat’s milk is much easier to digest than cow’s milk. Solstice could get all that he needed from it and a little kitten chow. I put eye ointment in his eyes to help soothe them and keep them from getting any more infected. Within a day he was feeling better and after a week, the only sign he still shows is a cloudy eye that was caused by an injury. He most likely scratched it trying to get his eyes open with all the crust around them. Had he been taken to a veterinarian when he first started to get sick, he could have been treated for all of this for very little cost.

A tube of eye ointment and some goats milk and a little time and Solstice is ready to come out of the sick room. Katja has decided that he needs looking after and spends her time nosing him around the house, licking him and trying to get him to play with her. Amazingly she is very gentle with him and he has decided that she is his best friend. He follows her around the house, climbing all over her.

Solstice is not a kitten that was wild. He shows no fear of people or dogs and will follow you around the house. This was someone’s pet and when he got sick and needed them most, he was thrown away like a piece of garbage. Solstice’s story has a happy ending but there are thousands of kittens born that will end up tossed on the side of the road or in a dumpster. Every dog or cat that is born faces the chance that someone will throw them away if they get sick, or even if it just becomes inconvenient to have a pet. The animal shelters and rescue groups are overwhelmed with animals that people just don’t want anymore. If you are a breeder, breed responsibly and place your animals with an agreement that they can come back to you at any time and insist on spaying or neutering of pets. If you are not a breeder, spend a few dollars and have your pet neutered. They will be happier and so will you.