Cat Name Phillip

by Robin Tice
(St. Marys, WV, USA)

Phillip, named by his new owner, was the only surviving member of his litter. Someone, obviously somewhat deranged, had poured kerosene/lamp oil all over the mother cat and kittens.

The mother cat had delivered her young in a slim alley located behind a local drugstore (Phillips Pharmacy) and a house. When passers-by heard a furious "mewing," they discovered that the mother cat and all of the litter mates were dead and that Phillip was near death, weak and saturated with oil.

Not knowing what else to do with the suffering feline, his rescuers took him into the drugstore, and employees cared for him for several hours.

Later that day, we took the kitten from the drugstore to our home. We bathed him several times with Dawn dish washing liquid, then wrapped him up until he stopped shivering.

He was very young, but tried to eat from a medicine dropper. The kitten was taken to the local vet who treated it and gave it some badly-needed IV fluids and kept it for several days.

One of the vet's mothers fell in love with the kitten and his sad story and happily adopted him. He was named after the drugstore where he was found, and, at last report, Phillip rules his new household!