This blog reflects my personal experiences and opinions and does not represent or reflect those of DierenAmbulance Nederrijn.
Personal Win!
I’ve been experiencing a personal win during my time with the animal ambulance, and I’ve been slow to realise it!
My upcoming shift, the first after a relaxing holiday, didn’t feel like work coming up. It felt like something I needed to do, like doing the laundry, emptying the dishwasher, cutting the grass…and helping animals! It’s a part of my life now! 🙂 Working without feeling like it’s work, and certainly without a feeling of dread about having to turn up somewhere is a massive win! 🙂
Squirrel
Sadly there was a squirrel at the base when I arrived, and an external driver came about the same time as I did to bring him to a shelter. I enjoyed having a chat with the friendly chap, though I missed taking a peek at the squirrel; he was already in his transport box and I didn’t want to disturb him by opening the lid.
Cat
Many cats were on our rescues list:
- Run-over cat (still living)
- Cat found in a building
- Kitten stuck in goods lift
- Deceased cat
Our first rescue, we were told, was “The Cat”(!)
Sally decoded this for me: we were to rescue the kitten ‘first’, collecting the deceased cat on the way.
Deceased Cat
Unsurprisingly, a sad story. A cat was found run over on a busy road. The finder picked her up and placed her on the side so we could read her chip and contact her owner.
The location was unclear; we only had a road name and a description to go by; the cat lay by a large tree between the bus lane and the cycle lane. This was useless information on-site because the road was nearly 2 km long and had large trees, a bus lane and a cycle lane on both sides.
Sally realised the finder often sends a picture to the centralist which doesn’t always make its way into the administration. We checked, and there was a map with a pin location.
The cat indeed lay by a tree that was larger than the surrounding trees. Unfortunately loads of ants crawled over our feline friend. She wasn’t stiff, so the accident had occurred relatively recently. One of her eyes had been squeezed out its socket which horribly common in road traffic accidents. (Given the nature of this injury, I still don’t understand (1) how a driver can not feel a collision with a cat, or (2) not have the decency to stop.)
Thankfully the cat was chipped. Although the address was out of date, the phone number was still current which meant we were able to contact her owner. There was also an entry informing us that the cat was marked as “missing”. I’ve not noticed this before.
Obviously this was a difficult call to make – and to receive. Indeed, I couldn’t tell if it was the phone line connection that was breaking, or the owner’s voice. We arranged to bring the cat to the base and prepare her whilst the distraught owner decided what to do. This meant we’d go straight to the base now rather than drive on to the cat found in a building.
Back at the base we removed as many of the ants from the cat’s body as possible, and also tried (without success) to place the eye back into its socket. It turned out that the owner was currently on the phone with the centralist, so I asked the co-ordinator if she’d mind cleaning the cat properly whilst Sally and I rescued the kitten.
We were surprised to be told to place the cat into the freezer, but we labelled her and did as we were told.
Kitten stuck in goods lift
This sweet little monster got herself trapped in a goods lift. Thankfully she was heard and her finder lured her out with some tuna and put her into a box.
The finder told us on arrival that they wanted to adopt the kitten. This is usually against protocol because finders are often (and understandably) emotionally attached to their find and make on-the-spot decisions which haven’t yet been thought through.
First things first. Read the chip. Maybe there’s already an owner…
The kitten was thin and in need of food and water. And she was obviously scared. She hissed at me as I approached her with the chip reader, but stayed still enough to allow me to give her a good scan. No chip was found.
Now we could think about what to do with her. She wasn’t chipped, and not reported as missing on the usual websites, even though given her weight loss she must have been trapped for some time. Things seemed to indicate she was a stray – though we noted that hissing doesn’t mean that she’s not tame.
The finder already owned cats and other animals, and had already contacted their other half and discussed adoption. They were prepared and knew what they were getting into, not just with adopting a kitten, but the immediate need to bring her to a vet ASAP and the associated costs.
In fairness, they could have not called us at all and simply kept the kitten, but they wanted to do it the right way.
This was a tough call – but it wasn’t ours to make. We went back to the ambulance and from there called the animal ambulance Piket (helpline) for advice. I love the Dutch pragmatism, and it was evident here! They went through the pros and cons of the finder adopting the kitten, or taking the cat to a shelter and the finder adopting the kitten through the shelter. What was best? I suggested we inform the finder of the considerations, and let them decide.
I brought long-sleeved protective gloves with me from the ambulance in preparation for the decision to adopt the kitten through the shelter; I’m sure the kitten would scratch / bite when I moved her into the transport box.
The finder saw me approach with these and guessed we’d made the decision to bring the kitten to the shelter. I was very happy to tell him this wasn’t the case and that they could decide!
Decision: Direct adoption! 🙂
We advised him to get the kitten chipped (if he didn’t already know, he saw first-hand here why it’s so important!) and he made plans to bring the kitten to the vet! 🙂 This little kitten will receive professional care and already has a loving (and knowledgeable!) family! 🙂
Cat found in a building
This “manageable and friendly” cat was found wandering around a block of flats. The finder was out, so left the cat with their neighbour. The administration mentioned that this cat was possibly a cat that had been reported as missing on amivedi, a site listing lost and found pets.
Sally made sure we took the lift to the 7th floor when we were buzzed in before I could suggest taking the stairs. Much of our time during a shift is sitting in the ambulance so I try to grab the chance to move when I can!
Knowing we were on our way the neighbour brought the cat just outside her door in a pet caddy. What a beautiful black and white cat! But the poor thing had been found last night and had been stuck in that tiny box all this time. Why hadn’t she been picked up in this morning? She miaowed sweetly, and pawed at the grill, desperately wanting to get out.
Tame and used to being around humans, this was clearly someone’s pet. We brought her back inside the apartment to read the chip, and yes, there was (a local) address and contact details!
My memory gets a bit fluffy here. This was about a week ago, and I’ve been very busy in this time with other (animal) things. But the long and short of it is we attached a call-me-collar on her and released her back into the area.
The owner, who called us back after repeated voicemails (including one to a wrong number and who called us to let us know!), let us know their cat often went for walks and was away for a day or two, and was very often called by local residents who had a chip reader and called him to let him know! It’s nice to know there are good, concerned people out there!
After discussion, we agreed to add this cat onto our “do not drive list” which is a list of animals which are ‘mistakenly’ reported as ‘found’ when they weren’t missing (in the owner’s view) and hence don’t need rescuing.
Call me collar
A note about the call-me-collar. We write the rescue number on the paper collar which folds back onto itself and sticks using self adhesive tape. This is awkward because the space to write the rescue number ends up covered! I squeezed the number into a corner; I should let the co-ordinator know about this.
Growing Rescue List
Our rescue list comprised 7 rescues in a town 8 km away, and a hedgehog with diarrhea and ticks which was in the town we were now in. It made sense for the following team to rescue all 7 animals rather than us, given the late time, to rescue just 1 (or 2 or 3 more nearby) and still have the team driving out there – and back to our current location.
We called the centralist to let her know she could send the other team out straight away.
Hedgehog with diarrhea and ticks
The hedgehog’s location was in a residence at the far end of a narrow road that the ambulance didn’t fit into. This meant Sally parked up at one end and I got to have a little much needed movement as we walked the 50 m or so! She nearly swore when she saw she could have parked at the other end; the onboard navigation isn’t very bright…
The hedgehog lay unmoving in a hedgehog house which was kitted out with a camera so the finders could keep an eye on him. What a cool idea!
I moved him into the transport box; he curled up slowly, kebabbing my finger with one of his prickles. With all of the hedgehogs I’ve handled, this is the first time I’ve ever been injured by one!
I pointed out the swollen ticks, gorged with blood, on the hedgehog’s body to the finder. They asked if he could be returned to them after the vet at the wildlife rescue centre had brought him back to health. I made a note of this in the admin. I can’t remember now, but I hope I gave her the rescue number in case she wanted to follow things up.
Rescue Centre
We were lucky to meet the vet emptying the cupboards at the wildlife rescue centre. She noticed straight away that the hedgehog has lost weight, and that diarrhea was generally not a good sign in hedgehogs. I was amazed to see how well she moved the hedgehog to examine him!
Back at the Base
It was half an hour after the official end-time of our shift. In comparison to our recent shifts, this is early! It was a tricky shift, and although numerically we hadn’t done much, emotionally – and for the animals we did reach, we did a lot! 🙂
