Train kitty

A week and a half or so ago, I was having oatmeal in the Caribou Coffee near my work when a coworker bursts in and says, "I'm glad you're here. There's a cat on the railroad tracks." I was struck dumb for a moment, but then I headed out with her to see and, sure enough, there was a kitten on the tracks, a bit off of where pedestrians cross the street.

By this point, there was a small crowd just looking at the poor thing, who was meowing a hoarse meow and was soaking wet. I went closer to it to let it sniff me and after a second it tried to dart under the tracks, so I grabbed it. It was so small--I was guessing about four months, because it was the size that our two kitties were when we adopted them.

I climbed out of the tracks area with the kitty and people backed away--one lady offered a plastic bag (wtf?!) but I ignored all of them, upset that all they could do is watch but not actually do anything.

At this point, I wasn't sure what to do, but my coworker suggested bringing it to the nearby animal vet. As good idea as any, we headed that way. The poor thing was meowing hoarsely and trying to get down, but I kept my hold and we finally made it to the vet.

I'll just quickly sum up our experience there:
-someone took the kitty and said they thought it was a boy but couldn't tell and that it had a cold
-doctor pretty much refusing to do anything until my coworker paid them $100
-us asking what we should have done if bringing it there was the wrong thing to do; they didn't have an answer
-the doctor saying that he was on the board of the Humane Society (which doesn't make him sympathetic to hurt and scared animals rescued from the train tracks?) and saying it would probably end up there and that we should take it (we were blocks from work and didn't have car keys--we were on break!)
-us leaving upset

I kept thinking that maybe my husband and I could adopt it, but after calling him and telling him about it, he was right in saying that our two kitties (which are over a year old now) would probably hate it and that our place isn't big enough for another cat. All true. But I was afraid that they were going to kill it or something.

But the other day I looked online at the Humane Society's website and I think I found the kitty. Everything in its description makes sense and I hope that is the one, because that means that it's in good care (it's a no-kill shelter) and that it has a chance of finding a home. I need to stop checking to see if she's (it's a girl, not a boy--stupid mean vet assistant!) been adopted yet.

Well, even if she isn't, at least she isn't sick and meowing on the tracks.

One of the most upsetting things about this whole situation is that so many people were just looking at this cat, who was clearly saying "Help, I'm scared!" but no one cared. The other upsetting thing was the vet's reaction, like the kitty was some horrible monster that they didn't want to deal with until they got paid. How awful.

I hope I don't have to experience anything like that again. :(