Well, now that she's getting her strength back...um, not so sweet! No really, she's sweet as can be, but I had to treat her eyes last night and give her her first dose of Clavamox and like I said, she starting to get real squirmy and fight it a little. After I treated her, she went and hid. Then my mom and I went to visit her in the room later and she was laying, curled up in her crate (we had the crate door open so she had the whole room to roam around in!), but she'd chosen to go back in the crate and lay on her blanket and doze! She didn't move when we came in the room either! She was clearly "mad" at us for treating her. My mom said later that night, she was still mad at my mom and being grumpy and just wanted to lay in her crate with the door open! My mom says she acts like a cat who's never had
"anything done to her"- i.e., regular treatment, but who knows? My mom's cat Tally was like that too when we first brought her in- because of her flea dermatitis and open sores on her head, I had to give her Clavamox too and she was horrible for her treatment! She still holds that against me. Tally clearly belonged to someone because she had a flea collar on- which was making her whole dermatitis situation worse. She was in such horrible shape and was clearly an outdoor/indoor cat that couldn't be outdoors because of her severe flea allergy, that my mom and I did make the decision that we didn't want to find her "owners" and she's be much better off with us (evident by the fact that her bald, scabby head cleared up a month later and regrew all it's beautiful white fur). We want to find the owners of this cat if they want their cat back- that is
definite. We don't want to be one of those people like in the Katrina situation who ends up with a Katrina animal and finds the owners and doesn't give it back!
-Caroline
From: "Chris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
To: <felvtalk@felineleukemia.org>
Subject: RE: Update on Malnourished, Rescue cat
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:54:56 -0400
If this cat has been out there a long time, it is possible they no longer live there. I hate to be the voice of dissent, but Ive been through this for 2 years nowthere are sooo many reasons why a cat was lost. Nobody would ever dump a cat with a collar & tags! Actually, its a pretty responsible thing to put collar and tags on a cat that goes outsidemost people dont cause cats are notorious for pulling them off. If this is as sweet a cat as you describe him, somebodys got to be missing him. Call them-feel them out bet youll be surprised!
Christiane Biagi
914-632-4672
Cell: 914-720-6888
Katrina Animal Reunion Team (KART)
Join Us & Help Reunite Katrina-displaced Families with their Animals
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Caroline Kaufmann
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 11:08 AM
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Subject: Re: Update on Malnourished, Rescue cat
Oh my god! Now I know why I post my lengthy stories to you guys (more than just venting)! Everyone has made such wonderful suggestions- I really appreciate it. We have the owners address so this is what I will suggest to my mom that we do. That way, we can make the owners come to us! We can make a flyer tonight and post it on their street. Ironically, they live near the neighborhood I grew up in in Louisville and the street was on my school bus route, so my mom and I are very familiar. I'm excited now! I think this is the best way to "test" the owners!Thanks everyone!
-Caroline
From: wendy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Subject: Re: Update on Malnourished, Rescue cat
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 07:37:32 -0700 (PDT)You could post a flyer right on their mailbox and every other mailbox in the neighborhood, stating that the cat was found, with some description and that further description and payment of vet bill would be required to receive kitty back. I'd leave off the amount. Good ideas Melissa!
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has!" ~~~ Margaret Meade ~~~
----- Original Message ----
From: Melissa Lind <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 8:36:35 AM
Subject: RE: Update on Malnourished, Rescue catCaroline,
I think its great what you are doing! Im very happy that your mom is getting on board with it! I know my family admires (even though they may not understand) my compassion for animals, but getting them to help, even reluctantly, is something I havent been able to do as of late. Good for you!
As for the owner-issue, with my rescued cats back in April, I advertised them as found cats (without description), and stated that the owners must describe the cat and pay the vet bill. I thought that if they really loved their kitty that they would do anything to get it backno matter the cost. And if they couldnt afford it, then they would at least try their hardest to convince me that they deserved the kitty back even if they couldnt pay. I did not think this was out of line at all, and of course, as my husband predicted, no one came forward to claim the kitties. I knew that one was a stray (lived out of a dumpster) and the other might have been a back-door feeder but was severely neglected.
If I understand correctly (Ive been reading stories very quickly), you have the contact info of the owners? I would get kitty all fixed up nicethen let them know the bill. If they love kitty, theyll pay (or at least try).
Im very happy for you guysespecially at your abilities to get lowered vet billsway to go!!!
Melissa
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Caroline Kaufmann
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 3:29 PM
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Subject: OT: Update on Malnourished, Rescue cat
My mom took the cat we rescued Sat. to her regular vet today. I couldn't get a hold of my Shamrock contact (she lost her cell phone in the bushes somewhere crawling around doing a kitten rescue- typical- this explains why I couldn't get a hold of her!). My mom was just really frustrated and felt she couldn't wait on Shamrock or anyone of those groups to help us get the cat into a vet that would treat her half price/discounted. She wanted to make sure we were dealing only with malnutrition and an upper respiratory infection. She ended up seeing a relief vet and my mom says she spent the first 15 mins arguing with the vet over what the cat needed, what they were/weren't going to do to her, and finding the owner. The vet pressured my mom into calling the vet number listed on the rabies tag AGAIN- even though we never heard from him and know that he has other clinics that are open in Louisville- well, when she called, she got a live person! That person looked up the rabies tag and gave my mom the "owner" information, so we have that now. The cat's "name" is "Nosey"...I mean..., I don't know....your alls' guesses are as good as mine...that's all I will say about that.
My mom bargained down the vet and since she now had the owner info, I guess the dr. let her off the hook as far as not doing EVERYTHING that a vet would usually do with a rescued cat. They did a fecal and surprisingly, she doesn't have worms. Although, she could still have tape worms since I found a live flea on her- but we are going to wait on that. I can always get a tapeworm pill from Shamrock if I need to. She weighs 5 lbs, 5 ounces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I told you she was malnourished!!!!! The vet had trouble aging her and guessed 5 years. I think she's a little off there-- she has tarter on her teeth, but not tons and she has no grey tarter- just the yellow, so I think she's younger than 5, but over 2 years. I think the vet's being thrown off by the malnourishment.
She sneezed for the vet, so she's putting her on oral clavamox. Surprisingly, the vet said everything we've been doing for her is right and then some...we wrote out a list that included everything- the colostrum, food, etc., which my mom handed to the vet when she walked in. So I guess we know more of what we are doing than we thought. AND my usually reluctant to do "rescues" mother has even said that she is "willing to do more of this" as long as she has the resources set up ahead of time- meaning, ready access to a vet, if vet care is needed, that will treat a rescue cat for a discount! She got out of there with a $59 bill.
As for calling the owner, we are in no rush. My mom still has major concerns based on how tight the collar was on the cat- so tight it rubbed the fur off, if she was supposed to be an outside cat or indoor/outdoor cat- why isn't she micro chipped, and she did end up a long way from home, etc. I'm probably going to call them and feel them out before I release too much info. What I DON'T want to happen is to have a reluctant owner lie to us and say yeah, we want her back, and then just surrender her to Animal Control after we turn her over, or just let her back out in this heat, etc. I am not going to have done all this work on this cat for NOTHING!
The cat is back home at my mom's, no doubt loving the a/c. She's happy and I am sure she's gained an couple ounces since Sat. already.
-Caroline
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