Feral cat burned in Croy fire uses one of her nine lives
Croy fire refugees themselves, Carl and Robin Taylor didn’t
hesitate to come to the rescue of a victim they considered less
fortunate than themselves
– a badly burned feral cat that hung around their mountain home
before the blaze consumed the dwelling Sept. 24.
Feral cat burned in Croy fire uses one of her nine lives
Croy fire refugees themselves, Carl and Robin Taylor didn’t hesitate to come to the rescue of a victim they considered less fortunate than themselves – a badly burned feral cat that hung around their mountain home before the blaze consumed the dwelling Sept. 24.
“Mary is our $2,000 cat,” Carl Taylor said this week in referring to what he and his wife have spent on rehabilitating the tortoise shell waif that is still putting on weight from her ordeal.
The Taylors, whose 20 acres borders Sveadal, the Swedish-American encampment in the Santa Cruz Mountains, thought their small house, granny unit used by their daughter, Cypress, and outbuildings were safe when the fire burned away from them that first day.
But when the flames turned on them the next morning, the couple fled in two vehicles along a power line access road, cutting their way through downed trees. When his 1982 VW Vanagon broke down, they continued in her Ford Bronco, taking with them a box of photos, some clothes, a couple of computers and eight house cats in cages.
“We could hear the propane tanks exploding. There wasn’t room in the Bronco with (13-year-old son) Max and the cages, so I rode on the back holding onto the luggage rack,” Taylor said.
When the Taylors returned to their spread Saturday, they found that the flames had consumed everything except a 1971 gold-colored Ford Maverick, which had been untouched.
“We heard a meow in the ashes and found one of the kittens that had been among six wild cats – a mother, four kittens and an a tom – that we had been feeding,” Robin Taylor said. “We wanted to trap them to have them neutered, but they were so wild they growled instead of meowing.”
The kitten was a mess.
“She looked like someone had taken a blowtorch to her. Her eyes were burned shut and her hair had been reduced to stubble. She was bumping into things,” Carl Taylor said.
“Nevertheless, it took three of us to catch her,” his wife said.
The Taylors decided on the spot to do what they could to save the kitten.
“It just seemed like the right thing to do,” he said.
“Looking at that poor animal, our problems seemed less,” she said.
The kitten had been lucky. A neighbor, Carl Tayor said, had found the bodies of a cat and a peacock huddled together under a bush. They apparently had been overcome by heat, he said.
After a couple of false starts, the Taylors located Morgan Hill veterinarian John Quick, who in 15 minutes determined the kitten would survive.
“I knew they wouldn’t treat her if she didn’t have a name, so when they asked, I said, ‘Mary,”’ Robin Taylor said.
The kitten remained a week with Quick until the Taylors took her home – a unit at Sveadal that they have until May 1 – to convalesce.
For three weeks, the Taylors had to dip her in iodine twice day and put cream in her eyes.
Mary has permanently lost the tips of her ears, her nose is still scabby and her paws aren’t quite right, which may require more attention from the vet.
But Mary is learning the role of a house cat.
“She’s still a little skittish, for example, the sound of something frying in the kitchen upsets her. But she tries to be friendly with the other cats,” Robin Taylor said.
Some other members of Mary’s family have returned to the rubble of the Taylor house. The Taylors are putting out food for them and ultimately plan to trap them and have them neutered.
“We plan to bring them here, but as outside cats, Carl Taylor said.
