CAUTION: (and I'm being serious here), this post contains photos of and a story about a seriously ill cat. If sick animals upset you, then you may want to think about passing on this. I'm leaving it till the end. The first two stories are pretty standard for this blog.
Today I went to King's Road vets to pick up a cat to take to the re-homing centre. She'd already been to one family but they didn't get on. She's a nice cat with people which I could tell from just the short amount of time I spent with her. She's a confident little thing and wasn't bothered at all about being put in the pen at Ferry Farm. The catch is that she isn't good with other cats. Otherwise she's an attractive, unusually marked, and likeable cat around a year old. She is, however, one of those annoying animals which won't stay still when you try to get a photograph of them for a website and after nearly ten shot I still never got a decent portrait shot. The two on display here are the best I was able to take.
I'll be back there again tomorrow to pick up a couple of cats which have had diarrhea for a few days and take them to the vets. Then I'll be back again on Tuesday to collect long-haired Doris who needs de-tatting.
Next up, just another couple of photos of Aoife and her three older kittens. I was sitting watching tv yesterday evening when I felt a paw on my arm. Aoife had just jumped on the settee and was wanting my attention. Another evening she was sitting there with, Tiny (the smallest kitten, in case you hadn't guessed) was snuggling into the crook of my arm, and the other two were just climbing over me. They'll be available for homing (subject to a rigorous home check -they're my babies) in a week's time. The grey kitten (who is called either Brian or Zara depending on whether Colin or Audrey get their way) will be going to her new home then where she'll be spoiled rotten.
Aoife's real kittens are coming along nicely and both have their eyes open now.
You may want to go to another website now. I'm going to put a big space in so you don't see it accidentally.
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Okay, Wednesday night around 8.15 and I got a phone call from a lady who had just found a very distressed cat in the grounds of a nearby public school. Fortunately I was in a position to help by having a cage which was already set up that had been used briefly by Aoife and her two babies. I got there in less than ten minutes and found two ladies with the sick cat. Apparently it had been in the vicinity for a few weeks but this was the first time they'd been able to catch it.
And the cat was very ill being nothing more than skin and bone. I took it home, put it in the cage and gave it a sachet of Felix and some cat milk. I stroked it a little but only a little as I didn't want to distress it even more than it already was. It ate the food slowly and drank the milk. I could have given it more but it's stomach would be contracted through lack of food and thought it best not. Here are two photos.
In the morning I gave it another sachet which it picked at and some water. I had to pick up Daisy (the cat I'd been fostering and had re-homed a week early and which turned out not to have been neutered by its previous owner) to take to the vet's. When I got there Wendy the vet hadn't arrived so I told the nurse the story and left them both there. Just after lunch time, Wendy rang to say that the cat was severely jaundiced and that it's liver was failing. The kindest thing to do for it was also the hardest and I couldn't do anything but agree.
At least, and thanks to those kind ladies, I was able to give it a final comfortable night in my house where it was warm, fed, and safe.
It would be nice if all aspects of animal rescuing had happy ends but alas that isn't so. All you can hope to do is do your best for the animals that come into your care and sometimes that's...
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