Smokey
Our next inductee into the VVMA Animal Hall of Fame is Smokey, a calico cat who lived to the ripe old age of 17 and was owned by the John Fiegel family of Underhill, VT. Smokey was nominated by VVMA member veterinarian Dr. Steve Barningham.
In May of 1992, everyone at the Fiegel household was very tired. With school graduation, proms, parties and sports events, it was a busy time of year for all. A rainy evening ended with exhausted parents, daughters and pets going to bed and falling asleep quickly. Unbeknown to all, the basement propane pool water heater was sending a silent killer throughout the house…but let Katie's poem tell the story…
This is the story about our hero the cat
Previously notorious for preying on a rat
She awoke my sister one night in the house
Perhaps her catnap being disrupted by a mouse
My sister awoke annoyed and started to pout
She fumbled down the stairs to let the feline out
On her return up the stairs, she felt light-headed and sick
Before she knew it, she fell to the floor like a brick
I, sound asleep in bed, awoke to the loud BOOM
Heart pounding, I ran right out of the room
There she lay unconscious and limp on the floor
Confused, I screamed to my parents with a roar
In panic, my mother climbed the stairs in her night gown
Collapsed herself, and acrobatically tumbled back down
My dad phoned 911, and emergency rescue shortly did arrive
We had escaped carbon monoxide poising and gotten out alive
So now we no longer mind leaving Smokey out at night
For if it was not for her, I would not be here to write
Smokey affectionately know to her family as "the last of the Mohicans" succumbed in Feb 2001 to cancer
The VVMA would like to induct Smokey posthumously into the Vermont Animal Hall of Fame in the Hero Animal Category.
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