I saw Louisa’s sweet face and bandaged paws on the Stray Cat Alliance Facebook page. She needed a foster home after spending a week at the vet recovering from her injuries.
A cat-loving trucker found her on the median along a desolate stretch of the 15 Freeway in Victorville, California. He pulled over and expected to pick up her body but was delighted to find her alive and ready to be rescued.
On his way to Los Angeles, he made some calls and through a series of connections found a veterinarian to treat her through Missy Woodward, Chair of the Board of Trustees for Stray Cat Alliance. Then Stray Cat Alliance asked its supporters to help Louisa so she could receive medical treatments and boarding at the vet's office until a foster home could be found.
She wasn’t badly hurt but her paw pads were raw from running on the freeway. The hospital staff says she endured antiseptic foot baths, shots of pain medication and antibiotics - and even a spay surgery – with grace and charm.
When she arrived at my house to be fostered she came out of the carrier with a cone around her neck and scabs on her paws. I put her on my lap and she stretched out and rolled over for a tummy scratch.
We’ll never know how she got on the 15 Freeway in the middle of nowhere. I’m not sure I want to know the whole story.
Here’s what I do know: seven months later she’s still a tiny, cuddly dear with a little “meep” instead of a meow. I couldn’t let her go so she’s now a permanent resident. Every day I whisper in her ear that she’ll never have to be scared and lonely again. What a privilege.
Los Angeles, CA
