DILEMMA

I have a very sick colony cat. He was ill for about three days before we noticed and gave him some penicillin as a precaution; just yesterday he started having trouble breathing and this morning, a lot of trouble breathing. 

Having asthma myself and living on a very humid island, I know just how difficult and serious not being able to breathe is and this poor little one is going through that right now. Because of his illness he hasn't been eating so he's quite weak and that condition is not helping the situation. His breathing is so labored he has trouble eating and can't even meow. Laying down causes more difficulty breathing so he tries to sit up but he's weak from not having eaten for the last three days. I have kept him in; he's very frightened, sensing that he is sick he doesn't want to be alone.


I'm guessing most people would simply hope for the best and put him outside; maybe he'll improve. I live on someone else's cat colony and this animal is not my responsibility. I know the people will not be interested in paying a exorbitant vet fee... I did phone a nearby vet, she was polite enough... She could come out immediately for $150!!!  Or I could take him in for a $48 initial visit fee and pay for whatever x-rays and meds he will need. Yes, she was kind indeed - I could talk to the colony's owners and see if they'd pay for all this. 


What do you think?  Think they'd go for it?


I have phoned Cat Action and I'm waiting to hear from them. Its not yet 8 am on a Saturday so I hope to hear something very soon. 


My issue with Vets is the fact that although there are some who are willing to work with Community Animal Care Society's like Cat Action, there are so many others who seem to be Vets solely for the purpose of making money!  Honestly, with the fees they charge and the claims they make that the treatments, equipment and meds are just SOOO expensive that they have no choice but to charge you your most vital body parts for basic medical care for your pet or other animals in extreme need, can't they look past the dollar $ sign just long enough to help an animal in distress that could lose its life to their greed!!!  This person I talked with at the Vet Clinic asked after the cats' symptoms and quoted a price list to me! 


Yes, well I understand that they are in business and have to make a living like everyone else and that nothing is cheap or free, but does that negate every bit of our sense of humanity to such an extent that we make a conscious 'choice' to only care if we are paid for it?  What kind of humanity is that?  Would you do the same if a sick child were brought to you?  So why, then, is an animals' life always worth so much less than a humans?  We, supposedly being the questionable 'higher' species, doesn't that make us even more responsible for the care of those who have no voice at all?  


What would you do in a situation like this? 


Catspaw

Do You Have Feral Cats Where You Live?

Believe it or not, cats are not native to all parts of the world and in many parts of the world, feral cats are the descendants of domestic cats that have been left behind or simply abandoned by travelers and visitors to a particular country. As a result, these feral cats can and probably do cause harm to foreign environments by preying on local species in the same way as they do in our back yards. This may be especially true on isolated islands where ferals have sometimes had a substantial and deleterious effect on the local fauna such as damaging trees and other plants that the native species use.

A clowder of feral cats and kittens

"Feral" is the word we use to refer to an animal that is not friendly when approached by us but it can also be applied to any domesticated animal that has been without human contact for anywhere from a long period of time to its lifetime. Hissing and growling are their self-defensive behaviors which, over time may change as the animal, whether "feral" or "stray", begins their journey towards a mutual trust between the humans that choose to provide food, water and care and the feral cat(s). 


Feral cats and strays differ only slightly in their behaviors especially if the stray cat has not been completely cut off from human interaction. Feral cats, born and living outdoors without any contact or care by people have been tamed to the point of being adoptable provided they are completely removed from their wild environment before their truly feral behaviors have been established and set into their personalities. Such behaviors are set while the kittens are still being raised by their mother as she teaches them to avoid human contact and that people are something to fear.

Feral cats display defensive behaviors and postures towards any person who ventures to come too close to them, then they run and hide.

Feral kitten eating a rabbit

Lifespans of ferals are difficult to determine with any kind of accuracy. One study states a median age of 4.7 years with a possible range somewhere between 0 to 8.3 years; yet other sources claim a mean lifespan of a meager 2 to 8 years before death, rarely from natural causes. For contrast a people raised cat, at birth, has an average life expectancy of 12 to 14 years for a male indoor cat with females living usually, a year maybe two longer. Some domesticated cats have lived until the grand old age of 25 years being well cared for by their human companions.

Ferals take their toll on native Australian Cockatoos

Throughout the Age of Discovery passing ships released a few rabbits onto islands with the idea of a future food source for other travelers that stopped there. Very generous but ill conceived as over time they multiplied out of control by eating through their habitats so cats were introduced to keep their numbers down along with the mice and rats. The cats tended to favor local species over the rabbits; they were both ecologically naive to the islands and much easier to hunt. Then their numbers began to increase dramatically and they colonized the islands themselves; the very people who introduced both rabbit and cat saw them as pests to be exterminated. A completely human caused problem with the animals losing on all sides! Do we not have the sense not to create situations like this? Or to resolve them without the usual cruelty that we inflict.


Our historical records date the arrival of ferals in Australia to be somewhere around 1824. In spite of this its been suggested that they have been in Australia long before the Europeans settled it; they may have arrived as a result of Dutch shipwrecks back in the 17 hundreds or years before that arriving from present day Indonesia on Macassan fisher ships and trepangers who frequented Australia's shores during the past century. However they arrived, anywhere in the world, feral cats have not lead a charmed life. Rather, its been a very difficult life with nothing but hardships and unkindness from their environments and, most often from human contact. 

They deserve better and its up to us, who claim we care, to rescue and tame them, to provide medical care and a safe home for these 'lost' cats to live out what is left of their lives in relative safety and comfort. Even the wildest feral can be tamed with enough time and commitment - I have managed, these years since, to tame a few; some of the barn cats on the farms and diaries I have lived on had feral cats that eventually came around to my gentle care of them. I have even managed to find homes for a few that finally realized they could have the life of a domesticated cat. Its worth pondering on the next time you see a cat in need, whether a feral, a stray or just lost and frightened. Remember, the responsibility is yours.

This feral won't go hungry today but what about tomorrow?

Catspaw

Stray Cat Poem

This was written by by Zachariah Atteberry of Hannibal, Missouri.

She was thrown away and found again...

The cat in the picture is a cat one of my friends rescued. She was found in a ditch in a trash can (that's really what its coming to these days!).

Well they gave her a good home.

 Fore When I grow old   
I shall become a stray
To live the mournful life,
As a cast-a-way.

Abandoned like all the rest
buried like past in the sand
I will surely remember the past
As I leave paw prints in the land.

Shipwrecked away far from my home
I meow, with a fellow purr at the door
they now have a kitten all cuddly and warm
A younger cat, for them to adore.

We grow old and dusty
Thrown away like trash
Why do I still ponder...
I figure I might as well crash.

I still wander this land
One day soon to depart --
I leave paw prints in the sand
Perhaps... for another human to take heart.

 Catspaw

Winkin, Blinkin and Nod and their Amazing Rescue

The neighbors were just gaining their drive when a car sped past after heaving what looked like a duffel bag from the window, it landed with a dull thud and a weak, painful yowl. One of the kids though he heard a sound coming from the crumpled sack and ran to check. Carefully unzipping it, four tiny kittens lay shivering and traumatized. They were put inside the shed of a dairy with a cat colony and provided with food, water and shelter. A few days later one kitten was dead.

I learned about it and inquired of my neighbor if I could have them; she gratefully brought them over right away. An orange and two grey kittens were the worse for their usage. They were no more than four weeks old, wasted and ripped from their mother way too soon. They'd been ill-treated by whomever had chosen to 'rid themselves of them' instead of doing what you and I would consider humane and take them to a shelter. The first thing they got was a warm bath and wrapped in warmed towels then placed beside the register in the kitchen for extra warmth; they refused to go anywhere else. Here they slept, ate and kept warm but they treated it like it was the only source of warmth they had.

Winkin, Blinkin and Nod (she looks like a mouse)

Nod, Winkin & Blinkin

Of the three that had survived, the tiny all grey female caused the most concern. She was so diminutive in size that she fit in the palm of my hand, literally. She clung to me constantly so I was obliged to hold her all the time. The poor creature could not eat without being sick, although she was ravenous. When she ate solid food she brought it up again just as quickly so she stopped eating altogether. The other two fared better, with a tuna and milk diet they were recovering and starting to play together the following day.

Nod

I dropper fed Nod tuna juice for a few days until she started to come round. All she did was rest and watch Winkin and Blinkin play. I could tell by watching her reactions that she wanted to join them but she just couldn't, she was still too weak. Finally by the fourth day Nod could sit up on her own and I was able to put her down for brief periods; the fifth day saw her actually jumping down from the chair and attempting to join her siblings. She started eating on her own now and sought the company of Emerald as a mother; Em was not too enthusiastic at first but she tolerated Nod being near her, perhaps sensing her need.

Nod and Emmy

As their health improved their personalities began to blossom; orange Winkin was a gentle soul who was especially fond of ambushing Blinkin, the grey and white kitten. Blinkin was overtly curious about everything in his new environment and Nod seemed bewildered at her good fortune, that someone could be kind to her and my four cats were careful with all three of them.She would crouch on the floor and gaze up at me with a long, fixed stare until she started to doze off. Searching those wide grey eyes, she seemed to be pleading a thank you for her rescue.

I kept them for two months before I wrote and posted a single ad on a popular classified site over the Christmas of 2010. Within hours of acquainting the internet world of their plight, I was blessed with emails and phone calls from people offering their homes and their hearts to them. I personally met each new owner of each kitten and offered food to go with them. Then they were gone, entrusted to loving new owners and exciting new homes but the gift they gave to me and my husband will never be forgotten and will continue to enrich our lives.

Winkin   

Blinkin

Catspaw