So let me tell you about my Monday

WARNING; below the line is a mini story about my Monday. It contains strong language, some humor, a handsome albino bunny, and freaking newborn kittens.

Mondays are the very bane of everyone’s existence. I have yet to meet someone who actually enjoys Mondays, and if you are one of those people you’re nuts! I digress though. It is the day that marks the first of many days in work hell. My Monday was actually a Wednesday two weeks ago. I’ve been going non-stop for two weeks. Barely at my desk or in my comfort zone. Running errands, and taking care of responsibilities. Even on the weekends! It’s been endless. Well yesterday (Monday) was ‘suppose’ to be my day off.....

I end up having to run to the local gas station, because money came in and I had to withdraw some cash. Okay well that wasn’t so bad right? My Monday doesn’t stop there. Three days ago the squatters that lived off the to the left of my house finally was forced to move out. Friday they apparently released their pet albino bunny onto the street and tried to chase it up the road! So this bunny has been outside, and neglected for three days. I invest myself in this bunny’s life. I grab the head of lettuce out of my fridge, and my neighbor brings over a dish of water. It’s in the fenced yard next door (where the squatters and it lived) I’d like to take a moment to point out that these people weren’t even allowed to have pets according to the Humane Society in my area. So this pieces of shit not only were ordered not to have animals (they use to own a shit ton of dogs and cats, and kept them all in the house. Never let the animals out to piss or shit. So they were ordered to not have pets anymore) but dumped this poor defenseless bunny outside. What happens to white animals then they’re born in the wild, and don’t live in winter regions? They typically are abandoned because their white coat is a risk. They have no camouflage to protect them. So this little guy has had a rough three days. His back right foot is swollen to three times its usual size. I’m not vet, but I think it was broken because when he walked he would lean all his weight on the left foot and tuck the wounded one against him. We have a lot of stray cats in our neighborhood. How he managed to survive three days with a wounded foot in a cat heavy area is beyond me, but he has a strong spirit.

I call the humane society in my area. Let me start off by saying this place is a piece of fucking shit. They never help stray animals that aren’t dogs, and they refuse to take in an animal if it is sick or wounded. We’ve called them in the past about stray cats needing medical attention, and they always ignore it. But when we call about dog neglect they jump on it. In my city you will see a lot of cats but NEVER a stray dog. Now I don’t know if other cities are like this, but I know that it is fucked up for them not to take care of all strays. Anyway I call them, and this woman answers. I won’t use her real name so I’ll just call her bitch #1, and yes I am using the term bitch, because she was rude. I ask if they can send a humane officer to come get him. She speaks in a snooty voice ‘I’ll give the information to them’. So we hang up, and I had forgot to mention to bitch #1 that the bunny is injured and needs care. So I call back and the same woman picks up. ‘He’s wounded. His back right foot is really swelled and he doesn’t put any weight on it. I think that it might be broken.’ and she sounded rude when she gave her reply. Like I was bothering her by calling her. We hang up again.

So we pick him up and carry him to our front porch to guard him for the time being. Let me tell you that he is the sweetest bunny ever. He was so passive and docile. He let us hold him. Not once did he thrash or try to nip/get away. Just the biggest sweet heart. How anyone could ever want to harm an animal is beyond me. Especially something this pure. I call the humane office back, and inquire as to if they’ll be able to pick him up because it’s been a while. A new lady picks up, and I’m going to call her Susan because she actually wasn’t that bad to deal with. I gave her the run down since she doesn’t know what’s going on. She informs me that they cannot come out and pick up the bunny. I ask her ‘if I can get a friend to take me to the humane society will you accept him?’ She instructs me to hold on, and that she has to ask. Bitch #2, a new bitch look at that, picks up the phone. In a rather flat, and uncaring tone, she proceeds to tell me that they cannot help this bunny at all. Despite being a humane society [A humane society is a group that aims to stop human or animal suffering due to cruelty or other reasons. In many countries, the term is used mostly for societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals] they cannot help him. Nor can they seem to help other animals (a good friend of mine informed me she’s called them in the past numerous times about animal neglect and they never came out. In the past she also wanted them to take a wounded stray cat and they told her and I quote ‘You can bring it in and use our vet and pay for it, but we won’t take it after’ The fuck?) Here is how she proceeded;

Bitch #2 - Just so you know all our humane officers have full time jobs so we don’t even know when they’ll come out to get it. There are many sad cases out there before yours. If you’re that worried about it take it to the vet, but good luck finding a vet that will take a bunny. You should try a rescue that will take it.

Okay so I hang up with Bitch #2 after basically coming to the conclusion that they don’t want this bunny. It’s not that they can’t take it, because I know of other humane societies that take all types of animals. After some Googling I find this place called Rabbit Wranglers in Pittsburgh PA. I called, but got an answering machine. So I left them a message of my name, number, and telling them about the bunny. I begged them to call me even if they can’t take him. The owner, Suaz, calls back and asks me some things about him. She tells me she has to go check to see if someone can pick him up. We hang up and two hours later, full of worrying, she calls back. Fantastic news! She told me that if she couldn’t find a volunteer to drive out that she’d come out and get him. GREAT! That means this little sweet heart can get medical attention, and find a loving home. But something happened between that two hour window.

As if my Monday wasn’t stressful enough trying to find a place to rescue the bunny (thank goodness for R.W and Suaz) this little girl decides to add to the list. Meet Bear, a stray tabby we rescued back in October. I know I don’t often talk about my animals because I don’t want to spam people with them (and I would spam so much because ya know...cats) This March we had set up an appointment for her to be fixed, and guess what happened two days before her appointment? She slips out and comes home pregnant. Bear only managed to escape because this woman came to see someone in my house, and was informed that we would have to get the person to wake up. She wouldn’t let us close the front door and Bear slipped right out. 

ANYWAY so this little hussy comes home pregnant. Two months later, and on the already chaotic Monday, she goes into labor....IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LIVING ROOM AND JUST FUCKING PLOPS ONE RIGHT OUT THEN AND THERE. Like blood and fluid THEN BOOM BABY. Unfortunately it was born stillborn. We tried CPR and gentle compression’s on its chest, but it couldn’t be saved. It was so small, and it wasn’t even fully formed. She gets scared of what is happening to her, and runs under the couch. Guess who had to make love to the couch with her face to fetch the expecting mother? This girl right here. Yes I am pointing to myself....

I pick her up and rush her into the bathroom. We already had her birthing blanket, and area ready. We even laid down bed pee pads (they’re like puppy pads but for people to use on their bed) on the ground to soak up any fluids. I got into the bathroom with my mother (Yes I live with my mother. Back into 2000 she was in a bad car accident and it left her disabled. So I live with her to help take care of her.) and we sit there with Bear while she’s having contractions. This little girl knows what happened to her first baby. She lays down on her side, and this expression of depression just settles on her sweet dainty face. Her wide eyes just look so hollow and empty as she stares at her blanket. It is the most heart wrenching things I’ve ever seen. It crushed my heart. She soon goes into another contraction, and ends up having a second baby. I’m too afraid to know its fate because at this moment in time we already had one stillborn, and we were still waiting to hear back from Rabbit Wranglers. So I didn’t even know the bunny’s fate. Let me clarify for a moment that we would love to take the bunny in, and give him a home, but two reasons why we can’t. 1) Bunnies and rabbits are very expensive pets. V’lerie ( @warqote-val ) said that they can cost from 100 to 150 USD a month. Hell she said that number may not even be fully accurate. We’re on a tight budget, and have three cats to take care of with more on the way. We cannot afford a bunny. 2) We have cats. That right there is the biggest reason for me. Skeeter, our male tabby, is a natural born hunter. Gothy, our black cat, is a lazy turd bird and doesn’t hunt. Skeeter does. He’s caught and cornered things in the past. He is a hunter to his core. I don’t want a bunny being subjected to the stress of sharing a house with cats. The very predators that have been stalking it now for days. 

When I leave the bathroom I get a call from Suaz. She tells me she’ll try to get a volunteer to come out, and if she couldn’t then she would drive herself. Now to give you a relative idea as to why this is such a big deal; Pittsburgh is forty-five minutes to an hour away from my city. The worry that she may say no because of distance was a big factor in my mind. Thankfully though she said they’ll come out ans rescue him. THANK GOD OR WHATEVER DIVINE BEINGS THERE ARE! The first silver lining animal related of the day. Someone will come get him, and he’ll finally be safe. His suffering will be over, and he can get the care of love he has always deserved. Suaz tells us to put him in a cat carrier until she can make it over to us. So I usher him into the carrier so he can’t roam off, and for his safety because the strays have began searching for him. I am charged with the task of sitting outside with him while we wait for Suaz.

Meanwhile my mother has been with Bear during all of this. She comes outside every now and again for a smoke break, and to give me updates. The second kitten that she had, the one she gave birth to when I was running out of the bathroom like the little bitch I am, is stillborn. That makes two still born with more on the way. Needless to say my hopes weren’t very high for this litter. It looked really grim. I remain on the porch to wait with the bunny (whom at this point I named Roger. Shuddup I’m fucking corny and punny like that). 

While I am on the porch waiting guess who calls? The local humane society that refused to help the bunny. Bitch #3 tells me rather flippantly that all the officers are busy and cannot make it out. Um okay? Do y’all not talk to each other, because Bitch #2 informed me that you don’t take rabbits and bunnies and couldn’t send anyone out. I say don’t worry and tell Bitch #3 that I took their advice and called Rabbit Wranglers. Informing her that he’ll be rescued by then. She turned up her bitch dial and got incredibly rude. Then asked if we had put him in a carrier. I tell the truth and say yes because that’s what we were told to do. Bitch #3 goes, and I quote, “well it’s your responsibility now since you put him in a carrier. He’s your problem to deal with.” Okay get off your soap box bitch before I knock your ass off. Y’all had no intention to help the bunny, and now you’re getting pissed that I made other arrangements like I was fucking told to do. Nah bitch sit the hell down and shut up. I hang up, and wash my hands of them. They’re a shitty humane society, and don’t deserve the right to carry that title.

After that frustrating encounter some good news came! Bear had her third baby, and it’s alive! THE FIRST LIVE ONE! I’m fucking ecstatic like you would not believe. So I rush into the bathroom, and sure enough it is a tuxedo kitten. So fresh to this world and so fucking precious. It was squirming and nuzzling up to feed while Bear was licking it to dry the wee thing off. 

I go outside to wait with the bunny so mom can be with her cat. Over the course of three hours I chilled with the bunny. Feeding him lettuce and keeping him company. Over this time mom keeps me updated on Bear. She’s doing splendidly and is giving birth like a mother fucking champ. So far by the time 8pm rolls around she has had five babies. Two stillborn, but three are alive and nursing eagerly. She’s still in labor.

8pm comes, and Suaz arrives at my home. She’s such a nice woman with a kind soul. She actually thanks my mother and I over and over for saving the bunny, and calling her. I give her some money for gas to show my way of thanks and gratitude. Y’all she didn’t need to do this. She could have told us that it was too far out of their reach to help him, but she didn’t. She drove all that way, came and picked him up, and she probably didn’t get back home until around 10pm. Suaz tells us that she’s going to take great care of him. When she gets him home he’ll get some pain killers for his wounded foot, and that tomorrow (now today) he’ll be seeing the vet to see what they can do about his injury. That is a major weight off my fucking chest. She actually encouraged us to call her and ask for updates on him! Which I fully intend to do.

Finally at 9pm I walk in through the front door, and go check on the new mother. She has three kittens nuzzling to her, and doesn’t seem to be having anymore contractions. So I make myself some dinner, and sit down to relax. Well around 11 I go downstairs to check up on them and my mom to see if she needs anything to drink. We go outside for a few minutes, and when we come back in we check up on Bear. There’s blood on the pee pads. Mom is under the impression that it was just the afterbirth. I go closer, and inspect, and sure enough there is another kitten! This makes kitten number six and makes the fourth living one. She took care of it all by herself! I want to mention that with the fifth born my mother had to do CPR on it, and brought it back to life. This one Bear took care of when no one was around. We breathe a sigh of relief because mama and the babies are doing well. She looks finished and is finally resting with the newborns.

We go to bed.

5am rolls around and I wake up for about the third time over night because I couldn’t sleep well. I made sure each time I woke up to go downstairs and check on them. Each time they’re doing fine! Well around 7am I am awake enough to where we make a whelping box for her. We hadn’t at this point because when Gothy had given birth seven years ago we made her a whelping box and she didn’t use it at all. I wanted Bear to feel like she wasn’t confined or cramped. We make this box and lay down a fresh blanket. We load them all up into the box, and when we rummage through the folds of the birthing blanket we find a seventh kitten! Overnight she had one more, and this one had ventured off, Bear is such a good mother she actually doesn’t want to leave the other living four to pick it up and put it back with her. The seventh is alive and doing well! I place it back with her and Bear happily accepts it. 

So these are the tiny jelly beans that consumed most of my day/evening yesterday. Two tuxedos, and three tabbies. The tabby on the bottom right is the one who had lost its way from Bear.