Injured cat found in Santa Rosa storm drain reunited with family
Posted on 10/17/2017 9:16:31 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The badly burned cat rescued from a storm drain in a fire-ravaged Fountaingrove neighborhood has been reunited with his owner and is now being treated at UC Davis.
“He’s a survivor,” owner Eric Menton said Tuesday of Abu, the 12-year-old tabby cat. “We knew, with all the moves he’d been through, he’d figure out how to survive, and sure enough, he did.”
The story is just one of many emerging of injured or missing animals being reunited with family members as they try to rebuild their lives in the wake of the catastrophic North Bay wildfires.
Menton, his wife and their two stepdaughters evacuated their Wedgewood Way home early Monday morning after one of the girls smelled smoke. They rounded up their two dogs, but Abu, who is an outdoor cat, was nowhere to be found.
Their home was destroyed by the Tubbs fire. A family friend who went to check on their house heard Abu crying on Wednesday and alerted Menton, who worked with animal control services to rescue the cat. Marin Humane animal services officers Chelsea Hayes and Rachel Dalton descended into the dark storm drain Friday, where they coaxed the cat into a carrier and hauled him to safety.
Because of the severity of the burns on his feet and stomach, Abu was transferred for further care at UC Davis. Donations from the public are funding care for Abu and other animals affected by the fires, Menton said.
Abu is there now getting IV fluids and his veterinarian is trying to get him to eat and to keep his dressings clean, said Menton, who had taken to calling him “Abu the Supercat.”
His daughter, who is now in medical school, got Abu when she was a sophomore in high school and the cat endured several moves over the years. Menton, an aerospace engineer, had only lived in the Fountaingrove home for three years, but Abu had the street smarts he needed to save himself, Menton said.
“He’s kind of a crotchety old soul,” Menton said, “who was smart enough to know where to go.”
Good kitty!
Awww, I hope he has a speedy recovery with minimal pain. Poor baby. Makes me want to reach through the screen and pet him!
Me too. I hope she gets well soon. Poor thing.
He, sorry. Sweet dreams Abu.
Cats are amazingly resourceful. One day we were burning a brush pile in our largest burning pit. I lighted it and waited for about 15 minutes while it got roaring when I see a stir and my smoking but unharmed cat comes racing out of the pile.
That is one stoned cat, looks like my cat Moe after he bit into an electrical cord and burned both sides of his mouth. Doc shot him up and he drifted off into never Neverland for a day..
What a sweety. Hopefully he will soon be back home.
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