Cat Takes Bullet To Save Litter, Survives

[cynatnite]

[IMG][/IMG]

A mother cat in California is recovering after taking a BB bullet to the head to save her litter of kittens.

Cindy and her kittens were found abandoned and taken to Helen Woodward Animal Center in Sante Fe, Ca., where a veterinarian discovered and removed the bullet from Cindy's head, according to the Examiner.

The mama cat was initially very reluctant to leave her kittens.

"Mommy and baby kitties are all doing fine, but it was touch and go when they first arrived,” Dr. Stephanie Oba, the veterinarian tending to Cindy, told the Carlsbad Patch. "They were all very tiny, malnourished, unvaccinated and very scared. It took a gentle hand to pull that momma away from her babies."

Shelter officials soon discovered why Cindy was so skittish. The cat and her litter had been shot at, and Cindy had taken one of the bullets.

http://www.wcyb.com/watercooler/31201428/detail.html

[Politicalboi]

1. Glad to see they

Are going to be fine. What a cute bunch of babies.

[MagickMuffin]

2. How can people be so heartless? How can people be so cruel?

How can people be so heartless?
How can people be so cruel?
Easy to be hard, easy to be cold

How can people have no feelings?
How can they ignore their friends?
Easy to be proud, easy to say no

Specially people who care about strangers
Who care about evil 'n social injustice
Do you only care about the bleedin' crowd?
How about a needed friend?
I need a friend

How can people be so heartless?
You know I'm hung up on you
Easy to be proud, easy to say no

Specially people who care about strangers
Who care about evil 'n social injustice
Do you only care about the bleedin' crowd?
How about a needed friend?
We all need a friend

How can people be so heartless?
How can people be so cruel?
Easy to be proud, easy to say no

Easy to be cold, easy to say no
Come on
Easy to give in, easy to say no
Easy to be cold, easy to say no
Much to easy to say no



I'm glad the kittie family were found and rescued! It really is a sad state of affairs when humans behave in such disregard for life, whether it be to fellow human beings or the animal kingdom.

edit post to add a REC!

[snappyturtle]

3. Oh lordy I want one! What a good Mamma. nt

[1monster]

4. That poor momma. She's unusual too... Unless she has other colors that can't be seen in this photo,

She's one of the few female orange cats. Generally, an orange cat is a male, while calico cats are generally female. Once in a while you get a male calico and a female orange.

If I didn't already have eight rescue cats, I'd want the little ball of black and orange fluff on the left.

[kestrel91316]

6. I have found that about 1 in 5 orange tabbies is female - 80% are male, for reasons we don't

understand. It's just been my clinical observation over 30 years of practice (21 years feline-only).

Male calicos, OTOH, are extraordinarily rare. I have never seen one in practice. Because the calico color is an x-linked recessive gene, it requires two X chromosomes for expression. This normally indicates a female cat (normal males are XY as opposed to XX), but male cats with the feline equivalent of Klinefelter Syndrome are XXY and therefore can be calico, but they are always infertile because of the sex chromosome abnormality.

[TuxedoKat]

35. How interesting

Thanks for sharing that. I just remembered years ago we had a stray orange female tabby for a few days. My mom didn't want us to keep it though and brought it to a shelter. We were all sad because it was a very sweet cat. The next day my mom missed the cat too and went back to get it but it had already been adopted, so we were glad about that.

I have a cat question for you. I have a male tuxedo cat. He has little white boots on all four feet like he has little white gloves and boots and the white markings are exactly the same on each side. I've always been curious if that was rare for a cat's markings to be completely symmetrical on each side. TIA if you have the time to answer me, if not, no problem.

[kestrel91316]

44. Most bicolor cats are not absolutely symmetrical. Some are extremely lopsided in their coloring.

It's just random - has to do with migration of pigment-producing cells from their origin along the spine during embryonic development.

[TuxedoKat]

47. Thanks! (nt)

[get the red out]

5. Whatever low-life monster shot her

Needs to be found and punished. If it was some low-life's wretched spawn, the adults who pushed their vile, hateful, soul-less issue onto the world need to be fined.

I despise animal abuse. It fills me with a rage I can't describe.

[madokie]

30. Yes it's a sorry sob who would do this

[LiberalLoner]

41. +1 How can anyone hate cats? They are the best animals on earth, better than humans.

[AtomicKitten]

7. I can't even imagine the cruel existence of a homeless cat with a litter.

I want to take them all home.

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. Beautiful mother, beautiful children. Thanks for the story! n/t

[deaniac21]

9. BB isn't a bullet

[cynatnite]

10. Take it up with the writer of the article...

It's hard to make a distinction when someone intentionally aims a weapon at a litter of kittens.

[D23MIURG23]

11. Its a particular style of bullet fired from an air gun or shotgun loaded with birdshot.

Here, have a look:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet

[deaniac21]

23. BB shot is for duck and goose hunting

shotguns don't shoot bullets either. They shoot varying lead or other metal shot or a sabot or slug
I don't need to have a look. I have worked for an arms company for 35 years. Was hunting and shooting by 6.

[D23MIURG23]

37. Pulling rank doesn't automatically make you right, and in this case you aren't.

"bullet" is a general term that covers things from musket balls all the way to modern rifle bullets. It certainly covers BBs, and it covers sabots and slugs as well.

As for the fact that BB shot is for water foul, I'm wondering what makes you think the person who found the cat with the BB in its head would have been able to tell whether it originated in an air rifle or shotgun shell, and if it is the latter, what kind of shot it was.

[deaniac21]

43. If it was from a shotgun there probably would be more than one wound. The bb shot

we put in our duck/goose loads are actual bb's made by Daisy. If you want to educate yourself look at SAAMI standards:
[link:http://www.saami.org/

If you want to cure your ingnorance on the subject

[D23MIURG23]

46. Its your "ingnorance" of the standard english usage of the word "bullet" that is the issue here.

The definition of "bullet" invented by a your trade organization doesn't invalidate the more general one that has been used in the english language since some time in the 16th century.

While we are talking vocabulary, I can think of at least one additional word you might want to consider learning.

[RebelOne]

12. In the case of that small cat,

it would be just as lethal as a person taking a bullet from a .22-caliber gun.

[Zoeisright]

14. It sure as fuck is.

My God.

[emilyg]

15. Is that your only

comment on this story?

[hamsterjill]

18. Well I've seen a BB take out a cat's eye!

And before you ask, yes, the little punk who was on the other end of the gun got what was coming to him - all legally, of course.

[deaniac21]

24. You'll shoot yer eye out kid!

[flvegan]

39. Were you amused by your response?

You have many folks asking about what you posted.

Makes me want to suggest not trolling what ya can't troll.

[tawadi]

19. What does BB stand for then?

In case you had to look, it is an abbreviation for ball bullet.

[obamanut2012]

25. Yes, it is -- it MEANS (ball) BULLET

[petronius]

26. Actually, I think the "BB" comes from a particular size of birdshot

There's a table here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_shell

I think "ball" in the context of bullets means a non-expanding projectile - solid or fully jacketed - rather than spherical...

[flvegan]

38. Own a dictionary? No, I guess not.

Don't be stupid.

bul·let
? ?[bool-it] Show IPA noun, verb, bul·let·ed, bul·let·ing.
noun
1.
a small metal projectile, part of a cartridge, for firing from small arms.
2.
a cartridge.
3.
a small ball.

[nadinbrzezinski]

42. Ball BULLET

there are days

[petronius]

45. BB doesn't stand for "ball bullet" - it refers to a specific size

of birdshot pellet. There's also T, F, BBB, and 1 through 9, but early pellet gun makers settled on something close to BB...

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. awww. how cute. I see she has some calico babies

[closeupready]

16. Awwww.... cute kitties!!

K&R

[malaise]

17. Sweet

Thanks for this

[bluedigger]

20. Overly dramatic headline.

All they really know is the cat got shot with a BB. But if it helps get them adopted, I'm okay with it.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

21. We have feral cats in my neighborhood

There's one yellow tom in particular that eats the kittens from other litters and has attacked small dogs, ripping at the throat. This thing is huge. It's fur is very coarse and you can tell it's solid muscle underneath. It's almost like having a mini lion out there.

We can't forget that these things are predators and, yes, we have a cat here that's a family member. It was the only survivor of the litter the other cat ate.

[Enrique]

22. mama looks like Keyboard Cat

[petronius]

27. Adorable kitties! I hope they all find good safe homes, including mom

I hope a variety of other things for the (long list of epithets omitted to save space) who shot at them...

[PotatoChip]

28. Aww, so cute.

I hope they are given loving homes, preferably not all separated from each other. As in, mom and at least one of her babies, and the other 4 in pairs.

Hopefully the publicity will help in that regard.

[ryan_cats]

29. Awesome pic

That is an awesome pic although momma looks stoned but she could be recovering from the BB shot.

What kind of neanderthal shoots a cat?

Those kittens are so cute, I hope they all get great homes as well as momma.

I hope karma catches up to the shooter. It seems the world is becoming a meaner place every day.

[Omaha Steve]

31. I have no idea how somebody could pull aim and shoot at mom & kittens

Violence at home when they were young?

[AverageJoe90]

32. So sad.....

Best wishes for a speedy recovery for Cindy & kittens.

[politicasista]

33. Bless momma cat's heart

Nice pic.

[jp11]

34. Inaccurate article

painting being targeted by someone as a conscious act to 'jump in front of a projectile' when in all likelihood it was either some ass who thought it was fun/cool to shoot at a cat and her kittens or was otherwise angry at the mother. Perhaps the mother was seeking food to sustain her as she fed her babies and some asshat took her presence, in the trash, wherever as a right to try and kill her or scare her off.

Does it change the fact that some ass thought it was okay to fire a bb gun at a cat, not at all. Trying to say the cat knew her kittens were being shot at and dived in front of the projectile isn't needed to show someone was an ass for shooting at an poor stray animal abandoned or left to fend for itself by those who brought them to this existence. If people were more responsible with their pets and weren't cruel monsters our domestic pets wouldn't be left trying to scratch out an existence without our support.

[MadrasT]

36. Mommy cats are the best.

People on the other hand, suck.

Beautiful cat and kittens. I am so glad they have found their way to safety. Loooooove the little tortie on the right. But they are all so gorgeous.

[sabrina 1]

40. What kind of coward would do that to a helpless animal.

Poor kitties, I am so glad they are safe!