We have a pet door in the north garage rollup door and every day, I feed any and all outside cats’ wet food, dry food, and water. On Tuesday morning, March 7, 2023, while feeding the outside cats in the garage, I noticed that two cat pillows on the heated mattress under the countertop on the south side of the garage were soaked with large amounts of blood. I didn’t think that any animal that lost this amount of blood could possibly be alive. I have a game camera set up in the garage to monitor the cat activity in the garage but couldn’t tell if any cat had an injury of any kind. I took the two pillows into the house to get them washed.
In the following days, I kept looking at all the cats to see if any of them had evidence of bleeding and found none.
In the winter, I keep the garage heated to a temperature of sixty degrees. We have a core group of 4 cats who have been regular eaters and sleepers in the garage for five or six years (Fluffy, Surfer, Spox, and Dusty). There are four other cats who have been regular eaters and sleepers for the last year (Charkey, Tabby, Patches, and JR) and there are a bunch more cats who just pop in for a snack from time to time.
Two days later, on Thursday, my wife and I drove to Bismarck for my dental appointment. We left at 7:30 am and didn’t get back until 5:00 pm when I gave the cats their usual evening can of tuna. I returned to the garage at about 7:00 pm to give the cats a couple more cans of wet food, turn off the lights, and lock the door. That was when I noticed that Charkey, our male, charcoal-colored cat, was bleeding from his right armpit/shoulder area and dripping blood onto his right, front foot. I panicked! All of the pet carriers were in the house and no pet carrier was available in the garage and so I grabbed him with a big towel and put him into the car. I called the Hettinger Vet Clinic after-hours number, and told the vet, Dr. Bleaux Johnson, that I was leaving Lemmon with a bleeding cat. He said that he would have someone meet me at the clinic.
When I pulled around to the emergency door on the west side of the clinic, Charkey was in the front passenger well. Trying to put a big pet carrier onto the front seat and reach for Charkey wouldn’t work and so we devised a plan where I would reach over and put the towel over Charkey and Dr. Bleaux Johnson would open up the passenger door and pick up Charkey. Bleaux picked up Charkey by the scruff of his neck and rather than just carry Charkey the five or ten steps into the clinic, he, for some strange reason, decided to try to put Charkey into a pet carrier. The next thing that I know, Bleaux said he lost hold of Charkey and he had run away from the west side of the clinic toward the south side. I went around the building to the north side where I saw Charkey about 40 yards away to the northeast side of the building and next to a vacant lot. I got out of the car and called out to Charkey but he was so traumatized at that point that he ran across the 100 yards of that vacant lot toward the east and hid in a grove of pine trees. I only was dressed in a pair of tennis shoes with no socks and was not prepared to wade into knee-high snow.
I continued to use a flashlight while I drove to the other side of the pine trees where there was property belonging to Knutson Well Drilling. Robert Knutson came out of his house and I explained to him the vet had let my cat get away and that Charkey’s tracks showed that he had entered into that extensive grove of pine trees west of his house. Robert Knutson was incredible! I cannot say enough good things about Robert Knutson and his love for cats. He dressed in warm clothes and searched the pine trees and surrounding area for several hours while I continued driving around, shining my flashlight, and calling out to Charkey.
I decided to drive 25 miles back to my home in Lemmon, take another pain pill that I was given after my oral surgery, dress in tall snow boots and heavy clothing, load up with extra flashlights, and drive 25 miles back to Hettinger to search for Charkey. I was able to talk to Robert Knutson again when I returned and he said that he was able to follow Charkey’s tracks from the pine trees back west across that large vacant lot toward the south side of the vet clinic. Charkey had continued west toward the south side of the large NAPA Auto Parts store, crossed the road, and entered the cemetery.
I drove over to the cemetery, parked in the NAPA parking lot, put on my balaclava with face mask and heavy gloves, picked up Charkey’s tracks where Robert said that they would be, and entered the cemetery. Even though I am in considerable back pain and will have back surgery in a month to insert screws to keep my L-5 vertebrae from slipping forward and pinching my spinal nerve, I trudged through knee-high snow for about 100 yards to where Charkey’s tracks continued for another 50 yards up and over a hill. I could go no farther! I went back to my car and drove home. It was almost 1:00 am when I returned to my home in Lemmon.
How a supposedly experienced pet handler like veterinarian, Dr. Bleaux Johnson could attempt a very risky move like trying to transfer a bleeding and frightened cat already under his control to a pet carrier in the middle of a dark parking lot instead of taking less than 10 steps to get safely inside of the clinic is beyond all understanding.
Charkey trusted me and I let him down. I am left with the haunting thought that because of Dr. Bleaux Johnson, Charkey either froze to death or bled to death. Instead of being home in his warm bed, Charkey probably died alone and afraid in the middle of the night, in an unknown part of the world, and frightened out of his mind.
I loved Charkey with all my heart and I am utterly disgusted with Dr. Bleaux Johnson at the Hettinger Vet Clinic and will never go there again!
Calvin L. Nikont
402 3rd Ave. E.
Lemmon, SD 57638
951-201-1128
calvinlnikont@aol.com
http://calnikont.com/extrastuff/worldsgreatestcat.html
Charkey Kitty Found
Charkey should have frozen to death or died from blood loss the night that I brought him to the Hettinger Clinic but, miraculously, he lived.
After being lost for 2 ½ months, Charkey was being fed for the last short period of time by a wonderful lady in Hettinger. Tina Friebel has a heart of gold and she posted a picture of a lost charcoal kitty on Facebook. Fortunately, Kerry Dragoo, the receptionist at the Family Dental Clinic in Hettinger, noticed the lost charcoal kitty on Facebook and gave me a call. The charcoal kitty looked almost exactly like Charkey. I found Tina’s phone number and gave her a call. Tina said that the charcoal kitty stopped by on a regular basis and that she might be able to coax him into her pet carrier.
I created a webpage, posted several pictures of Charkey, and when Tina saw Charkey’s pictures, she lured him into her pet carrier and called me. We agreed that there was a high probability that the lost kitty was Charkey and arranged to drive to Hettinger the next morning on May 24, 2023
I brought one of our pet carriers and transferred Charkey from Tina’s carrier to our carrier in her garage so if the transfer didn’t go as planned, Charkey would still be confined in the garage.
When Myrna and I got back to our home in Lemmon, I wanted to make sure that we kept the charcoal kitty in the garage until he got acclimated to his surroundings and we had a chance to make sure he was Charkey. We were going to keep him regardless but we still wanted to be sure. We blocked the opening in the pet door, brought the pet carrier into the garage, closed the south man door, and set the carrier near the wet food, dry food, and water. We opened the door on the carrier, stepped far out of the way, and waited for the charcoal kitty to come out of the pet carrier. It took a minute but then he hesitatingly took a step outside the carrier and then immediately made a dash for the closed pet door about 20 feet away in a crowded garage. 100%! This is Charkey!
We kept all the garage doors closed until Charkey had a chance to eat his tuna, Myrna and I had a chance to pet Charkey, and then we let all the cats into the garage.
We have a game camera set up in the garage to monitor the pet activity and, when viewing the pictures stored on the SD card this morning, I see that Charkey fed 3 times during the night. All is right with the world!
I would like to thank:
1. The Lord for watching over and caring for Charkey.
2. Robert Knutson with Knutson Well Drilling for getting dressed in warm clothes and spending hours helping me search for Charkey the night he was lost.
3. All the unknown pet lovers who fed and cared for Charkey for 2 ½ months.
4. Tina Friebel for feeding and caring for Charkey and for posting his picture on Facebook.
5. Kerry Dragoo for searching Facebook for lost pets and calling me about a charcoal kitty that looked like Charkey.
Without the help of all of these wonderful people, our Charkey kitty could not have been returned to us.
Thank you and God bless all of you!
