Kitty Survives Fire, Awaits Owner

One four-legged little trooper survived the Pattison Fire by crawling inside a shed at 3024 Ross Drive. The cat, a 1- to 2-year-old male tabby, was pulled from the shed Wednesday morning by homeowner Bill Bray.

“I have a chest of drawers in the shed where I keep lawn tools and things,” Bray said. He had gone into the shed to get a shovel when he heard faint yowling.

“I got my son and we finally found the head,” Bray said. His son, Mike, spooked the tabby out from under the chest and that´s when they discovered the cat was injured.

“We had him in a box and were trying to find his home,” Bray said.

Tina Shinn, another neighbor, said she thought she knew where the cat belonged, so she took the box and cat from the Brays.

“I thought he might have been an outdoor kitty here,” Shinn said. But when she noticed the cat´s feet were burned, she took it to the Angels Camp Veterinary Clinic.

“He has second-degree burns on his feet and singed whiskers,” Cathy Lehman, a veterinary technician at the clinic said. “We´ve affectionately named him ‘Toasty.´”

“We had a lot of evacuees here,” Lehman said. But all of those animals have gone home. She hopes someone recognizes the cat and is able to return him home.

Anyone who knows where “Toasty” might belong is asked to call the clinic at 736-0488.

Calaveras Enterprise story by Mike Taylor. For more Calaveras news, click: calaverasenterprise.com