Page 19 of Tom's Chance
“What do you need?” Naomi asked, and Lorissa liked that she didn’t hesitate to help.
She gave the list of items, agreed when it was read back to her, then asked hesitantly, “Do you know where my mother is?”
“I think she’s over at New Double. Do you want me to call over and have her meet you at your place?”
“If you could. I thought if she didn’t have anything to do, she could help with taking care of these babies. Right now, from what little I was able to assess, the mama dog is having labored breathing.”
“Damn, do you know what breed?”
“Yorkie as far as I can tell.”
“Okay, I’ll get ahold of your mother, and someone will meet you with these supplies.”
“Thanks, Naomi.” Lorissa hung up and realized her foot had gotten a little heavier on the gas pedal, but she only backed off about five miles. She figured ten miles over the speed limit would be more forgiving than fifteen. She had heard somewhere years ago that the police didn’t pull you over until you were eleven miles over, so she stayed right at the ten-mile mark.
As soon as she pulled into the driveway, she didn’t know whether it shocked her or not when she saw not only her mother and grandmother, but also two older men, she didn’t recognize at first, but realized one was Cole Mercury, and the other one was Ducky.
“What do you have?” Ducky asked as Lorissa jumped out of her truck and went around to the passenger side. She opened the door, grabbed the box with the cats, and handed it back. She didn’t know who took it.
“I don’t know yet, I have to assess them, that’s themother cat with four kittens. These are the dogs, the mother has labored breathing, and she has six puppies.” She had the box in her arms as she turned, and the others followed her into her home. Because she had been extremely upset a couple of weeks before, she’d set up an area in her house as her ‘clinic’ not knowing if she would ever work on animals, but she wanted to be prepared if she had to. She led the way there and put the boxes on a table. The first thing she did was wash her hands, then look up when Ducky asked her a question.
“Can you use this?” He held up a portable oxygen machine and she could have cried.
“Yes, where did you get something like that?”
He shrugged, but refused to look her in the eye. “My wife used them before she passed. I just make sure they’re up to regulations. I’ve been known to use it if I’ve overdone things around the ranch.”
“Does your doctor know? And are you sure these aren’t for you?”
“Yes, he’s the one to tell me to do it. I have several more bottles at home if you need them. This one is full. They really were my wife’s, not mine.”
“Thank you, and I’ll replace it, but this one should do.” She donned a pair of gloves and quickly assessed the cat and as she listened to the mother’s lungs, she inspected her as much as she could.
“Until I look into her further, the mama cat is either Himalayan or Persian. I can’t be sure but justglancing at them. As you can see, she has some singed hair. I don’t feel any burns, there’s a rattle in her lungs, so I’ll set her up with a little oxygen.” She paused to look up and saw the worried look on their faces. “Don’t worry, I won’t use it all on her. I can split it so both mamas can use it.” She continued inspecting the baby kittens and deemed them healthy. She settled the five of them in one of the cages and sighed in relief when the mother immediately started cleaning her babies.
“Mom, can you get her some water?” Lorissa asked, not even looking to see if her mother did as requested. She moved on to the dogs, and again, she removed her gloves, washed her hands, and donned a fresh pair. She first inspected all of the puppies, and put them in a cage with a warming blanket, then she turned to the mother. After inspecting her closely, she took some of the ointment she’d requested from Naomi and wiped it on the patches of missing hair. By the looks of it, she was burned in several places. She then hooked up the oxygen and was able to give it to her. After about ten minutes, her labored breathing seemed to even out. Lorissa nodded in approval when the little dog let out a deep sigh and seemed to fall asleep. She used her stethoscope to listen to her lungs and nodded again.
“She has smoke inhalation, but I don’t think it’s as bad as I thought.”
“How can you tell?” Cole asked as he stood behind her grandmother with her hands on her shoulders.
“Her breathing would still have been just as labored with the oxygen. She’s not out of the woods yet, but this oxygen is helping.”
“What about the babies?” Laurie asked. “Can she still nurse them?”
“I don’t think so. As much as I want her to, I don’t want to put too much stress on her. We can leave them with her, however, I’m going to be feeding them with an eye dropper, then a bottle every two hours until Mama’s better.” The entire time she talked she ran her hand over the top of the dog’s head, and down to her shoulders. She stopped just before the areas that had been singed.
She didn’t know how long she stood there until there was a commotion and she looked up to stare at Tom Stolls as he strode forward with his medical bag in his hand. The sight of it made her kick herself mentally for not having hers on hand and at the ready.
“What do you have?”
“The cats seem fine, you might want to check the mama’s lungs. I think she could benefit from a little oxygen. I’m sharing it with her and the Yorkie. I can’t tell whether she’s a Himalayan or a Persian.”
Lorissa didn’t know whether to be upset by his chuckle. He shook his head and smiled with a chuckle. “I’m not laughing at you. This cat is namedBaby, and she is a combination of both. Her father was Himalayan, and her mother was Persian. Her owner wanted to get her professionally bred to a Himalayan but when she brought her in for a checkup before the deed, Baby was already pregnant. Don’t quote me on this, but she got out one day when her owner wasn’t paying attention, and Baby hooked up with a local alley cat. The local bad boy.”
“Oh dear,” Lorissa said and tried to withhold her grin, but couldn’t. On a laugh, she asked, “How did Baby’s owner react?”
“Terribly. She blamed me for, well, her Baby, getting pregnant. When I pointed out that I wasn’t her owner, that just made it worse. She said that if Baby birthed rejects, her words, not mine, then she was going to dump Baby on my doorstep and wash her hands of her. She also said that no child of hers would ever be so disrespectful as to do the deed with an alley cat.” He walked over and opened the cage and reached in for one of the kittens to inspect. With the kitten still in his gloved hand, he looked at Lorissa with a serious expression. “You have room for five cats?”
