Pam Padgett - teacher
This past Thursday afternoon my elderly next-door neighbor, Jim,
called concerned about his cat. The cat had not been drinking water nor
eating for a couple days. He said the cat was acting normally other
than not eating and drinking. I told him it always concerns me when an
animal doesn't eat or drink water and suggested he have a vet
check the cat.
However, this cat is an extremely scared cat. I took
care of the cat for 10 weeks a couple years ago when Jim was in the
hospital, and the cat never allowed me to touch it (I hardly even saw
it!) And she becomes vicious when she is scared. Jim is not physically
able to get her into a carrier to take her to a vet because she gets so
scared and vicious, and I knew I couldn't get her into the carrier either. Since
the cat was still acting normally, Jim said he would wait and see if she
started eating and drinking.
I was very concerned about the cat and prayed, asking God to help in
this situation and especially to not allow the cat to suffer.
The next day Jim called. He had decided he needed to get help for
the cat and asked for the phone number of a mobile vet we have both used in the past. This vet was on
his way out of town for several days, but Jim was determined and found
another mobile vet. That vet had no time available for another patient,
but offered to send over someone who could put the cat in the carrier
so the cat could be taken to a vet's office. The woman who came was
very skillful in dealing with the cat, even though the cat was
vicious, and got the cat into the carrier. I told her how glad I was that this service was available.
She said they had just started doing this.
It was now late in the afternoon, but this woman knew of a pet
emergency clinic which is open 24-hours every day. I took the cat
there and they immediately started examining her and running
tests. She had a fever and was also dehydrated. They were able to
hydrate the cat, get the fever down, and even get the cat to eat a
little while they continue to try to find the cause of the problem.
At one point Jim told me that perhaps he should have acted
sooner, but that morning (the morning after I prayed) he knew he had to do something.
When Jim told me this, as well as when the woman was able to so
skillfully get the cat into the carrier, I was reminded of having prayed
for the cat to be helped and know that God answered my prayer.