Homeless

Vet Volunteers is a middle-grade fiction series about a group of young friends who volunteer at a veterinary clinic. This installment follows Sunita Patel, a sixth-grade volunteer at Dr. Mac's Place who loves cats but whose mother, an orthopedist, refuses to allow one in the house. On the school bus, Sunita's friend Zoe urges her to keep asking, and Maggie MacKenzie, Zoe's cousin and fellow volunteer, reminds Sunita that her mother surprised her by letting her volunteer at the clinic.

Dr. Mac's Place is run by Dr. J.J. MacKenzie, Maggie and Zoe's grandmother. When the group arrives, Socrates, the clinic's 20-pound orange cat who is typically aloof with everyone except Sunita, greets her outside. A pregnant tuxedo cat wanders into the yard, and Socrates becomes aggressively territorial. The two cats attack each other, and Maggie sprays them with a garden hose, but both flee down the street bleeding.

The volunteers chase the cats to an abandoned button factory, where they discover a clearing around an old red boxcar housing roughly 30 stray and feral cats. Someone has written "CAT LAND" on the boxcar door. Most of the cats appear thin and flea-bitten. Two neighborhood children, Jamie Frazier and his younger sister Katie, arrive carrying food; they spend their allowance feeding the colony. Jamie shows Sunita an injured feral cat that was hit by a car the day before. Their mother, Mrs. Frazier, the head of the Chestnut Ridge Community Association, explains that neighbors have complained for months and that Animal Control is coming the next morning to remove the cats, likely euthanizing them. She warns the volunteers to find Socrates before then.

Dr. Mac arrives and identifies the injured cat as feral, meaning it was born without human contact and views people as predators. She brings the cat, whom she names Tiger, to the clinic. When she attempts to sedate Tiger by inserting a needle through the cage bars, the cat swipes a paw out and scratches her hand deeply. Dr. Mac finds a possibly fractured leg, starts an I.V. to rehydrate Tiger, and hangs a warning sign on his cage.

Sunita pleads with Dr. Mac to save the colony. Dr. Mac explains that cats can have multiple litters per year and that kittens begin reproducing within months. Sunita calculates that a single pair could produce roughly 80 kittens in one year, and Dr. Mac notes that an estimated 60 million feral cats live in the United States. She proposes a TVSR program: Treat, Vaccinate, Spay, and Release. Under this approach, cats are trapped, given medical treatment and vaccinations, spayed or neutered, ear-notched for identification, and released back to their colony. Privately, Sunita resolves to tame Tiger during his recovery, convinced she can prove feral cats can become pets.

That evening, the group dines at the home of fellow volunteer Brenna Lake, whose parents are licensed wildlife rehabilitators. The group debates whether feral cats can be domesticated; Brenna's father notes that taming ferals takes over a year and the cats remain nervous around people. Sunita leaves unconvinced, still believing she can tame Tiger with patience.

The next morning, Dr. Mac meets Gary Snyder, the Animal Control officer, and presents research showing the TVSR program has halved feral populations in some communities. Gary agrees to try it and to hold a community meeting for residents. While the other volunteers distribute flyers with Socrates' picture, Sunita stays to observe the trapping. She encounters Mittens, the pregnant tuxedo cat, who lets Sunita pet her. Sunita notices a flea collar hidden under Mittens' fur, indicating she was once someone's pet rather than a feral cat.

Back at the clinic, Dr. Mac processes the trapped cats for the TVSR program. Left alone with Tiger, Sunita approaches his cage despite the warning sign. Tiger purrs and sniffs her fingers, so she opens the cage door and reaches inside. Tiger bites her hand deeply between the thumb and first finger. Dr. Gabe, the clinic's associate vet, discovers her and insists she go to the hospital immediately.

At County General Hospital, the emergency room physician Dr. Juarez explains that Tiger must either be killed so his brain can be tested for rabies or kept in quarantine for 10 days while Sunita receives precautionary rabies shots. Sunita refuses to let Tiger be killed and accepts the treatment. A reporter's subsequent article, headlined "RABIES SCARE," increases public fear about the colony.

Recovering at home, Sunita has a vivid nightmare in which she becomes a trapped cat, chased and caged by giant humans. The dream gives her new empathy for feral cats, and she accepts that cats born in the wild cannot be turned into house pets. She embraces the TVSR approach and writes a comprehensive report for her mother titled "Why Cats Are Great," compiling facts about cats, rabies, and feral populations.

When Sunita returns to the clinic, the first batch of TVSR cats are ready for release, while Tiger remains in quarantine. Socrates is still missing. Gary arrives to release the cats at Cat Land, but Mrs. Frazier confronts them, furious that cats are being returned rather than removed. Dr. Mac discovers Gary forgot to hold the promised community meeting, leaving residents uninformed. A crowd of angry neighbors gathers, referencing the newspaper article.

During the commotion, Jamie tells Sunita that Mittens is delivering kittens under the boxcar, but the birth is going badly. Sunita crawls underneath and finds one dead kitten and Mittens straining in pain. Katie then spots a raccoon blocking their path, drooling and baring its teeth, clear signs of rabies. A passing train cuts them off from the adults. Thinking fast, Sunita throws cat food behind the raccoon as a distraction. Socrates and two other cats burst from the weeds and attack the raccoon, giving Sunita enough time to grab Jamie and Katie and sprint to safety. A police officer shoots and kills the rabid raccoon.

The volunteers find Socrates bleeding heavily from the fight. Dr. Mac rushes Socrates and Mittens to the clinic for emergency surgery. Sunita assists in the operating room as Dr. Mac performs a cesarean section on Mittens, delivering five kittens, while Dr. Gabe works to stabilize Socrates, who requires two units of blood. Sunita's mother arrives after hearing about the raccoon attack and is moved by her daughter's bravery in protecting Jamie and Katie. When Dr. Mac confirms both animals will survive, Sunita breaks down crying in her mother's arms.

In the days that follow, the conflicts resolve. Tiger's quarantine ends with no rabies symptoms. Brenna's family agrees to let Tiger and several other ferals live in the woods on their property, while the remaining cats return to Cat Land. Gary and Dr. Mac hold the community meeting, and the neighbors accept the TVSR program once they understand it prevents rabies. Socrates recovers fully and returns to his spot in Sunita's lap. When Dr. Mac mentions needing a foster home for Mittens and her kittens so they can socialize with people, Sunita's mother volunteers, citing the persuasive report her daughter wrote. She clarifies it is a foster arrangement with no permanent promises, but Sunita is overjoyed to finally bring cats into her home.