CAT-CHUP

Sadly, but as Carol expected, the weakest of the five newly born kittens died on Sunday night. The remaining four, which I saw this morning, are doing fine.

Yesterday, I made a second attempt to collect a stray cat for neutering from Seaham and it went a lot better. I took with me a rather large and heavy top-opening canvas cat-carrier. The cat just sat at the back of the shed where it had spent the night and it really wasn't difficult at all to pick it up by the scruff of the neck and drop it into the carrier. It then went berserk trying to get out but quickly settled down.

As I sat in the vets waiting room it seemed rather quiet so I carefully opened the top a little and put my hand in to stroke it. It's mostly white with tabby patches and looked an old and worn and very smelly cat. It didn't move when I touched it and didn't react to my stroking its head and back. 

Once on the vet's table it was also quiet compliant though it wasn't happy when Louise the vet checked its injured right foreleg. I noticed flea dirt in fur and Louise said they give him a spray later on.

When I called back that afternoon, using the car as Phil had the van, the surgery nurse told me that, to my surprise, he wasn't an old cat but actually only around three to judge from the condition of his teeth. They found two spots that were probably not new injuries, one almost certainly a bite wound, and had given him an injection to ease the pain. If there wasn't any improvement in two weeks, he'd need an x-ray. I duly passed this information on to the person who was feeding him and letting him into her house and told me to call her if this was the case. I'll be more surprised if she doesn't than if she does. But he seems like an amenable cat, the lady is willing to give him a home if he wants it, and he's young, so it's worth persevering with him.

I went home and thoroughly disinfected the cat carrier. Meanwhile, Phil had had to do the same to the van. He really was a very smelly cat.