Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Now, About Harry....

This past April's final winter storm dumped more than just snow on my doorstep. At about 11:30pm and while on a phone call with a co-worker I just happened to peer out my back window to check snow status and was stunned to see seven kitties patiently sitting all together, staring straight at me despite their all shivering with cold. Tiger, a three legged feral stray with whom I have 'communicated' with for several years, stated that he had come across a Mama and her babies in his travels...who had just been abandoned by humans. With no place to go and no food available, Tiger stated he could not in his heart of hearts, leave them to starve when he knew of a place where they could get food and shelter. And that place happened to be Viva's house. He stated that he had very carefully crossed them all over four local streets in the dead of night to get them safely here. I was surprised to see such a young Mother feline of only 6 months (a baby herself), manage to keep her three kittens of several months coralled as she had. Another semi grown female was in tow as well. And another boy tiger kitty was traveling with them too. What was so overwhelming at first view is that the kittens were all quite sizeable by now and there was no hesitation in my mind that they would need to be herded and altered before too much more time went by. So despite my huge crowd of inside felines, in came Mama Flo, her three babies and (I guessed) her sister. Five more was ALL I could manage and onto the porch, my last empty space they went. I was forced to leave the potential boyfriend on his own for the time being, along with Tiger, who had preferred to be wild and free, despite his three legs. Harry at this point, hadn't even been born yet. Very shortly I was to learn that one of the young girls was pregnant and too far along to safely abort. Very shortly after that, I telepathically heard a 'Mew, mew, mew,' and Psy visioned the birth of her first kitten. In 3D reality, they were actually two days away from being born. As it would be, ironically, I stopped home unexpectedly for lunch two days later and found I had already physically missed the birth of her first baby - the one I had Psy visioned! I stayed and witnessed three more birthings, one being stillborn. Harry, I was immediately drawn to, perhaps because I soon discovered he was a Syndactly, with radial hypoplasia. This classification falls into the family of polydactyls, which is a genetic condition that causes malformation of the paws and toes. Instead of paws, Harry had one toe on his left side and a lobster claw on his right. But there was something about his personality that just 'gleamed!' He was brighter and lighter in frequency than the others. The kittens stayed with me for 8 weeks and two immediately went off to homes of their own. Siu Siu was adopted via my vet and Daniel, Harry's brother went to live with a friend, a Yoga enthusiast and holistic healer, who had adopted one of the youngster felines (Phoebe) from the original group. Through telepathic communication, each kitty had told us their names. I knew Harry would be with me for a while longer, as I wanted to be the one to ensure the best possible outcome for his lifetime condition. The Starkitty vet is all the way in Pa. But together, she and I and a very generous minded local cat rescuer named Diane, have worked to help Harry to develop his muscles so that he has the best use of his unusual limbs. It took almost three months of constant rebandaging of his legs to get them structurally as right as would be possible. True to a Syndactly, a fun feature is that he sits up on his hind legs often, like a bunny or a squirrel, which also adds fuel to his great appeal. And yes, we've 'channeled' with Harry and his siblings ever since. Tragically, last month Daniel died unexpectedly, not due to any genetic deformity but because a veterinarian completely botched his neuter procedure. Daniel had had one decended testicle and so the veterinarian went into his body from the stomach. A few weeks later he was dead from a serious infection. My healer friend was devastated and despite rushing Daniel to an emergency vet when he suddenly became very ill, he succumed and needed to be euthanized. The infection in his body from the poor surgery attempt had devastated his liver and bladder system. We channeled with Daniel during and after his passing. And we'll share his interesting story, his review of the procedural mistakes and shortened mission plans in our upcoming book. He intends to return to Phoebe and the young woman in time, after Phoebe has had a chance to work solo with the grieving healer. In the meantime and with Harry, I get the honor of being in the space of a frisky, outgoing kitty who makes friends wherever he goes, animal and humans alike. Harry has a heart condition so his time here is also of question at this point. But every feline at the Starship loves Harry and he scoots around happily as if there's no tomorrow. He's in training now to be a Therapy Kitty, however his future as an active one, is still pending. Harry is now one year of age.