This abandoned kitten survived a coyote attack thanks to quick action by a resident.
“Knowing the coyotes were around and having seen the picture of the coyote on Circling the News, I knew its mate was still around,” Coral Rugge wrote CTN.
Then, on September 4, disaster struck. Rugge’s indoor cat ran to the home’s enclosed patio door and looked out, and the Palisades resident went to see what her cat was seeing.
There had been a little black outdoor kitten abandoned in the neighborhood. Rugge said they had been feeding it, trying to entice it to come inside, but without any luck, yet.
“I saw the kitten grabbed by the coyote,” Rugge said. “I ran out the door and up the slope after it. Just before the coyote was about to jump the neighbor’s fence it dropped the little cat.”
The kitten rolled down the slope and Rugge picked it up, ran it into the house and wrapped it with a towel. She and her husband drove down to the Pali Vet.
“Unfortunately, they were closed,” said Rugge, who was standing on Via de la Paz with a bleeding cat. “A young man pulled up in a big white van and came to my rescue. He took out his phone and started calling all the animal hospitals on the Westside and Malibu.”
All local veterinarians were closed, until they reached the Santa Monica Veterinary Group on 17th Street click here.
“They had emergency services and were still open at 5:30 p.m. and they said they would wait for me,” Rugge said. When she and her husband drove up, “One of the hospital staff was watching for me outside.”
Rugge said it was the heroic effort of Dr. Omar Khalaf and the hospital staff and hours of surgery to save the cat. By Wednesday, September 6, the little cat was able to come home to recuperate. “She is indeed doing well, thanks to the doctor and staff.”
The Palisadian added, “If it hadn’t been for my old cat running to the window, the young man whose name I wish I knew and Santa Monica Vet Group, this story wouldn’t have a happy ending. I am very grateful to them all.”
She updated the patient’s health on September 12. “Today after a week of basically sleeping and not eating for five days, she was finally sitting up and starting to eat more than a spoonful,” Rugge reported. “The people at Santa Monica Animal Group said she was a fighter. I guess she is.”
The coyote survivor’s name? “Kitty.”