Maybe I missed it but is it possible the cat was in such bad shape with a
collar so tight because she had been lost outside for awhile? I try not to
imagine how Tuffy and Lil Mister are faring without access to clean water in
the summer, eating out of garbage cans or not eating at all, last app of
Advantage wearing off and fleas settling in. The longer they are out there,
the worse shape they are in. And both are skittish former ferals who won't go
to a stranger for help unless they are too worn down to run away.
Caroline Kaufmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Susan:
I am sorry about the fire and that you are still missing two cats. That
is heartbreaking. You have been in my thoughts over the past few weeks.
As explanation, well, it's complicated. We found her about three weeks ago
(Aug. 4) and that was about the time of your fire so you missed out on my posts
about my "Malnourished Rescue Cat." She was in HORRIBLE shape when we found
her and that is part of the problem. If she was kept as an outdoor cat, or
even outdoor/indoor, she should not have been. Some cats are just not "meant"
to be outdoor cats and I have owned enough in my mere 30 years to be able to
recognize that. There is an outdoor colony of cats that are owned by a lady up
the street from me who live outdoors...they "prefer" it and they do quite well.
The whole neighborhood looks out after them and a bunch of us feed them. But
my point is, these cats are true outdoor cats, this cat, is not.
She had to have weighed under 5 pounds when we found her and she is not a
young cat...the vet approximated 3-5 years old, more on the higher end. We've
had her in a room feeding her Wellness kitten wet and dry food, to which I was
adding Colostrum, Rescue Remedy, L-Lysine, Brewer's Yeast, Salmon Oil (but not
all at once), and tons and tons of Nutrical, as my mom and I were worried about
her liver and kidney function because of her severe malnutrition. I have never
seen a cat this malnourished. Our neighbor who had been feeding her (clearly
not enough) said she'd been hanging out in the neighborhood at least 3 weeks.
She looked horrible. She's long-haired, but she had dander and her collar was
on way too tight-- it was frayed and shabby looking and it had rubbed all the
fur off her neck where it had been. The only tag on the collar was a rabies
tag. The vet listed on the tag had closed his offices and it took a while
before we were able to reach them for them to
give us the owner's phone number. The cat also had a severe upper respiratory
infection and when we put her in a carrier, her eyes were weeping all down her
face with green discharge and she sneezed all the time. I immediately started
treating her eyes with Terramycin and we've already gone thru one tube. She
had fleas, but she had no energy to scratch at them. We took her in because
that weekend (of Aug. 4) was going to be the hottest ever (100's+) and I did
not think she would have survived outside and I know I was right. My mom
thought she might die that weekend at her house. We just worked on feeding her
and getting her digestive system working again before we took her to a vet
almost a week later. We got her on Clavamox.
She's much better now, but her infection is not completely gone; the hair
hasn't grown back on her neck; she's ridiculously happy and I have never seen a
cat so clearly enjoy the air conditioning as she does. You can still feel the
bones sticking out on her body, but her stomach is filling out.
We also discovered today, due to the storm, that she deathly afraid of
storms...she's been hiding under the bed and nervously looking at the window.
It's kind of broken my mom's heart and she is just extremely worried about the
owners in this situation because the cat was in such bad shape and clearly
didn't know how to take care of herself while outside. I don't think she was
able to eat anything (not a hunter-- clearly!), unless given to her by human.
We just have some major concerns here and don't want to have spent all this
time, energy (I have to go to my mom's everyday after work to treat the cat
with Clavamox because my mom can't do it and that keeps me away from other
things I need to do, my own foster cat, and the colony/street cats that I look
after/feed), and money if the cat has bad owners? She is also the sweetest cat
in the world, I don't think she knows how to do anything other than purr and
knead-- she doesn't seems to know how to scratch or hiss. And because of that,
I know that it would kill my mom if we turned this cat over to less than the
most wonderful owners in the world and I feel I have to do everything I can to
protect both this cat and my mom from making some really unfortunate mistake in
judgment....
In the meantime, this cat needed intensive rehabilitation and care that I
know that I am more than capable of providing, so because of that, I have not
felt bad about not immediately calling the owners to come get their what was
"on it's death-bed" cat.
-Caroline
---------------------------------
From: Susan Hoffman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: website for Lost/Found cats-TO WENDY
Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:33:28 -0700 (PDT)
Why would you not want to call?
We're still looking for two cats who were lost during our house fire two
weeks ago. The thought of someone having info but trying to make us come to
them.....why?
Chris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
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Just cause Im stubborn! LOL
Youre assuming that the tag info is the owners current address. All the
flyers in the world are useless if thats not where they live now (you know how
many cats disappear when the movers arrive!!!) and all the internet ads are
useless if they dont have a computer. Its a whole lot easier to call
themyou dont have to give them any info and if you dont like what you hear,
just hang up. You can block caller ID so they cant read your phone # when you
call. You are in control of the situation!
And please remember, people put tags on their pets cause they figure that
if the pet gets lost
& then found, somebody will do the right the thing and call them. Doesnt it
defeat the purpose to just ignore those tags. Hasnt anybody ever had a dog
get loose from the yardthats what the tags are for. Hasnt anybody ever had
a child disappear under the clothes racks in the mall? Children and pets
wanderthats a reality. It is generally the more responsible owner who makes
sure they have tags.
Christiane Biagi
914-632-4672
Cell: 914-720-6888
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Katrina Animal Reunion Team (KART)
www.findkpets.org
Join Us & Help Reunite Katrina-displaced Families with their Animals
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
Caroline Kaufmann
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 12:13 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: OT: website for Lost/Found cats-TO WENDY
WENDY:
I hate to do this to you again, but remember the post you sent where
you listed all the websites where you could post a lost/found cat? I think I
deleted it (I can't find it) and I wanted
to see if you could re-post? My mom and I still have the rescue cat (we posted
on craigslist, the local newspaper online and we are also going to do a print
ad, posted signs at the grocery, the pet store, and we have posted signs in
what we believe to be the cat's neighborhood on Sat.- but we haven't had ANY
calls!). Yes, we have the owner's phone number and street name (but not street
number) and we are TRYING to make the owner come to us. We posted signs on the
alleged owner's street, but my mom made me post signs in other places too so it
wouldn't look so obvious and um, stalker-ish, which I think is a term you used
Wendy!
But when we were posting the sign at the pet store, we met an old man
that lost a neutered Siamese Seal Point and he struck up a conversation with my
mom (of course). I gave him the craigslist info so he
could post there and my mom recommended he make the rounds to the Animal
Shelters. Today, I found his post on craigslist with a picture and this cat is
GORGEOUS...so I feel really bad for him. I wanted to send him an email to his
craigslist address providing him with those additional websites where he can
post.
I would really appreciate it if you could provide them again!
Thanks,
Caroline
---------------------------------
Now you can see trouble
before he arrives
---------------------------------
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