My crew is strangely quiet this morning as I walk into the yard. I realize they know that one of their own is now missing. I wish I could reassure them, as they congregate at my feet, that their furry friend Dunkin met a dignified end and she did not suffer. I wish I could tell them all, how much it hurt the two of us to make such a difficult decision: to put aside all our selfish motives of wanting to keep such a courageous cat around, if just for a few more weeks. But we had to take her interests into our hearts and realize that she was only on ?loan? to us from God. But while she was here, oh the lessons she taught both of us, they will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

And now, here is her story???.

I got the phone call in July of 1993. A friend of mine who worked at a local animal shelter called to tell me about this kitten they had just received and that had just came out of quarantine. She said she was concerned to put this baby into general population, because of the abuse she had suffered. She+ asked me to please come down to see if I could help.

I immediately went there and when Diane showed me to the back room, I could see this black and white spot on a piece of fake fur tucked deep within a cage. She looked so forlorn and scared, and her eyes were as big as saucers. Deep within her eyes, I could see terror lurking. I went to pick her up, and as little as she was, she backed away spitting and hissing. Her front claws were dug in tight as she defiantly stood her ground. I eventually backed away and sat down with Diane as she told me this kitten?s amazing story.
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Her owner had decided that it would be great sport to take this kitten out to the lake in his boat and drown her. Now for cat abusers, drowning is usually when they tie a rock to a cat?s tail and toss her into water letting her sink. But this person decided it would be great sport to take this small kitten and hold her by the back of her legs and dunk her up and down in the water repeatedly until she just stopped struggling.

I am sure she put up the best fight of her tiny life, but this man had the advantage, and so he continued his sick game of ?Dunk the Kitty.? Another boat was on the lake that early morning. This one, thankfully, belonged to an off-duty sheriff?s deputy who was just trying to catch some dinner. He noticed the strange activity of this other boater, and motored closely to see what was going on.

When he realized what this man was doing, he challenged him with a shout and scared the abuser. The abuser took this tiny kitten by her back legs, twirled her over his head several times and flung her far out in the middle of the lake! As the deputy raced after the flailing kitten, the man made his escape. However, the deputy had already written down the numbers off the man?s boat, so escape was only temporary.

The kitten was then brought in to the shelter, treated and kept there, until I stepped through the door. I told Diane I would take the kitten I took the kitten home that night. I was told her chances of survival were slim to none. I set her up on a heated cat bed in the middle of our own bed and after a few hours of just monitoring her I fell asleep. About 3:00 a.m. something woke me, and I turned on the light and looked at Dunkin. She was barely moving, her eyes were not focused and her breathing raspy. I grabbed the phone and called my vet and told him I had a dire emergency and he had to meet me.

He met me at his clinic and Dunkin would spend 2 weeks there fighting for her life against a nasty infection she picked up from lake water in her lungs. Although my vet and his staff were kind and attentive to her, she learned to hate vets because of all the treatments she had to undergo to get well

I finally picked her up to bring her home along with a stockpile of medicines to help her get better. She still was a feral kitten in all sense of the word, and because of her treatment prior to being rescued, she was terrified of both my husband and myself. In order to get her medication down, we had to wrap her in a heavy towel so only her head was exposed, and treat her eyes, ears and mouth with ointments and drops and pills. We had to do this 3 times a day, and all of us came to dread this necessary ?bonding time.?

But she had courage like no other, and she survived the ordeal. As she grew, we were to find out that someone had taken a small knife and stabbed her when she was a kitten. Her scars were still there on the middle of her back, and no hair grew around them. She had a fear of dark places, and once she got her moxie back, if I would leave her to sleep in a dark room, she would yowl like the hounds of hell were at her heels. I finally figured out, she didn?t like the dark and started burning a night light for her. She stopped yowling.

She walked bow-legged, her back legs never straightened up properly and she looked much like she had just gotten off a horse after a long cattle drive. Her muscles and tendons were pretty much destroyed during her early abuse, so she always had a big belly sway when she walked. But she waltzed right into our hearts so early. She had endured so much in the short time after she was born and we just let her alone. She seemed to always be cold, and even on the hottest days would lie in the sun, and in the wintertime she would be the first kitty by the heat register once we fired it up.

She was our love and our joy, and the source of most of our laughter. She had spirit and cunning and was the most difficult of cats to pill. She was diagnosed with cancer recently, and it was quick and unexpected. We could of kept her alive for just a little bit longer. But we opted to just let her go and find her peace. To have kept her alive would of meant she would have had to have gone to the vets for chemo and treatments, been confined from the world that she loved, as we would of had to keep a close eye on her. Her life would have been the cat room instead of the whole house, or the property that she loved. It would of meant undue stress, more pain for her, when she had already endured enough. We gave her the dignity she merited. We cried and prayed for strength, reluctantly let go of our own selfish desire and we let her go. Her pain is now ours to bear.

I miss you my friend, my lap-warmer, my drool-pool, my bed buddy. I will miss you upside down on the floor laying there inviting the world as you now knew it to scratch that white belly of yours. I miss your presence under my feet as I cooked, because you know slob that I am at times, that food ?accidentally? finds its way to the floor. I know you are better off. I know your path with us had we decided on treatment, would have been one you wouldn?t of chosen for yourself. I know we did the right thing but our life has a huge hole in it right now that you used to fill. You taught me patience, and courage and love and I will never forget you as long as I live. I love you sweet Dunkin, go to be with God. You are His lap-kitty now; you have certainly earned that privilege.