Sweet Kitty

I occasionally transport animals for my local shelter. My county is somewhat underfunded, but the staff is great at finding other resources. So the rabbits go off to a rescue in Richmond, and the puppies tend to go to Tahoe, and an elderly hyperthyroid cat went up to Santa Rosa.

So I got an email that they were looking for someone to transport a cat to the Bay Area. Specifically, I got an email that said, "We are hoping to find transport for a sweet adult kitty..." (bolding is mine). Since I didn't have anything going on that day, I agreed to drive the cat there and arranged a time.

When I showed up at the shelter on Monday to pick up the cat, the person who arranged it all wasn't there (she is off on Mondays), but she had impressed upon the other staff that the cat needed to be sent in a solid carrier, not one of the cardboard carriers they sometimes use.

That was my first clue.

So the front staff radioed to the cat trailer for one of the employees to bring the cat up. And I waited. And I talked with the staff and waited some more. At the 20 minute mark, an animal services officer went back to find out what was going on. I waited some more.

Ten minutes later, the front staff radioed back to find out what was going on. They were "having problems getting the cat into the carrier." I noted that nobody on the radio was referring to her as a "sweet kitty."

At the 50 minute mark, another animal services officer went back to supervise. He came back ten minutes later with a metal carrier that had a plexiglass front, the whole thing covered in a towel. Then he used duct tape to secure the front.

I was a little worried I'd be considered an accessory to some crime if I handed off this "sweet kitty", though I suppose I could argue that anyone who expected something different from a cat in the equivalent of Hannibal Lecter restraints deserved what they got. But it turned out the cat had originally been microchipped by the rescue I was taking her to, and they'd been warned.

The cat was the perfect passenger, and I passed off the towel and carrier (along with a suggestion that they not open it anywhere the cat wasn't supposed to be a permanent fixture). I'd been told not to worry about the carrier — someone from the shelter would get it back someday.

I never actually saw the cat. Or even the "sweet kitty".

Candy Bar Kittens

Another litter from back in 2022. These ones actually were sweet kitties.