Pet Party Line is a column written by Beth Byrd and is featured weekly in The Citizen News, one of our local newspapers.

An Amazing Story of Pet Survival

It’s not every day that an eight-week-old kitten uses up two of his “nine lives”! But that’s exactly what one kitty did before Gavin McGowan of St. Petersburg, FL who was in Hattiesburg, MS in August of 2005 when he saw this kitten get run over by a truck, then a car. With the bloodied, mangled - but still purring - kitten in his arms, he rushed to a local veterinary hospital where, due to his serious injuries, they wanted to put the kitten to sleep. After some soul searching and a quick call to a vet friend in New Hampshire, McGowan opted to give “Lucky” a shot at life.

Back home in St. Petersburg, McGowan often called to check on his tiny friend. Then Hurricane Katrina slammed into Hattiesburg. After days of trying, he finally got through to the hospital, which had withstood the 145-mph winds but lost electricity and water. “Lucky” and the other pets survived, thanks to a caring Animal Medical Center staff. Soon after, McGowan took Lucky home to Florida to meet his new family - two other cats and a dog. They all get along great! This story just goes to show that a little TLC does go a long way.

For the high-tech dog owner, take your bragging online: start a dog blog, where you can post pictures and share stories, for example www.dogster.com.