It was a cold and windy morning in a central Phoenix neighborhood, and an old woman was cradling a frail, orange cat in a blanket. With tears in her eyes, she handed the stray to Ruthie Jesus.
“He’s just been crying, honey. He’s ... ,” the woman said, as her voice cracked. “I don’t know.”
Jesus tried to comfort the woman, and the cat, simultaneously. That’s a lot of what she does as an emergency animal medical technician (EAMT). The program, part of the Arizona Humane Society, runs some of — if not the only — animal ambulances in the country, where sick and injured strays can get help from someone like Jesus in the field.
For this kitty, Jesus knew it was bad, and knew it that the moment she saw the cat’s yellow gums. That points to a liver problem. But he was docile and friendly, and didn’t fight back as she placed him in a cage and inserted an IV to help hydrate him.
“And take his temperature if he’ll let me,” she said, cooing at him. “Hi, sweetheart.”
He did let her, and laid there calmly as she placed his cage in a small compartment in the back of her truck. It’s big and white, with the Arizona Humane Society’s name and logo printed on the side — along with a number anyone can call if they find a stray animal in need of vet care. At any given time, there are up to four of these animal ambulances rumbling through the Valley, loaded up with all kinds of gear.
“We have cat nets and cat carriers and boxes and water,” Jesus said. “All the trucks carry at least 30 gallons of water, so we carry a lot.”
And they go on a lot calls — more than 10,000 a year, according to the Arizona Humane Society, which spends $1 million annually on the program.
Jesus is amazingly upbeat, considering the crazy variety of calls she’s had in just a few years on the job. She’s seen houses filled with dozens of cats, dogs dying in hot cars — and even a cockfight at a 6-year-old’s birthday party.
Jesus said she has had to train herself not to get emotional in the moment, even when she sees something truly horrifying.
“So, you have to really hold that in and focus on what you’re doing,” she said. “And then afterwards, when you’re in your truck, by yourself, or back at the shelter with your team, then you can break down.”
She still does that, every day. But if she and others don’t do this work, it’s likely no one else would.
“They shouldn’t have to die alone, in the street,” Jesus said.
Instead, the hope is that they can be picked up, fixed up, and eventually adopted out. As Jesus continued down the road, she stopped to help another feral cat injured by car. The black-and-white kitty was being guarded by giant, grey tomcat, who mewed loudly as the badly hurt cat was carried away in a cage.
Jesus would have kept going after this, but soon realized the little orange cat on the IV wasn’t doing so well. So she radioed in to her dispatch, which keeps in constant touch with all of its EAMTs throughout their shifts.
“One of my felines in deteriorating medically,” she said, her voice sounding somber, "and I’d like to get him back to Second Chance, if that’s OK.”
So she rushed to the Humane Society’s Second Chance Animal Hospital, where the cat was held, petted, examined.
Then the little orange kitty was put to sleep, once the vet realized she couldn’t save him.
That’s the part Ruthie Jesus doesn’t usually stick around for. Back in the truck, she shook off the sadness, and got ready for the next call. She takes comfort in the fact that she’s seen many happy endings.
“And when you can get there in the nick of time, and you know, ‘Look, I made a difference and without us being out there doing that job, that animal might have died’,” she said. “That’s why you come to work every day.”
If you find a sick or injured stray, or an animal in distress in the Phoenix area, you can call 602-997-7585, ext. 2073, for the Humane Society’s EAMT program to respond. The team also takes animal cruelty reports in Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe.