LEWISTON – When Angie Getchell adopted Tiger Ann two years ago, she knew she was getting a pet.

She never dreamed she was getting a new member of the family.

“I think she’s like my own child,” Getchell said. “I’ve never grown so close to an animal.”

A few weeks ago, she suddenly realized how close.

The easygoing, brown and black striped tabby spent most of her days playing with Getchell’s 6-year-old son, Trevor Talon, in their South Main Street apartment. When he wasn’t home, she came and went as she pleased.

One Friday afternoon, as Tiger was wandering the neighborhood, Getchell found herself gazing out her spare bedroom window. She watched without much concern as the blue minivan drove down South Main Street.

And then the sudden, sickening thump got her attention.

“I was like Oh my god!’ and I ran out,” Getchell said. “The whole time I was running I was saying Hold on, Tiger, Mama’s coming.'”

By the time she got outside, the blue van was gone. Tiger was lying by the curb.

The cat, who’d been a member of Getchell’s small family since kittenhood, was bleeding from her eyes and ears.

Finding a route

Frantic, Getchell scooped Tiger into her arms and dashed for her car. With some local roads closed during a visit by first lady Laura Bush, she called 911 to find the best route to the vet.

Tiger rode on her lap the whole way.

“I wasn’t going to let her go very far,” she said.

At the Lewiston Veterinary Hospital, Tiger was given a 20 percent chance to live. Doctors thought the van had fractured her skull and injured her chest. Still bleeding and close to shock, her brain was starting to swell.

Doctors told Getchell she had to make a choice: Try to save Tiger’s life or put her to sleep. Think with your head, they told her, not with your heart.

“That’s impossible,” Getchell said.

In the examining room, she gently stroked Tiger’s fur and softly called her nickname, “Girlie Girl.” Hooked to tubes and an IV, Tiger raised her paw and her head. She meowed.

Getchell made her decision.

“Her picking up her paw told me she was OK,” she said.

X-rays showed Tiger’s skull and chest were fine. She lost a couple of teeth and her soft palate was fractured, Getchell said. She needed medication to ease the swelling in her brain.

A few days – and $1,500 later – Tiger was back home.

Getchell’s young son started to cry when he finally saw his cat, whom he considers a sister. He’d felt guilty he wasn’t home to stop the van.

“He said, Brother should have been here,'” Getchell said.

A necessary change

Three weeks after the accident, Tiger shows few signs of her trauma. She’s the same good-natured cat she was before, again letting Trevor dress her up in hats and drag her around the house in a basket.

But Getchell’s trauma lingers. She still can’t believe the blue minivan that hit Tiger didn’t stop to help.

“The lady just left,” she said. “Every animal has feelings. And what if I hadn’t been able to afford this?”

Life hasn’t changed much for the single mom, her son and their cat. Except for one thing.

Tiger, who used to have the freedom to come and go as she wanted, stays inside now.

“She’s not going out,” Getchell says.