This is a story about one of my rescued babies named Salvado or as we called him Salvo for short.
Salvado arrived at our home on the 16th of December 2019, 15 days after our Pitt bull brought me our first rescue kitten.
Salvado was found by my dad infront of a busy walk way in the city. People just ignored this poor kitten in distress but he picked the starved little creature up and brought him home.
The poor kitten had alot of issues but mostly was hunger and a very serious eye infection. He could not open his eyes at all.
He was so small and I had no idea if I could save his life.
It took a bit of time but Salvado seemed on the mend and became like a brother to Rameses the first rescue kitten. My dad's German Sheppard 'Nushka' became their ultimate protector and watched them day and night.
Rameses grew quickly as he never suffered mal nutrition but little Salvado had a much harder time recovering. He was slow to grow and it took him a long time to be able to jump onto the windowsill compared to Rammy. Salvado had slightly strange breathing pattern but he seemed fine and was playful and active all of the time.
The closest vets we have is two hours drive from Ponta do Ouro so we take it on ourselves here to do the best we can for the animals that needs help. Time becomes experience and when it comes to animals our community really pulls together to help.
Salvado had the most beautiful nature and became friends with our other cats the dogs and even my dad's rooster. He just fit in with the rest of the family.
When my dad passed away I took over looking after his animals and Salvado had no problem with that. He was mostly a outside cat but it took one call of his name and he would come sprinting to me. He loved to play so much and we regularly would have him coming to grab our feet or just hang out with my sons kickboxing students on training days.
Salvado was just beautiful inside and out and grew into a wonderful Tom cat. He never left the property and I never had to worry about his whereabouts.
Salvado was happy and had the most beautiful cat smile you had ever seen. He would literally smile when you gave him love, the kind of smile that would make anyone fall in love with him.
Two days ago my world was shattered though.
I went to bed and at about 1am was woken up by what I can only describe as a blood curdling scream. I don't think I have ever risen from my bed and sleep like that.
I grabbed the tourch and ran down to the garden to find out what was going on.
I found Salvado unconscious and picked him up. He was not breathing! I did cpr on him for more than a half an hour before he started showing signs of life again and I believed at that point that he would survive. He started to cough and move so I brought him upstairs to monitor him.
After a few minutes he started seizing badly and I got a big scratch across my entire nose from his claws.
My neighbor arrived by me just after 2am and we raced Salvado to our local paramedic who has a small home clinic to help the animals that need it. By the time we got there the seizures had stopped and my baby was gone.
As I write this I'm still in shock about what happened and no matter how much I use Google to find answers I don't think we will ever know what happened to this beautiful cat. No matter how many tears I shed it will never bring my baby back. I also feel this massive loss so much because Salvado was something I had of my dad that was still alive and well. 💔
I have taken on alot of rescue kittens since then and I have rehomed many. We have lost some and saved some and it ALWAYS hurts when one of them dies but this was a blow to my entire system.
This was not a peaceful passing and Salvado did not deserve to go like that. I have lost a great friend and a big part of our family. What happened here has made me acutely aware of how fragile life is and how fast it can be taken away. The permanence of death is now very real as I have a elderly dog with cancer and 16 year old cat that has been with me through thick and thin, I may have to say goodbye to them too sooner than later. I don't think I am ready for that or will ever be.
I have to say with all the heart ache I feel now that I know I saved Salvado and I gave him three years of love, happiness and lots of fresh tuna. Three years he would not have had if we did not intervene.
Salvado had a good life and I hope to see him again one day when it's my time to cross the rainbow bridge. Until then I will continue to rescue every animal that needs my help because most of the time it leads to me knowing a soul as unique as any person, a soul that loves you back with no agendas. They are earth Angels that heals your soul with their presence.
#schoolofminnows #cat #extremefishingafrica #pets #rescue #life #love #family
