Tiny Kitten Saved From Jurupa Valley Storm Drain

JURUPA VALLEY (CBSLA.com) — Officials with Riverside County Animal Services, along with veterinary technicians, have rescued a tiny kitten from a Jurupa Valley storm drain.

The 2-month-old female short-haired kitten was heard crying from inside a small drain in a mobile home park.

The rescue call came in early Sunday morning from the 3700 block of Quartz Canyon Road, just north of Highway 60, according to John Welsh, public information officer for Riverside County Animal Services.

Officer Christopher Peck arrived on scene and noticed that someone had put a rope down the drain. The drain was too small for him to reach down and find the crying kitten. Welsh said the drain was also too dark and Peck couldn't even see the kitten. Peck started to pull the rope up to see if the kitten might latch on.

Peck's instincts hit the mark.  "She clamped her teeth on the end of the rope," said Peck.

He rushed the kitten to the Western Riverside County/City Animal Shelter in Jurupa Valley where his colleagues in the shelter's veterinary clinic revived her.

Supervising Registered Veterinary Technician Eileen Sanders said the kitten was so cold she could not get an exact reading on her temperature. She injected a shock-reducing medication an colleagues assisted by using a hair dryer (on low) to try to warm the cool cool kitty.

When the kitten showed some signs of pulling through, she gave the little cat glucose.

"She was incapable of movement when she came in," Sanders said. "She felt like refrigerated meat in my hands. Now I can't believe how great she's doing. She is eating and is alert. Pretty much a miracle."

She and her colleagues nicknamed the kitten "Destiny," an homage to the Destiny's Child song, "Survivor."