u/anxiousinpgh

I just got an auction lot of squeak toys, and I recognized most of the other squeaks (mostly Sun Rubber), but I can't find anything on this weirdo, and there are no maker stamps/logos. It is a crazy looking thing and fascinates me. Anyone know who made it?

Wasn't sure what flare to use, so I went with "sensitive" because this post involves cat death & is just me needing a place to talk about a horrible thing I was present for.

So I have never been in cat rescue. I have 4 cats of my own, and 3 were adults I adopted from shelters (& one is from some awful craigslist situation). This summer, I have tried my hand at rescue. My social media algorithms have decided I need to see as many local & suffering cats as possible, and it has upset me so much that I have volunteered to try to help several times. I tried to foster two very young and VERY sick kittens from separate places, and neither made it (I shelled out a ton of my own money for a multi-day vet hospital stay for the first one, but thankfully the second one was through a rescue). Both kittens had diarrhea and started to fade, and I got both of them to a pet ER while they were still alive, but they couldn't save them.

Anyways, I wanted to try again with kitten rescue because apparently I'm stubborn and love trauma, so when a rural rescue about an hour from me posted about needing help fostering some kittens who were living in/around an abandoned & dilapidated house that was going to be demolished, I volunteered, since the post had been up for days and nobody else did. This turned into the rescue asking if I could help trap, which I've never done, but again, nobody else stepped up, and I have a pretty chill work schedule.

So the cat situation at this absolutely repulsive, trash-laden, structurally unsound property was much worse than the neighbor who contacted the rescue had described. I was initially told there were 4 or 5 adults and a litter of 5 kittens. When I got there, a woman from the rescue who helped me trap said there were probably 8 kittens and way more adults, so it was a whole colony. We caught two kittens in the first 2 days - a very small long-haired female tabby, probably 4 or 5 weeks old, and a very skinny older buff/orange short-haired tabby who is probably around 10 weeks. Both kittens were totally covered in fleas - the little one's bath water turned RED - and I got them to my vet the next day & found out they had hookworms and coccidia. They also had gross goopy little eyes that weirdly cleared up soon after I got them home.

The next day, I get a call from the rescue lady - we will call her Linda. Linda says she caught another one, a calico sibling of the tabby girl. She sends me a pic and says this one is sick, and that she snuck up and caught her with her bare hands because the kitty's eyes were so crusty that she couldn't see well, and she was covered in flies. I told her I would be down after my vet appointment at 5:30pm, and she said that was fine & she'd keep trying to trap more and wait for me to get there.

But there is this nosy neighbor (we will call her Patricia) who has been hanging around making everything more difficult. She talks loudly, shines a flashlight around at night, and generally inserts herself where she is not wanted or needed. This seems like the most exciting thing that has happened to her in a while, and she is relishing the attention it is getting her. Patricia is one of these people who talks like she needs to convince you, and herself, of what she is saying. She wants everyone to believe she is very concerned about these cats, even though the rescue owner told me that she has been demanding more and more cat food for these animals and then complaining about having to put it out. Personally I think she might be feeding her own cats with it, and she insists she has 13, but neighbors say they've only ever seen 3 distinct cats in her catio.

Anyways, I was wondering why the hell this woman felt the need to hover around for HOURS being generally useless, and when I got there on day 3, I found out why. By the time I got to the property, she had claimed the kitten as her own. Really, she said she was giving it to her friend, but I am not sure there even is a friend. She was carrying the tiny thing all swaddled up in a blanket, just ambling around the yard with her. The kitten was not looking good, and Linda told me she was concerned that the kitten was seriously ill, and that she had offered to take her to the emergency vet, but Patricia had refused to hand her over. She also said that the kitten didn't seem that sick until Patricia had taken her home to bathe, since fleas were flying off of her, and she suspected she may have done something wrong during the bathing - who knows.

The point is that I was infuriated, and this woman seemed like she was taunting me, cooing things like "you're not feeling well, are you, honey?" at the little baby, who was slowly looking less alert. I told her that I could get the kitten to my emergency vet immediately, and she ignored me. I was so upset, but I felt like I couldn't say anything too harsh, because Patricia has been the main person in touch with the property owner and says they're friends, and I feel she would 100% get us banned from helping any of the other cats and kittens if I told her how I really felt about her. I felt I had to bite my tongue and hope for the best, because there were multiple other kittens on the property who had yet to be trapped.

But after a couple hours of watching this animal decline, I got too distressed and when she asked me if I wanted to see the kitten, I looked her in the eye and said very tersely "not if she's just going to die. I told you I could get her medical help right now." And Linda said "that kitten is very young and sick, and needs medical help and to be with her sister." She just replied "Uh huh..." kind of blithely, then said "i'm going to go call my friend" and went back to her house with the baby and of course never returned. I asked Linda to give her one last call before I left for the night to hand the kitten over so I could help it, but she said no. I believe her issue was that she thought that if she gave me or Linda the kitten, she'd never get it back, and she'd be correct. I also think she is the kind of person who will do anything you don't want her to, because she's a busybody and loser & that is the only kind of power she has.

The next day I found out the kitten had died about 20 minutes after I'd left. I basically slept all day that day, because I was upset and exhausted, but also I am actually pretty allergic to cats & a property totally saturated in cat feces, urine, and general... cattiness is a lot, and I had an intense headache. The next day I went back to try to trap, and there were none of the other tiny ones in sight. I ended up having to pretend to be friendly with this horrible woman, who OF COURSE came back and went on and on about how bad she feels about these poor, poor cats. No mention of the one she essentially killed. She also made weird veiled threats about how it would be a shame if the property owner stopped us from trying to trap and rescue.

Totally tangential sad thing - we had been trying to trap a very pregnant female tortie for a few days, I finally managed to get her in a trap I set and baited myself, and found out the next morning that the vet clinic Linda took her to found out she was positive for FeLV and had her humanely euthanized. So that made me feel like shit. I thought we were just going to do a spay/abort (which I know is the correct thing to do, especially in a situation like this where there's a colony nobody is really caring for, but it still makes me sad that humans have failed cats like this), but instead she ended up dead.

But yeah, so I am really hoping we can get Patricia banned from this property for meddling with the cat removal efforts, since the owner does want them out of there. I got kind of insane and tracked down the property ownership records & figured out who he was & good contact info for him, and the rescue head is calling him tomorrow. If she does get banned, I am going to say the harshest things I have ever said in my life to her. Judging from the way she whispered "hellhole" when describing the house, I assume she is a christian of some kind, so I WILL be telling her she is going to burn in hell, even though I don't personally believe that. I am just so devastated that someone would do something like this to a tiny, innocent baby animal. I had already felt bad about taking them from their mom! I have worked in the court system for years, so I hear about people doing disgusting things all the time, but this still shocked me. I feel like I failed this baby and should have grabbed her and ran, but I thought I would be able to save more if I kept quiet. Now we can't even find the other siblings of the young ones, and I'm afraid something killed them. We did manage to trap one more kitten, who i suspect isn't from either the tabby or orange guy's litters, but this is a far cry from the 8 I thought I would be fostering.

I was prepared for the cat sickness/death variety of trauma, but not one facilitated by an awful person. I am so sad and angry.

I have included pics of the 3 babies I have in my spare room right now, and they are doing very well.

I got roped into helping trap kittens at a newly-discovered cat colony in a rural area this week. They are SNEAKY and we've only caught 2 so far and there are probably about 8 - multiple litters. A tiny long-haired gang, a couple slightly older orange fellas, and what appears to be a mom with a single black kitten that follows her around. I've never fostered before & these two are currently living in my tub/bathroom - at least until I can get the MANY fleas treated. Poor little tabby girl was so bitten up that the water tinted red when I gave her a Dawn bath. She's the liveliest of the two right now - really playful and happy. Little orange man obviously doesn't feel so hot (had a bit of diarrhea) - who knows what he's been eating since he's definitely fully weaned and the teeny-tiny was likely still drinking mom's milk even though she doesn't have to. He's more reserved and scared, but they both seem tame for babies who were living in a dilapidated house and outbuildings full of actual garbage.

Going to catch the rest of them (at least 8, we think!) and then give them some goofy themed names. I collect vintage toys (50s through 90s) and will probably name them after like... Rainbow Brite characters or something.

I collect a million different vintage toy types, but I mainly collect 50s and 60s toys, particularly squeaky ones and rubber face plush. I realized it's honestly kind of weird that I'm not active on this sub, so here is a pic of the 3 1966 Remco anthropomorphized animal dolls I currently own (Pussy Meow, TV Jones, Hana Hippo). Yes, yes, I know - lol, haha, etc. That's just her name, guys. Like Pussy Galore but not intended to be crass. Anyways here my little pals are, with bonus Marx Twinkie doll with three of her wig stands, ft. wigs and hats! And bonus Rushton "Chubby Tubby" bear, plus some other beasts in the periphery.

Who are they!! I can't find anything definite about any of them. The bunny on the far left may be from Star Mfg., but none of them have any maker's stamp.