TODAY'S CAT STORY No. 2 - So sue me

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Boston Herald

Angell Memorial a godsend for Eastie cat, caring couple

by Joe Fitzgerald

Monday, July 23, 2001

What better time than the dog days of summer to slip in a column on Murphy the cat?

``Cats don't have the good PR that dogs enjoy,'' Andy Giuliotti points out, ``but they're every bit as lovable as any dog, and that love goes back and forth. I'll greet her in the morning, or some mornings she'll greet me. We even feed her the same things we eat, though we take it easy on the desserts.''

Giuliotti, a 64-year-old East Boston lawyer, called to toss a bouquet at Angell Memorial Hospital, this city's legendary animal care facility, which we'll get to in a moment, but a bit of background is in order.

Murphy, described in hospital records as just a short-haired feline, resides in the Giuliotti home on Saratoga Street, a long way from the Wisconsin farm where she was born to a barn cat named Scooter.

``If she'd stayed there,'' Cheryl Giuliotti believes, ``she'd have been a good mouser, spending her days outdoors. But here in East Boston, she's become an indoor cat, a lap cat, sort of like a little buddy following us from room to room.''

Cheryl's family owned that farm but she settled here, becoming an ardent Red Sox fan and meeting Giuliotti at a Boston Baseball Writers dinner. Murphy was named after former Sox pitcher Rob Murphy.

``One morning I'm going through some legal papers while Cheryl's sewing a button onto my coat,'' Giuliotti explains. ``Suddenly I hear: `Murphy just swallowed a needle!' She'd put it down to iron the coat and, sonofagun, the cat swallowed the needle, thread and everything.

``I immediately canceled my court appointments, told Cheryl to go to work, that I'd handle everything, and off I went with Murphy, headed for JP (Jamaica Plain) and Angell Memorial. Murphy's yelping, I'm distraught, and . . . I still get emotional talking about it.''

Cheryl, eavesdropping, smiled.

``I'm German-Norwegian. Andy's a little more excitable. Growing up on a farm you almost get used to animals passing away. When you're around it a lot, you see it a lot. It's not that you get hardened to it; you're just able to step back and accept it more.''

Giuliotti, with an attorney's attention to detail, continued: ``We get there at 8:21 in the morning and, to tell the truth, I was shaking. I played high school football, college hockey, yet have never been so nervous in my life. So I meet this vet named Kara Grosser and, it breaks my heart even saying it now, I pleaded, `Please, take good care of her.' She promised to call me by 4 o'clock and, it's funny, there was just something about that doctor that let me know I was leaving Murphy in good hands.''

Grosser called Giuliotti shortly after noon, bearing good news.

``She told me they did something called an endoscopy and that they'd extricated the needle and thread without injury, surgery or complications. She even asked me if I wanted to save them and I said, `Yes, absolutely.' So they put them into a little capsule with Murphy Giuliotti's name on it. I wanted to be able to show everyone what these people were able to do, and I guess that's why I called you.''

``You wanted to tell me about Murphy?''

``No,'' he replied. ``I wanted to tell you about Angell Memorial. Do you know, I even got a call the next day from Dr. Grosser, asking how Murphy was doing.

``I'd like people to know just how caring and considerate the staff is over there, how nice they are when they see you walking through that day, worried sick.

``It occurred to me we're always hearing about the great people at places like Mass. General, Dana Farber, Brigham and Women's, and the wonderful things they do, which are all quite true. But I can't remember ever seeing Angell Memorial thanked, not publicly anyway, for the great people who work there and the wonderful things they do.

``Look, I know you've got lots of stories to pick from, but how about a tip of the hat to these folks? I think they deserve it, don't you?''

Indeed.

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2001

Answers

indeed!

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2001

Angell is where I got my coon cat back in the mid 1970s. It was a trap. There was an open house tour of the new veterinary facility. The last part of the tour was the adoption ward.

The vet hospital for some time was affiliated with Tufts Veterinary School, but I think they may have separated since then. Angell was always horrendously expensive, being in the nature of a teaching hospital, but some place you could go for a midnight emergency. I believe it was founded by the Massachusetts SPCA, which was either the first or second SPCA in the country.

One of my current tabbies, Bandit, developed a megacolon condition last winter. She became extremely constipated, and I had to dash her to the vets. (A different vet hospital, but actually one associated with Angell.) They never did see anything unusual in the x-rays, other than being thoroughly gorged. However, in the course of cleaning her out they ended up with quite a collection of curling ribbon and rubber bands, which they handed me in a specimen jar. Actually, not the entire rubber band, so I've always been a bit worried about that one. This is one humongous cat, but all she'll eat is kibble, mylar, ribbon, and rubber stuff. No people food, no fish or seafood.

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2001


Good cat story. I enjoyed reading it. But the title you chose made me think of a quick joke, so here goes:

"Did you hear about the new restaurant that just opened in New York City? It's a partnership between a Japanese guy and a Jewish guy. They are calling it Sosueme." ;-)

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2001


shees you..

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

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